It was cloudy, almost storming even, Luna remembered that much. It was an absolutely miserable day, and the weather reflected it perfectly. Luna strolled through the streets of Canterlot’s Sun District at a glacial pace, giving zero shits if she got rained on or not. Nothing could have made the day worse than it had already been.
It was funny in hindsight that Luna couldn’t even remember why the day had been so awful. Just one of many that were defined by a complete lack of purpose, she supposed. Much of her life had been spent in an ugly gray fog, grasping at figments of hope to try and find something to really live for, some reason for her existence.
And wouldn’t you know it, she found it in the least likely place; a small dress shop tucked away in the fashion block of the Sun District.
She had ducked in to avoid the rain; turns out she actually gave quite a few shits once the clouds had actually opened up on her and the prospect of getting rained on was no longer an inconvenient possibility, but now was a grisly reality instead.
Luna didn’t expect to be noticed, much less recognized; despite her position as second in command of the Celestial Slayers, most ponies— especially in Canterlot— didn’t pay her any mind.
“Princess Luna!”
So the sound of her name being called as soon as she entered the building caused her ears to perk up, and a slight smile to creep onto her lips.
“We weren’t expecting such an honorable guest,” an ivory unicorn with beautiful waves of pale pink hair that fell across her shoulders and down her back spoke to Luna from behind a nearby counter. “We’re a little understaffed at the moment, but I certainly hope we can accommodate you!”
The woman was being very nice to Luna on a very difficult day, and she was extremely cute— and sharply dressed, which was an immediate turn-on for Luna— so Luna hadn’t the heart to tell her that she only ducked into the store to avoid the rain.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear you’re understaffed,” Luna said, attempting to make ‘smalled talk’ and immediately focusing on a problem she could try to fix.
“Yeah, we had to lay off some folks recently,” the woman sighed and shrugged. “Such is life, I suppose.”
“I’m sorry,” Luna said instinctively.
“Why?” the woman giggled. “You didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, I suppose not,” Luna cleared her throat awkwardly. “So, um, this is a dress shop.”
“It is!?” the woman bolted up and looked around her in mock panic, before shooting Luna a droll look and laughing into her hand. “So anyway, is there something I can help you find? You look a bit out of your element.”
“Yes, well,” Luna looked down at the leather armor she was adorned with and let a single dry chuckle escape her lips, “I’m not exactly fashion forward.”
“Which is a damn shame,” the woman clicked her tongue and shook her head. “You’re a Princess! You should dress like one! Plus-” the woman looked over Luna’s body and bit her lip “-it’d be a pity to let such a perfect body go to waste without it reaching its true potential.”
“I see,” Luna smiled softly, intrigued by the woman’s confidence, if nothing else. “Well then, what would you recommend?”
“Oh, honey,” the woman’s eyes sparkled to life and she grinned ear to ear, “I’m so glad you asked. Just leave it to me, let Fleur de Lis take care of you.”
The details of Luna’s dress shopping experience weren’t important (despite how much Rarity begged to hear about them), and more importantly they were memories exclusive to Luna and Fleur, and Luna planned to keep it that way for the time being.
What mattered was that after that day, Luna would make it a point to visit that tiny dress shop every day that she could, just so she could keep speaking with the delightfully confident and sweet Fleur de Lis, who Luna was immediately attracted to, but quite quickly became smitten with.
It was at this point in Luna’s tale though, that Rarity raised a question.
“How come you didn’t react to Fleur with hostility when you first met? She is a dragon, after all.”
Luna could have explained that Luna had never bore the hatred for dragons in her heart that her sister did, that Luna wasn’t poisoned by the bigotry of their elders and mentors while they were still children in quite the same way Celestia had been, that Luna had seen during the war between dragons and alicorns one thousand years ago in crystal clear detail that both ponies and dragons were capable of committing atrocities.
Celestia’s bigotry had never made full sense to Luna. She had always questioned it, but she never had the knowledge to fully confirm the truth for herself until she met a dragon with her own eyes. Until she met Fleur.
But instead of boring Rarity with all of that detail, Luna kept her answer simple and honest.
“Because I didn’t know.”
While Fleur de Lis wasn’t an exceptionally ‘powerful’ magic user, she was extraordinarily gifted when it came to Glamor; enchantments and illusions that altered appearance or physical perceptions.
“Damn,” Rarity said, “wish I had that power back when I was struggling with dysphoria every day.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Luna laughed, patting Rarity on the shoulder.
And while yes of course Fleur used this talent of hers to alter her physical appearance to meet her incredibly high personal standard of beauty, the crown jewel of her magical library was the Siren’s Glamor, a spell that allowed her to take the form of a pony and hide her true dragon form even from the eyes of other dragons and alicorns.
It was extremely powerful stuff, and it worked like a charm on Luna, who had no idea of her newfound friend’s true form.
Until Fleur elected to reveal herself to Luna of her own will.
The pair had known each other for several years by the time it happened, and had been dating for quite a few of those years. To Luna, Fleur was an island of tranquility in the sea of garbage that was her ordinary life. And to Fleur, Luna was a stable rock in a storm of uncertainty.
