The sun was approaching the horizon, waiting for its mistress to bid it to leave, by the time the wedding had ended. To the collective relief of the city and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, no ancient evil that everypony had forgotten about had sabotaged or crashed or otherwise interrupted the ceremony itself. Vows were made, a kiss was shared, applause was had, rice was wasted, and nary an invasion force in sight, though many betting pools were disappointed. All in all, it was a pleasant day lacking any sort of incident.
No, that was saved for the reception.
The reception was held in the banquet hall that had held Twilight’s little birthday party way back when Fancy Pants was just an unreachable icon to Rarity. The reception was far from small or personal, however. Everypony that was anypony had shown up, and in Canterlot there were a lot of anyponies to be had. Copious amounts of food both delicate and decadent lined buffet tables. The guests each gave the graceful groom and blushing bride their congratulations, well-wishes, and petty Canterlot politics hoof-kissing. Anypony with a camera was taken to see the nice guards with their friendly spears to be investigated as an uninvited paparazzo or press photographer. Typical celebrity wedding, really.
Trouble was brewing at a small, out of the way table that seated six certain national heroes.
“This plan is stupid,” Twilight said flatly to her gathered partners in mischief.
“Hey, it was your plan!” Rainbow Dash shot back through another bite of wedding cake. “At least… I think it was your idea. Last night was kind of a blur.”
“I doubt that I could come up with anything so stupidly simple even when I’m not sober,” Twilight grumbled. “I mean, really? Loosening Luna up with liquor and getting her to dance with Rarity? That was the best we could do?”
“Sugarcube, we were so plastered that we wrote our brainstorming down on the label of a wine bottle. We should be thankful we had the presence of mind to write a plan down at all,” Applejack said, taking a swig of hard cider. “And that Pinkie’s calligraphy somehow gets better when she’s drunk.”
“What can I say? I’m full of surprises!” Pinkie chirped before shoveling another hoof full of sweets into her gob from the mountain of them she gathered on her plate.
“Not so loud, please,” Fluttershy groaned, nursing her head with both hooves with her chin on the table. “I can still hear my heart pounding in my head…”
“You really need to work on holding your booze, Shy,” Rainbow Dash giggled, patting her on the back.
“I’m never touching alcohol again,” she whimpered.
“That’s what you said last time,” Rainbow said with a roll of her eyes.
“Focus!” Twilight hissed, tapping her hoof on the table. “Look, this really isn’t a good idea. One, I repeat, this plan is stupid. Two, this plan could go really wrong since Celestia’s told me that Luna’s the type of pony that loses the barrier between brain and mouth the more she drinks.”
“Well, duh!” Rainbow said with a facehoof. “That’s what we’re hoping for!”
“Look, girls,” Rarity chimed in softly, “I really appreciate the concern, the acceptance, and the assistance, but… I’m still unsure about this. Maybe this is the wrong time.”
“Rarity, you’re so anxious and unsure of yourself that there ain’t ever gonna be a right time,” Applejack said with a smile of sympathy. “It’s not the best or the most elaborate plan, but it’s what we’ve got, and we’ll take care of it. Just wait until they announce that it’s time for the couples to take the dance floor. If you see Luna there waiting, you’ll know what to do. One way or another, we’ll find out what’s what.”
Rarity smiled nervously and nodded. “Thank you, darling.”
“Speaking of which, I think I see her over by the south exit,” Rainbow said, standing in her chair to look over the crowd before plopping back down on her plot. “We’ve still got a lot of time, but we better get started. Pinkie, you’re up.”
Pinkie nodded and wrapped her tongue around the rest of her haul, dragging it into her mouth like a chameleon and swallowing thousands of calories of sugar like a snake. She licked her lips in bliss before saluting. “I’m on it!” she said before diving under their table and vanishing only to pop back up under a table on the other side of the room.
“And we better get to the liquor buffet before Pinkie drags her over there,” AJ said, climbing out of her seat along with Rainbow Dash.
“I think I’ll stay here,” Fluttershy mumbled, cradling her head back and forth. “Not going anywhere near alcohol.”
