//------------------------------// // Photos and Masks // Story: Honey(on the)moon // by James Rye //------------------------------// Rainbow woke up in the morning before Twilight. She looked at the cute ear twitch her wife had while murmuring something about books being overdue. Rainbow smiled and stroked her wife's face free of some wild hair streaks. Twilight rolled around in her sleep, one of her wings suddenly raised and whisked over Rainbow's nose. Feeling how those soft feathers threatened to make her sneeze, Rainbow quickly covered up her muzzle and tried to suppress it. Phffzztt! Quickly, Rainbow looked over to Twilight to see if her suppressed sneeze had woken her up. All she heard was a content smack and a hum. Relieved the pegasus stood up and walked towards one of the suitcases. There was a reason why she woke up earlier than Twilight, a habit she had taken from her time in the Wonderbolts academy and on the Wonderbolts team, she wanted to know what was inside that book. Yesterday she had been too tired to care much about it, though her interest had been piqued already. She wanted to see what she would like about such a thick book now, and not in the evening, still a bazillion hours away. Quietly, she opened the suitcase and rummaged its contents on the search for said book. Soon, she found it under some scrolls and quills Twilight had taken with her to write their friends some letters about their honeymoon. She snickered as she thought what faces they would make once they read that she and Twi were up on the moon. Carefully, she took the big, heavy book outside and put it on another closed suitcase to check what could be inside that would interest her so much as Twilight had said she would. Rainbow doubted this thick book would hold any story interesting enough to keep her attention for long. Even if she liked some books thanks to Twilight's constant tries to get her interested in other book types than Daring Do, Rainbow still prefered cool and action-filled adventure stories over anything else. This book looked nothing like it she would enjoy; big, heavy and plain brown covers with neither picture nor title on it. Rainbow opened the book, prepared to be disappointed, and her eyes widened in surprise. On the very first page was the first photo taken of her, Twilight, and the others as they had come together for a group shot. Under it was a date and a couple words written, clearly carrying Twilight's swift yet elegant quill-style: My very best friends. The date next to it went almost five years back. Rainbow swallowed, feeling a lump in her throat. Have really five years passed since she had first meet Twi and became friends with the rest of the gang? It felt like it had been just yesterday and yet it also felt like she knew them all for ages. She leafed through the book, looking at each page at the photos, remembering the times and circumstances they had been taken in. She readed her lover's accurate dates and honest remarks under them, smiling at some, grinning at others and snickering at a few humorous ones. She skimmed through more pages, pictures of just Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike and many others came up from occasions she and Twi had only heard of in some of their meetings, yet there were pictures of their adventures too. Rainbow felt some sort of melancholia slowly take seat in her heart. Would she have ever guessed that she would have had that much fun, happiness and different adventures every day before she meet Twilight and the gang? All she had thought and done before them was to train for the Wonderbolts, her dream come true, to do her weatherpony job to earn bits, and to nap everyday. Sometimes she would meet Fluttershy to help with her critters or to get her to watch her stunts, but with the others she hadn't socialised much. Then came a nerdy, purple unicorn to town and Rainbow got the bestest friends ever for life overnight. She didn't know why she had been so keen to stay with Twilight despite her hardly being the coolest pony she had seen, but there had just been something about her that had drawn Rainbow to her. And she was happy to have done so, as she couldn't imagine her life without her, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Twi was right, this is really a great book. I had no idea she had made a photobook over all those years. I wonder if the others have seen it already. As she went to the next page, Rainbow was sure that she was the first besides Twilight to have seen this book. There she was, a blue pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane. A cocky and prideful expression in her face with a small smile softening its features. A mischievous look of a prankster in her rose eyes combined with a friendliness shining in them. Her athletic stature speaking of confidence and hard-earned skills, yet there was no ounce of arrogant loneliness, just a feeling of loyal comradery. Under it was no date, so Rainbow didn't know when she had stood there so perfectly, so herself. She readed the notice Twilight had written below it. My first girlfriend. Rainbow was a bit disappointed. She had expected some more stuff written about herself. At least a "she's so cool", could have been under it, she thought. Then she remembered that she hadn't done anything similar like Twilight had done. Sure, she kept all the love letters Twilight had written when she was away for business in Canterlot or the Crystal Empire, or when Rainbow herself was in the academy or away on tour. But she hasn't organized them, nor made a collection of them. And Twi had written a lot of such letters to her, wonderful, funny and lovely letters. Rainbow swore to herself that she would buy a book and put all the letters in them neatly organized once they returned to Equestria. Then she would show Twilight the book just like she had intended to show this one to Rainbow. Oh. Rainbow felt a bad feeling rising inside her. There Twilight had done so much work all this time to give her a pleasant surprise with those photos from their adventures and fun times in the past and she has gone and opened it without her. Now she felt really bad as she thought that Twilight may have wanted to see her surprise, her smiles and laughter at those pictures. That she herself had wanted to see Twilight's face light up whenever they talked about the past of some of those shots, and blushed whenever Rainbow teased her about some of them. Like the one which showed her adorkable dance style during that fancy party of Rarity’s. But there were still so many pages left until the end of the book and Rainbow wanted to see all of them, wanted to know what