Ever since her return, Luna has been alone with nopony but Celestia to talk to, that was, until Nightmare Night, when she gained a friend who accepted her almost without any hessitation. What is this funny feeling in her heart?
Princess Luna made a very good friend last Nightmare Night, now she fears that she's begun having feelings for her. Should she act on them and risk losing her invaluable friend or should she hide them away at the expense of her own happiness?
Luna sighed to herself as her carriage, pulled by her loyal night guard, flew closer to Ponyville. She knew her sister wanted her to go there to make friends, but she had this unshakable feeling that they were not going to welcome her as Celestia claimed.
The thought continued in her mind as the guard began to make their descent into town. She could hear the ponies having fun beneath her and a small smile grew on her face. As she was about to land however, a few flashes of lightning and the clashing of thunder brought the attention of the happy ponies below.
After a short moment of them all gazing up to look at Luna in her carriage, they began to scream and run in all directions. Luna, watching them all scatter, looked down with a disheartened expression. ‘You were wrong sister, they do still fear me.’ she thought to herself as she down from the chariot and walked into the center of town.
“My subjects, do not fear me!” she said in the Royal Canterlot Voice, causing everypony to stop and bow down to her frightfully. “’Tis I, your Princess Luna!”
Luna looked around at all the shivering, cowering ponies and saw a group of young foals. She had always held an affinity for foals, finding them easier to talk to than more grown up ponies. She moved closer to the group and stopped in front of one especially small colt wearing a pirate costume.
“Young one!” she said, trying to make her voice comforting while still using the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Why do you cower? You have nothing to-“
“She’s going for the children!” a pink pony yelled and quickly ran over to snatch up the small colt. “Everypony run! Nightmare Moon is going to gobble us all up!”
At this, all the ponies ran into houses, down dark alleyways, or anywhere that wasn’t where Luna was.
“What? No! I am not Nightmare Moon, I am your Princess Luna! Please come back!”
Luna began to sob as nopony was showing signs of reemerging from their hiding places.
“I just wanted to make friends,” she mumbled as she walked out of town, her head hanging low and tears falling from her eyes.
Twilight had just come trotting down the street, shocked at having heard the Royal Canterlot Voice booming through all of Ponyville, to find Luna walking away. She smiled and shouted, “Princess Luna, what are you doing here? Princess? … Luna, where are you going?”
Luna wasn’t paying attention, she was lost in thought. ‘You lied to me yet again sister. The ponies here were not as welcoming as you said they would be.’
Twilight began to follow Luna, unsure as to what was going on. Nopony was out on the street, thought it was obvious that they had been not too long ago, they left party streamers and confetti on the ground and there were games left unoccupied.
Luna walked out of the town towards the dark park, finally stopping on the middle of a stone bridge overlooking the small river. She looked over the side at her reflection in the water. It looked even sadder than she felt, if that was even possible.
“Princess Luna?” a tentative voice asked from behind her.
Luna jumped, she had not expected anypony to follow her or even sound concerned when saying her name. Though the voice didn’t fit, she half expected to see Celestia standing behind her. She was even more shocked to see Twilight standing there, giving her a small, comforting smile.
“Twilight Sparkle, what are you doing here?”
“I came here to ask you the same question.”
Luna looked at her reflection again, it made her a little happy that at least one pony wanted to talk to her. “Celestia informed me that I could make friends if I came here. She stated that the ponies of Ponyville were the most accepting ponies in all of Equestria. But never have I gotten a reaction quite like the one I just received from them.”
Twilight walked over and stood next to Luna, concern etched on her face. “What happened?”
Luna sighed and looked at Twilight. “After my entrance into town was met with quite a bit less... enthusiasm as I would have hoped, while I was attempting to speak to a young colt to convince them of my sincerity, I believe it was Pinkie Pie, claimed that I was going to eat them and shouted for everypony to run.”
Twilight turned away, growling a little as she thought, ‘Pinkie, you idiot.’
