“Do you need anything, Rose?” I tried not looking at Lily at all. She sat across from me in the carriage. The tickets had come with transportation, a carriage from Ponyville to Canterlot. But the ride was a blur, just like the day had been since I’d woken up. Lily had stopped trying to teach me to dance late into the night, deeming it satisfactory. Our last dance she’d called a ‘tango’ and it was still vivid in my mind. The way she wrapped herself around my body, taking the lead role in dancing. My head was still spinning from the excitement.
“Rose?” she asked again. I shook the dust out of my head and blinked twice.
“What?” I asked, coming to attention. Lily scowled jokingly. “What?” I asked again.
“Why aren’t you ever in the moment? All you ever do is think. What are you thinking about?” I didn’t say anything, out of fear of embarrassment. I supposed in one way it was good I was nervous about everything. My feeling towards Lily and thoughts about dancing vastly dwarfed my old fear of crowded places.
“Just about dancing,” I answered quickly. “I’m still pretty nervous.” Lily giggled.
“If it makes you feel that nervous, nopony’s going to make you dance. It’s only for fun!” It didn’t make me feel that better. Just the fact that other ponies where going to be dancing make me feel a little sad that I couldn’t join them. “Hey,” she said, noticing my hesitance, “there’s always the open bar. That’s been known to teach ponies to dance.”
“I guess,” I grumbled. “What are you going to do?” We were quickly coming up to Canterlot, I realized. The sweeping fields and forests of Ponyville had long ago been replaced with mountainous terrain. Lily leaned back against the padded bench.
“Not sure yet. Maybe I’ll look around for a cute mare to dance with.” What kind of mare would she look for? The pony could look something like me, but probably more lithe and more caring for Lily. “What about you?”
“I’d like to look at the garden,” I admitted.
“Oh, Rose,” she murmured. “You spend all spring and summer looking at gardens, and the rest of the year inside reading books. It might do you some good to look around and see if anypony catches your eye. I can guarantee that’s what pretty much every other pony’s going to be doing.” I sank back in my seat. I didn’t want to be oogled by everypony in Canterlot.
The carriage stopped with a jolt, throwing me off my seat and onto my feet. Lily giggled.
“Slow down, Rose. The Gala isn’t going anywhere.” I laughed a little too. The door to my side opened, revealing a long, red carpet leading up to the gorgeous Canterlot Castle. The towering walls were adorned with long banners of different hues, all of them with intricate designs of the Princesses, lands, and ponies of Equestria. All alongside the carpet itself, which lead past the gate and up to the long staircase into the castle proper, were various menageries of ponies and vendors, all co-mingling. When I stepped down from the carriage, feeling the warmed carpet underhoof I saw the sky, still lit up with magic and light and filled with birds of all colors. Even the Wonderbolts were flying overhead, doing tricks and maneuvers. It was all so much to take in. I felt Lily press herself against me so I could feel her through the dress.
“Just relax,” she said calmly, “Do you want me to stay around?” I looked at Lily. She looked stunning in the Canterlot lights. Her dress matched her golden hair color, and flowed down over her back to the floor, where it trailed slightly. It was a bit more ornate than mine, but at least I had sapphires on my breast. She had worn her mane plainly, while mine was curled all along my head and neck, in rows, one at my bangs and three along the neck. Lily had said it looked great when she finished it before the carriage ride. I shook my head, curls rustling slightly.
“I think I can handle it,” I said with a false confidence I hoped she couldn’t see through. Lily eyed me suspiciously. “Go have fun, Lily.” She shrugged and turned to trot off to the castle. I was left to face the moving wall of ponies that were filing towards the castle. All of them looked nice, some very pretty dresses and suits. But I didn’t find myself attracted to anypony in particular. Didn’t Lily say that was what happened, you saw a pony and you felt something? The way she described it, it sounded like I’d just know immediately. So I started to walk up the carpet and to the castle interior. Nopony caught my eyes the way up and into the foyer. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a few ponies checking me out when they thought I couldn’t see. Hopefully they didn’t notice my blushing, rosy cheeks.