Rainbow sighed and tossed Fluttershy onto her own back with a squeak. “You don’t have to drink, you just have to be there. Just need to keep Luna talking, that’s all.”
Twilight sighed and got out of her seat as well. “Fine, I’m in, if only to make sure this doesn’t go horribly wrong.”
Rarity shifted uncomfortably in her seat and opened her mouth to speak, but AJ beat her to it. “Just go out and mingle, Rare. Talk to Fleur and Fancy; have some fun with your friends,” the cowpony said over her shoulder as the troupe trotted off.
Rarity smiled to herself and took a deep breath. “Might as well,” she mumbled, climbing out of her seat and scanning the room. She spotted the couple off to the side, dealing with ponies who no doubt just wanted to get on their good side. Fancy and Fleurs’ smiles seemed genuine, but she spent enough time around them to know it was the smile of simply tolerating the company they were forced to keep.
As the fashionista cantered through the tables and the crowd, she stole glances at Fleur to admire her work. Her and Luna’s vision brought to life, it was. The shape was simple but graceful; loose, bundled, white fabric around the shoulders of the forelegs to hold it in place with a flowing dress behind her and a wreath of pink lilies atop her head in the Roaman style, and copious elegant embroideries of gold depicting vines and lilies to mimic the Prench baroque aesthetic. Nevermind that lilies didn’t grow on vines; art and reality only have a passing relationship of awkward glances.
“Ah, there she is! Everypony, make way,” Fancy Pants said as she approached. The nobles who made triple her salary obediently parted for her to pass, though not without some grudging glares. She smiled wide and sauntered past like she owned them.
“Once again, Rarity, you do not cease to impress,” Fancy greeted when she arrived. “Fleur’s dress is absolutely gorgeous. I’m not sure what I expected, but the dress of an ancient empress certainly blindsided me.”
“Oh, it was no trouble at all,” Rarity fibbed with a charming smile. “You both deserve to feel like royalty on this very special day. I’m just glad I could make it happen.” She could just feel the waves of jealousy coming from all sides and reveled in them. Fleur was choking back laughter from the looks on their faces, and Fancy smiled all the wider.
“It was worth every penny, I say. You really should lower your prices, though; at five digits asking price, nopony short of nobility can afford your work,” he lied in return with a sly grin.
Rarity’s smile grew in turn. The nobles around them were hanging on his every word, and in turn her own. Time for a bit of advertising. “Oh, that’s only for my major commissions for celebrities like yourself and Octavia von Clef. I pour in so much time and work into them, I wouldn’t expect a single bit below ten thousand,” she lied right back with a nonchalant flip of her mane. “My average special orders fetch for a fifth of that, if not lower. As long as the money is worth my time, though, the Carousel Boutique can provide anypony a masterpiece.”
“As you keep proving,” Fancy nodded. “I look forward to seeing more of your work here in Canterlot.”
“Why, thank you,” Rarity said with a small bow.
Fancy Pants glanced to the side to… Rarity wasn’t even sure. “Speaking of your work, mind if I have a small chat with you? Outside, if you would,” he said, his smile not leaving him.
Rarity looked to Fleur for some sort of sign, but she seemed as lost as Rarity was. “But of course,” she said happily, hiding her confusion.
“Very good. This way,” Fancy said, trotting off with Rarity close behind. Rarity kept her eyes on his face as she followed. His own gaze was sweeping around the room, looking for someone or something, the same way a pony would look when looking for lost keys when already late for a date. His smile faltered with each passing second. Whatever he was looking for, it wasn’t in its proper place and he couldn’t find it.
His composure was back in place by the time they left through the southern doors into the banquet hall’s garden. Luna was nowhere in sight near the door, so Rarity assumed that Pinkie had succeeded in dragging her away by then. A few small groups were outside, scattered among various glass tables that only the decadent Canterlot would even dream of leaving outside to the elements and partaking in food from the buffet. Several of them broke from their conversations and looked to her and Fancy, but the older stallion shot them looks that told them that it was not the time for ingratiation. Suck-ups that they were, they obeyed his silent commands without a fuss or a word.