“I only wanted to make friends, but they all ran from me, calling me Nightmare Moon,” Luna started to sob again.
Twilight moved closer and put her hoof around Luna. “You have at least one friend, right here,” she said in her most comforting tone.
Luna felt her heart thump hard and looked up at Twilight again. She just realized how beautiful Twilight was when she smiled. She felt her cheeks burn and quickly looked down at her reflection again before Twilight could notice. She liked how they looked together in the water’s reflection, she smiled at it for a second before shaking the thought out of her head, after all, she hardly knew Twilight. She did however, believe in love at first sight, though this was hardly the first she had seen of the lavender mare.
Twilight only saw Luna looking away and took it as an unenthusiastic response, so she continued, “But if you want to make more friends, you just need to know how to talk to them. I can help you with that.”
“Really? You would help me to make friends?” Luna asked excitedly, jerking her head up to look at Twilight.
“If that’s what you really want,” Twilight replied with a chuckle.
Luna nodded with a big smile, she was just happy that Twilight was so willing to help and she wanted to spend more time with her, partially to revel in the fact she had made a friend, but also to confirm if her curious feeling could indeed be love.
Twilight smiled and led her back into town, introducing her to the ponies who had run in terror not that long ago. Pinkie was still being a problem though. Luna didn’t mind it too much, she enjoyed Twilight’s company too much to take that much notice. She was just happy that she had a friend and that many of the other ponies were calmer around her now that she was with Twilight.
After Luna had left, Twilight had begun to send her letters telling her of fun little stories of what was happening between her and her friends. Luna enjoyed the letters and always replied with a story of her own, usually about pulling pranks on the castle staff or some adventure in the gardens. The letters began to slow after a couple of weeks, and after a month, to Luna’s dismay, they had stopped completely.
The moon was very bright, sitting high in its place atop the sky. The stars were out and twinkling happily. The cold night breeze blew in softly from the open windows of Canterlot Castle. It was calm and quiet.
‘So why is somepony crying?’ Celestia asked herself as she trotted through the castle, looking for the sobbing pony.
She went from the kitchens in the basement to the throne room and still couldn’t find the tearful pony. She checked the servant’s quarters, startling many maids and causing a few servants to jump right out of their beds only to hit their faces on the floor as they attempted to bow as she passed their rooms. Still, finding nopony there that had so much as a tear in their eye.
With only one pony left whom she could think of, and she felt like a foal for not going there first, before disturbing the whole castle, Celestia made her way up to the tower room adjacent from her own. Luna’s room. Upon opening the door she found the source of the loud sobbing.
Luna was sitting on her balcony, looking out at her beautiful, star strewn sky, and weeping. Celestia sighed, walked up to her sister and put her hoof on the sobbing pony’s shoulder.
“Whatever is the matter Lulu?” Celestia asked as the startled night princess turned to look at the newcomer who had touched her so lovingly and gentle.
Sniffing and attempting to dry up her tears with her hoof, Luna replied, “Nothing is the matter dear sister. I was just so moved by my own beautiful sky, how it sparkles and gleams, how it seems to smile down upon me that I simply let out a few tears. That is all.”
Celestia nodded and said, “M-hmm,” sarcastically before looking up at the sky herself. She smiled down at Luna and let out a little laugh. “Is that so? Am I to believe then, that it has nothing to do with that grouping of stars right there?”
Celestia was pointing to a group of six stars which, incidentally, resembled Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark and, also incidentally, was placed rather closely to the brightly shining crescent moon. Luna began to blush and became very flustered.
“How long have you been having these feelings for my pupil?” Celestia asked, putting a stop to Luna’s sputtering.
“I-I... have been feeling this way for a couple of months now.” Luna said, resigning to her sister’s will. “I-I was unsure at first but this time away has shown that I do feel love for her. I have been feeling a great longing in my heart sister.”