The inside of the Castle was more jam-packed than the outside. At the corners of every roo,m speakers had been set up so you were never without music and could dance your hooves off anywhere. Each room had a different style of music. From jazz to blues to classic to techno. Nothing made me want to dance, and nothing made me feel the way Lily had described. She said it would feel like butterflies only a hundred times more powerful. I hadn’t ever had butterflies before, so I was sure they’d feel remarkable. Fluttershy had once come into my store, asking if I’d had butterfly roosts, I hadn’t, and she’d brought dozens of the creatures with her. During our talking they’d decided to land of me all together. The feeling still haunted me.
Maybe butterflies in the belly wasn’t the best way to find out if you loved someone. Eager for a breath of fresh air, I walked out of the castle. As I passed through giant stained glass doors I saw the most beautiful looking garden I’d ever seen. Each section of the maze was filled to the brim with a different type of flower. On the row that held the entrance were all manner of roses, from blue, furthest from the entrance, to red. And I could have recognized those roses from anywhere. I galloped across the grass to the maze and took a deep whiff of the roses on the wall. They were definitely mine, I’d know them from anywhere. To my left where the blue roses where I saw a stallion admiring them too, sticking his muzzle far into the bushes to smell. He had a simple black suit on, covering his pale blue coat, and a green mane. On his flank I saw a cutie mark just like mine, except it was a blue rose instead. I trotted up to him, hoping to talk about gardening, a safe subject.
He saw me approach and turned, a smile on his well-kept face. I saw a pale-blue glow coming from his mane, revealing a unicorn’s horn I hadn’t seen before. He plucked a rose from the wall and delicately placed it behind my ear. Something about it made me feel a little uncomfortable, but I persevered. Maybe he was simply being a little friendly, and I hoped it was just that.
“Hello, little cutie,” he said, “What brings you to the flower maze?”
“I wanted to know if it was you who grew those blue roses,” I said. “They’re gorgeous.” His smile brightened.
“I’m certain that the only thing gorgeous out here is you,” he said coolly. I could feel the heat rushing to my face, I tried to look away. He only chuckled. “I didn’t mean to offend.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Well I’ll have you know that yes, I did grow those blue roses, but they’re nothing compared to these red ones. I can see why Celestia placed them at the front of the maze.” The awkward blushing intensified.
“I grew those,” I said weakly.
“I should have known!” he exclaimed happily. “Roses these nice could only come from a mare so pretty herself.” He took a step closer. “So what did you want to talk about?” I took a deep breath and calmed myself.
“My name is Roseluck,” I said, “and I wanted to know how you got such a deep blue in your petals.” He laughed again, playfully.
“I’m Azalia, it’s a wonder to meet you, Roseluck. Say, did you want to walk through the maze while we talk? There’s sure to be some other beautiful flowers in there we can find.” I nodded. Talking to strangers wasn’t that hard at all, I realized. I let him lead me into the maze.
All around the twists and turns of the maze were flowers of incredible combinations. Orange tulips, purple daisies, and many more. I could have sworn I saw Lily’s lily along one wall but Azalia lead me on. We saw fewer and fewer ponies as we walked, mostly in pairs of two or threes, and only very rarely did somepony walk alone. After ten minutes of walking, Azalia turned around.
“See anything you like?” he asked. There weren’t any flowers of special note here.
“These look like normal flowers?” I said, guessing. He chuckled again, louder this time. Something wasn’t right here. The feeling I’d had before was back in full force, but before I could act he had come at me and embraced me, his lips touching mine and his tongue trying to worm its way in. I pushed him back as hard as I could.
“What are you doing?” I demanded. I felt woozy all of a sudden, like I’d been spun around too fast. I stepped back where we’d come from. “Why did you do that?” He rolled his eyes.
“Surely I wasn’t the only one who felt something in the air,” he said, grinning again. But it wasn’t the playful grin from before. This one felt sinister and just awful. I took a few more steps back but he kept up with every one in half a stride. I looked around, there wasn’t a pony in sight, not even a guard in the sky.
