A little before noon the following day, Twilight trotted into the lesser ballroom alongside Luna, only to find herself back in the hallway as she was hit by hurricane Pinkie. "TWILIGHT!! We've missed you SO much!"
Twilight hugged her excitable friend back before struggling to her hooves. "But I just saw you a bit over a day ago Pinkie."
"That doesn't count. And anyway, it feels like it's been months since then!"
"Twilight!" Spike called as he ran out of the ballroom to hug her.
"Hey Spike," she murmured as she returned the hug and nuzzled his cheek. "It's good to see you again."
By this point, the rest of her friends had poured out and she found herself the center of a group hug. Some of them were squeezing her so hard that it was hard to breath, but she hardly minded at the moment - she was too happy to finally be together with them again.
Finally the hug broke up and Rarity was the first to speak. "I must say, Darling, you look much better than expected given what we were told as you were hauled off."
"Ah agree Sugarcube, you sure are lookin' well."
"So, you coming home soon Twi? Ponyville just isn't the same without you there."
"We really have missed you Twilight."
"Quite so dear. Letters aren't the same as getting to see someone face-to-face, and you were unavailable after a fashion even before you came to Canterlot. When might we expect you back?"
She met Luna's gaze briefly where she remained standing by the door to the ballroom before answering, knowing that this would set the timeframe for the end of their ideal. "Well, it should only be another few days at most. I'm completely better now, but I want to double-check and make sure before returning."
"You never did tell us what made you so sick," Rarity prodded.
"Let us just say it was an unforeseen consequence of her becoming an alicorn," a new voice chimed in.
Twilight turned to hug her former mentor as the others bowed.
"Come now my little ponies, there is no need for that. We're here for a party are we not? Though I thought it was to take place in the ballroom and not in the hallway." A small smile and twinkle of the eye accompanied the statement.
"Right! PARTY TIME!" cried Pinkie as she somehow managed to grab everypony at once and drag them all into the room.
*****
The party was fairly typical for a Pinkie Party. Music, decorations, dessert, smiles, and happy conversation. Without planning or thinking about it, Twilight and Luna tended to stay close by each other as they took part in the various party diversions. This didn't go entirely unnoticed.
During a lull in the festivities, Rarity stepped forward with a knowing smile on her face. "You know Twilight, I can't help noticing how closely you and Princess Luna have been keeping to each other. Is there perhaps something you'd like to share?"
All talk stopped as the other six pairs of eyes immediately focused on the two suddenly blushing princesses. Both were exchanging glances, only just then aware of how obvious they'd been without meaning to.
"Oh my, it would appear that I wasn't so off base after all, hmm?" Celestia piped up with a devious smirk, causing Luna's blush to deepen. "I have to congratulate your acting skills. I honestly thought you were oblivious."
"Actually," Twilight almost whispered, "the topic only came up after you left yesterday morning."
Rainbow zipped to the front of the group and hovered in place. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! I don't get it, what's going on?"
Twilight swallowed nervously and gave a sheepish grin. "We're dating?"
"Well butter my biscuit, Ah didn't see that one comin'."
"Shows what you know about matters of the heart. I for one think they make a lovely couple," Rarity huffed.
"Now, Ah didn't mean it like that. Ah think they'll make a great couple. It's just a surprise is all."
"Psh- All the time our egghead spends staring at the stars, I for one am not surprised."
"Oh Twilight! I'm so happy for you! ... And you too Princess Luna." Fluttershy's own cheeks took on a light pink hue as she beamed at the two.
Spike for his part seemed too stunned to actually say anything, though his mouth kept opening and closing.
"Wow-WEE! Looks like we need a bigger party!" Suddenly there was a pink blur zipping all over the room and wind blowing from every direction as Pinkie rapidly redecorated. Within moments the room was full of purple, pink, and blue streamers along with cut-out hearts, stars, and moons hanging from the ceiling. There was even a banner which read: 'Congratulations! When's the Wedding?'
The new couple hung their heads in an attempt to hide their flaming cheeks as Celestia burst out laughing.
Two nights later, Twilight found herself in her former teacher's chamber, soaking in the comfort of memories which had been formed over the years. It was finally time for her to return to Ponyville and her duties, but Celestia had requested to see her before she left.
"Ah Twilight!" she heard from behind her as Celestia entered the chamber. "It is good to see you could tear yourself away from your moon-gazing long enough to see me."
The suggestive tone and almost invisible smirk with which the phrase had been delivered caused Twilight to flush and drop her eyes as her mind willingly provided flashes of Luna's cutie mark - and the flank it was attached to.
