All for One - One for Luna

by Wodahseht

09: Relational Revelations

Luna made her way back into her chambers after attempting to run down her sister for that final jab - a futile effort as always. Her mind was busy trying to think up ways to get her back for that one, but the sight of Twilight making a rather impressive attempt to melt into the floor redirected her attention. Her face was hidden under her fore hooves, and there was a definite red sheen over her entire body, visible even through the moonlight that she was emitting.

That is some impressive blushing. Luna thought with a smile. I suppose she's not seen us at our games before.

She stepped over and rested a hoof on Twilight's wither, only to have her twitch and try to press herself harder into the floor.

"Twilight..." No response.

She lowered her head nearer to Twilight and spoke in as reassuring a tone as she could manage, "Twilight? There's naught to be embarrassed about. My sister and I play these games from time to time. Teasing me about my lack of partner is a common theme, though she has never done so in company before. She meant nothing by it."

A completely incomprehensible mumble was her response, though Twilight did stop trying to actively disappear into the floor.

Figuring the crisis to be handled, Luna let humor into her voice, "I'm sorry, but was that for me or for the floor? I couldn't make you out, though I'm sure the carpet is well informed."

Twilight slowly, reluctantly it seemed, uncovered her face. She still wouldn't meet Luna's eyes, and Luna's small smile fell away at the pained look on her friend's face. "What's wrong? It was just a joke. Honest."

"I just.. What if..." Luna, seeing tears forming at the corners of Twilight's eyes, settled against her and wrapped her in a wing. Twilight first started to flinch away but, when Luna gripped her tighter with her wing, buried her face in Luna's side and began crying. Seeing Twilight in this state pained her. It was almost worse than when she'd been faced with the withered and dying Twilight a week before, because she didn't know what to do here. She couldn't understand why a bit of sibling teasing would provoke such a reaction, but she was determined to provide what comfort she could.

"'What if-?'" Luna prodded. Twilight just pressed her face harder into Luna's side. "Please Twilight... 'what if' what?"

Suddenly Twilight jerked back and burst out, "What if I wanted it to be true!" A look of pure horror, followed swiftly by utter embarrassment washed over her face at how loudly she'd shouted it. Then she suddenly went limp, as though giving up on some inner struggle, and repeated softly, "What if I wanted it to be true..."

---

Twilight felt Luna's wing leave her back as the other alicorn shifted away and croaked out a hoarse, "What!?"

Couldn't keep your big mouth shut could you? Twilight chided herself. Had to go and blurt it out and now she's going to... She couldn't even bring herself to complete the thought as she cringed away from her imagination and the recent past.

After minutes that felt like hours, Twilight felt Luna shift closer to her again, though the wing didn't return. And it was in a tone devoid of vocal clues that Luna addressed her, "What did you mean? Surely you don't speak of the jibe my sister made in parting."

Twilight nodded weakly, chin never leaving the ground. She decided that it was time to simply get it out given that it was already too late to take back what she'd said. At least she wouldn't have to pretend any more. Taking a deep breath to try and relieve some tension, she simply let the words flow uncensored.

"I've always thought you were beautiful. Even in your weakened state after we freed you from nightmare moon you were cute..." Twilight felt Luna shifting a bit in place, but couldn't bring herself to look up just yet. "It was your Nightmare Night visit to Ponyville though when I started to feel more. You were trying so hard to be what you 'should be,' but in trying to help you I got to see what you really were...and got to help the others see it too."

The wing finally was draped back over her, and Twilight decided to take the chance and lean into her companion again. She felt a wave of relief that Luna didn't shift away again. "Even though I'd only gotten to see you a limited number of times after that, I still felt my crush growing more and more - even though I tried to stamp it out." She shook her head. "I tried to keep it in. To get rid of it. I knew you only saw me as a friend. I thought that maybe I had it under control, then this last week happened and all this time close to you..." She sighed again and finished in a somewhat flatter tone, "Celestia must have known how I was feeling. Those comments during her visit... I've never known her to say anything, even a joke, without having some message or meaning behind it."