Fleur was the first person aside from Luna herself to set eyes on Luna’s private garden, and it was in this garden that Fleur elected to reveal herself.
She told Luna that she had a surprise to show her, and that it needed to happen in the garden so only their eyes would see.
Luna was completely unprepared when Fleur immolated herself in pale pink flames, and then was reborn before her in the form of a towering dragon, who then humbled herself by standing on four legs and bowing her head to Luna, awaiting Luna’s judgment.
“Why would you—” Luna said, her face turning pale as her mind reeled and tried to grapple with the shock of her situation. “Why would you reveal yourself to me? You didn’t have to—”
“Because I love you,” Fleur said matter-of-factly, “and because I’m tired of lying to you. I chose this garden because there’s no way for me to escape without you. I wanted to put myself completely at your mercy so that you know that you can trust me, and that I don’t have any ill intentions.
“I’m not a monster or demon, trying to trick you so that I can take over Equestria, or whatever else your sister or her goons might think of me. I am Fleur de Lis, a woman who is desperately in love with Princess Luna, the same woman who you have shared so many dinners and late night talking sessions with, who you’ve shared your bed, and your life, and your dreams, and your fears with.
“I am simply me. And I am a dragon.”
Luna was stunned. It was impossible not to think about what Celestia would say, what their old mentors would have said. Celestia had this way of making you believe that she was always right about everything, and even though Luna desperately wanted to believe that her sister was wrong about dragons, a cloud of doubt always hung over her heart.
But Luna would be damned if she had let Celestia ruin the most important relationship in her life. If she had let her bastard sister pull her off the course that she knew in her heart was the right one, that she had been so sure of until now, and now seeing the love of her life transform into a dragon before her eyes, she had no choice but to commit herself to fully.
“Raise your head, my dearest,” Luna said, her emotionless tone betraying the storm of emotions that raged inside her, at least to the woman who knew her better than anyone. “A queen bows to no one.”
“So that was it?” Rarity asked as Luna concluded her tale, dying to hear more of Luna’s whirlwind romance but restraining her excited questioning for Luna’s sake.
“Basically,” Luna said. “There was a lot of crying and hugging after that, but you get the gist.”
“A spell that lets you hide your true form even from alicorns,” Rarity pondered, lying with her back on the grass, hand raised above her. At this point she had gotten used to world-shattering revelations, and was mostly taking this one in stride. “If Twilight had that, she wouldn’t have to worry anymore. She could live out her life as a simple librarian in Equestria.”
“But she would always still be hiding,” Luna said gruffly. “She deserves better. Fleur deserves better, all dragons deserve better. No one should be forced to live in fear and uncertainty.”
Rarity was silent. She wasn’t sure what to say. Luna was right, of course, but what could they do?
“I want to create a world where ponies and dragons can live in harmony,” Luna said coldly, curled into a ball as she stared longingly at the dragon admiring her reflection in the nearby lake. “It feels like something so far away, but I need to fight for it.”
“I want to help,” Rarity said, sitting up and clenching her fists.
She wanted nothing more than to simply spend the rest of her days quietly living out a peaceful life with Twilight Sparkle, but she would never be able to turn a blind eye to the Slayers’ injustices now that she had seen them.
“I would like to formally introduce you, and Fleur of course, to Twilight Sparkle at the Gala, if that’s alright with you. And then perhaps afterward, we could discuss what needs to be done, together.”
“Ugh, the Gala,” Luna groaned in disgust, slapping her forehead. “On one hand, I’ll never forgive my sister for saddling me with that loathsome responsibility, but on the other hand Fleur is looking forward to introducing us officially as Equestria’s most important power couple, so. I suppose there’s a silver lining.
“But yes, Rarity, your idea is sound. I would very much like to meet Twilight, especially since I feel our meeting at the library didn’t set the tone for our relationship that I would have liked. Although, I won’t have much time during the Gala, since I will also be meeting my other girlfriend for the first time in the waking realm, but I’ll make sure I take the time to meet your Twilight.”
“Oooh, another girlfriend?” Rarity smirked, pinkie finger up to her lips. “Aren’t we the popular one? Is this one a dragon too?”
“No,” Luna chuckled. “She’s a young farm mare I met in the dream realm. She has been plagued with nightmares recently due to her— well, it’s not appropriate for me to say. I’ve been helping her through her nightmares, and she in turn has been helping me to realize that it’s not my responsibility to ‘fix’ everything. We’re quite good for each other, I think.”
“That sounds lovel—” suddenly something clicked in Rarity’s mind. Young farm mare. Rich girlfriend. The Gala. “Luna. What is this young farm mare’s name?”
“Cloudy Quartz,” Luna said, fond smile on her lips.
“Ah,” Rarity said, staring into the middle distance in disbelief.
“Someone you know?” Luna asked.
“Not exactly,” Rarity hummed. “I haven’t met her myself, but unless it’s a completely unrelated farm mare named Cloudy Quartz, I do believe you’re dating the mother of a friend of mine.”
“Hm, how about that,” Luna chuckled. “Small world, I suppose.”
“Small world indeed,” Rarity said.