The afternoon was coming to an end in Ponyville, and many ponies and other various creatures were dismissed from the new Friendship School. Moments after all the students left, Twilight and her friends exited the school.
"C'mon girls, let's get to grading the pop quizzes!" Twilight began galloping towards the castle when Applejack stopped her with her brute strength.
"Not yet, me and Rarity are going to treat the rest of ya to one of our spa dates." Applejack smirked.
"Wow, what's the occasion?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"We have some special news." Applejack glanced at Rarity. "And with the school thriving as well as our businesses, it seems like a suitable evening to treat ourselves."
"Y-Yay." Fluttershy stammered, while Pinkie squealed in delight.
Twilight gave a genuine smile, she was already looking forward to her six-month anniversary with Princess Celestia, and now she got to treat herself to a relaxing spa outing with her best friends.
The six Elements of Harmony entered the spa and eventually stepped into the hot tub. As soon as all of them stepped in, Pinkie zipped to her cousin's side.
"Tell us the news!" Pinkie begged with big blue eyes. Applejack gave a soft laugh as she ruffled Pinkie's mane.
"Settle down and I'll tell ya." Applejack waited. "Me and Rarity are gettin' married."
"OH MY-" Rainbow Dash quickly placed a hoof over Pinkie's excited response. Pinkie rolled her eyes and kept quiet, but her tail wouldn't stop twitching.
"I'm so happy for you two." Fluttershy smiled.
"I get to do the Sonic Rainboom at the wedding right?" Rainbow Dash grinned when Applejack slowly nodded. "Awesome!"
"I'm sure that lots of ponies will show up for the first wedding of one of the Elements!" Twilight grinned. "I wonder if anything happens when an Element gets married? And to another Element? This'll be a fun research project!"
"Don't get too distracted, I'm sure that you haven't made time to get your gal a gift yet." Applejack laughed. "Normally, ponies wait to celebrate one-year anniversaries, but I remember you telling me how excited Princess Celestia was about this."
"O-Oh, right." Twilight smiled nervously, her eyes darting everywhere.
"Something the matter, darling?" Rarity asked.
"Well, I've been...thinking about her immortality...and mine." Twilight frowned, still handling the realization after all this time. "And I really like her, I do. But I can't help but wonder if I our relationship is real. Am I only dating her because she's an alicorn, and I'll never have to see her die?"
"I...don't mean to get so morbid." Twilight added. "It's just that Celestia initiated so many things that I wonder if I truly wanted this relationship, or if it was just-"
"Meant to happen?"
Everyone stopped talking and looked at Rarity, who just realized that she had spoke up.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Rarity blushed. "I just get what you're saying dear. After all, Princess Celestia was the one to accept you as a student, mentor you and answer your letters, and most importantly, the one to make you an alicorn in the first place."
"But look at me at Applejack, we come from completely different lives." Rarity motioned her hoof towards her fiancee. "We weren't meant to happen, we were meant to be. No matter the circumstances, we were meant to find each other. I'm certain of it."
"Don't overthink it Twilight, you literally have eternity to be sure of your emotions." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
"Fair enough, I certainly don't want to get you in a panic attack over it." Rarity swam to Twilight and hugged her. "Long-distance relationships can make a pony over-analyze, and you tend to do that anyway."
"Y-Yeah, that's true." Twilight chuckled. "Besides, it'll be a few weeks before we even see each other again. I have plenty of time to relax and think it over."
After Twilight settled down, blissfully unaware of the night's further events, the six ponies resumed talking about the future wedding until they all left. However, there was a tall and bright figure of white standing out in the dusk of Ponyville, standing before the Mane 6.
Princess Celestia.
She stood before Twilight with a bouquet of pastel white and lavender flowers, her mane flowing beautifully over her shoulders and her gentle smile was enough to make anypony's heart race.
And Twilight's heart was racing, from anxiety rather than love. She looked at her friends, who seemed to have no idea of this surprise, before looking at her marefriend.