“I didn’t feel anything in the air,” I squeaked. “I didn’t feel anything like butterflies.” He stopped chuckling and laughed heartily instead. When he was done he had to wipe a tear from his eye.
“Butterflies?” he asked. “The only feeling I was hoping for comes from under the tail.” I kept stepping back, hoping that I would just be at the entrance of the maze again, or at home. He had a sly smirk, but one that didn’t look confident or sure. “So you don’t want to do it?” I shook my head. Azalia shrugged and walked off, deeper into the maze. I turned, running without even watching where I was going. The further I went, the more ponies I saw, and for the first time I was comforted by being around other ponies.
At the start of the maze, I spotted Lily.. She was walking along one of the pathways that lined the gardens with another mare in tow. It didn’t look like she was heading towards the maze but I didn’t want her to see me. I felt incredibly crummy. I walked past her, using a crowd of ponies to block myself from her sight. Seeing her being happy like that when I felt so bad made me sick to my stomach. I found a relatively quiet spot on one wall of the maze were there weren’t any ponies around and lay down, back against the bushy wall.
I hated myself more than anypony else for being so jealous that Lily was happy, and I hated that I was so angry and spiteful. I hugged my hooves tightly around my belly, trying to hold back the unease. It hurt so bad I wanted to cry. Why couldn’t I do anything right? I couldn’t even find somepony to love.
My breath came in short gasps of air. I wanted to be anywhere else in
Equestria right now. The night, I felt, was ruined. My attention was brought elsewhere by the sound of beating wings. I looked around to see if there was a pegasus, but I couldn’t see anypony. All I could notice was a tear running down my cheek and onto my dress. The beating wings didn’t stop. I did feel a warmth on my back, running across my body. It made me feel better. Finally the wings stopped and I saw the unfamiliar pink body of another pony.
“Lily?” I asked helplessly. I looked again at the pony, and I nearly jumped in the air. There was no mistaking that fair pink body and multicolored mane. I’d have known who she was even if I had seen her without her wings or long horn. It was Princess Cadance. I scrambled to get myself into a bow, but she stopped me.
“Why were you crying?” she asked. Her voice sounded so tender and caring.
“I-I don’t know anymore,” I said. She was smiling, and everything she did made me feel less awful. “I just don’t know who I am anymore.” Cadance crept closer and sat down next to me. She wasn’t saying anything at all. “I’m sorry I bothered you.”
“You’re not bothering me at all,” she said, but nothing after that. I swallowed on a lump in my throat. All she was doing was looking at me with care radiating from her expression.
“W-why are you here?”
“You looked upset,” she said. I sniffled back another tear. I’d hoped nopony could see me. “You looked like you needed a friend.”
“I have a friend,” I explained. Something about her made me want to tell her everything. “And I just...” My insides were tying themselves in knots. “I just...”
“You like her, don’t you?” I couldn’t say anything at all. What did Princess Cadance know? She was the princess of love wasn’t she? She had to know that kind of things I was going through. Cadance saw the panic in my eyes. “I can tell from how much you’re blushing that I’m right.”
“How do I know if I do?” I asked. She beamed warmly.
“You’ll know when your belly is filled to the brim with butterflies.”
“But I don’t know when that happens,” I said quickly, “what does that feel like?” Princess Cadance giggled a soft, bubbling laugh.
“Don’t you know that’s what you’re feeling now?” I couldn’t say anything at all. What I had been feeling all this time was... love? My mind replayed every time I’d felt this way. It all seemed to stem from one moment, the kiss we’d shared. I stood up with a jolt. Everything I’d felt for the last few days was welling up inside me, threatening to burst.
“What do I do about that?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“If I... like her, what do I do?”
“That’s up to you, sweetheart.” I wished she had something else to say. If only there was a magic phrase to say that made rainbows and sunrays appear and that would make everything alright with the world. But if the Princess of Love didn’t have anything for me, nopony would.
“What if she doesn’t love me anymore?” Cadance looked thoughtful. She really was an incredible pony, I thought. I didn’t know many ponies who’d help a stranger like me with a love problem.