Celestia sat by her sister and wrapped her wing around the night princess. “So, since Nightmare Night, correct?”
Luna nodded, focusing on her hooves. “You know that you won’t get anywhere unless you talk to her, why don’t you send her a letter, maybe even invite her over for dinner some night.”
Luna looked up at Celestia and smiled. “I was afraid you would be against it. I was afraid that you would hate me for it even. Thank you so much Tia for being so accepting.”
Luna embraced Celestia tightly and smiled before running over to her desk and pulling out a quill and parchment. Celestia watched with a small smile of loving concern, while she encouraged Luna finding a love, she didn’t want to see her beloved sister get hurt from the pain of rejection.
“L-Luna, you know, if… if she doesn’t accept your request… Please don’t get your hopes too high.” Celestia stepped over to Luna as she spoke, setting her hoof on Luna’s shoulder again and giving her another concerned smile.
Luna was too focused on her letter to really hear what Celestia had said, she merely nodded as she hummed while her quill moved across the parchment. When she felt her sister’s hoof upon her shoulder, she smiled up at her without really seeing Celestia and quickly turned her gaze back to her letter.
Celestia’s smile dropped and she sighed. Luna just kept humming her little tune as Celestia walked out of the room. The quill stopped and Luna picked up the letter in her magic to review what she had written.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
It has been a while since our last missive and I wanted to know how you faired. I do hope you are as well as I. Last time we wrote, you told me about a new book you were reading. Have you finished it? Is it good? Who was the author again, I’m afraid I’ve forgotten. I do remember it had to do with myself and I was curious about it. But back to the point, I write you now so as to invite you to dine with us the night after next. I was only thinking that we don’t get to see each other very often and a meeting would be nice.
Sincerest,
Princess Luna
Luna looked over the letter a few times before deciding it was good to send. She rolled it up and put her official seal on it and began focusing her magic on the scroll. In a flash of green fire, it was gone, undoubtedly being belched out by Spike now.
Luna smiled to herself and stepped back out onto the balcony to gaze at her moon and her stars as she waited for the reply. It was very late, past midnight, so she was unsure if she should expect it soon or in the morning. She waited, ten minutes… Fifteen minutes… Half an hour… After an hour had passed she was forced to resign to her bed, accepting that it would take until morning for the reply to come.
She lay her head down on her pillow, pulled her covers up to her neck with her magic, and before she knew it, she was asleep. Passing through the veil into somepony’s dream, who’s, she was unsure, but it had to do with large amounts of vanilla ice cream.
Twilight Sparkle awoke the next morning to the sweet smell of breakfast cooking. She got up and went straight for the bathroom as it said on her daily schedule.
Having taken a quick shower, and brushing her mane, tail, and teeth, Twilight went downstairs to find out what Spike had cooked for breakfast. As she entered the kitchen, her eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped.
“Spike!”
The dragon popped his head around the door from the main room of the library. “What is it Twi-“
Twilight picked the dragon up in her magic and proceeded to hug the life out of him, all the while saying, “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Gasping for air, Spike managed to squeak, “What’s the big deal, it’s only breakfast. I make you breakfast all the time.”
Letting him drop to the floor, Twilight moved over to the counter, ogling the food. “The big deal is that it’s my absolute favorite breakfast, Spike! Apple cinnamon and brown sugar pancakes! You almost never make this for me… Except for when you want something…” she finished in a suspicious tone. Turning back to him, she said in a, ‘just say it’, tone, “What do you want this time?”
Spike’s gaze shifted from the unicorn, to the counter, and back. “I don’t know what you mean, Twilight. I just thought that I’d make you your favorite breakfast once in a while.”
“Uh-huh…” Twilight said as she raised an eyebrow at Spike. The dragon gazed back, a sincere smile crossed his face. “Huh, I guess you can be nice for no apparent reason then.” Twilight said with a smile and, turning back to the counter, she made herself a plate, letting Spike think he'd gotten off the hook. The dragon sighed softly.
