The Thing About Maturity
Chapter 6 "The thing about Christmas"
By: Scekkel
My Little Pony © Hasbro
A month before:
Twilight sat in the library; she was waiting for Luna to join her for her next history class. Twilight reviewed her notes on the griffin wars, which was a long and complicated matter, so who would be better at telling about it than Equestrias all time best organizer. She went over a few points and checked a few sources she had had the princess of the night read to this session. As she pulled the papers out from a stack on the table a letter fell out of it, she used her magic to levitate it back the table. It had the Canterlot seal upon it. She recognized it as the letter from Spike. It had been an dramatic episode at the morning table.
Twilight usually ate with Celestia and Luna in the morning. Well not really morning actually they ate just before Luna had to go raise the moon. Due to her duties she had to be up at night and therefore it was most practical to have the classes at night. Twilight had fitted her schedule to match Luna’s, so now she had breakfast in the evening. A green fire had ignited out of thin air, this did not startle Twilight though, she was used to this way of messaging, but when she opened the letter having just taken a mouthful of tea, she spat it all on the floor and yelled: “WHAT!!!!” Celestia and Luna had sprung to their hooves before Twilight regained herself and had explained. Twilight was so happy for her little brother having finally got the mare he had desired. Twilight looked out of the window and remembered the feeling she had held for her little brother in that exact moment. It has been so incredibly happy.
She smiled to herself as the moon rose and tried to imagine exactly how the little dragon had wooed Rarity. When she thought about it later on she did not understand her surprise, Spike was a charming drake after all and probably the only one in Ponyville who could give Rarity exactly what she wanted, though she still thought that Spike was a little too young to date her, then again, it was their business and not hers. Beside who was she to judge about age. Following that kind of logic she should be judged infinitely more than Spike. She was after all marefriends with one of the eldest beings in the country maybe in the whole world.
Twilight thought back with a glimpse of red in her cheeks to that faithful night. They had finished class early and Luna had suggested they should take a glass of red wine. Twilight had on other occasions declined Luna’s offer but that night she had accepted her request. They stayed in the library and talked about personal stuff, about Celestia and others. Twilight had noticed that Luna mostly talked about Celestia. When she had asked Luna about it, she had become a bit sad and confided in Twilight that she really didn’t have other friends. They were still afraid of Nightmare Moon and she could not blame then that they needed more time to accept that the monster everyone had been told about since they were born was actually a very sweet and helpful mare. Twilight had reached in to hug her and to her mild surprise Luna had kissed her. Twilight had done nothing to push her away and being sufficiently drunk, the only thought in her head was that she kinda liked it. The next evening she had awoken next to Luna, in her room. Luckily very few ponies had access to this part of the castle so nopony had seen them. As twilight had risen from her bed, Luna had opened her eyes. She had no idea what to say to Luna in this state, but her red cheeks said everything. From that day on their relationship had begun. It had been a little strange for Twilight because she had always thought she liked stallions and not mares and now her job was to teach her lover. It was a strange thought, nonetheless she smiled when thinking about it. Twilight felt a soft swoosh of wind and then her lover’s lips on her mouth. Twilight slowly opened her eyes which she hadn’t noticed she had closed. She smiled at the great Alicorn in front of her and kissed back.
“To think that only a few months ago you were afraid of even asking me to come to Canterlot, and see us now,” Twilight said with a teasing tone.
Luna smiled and blushed a bit in her cheeks. “And to think that you required only one bottle of wine to open up to me like that, truth be told I hadn’t seen your kiss coming.” Luna teased back.
“You kissed me!” Twilight said though her cheeks had gone redder.
Luna laughed she enjoyed teasing her lover like this and if it could delay their class a bit she didn’t hesitate. “You seemed so quiet when I came in usually you would arrange your notes until I arrive. Were you thinking about something.” Luna said.
