Early in the morning, just before the sun would rise, the two regal sisters were enjoying their separate meals. Since this is late to Luna, she was technically eating dinner. A huge salad bowl with salad dressing poured all over it sat before her, as Luna was attempting to go on a diet. Unfortunately for her, she didn't understand that she needed to eat in smaller portions, along with eating healthy. As such, Luna was devouring the food placed in front of her.
"Oh gosh, it feels like I haven't eaten in ages!" Luna exclaimed.
Celestia laughed at Luna's foalish eating habits. Unlike her sister, this was the morning to her, so she decided to have a extravagant breakfast. Spread over the table on her side was apple juice, a stack of toast, Prench toast, waffles, hay fries, and some eggs. Celestia had to admit to herself, she too would enjoy eating like Luna, but hundreds of years of table etiquette stopped her from doing so.
"You should slow down Lulu or you’re going to get sick like last time," Celestia said softly.
"I shall not! Besides, that happened once, and only once!" Luna glared at Tia while still munching on some of her lettuce.
Shaking her head, Celestia looked back at Luna, "One of these days, you will have to learn to eat properly."
"Tia, we both know I can eat properly, I simply choose not to! Besides, it's just you, me, and a couple of guards. Who would honestly mind?" Luna arched an eyebrow, looking back at Tia.
"That may be true, but still." Celestia looked over to the window to distract herself from Luna's eating habits, when she noticed the weather. "Look, Luna! it's snowing." Tia said without much thought, nearly facehoofing at what she had just said.
Luna turned her head to where Tia was looking, and it indeed was snowing. She stopped eating her salad almost immediately. "So it is…" Luna pouted. "I guess we are in winter now, aren't we?"
"I'm sorry Luna, I shouldn't have said anything." Celestia apologized using a soft caring voice.
"It's fine, everypony forget things, time to time. Even one of the great Princesses." Luna laughed nervously.
"Forgive me Luna?" Celestia pleaded.
"Of course, sister. I am retiring to my chambers for the day." Luna stood up from the table facing her Celestia.
"Sleep well, dear sister," Celestia gets up and gently wraps her foreleg and wing around her sister. "I shall see you when you awaken. Once again, I'm sorry."
Returning the hug, Luna then turned and began to head to her chambers. As soon as Luna left, Celestia used her magic to quickly stuff as much food in her mouth as possible.
"Mmmm… every once in a while, it is alright to indulge ones urges," Celestia giggled happily.
On the way to her chambers, Luna took notice of the snow gently falling from the clouds outside. Sighing, she hung her head low, looking at her hooves as she headed for her room. This was the first winter back from her banishment, and something was missing. Winter had become one of her favourite seasons, in some ways it reminded her of her night, and of another. Finally arriving at her chambers, the guards opened the doors before her and she quickened her pace towards her balcony. She sat down and looked out over Canterlot. The sun was not quiet up yet. Suddenly, her gaze was caught by a snowflake, as it fell slowly before her eyes. Acting quickly, she caught the simple, yet complex thing in her hoof and brought it closer to her eyes so she could examine it.
Sighing again, Luna walked over to her bed. With her magic, she removed her crown and other regalia, placing them carefully on her night stand. Slowly, she crawled into her bed, curling into a tight ball.
"Oh Snowdrop… how I miss you." Closing her eyes, Luna waited for sleep to greet her so she may pass into a dream. Normally when Luna fell asleep she would awaken in her dreamscape, but this was one of the irregular times. This time, she had awoken in a dream of her own. Taking a look around, she noticed she was in Cloudsdale, over a thousand years ago. Upon further inspection, she noticed that the Pegasus Ponies were getting ready for winter. In the distance, she could hear some of the veteran Weather Ponies complaining.
"Ugh, this sucks. A few years ago, preparing for winter was much easier." One of them said, with a hint of anger.
"Ever since that little Snowdrop presented the princess with that snowflake of hers, our workload has increased significantly!" Another added.
Luna had half a mind to fly over there and beat them both into a pulp, but decided not to. Walking away from the industrial area, she began to wonder why she was here. Something about this day felt familiar to her, but she just couldn't put her hoof on it. So she decided to fly off into the more rural area of Cloudsdale. Gliding through the air she saw a familiar home in the distance and decided to head towards it.
"I wonder if Snowdrop is here." She said aloud. Bringing her hoof up she attempted to knock on the door to the little house. As she went to knock on the door her hoof went through it. "That's odd well, unless this is a memory." Walking through the door she headed towards Snowdrops room. As she grew closer she could her the sound of two grown mares laughing. Her interest was peeked so she stuck her head through the door to peer in. What she saw brought a warm smile to her muzzle. Before her eyes was Snowdrop and herself. The other Luna was tickling Snowdrop, as she tried desperately to break away.
"Lulu stop! I can't take it anymore." Snowdrop giggled.