She set the plate down on the table and made to sit down to eat before asking knowingly, “Of course, this has nothing to do with what happened yesterday, does it?”
Spike's smile faltered and the dragon began to shift his gaze all over the room, looking anywhere but at the unicorn sitting at the table. “Whatever do you mean, Twilight? Can’t I just make you breakfast purely out of the kindness of my heart?”
“Play it up all you want, it doesn’t help your case,” Twilight said as she levitated the fork cutting into her pancakes.
Spike sighed. “Okay fine, I made it as an apology for almost destroying the library yesterday... and to ask if I could, maybe, have the day off tomorrow?”
Twilight looked at him, scanning him over with narrowed eyes before grumbling, “Okay, but only if I don’t have anything majorly important to do here at the library, and also because you fixed the library and you made me my favorite breakfast.”
Spike jumped up with glee and ran out into the main room again before popping his head back into the kitchen and saying, “Oh, and by the way. A letter came for you either late last night or early in the morning, I found it next to my basket when I woke up.”
“A letter? Let me see it!” Twilight nearly sent the table flying in her excitement as she jumped up and gave the dragon a big smile, rivaling that of Pinkie Pie.
Spike ran up to the bedroom and retrieved the letter, bringing it down to Twilight in less than a second. Twilight stared at him for a moment, taking the letter in her magic, and said, “You’ve been hanging around Pinkie Pie too much.”
Spike gave her a questioning look as Twilight inspected the letter. “This isn’t Celestia’s seal. It’s… Luna’s?”
Opening the letter and beginning to read it, she said, “I guess it has been a while since I last sent her a letter.”
Her eyes grew wider as they approached the bottom of the page. “Oh, my gosh! She invited me to have dinner with them!” She began running around the room in a panic. “What if this is some kind of test? What if Luna wants to take over my training?”
“What if Luna just wants to hang out with you. After all, the last time you saw her was last Nightmare Night and that was ages ago,” Spike said, attempting to put an end to the small chaos.
Twilight looked over at him, blushing. “You’re right, that’s probably all it is,” She gave a nervous chuckle before heading back up to her bedroom leaving her pancakes with only one bite taken from them.
She walked up to her desk, pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and began to write out her response.
Dear Princess Luna,
It has been a while since our last meeting hasn’t it? I’m sorry I haven’t been able to talk to you more, I’ve been really busy with things around the library and my friends here in Ponyville. So, I would love to join you for dinner tomorrow. Also, I think that book you are referring to was written by my friend, Written Paradox. He’s been wandering around town with Pinkie Pie so he’s been writing some weird books lately. It was a good read if you like fictional works. I prefer to stick with the facts, it’s all non-fiction for me.
Sincerely,
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight looked the letter over, scratched out the last line, and rolled it up, putting her seal on it.
“Spike! I need you to send my reply!”
The baby dragon came running up the steps. “You called.” he said as he bowed to Twilight.
She levitated the letter over to him and began to walk back down to the kitchen to finish her breakfast. Spike let out a belch of green fire and the letter was gone. He hummed his way down to the main room of the library and began to read a rather large and old book.
“Spike!” Twilight shrieked, running out of the kitchen. “Why did you clean up my breakfast?!”
“I’m sorry Twilight, I thought you were done.”
“I had only just started eating it.” she cried, exasperatedly.
“Relax, there’s more on the counter.” Spike said as he walked into the kitchen and made her another plate.
“Thank you, Spike.” Twilight pulled him up into another hug before sitting down and eating the whole of her pancakes in ten seconds flat.
“But sister, what if she does refuse?” Luna asked, her head buried in her hooves on the dining table.
“Luna, for the last time. If she does refuse the invitation, it will be for a good reason. Considering the way you wrote the letter, nopony would be able to tell it’s for romantic reasons, it simply looks like a friendly invitation.” Celestia replied irritably.