With that, she just stopped speaking. Twilight knew she should get up and leave - back to her own room since Luna was likely to send her away as soon as she got over the shock of this revelation anyway, but she couldn't bring herself to. Besides, if this was to be the last time she'd get to be close to Luna like this, then she was going to take every second she could.

And so she waited for the hammer to fall, the warmth of Luna's body against her doing little to stop the chill growing within her as the silence lengthened.

---

To say that Luna had been taken by surprise would be like saying that the night sky has a few stars - a massive understatement. Twilight was the best friend she'd ever had outside of her sister, but she never expected that there might be romantic interest there. She could see now that there were signs, but there had always been other explanations for those things.

As Twilight spoke, Luna wasn't precisely listening. She was still taking it all in, but she was also lost in memory and reliving the events Twilight was accounting. Her release from Nightmare Moon when she found herself both in awe of the young unicorn who had managed to free her, and also in terror that more punishment would be directed at her true self.

She felt her face warm and fidgeted a bit in place. I was embarrassed to be seen so diminished, and she thought I was cute...

By that Nightmare Night, she had fully reclaimed her magic from Celestia and was prepared to face her subjects again...so she thought. If not for Twilight, that night would have been an unmitigated disaster. She wrapped Twilight in a thankful wing as she remembered those events and felt the warm pressure as the younger alicorn leaned into her. Twilight had been the only one to accept her from the start with no reservations. Despite all her mistakes, despite her alternating aggressiveness and depression, and despite her attempts to give up. Twilight refused to stop until the others had come to see her instead of Nightmare Moon.

She has truly seen me at my worst. First as Nightmare Moon, and then as I was that night - I never truly appreciated how lucky I am to count her a friend.

Luna continued revisiting her memories as Twilight's words poured over her. The occasional visits she'd made to Twilight's balcony during a stargazing session, talking in the castle observatory when Twilight was visiting Canterlot for one reason or another, even the occasional letter Twilight had written her to see how she was fairing. She recalled her sister letting her read over many of Twilight's friendship reports and feeling an inner warmth at that glimpse into her friend's life.

And then there was this past week. She shivered remembering the terror she'd felt when she'd first seen Twilight's condition, the fear for Twilight and not herself when Majora woke, and her panic at not knowing where Twilight was or if she was safe just this last night. But then she warmed and smiled recalling the nights cuddled as she used to with her sister, the chance to share her nights with another, having Twilight there to comfort her when she was the one troubled by a nightmare, and learning that Twilight purred. She almost giggled at the thought and turned her head to look at her companion.

The warmth and smile left in an instant as she took in Twilight's face. Twilight was biting her lip, eyes squeezed shut, and looking to be on the verge of tears. And she was leaning her full weight into Luna as though she was the only solid thing in the world. Suddenly Luna's mind caught up and she realized that Twilight had stopped speaking some time ago.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, made a decision, and stood.

---

As Luna's silence had grown longer, the chill within Twilight had continued to grow until the only warmth she felt was where she was pressed up against Luna. It was everything she could do to hold back the tears that were demanding to fall. She wasn't even certain why she was fighting them, but she kept her eyes squeezed tight, bit her lip, and held them in.

Twilight fell over on her side as Luna suddenly stood up. The tears were briefly chased away in the scramble to straighten herself out, but then she found herself face-to-face with eyes like a stormy night and her vision immediately began to blur.

This is it. I guess this is the end.

"Twilight... I cannot tell you that I love you, or even that I have a crush on you."

Finally, there was no holding back the tears. She dropped her head as they fell, and it was all she could do to keep her whole self from falling with them. However, a blurry blue hoof forced her chin back up so that she was again looking at the distorted form of Luna's head.

"I can't say that I love you. But I can say that I find you cute, adorable, and beautiful. I can say that I enjoy talking with you, your quirks, and your company. I can say that you're not only my friend, but that you are my best friend - the best one I've ever had."