“Then that’s okay,” she said calmly. “Sometimes it happens.” I was pawing the ground nervously.
“Can you give me any advice?”
“Don’t be nervous.”
“Thank you, Princess Cadance,” I said with a curtsy. She returned it with a small bow and flew off into the sky. I turned and trotted back to the maze entrance. I hoped beyond hope that Lily was back there, if she was lost in a crowd or she’d wandered away I could spend hours searching for her.
My head was swimming with swirling clouds of ideas and thoughts. I had so much to tell her. I had to apologize for being so weird, for running around like a chicken. I would even tell her that I was moderately sure I was having feelings for her. But how would she take that?
As I rounded the corner of the maze and the rest of the garden I saw Lily walking along the path back towards the castle, this time without another mare. She had a dejected look on her face. With a renewed sense of vigor I sauntered over. Lily saw me when I got close and brightened up.
“Having fun, Rose?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said. I stopped awkwardly and just looked at Lily. “I just, uh, had a thought.” She motioned for me to continue. It would have been easier if she was talking too. “I... uh.” Why couldn’t I say anything. It was so simple in my head. All I had to say was ‘I think I like you’. My words kept getting caught in my throat. Lily started to look concerned.
“Did something happen, Rose?” she asked. She lay the tip of her fetlock against my forehead, checking for my temperature. “Do you feel okay?” I didn’t want to tell her that I hadn’t ever felt less sure of myself. All I knew was what I had to do.
“Yeah,” I said, “Something happened and I did some thinking.” She took her hoof back.
“Thinking about what, Rose?”
“I’m getting to that.” Speaking more didn’t make it any less uncomfortable. I wanted to hide myself in the maze again, but settled for shifting my weight and straightening my dress. “I, uh.” Come on, Rose. You can do this! I had to back myself up, nopony else was going to do it now. “I had a thought about my feelings.”
“Okay,” she said, anticipating more. I swallowed another lump in my throat and started to sweat under my dress.
“You know when we were talking about whether I liked stallions or mares?” She nodded. “I think I...” This was it, the big moment. All I had to do was tell her and everything would be fine, I wouldn’t have to feel bad anymore. My eyes shut tightly. “I think I like you,” I squeaked out.
Lily looked me dead in the eyes. “Are you sure?” she asked. I couldn’t tell anything from her expression. She wasn’t smiling or anything, all she was was Lily, plain and simple. The butterflies in my stomach were in full force.
“Yes,” I managed to say slowly. Lily closed her eyes and pursed her lips.
“Do you know what that means, Rose?” I shook my head, she was staring me dead in the eyes.. Suddenly she was bright, lovely, and happy. “It means we’re dating!” Lily enveloped me in a hug, nuzzling my neck with her muzzle. All the stress I had felt for the past two days evaporated. My own snout was against her neck, her mane brushing against my nose. I started to reciprocate, rubbing my muzzle along her mane. She had a strange scent, a deeply floral aroma on her. Why hadn’t I noticed it before? She pulled back all too suddenly. Her mouth was a grin and her eyes sparkled in the night lights. “You want to dance?”
“N-no,” I stuttered. One thing was enough, I thought. I didn’t need to dance tonight. Lily looked like she was ready to pounce, but she stopped. I actually breathes a sigh of relief, this wasn’t the place for that, but she looked mischievous for some odd reason.
“Are you sure you don’t want to dance?” she asked. Her voice was lower and sultry. One of her eyebrows was raised questioningly. “I’d love to dance with you.” I tried not looking at her, feeling myself get nervous. Why was she tempting me like this? Lily moved her head closer to mine, I could feel her hot breath on my face. A small squeak was building in my throat, just loud enough she probably heard it. “I think I have something that can make you dance with me,” she murmured. I didn’t have time to think about what she meant before she showed me. Lily put her face to mine, planting her lips firmly against my stunned mouth.
It was the best kiss I’d ever had, not that I was encumbered with experience about kissing. Her lips were warm and soft, I wanted to stay next to them forever. Sadly she pulled back, but I was still seeing fireworks. I moved my head closer to hers for another kiss, but only lightly touched her angelic lips.