Luna had been asking the same question over and over that morning during breakfast. Celestia had been slowly losing her composure the whole while as she attempted to eat her breakfast and calm Luna’s fears. It was easy to tell that the matter of Twilight’s reply had kept Luna awake all night.
When Celestia had walked into the dining hall for breakfast that morning, she was shocked to see Luna already there, sitting next to Celestia’s usual seat. A bowl of porridge in front of her, untouched and it looked as if it had long since cooled. Celestia had wondered just how long Luna had been sitting there.
Celestia’s trail of thought was interrupted by Luna, who had just started to speak again.
“Sister-“
“LUNA!” Celestia yelled, finally breaking from the constant worries of her sister. “If you ask that question one more time, I swear I will make sure that Twilight Sparkle never shows up for dinner. EVER!”
Luna jumped back at her sister’s rage, looked down at her porridge and began to sob. She hadn’t realized that she had been upsetting Celestia and she never thought she could snap like that, she had always kept herself calm and collected no matter the situation.
Celestia, realizing her actions, quickly abated her anger and moved over to Luna, putting her wing around her sister. Luna recoiled, fearing that Celestia was about to snap at her again, but Celestia held her firmly and comfortingly.
“I’m so sorry, Lulu, I’m just worried about you.” She said in her most comforting, motherly tone she could muster. “If you keep focusing on the fear then that’s all you’ll ever do, is be afraid. That’s how you became Nightmare Moon and I will not let that happen again.”
“I’m sorry Tia, I’m just... I really like her and I don’t want her to not like me.”
“Then think about the joy it will bring you if she does like you as you like her. Don’t focus on the things that you fear or they will come to pass, focus on the things that make you happy.”
Luna relaxed into the embrace and dried her tears. “Thank you, Tia”
“Now, if you are hungry, I suggest you get a new bowl or heat that one up. The porridge is freezing cold.” Celestia said with a weak smile.
Luna chuckled lightly and began to focus her magic, her horn glowing its dark blue aura. The bowl began to steam as it became engulfed in the aura as well. Luna smiled at it and picked up her spoon in her magic and started to eat.
Celestia moved back to her own seat and finished her own bowl before smiling, a big, bright smile at Luna and leaving to attend her duties. Luna sat there for a while, eating her porridge and smiling.
Her smile dropped however when the thought forced its way back into her mind, ‘What if…’
Luna shook her head vigorously to stop her thought. She frowned as she tried to force good thoughts into her head.
A vision of her and Twilight running through a meadow together popped into her head. The two were laughing and Luna was chasing Twilight. She was having so much fun, her heart pounded as she caught up with the giggling unicorn. She tackled her down into the grass and they rolled around before Luna, stopped it with herself perched above Twilight, who was now smiling shyly. She bent her head down and kissed Twilight on the lips, the thought lingered in her mind as the imaginary moment seemed to last forever.
Luna smiled brightly to herself as she finished her porridge, keeping the thought held fast in her mind. It made her heart race and she so wished for that imaginary scene to happen in real life.
She put her spoon down on the table and began to walk out of the dining hall. The servants who had been standing, waiting at the door, moved to take the dishes away and clean the table.
Luna walked silently up to her room, smiling all the way as she kept playing the scene over and over in her head. When she opened the door, she was pleased to see a new scroll had appeared on her desk, sealed by a simple red ribbon, Twilight’s usual way of sealing her letters. A twinkle filled her eye as she practically ran over to it, pulled the ribbon carefully off the scroll, and rolled it open as she sat down to read the letter.
Her smile grew as her eyes ran across the parchment, drinking in the words greedily. She didn’t care for the name of the author of the book she had mentioned in her letter, she had already known his name. That was merely small talk to make the letter more innocent. She was ecstatic to see the answer to her request. So ecstatic in fact, that she immediately ran to Celestia’s room to tell her the news. Then to the kitchen to tell them to make their best dishes for the occasion.