The tears stopped flowing and she held her breath as a tiny, warm spark of hope tried to light in her chest. She desperately blinked her eyes trying to bring her sight back into focus so she could look for clues in Luna's face, but Luna's words came first:

"I can say that I'm willing to give us the chance at being more than just friends, because I don't think I'll ever meet someone more deserving of the opportunity than you."

The spark instantly became a bonfire and, without thought, Twilight launched herself at Luna. They ended up sprawled out on the floor, Luna on her back and Twilight on top with forelegs tightly wrapped around Luna, face buried in her neck. Tears came again, but this time it was tears of joy. She couldn't speak, she just held on tightly as she felt Luna's wings and forelegs close around her in a return embrace.

Finally, after the tears had run out, Twilight managed to whisper two words: "Thank you." Luna simply responded by holding her tighter.

But that was enough.

Author's Note:

It took a number of tries, but it finally came together in a way I was willing to put up. Still not *entirely* happy with it, but I suppose that's life.

Was planning to have the reunion with friends at the end of this chapter, but that made a really good cut-off point (and I don't have the reunion done yet) so there will be another chapter before Epilogue. Both will probably be relatively short unless they evolve on me.

Regardless, the story is mostly over at this point, just a few bits and pieces to tie off. Thanks to everyone for sticking with me through this experiment.

Comments

[Astarea]

D'aaaaawwwwwww

This. This is exactly why I ship TwiLuna.

[Asheram]

D'aaaaaw!

[sakuralovelight]

LOVE IT hope to read more soon

[Bloody_Tofu]

Very nice. Any plans for a sequel? Oh and did I miss where it explained why twilight can produce moonlight now?

[Wodahseht]

5677799
5677840
Glad you two enjoyed.

5677867
I can say with fair certainty that there will at least be some one-shots in future of this story's universe.

As to full-length sequels? There are two I'd planned from the start as possible. However, I don't have anything more than a general concept in mind, and no idea yet how I'd structure them or turn them from idea to story, so there is no telling if/when they'd actually happen. The best I can say is keep your fingers crossed and hope I get the inspiration needed to bring them to life.

(Explanation was in Chapter 8: Answers)

[Ozymandias42]

D'aaaaaaw overload!
Wonderful chapter

[Wodahseht]

5677980
5678105
5678141
I enjoyed getting you see your comments as you read through the story. And I'm rather pleased I managed to take you by surprise there in chapter 8.

Hopefully you found the entirety of what's currently available enjoyable.

[DarknessLilly]

you know that you are your own worse critic. ^_^

[Wodahseht]

5678493
Many artists are. I'm aware I do okay - even better than some others can, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. It's simple fact that anyone who thinks they don't have room to improve won't be working to improve.

[Crystal Moose]

Aww man, you know you have too many TwiLuna stories on your list when you get part way through reading an update, see the word "Majora" and remember which one it is you are reading.

Also, beautiful chapter. Glad to see you took the more realistic approach to Luna's response, rather than her just having an epiphany and go "Omergersh I luv u 2!"

[Wodahseht]

5679839
Too many?

I feel a bit of weird pride in the fact that a single word could identify my story from the masses actually.

And as to my approach: My intent with this story was to attempt a realistic relationship development alongside the story events. Based on feedback so far, I seem to be doing a reasonable job at it. Thank you for dropping in to say hi.

[TwilightXLuna]

LOVE THIS hope more soon TwiLuna RULES!!!!!!!!!!

[harts fire]

let the cuddles be doubled.

[JustAGriffon]

MOAR. I demand a sequel!...and then politely request the possibility of one.

[Shtormovoi]

And We have lift off!

Best Ship ever

[Wodahseht]

5680090
5682177

Well, we still have the wrapping up of this story to get through. As to a sequel: Hopefully there will be one. I'm working on fleshing out the idea I have for first one, but I'm not going to start it until I've got a clear outline for it in place. Last thing I want is to start something then have it die halfway through because I don't know where to go next.

---

I've said it before, and I can pretty much guarantee that I'll say it again: A massive thank you to every person that reads my stories, likes them, favorites them, and/or comments on them. I get a tiny high every time I see another person enjoying what I create, and I'm addicted to that feeling. Without all of you, this story probably wouldn't have gotten past the first few chapters.