“We can do some more of that on the dance floor,” she said seductively. Lily had me wrapped around her hoof. I’d gone from being hesitant to being completely infatuated in no time at all. It made me wonder if I’d always felt this way about her, but I’d just been hiding it from myself. “Come on, Rosy,” she begged, “Can’t we just do a little dancing for me?” She had placed a hoof on my neck and started to caress it. It was getting hard for me to breathe with all the attention.
“Can we just, uh, kiss instead?” I asked. It felt strange asking that of my old-time friend, but it was different now. She’d said we were dating. Didn’t ponies kiss a lot when they dated? “Please?” I added. I wondered if Daisy did that to her boyfriend or vice versa. There was only one thing I was sure they did together. Would Lily want to do that?
“Am I teasing too much?” she asked.
“Yes!” I declared.
“I’m sorry,” she said. She backed off with her hoof and returned her voice to something a little more normal. “I just forgot for a second.”
“Forgot what?” I asked. Lily scrunched her nose.
“That you’re new at this,” she said quietly. My ears drooped low against my head.
“So?” I asked defensively. “Just because I haven’t had anypony else before doesn’t mean I can’t handle it.” Lily looked taken aback.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “I didn’t mean to tempt you to dance. Well, I did, but that was a terrible thing for me to do.” Lily looked genuinely hurt too. Any bit of anger in me vanished, replaced by a sadness.
“I’m sorry too,” I piped up. Lily let out an exasperated groan.
“Stop being sorry, Rose. It isn’t your fault at all. You haven’t done anything wrong.” Lily closed her eyes to think for a moment. “What do you want to do?” she asked. My heart was pounding in my chest, so hard I was sure she could feel it this close.
“I want to kiss some more,” I said honestly. Lily giggled.
“You are impossible,” she said while laughing. “If you want to, we can go find somewhere a little more quiet.” She had another sultry look in her eyes. My body was trying to do a million things at once, none of them comfortable. Blood was rushing to my face, making me blush more, my heart was racing, and worst of all I was starting to sweat. I nodded and started off towards where I’d met Princess Cadance. Lily followed close behind me. She wasn’t worried at all or didn’t seem to care that her dress was dragging on the ground a little.
When I found a place I thought was suitable I turned around. Lily was behind me, gleaming happily. She wasn’t moving closer at all. I waited expectantly, but so did she.
“Well?” she asked coyly. I raised my eyebrow.
“Isn’t this private enough?”
“No, silly. Aren’t you going to start kissing your Lily?”
“What?” I was stunned. She smirked.
“Surely I can’t have a monopoly on all the kissing activities, Rose. I mean, I’ve done it to you twice already. I’m sure you’d like to give it a shot. You did take a swing at me only a few minutes ago.” My face was burning, she had noticed the attempt, not that I’d had much faith she wouldn’t. Lily walked up to me and pulled me into another hug. “Do you know what I want to do right now?”
“I don’t know,” I said. Lily rocked me over, tipping us both onto the grassy lawn. Somehow she ended up right on my belly, pinning me to the ground.
“Is this too forward?” she asked. I was shaking my head, too surprised to do anything else. Seeing as we were together, this took on a whole different meaning. “Then kiss me,” she demanded. “And make them good ones, please.” Summoning all my courage I tried to land a peck on her lips again but she turned her head, and I merely brushed her cheek. Lily giggled. “You’ve got a lot of kissing to do, Rose. Better get started.” I struggled under Lily’s weight, but there was nothing I could from this angle but play her game. Why couldn’t we just do this how other ponies probably did?
I went again for her lips, but caught the cheek again, this time for more than a light brushing. I was getting closer to the prize. Lily planted her cheek against my neck. I could feel the warmth through my coat, spreading along my body. There were no words to describe the feeling of Lily. She stopped for a moment to speak.
“You like when I kiss your neck?” I strained my neck trying to reach her mouth but I couldn’t get the right angle. “I guess so.” She kept at my neck, moving up and up until she was near enough that I could have intercepted, and she stopped.