her wife had considered important enough to offer it time and space in the book to keep it for the time being. Reluctantly, Rainbow decided that it was better to close the book and keep the rest of it for later when Twilight would show her the book. She wondered briefly if she should play along or be honest with her up front that she had peeked through it already. I’ll just look at the other photo on the next page and then I'm done. I can tell her about it during breakfast. In the page next to the one with the big picture of herself was also just one photo which showed Twilight and herself sitting next to a fire in the library, reading a book together. Unlike with the picture of only herself, under this one was only a date but no remark. Rainbow knew that date very well, it was the one of their very first dates as a couple. She remembered how Twilight had wanted to shoot a photo of them that evening and how she had rolled her eyes at that cheesy and embarrassing idea. She had quickly relented when she saw the hurt in Twilight's eyes and they had taken that photo. Rainbow started to feel even worse; it had been a long day that time as so much had gone wrong on their first date and back then she had felt exhausted and disappointed of herself to have ruined what should have been a perfect day. Only later she would find out that Twilight hadn't considered that date a failure and that she'd wanted to go on another one. Now that she thought about it, after that day Twilight had never asked again to take photos with the two of them together. Seeing this photograph album Rainbow realized how important taking that photo had been for her girlfriend-now-wife back then. She felt a sick twisting in her guts. She looked at the picture and saw the blushes in their faces, yet Rainbow's eyes were firmly pressed on the book while Twilight glanced at her blushing as well. But neither Rainbow nor Twilight looked very happy. Her expression was half-embarrassed and half-tired, darkened by the mane falling into her face. In Twilight's was happiness mixed with acceptance shined upon with the flicker of the fire. Her smile however was only half-hearted. Rainbow's nonexistent. Now she really just wanted to close the book and forget about it, the next pages are probably all void and white because of her. Just as she was about to close it, she noticed a small sentence in the right corner under the picture of their first date. It was so small, Rainbow had to pull the book a centimetre before her face and squint her eyes to be able to read it properly. I wish that Rainbow stays for my entire life at my side, I really love her. Rainbow Dash felt her eyes becoming wet and she sniffled heavily as a tear ran down her face. Her bad feelings were all gone, washed away by a single sentence written years ago. She knew Twilight did not hold anything against her because of her poor reaction, nor would she be angry when Rainbow told her about having already looked through the album. She promised herself that from now on there would be lots of photos taken of the two of them. “Hm, Rainbow?” The next moment, a still sleepy princess was tackled by a blue sniffling bolt. Twilight's neck and face were showered in hasty kisses and wet nuzzles of a very cozy Rainbow. Bewildered, she looked down at her wife, seeing streaks of tears on her cheeks. "Rainbow, did you cry? Why?" Looking around the room, Twilight saw the reason why the cuddling wanting and warmth searching side of her lover had come out. "Aw, you've read the book? I wanted this to be a surprise for after breakfast." Another sniffle below her chin made Twilight hug her blue daredevil whose curiosity had found out another secret before it could become a surprise. She stroked through her beautiful rainbow-hair and kissed her forehead. "Now, now. There's no reason to cry over it, sweetheart. It was just a book." Twilight tried to console her wife snuggling closer to her chest. "That's not it, Twi. I'm sorry for not taking that photo seriously back then. And," Rainbow continued holding her hoof up to Twilight's mouth as she intended to interrupt the pegasus, "I feel so very happy to know you loved me that much since way back then. I promise you we’re gonna take lots of photos together in the future, love." Twilight blushed and smiled broadly as she pulled herself and Rainbow closer together for a hug and a deep kiss. After a while they pulled away from each other and Twilight dried Rainbow's face with the blanket. She smiled mischievously at her. "Let's brush our teeth and take a shower before we go eat breakfast, Rainbow." "Sure, you can go first, I’ll make the bed and take out the rest of our stuff." "I didn't say I wanted to take a shower alone, darling," said Twilight with a wink to Rainbow as she walked to the bathroom, her hips swaying softly left and right. "Just wanted to test you, dear," grinned Rainbow flying after her seducing wife. "And during breakfast we can look at the rest of the book." "The rest?" ~*~ At the huge breakfast table, Rainbow saw what Twilight meant with the rest of the book while she ate scrambled eggs with spices, a dozen pancakes, four slices of bread with butter and marmalade, and a huge cup of orange juice. The pages she thought would have no photos were full of them. Photos of their other dates, before, during and after them. Photos of their small gestures during meetings with the others. Photos of their wedding and its afterparty. "How did you take all those photos? I never noticed you taking any shots!" asked Rainbow with her full mouth, spraying crumbs and bits of her breakfast over the table. Twilight took the book away quickly enough with her magic to save it from the manners of her wife. She sipped at her coffee, a bowl of cereal before her. She and Rainbow had asked for a simpler breakfast than yesterday's first dinner. It felt somehow weird to eat in a hall meant for two hundred ponies, all alone with super-expensive food which could fill the bellies of a big family. They promised Jerome that they would eat the kitchen's best dishes for lunch and dinner for sure. Twilight waited for Rainbow to have swallowed before she brought the book back to its previous place, explaining how all those pages could be filled with such intimate shots of all angles and without any notice on Rainbow’s part. "I asked Pinkie to help me when she came to me the next day and congratulated me on my first date with you. As for the shots, the camera has a invisibility spell on it and it's a modern one with no flash when it shoots a photo. So yeah, that's it." "Wait, Pinkie was snapping these? So that's why she made those weird movements sometimes