Flying towards a bright green and red coffee shop with a snow-white door, Fluttershy landed in front of the cafe that Princess Luna had accurately described to her in the letter the day before. Fluttershy did anticipate Luna coming over to Ponyville, to visit her specifically as the blue alicorn did on all holidays. But it was that very point that left the pegasus wondering what it all meant.
Nearly a year ago, Princess Luna defeated the Tantabus that tormented her since Nightmare Moon was no more. And Luna had stayed with Fluttershy following the first few weeks after that. It was a battle, almost more so than the pegasus’ time reforming Discord. Fluttershy struggled to get Luna to eat, to genuinely get into the meditations and exercises that would help steady her mind, and then one day everything shifted. Luna began to eat full meals, hummed happily as she closed her eyes and breathed, and went out for early morning flights unprompted. Some were by herself, relieving Fluttershy of worrying about the blue alicorn as she took care of her animals, and others were together. Fluttershy was far from a natural lover of flight, but flying alongside one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria brought a deep warmth that blossomed in her heart to the tips of her wings. Then, the day finally came where Princess Luna left to Canterlot and returned to her normal life for a good three months of no contact. No letters.
And then? Luna started visiting Fluttershy again, spending more time at the cottage than back at the castle. Each visit brought more of that same fuzzy feeling, especially with each quality that Luna showed as a new mare. An alicorn that actually displayed her confidence, seized the day (or night to be more accurate), and jumped at the chance of experiencing new activities with Fluttershy. And while Luna did spend important holidays with Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus was quite surprised to read that the blue alicorn was going to spend her Hearth’s Warming with her and not Celestia.
Grabbing a hold of the golden handle of the café with one extended wing, Fluttershy opened the door and stepped inside the lovely seasonal coffee shop known as the Mistletoe Mocha. Snow white tables and booths decorated the interior of the building, with Hearth’s Warming lights shining green and red. Before questioning where the actual mistletoe was, Fluttershy spotted Princess Luna in the corner booth blushing and staring at her own forehooves before her head snapped up and looked directly at the yellow pegasus. Luna’s ears flickered, she nearly knocked the table over as she got up and galloped towards Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy!” Luna gave an open-mouth grin as she lifted on her hindlegs, throwing her forelegs around the much smaller pegasus in a strong hug that lasted several seconds longer than Fluttershy expected. Smelling the subtle yet deep scent of mixed berries flooding Fluttershy’s nostrils, the yellow mare felt at ease. Having her muzzle being tickled by the magical flow of Luna’s constantly moving mane, Fluttershy’s eyes slowly opened to see the stars in Luna’s mane twinkling bright. No matter how many times Fluttershy saw Luna, truly took in the sight of her dear friend, the yellow pegasus didn’t see any day coming where she wouldn’t be amazed by the profound beauty of the alicorn. Luna pulled back, walking towards the short line to the counter of the coffee shop with Fluttershy moving alongside her as they conversed. “Hopefully you didn’t miss me too much while I was gone.”
“Well, you weren’t gone very long,” Fluttershy giggled, noticing as Luna’s much longer wing stuck out from her side a little, almost as if the alicorn wanted to stretch out said wing. “How has your sister been? She didn’t take offense to you being here, did she?”
“Oh no, we actually opened each other’s Hearth’s Warming presents the night before,” Luna explained. “Nice starry blanket and a few other decorations for my room, though um, I haven’t really had the chance to put them up yet.”
“Why’s that?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head as the two mares were almost the first in line, the couple in front of them fishing out their bits for their order.
“Oh, well, you know how you might live in a room but it doesn’t feel like yours?” Luna blushed, smiling open-mouthed as she stared down at Fluttershy expectedly. Fluttershy winced, remembering her old room back in Cloudsdale, feeling alien to her own body and what she wanted as a pony before settling in her cottage in Ponyville. When she started living there, on the ground with her animals like an earth pony, Fluttershy remembered swiftly decorating her home with as much furniture, decorations, and birdhouses as possible. She felt grounded in her own sense of self in the cottage more than she ever had with her parents, despite their gentle demeanor. Imagining Luna working alongside the sister that had enough power over her to banish her to a barren landscape in space for a thousand years, Fluttershy felt a sense of cold understanding as she nodded her head.
“I know exactly what you mean,” Fluttershy assured her. “Though, where would you go if not the castle?”
Luna stopped, her ears flickering as her eyes widened. The couple left to a nearby table to wait, leaving Fluttershy to stop looking at the blue alicorn as she looked up at the menu for a few seconds before looking at the green pegasus in front of her.