“Why do you like kissing so much?” she asked.
“I’ve never done it before,” I said painfully, wincing at my own lame words.
“Let’s get working on that then,” she said, and started at my neck, this time moving down, back to where she’d started.
“Lily, please,” I begged. I just wanted to feel her touch one more time. She stopped on my neck.
“Please what?” she asked. I groaned at her question.
“Please kiss me, Lily,” I begged again. Lily picked up her head and moved it in front of mine. “Please?” I saw her lips pucker, and I did the same. When they finally touched it was like a spark of lightning to my body. My hind legs pawed at at the air, unnoticed by me. I was too busy to really care what my body was doing. I raised my forelegs around and pulled Lily in tighter. She let herself fall so were were side by side on the ground, smooching, being happy together. It felt like the first time in a while I didn’t have a care in the world.
Every time she pulled back only to hit me again, it felt like my skin was on fire. I never wanted it to end, but all good things come to an end. She stopped and I just lay there next to her. For some reason, the fervor to kiss her had ended, and the same feeling came just by being next to her. The butterflies everypony had talked about had landed and I felt like a million bits.
“Lily?” I prodded.
“Mmmm?” she mumbled. Her mouth was still buried along my neck.
“I’m really happy right now.” She snuggled in deeper. I wished there was some way to be closer with her. Everything about her sent me off in a tizzy of excitement; the way her breath moved the curls along my neck, the feel of her hooves on my back, and the scent of her perfume, which I found strangely intoxicating. How long I had been blind to Lily’s beauty. Now it all seemed so obvious to me.
The birds were chirping songs in the air. Even then we could hear the faint notes of the music coming from the castle interior. I wasn’t sure how long we lay there in the grass together, but I wish it had been forever, but she got hungry and so did I. We got up and together we bounded towards some of the food vendors.
Lily got a modest apple pie, which she devoured in four juicy bites. On the other hoof I got a large slice of pumpkin pie topped with fresh whipped cream. The two of us sat at one of the many tables set up for guests to eat at. I was working at eating the pie while Lily watched. A little of the pie filling remained on her lips. She took to licking it off and it looked to me like she was taking her time getting it all.
I was so focused on Lily that I missed my next bite of pie. Instead my muzzle went straight into the cream and filling. I put the pie down on the table and went for a napkin. Lily stopped my hooves and gave my muzzle a long, comical lick. Her tongue was rough, big, and wet, I noticed. I was more shocked than anything that she’d licked the frosting off my face. I focused on her just in time to see her enjoy the taste it had given her. Suddenly I wasn’t hungry at all. Lily stared at me.
“Are you alright?” she asked. I nodded slowly and picked up the slice of pie again. It dwarfed my hooves and I had barely even started. I took another bite and chewed it thoughtfully. The pie really was delicious, a spectacular blend of pumpkin and cinnamon. The whipped cream on top only helped to enhance the experience. I took my attention off the pie however. Lily was watching me intently.
“Is there something on me?” I asked.
“You’re just cute, you know?” I didn’t know that. Two ponies had said that, Lily and my mom. “You’re enjoying the pie?” I nodded with a smile and took another large bite. Lily stuck her tongue out at me. “Want to dance yet?” I gulped hard on the pie.
“Dance?”
“Yes, Rose, dance. The thing we practiced for hours last night.” We had done two things I wanted to do, and I didn’t want to seem pushy.
“I feel scared,” I admitted, “about dancing.” Lily scootched closer.
“No one will mind if you can’t dance, Rose,” she said. “There’s probably nopony here who can dance half as well as us.”
“Really?” I asked. She nodded assuringly.
“Most ponies here think swaying is dancing, and you’ve got quite a few moves under your belt.”
“Okay,” I said, “I’d like to dance with you, Lily.” She pulled me tightly into a hug, and I had to cradle the pie so it wouldn’t fall on either of us. She pulled back, holding me by the shoulders.