when she looked at us or when she pushed us together and such. And that one time when she suddenly jumped somewhere to catch something after she got bumped into by a changeling! That was when she caught the invisible camera! And I thought Pinkie had finally gone loco in the coco. No, wait, Pinkie knew since our first date that we were together? I thought we told her and the others weeks later. Argh, so that's why she winked and nudged at me so often or told me to look at your flank. I thought she was coming either on me or on you and I behaved like a fool." Twilight laughed at Rainbow's desperate embarrassment which the pegasi tried to hide behind the pancake tower. "I'm sorry for keeping this a secret, Rainbow. I thought you would be angry if you find out since you don't like photos taken of us, especially when they were taken by somepony else. But I really wanted to keep some memories of our time together and writing down a dating journal just seemed like a cheap copy of my friendship reports, unlike a photo album of our times together. I'm sorry, I should have told you this a long time ago," apologized Twilight, still smiling because she knew since this morning that Rainbow would not hate her for making this photo album behind her back. "Are you kidding, Twi? Those pics are awesome! Pinkie really knows how to get a good shot. Guess her Pinkie sense is not only good to find out about secret relationships but also for good places to take a photo. Alone this picture with us watching the sunset, with our wings on each other backs, it's wonderful. As are the rest. Thanks love, I really like this album." Twilight leaned forward for a kiss which Rainbow happily obliged to give. After a minute of enjoying the closeness, mingled with the taste of their breakfasts, they broke apart giggling and their tails intertwined as they went back to the album's photos. Rainbow pointed to one of the pictures showing Pinkie Pie gulping down a barrel of apple juice while smoke came out of her mouth. "Can't believe princess Celestia managed to trick Pinkie with this super spicy chili cake. I was sure I saw how she exchanged the cakes with Celestia's to avoid eating it. And yet she breathed fire after taking one bite of the one she stole from the princess." "Celestia told me that she prepared the chili cake for Pinkie and a wasabi one for herself. She said that after a thousand years, she can eat pretty much everything. And she wanted to get back on Pinkie for eating the most delicious cake right in front of her in one gulp. She said alicorns have a long memory for revenge." "Well, I better keep that in mind then," grinned Rainbow. Twilight chuckled, remembering how she had drunk hot sauce in the very first party Pinkie had thrown for her and how Pinkie had experienced the same on her marriage day. Maybe there were some pranks she could pay back at Pinkie and her wife. She turned to the next page and her chuckling died. Rainbow looked at Twilight and then the book, wondering what made her stop laughing with her. Then she saw the pictures where she talked with Spitfire, Soarin and Fleetfoot, her ex-teammates and still friends. "Oh." Rainbow wasn't sure what to say as Twilight went back to her bowl of cereal. For her, the Wonderbolt issue wasn't a big deal, but Twilight had taken it hard when she had heard that Rainbow had left them to marry her. That there was an old law, almost a tradition, which forbade nobles to enter the Wonderbolts. When Rainbow was just Twilight's girlfriend, it hadn't mattered much in the Wonderbolts. But when she was to marry Twilight and become a noble due marriage, the Wonderbolt council has told her that she had to leave the Wonderbolts if she insisted on the marriage. In other words, either the Wonderbolts or Twilight. This brought up a big uproar in the newspapers of Equestria as Rainbow Dash had quickly become the favorite of many Wonderbolt fans. But also many ponies who liked Twilight and cheered for her were angry to hear that there was a law which forbade their favorite princess to marry her lover unless her lover gave up her job. The problem was that only nobles could marry an alicorn princess, a law even older than the Wonderbolt one. The noble law usually got a way around as the commoner pony would get a title the moment he married a princess, usually duke of something, somewhere. But there was no way around the Wonderbolt law. There had been weeks of constant annoyance of reporters asking for interviews or shooting photos as they pleased, tons of fan letters of ponies who supported them as well as hate letters, demonstrations even and a threat to get this case before the court. Her friends, the Wonderbolts and the princesses had been very helpful and princess Celestia was even thinking about changing some of the old laws, though that would have taken years as she couldn't just end established laws hundreds of years old on a whim. Rainbow didn't let that happen, she just wanted to marry Twilight, not push on a social debate, nor be used for it. So she announced her retirement from the Wonderbolts and married the love of her life. And everypony lived happily ever after. Or so she thought. But Twilight hasn't taken that time and Rainbow's retirement as well as she had. Rainbow didn't know much about said law which forced her to leave the Wonderbolt. Twilight had read everything she could find about it to find a way around it. Apparently in the old times a couple hundred years ago, only pegasus nobles could enter the Wonderbolts, back then called Windbolts, and fought for princess Celestia as an elite unit. But a captain of them, Storm Walker, had tried for a coup d'état to establish a pegasi military dictatorship. In the past, the Royal Guards were less powerful than now and mostly used to guard the palace and city, while the Windbolts guarded princess Celestia on her travels in and out of Equestria. On one trip to Griffonia, the Windbolts guarding Princess Celestia turned against her in the Blackstone Mountains and attacked her. They killed the loyal companionship and wounded princess Celestia gravely who who seemingly fell to her death into the dangerous canyons of Blackwater. The traitors believed her to be dead and returned to Canterlot where Storm Walker accused the unicorn nobles to have worked together with the griffons to assassinate princess Celestia and overtake Equestria. This caused a civil war where it was not clear who fought for which side; a war that was over in a hoofful days and ended with the Windbolts victory. Storm Walker established himself as a king in less than five days and got most of the military, which had been basically mostly pegasi