Fancy led her to a small patio within a copse of trees within earshot of the banquet hall. He took a seat on one of its antique-looking-but-still-obviously-new chairs and silently motioned for her to take the one across from him. She did as she was offered with a little bow and a smile, though her smile was more nervous than she wanted.
“Now that we’re away from prying ears,” Fancy started, a genuine grin back on his face, “I really do have to say from the bottom of my heart that you did a marvelous job on Fleur’s dress. I used to think she couldn’t ever be any more beautiful to me than she already was, but you proved me wrong! Keep up this standard of work, and they’ll be studying your style and methods in art schools in a few decades.”
“Oh, my work isn’t that great,” Rarity said with a bashful smile and blush. “But it’s most kind of you to say so. And I really must thank you for the opportunity to advertise myself. I didn’t dare break eye contact to check their faces, but I really hope they bought it.”
“I’ll bet money that they did, and that they will,” he chuckled. “If I were you, I’d get used to the idea of five digits being your new monthly earnings.”
“I wouldn’t have any idea what to do with that much money besides to put into my little sister’s account,” she admitted with a shaky sigh. “I learned my lesson about letting fame and reputation going to my head; I don’t want to learn the same lesson about wealth the hard way.”
“Charities are the best way to get rid of excess riches to avoid the temptation; help the world while helping yourself, really,” he said. “But don’t fret over hypotheticals. Should the time come where I will be privileged to associate with you instead of the other way around, I’ll give you some pointers about how to handle stardom and not self-destruct. For now, focus on your work and let your reward come when it may.”
“If only it were that simple.” She sighed and slumped a little in her seat. “Truth be told, I barely managed to finish Fleur’s commission. I was so paralyzed with fear that anything I could come up with wouldn’t be good enough for her that I put it off until last week. If it weren’t for Luna… this whole day would not gone nearly as well,” Rarity confessed, her ears flattening.
“Oh really?” Fancy asked, his ears perked at attention. “And what exactly should I thank Luna for?”
“For getting my plot in gear, to be frank,” Rarity chuckled. “She stayed up all night to help me brainstorm and for me to bounce ideas off of, and kept me going after I’d lost faith in myself.”
“That was awfully kind of her,” he said. “Not many ponies would believe her capable of that sort of generosity.”
“Many ponies are quite mistaken, to put it charitably,” Rarity half sighed, half grumbled. “Luna doesn’t deserve a single ounce of the distrust that the public still harbors for her. She still has much to get used to about modern life, but beneath it all she’s a kind, funny, clever mare who just wants to be loved again.”
“You sound like you know her very well,” he said with a somber smile.
“Don’t pretend like you haven’t heard about Luna and I spending time together,” Rarity said with a small roll of her eyes.
“I have,” he admitted with a small bow of his head in concession. “I’ve also heard frankly scandalous stories involving the two of you, alcohol, and her bedchamber. Can’t say that I ever believed a word of them, though.”
“Thank you!” she blurted out, raising her forelegs as if beseeching the heavens. “Finally, somepony in Canterlot who isn’t making presumptions about my romantic life based on hearsay! I love Fleur to death, but even she was pestering me about it.”
“Oh, in her case, it was just teasing,” he chuckled with a grin. “Besides, everypony knows that your fondness lies with stallions alone.”
Rarity’s anger faded and her face went blank. “Well… eheh…” she giggled, suddenly very sheepish.
“Yes?” Fancy prompted with a wave of his hoof. “What is it?”
She shifted in her seat and hummed, choosing her words carefully. “They do say that there’s a grain of truth to every myth, don’t they?”
“I have yet to meet this ‘they’ that ponies go on about when speaking of general hypotheticals, but yes, that has been said,” Fancy Pants joked with a very calm mirth.
“Well, that still holds true for those rumors that have been going around, though I didn’t exactly realize it when I first heard about them,” she said.
“Go on,” he prompted.
She paused and bit her lip. “Mister Fancy Pants, you’re a very good friend of mine, and I daresay that you’re akin to the likable, understanding uncle I never had. But please understand that what I’m about to disclose is information I would still very much like to keep hushed up until I’m ready to bring it to public attention myself.”
“My lips are sealed until you say otherwise,” he promised with a nod.
