The first thing Moondancer noticed about the Golden Oaks library was the warmth: but this time, it wasn’t because the cold outside had gotten to her. No, this was a different type of warmth: the kind that came with good company, gentle music, and a friendly atmosphere.
Moondancer had never noticed how that sort of thing could make a room feel comfortable in quite that kind of way, but then Moondancer had never really been to a proper party before—the one she had thrown in Canterlot had hardly counted, with so few guests and, of course, with it being over before it had really started. Here, there were so many guests, ponies of all shapes and ages and sizes—she was pretty sure that she saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders running about between the legs of the adults, laughing and playing among themselves. She smiled. This was how a party should be.
“Surprise!”
Four ponies stepped out into her path, just as she was making her way over to Bon Bon (the only pony her age in the room she had recognised). It took a moment, but soon enough Moondancer found herself recognising the faces in front of her.
“Oh my gosh! Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Minuette! What are you three doing here?” She turned to Lyra, who was standing sheepishly on the end of the line. “You had something to do with this, didn’t you?”
“Maybe,” she said, shrugging nonchalantly. “Or maybe it was just Pinkie Pie.”
“Mmm,” Moondancer replied, smirking with mirth, “I’ve heard she’s like that.”
She spent a good few minutes getting reacquainted with her old friends—especially Lemon Hearts, who had dropped out of her life even more completely than the others. She had, at least, seen Minuette and Twinkleshine in passing: at major events, or on her way to the library. It turned out that Lemon Hearts had been offered a huge career opportunity in the peak districts of Canterlot, working in the flavoured water business—not something Moondancer had ever cared much for, but she found Lemon Hearts’ enthusiasm for her work charmingly captivating.
It was only when she had finished catching up with her friends’ lives that Moondancer realised something was missing, again.
“Is, uhm…” she began, before lowering her voice and leaning to one side to mutter into Lyra’s ear. “Is Twilight around?”
Lyra had clearly seen the worry on her face, and let out a small chuckle. “Don’t worry, lovergirl,” she teased, “Twilight’s just upstairs. I think she and Rainbow Dash are talking through some things, but she said she’d be down as soon as she could be.”
Moondancer smiled at that. Maybe things wouldn’t be quite so awkward as she had feared—after all, if Twilight was making peace with Rainbow Dash, then surely she could make peace with somepony who had hardly seen her in two years.
“Hey everypony!” The entire crowd turned as one to face Pinkie Pie, who was standing on a small stage at one end of the library, a microphone in her hoof and speakers at her back. “I just wanted to say a great, warm welcome to you all! I know it’s not often we gather together as a town like this… maybe every other week or so—” even Moondancer had to chuckle along with the crowd at that one. Pinkie Pie’s determination to party away all her friends’ problems was a wonderfully predictable trait in a mare who could be so, well, unpredictable “—and I know that it’s not every week that we get a brand new friend staying in town! Now, she might only be here for a few days while her house is rebuilt up in Canterlot, but Moondancer has already become an important part of Ponyville life: Sweetie Belle tells me that she might even be a better tutor than Twilight, but don’t let the Princess hear me say that!
“This party is a Welcome to Ponyville party, and I throw enough of those for you all to know that they’re fairly standard business. But Moondancer isn’t just anypony—she’s one of Twilight’s oldest and bestest friends. And anypony who can be a bestest friend to Twilight Sparkle can, I’m sure, be a besterest friend to all of us.
“Moondancer, I know you’re not too fond of being centre stage, so I’m not going to ask you to come up and make a speech.” Moondancer laughed openly at that, and soon enough the whole town was laughing along with her. “But I’m going to say this: you are welcome here in Ponyville whenever you want to visit, and I know that there will always be a place here for you to stay whenever your normal house gets blown up, burnt down, or destroyed by a horde of giant fire ants. Welcome to Ponyville, Moondancer!”
As one, the crowd erupted into cheers, and though she wasn’t anywhere near the stage Moondancer could feel all the attention of the room on her—but it wasn’t a bad kind of attention. It was that same warmth she’d felt when she entered the library, the kind of warmth that made her feel welcome, and at home. And most importantly, it was the kind of warmth that rose to her cheeks and brought a small, quiet smile to her face—or was that her blush?
Soon enough, the crowd’s attention dispersed, and everypony went back to the conversations and games that they had been enjoying before Pinkie’s impromptu speech. But Moondancer couldn’t quite let herself get lost again in the conversation with her old friends—something Pinkie had said was looping over and over in her head, like a stuck record.
She’s one of Twilight’s oldest and bestest friends.
Sure, she’d known Twilight for most of her life, and certainly she’d been one of the first ponies to call herself Twilight’s friend, but would Twilight really see it that way? When they were younger, Moondancer was sure that she had been nothing but an annoyance to her, pestering her with facts and figures in any attempt to prove that she was good enough, that Twilight could be her friend. And that wasn’t “bestest friend” behaviour.