only, under his hoof. Many unicorn nobles escaped from Canterlot into other towns and villages to hide, yet dozens of them were hanged at the plaza in Canterlot. Though it was only a couple hundred pegasi and their supporters, they managed to control Equestria with the fear of a Griffon invasion and the terror they spread themselves as they arrested anypony for being a ‘supporter of the rebels’. But Celestia hasn't died, she had survived her fall and was found by griffon outcasts, griffons too weak and small for the strength based society in Griffonia. They nursed Celestia back to health and helped her to get through the heavily guarded border into Equestria. In Canterlot, Celestia singlehoofedly ended Storm's three month leadership of terror which was on the brink of causing a war with Griffonia. Nopony knew what Celestia did to King Storm Walker the first when it was only her and him in the throne room. Earwitnesses spoke of a horrible scream which was heard past the plains of Equestria and the mountains of Griffonia. Nopony had ever seen Storm Walker again. When Rainbow asked Twilight if she knew what happened to him, she only said that princess Celestia didn't want to talk about it. Apparently, she had trusted Storm Walker the most, his betrayal and cruel leadership had hurt her more than the wounds given to her by her elite. His family and the traitorous Windbolts crawled before Celestia's hooves and craved for mercy, to forgive their crimes they had done freely under Storm Walker's regime. That day the pegasus tribe lost most of its noble families. Celestia was merciful, she only banished them. But not without a gift of hers. Each pegasus of the traitorous Windbolts and their families were turned into batponies by her magic. Pegasi who had leather rather than feathers as wings, fangs to warn every wanderer of their dangerous side, coats as dark and shadowy as the night and their hearts when they suppressed Equestria and killed every resisting pony. Their voices were taken as their words held no truth. The oaths taken by them to protect Equestria, its citizens, and its princess didn't mean anything to them in the face of their greed and ambition. Their ears and eyes changed and they became sensitive to the sun's light, preferring the night under the cool moon. The turned pegasi fled to the Blackwater mountains and lived in the cave system deep inside it. They were never seen again in Equestria though there had been stories of batponies raiding travelers, as well as many ghost stories of batponies coming in the night to take naughty children and eat them. Princess Luna had, when she returned, visited the batponies and offered them a chance of redemption like had been given to her from her big sister. As they were unable to speak an oath, the batponies took one of blood and swore on it to protect princess Luna, Equestria and everypony in it and that they'd rather die than to fail at it. Needless to say, that this move of Luna just brought her more distrust and fear, though Celestia had approved of it and allowed the batponies to walk freely in Equestria. It was an allowance which she had given already a hundred years after the banishment, but only now with their blood oath to princess Luna they accepted the allowance and were seen more often, though still rarely in Equestria. Rainbow sighed. This was not how she wanted their honeymoon to go. This was supposed to be a happy time for the two of them and yet there was still this Wonderbolt issue from before their marriage. She shouldn't have waited to hope for an agreement so that she could take both the job and the princess, but just said ‘okay’ and been done with it. But back then she had been too shocked when she got that order and told Twilight and her friends about it, which then was told to the other princesses, the other Wonderbolts heard of it and suddenly all of Equestria had to say something to the matter of her and her marriage with Twilight. During that time, she had realized how stupid it was to hold onto a job she could do for another ten or twenty years in comparison with the heart of a mare she would spend her life with. But it felt hard to explain that to Twilight properly as the princess of friendship felt it was her fault that Rainbow had given up on her dream. Though Rainbow had explained it to her that this wasn't the case, Twilight didn't seem to believe her much. They had let that matter come to rest as they both became busy with the preparations of their marriage, but while Rainbow forgot about it during those busy weeks, it looked like it had eaten itself deeper into Twilight. Rainbow chewed on the last pancake and made her attack on the scrambled eggs. Her hope was to get an good idea how to solve this problem while she ate something though it was rather Twilight's business to come up with the ideas. A small cough made them turn and look at a slightly nervous princess Luna, standing before their table. "I hope I haven't interrupted you. If so I'm really sorry, but I wanted to talk to you about the schedule for the fun activities during your honeymoon." Luna levitated a big scroll besides her. Twilight's eyes sparkled happily at the sight of the size of the scroll while Rainbow groaned, fearing what the princess of the night had planned for them what she saw as ‘fun’. At least Twilight's attention wasn't on the Wonderbolts anymore, so Rainbow wouldn't complain too loudly. But that didn't mean all her means to influence Twilight were gone. She just had to haul out the big guns. "Twilight..." whined Rainbow in a cute voice, putting on her best adorable pout combined with big shiny eyes, to show Twilight what she thought about a scheduled honeymoon. Twilight smiled at her, elated, and turned to Luna to address her about this issue. "Could you show us the scroll and leave the decision what we wanna do when to Rainbow and me? Not that I don't trust you to have planned a great vacation for us, but I guess we rather have some control over what activities we want to visit in the days to come. That the honeymoon is on the actual moon was big enough of a surprise. I still can't fully believe it to be honest." That and both wanted to avoid another romance attempt from Luna like yesterday. "That's exactly why I came to you. I have thought about it after the events of yesterday and come to the conclusion that it would be wiser to let you two decide on what you want to do next for today. If you don't mind I would like to be your guide for today and Larry for the next one." "No problem, where's Larry anyway?" Rainbow agreed to Luna's offer while Twilight took the scroll from Luna's magical embrace into her