The lake at Ponyville’s park was always pleasant to look at, even in the middle of a storm. It was nice and quiet, and the reflection of the water soothed the soul anytime someone looked at it. But it was more beautiful than Rarity had ever seen it before.
It reflected the stars and the moonlight across the surface, with the moon’s yellow glow making it almost seem like the water was made out of milk. A duck swam across the top of the water, causing the picturesque view to ripple in all directions. And yet, it didn’t take away from its beauty.
Before Rarity saw it, she wanted to keep walking around the park and tell Luna a few animal facts she learned from Fluttershy. But not right now. This was much better than her plans.
So the two of them kept watching the surface, taken away from the view at the top of the hill. They didn’t say a word for a moment, allowing the sight to speak for them.
Eventually, Luna felt like she had to say something. Rarity had to be eager to teach her the next lesson.
“Can we stay here for a while?” she asked. “I really enjoy up here.”
“My thoughts, exactly,” Rarity responded. “It looks lovely, doesn’t it? And besides, this is part of the current lesson. Be spontaneous with each other. If we want to stay here for an hour or two, we can. I don’t see the harm in it.”
“Thank you.”
So that’s what they did. They stayed where they were, sharing the view with each other. They would share it alone, as most ponies there were leaving. The night was young and there was a lot to do, after all. However, the surface of the lake reminded Rarity about a recent event, with the way it was looking like a dream. Remind her of a certain dream, to be exact...
She felt a little uncomfortable talking about it, even though she was very happy that it happened. In the end, it felt like a secret she had to get out now, while Luna was here.
“Umm… Luna? Is there something I can talk to you about?” she spoke up.
Luna was a bit puzzled, feeling like this came out of left field. “What is it, Rarity?”
The unicorn took a deep breath, feeling the pressure coming on her. But she had to say it.
“There was something that happened the other day that was fascinating, in a way. You know about my sister, Sweetie Belle, and her other friends by now. They go by the name of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
Luna nodded at the mention of those names. “I know of them. Come to think of it, I traveled into Scootaloo’s dreams on one occasion. I needed to help her with her fears, and thankfully they have gone away.”
“That’s what I needed to talk to you about, actually. You see, a month ago the Crusaders had a sleepover at my house. I was dreading it, because you know how they are. Going out and finding what their cutie marks are, destroying the place in the process. But they didn’t do that this time. In fact, they were all in Sweetie Belle’s room the entire time.
“I thought it would be a good idea to give them glasses of lemonade, as a thank you for being so civil that night. But when I came to the door, they were talking about something… strange. As in, they were all talking about you.”
Luna found herself creeped out by this. It wasn’t often that ponies talked about the times she traveled in their dreams, and she had a guess where this was going.
“First, Scootaloo was talking about the time she was afraid of the Headless Horse. I always found that to be a silly ghost story, but that’s not important. She went on and said you were in her dreams, saving her from that creature and how you told her to face her fears, as you said.”
Luna nodded, curious where this was heading. “I see. What is your point?”
“But… then Sweetie Belle mentioned the occasion where you were in her dreams. This was back when I was making dresses for Sapphire Shores and her concert, and how you came into Sweetie’s dreams to stop her from ruining the whole thing. And she even mentioned the part about what my future would have been like, had you not intervened…”
At that point, Rarity’s eyes had grown watery. But she was crying with a smile, looking at Luna with a bittersweet expression. Luna simply closed her eyes and nodded again.
“It was my duty to save you and your sister from that fate,” she responded. “Nopony deserved to go through that, no matter what the reasoning was. It was my duty, and I am glad to see that things worked out for--”
“Please, don’t act like this was just another duty for you,” Rarity interrupted. “I’m sorry for being so blunt, Your Majesty, but that was one of the nicest things anypony has done for me. Hearing what was in store for me, I cannot thank you enough for what you did for us. I really can’t.”
Luna stood there, hearing every word out of the fashionista’s mouth. In the end, she responded to all of that praise with a smile.
“Thank you for saying that about me, Rarity. I appreciate that you found my assistance so helpf--”
Before she could finish, she found herself in the middle of the tightest hug ever. Rarity hugged her without even thinking about it, and Luna gasped for air.