“Hot Cinnamon Latte please,” Fluttershy told the cashier before looking at Luna, who looked like she was caught stealing cookies out of a cookie jar. Her wings fidgeting separate from her sides even more, her lips twitching as if she was questioning when to speak, Luna barely managed to make eye contact with the pony in front of her as she spoke.
“Peppermint Mocha iced, p-please,” Luna stammered, stopping one of her forlorn wings to get a bag of bits out from underneath the crook of her other wing as she placed it on the counter before turning away with a mumble. “Keep the change.”
“Is everything okay?” Fluttershy spoke up, following Luna as she walked towards the front door, presumably for a breather while they waited for their order. Luna gulped before staring down at Fluttershy, her blue eyes full of unspoken meaning as her mouth twitched. Fluttershy had never seen Luna quite act like this before, the Princess of the Moon always having been comfortable and open with the pegasus since she had moved on from the Tantabus. Even then, Luna was far more sad than confused. And Fluttershy reached out to touch Luna with a forehoof when she stepped back.
“I suppose I thought it was obvious, and even if it wasn’t, I guess I thought I’d be easily able to express the reason why,” Luna admitted. “But Fluttershy, ever since I started staying at the cottage, I couldn’t quite let go of how much it felt like home to me. Not because of the cottage itself, but of the home you gave me from it. When I stopped talking to you for several months, it tore my heart to be so far apart.”
“What happened?” Fluttershy frowned. “Why did you stop talking to me for three months?”
“Because in that time you taught me to be my own pony, to learn how to love myself and to fly, that was you being a guide to my own state of being,” Luna explained. “If I wanted to establish a more intimate relationship with you, I couldn’t do that with you being my therapist. I wanted to have my own journey by myself, separate and rekindle something again to see if we would develop a different dynamic, or fall back into the same habits. I was so deeply miserable and dependent when I started staying with you, I couldn’t let that become our normal. Never.”
“Wait, you mean…” Fluttershy was really glad she didn’t have her coffee yet, otherwise she easily saw herself dropping it as Luna’s growing smile confirmed the shocking implication of her confession. The timeline fell into place swimmingly for Fluttershy, able to understand just how deeply Luna’s actions were seeped in her own developing feelings. And Fluttershy was not only able to see why Luna took time away, but she was able to fully appreciate it with the alicorn’s explanation. A surge of amazement and warmth ran through her body, recognizing that Princess Luna had her pick of countless suitors even if it wasn’t as much as the more renowned Princess Celestia, and yet she chose Fluttershy in her simple cottage near her simple town. Bubbling eagerness, repressed affections fluttered in her stomach like butterflies as she moved forward and nearly pressed her lips against-
“Luna!” one of the baristas shouted from the counter, placing the to-go cups on said surface before returning to their work. Fluttershy didn’t remember either of them saying to-go, but with the way they clung to the front door, she could understand. And with what she just learned, there was no way she wanted to stay in the coffee shop. She wanted the privacy that such a confession deserved, of speaking feelings in the shared space of a cottage. Or at least, a nice little forest path away from open ears and prying eyes. Perhaps they’d even share gifts after their conversation. Far from Fluttershy’s number one priority, but still. Luna opened her wings and flew to the counter to take both cups with her magic as she walked back to the pegasus. Fluttershy didn’t have a shortage of suitors either, some of them being very close friends. But with the deep bond that she had carefully built with Luna, both in coming through the deeply painful times and savoring the freeing times that they had earned, Fluttershy couldn’t see herself choosing anypony else.
Luna placed Fluttershy’s coffee cup on her foreleg with its strong cinnamon aroma flooding her nostrils as they walked outside. As they stepped out of the coffee shop, Luna flinched from her horn bumping into a fuzzy object attached to the door.
“Ack! What in the…” Luna stopped as she stared up at the mistletoe that was currently affixed to the wooden surface above the door. Fluttershy gasped, seeing the mistletoe that the both of them seemed to miss walking into the cafe. She wouldn’t let the opportunity slip, standing on her hindlegs and holding her drink in her forehooves as she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Luna’s soft and cool lips. The blue alicorn closed her eyes, humming gently as she moved forward a little. Fluttershy would have guessed that Luna’s kisses were more relaxed and gentle, like a cool night breeze that tickled a pegasus’ wings just right.
And Fluttershy felt like the luckiest pegasus of all.