Luna was so happy she felt she would burst. She made her way back to her room, she wanted to show Twilight how happy this was making her.
She sat down at her desk again and pulled out her quill and ink and a piece of parchment.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I am so very glad that you are going to be joining us for dinner. It has been too long since we last saw each other and I am very excited to catch up, as they say, on most recent events with you. I am having the kitchen staff prepare their best dishes for your visit, though, if you want something specific I am positive that we can have it made. As for Written Paradox, I’m glad that he has found friends amongst the ponies of Ponyville, I sent him there for that reason after all, though I am surprised that he and Pinkie Pie are, hanging around together, as you say.
Sincerely,
Princess Luna
Luna didn’t even look over the letter, she quickly rolled it up and placed her seal on it before sending it away in her magic to Twilight in the usual green flames. She watched as it vanished before jumping onto her bed, the weariness of having stayed up all night catching up with her. With her mind back on the thought of her and Twilight in the meadow, she smiled as she drifted off into a calm and happy sleep.
“Alright, Spike. Are you going to be okay taking care of the library till tomorrow?” Twilight asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.
“Relax Twilight, I’ll have Owlowiscious to help me.” Spike replied confidently. At this, the owl let out a low who. “You silly” Spike said, turning to the owl.
He hooted again and Spike said with a little more force, “You, I’m talking about you.”
Twilight smirked and shook her head, exiting the library and heading over to the Carousel Boutique. She knew she could count on Rarity to help if Spike messed anything up.
“Okay, so you promise to keep an eye on Spike while I’m gone?” She asked tentatively.
“You know I have a lot of work to do before this weekend, I’m not sure I’ll be able to.” Rarity replied in her usual airy tone.
Twilight knew she should have asked her sooner, she was usually so organized but with fretting over the fact that a princess had asked her to dinner, all sense of organization left her mind. Twilight looked up at the clock, she needed to catch her train, it was due to leave in twenty minutes and it’s a fifteen minute walk from the boutique to the train station.
“Rarity, please!” begged Twilight, drawing out her please as long as she could and ending with a smile. “You only have to go over there every so often to make sure the library isn’t being destroyed and make sure Spike is doing his job properly.”
Rarity sighed, ribbons and scissors floating past in her magic, inspecting which color to use. “I suppose I’ll be able to go by the library when I have some time or when I hit a creative block, it’s not a promise that I’ll be able to go by regularly but I’ll go when I can.”
“Oh thank you thank you thank you.” Twilight said, a little bouncy. “I’ve got to hurry and catch my train or I’ll be late.”
“Oh, Twilight!” Rarity called as the unicorn was almost out the door. “You’re not forgetting the dress I made for your dinner, are you”
Twilight quickly checked her saddlebags and pulled out a neatly folded mass of dark blue fabric. “Nope, I’ve got everything I need.”
And with that, she ran out of the door and through town. She was followed for a few streets by an excited, bouncy Pinkie Pie who wouldn’t stop asking her questions until she smacked into a familiar light blue pegasus and began following her.
When Twilight made it to the station, the train was already sitting there, waiting for all the passengers to board. She walked up to the ticket booth, almost out of breath and asked for a ticket for the train. After handing the ticket mare her bits and taking her ticket, Twilight got on the train and found herself a seat near the front of the train, next to the window on the side she knew Canterlot would show up on.
“All aboard!” shouted the conductor as the doors slid shut and the engine let out a loud, high pitched whistle.
Slowly, the train began to leave the station. Twilight looked out of the window and saw a pink maned, yellow pegasus watching the train leave. Twilight smiled and waved at her friend, who gave her a small, blushing smile as she waved back. Fluttershy quickly vanished from sight as the train huffed along the tracks, gaining speed quickly.
Twilight turned to try to see Fluttershy as the train passed the building that had blocked her from view but the mare was no longer there. Twilight gave a small frown and shook her head, thinking of the fun she was going to have with Luna.
