The, next day, the three ponies had flown to a clearing in a large patch of dry brush for their lunch stop. Now none of them liked landing here, because there were plenty of hiding places for things like cockatrices to lay in wait, and the whole area was a giant fire hazard, but their flight had left them in need of a rest, and Luna didn't want to risk overextending herself or her companions just to find somewhere else to set up camp.
While they were eating their lunch lunch, Luna noticed that Fluttershy had become more withdrawn than usual, which, considering Fluttershy was scared of Luna and liable to withdraw for that reason, was saying something. She asked, “Is there something bothering you, Fluttershy?”
“I don't want to talk about it.”
“Why not?”
“It's... personal.”
Luna didn't immediately respond, realizing that that might be the best she was going to get out of the yellow Pegasus at the moment. She shifted her haunches a bit, trying to get more comfortable, and, thinking a different line of approach might get results, asked, “does it have anything to do with the cockatrice we found yesterday?”
“I don't want to talk about it,” Fluttershy said, more assertively than usual.
“Okay then,” Luna said, backing down. She did want to know what was bothering Fluttershy, but it was obvious that she wasn't telling, and, if Rainbow knew, she probably wouldn't say anything either. This bothered the princess, not just because it could cause problems on their journey, but also because she did care about their well being. She asked, “Will it affect the trip?”
“It shouldn't. If it does, I'll let you know.”
“If you say so.”
An hour or so later, Luna, now playing solitaire, which was only working moderately well at staving off her boredom, looked up at the other two ponies, who were doing their own things. Fluttershy was lying at the river's edge, talking to a squirrel, while Rainbow was a few yards off, napping.
She considered the strange behavior that the two of them had been showing, specifically the fact that they stayed fairly close together when Rainbow wasn't napping, and away from her in general, and ran through a number of possible reasons in her head. Assassination was highly unlikely, as was trying to take the vessel for themselves, because there was no way Celestia would let them get away with either of those things, even if they did succeed. Also, the idea that they had committed a crime that she might discover made no sense, because their odd behavior had only manifested the day before, and she would be able to figure out if they were doing anything that would be illegal and worth dealing with. A couple of stranger ideas flitted through her head, but none of them fit with their behavior, so she still had no idea what was going on with them.
Moving on from the thought processes of a princess, Fluttershy, now done conversing with her new squirrel friend, noticed that Rainbow's nap was far from restful, and decided to check up on her. She reached the blue mare just in time to hear her mumble, “yeah, Fluttershy, right there. Just like that.”
Fluttershy had no idea what Rainbow was talking about, but decided that she was fine. As she walked off, she noticed Luna watching her, but dismissed it as worry about her earlier state. After all, even if she was a scary princess, she did seem to care about their well being, and that was enough to keep her from worrying about what Luna was thinking.
A few hours passed with nothing of import happening, or so one would think. Luna, despite having done this several times on the trip, hadn't properly doused the fire, probably because she was distracted by her thoughts on her companions, and it was still smoldering and throwing the occasional spark. Now this wouldn't be a problem if the winds hadn't started picking up.
Rainbow felt hooves shaking her, and a familiar voice full of urgency saying something that the Pegasus couldn't make out through the fog of sleep. Of course, when the scent of smoke reached her nostrils, she knew exactly what was going on. She sprung to her hooves and came face to face with a very concerned Luna. “Where's Fluttershy?” she asked.
“On the other side of the clearing, I will-”
Luna was cut short by Rainbow taking off towards Fluttershy's location. She sighed, grabbed Rainbow's saddle bag with her telekinesis, and flew off to the far side of the river, hoping the other two would find her.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash flew to where Luna had said Fluttershy would be, and found her a few yards away, safe from the flames for the moment, but it was obvious that this wouldn't last long. Unfortunately, in her terror, the yellow mare's wings had locked up, and she wasn't going to be able to fly.
Rainbow also took note of the fact that Fluttershy was wearing her blanket as a cape still, which was a big problem, as said blanket was much more flammable than her fur. Thinking quickly, Rainbow flew down and grabbed Fluttershy, holding her like a stallion would hold his bride. Fluttershy gave a squeak of surprise, and Rainbow said, “Don't worry, I got you.”