Twilight looked at Luna and took the letter from the counter. “I’m just a bit worried about Spike, that’s all. I’m happy for him it’s just that I’m just scared of what might happen if Rarity suddenly pulls out. From what I can understand she kinda rushed into it. She hasn’t shown that much interest in him before so I’m just worried things might not work out.” Twilight said.
“Twilight, I understand that you are worried and all that, but isn’t Rarity your friend? Do you think she would toy that much with someone’s feelings?”
Twilight looked away from her letter. “Well I don’t think she would do it on purpose no”. She said slowly.
“Then if Rarity is such a generous and good friend as you say, what have you to fear? Besides Spike is no little drake anymore he has to make his own mistakes and choices, you cannot screen him from everything his whole life.” Twilight thought a little about what Luna had just said. She was right of course though she still had worries and doubts about it. “And if it doesn’t work out” Luna continued, “you know who he will come too for comfort right? You’re his sister, or as close as it gets, so if he needs you he will come himself.” Twilight smiled to herself. Yes he would come if he needed guidance, he was almost an adult at least in pony-years and she would give him all the help he wanted.
Twilight embraced her lover as thanks for the comforting words. Luna only smiled half-heartedly, but didn’t let Twilight see it. She did want to think that the little drake was smarter than she and sought help if he had to, and did not become what she had. Who was she to teach about love between siblings and matters of the heart, when she herself had done things beyond redemption to her very own sister. But at the same time she did not want her lover to be sad or worried. “How selfish” She though to herself as she let go of her partner.
The remaining of the night was used to study. Twilight lectured while Luna became more and more bored. Sometimes she would have to remind Twilight to take a break. If she did not Twilight would go on for hours, though there was something about the purple mare and the way she walked back and fourth while lecturing, so passionately and happy. She suspected that that was had caught her interest initially, though she hadn’t really known she liked the mare before she kissed her through the mist of drunkenness.
They had agreed though not to really become a couple before Luna had finished her studies, it would simply be too much and they didn’t want to spoil their relationship. They only kissed once in a while and even though Luna wanted them to sleep in her quarters Twilight stood firmly on that she wanted to wait.
“Luna? Luna? Are you listening.” Luna shook her head slightly before realizing she had been daydreaming.
“What?” she said a little confused. Twilight looked at her with a slightly annoyed look and Luna apologized.
Twilight giggled. “I was just saying that we should take a break and grab some lunch”.
Well really it was about midnight, but this was after all their day, even though most of the kingdom was already asleep.
The two ponies walked out of the library and as they continued down the hallway the lunar guard saluted Princess Luna.
It hadn’t been hard to re-establish the Lunar Guard. Surprisingly many ponies volunteered to become guards of the night. It was after all an enjoyable position in some aspects, except for when the city was under attack. The Lunar Guard, never had to do much other than watch over the castle at night so many of them trained in combat during the day along with the day guard, because the castle did not need as much protection at night. Luna would have had no problem with just having a smaller guard than the day guard but Celestia had insisted that two guards should be equal. It was also another good part of the job that you didn’t have to stand guard every night.
On their way to the dining hall they passed Celestias bedchamber, and for a moment Twilight admired the various patterns and drawing on the door. She and Luna hadn’t told Celestia about their little arrangement yet, but Twilight had a funny feeling that Celestia already knew.
A Lunar guard opened the dining hall door and bowed his head as they entered. Luna and Twilight sat down at one end of the long table as the night-chef came out of the kitchen to take their orders.
As Twilight took a bite of her hay-pancakes she couldn’t help by think of Spike again. Truth be told his pancakes tasted a whole lot better than these, not because the chef wasn’t a good one, but she missed Spike and somehow that made her long that much more to see him and their friends. Her mind for the second time today became occupied with Spikes letter.
She really hoped he was doing all right, and that he, Rarity and all her friends had a good time. She missed them a lot, even though she was enjoying her work she sometimes wished that she was back in Ponyville in her good old library, she smiled when thinking of the first ever pinkie-pie-party she had been too.
“Thinking about them again my love” Luna said softly.
