Now Twilight was panicking. A full-blown panic too, not the slight feelings of fear and frustration one felt when they were late to an important meeting and couldn't find their bits. No, this was a full hyperventilating, heart-palpitating, knee-shaking, loss-of-all-rational-thought panic attack. She was so deep in the throes of her hysteria that she didn't notice the pony she barely missed running into. The very large pony she barely missed running into.
She did notice, however, when said pony stepped down on her tail, pinning it to the ground and causing her to fall flat on her face. "Twilight, my faithful student! Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
"Princess Celestia! It was Luna! We were- and then she- and then I- andIdon'tknowwhatI'msupposedtodo!"
To her credit, Celestia only replied with a warm smile. She had seen Twilight get this worked up time and time again, usually over something trivial, and thus knew just how to bring her student back down to Equestria. She used her magic to pick up the unicorn and trotted off with Twilight floating limply behind her.
A few minutes later the pair sat in Celestia's own bedroom with the Princess floating a cup of warm tea in front of Twilight's face, making the young mare sip at the steaming brew.
"There, much better. Now, care to tell me what has you so worked up?"
"Princess, I'm sorry but I just don't-" Twilight began before Celestia cut her off.
"Twilight, please. Remember what happens when you try to keep things from me? I always end up finding out and it always turns out to be a simple problem that could've been solved much easier with my assistance."
Twilight hung her head, defeated. Celestia was right She might as well just get on with it. "Luna tried to get me to sleep with her."
"Oh?" Princess Celestia inquired. "What's the problem then? Don't you have sleepovers with your friends all the time?"
"Not like that. Luna tried to get me to sleep with her."
"Oh!" Celestia gasped, her eyes widening considerably. "Oh, I see. That's a different story entirely. I understand why you are so upset. Strange though, Luna has never expressed such feelings about you. In fact, she has never expressed an interest in mares, she has always been much more interested in stallions. This is curious to say the least."
Twilight's expression hardened slightly as she listened to the Princess' musings. "You say that she likes stallions, but today she called me to meet with her in her room and when I got there she was lying on her bed in a sexy outfit and started kissing my neck. I'd say she likes mares quite a bit."
Celestia sat staring off into space for several seconds before a startled realization came over her face. "Of course! Why didn't I see it sooner? Why didn't I see this coming?"
"Uhhh, Princess?"
Celestia turned to her student, her signature comforting smile returning to her face. "Twilight, Luna was gone for a thousand years. You of all ponies know how much customs change over time, yes?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Well, back when Luna was banished, it was not uncommon for a pony to give themselves to a pony they felt most deserving. It was considered the most intimate, most treasured gift one pony could give another. That custom was the reason so many of our fairy tales ending with the fair mare marrying her savior. She was giving herself to the one whom she owed everything."
Twilight frowned, trying to put the pieces of what Celestia was saying together in her head.
"While I've never heard of royalty actually giving of themselves, it wasn't unheard of for ponies to give themselves to somepony they deeply cared about in a platonic way as a form of thanks or affection."
"So, you're saying that Luna wasn't trying to seduce me? She was just trying to give me a sort of present?"
"I believe so," Celestia murmured thoughtfully. "Luna has been very lonely since her return and you were the very first pony, the only pony aside from myself, to attempt to be her friend. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that what you experienced was her attempt to show her appreciation for you, rather than a romantic advance."
"Oh great," Twilight muttered sarcastically, "so she invited me to her home to give me what she considered a heartfelt gift and I run screaming from the room. She's probably really really good about her self right now."
"I take the blame for this. When she came back, she asked me to let her figure out things on her own and I agreed. This particular change was probably one I should've told her about anyway." Celestia sighed into her tea, "Perhaps I should go talk to her."
"No, I'll do it," Twilight murmured back. "She probably thinks I hate her right now or something. Thanks for the talk."
Twilight finished her tea and stood up, pausing to give her mentor one last hug. She trotted out of the room, allowing Celestia's reassuring smile to boost her confidence. She made her way to Luna's chambers while keeping her mind at the task at hand; allowing her mind to wander would only bring her anxieties back. The first thing she noticed when she arrived at Luna's bedroom door was the absence of its usual guards. The second and more prominent thing was the terrible sound of muffled sobs echoing from within. At that point, even if Twilight had wanted to turn back, she knew she wouldn't have been able to live with herself if she did.
She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. "Luna?"
The Night Princess' ears twitched as the mare's head whipped around towards the door. Luna stared in ger general direction,but Twilight noticed that Luna was specifically avoiding looking her in the eyes. "Twilight? Twilight after you left, one of my guards came in to see what was wrong and he explained everything! I am so sorry, Twilight! You see, back when-"
"Luna, it's okay! Celestia told me all about it. For what it's worth, I'm sorry I freaked out on you." She moved over to the bed, climbed up, and sat down next to Luna. "I forgive you, Luna, I really do. You didn't know that things had changed and your heart was in the right place. I am curious though, what made you decide to, ummm... 'give' me that particular gift?"
"Well, that's a long story," Luna muttered, hanging her head. She Princess flinched as Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder, but began to speak anyway. "Okay, so it's a short story. You're my only friend, the only pony in the world aside from my sister who isn't afraid of me, so I wanted to show my appreciation by getting you something nice. It used to be that I would show my thanks by putting ponies who truly mattered to me in the stars, but now there's almost a dozen commities I must go through to create a new constellation. Celestia has always given one of her personal heirlooms out, but all of mine have been lost since I was banished. My servants suggested I just purchase you something, but that has always seemed too impersonal to me. Besides, how much meaning could a cheap trinket have when I have nearly unlimited wealth at my disposal? Neither Celestia nor I have, to my knowledge, given of our bodies to anypony before. I thought perhaps, maybe..."
"Luna, I'm your friend because I want to be, no other reason. You don't have to get me anything."
"Yes I do!" Luna cried out, bursting into tears again. "Your friendship is a gift of itself and I wanted to give something back! I wanted to show you that I truly care, so I decided to give you the most valuable thing I could think of. Yet I still managed to mess everything up."
"You didn't 'mess everything up', Luna. I'm honored that you'd want to give me something so important to you. I just got scared because I didn't know what was going on. Honestly, I've never even done that before."
To Twilight's dismay, her words only seemed to make Luna even more miserable. "I almost stole your first time from you? Great! Not only did I make myself a fool in front of my sister yet again and scare my best friend out of her wits, but I almost hurt her in a way that could never have been healed."
This isn't working, but maybe...
Twilight laid down and slid herself closer to Luna. "Stop beating yourself up. You didn't know. You couldn't have known. You tried to give me something you've never, ever even thought about giving somepony else. It's the thought that counts!"
Twilight winced as Luna gave a melancholy sigh.
"Luna, there's one more thing. When I was a filly, my mom taught me to be polite. She told me over and over that a rude pony was one of the worst things in the world." Luna lifted her head, finally looking Twilight in the eyes with a questioning expression that plainly asked where Twilight was going with her story. Twilight smiled, put her hooves around her friend and continued, "You were trying to give me a present, and she told me that it's very, very rude to refuse a gift."
Twilight leaned in and firmly pressed her lips against Luna's, cutting off her Princess' sharp gasp. She could feel herself smiling as Luna went limp in her hooves, the Princess' contented sigh tickling her cheek.