//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Luna's Socks 
// by butterscotchsundae 
//------------------------------//

It took Twilight forever to fall asleep, the incident playing over and over in her head, the same mixture of sensations and frustrations just memories now but nevertheless still raw and sensitive. But at last she fell into a fitful sleep, hot and uncomfortable but empty of dreams...

....until she awoke to the sound of the windows clattering open and the rustling of the curtains against the drapery of her bed. 

She drew her head slowly out from under the covers to see that the whole room was lit up by silver-blue light pouring in from the now open window. The mirror had turned into a pool of quicksilver and the brass handles and hinges of the furniture were sparkling as if they had been doused in glitter. 

Twilight climbed out of bed, her eyes glued to the beam of light piercing the room, and took a few nervous steps towards the window. She had closed it, hadn't she? There was no way she would have left it open, even accidentally, given the biting mountain breeze that flowed about the castle all year round.

But when she got close to the window there was a sudden blast of air, a gale that sent the curtains fluttering madly into the room.  Twilight's mane blew about her face and into her eyes, forcing her to turn away from the window, and when she turned back she saw that she was no longer alone, for the incandescent form of Princess Luna, furling her wings against her sides, was already stepping daintily down through the air into the room as if on invisible stairs.

As soon as her glowing hooves touched the floor, Twilight was on her knees before her.

"P...Princess?" she whispered, gaping up at the stately figure standing before her. The brilliant moonlight that had been spilling in through the window was dying away now, and Luna's coat was returning to its normal blue-grey, but lit still by a thousand points of scintillating stardust. She was wearing socks on all four of her legs now and her mane was wild and tousled as if she'd just this moment left her bed.

"Why are you here, Twilight Sparkle?" Luna asked. Her voice had no anger in it, just curiosity with an undercurrent of irony as if she could burst out laughing at any moment.

"Why am I here?" repeated Twilight, unnerved. "But Princess Luna, Princess Celestia invited me here to celebrate the..."

Luna interrupted her. "This is my realm, not my sister's." Despite the words there was no hint of malice in her voice - in fact, a soft half-smile had slipped onto her face.  "But that's not important right now. Please stand up, Twilight Sparkle. There's something between us that we must talk about."

"Some... something between us, Princess?" Twilight's face was a mask of nervous confusion as she got off her knees. If Luna wasn't angry, then why was she here suddenly, in her room?

Luna nodded. "My big sister loves you so much, Twilight Sparkle. You're all she ever talks about some mornings." She sighed in exasperation.  "About how you singlehoofedly overcame an Ursa Minor, defeated a green dragon, outsmarted a hydra..." 

Twilight felt her face grow suddenly hot. Princess Celestia talked about her? "But Princess, it was only with the help of my friends that I..." 

"Oh, that doesn't matter," said Luna, cutting off her protest. "I've seen your great magical ability myself - and I've also heard that your talents extend beyond the realm of Rainbow Magic." Her eyes considered Twilight thoughtfully. "One of these days I think I shall have to put them to the test!"

Twilight gasped. "But I would never dare to challenge you, Princess Luna!"

Luna chuckled. It was a warm sound. "You already defeated me once, or have you forgotten our little duel in the Temple of the Two Sisters already? It wasn't so very long ago, you know." She took a few steps closer to Twilight. "But I suppose it was Nightmare Moon that you defeated, wasn't it? You might find Luna a far more formidable opponent."

Twilight took a step back. There was a challenge in those grey-green eyes. So Luna was angry at her!  "Why... why are you so mad at me, Princess?" she whispered.

"'This breezy old castle feels sooooooo much warmer with you here!'" mocked Luna, lifting her muzzle in the air with a sniff. "Isn't that what my sister said to you?"

Twilight swallowed, nodding. It was true. And those words had made her so happy that she'd felt like melting away into the ground. "But Princess Luna, I.... I didn't mean... I don't want to get under your hooves here in the Castle..."

"Under my hooves?" Luna looked at her quizzically, her mane lifted about her face by the night wind continuing to flow in through the window. "Whatever do you mean, my sister's most faithful student?"

"I..." Twilight looked at Luna. Even dressed in her socks, her hair dishevelled, the Princess of the Moon sparkling eyes demanded the truth from her. "Oh, please don't be jealous of me, Princess! I... I never meant to get between you and Princess Celestia!"

