“You know, you could help me,” Twilight chided as she scurried around her room.
It was early morning on the day of their trip to the Crystal Empire, and things were already off to a rough start. Twilight had already spent the better part of an hour scrambling around the castle, making absolutely certain nothing was being missed.
Chrysalis, meanwhile, had spent the better part of an hour lounging in Twilight’s bed.
“We’re not even staying the night,” Chrysalis said. “We don’t need to pack.”
“But what about, um… Um,” Twilight bit her lip nervously, “Sunglasses! We can’t go to the Crystal Empire without sunglasses. Everything is crystal, it would blind us!”
“Do you even own sunglasses?”
“Oh no.” Twilight shrank in on herself. “Do you think there’s any stores open this early that sell sunglasses?”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Twilight, you’re magic! If I can’t kill you, I think you can handle some sunlight.”
“Okay, okay, yeah. Um…” Twilight rapidly tapped her hoof on the ground. “Do we have the tickets?”
“Yes, and they already know we have tickets so even if we lose them, they’ll let us on.”
“What about sweaters?”
“It’s summer, Twilight.”
“But it could be windy! We should at least take, um… Gloves?”
“You have hooves.”
“Right.” Twilight laughed nervously. “Of course.”
“Twilight.” Chrysalis used her magic to pull Twilight closer and meet her eyes. “It’s going to be fine. You know them. Is your brother even capable of being mad at you?”
Twilight sighed and looked down at the floor. “You’re right. I’m worried over nothing.”
Chrysalis reached out and gently stroked Twilight’s cheek. “Everything is fine. Let’s go. We don’t want to be late.”
The sun was just barely rising as they walked through the empty streets to the train station. A brisk wind followed them the whole way, blowing their manes around haphazardly and making the couple look even more frazzled and unkempt than they already were.
When they finally made it to the station, they found Applejack waiting for them. "So y'all are really doing this on your own?" she asked as they walked up.
"We've been hiding this from them for so long," Twilight said. "We owe it to them to face them ourselves."
"Where are the rest of you?" Chrysalis asked.
"At this time of morning?" Applejack chuckled to herself. "Probably sleeping. You're lucky even I came, frankly. Farm work woulda been the perfect excuse to avoid Chrysalis."
"Thank you for giving her a chance," Twilight said.
"Yeah, whatever," Applejack replied. "Ain't no point in dodging one of my friends just cuz she disagreed with me on somethin."
"We're going to have to hash things out eventually, you know," Chrysalis said.
"You've got enough hashin on your schedule," Applejack replied. "Which, might I just say, still makes no sense to me. Why are y'all gettin up at the crack of dawn for this?"
"I don't want Shining Armor freaking out in a train station," Twilight said. "So we said we'd be there this afternoon. I figured if we get there early enough, he won't be there yet."
"Awful lotta work to clean up this mess," Applejack said.
"Hey, I would have been happy to be yelled at in public," Chrysalis said. "It's not my fault."
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh. Get outta here before you get left behind." She walked past them and started to leave, then as an afterthought looked back and called out "you're gonna be fine!"
It was a welcome relief when they made it out of the cold and into the cozy private cabin Chrysalis had insisted they get.
There wasn’t much to the cabin, despite being the best one the train had available, but it did at least have a seat large enough that Chrysalis was able to resume her lounging. It also, as Twilight discovered, had just barely enough space to facilitate frantic, anxious pacing, and that was what she was doing when the train lurched into motion.
“Are you going to be doing that the whole way?” Chrysalis asked.
“Probably,” Twilight told her.
Chrysalis sighed. “Really, you just have to put it out of your mind. Come on,” she shifted around to make some empty space beside her and patted it invitingly, “just relax with me.”
“How am I supposed to relax?” Twilight scratched mindlessly at one of her legs. “This could be it, this could end this whole thing, all these months of getting to know each other and growing closer and starting to— To…” She trailed off.
“What could possibly happen that would just immediately break all of this up?” Chrysalis asked.
“Well, she could kill you,” Twilight said.
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. Thinking things like that only serves to work you up more.”
“Well I can’t stop thinking them,” Twilight said. “It’s all that’s there, I can’t even think of what else I would think about, it’s all just—”
Without warning, Twilight was enveloped in a glowing green aura. An invisible force pulled her, spun her around, and brought her face to face with a smirking Chrysalis. Then Chrysalis took hold of Twilight’s chin, more gently than she ever could have imagined, lifted her face, and planted her lips on Twilight’s.
At first, Twilight’s eyes went wide as her mind turned to static. Then slowly everything came back into focus, Chrysalis, her glowing horn, her stunning eyes. Her lips, still attached to Twilight’s.
Instinctively, Twilight closed her eyes and leaned in, desperate to drain the moment of every extra second of bliss it could give.
Then it ended, far, far too soon. Chrysalis pulled away, dragging her hoof agonizingly over Twilight’s chin as she did. Twilight tried to lean into that touch, to follow her hoof, but then that was over too, and Twilight had nothing left to do but open her eyes and rejoin the rest of the world.
There were a few beautifully quiet moments, Twilight staring slack-jawed and Chrysalis with a smug grin, before Twilight’s thoughts finally caught up to her and she stumbled backwards.
“Wh- You- I- We-” Twilight couldn’t get any words out.
Chrysalis chuckled. Her fangs glinted in the morning light as she did, shining out brilliantly. “Oh, dear,” she mused, “I seem to have broken the princess.”
“Y-Y-You kissed me,” Twilight finally managed to choke out.
“Oh, did I?” Chrysalis leaned forward tantalizingly. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“I just… I didn't think that you…”
“Didn’t think I was interested?” Chrysalis shook her head. “Maybe I really am bad at flirting. I thought I was being obvious.”
Twilight fell backwards and sat on the floor. “But… Why now?”
“Like I said,” Chrysalis said, “you needed something different to think about.” She patted the seat again. “So, are you ready to come sit with me now?”
It took Twilight a bit to respond. Her mind was still moving at a snail’s pace, all her thoughts bogged down by the sensations she was still replaying in her mind, but she got there eventually. She let out a heavy, contented sigh, then smiled brightly at Chrysalis and nodded.
Twilight would probably have skipped over to Chrysalis if there was more room in the cabin, but she settled for just hopping energetically into her waiting hooves. She pressed herself up against Chrysalis, wanting to be as close as she possibly could, and Chrysalis held her tightly to her chest.
They cuddled in silence for a long while. There was no need for words, they were both content with just the sound of the other’s breathing, their smell, their touch. At least for a while, neither of them needed anything they didn’t already have.
A while later, while Chrysalis was gently stroking Twilight’s mane, she decided to break the quiet. “So, Princess, I take it you enjoyed the kiss?”
Twilight laughed. “Fishing for compliments is beneath you, Chrysalis.”
“I’m genuinely curious!” Chrysalis insisted. “We only get one first kiss, I’d like to know if it was satisfying.”
Twilight smiled and sighed. “Of course it was. Although I do kind of wish I could have been the one to catch you off guard like that.”
“Well, there’s always the second kiss.”
Talking fell to silence once more, and then silence fell to sleep.
Some time later, the peaceful couple was woken up by the sounding of a horn and the screeching of brakes as their train pulled into the station in the Crystal Empire.