She’s one of Twilight’s oldest and bestest friends.
Her friendship with Twilight wasn’t a force of magical power that had saved the nation time after time. Her friendship with Twilight wasn’t the kind of friendship that could withstand anything, face any trial, weather any storm… she had proven that, by walking out on Twilight, on all of her friends, over one simple mistake. And that wasn’t “bestest friend” behaviour.
She’s one of Twilight’s oldest and bestest friends.
Heck, Moondancer hadn’t even known what friendship really was until a few days ago, and even now she was still struggling to really understand it properly. She could hardly be considered one of Twilight’s oldest and bestest friends if she hadn’t even known how to be a friend in the first place. She had thought that friendship was formed from one-upmanship and displays of cleverness… and that wasn’t “bestest friend” behaviour.
Psst.
Moondancer turned around, only to find an image of Pinkie Pie reflected in the bowl of punch behind her. Her brow furrowed, and she opened her mouth to ask a question, but before she could say anything the image-Pinkie spoke again in a hoarse whisper:
Twilight told me that herself. I wasn’t just making it up. Trust me!
And with that, Pinkie ducked out of the punch bowl and Moondancer was left wondering whether she was seeing things. She glanced around the room, her eyes scanning the crowds for a sign of the excitable party pony, and was surprised to find her standing halfway across the library, a blindfold tied around her eyes and a bat clamped between her teeth, swinging joyfully at a bright pinata that hung from the ceiling.
Moondancer had no idea how Pinkie had done that, and started to wonder if maybe “Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie” really was a valid explanation for these things. That such a thought was starting to make sense to her was… worrying, to say the least.
It was then that Moondancer’s eyes fell upon a pony who could only be Rainbow Dash.
A bright, striped mane in all the colours of the rainbow, disheveled and unruly, falling around her neck untidily; a sky blue coat and magenta eyes that were turned down to the ground, her lips twisted in a mockery of a smile. Rainbow Dash walked through the crowd with a melancholy expression, the ponies around parting to let her through. It wasn’t until Pinkie had spotted her, and dashed across the room to try to cheer her up, the Rainbow Dash showed any sign of noticing her surroundings—and ti was then that she lashed out at Pinkie, shoving her out of her path with a huff.
The crowd stiffened, but nopony said anything.
It was the bystander effect, Moondancer realised. Every pony in the crowd was standing there hoping that somepony else would be the first to act, that even though they were upset and offended by Rainbow’s actions that they still thought it was none of their business to interfere. Moondancer remembered reading about how this effect had been exploited in the South Zebrican courtrooms as few as forty years ago to create…
No. She wasn’t going to let the research she had done distract her. This time, it was time to act.
“Hey, you.” She sounded a lot more confident than she was—Rainbow looked like quite an athletic mare, and she certainly didn’t think anypony would put bets on her to win in a fight. She hoped with every inch of her being that this wouldn’t come to violence. “Oi, Rainbow Dash.”
“What do you want?”
She hadn’t even realised that she was walking over to the rainbow-maned mare until she found herself mere inches from her face—she had been so focused on staying calm she hadn’t even realised that she was putting herself in danger. But that was okay. Nobody shoved Pinkie Pie.
“I want you to be more considerate, that’s all.” Moondancer nodded towards Pinkie. “You nearly knocked Pinkie Pie over!”
Rainbow’s face seemed to scrunch up: her lips began to quiver and her eyes were shut tight, small dimples forming on her cheeks. She nodded, and muttered “sorry”, before pushing her way past Moondancer to the door. Only, as Moondancer turned to watch her go, Rainbow practically kicked herself around with all the speed she could manage and swung a forehoof at Moondancer, her teeth clenched and her eyes red with tears and anger.
And Moondancer ducked.
Cursing, Rainbow Dash spread her wings, and turned from a punch into a launch—tightly curving in the air, she streaked out the door leaving a trail of multi-coloured cloud behind her that slowly evaporated, like hot breath in cold air.Moondancer frowned, shut the door behind her, and carefully turned around to face the crowd.
Everypony was staring. Silence had rolled over the room—even the Cutie Mark Crusaders were still. Moondancer bit her lip nervously, waiting for somepony to say something, but the silence continued. Nopony seemed quite sure how to react.
And then, Pinkie Pie whooped into the air, cheering out as loudly as she could, and the crowd collapsed into applause. Hooves stomped on floorboards, ponies were cheering, somepony—she suspected Lyra—whistled. And none of the noise or the cheering mattered, because Moondancer’s eyes had found Twilight Sparkle, standing at the far end of the room, smiling wryly at her.
In that moment, Moondancer wanted to grin wider than she had ever grinned before, and she wanted to run across the room in a gallop and throw herself into Twilight’s embrace and to press her lips firmly on Twilight’s… But instead, she simply smiled, and nodded, and walked calmly through the crowd, who were slowly beginning to disperse once more back into their smaller groups.
“Hey you,” Twilight said, her eyes shining with amusement.
