“O-oh my.”
“It's very beautiful, isn't it?”
“Y-yes it is... I never imagined...”
Twilight and Luna were standing on the deck of the Ponyville Library. It was the middle of spring, and Winter Wrap Up had long past. The grass was growing and the flowers were blooming, adding a beautiful green hue to the world as Luna's moon shone brightly overhead in the dead of night. The temperature was warm and the air was muggy, but the sky remained crystal clear. The pair of them were looking through Twilight's largest telescope, which she had just set up the night before.
“Things are so much clearer with a bigger lens, don't you think?” asked Twilight.
“Definitely,” replied Luna, her eye glued to the eyepiece, the telescope pointed low on the horizon. “What's this star called?”
“It's called Antares. It's a part of the constellation called Scorpio,” said Twilight, looking at one of her books. Luna took her face away from the eyepiece finally, looking up at the sky itself. She stared in the direction of red star, the brightest one in the constellation, that continued to flicker different shades of red visible even to the naked eye.
“Does it always do that? I mean, how it shifts in colour constantly,” asked Luna.
“As far as I know, it always has, since the very beginning. It's how most astronomers find Scorpio in the sky.”
Luna continued to stare at intensely and curiously. She had never noticed it before, even in all of her time changing and perfecting the night sky so long ago. In the relatively short amount of time she had began doing astronomy with Twilight, she had started realizing that there was so much she didn't know about her own creation.
“Oh! There's something really interesting I want to show you before you go tonight!” Twilight began moving the telescope's orientation with her hooves, pointing it higher into the horizon. She fiddled with the viewfinder on the side, attempting to point it at a precise location. She then looked through the eyepiece, and then adjusted the telescope again. “A-ha, found it!” she exclaimed. “Although... it might be a little too dark to see on this particular telescope.”
“Oh, let me see,” replied Luna, trading places with Twilight. She looked through it again, squinting, trying to figure out what exactly she was seeing. “It's very... fuzzy.”
“Yeah... I'm sorry, I wanted to show you something I remember seeing back in the big observatory in Canterlot. Unfortunately this telescope just isn't big enough to see it clearly. It’d need to be a lot brighter for this particular telescope to pick it up.”
“What is it, exactly?” asked Luna, curiously.
“Well... nopony really knows. There's a few theories floating around, but as far as anypony can tell, it's sort of like a gigantic cluster of stars, very, very far away. They call it ‘Andromeda.’”
“Andromeda...” Luna looked out into the night sky again, trying to see if she could spot it with her naked eye. She could only see the same fuzzy outline out of the corner of her eye that she had seen in the telescope. Oh, how she wished she could see it. It was just then when a thought occurred to her.
“T-Twilight.”
“Yes, Luna?”
“If I... if I made it brighter, could we see it with this telescope?” asked Luna, turning towards her.
“W-well,” replied Twilight, taken aback by Luna's question. She had never imagined Luna could do something like that, but it did, of course, make complete sense. “... well, yes, theoretically you could make it brighter, and then we'd be able to see it from here. Are you sure you can do that, though?”
“I haven't done it in a very long time, but... I made all of this, right? I can't imagine it'd be too difficult.”
Twilight smiled. “Alright then. Give it a try, if you'd like. I can't wait to see what happens!”
Luna returned the unicorn's smile, then looked back to the night sky. She focused on where she had seen Andromeda, and closed her eyes, picturing it in her minds eye. Her horn began to glow with an odd type of brightness, as if it were moonlight itself. She didn't know what it looked like specifically, but she didn't need to. She only needed to command it to be brighter, and it would accommodate her desires. Suddenly, there was a large flash of energy from her horn, which shot up directly at Andromeda, lighting up the entire sky like a phosphorescent lake. The energy rippled across the sky, the stars gleaming and pulsating with waves of brilliant, pure light that could be seen through the entire sky. Luna opened her eyes finally, and the sight she saw nearly knocked her to the floor. A large, bright disk had appeared in the sky. It sparkled and filled the vista of the night, as if it was a cloud of innumerable stars, hovering in the abyss. It was so bright, so beautiful, and dwarfed everything else, short of the moon itself. There was not a sound to be heard from anywhere around them. They said nothing, only gasping and covering their mouths with their hooves in unison. The image of Andromeda burned itself into Luna's retina. Had she really made this all on her own? Twilight walked towards Luna and sat beside her, the two mares staring in awe at the galaxy, trying to take in everything.