“No, thank you!” Rarity interrupted. “You saved my life, and I can never repay you! But this is close!”
“Can’t… breathe… no air… in lungs…” the princess gasped.
After realizing she might actually suffocate royalty if she didn’t let go, Rarity pulled away and sat back down. Her cheeks turned red when she realized what she had just done, and she tried to act like nothing happened.
However, she found herself looking at Luna’s eyes after she was finished. She didn’t know why, but she wanted to look at them. The color didn’t change with the Dreamscape disguise, and she did find them beautiful.
And that’s when it hit her that Luna was staring right back at her eyes.
“Um, what are you doing?” the princess asked.
But neither one looked away. For reasons neither one could comprehend, their eyes were locked staring at each other.
To make things even “better”, their snouts drew closer as well. They didn’t realize they were doing it, and it was almost as if they were about to kiss...
Wait… kissing…
“Oh sweet Celestia!” Rarity shouted, looking away and blushing hard. “I am so sorry! I made it even more awkward!”
“No, I didn’t help matters at all!” Luna panted, blushing just as hard. “I don’t know what came over me, but I apologize deeply for this act!”
Neither one of them dared to keep apologizing, just trying to forget whatever just happened between the two of them.
Entire minutes passed, and they were still blushing hard. Rarity then decided that looking into Luna’s eyes was off limits, because there was no way they were going to be kissing that night. Or any night, for that matter. Wait, why was she even thinking about this?
But the practice date must continue, or at least that’s what Luna thought. Taking Rarity’s advice, she decided to “break the ice”, so to speak, to move on.
“You know, you’re not the only Element whose dreams I’ve seen.”
“Oh, really?” Rarity asked, thankful that she didn’t ruin the practice run. “And whose dream would that be?”
“Pinkie Pie.”
Rarity’s pupils shrunk down to the size of marbles. “Oh… by Celestia’s mane…”
“First you swear by my sister’s name, and then her mane? Is she really that special? I mean, yes. It was the most interesting dream I’ve been in, save for Discord’s nightmarish wonders.”
The fashionista sat down and listened to the story, curious where Pinkie’s dreams would take her. And then she shuddered at the mere thought of things Discord would dream of...
----
Luna shook her head as she entered the dream. It was always headache inducing whenever she went into the dreamscape, even after years of experience. So was the nature of dream walking.
But she knew something was wrong the moment her hooves were touching icing. As it turns out, the environment was nothing but a big, yellow frosted cookie. It was big enough to be its own island, and come to think about it, it was an island, lazily floating around in a sea of fruit punch.
This was going to be one strange night.
She flew up and searched around for the pony dreaming this stuff up, knowing she wouldn’t be far away on this island. It wasn’t clear yet who it would be, other than the pony would be from Ponyville. That reminded her of the strange naming conventions Celestia used for towns….
Sure enough, she found a pony right ahead of her. It was a pink pony with a curly mane, dancing around with a boombox and a pet alligator. Oh, so I’m in Pinkie Pie’s dream. This should be entertaining.
As she drew closer, the sound of her wings alerted Pinkie that somepony else was here. She turned around and saw Luna coming her way, and that made her even more excited. She grabbed Gummy in her hooves and pointed at the incoming princess.
“Look, Gummy! Luna’s in our dreams!”
So Pinkie Pie is somehow already aware that this illusion is a dream? Luna thought to herself, her hooves coming down to touch the icing again.
“Of course it is, silly! I know when I’m dreaming, because nobody else would make a cookie this huge! Even though they should, but that would take all the sugar in Equestria to make, and then nopony could make cookies again!”
Well, she’s no different in her dreams than she is in reality, Luna thought to herself, especially if she could hear my thoughts. Perhaps I should stop.
“And then it hit me. You’re the only pony that can travel in dreams, at least now that I see it, and there’s no way I would think about you before I go to sleep, because I’m too tired by then to think about ANYTHING. So it just came to me. Because we’re in a dream, and there’s no logic whatsoever, I could throw THE BIGGEST PARTY OF ALL TIME for you!”
The ground rumbled beneath their hooves, as if an earthquake was rocking the place. All of a sudden,, a huge formation broke out from the cookie ground and rose up to the sky behind Pinkie Pie. Its emergence was met with a ton of crescent moon shaped balloons, flooding the air around them.