Luna laughed explosively, beating her wings against her sides as she did. "Oh, Twilight Sparkle, you silly little bookworm!" She moved forward and as she did Twilight shied away, only to stop dead when she felt her rump hit the cold surface of the mirror. "I'm not jealous of you!"

Luna reared up before her, and Twilight cried out. Those teal eyes were flashing green, now, and they reminded her of another time and place, when the two of them were surrounded by cracked stone walls and cobwebs and darkness. 

But the blow that Twilight feared never came, for Luna had draped her sock-covered forelegs about Twilight's neck, embracing her. And then she brought her lips so close to Twilight's ear that she could feel the Princess's cool breath against it.

Luna's voice was a whisper. "It's Celestia I'm jealous of."

Twilight melted in her embrace, sighing at the softness of the woollen socks around her neck across her back, the gentle scent of night-loving jasmine enveloping her. And as Luna's wings furled about Twilight she recalled the feeling of those feathers that had tickled her all over when she'd triggered the magical trap.

The magical trap that Princess Luna had left for her. 

As Twilight looked into Luna's laughing eyes she knew straight away that it was true.

"Princess Luna, that trap you left... it was for me?" she asked.

Luna nodded. "Especially crafted just for you, my dear Twilight Sparkle. I knew that sooner or later you'd stick that inquisitive little horn of yours into my business." Her tone was teasing. "Did you enjoy it?"

Twilight's cheeks flushed, and she turned away. "Princess Luna, you... you're embarrassing me."

"Well, if that's the case then I'm just getting my own back," said Luna with a chuckle. "How do you think I felt when I saw you spying on me?" She trailed a forehoof up along Twilight's neck to her chin and turned her head back so they were back face to face. "...watching me with those big violet eyes of yours while I put on my socks?" 

"I didn't mean to embarrass you," Twilight whispered. She felt as if Luna could see right through her! "I... I just wanted to see you dressing. Your legs..."

"My legs?" repeated Luna. "What about my legs?"

"They're.... they're so beautiful," Twilight could barely hear her own voice it was so soft. "I just wish.... I just wish that mine were as beautiful."

Luna looked at her, her teal eyes unblinking behind their night-black lashes. "Do you know, Twilight, that I find your naivety just as charming as you find my legs?" She drew her closer. "And do you know what those almond eyes of yours do to me, Twilight Sparkle? Those eyes you were watching me with, those huge, innocent eyes of yours?"

Twilight blinked in confusion. "My eyes?" 

Luna laughed. "Your bewilderment is so totally adorable! You really have no idea how gorgeous you are, do you?" She brought her face closer. "Would you mind very much if I kissed you?"

Twilight's knees began to shake. "You... you want to kiss me, Princess?"

"Why shouldn't I want to?" said Luna with sudden emotion. "Why shouldn't I feel this way about the one who freed me from the eternal Nightmare my soul was trapped in?" And then she brought her lips against Twilight's, and the unicorn would have fallen to her knees if she weren't being held up by the Princess's wings. "Why do you think I left that room unpranked? The one room that just happens to be directly across from my own?"

"P-please, Princess Luna!" Twilight gasped. "Our... our horns are touching!" She felt the magic inside begin to well up from deep in her chest around her heart, travelling up her neck through her spine and up along her horn, until magic involuntarily began to pulse along its length in a tight spiral that mimicked the rapid beating of her heart. 

And then Luna kissed her. 

The lips that touched Twilight's were as cool as the glacial spaces between the stars, but the tongue that passed between them was warm and soft, and the unicorn pony found herself parting her own lips as it pressed against them, their breath intermingling as the magic coursing along both of their horns did the same, forming a single incandescent star that flooded the room with purple and silver-blue.

But just as quickly Luna broke the kiss. 

"Here... but no farther tonight, my dear Twilight," she sighed, pulling her face away. The brilliant light that had been flowing along her horn was ebbing away now to a gentle glow. "If Celestia was to smell my scent on you over breakfast tomorrow morning, she would do far worse than exile me to my room."

Twilight looked at her, breathless and in confusion. The purple corona about her own horn was fading as well. "But Princess – haven't you already escaped?"