***
Luna was running about the castle, making sure that everything was ready for Twilight’s visit.
She had gone to the kitchens to make sure it was properly staffed and ready to make anything Twilight wanted on the spot. After the kitchens she ran up to make sure the spare guest room was prepared for Twilight, just in case things didn’t go well or if she just wanted her own room for the night.
Luna was fussing over every little thing, making sure everything was just perfect for Twilight.
Celestia was watching everything Luna did. After the guest room was made to the specifications that Luna had given the servants, Celestia couldn’t keep quiet any longer, she walked over to Luna.
“Luna, don’t you think you’re overdoing it just a little?” she asked with her tone of motherly concern.
“You know I want everything to be perfect sister. I’m just, covering the bases, as they say. Making sure I have every scenario handled.” Luna replied as she began to fuss over a ribbon that was just a bit bigger on one side.
Celestia sighed. “You know, the more you try to make things perfect the more awkward it will be for you two. Just try to have fun.”
Luna wasn’t listening, she was busy trying to make all the ribbons exactly symmetrical.
Celestia sighed again and walked out of the room.
***
Twilight smiled, she could see Canterlot castle up on the mountainside. She knew that there was still about another hour to go before the train reached its destination however.
As she was smiling, imagining what she and Luna would be doing together, the train began to slow and come to a stop. Twilight looked up, cut off from her daydreams of talking to Luna about magic, learning, or possibly even teaching Luna, a few spells.
The conductor came walking through the car, heading for the back of the train.
“Excuse me.” Twilight called after him. “What’s going on, why has the train stopped?”
The conductor turned around to face the lavender unicorn who was now standing in the aisle. “It appears there’s an obstruction on the tracks, it’ll take but a moment to move and we’ll be on our way.”
“Well, let me go take a look at it.” Twilight said, as she moved for the door of the train.
The conductor hesitated a moment before following the unicorn outside and leading her to the cause of the problem.
There were a couple of other unicorns there already, attempting to move some rocks that had fallen on the tracks, there had been a rockslide. The unicorns were struggling with the fallen rocks, unable to move even the smallest of them.
“They… just… won’t … budge!” one of them shouted exasperatedly, drawing in heaving gasps as he let his magic dissipate.
Twilight frowned and moved closer to the rocks. She saw something gleaming in the light when she moved to one side but it vanished when she moved back. There was some kind of hardened liquid holding the rocks together.
“It’s no wonder why you can’t move the rocks individually, they’ve been glued together by somepony.” Twilight said to the others. “In order to move these rocks, you have to move the pile as a whole.”
“Where are we going to find somepony who can move a pile that heavy?” one of the unicorns asked, glaring at Twilight as if she were mad.
Without giving him an answer, Twilight began to focus her magic on the pile of rocks. She lowered her head, preparing to lift the rocks. As she began to lift her head, her hooves dug deep into the ground, threatening to slide out from under her, but she kept them steady. There was a low rumbling sound as the pile began to shift, slowly rising off the ground.
Twilight’s eyes began to glow and her magic aura around her horn doubled in size. The pile of rocks suddenly shot up into the air and landed with a rumbling thud, fifty feet away. The two unicorns and the conductor gasped and stood there, shocked, staring at Twilight and the place where the pile of rocks landed.
As the aura around her horn dissipated and her eyes returned to their usual purple hue. She stumbled a little and the conductor quickly walked over to steady her.
“By Celestia!” shouted one of the unicorns, inspecting the rails. “The rock slide damaged the rails.”
“Don’t worry, this one’s a quick fix.” said the other, noticing that Twilight was preparing to focus her magic on the rails now. “You get on back in the train, we can handle this.”
The conductor helped Twilight back onto the train and into her seat. “It shouldn’t take long, fixing the rails is their specialty.”
“Good.” Twilight said distractedly. Looking up at Canterlot castle again, she suddenly stiffened. “Um… About how long do you think we’ve been delayed?”