own. "He has to work today. As mayor he's responsible for the opening speech for the festival today as well as to oversee it." "There's a festival today? When it’s this dark outside? And there's nothing written about it in the scroll.", asked Twilight as she had read already half of the planned tête-à-tête dates on Luna's scroll. "Well, yes. It's a festival where the moonies celebrate the liberation of their nightmare beings and that every earthyear at the moonday’s last night hours. Normally, they celebrate it in small feasts with family and friend circles and enter the festival plaza solely to fulfill some traditions or to buy stuff and play games or meet friends. “But because you two arrived here, they wanted to make it a really big festival, so we got tons of new stalls and performing groups unlike any liberation festival before. I had planned to attend it shortly after leading you to a romantic place for a picnic, but it's hardly the place for a romantic activity as it will be full of moonie families drinking, eating and dancing. Even my batpony guards will hold a joust to the entertainment of the moonfolk." "A joust? Awesome! I always wanted to do another one after the Crystal Empire joust. Fluttershy never was a real opponent in it. Can we go to the festival, Twi? Please?" "I don't see why not. It sure sounds interesting and given yesterday's welcome I believe many moonies would like to have us on their liberation festival." "Of course, they would be overjoyed for you to take part in the celebration. You are the ones who helped to free them of Nightmare Moon's control. I just thought such a huge festival with hundreds of people around you, would be, well, not as romantic as a picnic with just the two of you." Luna had been so sure that her guests would have prefered a quiet place just for them and that on top of a mountain with full view of the beautiful earth with its oceans, continents and cloud seas. "We surely will do that too, princess. What is a honeymoon without some time alone? But we can do the picnic any time, and this festival happens only once, so we can just delay the picnic for later," said Rainbow before she rolled the scrambled eggs at once into her mouth and finished her meal. "Right, good then when you're finished with everything we can go to my personal chamber and put on some fancy clothes for the festival. Oh, dressing up gonna be so much fun!", squealed princess Luna while trotting happily on the same place, already excited for the couple's plan. Rainbow rolled her eyes but she doubted she would be able to avoid this one even with her big guns. ~*~ "I can't believe you've put me in this dress. What is this anyway? It doesn't look anything like the ones Rarity makes." Rainbow complained. Her long hair was in a ponytail with several colorful bands matching her diverse hair color, all intertwined. She wore black, wooden hoof shoes on her forelegs and had a lilac flower in her hair, along with some light makeup on her lips and eyes, done by one of Luna's thestral maids. The dress was dark blue and made of silk, which Luna told them was moonsilk; harvested from plants rather than the silkworms common in the eastern countries of earth. The dress itself bore a pattern inspired by stormclouds. Of all the dresses Rainbow had seen in Luna's wardrobe, this one had been the most badass. However, when she had seen it first she thought it was a blanket and couldn't believe that anybody could wear such a big thing. Then a moonie maid came and put it on Rainbow's body in several steps, wrapping it around her, making it tighter and tighter, until it fit perfectly on her.   "It's called a yukata. It's similar to the kimono of the Kirin on the eastern continent, Hu, but it's much simpler to put on, just the right thing for a festival. All moonies wear one whenever a feast is held. Meaning they have them on every moonday during its last hour." Luna explained cheerfully. She wore her own white Yukata, with red, yellow and blue flowers held by green stems as its pattern. She had made a part of her hair into a bun, the rest was still long and wavy; in the hair bun was a silver chain that held it together.   "Simpler, haha." Rainbow remembered the boring time spent standing still for over ten minutes alone to dress her up, the makeup and hairdressing not counting. Luna was done in fifteen, and she had put it on herself.   Still, nothing against Twilight's dress; which took almost twenty minutes to finish its glorious result. Rainbow looked over to her wife and sighed dreamily, it was such a beautiful sight to behold.   Her deep purple yukata had a pattern of the night sky: Silver stars in all sizes, golden falling stars creating several forms, a white moon and plenty lines of red, light purple and pink mixed in to create a unique and artistic scenario. Twilight was simply stunning. Many moonies looked after them when they passed, but Rainbow was sure that most of them looked at Twilight. She wore light brown sandals of wood, and her legs were in long white socks; each bearing a star pattern as well. Her hair was made into a simple bun, but it carried silver chains that spread over her hair and fell lightly upon her neck; which was covered by a white silk scarf, with a pattern similar to her cutie mark. Rainbow had gotten one as well, but she had refused to wear it, same for the socks. There were only so many clothes she could deal with at once.   All their dresses were held together by a scarf-like belt around their waist, which Luna told them was the most important part of the dress; else the yukata could become loose and fall apart. Rainbow wouldn't mind that much, but then again she would be the sole naked pony in a party with fully clothed people, and even she had some manners. If you're on the moon, behave like the moonies; or something like that. Rainbow thought, staring at Twilight again, who noticed her stare and gave her a grin, which looked to Rainbow sexier than ever with the cherry red lipstick and professional make-up on her face. It made her look so exotic; given Twilight didn’t usually didn't wear much make-up. But she made an exception for today.   "See something you like?"   "Yes, but it would be a pain in the ass to unwrap ya." Twilight laughed and nudged Rainbow's shoulder with her hoof. She had a great time as well. The moonies were all friendly and looked interesting in their clothes and masks. The stands had food, which looked strange but tasted great, and the games they could play here were new and fun to Twilight. It was a good idea to come here as the many noises and sights kept her too busy to worry too much about other stuff.   