As Rainbow looked around, trying to find where Luna had gone off to, she took stock of the winds, trying to get a sense of where they would be safe, and where the princess had likely headed. She determined that the winds were blowing parallel to the river at the moment, though she wasn't sure whether they would change direction. The one aspect of the weather that pegasi don't control, after all, was the wind and, not being familiar with the local weather patterns, Rainbow had no idea what the winds would do. Fortunately, she spotted Luna on the far riverbank, and quickly headed over there.
They touched down on the other side, with Rainbow gently placing Fluttershy on the ground. Luna asked, “Are you two okay?”
“Yeah, you?”
“I am fine, do not worry. There is nothing we can do now, but I think I will have to be more careful about putting out our campfires from now on,” Luna said, dedicated to breaking her bad habit of using the royal we, once and for all.
“What do we do now, Princess?” Fluttershy asked, obviously still in shock, but having recovered enough to use her wings.
“We move. If the winds shift, we could be right back in the thick of it, and I do not want to take that chance.”
“Agreed,” Rainbow said.
Before they left, Fluttershy tapped Rainbow's flank to get her attention, and when the blue mare turned to look at her, said, “Thank you for saving me.”
“I promised I would protect you, and that's what I did.”
With everything in order, they set off, hoping that the flames would burn themselves out quickly, and not cause any major damage. Luna spent their long flight cursing herself for letting something like this happen, while Rainbow Dash was simply glad to be safe and Fluttershy wondered if the local fauna would be okay.
Touching down well away from the fire, they set up camp, and Luna started the campfire much closer to the river than before, saying she would dump the ashes into the river when they went to bed, and not risk another fiery wake-up call.
Over their early dinner, Rainbow Dash said, “Thanks again for waking me up, Luna.”
“Happy to help, but I have to ask why did you fly off after I woke you up?”
“I promised to protect Fluttershy, so it made sense to me to save her.”
“That makes sense, but I think I saw something else there. It looked like you were scared of something,” Luna lied, hoping to get Rainbow to explain what was going on.
Rainbow sighed, thinking she had been caught out, and said, “Well, it was also that I love Fluttershy, and I couldn't bear the thought of losing her to that fire. I needed to be absolutely sure she would be okay.”
Luna wasn't sure she understood what was being said. “What do you mean you love her?”
“Just that. I'm in love with Fluttershy.”
“Would this have anything to do with your state of mind today, Fluttershy?” Luna asked.
“Yes,” Fluttershy said.
Luna was now very confused, but only because she didn't understand why they thought that they had to keep this a secret from her. She had had plenty of romantic feelings in her long life, both towards mares and stallions, but between fighting Discord, building a new nation, and living in Celestia's shadow, she was never in a position to pursue them, much to the night princess' frustration. She asked “why not tell me in the first place?
“We weren't sure how a princess who spent a millennium in the moon would take the idea of two mares in a relationship.”
“Well, I guess that makes sense. Also, I have to ask, how would ponies respond if ponies who grew up in the modern era found out?”
“If Lyra and Bon Bon are anything to go by, I'm not sure they would care too much.”
“Lyra and Bon Bon?”
“Two mares in Ponyville who have been dating for two years now,” Fluttershy explained. “Everyone in town knows they're together.”
“And no one has a problem with it?”
“Well, the older folks do,” Rainbow said, “But the younger ponies don't have a problem with it at all. I should also point out that it's a recent trend in favor of increased acceptance, which is why we were so concerned about telling you.”
“Okay, now everything makes much more sense. On that note, Fluttershy, how do you feel about Rainbow Dash? Do you love her back?”
“I don't know. I've been trying to get a handle on my feelings for the past day or so.”
“I wish I could help you with that, but, whatever you decide, know that you have my full support in this.”
“Wait, so you're not bothered by the two of us being lesbimares?” Rainbow asked.
“Being what?”
“Lesbimare. That's the term for a mare who's attracted to other mares. There are other, more derogatory terms for the same thing, like fillyfooler, but that's the most common and most neutral one.” Fluttershy explained.
“No, I do not have a problem with it. If I'm honest, I'm a bit surprised that anypony would, but perhaps there's something I'm missing that would make ponies think it is distasteful.”
“I can't think of anything that would, but maybe it's just my youth. Also, if you don't mind, I think I've decided what my reward should be,” Fluttershy said.
“Of course. I was hoping you would have something by now. So, what would you like as your reward?”