You guys make it worth taking the time to do this. Keep being awesome people!

[Ulrezaj]

5683841
In this case, it has been delightful to feed your addiction.
At first I curious. Then intrigued. Now, I'm almost overwhelmed by the adorableness.

Can't wait for more.

[user123]

5683841
are you so high, you can touch the moon?

Anyways, I love this.

[Wodahseht]

5707194

Sometimes it certainly feels the moon is in my grasp with the stars just a breath away.

I'm glad you enjoyed. If I can get my speech and online quizzes out of the way, I plan to try and make some more progress today and tomorrow.

[user123]

5729339
if you use your imagination you can touch it.

[felisimar]

To start with, I loved your story even before I read it. I never read incomplete stories, I just put them on my waiting list (or whatever it's called...) but this time I couldn't resist. And there is some sort of finality, I'd say you might as well stop here, though of course I'd like to read what'll happen next.

Your magic theory about the illness and its causes was absolutely brilliant. Honestly, I developed some magic theories in the past (not for MLP though) and still, I just couldn't see anything that would lead me to some clues. It was really interesting and unexpected and believeable. It could've happened in the series actually. Nothing seems impossible.

And about TwiLuna... I'd say that the last chapter (9th I mean) was great but the chapters before lacked the relationship component sometimes, It's not that I demand you to write about love in every sentence of the text. It's just, sometimes Twilight (and then Luna too) seem to feel something, and then they forget about it completely while doing something else, even together, and then they realise it again. There are some blanks in the text that could be filled. For example, you've described Twilight's embarrassment while she had to go to the bathroom with Luna once, but then you forget about this part, as though everything became normal right after that. I guess that more of those moments could create the atmosphere of slowly increasing tension of feelings. I'm not saying that your story is lacking the romance, it's just that you have a very good continuation of events for the 'searching the cure' part of plot, but for romance part, there are some holes in it.
I think I wrote this partially because I thought that this story would be more dramatic judging on the description.

I enjoyed reading the story anyway and hope you'll continue writing it. Also it would be really nice of you to make a chapter with all the magic theory as you wanted.

Thanks for the nice story~

[Wodahseht]

5888166

Bit of an ego-boost that you couldn't keep yourself from the read there.

I'm glad you liked the lore I built up for the magic/illness. It was a lot of fun to develop and explain.

As to the feedback on the relationship: I agree that it could have been developed better, but one of the purposes of writing this story was to try romance for the first time - I was bound to make mistakes. Thanks to feedback from various people, such as yourself, I have a much better idea of how I could have handled it. It was easy to "dodge" the romance stuff when I wasn't sure what to do while writing it unfortunately...I'll have to be more disciplined about not doing that in the future.

Something I've battled with myself over is whether to go back after I finish it off and do some re-writing. I don't like to change something after it is posted as people have decided to favorite/like based on the original form. If I did a rewrite I would definitely have to post the original up to Google Docs or something for the people who liked the unedited form better.

Thank you very much for the feedback.

[Shatter Star]

5890179 Don't limit yourself on what you feel should be done with your story, The fans will like your work for what it is, If you FEEL that a rewrite or some minor editing at some points can pull the story together better you should do it, Or don't. remember that in the end it is your work of love, Not your job.

[CommisarSilver]

A delight to read. Luna's careful consideration and honest approach is just a joy to see.

[FlavoredMoon]

Suddenly Twilight jerked back and burst out, "What if I wanted it to be true!"

I kinda wanna draw this now

[Oak Stride]

6591301 if you did draw it, I want to see. Please send a link.

[Lunas_Sloot]

taken by surprised

taken by surprise

[Gear_change]

The spark instantly became a bonfire and, without thought, Twilight launched herself at Luna. They ended up sprawled out on the floor, Luna on her back and Twilight on top with forelegs tightly wrapped around Luna, face buried in her neck. Tears came again, but this time it was tears of joy. She couldn't speak, she just held on tightly as she felt Luna's wings and forelegs close around her in a return embrace.

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