Stuff like how I destroyed Rainbow's dream of the Wonderbolts with my wedding proposal-no! Stop thinking like that, Sparkle! You just going to make Rainbow worry again.   "Oh, there you are! Princess, dear guests, welcome to the Nightmare Liberation festival!"   The three ponies turned around to see Larry with Buffy in a fancy yellow yukata with a butterfly pattern on its shoulders, and Jerome at his side. Buffy had her face hidden with a white-red fox mask, while her dad Jerome had a black-grey one resembling a bird on the left side of his head. On his right was a cat mask, black with blue lines around its eyes and ears. Both seemed to squeeze his large ears quite a bit. Larry carried no mask. Both males wore pretty simple yukata in partner-look though it looked different than Rainbow's and the princesses’ yukata, as they had wide pants and comfy coats rather than a dress clinging to their bodies like a second skin.   Larry continued as he bowed slightly together with Jerome.   "I hope you have enjoyed what you've seen so far. It's an honor for us moonies that two of our saviors are willing to visit our humble festival." A black dragon costume with huge red eyes and long tongue, carried by a dozen moonies or more, accompanied by a couple of drummers, went past them, making a lot of noise. Half a dozen children, all in cute looking yukata, followed the dragon while carrying white masks; dancing before the dragon who pranced and then threw out some candy from his huge mouth, which the children happily gathered while giggling. Neither Twilight nor Rainbow heard most of Larry's speech, too busy looking at the strange and yet lovely activity.   "... and if possible, to one day have your friends as guests up here, as well."   Really, nothing reminds me of the Shadowfright who had ponynapped Rarity anymore. Twilight thought, recovering from the last words spoken by the moonies’ mayor.   "Thank you, and don't worry, Rainbow and I have had tons of fun, and Luna is a great guide as well." After that was said, Twilight turned to the girl on her daddy's shoulder. "And Buffy, you look so cute in your yukata." The bat-rabbit was so embarrassed by Twilight's compliment that she hid her mask with her ears, just like yesterday. Everyone smiled and snickered at her adorable reaction.   "Don't be shy, sweetie, the princess is right." Jerome agreed, happily. "We were searching for you, princess Luna, as the joust will begin soon, and afterwards is the firework display. After all, the kiss with you is the main prize for this tournament and the reason so many of us will come to watch the joust. The crown and title are just nice extras. On the VIP-seats you've got both the best view of the joust and the fireworks. This is gonna be a blast!"   Rainbow perked up as she heard the mention of a prize.   "Oh boy, let's go! I so wanna enter this!" Rainbow declared as an idea started to form in her head.   "We're not even married for three days and you already plan to cheat on me with my aunt-in-law?" Twilight looked appalled and hurt at her wife, who hadn't thought much about what the most anticipated part of the prize was.   "No, no, no, no! Twilight, love, this- this isn't why I- also what I want to is-It's because uh-uhm..." Rainbow was at a loss for words, watching her plan sink before she could even carry it out. Suddenly Twilight broke out in laughter.   "Relax, Rainbow I'm just teasing you. I know you just want to have your fill of action. Just remember to give me a hundred kisses if you happen to win this tournament, sweetheart."   "What? You think I could lose this?" Now she had another reason to win this joust.   "Probably, Luna's guards are different opponents than Fluttershy after all. Luna, do you think, Rainbow will be allowed to join this tournament?"   "I'll ask my guard captain, but I think I'll have a way to get her in." Luna grinned. "Phew, that's settled then! Speaking of 'blast', when can we do the asteroid ride, princess Luna?" Rainbow asked as she trotted alongside the group to follow the flow of the moonies flocking towards the joust.   "Not today and not tomorrow, I'm afraid. The asteroids are fickle and prideful beings of space who've seen much and don't just change their course so easily, even for somebody like me who can control them."   "So, stars have feelings? What about the ones you made shine so brightly yesterday? Are they different? What about the Sun and the Moon?" Twilight was surprised, she had never read about heavenly bodies possessing emotions or a personality or anything like that.   "It's not like the emotions we living beings feel; pride is just the best way I can describe it. Each of them possesses magic that resonates with Celestia’s and mine, and makes them move in an according direction and speed. Celestia needs much more magic to wake the sun as well as to put him to sleep than I do with the moon, so he's more stubborn and hardworking whereas she is more gentle and philosophic."   "They’ve got genders?!" Now Twilight was almost sure that Luna was pulling her leg. Either that or her mentor had not been kidding when she said that unicorns did not understand everything about the planets and stars as they believed they do.   "Well, it just 'feels' like that whenever I get in touch with her. Don't think too much about it Twilight. My sister and I will someday teach you how to interact with the heavenly bodies, and then you can feel for yourself what it is like to move the sun and moon, and make the stars shine bright enough that a couple in love can enjoy a beautiful view."   Twilight didn't respond.   "So, my little princess, time to walk on your own. Your old man can't carry you much longer." Larry put Buffy down, and he and Jerome each grabbed one of their child's claw-hands as they continued their walk towards the station. But Buffy was rebellious, it looked more like Larry and Jerome dragged her on than she was walking on her own. And her shaking heads and pleading looks indicated that she wanted to continue her piggy ride. Jerome looked apologetic to his partner.   "Maybe I could take her piggy-back?"   "It's because you spoiled her like that everyday that she misbehaves now that she doesn't get it her way. No, Buffy is more than old enough to walk on her own."   "Aw, come on, Larry-honey. It's a festival today and she has worked very well this morning. Let her have her will."   "No, Buffy had one piggy-ride, that’s enough."   "Another one wouldn't be the end of the world, Shadowfright. You're being too strict again."   "I told you to not call me that. And I'm not that strict. I just don't want to spoil her too much."   