Rarity took a deep breath. “The truth is that in the time I have spent with Princess Luna, I have discovered a few things about myself. Namely, in the time I’ve spent with her, I’ve found her more charming and irresistible than I’ve ever found any stallion. Not to say that I have lost my attraction to the opposite sex or anything, but…” She trailed off and cringed inwardly, unable to make sense of what she was feeling and put it into words.
Fancy chuckled with a wide grin. “Say no more. The word you’re looking for is ‘bisexual,’ Rarity, and there’s no shame in it. In fact, that’s what I was hoping to hear, though in different circumstances.”
Rarity’s face went blank again, staring at her friend. “I beg your pardon?”
“I called you out here for more than small talk; I was hoping to extract that exact information from you. This was to be a set up, and yet it looks like my conspirator has vanished,” he admitted with a slightly worried frown, looking about. “Princess Luna was to slip outside behind us and lurk in the shadows in that vapor form of hers, watching and listening as close as she felt comfortable. I was to give a signal as to your answer if she wasn’t in hearing range, and if your answer was favorable, she was to reveal herself and admit to her growing affections.” He chuckled nervously. “This is actually quite embarrassing, but… I think we’ll have to track her down, forgo the thematic dramatics, and just tell her how it went. I have not the faintest idea where she could be; this all seemed terribly important to her.”
Rarity froze, save for what felt like her eye twitching, but she felt like she wasn’t even inside her body anymore so she couldn’t really be sure. “I… think I have an idea where she is,” she groaned, covering her face with both hooves.
“Rarity, are you alri-”
“Do not dare presume that you know what I went through!” boomed a thunderous, otherworldly voice, the windows of the banquet hall rattling.
“What in the world was that?!” Fancy Pants asked, hooves over his ears.
“Oh no,” Rarity breathed. She leaped out of her seat and galloped towards the banquet hall faster than she thought her legs could ever take her. She burst in to find the hall stunned into silence, all eyes on Princess Luna. The alicorn’s cheeks were red, though whether it was more from rage or from booze she couldn’t tell. Most of said booze was scattered on the floor and on the buffet table where it used to be arranged and stacked, more than likely shattered or knocked over by the force of Luna’s voice. Backed up against the table was a very scared and quivering Rainbow Dash. The other girls had backed away, Fluttershy behind Pinkie Pie and even the bubbly party mare looking afraid.
“You had it easy, you pampered whelp!” Luna yelled into Rainbow’s face. “You all had it easy!” She rounded on the other guests, the crowd tripping over themselves to back away. “I saved the filthy hides of your ancestors from Discord’s reign of misery, and what was my reward? To suffer in silence for centuries, knowing every single day of my wretched life that to pursue love as I wanted would have me exiled and disowned by the very people I saved, and my lover jailed to be ‘cured’!” She turned her head to Celestia, who among the crowd had not backed down or shrunk away. “Even my thrice-damned sister did everything in her power to rob me of my happiness when she found out, under the guise of doing it for my own good!”
Celestia bowed her head, but said not a word of protest.
“And after the hateful, small-minded little ants that sired you drove me to the breaking point, drove me to a point where I listened to forces dark and terrible in the hope of getting the smallest taste of love and respect and banished for my weakness, what is my reparation for all I’ve suffered?” she asked, sweeping her head across the crowd again. “Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Not an ounce of sympathy, not a single dreg of kindness from my own people. Even in this brave new world where I could find love and happiness, you will not allow me to have it. No, I get naught but paranoia and distrust for an act that I didn’t intend, nor did I do of my own free will. In the papers, in the streets, in the whispers behind my back in my own palace, you all have made it abundantly clear that I am not welcome here! So you know what?!”
She raised a hoof and swiped off her own crown, sending it clattering to the floor as tears fell to the ground.
“I resign!”
Luna turned to vapor with a violent, angry hiss, and the cloud rushed out of the room like a tempest wind, slamming the doors open and knocking much of the crowd to the floor.
Silence took its hold over the banquet hall. Murmurs started stirring among the crowd, hushed whispers and terrified undertones, as Rarity trotted through the masses over to her friends. The walk felt like a moment and an eternity both, the warped sense of time one would feel in a surreal dream. However long it took, eventually she found herself by their side, picking up Luna’s discarded crown in her hooves.