“The laws of Equestria still ban same-sex marriages. Could you change them to allow such marriages?”
“I did not know they were banned, actually. I will have to get my sister's support for this, but if I know my sister, I should be able to convince her to lend it, though she may make make me stop pranking her for a while, but that is the price you pay,” Luna said with a wry grin.
“I thought making her destroy her own bed would stop you for a while.”
“No, it just adds to the temptation. My sister is great to prank because she has the best reactions at the time, and usually laughs at herself after the fact. Sometimes she doesn't, though.”
“What does she do in those cases?”
“She tends to be very angry at me for a few days, and some of those times, I do go too far. For example, ask her about the noodle incident sometime, or, better yet, don't.”
Rainbow couldn't help but ask, “What was the noodle incident?”
“I am not telling, because my sister might banish me to the moon again if finds out I told anyone about what happened,” Luna said, jokingly.
Dinner concluded and they spent the rest of their time before going to bed talking about modern life with Luna, and what life was like before she was banished.
The next morning, lying in her tent, Fluttershy came to a realization about her feelings towards Rainbow Dash, but decided she would wait until after breakfast to tell anyone, to make sure that she had come to the right conclusion.
Over breakfast, Rainbow asked, “Do you really think Celestia would go along with Fluttershy's request?”
“I'm not absolutely positive, but I think that, as long as I am willing to compromise, and twist a few forelegs, to keep any naysayers from getting too loud, I should be able to get it done, though I will point out that politics is a dirty business, and sometimes things get unnecessarily complicated. If what you said about old attitudes is true, this looks to be one of those cases.”
“Well, hopefully it will all work out in the end, because I'd like to get married to a mare someday. Also, Flutters, I have to ask. Even if we do start a relationship after this trip, I doubt we'll be getting married anytime soon, so why take that as your reward?”
“I thought that if I was could request anything from a princess, I would go with something that would benefit a lot of ponies, instead of something that only I could enjoy,” Fluttershy lied. The truth was that it was the only thing that had come to mind, after days of thought that couldn't also be accomplished through simpler means. Still, it wasn't totally dishonest, because Fluttershy did believe in helping as many others as possible.
“Oh, of course. What more could be expected from the kindest pony in Equestria.”
Fluttershy blushed at hearing this, and thought about what she was now sure she was going to tell Rainbow in a few minutes. Luna then said to her, “your altruism is commendable, and if there is anything else you want, I am sure I could grant it.”
“No, that's okay,” Fluttershy said, now done with her breakfast, and in no mood to think about what else she would want as a reward. She walked to her tent, and started putting on her blanket. Wearing your blanket as a cape is much harder than it sounds for a pony, seeing as they have no fingers, but Fluttershy had her technique down pat, and soon was taking down the tent.
When Rainbow finished eating, she walked over to the tent and was helping take it down, when Fluttershy said, “I've finally got a handle on my feelings, and I have something I want to tell you.”
“Yes?” Rainbow said, her anticipation obvious.
“I love you too.”
Rainbow, overjoyed at hearing this, gave Fluttershy another big kiss, this one the yellow mare happily returned.
Author's Notes:
Sorry it took so long. It took three attempts to get a version I was satisfied with, and none of them were easy to write (and I admit, I'm not completely satisfied with how I started this chapter, but it is kinda hard to come off the sort of ending that I gave the last chapter in a satisfactory manner). Also, it nearly took a fourth draft before I figured it would be easier to rework this one into a form I was satisfied with (and, seriously, I'm publishing it because I'm tired of editing it).
And yes, I wrote Luna as bi, though only because I have some ideas I could play with, in that regard. Whether I do or not depends on how it works out in my drafts.
Also, credit where credit is due. First, kudos to Archlyn for supporting me throughout the process, and giving me some fun ideas that I'm planning on testing in the last chapter. Also, there's an idea that I got from Souldin's excellent fic, Magnetism!, though, depending on how it works out, the idea may be dropped. I also want to credit Souldin for helping me realize that lesbimare is an accepted term for pony lesbians.
And, lastly, the next chapter is the final one, and the one where the AU tag is finally justified (only because I forgot about it until now). It's going to be big, probably somewhere between 5000 and 7500 words because there's a lot to get through, and something that big doesn't get written in a few days, at least not with a perfectionist like me at the helm, even if I do write fast.