"Twilight Sparkle." Her name rolled off of Celestia's tongue so pleasurably. "May I steal you away for the evening? I'm sure that you won't regret it."
Rarity was already coming up with an excuse to save Twilight from an overwhelming choice to make, but Twilight smiled at her before looking at Princess Celestia.
"I'm sure I won't either, Celeste." Twilight smiled affectionately, levitating the bouquet with her magic. "Rarity, bring this to Spike and tell him to find a proper place for it in my room."
"Of course, you two have a most lovely evening!" Rarity took the the bouquet and waved them both goodbye. As soon as the two alicorns flew off, Fluttershy looked at her friends.
"You sure that she'll be fine?" Fluttershy whispered.
"I should hope so, we'll have her back no matter what happens." Applejack promised. "I-"
"Girls!"
The Mane 5 looked at Starlight and Trixie, who looked exhausted as hell from running.
"You have no idea who showed up at the train station!"
"Gee, seems like we're flying really far away from Ponyville." Twilight laughed nervously. Celestia looked back at her with a warm smile.
"It'll be a bit longer, would you like to sit on my back and relax your wings?" Celestia asked. Twilight nodded and Celestia stopped mid-air to let Twilight sit.
"We're going to Canterlot, it's faster this way instead of using the train." Celestia frowned at the last word. "Hold onto my neck, we're about to go faster than the speed of light!"
Twilight did so, and in a sudden mind-numbing second, they were in Canterlot.
"Wow, how did you do that?" Twilight asked.
"To be honest, I teleported us." Celestia admitted. "We had to do some flying first to make the teleportation spell easier."
"Oh, right."
Princesses Twilight and Celestia made their way to a mansion-sized restaurant that had a delicious aroma emitting from the inside.
"You'll have to thank Rarity and Pinkie when you get back home, they truly helped Canterlot develop a more diverse taste for food." Celestia pointed out. "This place specializes in over 200 kinds of sushi roll, and several different kinds of salad. We don't have to pay a single bit, so you can taste-test as many as you'd like."
Twilight was still staring in awe of the big restaurant as they walked in and were placed in a booth big enough for six regular-sized ponies.
"You d-didn't have to do this." Twilight stammered. "Just because I'm an alicorn, doesn't mean that I should be taking food for free in Canterlot."
"Nonsense, Twi. I've gone several centuries without having to pay a single bit." Celestia winked. "Alicorns like us are simply too busy for such silly mortal things."
Twilight kept a small smile, deciding that she would at least give the waiter a generous tip that'd make Rarity proud.
She tried to order as little in variety as possible, but Princess Celestia went on to order 30 different kinds of roll to try out.
She's not being selfish right? I mean, she oversees all of Equestria, so she deserves it...?
"What's on your sophisticated mind, Twilight?" Celestia wrapped a big wing around her love, pulling her closer.
Twilight blushed and her ears flattened. They tried not to be publicly affectionate, since only Twilight's best friends and Princess Luna knew about their relationship.
"I'm thinking that you shouldn't keep your wing on my back for long." Twilight whispered gingerly.
"Oh, alright." Celestia moved her wing back. "But we can't hide our love from Equestria for long, we-"
"Love?" Twilight squeaked, pulling further away from her former teacher.
"Oh, I didn't mean to..." Celestia frowned. "You don't have to say it back, but I love you Twilight. It tore me apart to send you to Ponyville, I cried for days. I wanted to make you an alicorn right away, despite the fact that you hardly had any friends and you weren't ready. But I waited patiently, to give you the gift of being with me forever."
"Wait, you only made me an alicorn so I can be with you?" Twilight spoke up.
"N-No." Celestia lied. "That wasn't the main reason, you're smarter and more talented than any unicorn I mentored. It was very important to make you immortal. I mean, look at all you've done! You've accomplished so much, creating the Friendship School for diverse creatures and saving Equestria time and time again. Being with you is just a bonus."
"Oh." Twilight blushed, happily reflecting on her accomplishments. "Thank you, Celestia. Y'know, there is three more kinds of roll I also wanted to try."