“Are you okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked Rainbow Dash, helping her back to all fours.
“Are you hurt?” Fluttershy added, quaking as she crawled out from behind Pinkie Pie.
“I’m f-f-fine,” Rainbow lied, badly, as she trembled and brushed them off. “Just fine.”
“I knew we gave her one drink too many, but… I had no idea,” Applejack trailed off.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the tall, alabaster pillars that were Celestia’s legs walk into view, but she didn’t pay much attention. Her eyes wouldn’t leave Luna’s crown.
“Celestia,” she heard Twilight ask. “It’s not true… is it?”
“I wish I could deny it, but she meant every word. Especially the ones about me,” Celestia confessed, a heavy sadness weighing down her normally regal air. “Equestria has not always been a good country. Our time under Discord did nothing to cure old prejudices and bigotry from before he arrived, and his imprisonment did not magically make them go away. Even my own.”
“But… you couldn’t have… what did you do to her?” Twilight stuttered.
“A lot of things. But I did more to the love of her life. I stole her from Luna, for which I don’t think she’ll ever quite forgive me. I don’t forgive myself either.” Celestia let out a weary sigh, and she suddenly looked very… old, in a way words couldn’t describe. “I’ve never been a perfect mare, or a perfect ruler. I just do the best I can to not repeat the same mistakes. I’m sorry you had to realize that like this, Twilight… all of you.”
“But she can’t just quit… can she?” Pinkie asked. “She’s a princess! She just can’t stop being a princess!”
“There is no official, legal procedure allowing either of us to step down as princesses, but I don’t think it’d be right of me to stop her,” Celestia admitted.
“If you won’t, I will!” Twilight insisted, a hint of desperation in her voice. “She’s my friend; I can’t let her do this to herself! I’ll talk her out of this, I promise.”
“You won’t, Twilight, and that’s an order,” Celestia said firmly.
“Wh-what?” Twilight stammered.
“Because this time you simply aren’t the mare for the job,” Celestia explained. “A friend can’t mend this kind of hurt. This takes a bond greater than that.”
Rarity felt eyes on her, and she looked up to see that it was Celestia’s. “Me?” was all she could bring herself to say.
“Yes, you,” Celestia said with a small, hopeful smile. “She’s told me several times of how fond she is of you… in a romantic sense. And the way I’ve seen you look at her, I think I can safely say that you return the feeling.”
“Fond, yes, but I… I don’t think I’m in love yet. This whole thing is so new to me,” Rarity said, avoiding eye contact.
“Then you need to tell her as much,” Celestia said. “She needs a heart to heart right now, with you more than anyone. Let her know how you feel, and if you both should move on or not. Right now she needs some closure and sincerity, at the very least, which only you can provide.”
Rarity shook her head. "But... but what about Fleur and Fancy Pants?"
"What about me?" Fleur asked behind her, nudging her cheek with her nose.
Rarity jumped in her skin and turned around to see Fleur standing tall behind her, a sad smile on the bride's face. "Oh... oh Fleur, I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean for any of this to-"
Fleur held up a hoof to silence her. "Please, don't grovel. It doesn't suit you, Rarity. Don't worry about us. Honestly, I was hoping for something to happen to interrupt the drudgery and insincere flattery. I'm just sorry that it was something that's causing you and your friends so much pain."
A shadow of a smile crept onto Rarity's face as she stood upright and pulled Fleur into a hug. "Thank you, Fleur... you're a great friend."
"Thank me when you get the girl," Fleur teased softly, pulling back and nuzzling her nose against Rarity's. "Fancy and I are already well on our way to a happy ending; do me a favor and go get yours started."
"I'll try." Rarity swallowed hard, her throat feeling dry. “Very well,” she said, turning back to Celestia. “Where can I find her?”
“In her room,” Celestia said simply, trotting past the group. “Twilight, teleport her there. Fleur, let's get started on damage control."
"Of course, your highness," Fleur bowed, following close behind the princess.