"I'm just teasing you Twilight. I truly am happy for you both. And..." Here Celestia hesitated for a few moments as Twilight got herself under control and looked back up. She thought that Celestia looked a bit sad.
"And?"
Celestia regarded her warmly and the sadness lessened, but did not entirely vanish. "I think it is very good for her to have someone she can relate better to and confide in when she can't to me."
"Relate better to? But you're sisters!"
"Yes. We are sisters, separated by a thousand years. She did not live the thousand years that I did and, though we were extremely close in our youths, such a gap is not easily bridged. We could not simply pick up where we'd left off, much as we both would like to. You two have lived different lives, but your experiences are far more similar than you may now realize."
"I- but-"
Celestia stepped closer and embraced her. "You don't need to try and come up with a response. Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything, but I wanted you to truly understand how important I believe you are for her and that I approve and support your relationship completely." She pulled back and smiled down. "I wouldn't want you having a panic attack trying to figure out if I was going to be an overprotective sister or not."
Twilight felt herself grinning back at that little jibe at her tendency to panic at the unknown.
"I also wanted to find out how you went about your cure. You never did provide any detail on what you had planned for that."
"Oh, right! Sorry, I've been a little distracted-"
"I bet..."
Twilight gave a small, involuntary cough and continued in a slightly squeaky voice, though she quickly pulled it back under control, "The solution ended up being very simple given the uniqueness of my situation. Once I knew the parasite was there I was able to isolate it from accessing my magic to support itself, then I simply used the solar magic I have from you to channel sunlight and kill it off. I used the last two days as an observation period partially consisting of using lunar magic again to see if any of the parasite had managed to survive, but I do appear to be completely free of it now."
"While that is certainly good news, what would you have done had solar magic not been available to you?"
"Well, it's possible that getting rid of the Ursa magic might have sent the parasite with it. Though it's far more likely that the parasite, once activated, had spread outside of it..." She thoughtfully rubbed her jaw with a hoof. "Honestly, I'm not certain at the moment how I would have gotten rid of it, but even isolating it as I did prior to destroying it would at least keep it from using the infected pony's magic to sustain itself. That would stop the lunar dependency and the parasite would probably starve to death on its own with time. Theoretically at least. I would have to run a case study to be sure, but I don't think that will really be necessary as the circumstances that led to my situation are unlikely to be repeated."
"You are likely correct, but I would still like for a full report on what you discovered to be put on file in the restricted section of the royal archives as a safety measure."
"Yes Pr-Celestia."
"Why Twilight, I do believe you're getting better at using my name."
There was a brief pause as both maintained "official" composure before Twilight broke into giggles and Celestia followed.
"I don't want to go."
"Nor do I want you to, but we cannot neglect our duties."
Twilight knew that. She'd put it off as long as she'd dared, but she really needed to return to her own castle in Ponyville. Soon would come the sunrise and she would be teleporting herself home, but the problem was that it didn't feel like going home. In less than two weeks this set of chambers had come to feel like home, in only a few days Luna pressed up against her side felt like home... the castle in Ponyville would feel even more echoingly empty to her now even knowing that her friends would be there.
"I've wanted this so long, and now that I have it we have to be apart. It's not fair."
"Few things in life are truly fair Twilight. But despite the necessity it shall not be all bad. We shall still get to visit at least three nights a week and do not forget that we may also meet in our dreams if that is the only option." Luna nuzzled her cheek. "We shall not be alone, fear not."
Twilight smiled and nuzzled her back. She was in some ways amazed at how quickly Luna was willing to fully commit to making this relationship work, but that was her way - both from a negative and from a positive light. Her all-or-nothing approach had resulted in succumbing to Nightmare Moon, just as it had resulted in her all-in approach to embracing Nightmare Night once she found acceptance by the ponies of Ponyville. She simply wasn't one to second-guess a decision once it was made unless she was forced to.
"Luna?"
Her marefriend turned to face her, gracing her with a view of those lovely storm-dark eyes. "Hmm?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being you," she said before leaning forward the short distance to press her lips against Luna's for the first time - as she had wanted to do for so long. She felt Luna hesitate for only a fraction of a second before pressing back against her as both their eyes closed.
It was only one kiss and it didn't last long, but its emotional strength was no less intense for that fact. It might even be said that its brevity and uniqueness made it all the more potent. They sat there after with their noses still touching and lips mere millimeters apart, simply content to float within the moment and memory until the sun rose to announce the end of Twilight's stay in Canterlot.