Yep, this was a Pinkie Pie dream. And it would only get better from here.
Once Luna realized what the structure was, she realized it was a mishmash of a massive concert stage, a pizza parlour, and a table with the world’s biggest cake on it. And by biggest, that meant it was five stories tall. It wasn’t a stretch to call the cake its own building.
The cake was dark blue and featured Luna’s face all over it, with them all smiling. The princess took a step back, fearing that this would only get wilder.
And it did. A band of ponies came out on the concert stage to perform a song in her honor, and a hoard of Pinkie Pie clones came out to celebrate with her. The real Pinkie came out, ordering them around like she was their leader.
“C’mon, everypony! Make Luna feel special! DREAM PARTY!”
What happened afterwards was beyond words.
----
“And after the dream was over, I woke up in Canterlot and ached all over,” Luna finished. “I was sore for days, as Pinkie’s dream was so exhausting, it wore out my real form.”
Rarity’s eye twitched, unable to comprehend the insanity of Pinkie’s mind. “I… well, that’s certainly interesting.”
“At times, I can’t decide if Discord’s dreams or Pinkie’s dreams are weirder. At least I understand why Discord would dream… those things… but Pinkie Pie? She is but a pony like us, so I don’t understand why. I must make sense of it…”
Rarity pressed a hoof on her chest as if to rebuke her. “Darling, nopony will make sense of Pinkie. It’s best to assume you’ll never understand her state of mind. I doubt even her family understands what goes on inside that mind of hers.”
Luna nodded, still believing there was some secret to the madness. “Very well. I’ll let it go for the time being. I guess I should focus on the things I do understand, such as this,” motioning out to the moon.
“Yes, I do understand that,” Rarity laughed. “Granted, I’m not sure how one pony could lift the moon all by herself, but I assume there’s a logic to it. More logic than Pinkie will ever have.”
Now Luna was the one laughing. “Oh yes, there is a logic. That logic being…”
She spent the next few minutes explaining the magic and science that went into her raising the moon, and Rarity lost count of all the times her mind broke just trying to comprehend it. She knew it would be complicated, but even Twilight wouldn’t understand half the things she was hearing.
“And that’s how I’m able to raise the moon,” Luna concluded. “Does that explain everything?”
“I-I think so. This is beyond me on so many levels.”
“I understand, it is rather complex. Should we do something to get your mind off this?”
Rarity paused for a moment, thinking of what they could do next.
“Do you think we could go out walking again?”
“I would love that. I was getting restless after all that talking.”
With that out of the way, they got back up on their hooves and got walking. They weren’t going anywhere in particular, just what looked appealing to them.
By then, the moon was all the way up in the sky, and crickets chirped around them in the grass. The ponies there were dropping in number as the night pressed on, getting around 8 in the evening. Still, there was a lot of time left to go for the date.
As they were walking, Rarity and Luna talked about nothing in particular. Just whatever tickled their fancy. Given how hectic their lives were like, it was a refreshing change of pace to talk about the little things, something they didn’t get to do that often.
Without thinking about it, they walked out of the park and came through the streets of Ponyville. It felt almost festive that night, with red and white lights strewn around the rooftops to give it a serene feeling.
The two mares just kept walking and talking with each other, going around in circles time after time. It wasn’t as boring as it sounded, and within minutes, all the worries that Rarity had going into the practice date were gone. Luna felt just like another pony to her by that point.
And Luna had seemingly grown comfortable as well, no longer asking if she was getting it right. Maybe because she knew the answer by that point, mostly because they had grown so comfortable with each other then, they were walking close to each other. It wasn’t side by side, but it wasn’t far off from that either.
It was growing late, however. They arrived to the Carousel Boutique, with Sweetie Belle in bed by that hour. Rarity looked at the front door, knowing what usually came with this part of the date.
“So what does this part entail?” Luna asked.
“This part could mark the end of the date, if you want it to,” Rarity explained. “You see, sometimes one of the ponies walks their date home, just as we did now. I can go home, and we can say we’ll see each other again if the date ended well. If not, the relationship can end here without any drama. Nice and simple…”
She almost seemed disappointed, and it didn’t take much to pick up on that fact.