The six mares mumbled various goodbyes and salutations as they looked over each other. The five that had faced Luna’s wrath were covered in booze from shattered bottles, along with a few cuts from the flying glass. Rainbow Dash had it the worst, and was still trembling harder than Fluttershy, who held her tight and refused to let go.
Rarity took a deep breath, lowered Luna’s crown, and turned to Twilight. “We better get going,” she said, a pained smile on her face. “Don’t want to leave her alone for too long.”
“Okay,” Twilight mumbled, a nervous frown on her muzzle. Her horn glowed and then discharged in a flash of white light. When it cleared, the two of them were outside Luna’s bedchamber. The two anxiously looked away from each other, only occasionally making eye contact. “Just… make sure she’s okay? She’s my friend too.”
“I’ll try my best,” Rarity said, pulling Twilight into a gentle hug. “I promise.”
Twilight smiled and hugged her back before teleporting away, leaving Rarity alone to face an angry, hurt demigoddess.
Rarity closed her eyes and breathed slowly, taking a few moments to compose and steel herself. She raised her hoof up and knocked, flinching in advance of the shouting she expected.
No such shouting came, nor did any noise at all.
Rarity blinked and waited a few seconds, a weight settling in the pit of her stomach. She knocked again, only to be met with more silence. She nervously swallowed and pushed the door open, peeking inside. The darkness within was absolute, and silent save for the sound of quiet sobbing.
“Luna…?” she asked softly, taking a step inside.
“Leave me be,” Luna whispered.
“Not just yet; we need to talk first.” Rarity shook her head and walked all the way inside. Her hip bumped against the door, opening it just far enough for the outside to reveal Luna sprawled on her bed. The alicorn shifted and turned over, but not before Rarity got a glimpse of her tear-soaked face. Gone was the thunder and fury, and in their place heartbreak and despair. Rarity could feel her own heart cracking as she closed the door, letting darkness take them again.
“About what?” Luna spat weakly. “About how I ruined your friends’ wedding day? About how I slandered my sister in front of hundreds? About how I just gave the public more fuel to their hatred of me?”
Rarity sat down, her head hung low. “No; I…” Her voice died in her throat, words failing her.
“Then what?” Luna choked out. “What do you want?”
“For you to be happy again,” Rarity said, without thought or filters. Muscles relaxed she didn’t even know were tense.
Luna was silent for a few moments. “That’s very kind of you, Rarity, yet… I don’t think that such a thing is going to happen.”
“If you think that’s going to make me leave or give up, then you don’t know me as well as I’d hoped,” Rarity said with a small smile.
Luna chuckled. Though it was strained and was followed by a sniffle, it was something at least. “I would expect no less. Still, I would very much like to be left alone.”
“You don’t sound like you do. You sound like you want someone to stand by you more than ever,” Rarity said. Her eyes were starting to adjust to the dark. She was able to see Luna’s outline, at the very least.
“Maybe… I don’t really know anymore,” Luna admitted.
Rarity shifted her weight on her forelegs uneasily. “Well… I do know about your little stake-out plan with Fancy Pants. He told me about it after he found out what he was after, but you were nowhere to be seen.”
“Pinkie can be very insistent,” Luna scoffed bitterly. “I had hoped to mingle with yours and Twilight’s friends for only a few minutes and be back at my post in time, but… you saw how that turned out.”
“Yes… I did,” Rarity mumbled. “I knew you were troubled, but I hadn’t the faintest idea you had so much bottled up all this time.”
“Very few do. It was a long time ago, in an age that the history books like to gloss over or forget entirely,” Luna sighed. “Nobody in that room but my sister knew, let alone your blue friend, and yet… and yet I cannot help but feel enraged that life and those around me continue to stamp me into the dirt, and yet I’m expected to just let it happen and pretend that anyone understands what I’ve been through.”
“I can only imagine,” Rarity said softly. “I just… I really hope I haven’t made things worse for you.”
“You haven’t,” Luna assured hastily. “Made things more complicated, though… yes. But it’s nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I should apologize for dragging you into my insecurities and… oh, what’s the modern phrase… emotional baggage.”
“Please, don’t,” Rarity said with a shake of her head. “My life has become much more complicated since you and I started speaking, yes, but I don’t regret a moment of it. I’ve discovered a lot about myself since then, and I have you to thank for it.”