"Never!" Luna kept tickling her sides.
"Pleeeeaaasee!" Snowdrop cried out, putting on the best puppy dog face she could.
"Oh, you know I could never resist that look. Fine, I shall stop." Luna got off of Snowdrop, grabbing her hoof bringing her back to all four.
"Thank you. I couldn't take much more of that torture."
"Anything for you." Luna smiled looking outside. "It’s going to start snowing sometime today."
"Really? I can't wait!" Snowdrop wrapped her hooves around Luna with a huge smile on her face. Luna wrapped her hooves around Snowdrop as well, blushing slightly.
"Snowdrop, I was wondering if you'd accompany me to Ponyville. We could experience your snow together."
"How would I be able to? I can’t seem to fly down there." She began to tear up, then Luna hugged her tighter.
"Don't Cry Snowdrop, I'll carry you down on my back."
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to be a burden to you." Snowdrop said, with some hope in her voice.
"You could never be a burden to me. You are one of the few friends I have."
"All right! In that case, I'd love to go down to Ponyville with you." Snowdrop smiled hugging Luna even tighter then letting go. Realizing how long they were hugging, she blushed darkly.
Luna who had been still standing in the door the whole time was still smiling. "Ah, now I remember this day." Luna quickly put a hoof to her muzzle realising she just spoke aloud. Checking to make sure she didn't disturb the two grown mares, then she laughed to herself. "That's right, they won't be able to hear me, since this is a memory.
"When are we going down to Ponyville, Lulu?" Snowdrop smiled.
"You and Midnight Whispers shall be going down in about two hours." Luna responded.
"Oh." Snowdrop sounded a little hurt by this.
"I'm sorry, Snowdrop, I can't go as myself, as we would cause havoc over Ponyville. It's not often that Tia or I visit, and when we do we usually have to announce it a week in advance. Even then, everypony is constantly bowing to us and bothering us and I don't want to be bothered when I'm with you." Luna explained the best she could, trying not to hurt her best friend’s feelings.
"It’s all right, at least it's still you. After all, appearances don't matter to me." Snowdrop laughed at her own expense.
"I suppose, but for now I have to get going. I need to tell Tia where I will be so she won't worry about me."
"All right I'll be here when you get back. You said two hours right?" Snowdrop questioned.
"Yes. Bye Snow, I'll be back soon to pick you up."
"Bye."
With that, Luna took off towards the castle, so she could tell her sister what she was doing. Behind her, Luna trailed herself. As Luna was flying through the air, all she could think about was Snowdrop. Ever Since that day where she presented that "Star" to her and her sister, Luna felt something special towards Snowdrop. Recently, she found out this something was love. As soon as Luna arrived at the castle, she was greeted by Celestia.
"I see you’re back, sister." Tia smiled warmly at her sister.
"Yes, I came back to let you know that I'm going to be heading to Ponyville tonight, as Midnight Whispers."
"Is this about Snowdrop, little sister?" Celestia brought her head down a little to look Luna in the eyes.
Luna was practically trembling where she stood. Sure, at some point she planned to tell Tia how she felt about Snowdrop, but definitely not now. She wanted to wait until they had started dating. After all, she didn't know how Tia would react about her liking another mare.
She looked down avoiding Celestia's gaze "U-u-uh," Luna gulped taking a moment to breathe. "Y-yes." she mumbled so softly that if Celestia's head wasn't near hers she would have missed it.
"I see." Celestia lifted her head back up. "I don't need to tell you that the nobles cannot know about this, right?"
"Yes, sister." Luna pouted, her head drooping now.
"But Lulu... if you like Snowdrop, then go after her." Tia smiled.
"You mean you don't care that I like a..." Luna looked around to make sure there were none within ear shot.
"A mare?" Celestia said quietly. Luna simply nodded. "Not at all, Lulu. If she makes you happy, then I'm happy for you. After all, I'd be lying if I said I never felt like this about another mare."
"Really?" Startled, she stared at her sister with wide eyes. They usually told each other everything, but this was news to Luna. "When?" Luna asked her, ears perking up and her head held up high again.
"Another time, dear sister, for now, you need to get ready for your date with Snowdrop."
"Your right! I'll be back later to tell you all about it!" Luna yelled excitedly.
As Luna went to take off towards Ponyville, Celestia called to her once more, "And good luck Lulu!"
With that, Luna was off. She flew as quick as her wings would carry her to Ponyville. She silently cursed herself for not having as big of a wing span as her sister yet. As she drew closer to Ponyville, she used her magic to turn into Midnight Whispers. When she visited Ponyville, she commonly used this form, so other ponies wouldn't disturb or question her. As she arrived in Ponyville, she greeted a few passing ponies. For the time being, she was walking. After getting to the market, in a much slower pace then she would've liked, Midnight went up to the Apple Family stand, where Granny Smith was working, and bought a bunch of apples for her date. After grabbing a few more things from the market, Midnight took everything to a hill on the outskirts of town and set everything up.