“But?” Luna asked.
“But… it doesn’t have to end here. We can keep going out in the town if you want. It just depends on what you want.”
Neither pony said anything at first. Yet, they knew what they were going to say before they said it.
“I think we should keep going,” Luna spoke up.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” said Rarity.
They walked past the Boutique, going on with their little stroll. It wasn’t clear just how long the date was going to last, but it was a relief that this wasn’t the end.
----
The stitches went into the dress methodically, going exactly where the design said they should go. They helped keep the red cloth together, and the dress was slowly but surely taking its final form.
It was always satisfying for Rarity to see her hard work pay off, no matter what she was going through. Even with her current feelings, it was true. It was her cutie mark for a reason.
And yet, she couldn’t help but think of Luna all day. She didn’t know why at first, since the practice date was a week ago by then. When it was over, Luna applauded her and commented that she learned exactly what she set off to learn.
So why couldn’t Rarity forget about it, a full seven days later? Could it be… no. It couldn’t. That just wasn’t realistic at all.
She shoved those thoughts to the side, moving the next sleeve of the dress onto the sewing machine. The machine’s motors mouthed off before it went back to work. But it wasn’t going to help her forget. She kept replaying the date’s events over and over again.
Silly Rarity, you know it will never happen, she thought to herself. I know what you’re considering. And it can never happen. You know why. She’s a princess. You’re… well, you ARE one of the saviors of Equestria, saving it from disaster many times. But at the same time, you chose to stay a dressmaker, even after all that’s happened.
….
But can I at least try?
The machine stopped in its tracks. She put down her working glasses and actually thought about the issue, rather than trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Well, beyond the fact that she fainted so many times, there was an entire sofa used just for that. That was probably something she needed to work on.
The more she thought about it, the more she forced herself to admit the truth. There was something magical about that night, and she was remembering it because she loved it. It was refreshing to be on a date with somepony that wasn’t snooty or wanted a mare that wasn’t her, even if that night was just a practice date. It felt as natural as natural can be.
And yet, she knew there was more to it. The truth was dawning on her by the minute. That much was evident. And with that truth, she was losing her self restraint.
Without a moment to spare, she dashed out the front door and dashed to Twilight’s house. Surely, if Spike could send and receive letters from Celestia, he could do the same for Luna, right? She didn’t know for sure, but it was worth a shot.
I don’t care what happens. I need to see where this road goes. This has to be done now. I hope she doesn’t read this as a joke, because it’s more than that…
She arrived at Twilight’s house at last, and she knocked her hooves on the door. This was something she had to get off her chest, if nothing else.
Twilight opened the door, her eyes gleaming to see her friend. “Hi Rarity. I haven’t seen you in a while. How’s it going?”
“Twilight, I have a request for you. You can send a letter to Celestia through Spike, right?”
“Right.”
“Then you should be able to send a letter to Luna as well, correct? She’s an alicorn too.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up for another reason. “That reminds me of something I was going to tell you. I got a letter from Luna today, and it’s addressed to you for some reason. Let me get it for you.”
Rarity was shocked at this revelation. Luna had written to HER? What for? A million thoughts raced through her head, all trying to make sense of such a thing. What… why would… oh, forget it. She would know soon enough.
Twilight came back with a letter, this one with the crescent moon as a symbol instead of Celestia’s mark, and the scroll had a note reading “For Rarity Only” by the side.
“I’m not sure why she wrote to you,” Twilight puzzled. “I know she turned to you for advice on Hearts and Hooves Day, but…”
But Rarity couldn’t hear her as she tore the seal and read the letter. What followed was something that would stick with her the rest of her life.
To Rarity,
The Element of Generosity,
I would like to thank you again, fair Rarity, for your help on Hearts and Hooves Day. I came to you for your knowledge of dating, and you did not disappoint. I am much wiser for hearing your advice, and I should be better in this area in the future.
Yet, a thought came up to my mind this week. I enjoyed our time together on that day, and it was very fun to share time with a pony like you for a change in pace. It might be foolish to ask what I’m about to say, but it will burst in my heart if I do not ask you this question now. I understand if you say no, but consider it at least.
Would you like to go on a second date with me?
With much appreciation,
Princess Luna