The sun laid low in the sky, evening rolling in on the warm summer’s day and casting long shadows everywhere. Two ponies walked in the palace gardens, the shadows stretching behind them as they made their way through the deserted foliage. The gardens were always quiet at this time in the evening and the two ponies knew that, they also knew of a bench, not far from the statue of Discord, which was perfect for such an occasion.
They sat down, watching the sunset quietly as they had done for the past month or so.
“Twi?”
“Yeah?”
“You ever had any regrets in your life?”
“A few, I regret not making friends earlier, stuff like that. Why’d you ask?”
Rainbow shifted on the bench next to Twilight, a shiver passing through her body as she prepared herself.
“Well, I’ve had a few regrets too; you remember how I was, when you first met me? When I always practiced at every spare moment in the day?”
Twilight nodded.
“That’s one of them. I know that my dream’s always been to join the Wonderbolts, but I’ve ignored other dreams in exchange for the Wonderbolts. So many opportunities, and each time I was too busy practising a new stunt or routine.”
Twilight put her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, “Don’t feel too bad though, you’ve managed your first dream, what’s stopping you from fulfilling your other dreams too?” she asked, smiling encouragingly at her friend.
Rainbow turned her head, a slight smile on her face as she met Twilight’s reassuring gaze, then kept looking. After what seemed like an impossible amount of time, Rainbow’s cheeks coloured and she broke eye-contact, looking out at the sunset again.
“No reason.” She replied quickly, her cheeks still tinted red against the dying light.
Rainbow took a deep breath before continuing, “Look, what I’m trying to say is that I have a lot of regrets, I just don’t want to do something that’s going to make another one now.”
Twilight remained silent, her brow furrowed slightly as she tried to follow Rainbow’s words.
“Twilight, me and you, we’re good friends right?”
“The best.” Twilight replied, confused.
“Well… what if that wasn’t enough?” Rainbow replied, turning to Twilight again, her eyes determined.
“Wha-?”
Then Rainbow leant forwards and kissed her on the lips. Twilight’s eyes widened and she immediately backed away, breaking the kiss and looking at Rainbow with her mouth wide open. Rainbow, for her part, looked at Twilight and cringed, wilting down into her seat and turning back to the sunset.
“What did I say? Just another regret.” Rainbow said into the air, still looking at the sunset.
Twilight’s head spun, ‘Rainbow Dash had kissed her? But what did that even mean? Since when had Rainbow ever hinted at feeling like, well, that?’ The silence was broken by a short and quiet sobbing sound, loud against the backdrop. Twilight turned her head to see the source.
Rainbow Dash, still looking straight at the sunset, was crying, the tears sparkling amazingly from the sunset as they refracted the light into several million rainbows.
“Rainbow…” she started, voice choked.
“All this time, all I did? And it ends like this?” Rainbow asked, although Twilight wasn’t sure who she was even asking.
“All you did, what do you mean?” Twilight asked, worried by Rainbow’s replies.
“All those walks, all those trips to the coffee shops, all the times we’ve come here and watched the sunset, and you never even knew?” Rainbow let out a bittersweet laugh, “Well at least I know now.”
Twilight kept looking at her friend, completely at a loss for what to do. She had skimmed Cadence’s books on love, but they’d been mostly unhelpful, all of them referring to ‘testing the waters’ and ‘doing what felt right,’ nothing concrete anywhere.
“Rainbow?” Twilight repeated, seeing the flick of an ear that heralded she’d been heard, “I… I never knew you felt about me that way, I’d never even considered it.” Memory after memory flew her by, Rainbow and her at Pony Joes, Rainbow and her laughing together at a play, Rainbow and her, those nights where the loneliness of the stone city finally got to her, and where she’d ask Rainbow to come and comfort her for the night…
Had she really been lying to herself all this time?
“Rainbow?” Twilight asked again.
“What Twilight, you’ve already broken my heart, can’t you at least give me some peace now?” Rainbow snapped, swinging her head towards Twilight and fixing her with her puffy-eyed glare.
Twilight drew back slightly, but steeled herself, “What if I said that I didn’t regret it?”
The same look of confusion passed over Rainbow’s face as it had done Twilight’s.
And Twilight leant in to kiss Rainbow.
It had none of the elegance that Rainbow’s kiss had possessed; it had none of the co-ordination or the restraint, but it was the action that counted, that’s what Twilight told herself. After a few seconds, Twilight drew back, breaking the kiss and looking at Rainbow anxiously.
“Buh- wha- I thought- you said-“ Rainbow stuttered, her cheeks almost glowing as the sun started to set over the horizon.
“I said that I’d never considered it.” Twilight answered, “Not whether I wanted it, deep down I suppose.” She continued, still trying to weigh up her own emotions on the matter.
“So… does this mean that you, you know… like mares?” Rainbow started, looking oddly nervous for once.
Twilight thought, she’d never felt like this before, she’d never felt her heart ring so loudly against her chest, nor felt her brain explode as she kissed her…
“I like you.” She replied honestly.
“That’s good.” Rainbow replied, her smile replacing itself as they looked towards each other with the same mutual smile.
They both leant in as the sun passed over the horizon, sharing their first kiss together in the silent stone city.
“And you saw that?”
“No, as it turned out, they weren’t alone in the garden. My Sister was keeping watch over the sunset that evening, turns out she got more than she expected to get.” Celestia replied with a wry smile, fondly remembering that night when Luna had bounded into her room, yelling the good news at her.
“Did they get their happily ever after?” Apple Slice asked, looking at Twilight’s grave.
“I think they got their own piece of it, yes.”