Twilight looked away from her lunch. “Yes I guess so. I really like to be here and with you of course, I just miss seeing my friends and when they came to visit me I didn’t even have the time to speak properly to them. I just wish I could get to spend some time with them”. She said with a heavy heart while looking down to the floor.
Luna rose from her chair and went to Twilight trying to comfort her by hugging her. “Well it was going to be a surprise, but Spike have asked Celestia if they could celebrate Heartswarming Eve here next month, so that you could be close to them” Luna said and she felt a tear touch her shoulder. As Twilight pulled back a few moment after she looked a little less sad maybe even smiling a bit. “I know it must be tough being away from them this much.”
Twilight smiled to her fullest, she was so happy she could burst with happiness. It would be an epic party. “Yes Luna it is hard, but this... this makes it much more bearable. But Luna, don’t misunderstand me, I enjoy you and your company immensely, and I hope you understand it is not because you are not good enough. Luna smiled but it was fake, normally Twilight would have seen that, but being so happy she didn't see anything.
Luna looked at her lover being so happy. She wanted to ask her about something she had been thinking off the past week, but see couldn't bear to see the smile vanish from her lovers face.
Twilight looked at Luna sitting on the throne attending the ponies at her midnight council. As a ruler of the night she had to take care of various problems every Wednesday after lunch. Normally the council wouldn't take this long, but judging from the immense crowd who had come she could see that they probably wouldn't have time for a lecture on 'babsly the wild'. The griffin who went against it's own ranks and fought on the pony's side.
Twilight went down to the kitchen to speak with the chef and staff about eating in the library tonight. (actually it was morning). She had a hard time not making it sound like a date. The staff of course already knew about Twilight and Luna, but had the courtesy not to tell anyone.
Luna opened the door to the library “Twilight? The chef said you wanted to see me before dinner so I just went to low... ” Luna stopped mid-sentence when she saw what awaited her in the normally dark and boring library. A table with two candles and plates with food. Next to the table were two chairs, one though directly opposite Luna was already taken. Twilight looked at her lover and said: “Dinner?”. Luna sat down at the table.
The early morning sun rays cut through the windows as the two ponies sat eating and talking. It was good food some kind of stew with a side salad. They drank some red wine on the side and Twilight was beginning to get a little red in her cheeks. When they were done the desert came on two trays and a pony who seemed like she had a hard time not giggling.
"Princess Celestia sent up some cake for you two" She said and hurriedly left the room.
Twilight and Luna looked at each other thinking the same thing. Celestia had to know about their relationship.
Of course Celestia knew and it had only been because of the comic value that they had got a piece of her morning cake, it was Thursday after all.
After they had finished their cakes Twilight looked at Luna who seemed a little upset about something. “Is something wrong dear?” Twilight said with a compassionate look in her eyes.
“Well, yes Twilight, there is something I’ve wanted to ask you.” She said with a low voice. “When we are done. Do you want to go back to Ponyville?"
Twilight understood where this was going, she had had the same worries for some time, but never said anything because they always had a good time. She knew now though that she could not run away from it anymore. "Luna I would never live in a place where you could not stay with me trust me on this. We are together now and you really mean the world to me" She said and walked around the table to hold her hooves before she continued. "But you have to understand that I have to go home for a while I think. I don't think anyone would think it weird if I moved here permanently when they hear about us. But I want to go home just a few days also so we can find our places, becasue we cannot just from one day to the other change from student and teacher to a couple. I know we play around a lot right now, but I would prefer that we could clear the air between us before becoming a real couple. You are a princess so you cannot live anywhere else than the castle I understand, that but once in a while I want to go visit my friends and you are of course always welcome to join me.
The words came as easily to her as when she lectured. She just told her exactly how she felt and Luna smiled down at her an hugged her.
"I'm so happy Twilight. I was so afraid to ask you too move here because I didn't want to pressure you into it. I really love you, you know."
"And I love you too Luna" Twilight said happily.