“... a trillion stars,” said Luna suddenly, after a few moments.
“W-what?”
A tear ran down Luna's cheek. She had never imagined that her night held such wonders. It was beyond her wildest dreams. “There's a trillion stars... I can see them all gleaming and shining. Every individual one. I... I made... all of that...?”
Twilight wasn't sure what to say. She looked at Luna, who was simply staring at her creation in a kind of wonder that Twilight had never seen in anypony before. Her mane glowed with the same soft hue as the stars above them, her eyes reflecting and absorbing the light of Andromeda. Twilight couldn't help but admire her once more.
“I made... all... of it?” repeated Luna.
“You made the entire night sky, Luna. All of this is you,” replied Twilight, still in a state of mild shock. “It was seeing things like this as a young filly that made me fall in love with your night. I couldn't imagine anything else so beautiful.”
Luna responded by resting her head against Twilight's, continuing to look up at the beautiful galaxy whose light displaced the entirety of the sky. Twilight leaned back against her in kind. “Thank you, Twilight,” she said finally.
“There's no need to thank me. I didn’t do anything.”
“You've shown me who I am.”
Twilight blushed. “I just showed you what was already there.”
Luna smiled, nuzzling Twilight's neck with her muzzle, enjoying the warmth and Twilight's scent. It was one of her most favourite things to do in the world. There was nowhere else she felt this safe. “I would have never known myself if it weren't for you.”
“I just wanted to show you what you’ve made, so you’d know how beautiful it is. That’s all.”
“And that's why you're wonderful, Twilight.” Luna broke from the loving embrace, looking at Twilight, smiling and giggling to herself. Luna looked almost euphoric. Twilight loved seeing her so happy and calm. “I need to go home now, before it gets too late. Celestia and I are having some sister-time tomorrow. She even booked the whole evening off for me.”
“I completely understand. I hope you two have great fun!”
“We will,” said Luna, smiling sweetly again. She embraced the unicorn in a hug, and held her for as long as possible. Twilight returned it, smiling just as brightly. Luna then took a step back, a blush forming on her cheeks. “I had a wonderful time tonight, Twilight.”
“I did too. The last few months have been wonderful. Would you like to do this again in a few days from now, on Thursday? Weather permitting, of course,” replied Twilight.
“I'd love to!” exclaimed Luna, her eyes lighting up. She blushed even harder, looking up at Twilight in a slightly coy way. “Oh, and... Twilight...?”
Before Twilight could even utter a single syllable in response, Luna leaned in closer to the other mare. Twilight blushed bright red, her heart skipping a beat, as she felt Luna lay a soft, gentle, sweet kiss directly on her cheek. She then brought her lips to Twilight’s ear and whispered, “Goodnight.” Luna stepped back, smiling, and extended her wings, stretching them as wide as she could, and began flapping them, ascending off the viewing deck of the Ponyville Library. She looked tenderly at Twilight for a few moments, before launching herself high into the air in the direction of Canterlot, blending in and disappearing into the bright, starry night sky. Twilight could only sit there, stunned for a few moments, before coming back to her senses. Her heart was nearly leaping through her chest, its heartbeat pounding through her ears, having just been kissed for the first time in her life. But it took only one look back up at the night sky they had just shared, like so many times before, to make Twilight calm once more. She sighed, feeling that pure elation that she only felt when she was with the Princess of the Night - the night itself, personified. Twilight spoke softly into the heavens, closing her eyes, as if it were a private conversation only between her and Luna. And it was.
“I love you too, Luna.”
THE END