Luna shifted in her bed, curling up tighter. “You’re just saying that, Rarity.”
“I say it because it’s true! I won’t pretend that I’m head-over-hooves in love with you, but you make me confident and comfortable in my own skin and assured about my life in a way no colt ever has,” she gushed. “I care deeply about all my friends, but the way my heart feels when you look at me or laugh at my jokes or compliment me or my work is a sort of warmth I’ve never felt before. And I can’t begin to describe how devastated I felt when I saw you so angry and hurt, how heartbroken I feel now to see you sad and crying. I just… I feel for you in a way that I think could turn into something truly beautiful if you’d just give me a chance.”
Rarity rose and took another step, then another, her heart leading her and her mind not objecting. What she was doing was bold, scandalous, and borderline blasphemous, but she found herself no longer caring.
She climbed onto Luna’s bed and lay behind her, holding the alicorn close with her head in her starry mane and her chest against the princess’ back.
“I truly, deeply care about you… so please, let me help you,” she begged softly.
Luna moved and shifted, but not to pull away. She came closer, pressing her back against Rarity’s front. “You already do.”
Silence settled over the two of them, a comforting presence instead of a smothering one. Rarity felt Luna’s heartbeat through her hooves wrapped around the alicorn’s middle, along with her rising and falling chest. She breathed easier than she thought she would, nuzzled into Luna’s mane. It felt ethereal as it looked, at once physically present and yet less substantial than air. Rarity relaxed, and she felt Luna relax along with her, her breath slowing and muscles loosening and heart calming.
Luna broke the silence first. “The next few weeks are going to be very difficult because of my outburst,” she stated.
“I know,” Rarity mumbled.
Luna sighed. “And I’ll have to profusely apologize to your friends… both the ones I yelled at, and the one’s whose wedding day I ruined.”
“It’d only be right,” Rarity said gently.
“And if there was a single journalist that snuck in, this will be plastered all over the papers… and even if it isn’t, the news will still circulate by word of mouth and end up on headlines anyway,” Luna continued.
“I know,” Rarity repeated, nuzzling the back of Luna’s neck.
“News of our relationship will make waves as well… if you want to make it official, that is.”
“I have my worries, but... I think I'm ready to take that step. I'm happy to be with you, and don't want to hide my feelings anymore,” Rarity assured, giving her new marefriend’s neck a little kiss.
Luna hummed happily, backing up further into Rarity’s embrace. “I… think I’ll retract my resignation,” she muttered. “How much do you want to bet that many will insist that my words were binding to get rid of me?”
“To the pits of Tartarus with them, I say,” Rarity cursed. “You’re a better princess then they deserve, but they’ll never drive you away.”
“Thank you.” Luna was silent for a while longer, but eventually she said, “I haven’t been this close to anyone in a long, long time… I think I’d like to show you something.”
“What would that be?” Rarity asked.
“My dreamscape,” she answered. She turned over, facing Rarity as they lay together, resting her forelegs on Rarity’s shoulders. Her horn glowed with cyan magic, lighting up the face of the two new lovers. Luna’s cheeks were still matted with tears, but a meek smile was on her face. “I’ve seen your dreams, and I’ve seen the dreams of millions, but… only a select few in all of history have ever seen my mind from the inside. I think you deserve to see it.”
“Luna… as excited as you must be, that’s an incredibly personal thing to share and sounds like a huge step in a relationship,” Rarity cautioned with a worried frown. “Let’s wait for a little while, okay? The last thing I think either of us should do is rush this.”
Luna’s smile faltered in the soft glow. “Very well, Rarity. If you think it best,” she mumbled.
Rarity smiled in return, wrapping her forelegs around Luna’s shoulders. “We don’t have to take it too slow, though.”
Luna blushed, and the heat that graced her cheeks told Rarity that she was blushing to match. She sparked her own horn to life and leaned in slowly, gently. Luna wasn’t so much in the mood for dramatics or savoring the moment, quickly pressing her own lips against Rarity’s and holding her close.
In the glow of magic and the cover of darkness, the two kissed, and Rarity at last tasted ambrosia.