“Hi,” Moondancer said, breathlessly. She took a moment to calm herself, willing the blood not to rush to her cheeks as she found herself once more caught up in Twilight’s beauty. “I, uh, take it your talk with Rainbow Dash didn’t go that well?”
Twilight shrugged. “She, uh… yeah. She didn’t take what I had to say all that well. I’m sorry you had to meet her like this—she really is a great friend, most of the time.”
“I’m sure she is,” Moondancer said, strangely finding herself believing it. But maybe it wasn’t so strange after all—it would be quite improper for the Princess of Friendship to have such a poor friend so close to her. “But nopony shoves Pinkie Pie like that.”
Twilight smiled then, properly, not the kind of small smile that had previously been playing with the edges of her lips, but a real, proper, full smile that lit up her face like a sunrise lighting the sky. But it didn’t quite reach her eyes—in her eyes, there was the slightest shine of fear.
Broaching the silence once more, Moondancer said, “I suppose we need to have a talk, too?” She bit her lip, anxiously awaiting Twilight’s response.
The princess nodded, and gestured towards the staircase with a bob of her head. Swallowing, Moondancer trudged towards the stairs and began to climb, hearing Twilight's hoofsteps following close behind her. She was in no rush to reach the top.
And still the top came: the stairwell opened out into a surprisingly large room, bookshelves lining the walls, a roaring fire in the fireplace and a large, clear window that looked up to the sky, the bright moonlight shining down through it. It left a small oval pool of white light on the floor, just next to a seat, which Moondancer trotted to and promptly sat down on.
Then she stood up—she was too nervous to sit, or to stay still. As Twilight stepped out from the stairwell, Moondancer found herself pacing back and forth through the puddle of moonlight.
“So…”
“… yeah,” Moondancer finished, not quite content to let the silence hang between them. She was too nervous for silence—she just wanted to hear whatever it was Twilight had to say, and then maybe go back to Canterlot. A few nights away would be good for her, surely.
“Back in Sugarcube Corner… did you mean that?”
Moondancer wasn’t quite sure what to say, so she said: “Yes.” And then, just like that, the words came to her, and she let them tumble straight from her mouth.
“I’m in love with you, Twilight. I have been for years and I didn’t even realise it until today, but I love you. You’re smart and funny and pretty and I just want to lie beside you and read, or talk, or hold you tight and every time you walk into the room I can’t take my eyes off you…”
“I turned Rainbow Dash down,” Twilight said, absently. “She asked me if I wanted to go out with her and I said ‘no.’ And I told her why.”
Moondancer swallowed. “And why was that?”
“I said there was somepony else,” Twilight said, simply. “I told her that there was a mare in the room downstairs who I wanted to share my future with. And it’s funny, because a month ago I wouldn’t have known that I could want to be with somepony else—I’d always thought that when Rainbow Dash finally made her move, I’d just say yes, and that would be it.
“But then you came into the library,” Twilight’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Then I saw you again and I remembered. I remembered every day of my fillyhood, at school, just knowing that you’d be there without me even having to think about it. You were always there for me, Moondancer, even if I didn’t realise it at the time. And I just left you behind.” Twilight's face contorted in disgust, her lips twisting into a mocking grimace. “Some Princess of Friendship I am.”
“Twilight—”
“Please, Moondancer, I’m nearly done,” Twilight said, her voice soft and placating. “The fact is, this last week, I’ve come to see you as a close friend in just a matter of days, and I’m already struggling to imagine what life in Ponyville will be like when you leave. And sometimes, when I’m lying in bed at night, staring up at the sky through my window because I can’t sleep… sometimes I think how nice it would be to have you there. Just, there, beside me, and dammit, Moondancer, could you just shut up and kiss me already before I start rambling?”
“… you want me to kiss you?!” Moondancer asked, breathlessly. Twilight, biting her lip, nodded.
“Hey girls! Just wanted to make sure you knew that we were starting Pin the Tail on the Po—” Twilight and Moondancer snapped their heads to see Pinkie’s head poking around the stairwell, her eyes wide and her mouth forming a round ‘O’ of surprise.After a moment, she chuckled awkwardly to herself. “I’ll, uh, just leave you two to it…” she said, backing away slowly and disappearing down the stairwell. For a moment, Moondancer and Twilight sat, frozen, before turning to face one another.
Moondancer couldn’t help it—she burst out laughing, and soon enough she was curled up against Twilight and the two of them were just laughing into each other, shaking and rocking and laughing and holding each other close.
“... I love you, Twilight,” Moondancer said softly, as the laughter subsided and the two mares simply lay, sprawled on the floor, curled up in each other’s legs. For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of their breathing, and the soft, slow thud-thud of their hearts against each other’s chests.
And then:
“I love you, too.”
And as Moondancer closed her eyes, a small smile resting peacefully on her lips, she felt the lightest of touches brushing against her back, and the warm feeling of a wing pulling her tightly into Twilight’s embrace.The End