Casting a glance up in the sky, she could tell that it was time to raise the moon. Looking around, she made sure that nopony was around to see her raise the moon. Beating her wings gently, she lifted a few feet off the ground as she used her magic to pull the moon up over the horizon. Collapsing gently to the ground after using her magic, she made a mental note to herself, 'Shape shifting and raising the moon all at the same time is a bad idea.' she panted. After a moment to relax, she took off towards Snowdrop's house again.
"Oh, I hope Snowdrop will enjoy this." As she was soaring to Snowdrop's house, a thought hit her. 'What if Snowdrop thinks I'm a freak for liking her? No no no no no no, she would never, would she?' For a moment, Midnight felt a pain in her chest where her heart was. 'I don't know what I'd do if she rejected me...' Midnight pouted as her thoughts began to eat away at her, 'Would she still want to be my friend, after I told her how I feel?'. Soon she arrived at Snowdrops home, and dispelled her transformation. Willing her thoughts to an end, she knocked on the door loudly. After a moment, the door opened to reveal Snowdrop's mother.
"Hello Primrose, I'm here to take your daughter down to Ponyville, so we can experience her snow fall together." Luna smiled at Primrose.
"Hello, Princess Luna!" She began to bow.
"How many times do I have to ask you not to do that, while we are in private?" Luna stopped her by putting her hoof on Primrose's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, it's just odd addressing you, without your formal title. Please come in. I'll go get Snowdrop, unless you wish to get her yourself." Primrose smiled at Luna finally loosening up a bit.
"I'll wait in the living room, while you get your daughter." Luna smiled back at rose.
"Alright." Rose trotted upstairs to get her daughter from her room leaving Luna alone again.
Quietly Luna began speaking to herself, "You can do this. She is your best friend, and the one pony you can trust not to over react. What happens if she does though, what if she never wants to speak to me again, and tells everypony that Princess Luna is a fillyfooler? That would be absolutely dreadful." She pouted.
Luna stopped talking to herself when she heard hooves clacking on the ground.
"Hello again Lulu, it’s nice to see you again," Snowdrop giggled.
"Hey Snowdrop," Luna smiled warmly.
"Luna." Primrose was besides Snowdrop holding her hoof more as a guide then anything else.
"Yes, Rose?" She turned her attention towards Snowdrop's mother.
"Please, be careful with my daughter. I don't know how I'd be able to live without her," Primrose sniffled a little bit, hugging Snowdrop.
"Mooooom!" She whined. "You’re embarrassing me in front of Luna."
Luna giggled quietly to herself.
"Besides, Luna would never let anything or anyone hurt me. Isn't that right, Lulu?" Snowdrop faced in, what she guessed was Luna's general direction.
Looking Primrose in the eyes Luna began to speak again, "On my honour as one of the Princesses of Equestria, I promise no harm will befall your daughter." Luna put a hoof to her chest.
"All right Luna, I'm trusting you with the most important thing in my life."
"Rest assured, that your trust is not misplaced." Luna assured Primrose.
Snowdrop walked up to Luna, letting go of her mother’s hoof. "Are we ready to go, Lulu?"
"Almost," Quickly casting her transformation spell again. "Now we are ready." Stepping outside, Snowdrop hopped onto Midnights back.
"Bye Mom! I'll be back later!" Snowdrop called and waved.
As soon as Midnight took off, Snowdrop wrapped her hooves around Midnight and held on tight, nuzzling her neck to shield her from the wind blowing onto her face. Snowdrop may have been a pegasus, but thanks to her condition, flying alone was hard, but flying fast was impossible. Midnight blushed, which now, since her coat was silver, was much easier to spot to anypony else. Midnights grin seemed to be stuck on her face, along with the blush, the whole way to Ponyville. As they neared the ground, Midnight slowly lowered herself and Snowdrop to the ground.
"All right Snowdrop, you can get off now," Midnight pouted a bit at this.
"O-ok." Sliding slowly off of Midnight's back she stepped on the ground for the first time. "Wow! This feels so much different from the clouds in Cloudsdale!"
Midnight giggled at Snowdrops amusement, "Just be careful please, the ground is a lot harder and more unforgiving then the clouds."
"All right, Midnight." Snowdrop smiled, "So where are we? I know we aren't in town or not to close, but I can’t hear anything that sounds like a town."
"We are on a hill, just outside the outskirts of Ponyville. I set up a blanket and a picnic basket for us, so we can eat and maybe lay down on it."
"Okay! So how much longer till it starts to snow?" Snowdrop asked enthusiastically.
"It will be about a half an hour or so." Midnight offered quickly.