Rainbow snickered and looked at Twilight, wanting to make some joke about stressed parents to relax the mood, yet Twilight had this strange look on her face. It seemed happy, but unsure, and it had a feeling of something being lost. Rainbow didn't like that look at all. Before she could say anything, Twilight's expression suddenly switched to a warm smile and she excused herself to walk up to Larry and Jerome. There the two men shook their heads so quickly at what Twilight offered that Rainbow was sure they would get dizzy. Twilight just huffed cutely and levitated Buffy onto her back, giving her a pony ride with her daddies walking alongside, still holding her hands. Buffy must have been pretty happy to get to be on Twilight's back, given the up and downs of her hands intertwined with her parents’.   Larry and Jerome looked both surprised and happy; they probably hadn't expected a princess to offer herself as a ride for their daughter, but soon they smiled as well, seeing how happy Buffy was. Luna and Rainbow followed the unique sight a couple steps behind.   "Say, I'm interested in those masks. What's their connection to the festival and why do the children wear white masks and adults black ones?"   "Well, you see the idea behind the masks is to show our past and future. We adults carry black masks, reminding ourselves what we have been the past thousand years, while our children carry white ones to show their untainted and innocent future. Some of us adults are uncomfortable with wearing a mask though." Jerome explained, with a sideways glance to the unmasked Larry.   "I'm the mayor, I don't wear a mask to be easily recognizable by everybody." The feathered moonie defended his unmasked attire, though Twilight could tell that Larry wasn't completely honest. But it wasn't a surprise to her, given that he had been the leader of the nightmare shadows the past thousand years, plotting their return and after Nightmare Moon's failure her revival through Rarity as a vessel. She could understand very well that there are parts of the past you don't want to be reminded of. Jerome thought so too, because he didn't say anything as well. His tail moved past Twilight and stroked Larry's tail feathers before he turned to the purple princess to explain further.   "Anyway, at the end of the festival we light up a huge bonfire. In it, everybody tosses their masks, black and white, and let them burn away. We show that our past doesn't matter anymore, and that we can face our future unmasked, and will make the best out of it. It's why I carry two of them; so that Larry can throw one into the fire as well." A quick side-glance from Twilight to Larry told her that he was embarrassed, but the smile on his beak showed he appreciated Jerome's concern and was happy about it. "I see." Twilight murmured, thoughtfully.   "You’ll have to excuse my curiosity, but I'm interested in something as well: What's the deal with the blue and purple feathers around your necks? I wanted to ask yesterday, but I didn't wanted to be rude." Jerome scratched his head sheepishly, hoping to not have stepped on the princess’ toes, or hooves in her case.   "Probably a couple things for ponies, I guess." speculated Larry, not really interested in this type of conversation.   "Well, yes and no." Twilight attempted her own explanation in return. "In the old history the three pony tribes had more important things than marriage gifts before they founded Equestria, the unicorns arranged marriage between families, the pegasi usually fought for the right to marry somepony, and the earth ponies stayed together in big families to help each other out. After they united, new marriage practices were set, where the marriage partners would give gifts to the family of the other partner's. “Later, when Celestia and Luna began to rule Equestria, it changed into the custom to put a bangle around the others foreleg. Unicorns used gold or other noble metals, the pegasi iron or copper, and the earth ponies wood or cloth. A couple hundred years later and a new mode established in which it was chic for unicorns to carry a ring on their horn to show that they were engaged, while pegasi carried a feather of their partner’s around their heart. The earth ponies didn't change their custom until two hundred years ago, when they began to just exchange the bangles and later wouldn't carry it around all day. It was done mostly for practical reasoning, as they worked mostly on the fields, and the armlet rubbed them sore during work. “Around fifty years later, the Unicorns began to keep their rings at home as well, or put them on only during special occasions, and another hundred years later the pegasi kept their feathers mostly in small treasure boxes as well, to avoid losing them during flight; which had happened quite often, given the recordings. Rainbow and I wear them for our honeymoon, mostly, and will wear them when we go out on a date and such, but we surely won't carry them around everyday. Did that answer your question, Jerome?"   The canine moonie nodded, satisfied, glancing at Larry over Twilight's head, who still bore a disinterested expression on his face when Twilight turned to him.   "You, Larry. Will you give me a feather, too?"   "Am I a pony? You heard the princess, they don't carry it much anyway, why would you want it, then?" Jerome's ears tips dropped a bit, Twilight quickly tried to change the topic.   "Please call me Twilight, guys. I'm more used to that then the princess title."   "Of course, your highness. I mean, Twilight."   "Sure, Twi. Is there anything else you would like to know?"   "Hm, yes, there is. Where is the next mask stall?"   A couple steps behind Luna; Rainbow watched the engaging conversation between Twilight and the moonies in silence. Each had their own thoughts as to why the purple alicorn had walked away from them.   "You think, I shouldn't have told her about what Celestia and I had planned for her?" Luna asked Rainbow. She didn't want to make her worry about her possible future tasks as princess.   "Nuh-uh, I'm sure she will be thrilled to learn how to move her precious stars. I think there are other reasons for her behavior" Rainbow said, thinking about the Wonderbolt talk she had avoided at breakfast.   But I’m gonna fix that. Suddenly the pegasus faced a purple alicorn with a white fox masked kid on her shoulder. "Let's buy some masks for each other, Rainbow."   "Eh, why?" Rainbow wondered about the request; having come completely out of nowhere.   "Why not? Come on, everybody carries a mask, and Jerome explained to me they get used for the bonfire, which marks the end of the festival. Let's go, sweetheart!"   "Yeah, but isn't it more a Moonie tradition?"   "We’ve only done this a few years, I wouldn't call it a tradition, yet." Larry remarked, matter-of-factly.   "If it makes you feel better, I can pick a mask as well, Rainbow." Luna offered helpfully.   "I'm sure a mask would fit you just fine." Jerome added.   "I'll take you wearing a mask for the hundred kisses after the tournament!" Twilight said, grinning at the sight of Rainbow looking for an escape and finding none. Buffy delivered the final blow by pulling her mask aside and giving the pegasus her best sad child’s look. Rainbow groaned, her last barrier fallen.   "Ugh, fiiiiine." "Yay!" A happily grinning Twilight tucked her foreleg under one of Rainbow's, and pulled her towards Buffy's parents, who led them to a stand where they found a nice collection of masks.   Both ponies played around with the masks and checked out a lot of them. In the end, Rainbow picked a black wolf mask with golden lines because it looked so cool while Twilight bought a white bunny mask with pink lines around eye and nose because it was so cute. Then she had another idea.   "Let's exchange masks. I’ll wear your mask and you’ll wear mine."   "Come on, Twi. I can't wear that, it's too cute and cuddly-looking." Rainbow complained, looking at the smiling bunny mask. She had successfully avoided wearing white socks, a more complicated hairstyle, and a too cute yukata, she didn't want to break that score by being caught wearing this type of mask. It fit a pony like Fluttershy or Rarity better than her. Or Twilight and Luna in this case.   "I think you're very cute and cuddly-looking, sweetheart." Twilight cooed.   "That's just it, why should you be the wolf, and I the bunny? Wouldn't it be better If I wore the wolf mask?" Rainbow tried to reason with her wife. A hopeless proposition, as Twilight cheated with her magic and teleport exchanged her mask with Rainbow's.   "Because I love you to bits." Twilight growled in a playful tone while putting on the wolf mask. Rainbow blushed when she considered the double meaning of Twilight's words. That Twilight looked really cool with her chosen mask didn't help to fight the blush down, it only added fuel to the fire.   "Aww, you're so adorable~"   "Ah, shut up!" Rainbow put on the bunny mask to hide her red face, and turned around to look into a mirror. She was surprised that the white mask did fit her look quite well. Her eyes looked softer with the white and rose colors around it, and her rainbow mane framed the mask nicely. Even if she didn't want to admit it, she liked it. Another pony's warmth snuggled into her side holding onto her foreleg.   "See, I told you, you're cute. And very cuddly." Twilight whispered, whose reflection looked mysterious and dangerous with the wolf mask on. The good kind of danger that made your heart beat faster, and your throat swallow for no peculiar reason. Then a muffled voice interrupted their little bonding.   "Behold! My choice! What do you think?" The two ponies looked at Luna and recoiled slightly. The princess was wearing a black snake mask with large silver fangs in a widely open, spread mouth and silver lines around the eyes. It looked very realistic, and scary. Twilight could feel Buffy shiver on her back. Larry looked like he had bitten on something sour, while Jerome had a helpless expression on, not sure how to tell the princess that this mask made her appear like a reptilian version of Nightmare Moon. A presence which still filled many moonies with fear and terror; the memory of the thousand dark years she had been imprisoned with them on the moon fresh in their minds.   "Uh, it looks quite fetching?" Rainbow began nudging Twilight to do something about this horrid mask of Luna’s.   "Eh, yeah. Very eye-catching. But I think it really bites with your dress. Why don't you wear something more fitting? Like this mask here?" Twilight levitated a white mouse mask with gray lines on cheeks and eyes. Luna put her snake mask aside and took the one Twilight had suggested. She frowned as she inspected it on all sides.   "You think, this will look good on me?"   Fierce bobbing of heads affirmed the choice. Reluctant, the princess of the night put the mouse mask on and checked herself in the mirror.   "Oh. I must say, I look quite... harmless and adorable. Plus the mask of a woods and meadows inhabitant fits my flower yukata nicely, just like you told me, Twilight. So, do I look good with this mask on?"   "Harmless is great, your highness!" Larry endorsed the choice, with a thankful nod to Twilight and Rainbow.   "You look really cute with those big round ears, princess." Jerome corroborated, relieved.   "I see. And you don't just say that because the other mask made me look like I gobble up two or three moonie children for breakfast?" Luna's question was answered with iron silence, awkward looks and pawing hooves. Then Luna threw her head back and laughed loudly. She tossed a small purse to the startled stall owner and walked away towards a huge construct a couple hundred meters away.   "I'm just messing with you lot. Let's go to the arena, we've lost enough time with the mask shopping."   Shortly afterward, they arrived at the joust arena. It was an elliptical stadium, built with gray moonstones with pillars and archways; hundreds of lanterns lit up the giant building. It was five floors high, each floor was decorated in a different fashion, just like the houses in the city. The stadium was higher than any sporting arena the awe-struck couple had seen in Equestria. It reminded them of both the open Cloudosseum in Cloudsdale and the stadium in the Crystal Empire. There were different entries for spectators and athletes where the group would split in two. Now that they were there, Twilight felt her stomach churning; fearing what would await her wife in the joust. But if Rainbow wanted to enter it for whatever reason, then she would not stop her. She turned towards the excited pegasus, who read the words on the archway over the athletes’ entry: 'Only the brave and skillful may enter'   "Give me your mask and feather, Rainbow. I'll handle them until after the festival."   "Thanks, love."   When Rainbow handed over her stuff, Twilight moved her wolf mask aside and gave Rainbow a peck on her lips   "Take care."   "I'll see you on the winner's podium." Rainbow promised before she and Luna went to the space where the thestral guards were warming themselves up for the tournament, whilst Larry led Twilight to the VIP seats in the middle of the terrace with Jerome and Buffy. Rainbow felt her blood get hotter as her heart pumped it faster and faster through her veins. She hoped everything would go according to her plan.