Celestia's eyes brightened as she called for the waiter, happy to put her marefriend's mind at ease. The evening went by more peacefully. And even if Twilight didn't say 'I love you' back, Princess Celestia was content with the surprise anniversary dinner.
The two mares were almost done eating when a pink unicorn slammed the doors open and looked straight at Twilight.
"There you are!" Starlight shouted. "I've been teleporting everywhere to find you!"
"Is something wrong?" Twilight jumped over Celestia to face her former student.
"I don't think so, but you need to see this." Starlight admitted. "There's someone new in town."
"Okay, let's get going. Celeste, this has been a great-"
"I'm coming too, I want to make sure nopony is in danger." Celestia decided. Before the two unicorns could respond, Celestia put her wings around both of them and teleported all three of them to Ponyville.
"She's waiting for you at the castle." Starlight added. "Last time we saw her, she seemed apologetic for her actions, but I wanted to make sure that she's...allowed to be here."
"Another reformed pony, eh?" Twilight chuckled. "Let's see who...oh."
Tempest Shadow stood next to the castle door, lacking any of her usual armor. Seeing her exposed and thick purple fur made Twilight blush unexpectedly.
"T-Tempest?" Twilight stepped closer. After the wave of shock rolled over, Twilight bolted towards her and brought her into a hug. "Tempest! You're finally here, I thought I'd never see you again!"
"I'm...here to stay too." Tempest smiled. "The first time you asked, I wanted to stay here in Ponyville. But, the truth is, I didn't say no because I wanted to announce the Storm King's defeat..."
"I said no because I felt guilty." Tempest admitted. "I felt horrible about what I did to you and your friends. I didn't think I deserved to be anywhere near such a loving community. I didn't think that any number of apologies would make it better."
"But Grubber wanted to see this place, and I missed...all of you." Tempest looked away. "Plus, I heard of a trio of Cutie Mark Crusaders that could help me find my cutie mark-"
"You don't have a..." Twilight stepped back and looked at Tempest's bare flank, barely visible in the dark. "Oh,of course they can help you! They've started running out of ponies to help in Ponyville, so they'll be really happy to help! Where is Grubber anyway?"
"He's in the castle with Spike." Tempest answered. "Do you know any really good inns here? Might as well stay at one while I find a house to live in."
"Nonsense! You can stay in one of the decorative guest rooms in my castle." Twilight smiled. "It'll give us time to catch up."
"I don't, uh, want to be a burden." Tempest admitted. "You sure it won't be a problem?"
"I'm positive!" Twilight responded over Celestia's barely audible growl. "In fact, you should enroll in the School of Friendship! It'll help you in honesty, kindness, loyalty, and so much more."
"Maybe I should, thanks-"
"I shall get going Twilight, but thank you for the wonderful night." Celestia smiled.
"Oh, of-"
Before Twilight could respond, Princess Celestia pressed her lips against her marefriend's purple ones. Tempest was about to turn around and leave, but Celestia opened her eyes while Twilight's eyes were still closed. She glared at Tempest out of the corner of her eye, making her possessive message clear.
Tempest looked away, and Twilight was the first to pull away after a few seconds. Princess Celestia kissed her forehead, and teleported out of sight.
"I had no idea that two of Equestria's Princesses were dating each other." Tempest smirked.
"Oh, we've only been dating for six months." Twilight explained. "I directed a play about her, and we first kissed on the clouds when she ran off. I had lied about how bad of an actress she was, but I realized how much I mean to her...a-and vice versa."
"Well, I'm happy for you." Tempest whispered, keeping a smile. "I should probably go to bed, I've got a lot on my mind."
"Oh, okay!" Twilight grinned. "Let me show you the guest rooms."
The two ponies walked into the castle, and Tempest was quick to say goodnight to Twilight once she found a suitable room, closing the door and leaning against it.
Tempest started shaking, digging her hooves into the carpet. She should've known Twilight was dating somepony else, she was Twilight Sparkle.
I'll be fine, I'll be fine. I'm not ready for anything bigger than friendship anyways.
Everything will be okay.