Twilight Sparkle blew her purple-and-magenta mane out of her eyes as she reread the Princesses confusing letter for the tenth time. She was flustered, to say the least. I just- I don't understand it. She shook her head to clear her mind, and then read it once more.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I need you to come to Canterlot immediately. It is imperative that I see you tonight. Meet me in my private chambers at ten-oh-clock sharp.
Your friend, Celestia.
What had puzzled the purple mare the most was that the Princess had referred to herself as Twilight's friend. She had never done anything like that before, not even when she and her friends had saved Equestria. Has she- Has she been picking up on my feelings recently? The unicorn shook her head and chuckled at the absurdness of the thought. That can't be it, can it? Either way, she was about to find out.
Gingerly, she tip-hoofed up to Celestia's enormous private chamber doors and tentatively nudged them open. Inside the pristine- but sparsely-furnished room, the Princess sat on an elegant, maroon-colored rug outlined in a golden thread, her long, sleek legs tucked underneath her, gazing out of the only window in the room at her sister's gloriously breathtaking night, which was only one hour, fifty-seven minutes, and forty-eighty seconds from ending. Twilight had counted.
Upon hearing the door creak, the Princess turned and she smiled at her student. Not a smile of 'ruler-to-subject', but a smile that should be reserved for lovers, two ponies who had been with each other for years, and truly loved each other. You are over-analyzing things again Twilight. She thought. Remember that mental break-down that you had a couple of years ago? And it was for what? Being tardy. She can't possibly feel the same way that you do. She can't. But still, that smile... She shook her head once more.
The Princess chuckled. "Come in, Twilight. I did not call you here so that you could stand in the doorway and let in the cold air and the bugs." Twilight nodded, not trusting her voice. She trotted nervously into the room, trying to hide her anxiety- failing miserably, by the way- and slowly shut the door behind her. She, then, trotted over to her Princess and mentor and lowered herself down onto the rug. "Look out there." Celestia said, stairing out the window once more. "The night is beautiful, is it not?"
"Y- yes, Princess. Beautiful." Twilight whispered, nodding in agreement.
"And the day is beautiful too, right?" The Princess asked. Twilight, unsure of where this was going, answered with another nod. "But, my dear student, the day and the night are not the most beautiful part of this twenty-four hour cycle."
The purple mare chuckled nervously, brushing her mane out of her eyes. "W- well, then, what is the most beautiful part, Princess?"
The Princess gestured to the sky with a hoof, gazing out the window. She smiled. "The most beautiful, most mystifying part, is the transition, the period in between night and day. The time that links the two. The twilight." The unicorn blushed, suddenly feeling scared, giddy, and nervous all at once. The Princess knows! She thought. She knows, and she feels the same way that I do! Celestia lifted a hoof and embraced Twilight, pulling her in closer. The purple unicorn watched as her teacher's horn began to glow. She lowered her head, and Twilight saw the sun start to rise.
Twilight gasped. "Princess... It's- It's-"
"Beautiful?" Celestia offered. Twilight nodded- she seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. The Princess grinned. "So are you." The unicorn's jaw dropped, and she stared, shocked at her mentor.
"Princess?" She whispered. "Wh- What do you mean?"
"Oh, come now, Twilight." The Princess replied, chuckling. "You don't honestly expect me to believe that you haven't had a crush on me for the past five years, now do you?" The unicorn didn't respond, eliciting a face-hoof from her teacher. "Oh, come on! Twilight, I know! There is no use in hiding it. If I had any doubts, I would not have called you here."
Twilight blushed suddenly taking great interest in a loose thread in the rug. "Was it that obvious?" She mumbled.
Celestia giggled, a sound that the unicorn didn't expect to hear from her teacher, and huged Twilight tighter. "When you are staring at a pony's flank, holding a book in front of your face would be most helpful in making you look inconspicuous." The unicorn's cheeks turned an even darker shade of red.
"I- I'm sorry, Princess." She whispered.
Celestia chuckled again. "Oh, Twilight, there is no need to apologize. It's not like I haven't done the same thing from time to time."
"What?" Twilight said incredulously. The Princess simply laughed.
"Well, what did you expect me to do? You mean to tell me that you are allowed to peep at your Princess when she isn't looking, but she is forbidden from peeping back? What kind of logic is that?" Twilight could tell that Celestia was only joking. Nevertheless, she was unable to answer, causing the Princess to giggle even more. She stood, revealing her full form, and stretched out her angelic wings. All in all, she stood about five to five and a half feet tall, the tallest pony in all of Equestria, although some recent rumors had surfaced claiming that the Changeling Queen was three inches taller. Her vibrant, transparent mane flowed as though it had a mind of its own, and Twilight noted that the Princess wasn't wearing any of her royal attire. The Princess was showing her student a side of herself that nopony else knew, and this touched her, made her feel special. She had allowed Twilight to watch her raise the sun, and it wasn't even the Summer Sun Celebration. Celestia gazed into Twilight's violet eyes and smiled lovingly. "Come with me Twilight." She whispered, extending a wing for the unicorn to walk under.
Her interest suddenly piqued, Twilight asked, "Where are we going Princess?"
Celestia answered with her own question. "Do you know how long it has been since the last time that I took a day off?" Twilight shook her head. It was probably before she was even born. "It has been nearly fifteen-hundred years. I desperately need a day off, so I have sent a letter to Luna informing her that I would need her to hold up the sun today. We have the whole day to ourselves."
"Wh- What are we going to do?" Twilight asked, still a little nervous. Celestia yawned.
"Well, for the first six hours, I thought that maybe you would want to go to bed." The purple mare's heart raced immediately upon hearing the Princesses suggestion, and her blush intensified tenfold.
"Um... Princess?" She said. "Don't you think that we should take it slow? We only just admitted to liking each other."
The Princess stopped in mid-stride. She turned back to her student and began to laugh hysterically. "You need to get your mind out of the gutter, my dear Twilight. I meant nothing like that. I only wanted to cuddle."
"C- Cuddle?" Twilight smiled and nodded. "I think I would like that."
Celestia hopped onto her elegant bed and pulled the luscious sheets aside. "Come, lay down with me Twilight." The unicorn did as she was told, slipping onto the bed and lying on her side, sinking into the extremely soft mattress. She felt the warmth of the body of the Princess as she slid in next to her. Twilight sighed as Celestia pulled her in close and extended a wing to blanket her. Life. Is. Perfect. Twilight thought. Celestia, you are my Angel.