“I love dancing!” she squealed. I put the half finished slice down and stood up. Lily got up hastily and raced off, leading me back towards the castle. Inside, the party was still going even though it was early in the morning already. The ponies showed no signs of stopping. Lily lead me straight to the center and stood across from me. The music playing was hard to place, style wise, some sort of electronica. Not really something I listened to, but Lily didn’t seem to mind. She was moving to and fro with the music. I tried to follow along with her, but the beat of the music seemed to lose me every time.Other ponies kept bumping into me, throwing me off balance and threatening to knock me off my hooves. But at least Lily was happy and that was good enough.
It was hard to see, but the lights were gradually rising, throwing the dark of the room into just the corners. Minutes passed before other ponies started to notice too. The dancing slowed down and the volume of the music turned down. From one side of the room royal guards started to integrate with the dancers, letting ponies know the Gala was ending. Lily and I turned with the crowd and started toward the main gate. When we got into the atrium, I saw Princesses Cadance and Luna walking up the main stairway. I broke off from the tide and bounded up the stairs towards the Princesses, but guards stopped me.
“Wait,” I said over the sound of the mass of ponies, “ I need to thank Princess Cadance.” Lily appeared next to me.
“What are you doing, Rose?” she asked. I saw Cadance in front of me, behind the guards. She was gleaming in the bright lights.
“Let them through, Flash,” she said to one of the guards. He bowed deeply and they let us through. When they had left Cadance spoke to Lily and I. “How are you two?” Lily’s jaw hung open, threatening to drop down and hit the floor.
“I just wanted to thank you,” I said. I bumped into Lily, hoping she’d take the cue and she did.
“How did you meet the Princess?” she asked as if Cadance wasn’t there. Cadance giggled.
“I saw your poor friend here and I stopped for a talk,” she explained. “I try my best to help everypony.” She looked Lily up and down. “Is this the friend you were talking about?” I nodded. “I’m glad you were able to work it out.”
“You helped Rose?” Lily asked Cadance. “Wow.”
“I think I just nudged her in the right direction. She knew the right move in her heart.” Cadance swept over both of us with her eyes. “You two look like you had a lot of fun at the Gala.”
“Oh yeah!” Lily exclaimed. “It was the most fun I’ve had all year!” I had to agree with her. I thought that Gala was going to be boring or scary, but in the end it was the best thing I had done in years.
“I’m very glad you two had fun, and I hope too see you next year even happier!” With that the Princess turned and with a flying leap returned to Luna’s side. The guards at the top were still eyeing us now so we backed down the stairs and followed the much diminished crowd again.
“I can’t believe you met the Princess,” Lily gabbed. She was raving over something I normally would have too. But for some reason it hadn’t had the same effect on me. Maybe it had been the circumstances but maybe it was just the way Princess Cadance was.
“You did too,” I pointed out. Lily rolled her eyes.
“But you met her twice! You’re practically best friends with her now in my eyes.” Lily glanced towards the sky. “Do you think she’ll want to come over for dinner next week? Oh, I hope there’s room at the table if Daisy’s colt-toy is over.”
“Lily,” I grumbled while she snickered over her own jokes. At the end of the red carpet we found the carriage that was to take us back to Ponyville. The ride wasn’t more than an hour long. This time I sat on Lily’s side of the carriage as it followed the winding, mountainous path to Ponyville. What had been a nervous journey before was now a relaxing moment to be with Lily. There were cushions on the padded seats of the carriage and Lily was using them to lie down. I decided to lean on her during the ride. She had a hoof in my mane, rubbing and scratching it.
The carriage dropped us off in front of Lily’s. I turned to go but she stopped me.
“Do you want to... sleep over?” she asked nervously. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her nervous, but it was the first time I’d felt her be nervous. Even she wasn’t sure of herself right now, and that made it strange to watch.
“Uhm,” I muttered, “I don’t know...”
“Y-you don’t have to!” she added hurriedly, “It was only a thought.”
“Well I’d like to,” I said, “it sounds fun.” It did sound fun to spend the night with Lily, maybe we’d get to spend some more time kissing, and I bet she was really warm in bed and a cuddler. I gave her an exhausted grin. “I’d really like that, Lily.”