Luna giggled.  "Oh Twilight, haven't you realised yet that all this is a dream?" She pirouetted in the centre of the room, a wide smile on her face. "My big sister might control the day and night, but she has no power over dreams. They are the secret realm I share with all you pony folk, and only I! But you, my sweet and gorgeous darling, will forever be welcome here!" And as she spoke she rose into the air with a great beating of her wings and the tip of her horn burst with a flare of silver-blue light that stripped the walls away, and Twilight saw that she was standing, alone now, in an endless sea of silver dunes, the pitch-black sky above her studded with glaring stars. And there, far on the horizon, past the great expanse of glittering silver sand, reared the slender and mysterious castle of onyx with its towering minarets. 

But then that too was stripped away in another blinding flash of moonlight, and when Twilight could see again she was back in her bed in her own room and she realised she was awake, for real this time. The window and its velvet curtains were still closed and that the Princess of the Moon had ever come there was no sign...

...except for the gentle hint of jasmine upon her lips. A taste that lingered there and tingled, refusing to disappear until much later as Twilight lay in bed, her heart beating hard in her chest as she remembered the feeling of those tender wings around her, those soft woollen socks against her neck, those cool lips against her own.

*	*	*

The next day Twilight returned from a morning's shopping in the merchants' quarter of Canterlot City clutching a bag in her mouth. She snuck through the Eastern Gate into the Castle proper, the Elite Pegasus Guards nodding to her in greeting as she passed them, and as quickly and quietly as she could she trotted down the corridor towards her little room. The sharp sound of her hooves on the flagstones alarmed her, and more than once a shadow made her shy away, her heart beating fast.

But at last she reached her room. The door, wreathed in a purple aura, was just swinging open when a voice came suddenly from behind her, and she almost leaped into the air in surprise.

"Hello, my faithful student! Been out shopping have we?"

The bag dropped from Twilight's mouth as she turned, gaping in shock, to see Princess Celestia smiling down at her.

"Ah.... yes, Princess. Sh... shopping!" Twilight managed at last, a nervous grin springing onto her face. 

If Celestia noticed her discomfort, she gave no indication. But she did look at Twilight with laughing eyes that suddenly reminded her of grey-green ones she had seen the night before.

And then the Princess's eyes dropped to the bag lying on the stone floor, and with a sparkle of golden magic she levitated it up before her face.

"This is from Hoity Toity's Boutique!" said Celestia with some surprise. "I never knew you to have an interest in fashion before, Twilight Sparkle." She smiled at the unicorn pony warmly, but Twilight merely mouthed at her dumbly, the reply sticking in her throat. "I suppose your friendship with Rarity has given you an interest in it?"

Twilight continued to stare dumbly at the bag hovering between the two of them for several more heartbeats, but then at last she nodded. "Yes. I..." she began.

"Oh well, I hope you enjoy them." Celestia floated the bag over to Twilight, who straight away took the cord in her mouth. "I'll see you at dinner, then, my faithful student. I hear we're having daffodil soufflé tonight!"

Twilight dropped on a knee and then Celestia turned and left- and was that a knowing smile on her face, or had Twilight just imagined it? Not wanting to wait to find out, she bolted into her room and locked the door behind her.

She threw the bag onto the bed and leaped up after it, her heart racing. Oh, thank goodness the Princess hadn't looked inside! She would have died from embarrassment.

Twilight dipped her muzzle into the bag eagerly and drew out the two pairs of socks she had just bought. They were cashmere, just like Luna's, but dyed azure with the precious juice of the berries found only in the Swayback Mountains and embroidered with tiny white stars that glittered in the light of early morning.

She pressed her cheek against the material, her heart jumping when she remembered the touch of Luna's socks against her face, and she felt herself getting warmer all over and sighed. She wanted to try them on right away, but something stopped her. 

It was a voice.

She jumped off the bed, flinging the curtains aside and tearing the window open to look across the great divide at the little slanted tower on the other side of the courtyard.

The curtains to Luna's room were open, but of the Princess of the Moon there was no sign - and yet it was her voice that Twilight could hear, clear and giggling, in her mind.

"Oh my darling Twilight Sparkle! I cannot wait to see you try on your sexy new socks!"

THE END