"Well, can you try to tell me what our surroundings look like, Lu- I mean Midnight?" Snowdrop grimaced at her slip-up.
Midnight taking quick note of Snowdrops face spoke up with sincerity in her voice, "Don't worry, nopony was around to hear it, it is entirely fine."
"But… what if someone was?" Snowdrop said, with a small hint of sadness.
"You need not worry." Midnight wrapped Snowdrop in her hooves, pulling her into her lap, "As for our surroundings, let me see." She took a slow look around, taking note of her surroundings. "Well," She spun Snowdrop around, placed a hoof on her cheek, her other wrapped around snowdrops waist. "Over there, we have a small forest filled with trees," Midnight used her hoof to guide Snowdrop’s face in the direction of the woods.
"What are those things?" Snowdrop asked.
"Hm… let’s see… trees are these plants that grow in the ground. They are brown on the bottom, and up the middle and green on top depending on the type of tree. A forest is a place with a lot of plants, trees, and animals in it. Follow me so far?" Midnight looked down at Snowdrop and smiled.
"I think so. It sounds nice." she smiled happily, "Please continue."
"Well, there really isn't much, the forest isn't actually small it kind of surrounds us, but we have a bit of field separating us from it."
"Oh, okay." Snowdrop climbed off of Midnights lap "What are all these things I'm hearing? They all sound like chirping."
"Those are birds and crickets."
"Oh, can we have some of the food you bought?"
"Yes, I didn't bring much, just some apples." Midnight used her magic to grab an apple from the basket, and placed it on Snowdrops hoof.
"Thanks, Midnight." Snowdrop began eating the apple with a loud crunch.
Silence fell upon the two mares for a moment, just long enough for Midnight's thoughts to wander back into her head. 'She's so adorable... I hope she like mares too. Why would she though? It's not like all mares like mares too. Heck, as far as I know, only Tia and I like mares! She might even call me a freak and try to run away! That can't happen. I promised Rose that nothing would happen to her daughter. Oh, this isn't good.' Midnight began panting heavily.
Just as Midnight's thoughts were about to continue, she heard Snowdrops calling to her. "Hey Midnight? What's wrong? Your breathing heavily and I'm a little worried about you."
"Uh, Snowdrop, I have to tell you something, but first," Midnight released the spell she cast on herself, causing a small gust of wind. Luna continued, "I don't know how to say this right, so I'm just going to come out and tell you, just promise me you won’t hate me."
"I could never hate you Lulu, now tell me please." Snowdrop sat down close to Luna facing her.
After a moment, Luna gulped and began to speak again, "Snowdrop, I like you, and not just as a friend. I like you more than that, I believe that I may love you. Please don't hate me." Luna said a little quickly, then hid behind her hooves.
All Snowdrop could do for a little bit was laugh. Luna peered at Snowdrop from behind her own hooves.
"Snowdrop, why are you laughing?"
"Luna. You had no reason to worry, and they said I was the blind one!" Snowdrop giggled softly.
"Pardon?" Luna asked softly.
"You really couldn't tell? Lulu, I like you too. I have for a very long time. Maybe it didn't seem like it at first, because I was a little bashful around you since you happen to be a princess, and all. Then when you started to come and visit me more often, all I could think of was the next time you would come to see me." Snowdrop smiled happily.
"You do?" Luna asked with a blush.
"How about this, Lulu." Snowdrop pressed forward pressing her muzzle smugly against Luna's, kissing her as passionately as she could. Just as the kiss happened, it finally began to snow.
"I love you, Luna."
"I love you too, Snowdrop.”
Luna awoke in bed, crying. Opening her wings, she quickly ran out of bed, jumped off her balcony, spreading her wings, and flew as fast as she could, to the very same hill. The snow was still coming down fast, but it didn't bother Luna. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she reached the hill. She landed quickly, then saw something planted on the hill. Walking over to get a better look at what was planted, Luna collapsed next to it, what was next to her just happened to be a little garden with nothing, except Snowdrops planted in it.
"Who would have planted these here?"
"She did sister,"
"Huh?" Quickly Luna got up and turned around to face her sister.
"Tia? What do you mean?" Luna began to cry a little more, her tears were streaming down her cheeks.
Celestia quickly closed the distance between herself and her sister, and wrapped both her forehooves and wings around Luna, and gently stroked her mane. "After you were gone I came here remembering what you told me that night, the one where you came here with Snowdrop. When I arrived, Snowdrop was here with her mother, she was planting these flowers here for you. She told me, 'she was afraid that she might never hear from you again. So I'm leaving these here for her so she will always have a piece of me here whenever she returns.' Then when she left, I used my magic to keep the very same flowers she planted alive."
After a moment, Luna spoke up again, no longer crying. "Thank you Tia, for keeping these alive for me to see. It is the greatest thing you both could have done for me, and I shall cherish it forever."