“No more than half an hour I’d say.” he said as he checked his pocket watch. “Why, got something important to do in Canterlot?”
“Oh no. I hope I’m not too late.”
***
Luna was sitting at the dining table, waiting impatiently. She looked up at all the decorations she had the servants put up just for this night and sighed.
“Where is she?”
The servants standing by the door shuffled nervously. They had been told by Celestia to do everything they could to make sure everything went to Luna’s liking.
Ten minutes went by and still no word on Twilight’s whereabouts. Luna had put her face in her hooves on the table and mumbled to herself with a small sob. “She’s not coming, she lied to me.”
One of the servants heard this and walked up to Luna. “She said she’d come and I know that when Twilight says she’ll do something then she’ll do it. You just have to wait patiently is all. Maybe something happened with her train and it’s running late.”
Luna smiled up at her, “Thank you Silver Platter.”
Luna waited, every minute that passed without any hint of Twilight showing up brining a new worry to her mind.
Twenty minutes passed, Luna was practically in tears but with Silver Platter giving her comforting words, she waited, obstinately.
Half an hour. Luna was now sobbing with her head on the table. Silver Platter’s words weren’t reaching her anymore. With a sigh, she wiped her tears off her face and stood up from her chair.
She walked silently up to her room, walked out onto her balcony and began to cry openly to the stars.
Twilight jumped off the train the second it pulled in at the station and ran as fast as she could up to the castle. The guard ponies were making to close the gate but stopped when they saw the lavender blur running up to them.
“Halt!” one of them commanded before the revelation of just who it was that was running up to them hit him. “Oh, Twilight Sparkle, you’re very late. Luna has long since lost hope that you would arrive.”
As he said this, Twilight heard sobbing coming from high atop one of the castle's towers. Her gaze fell upon the weeping princess and she quickly galloped into the castle. The guards let her run by, only giving her a concerned look as she passed, then giving the silhouette on the tower the same concerned look.
“Two whole hours.” the other guard said to the first. “Poor Princess Luna… I wonder what kept Twilight so long.”
“Who knows? I’m just glad she managed to show up at all.” he said as they resumed the task of closing the heavy gates.
Twilight was running as fast as she could through the castle, weaving her way through the many servants that jumped out of her way as she went past. The sounds of Luna’s crying were getting louder.
Just a few floors from Luna’s room, the crying suddenly faded. Twilight couldn’t understand, ‘Why was Luna so upset, it was only dinner, some catching up, maybe some games later, so why would her being late make Luna this upset?’
Twilight came bursting into the room. Standing on the balcony, was Celestia.
“Princess Celestia? Where’s Luna?” Twilight asked as she gasped for air.
“Twilight Sparkle. You made it, though quite a bit late I must say.” Celestia said calmly, though with a sad expression. “Luna is quite upset that you didn’t show up for dinner. She had something important she wanted to talk to you about.”
“What is it?” Twilight asked as she stepped onto the balcony with her mentor, watching the fading shape of Princess Luna as she flew away.
“Go ask her yourself, I’m sure you can think of a way to catch her.” Celestia smiled as she turned and headed for the door. “Better hurry or she’ll get out of range.”
Celestia winked with her last word before closing the door behind her. Twilight turned back towards the dark figure getting further and further away into the night sky. As she watched, her mentor's words rang through her head, 'Better hurry or she'll get out of range... Range!', a thought popped into her head, it was going to be a long shot and potentially dangerous, but she had to catch Luna. The prospect of losing her as a friend just because she was late was unacceptable; she had to show Luna that she cares.
She focused her magic around herself and with a flash of magenta light she was gone. When she reappeared, she found no ground beneath her hooves and fell freely through the night sky. She let out a sharp scream as she suddenly hurtled toward the dark ground.
Princess Luna was crying, barely able to keep herself steady as she flew, not paying attention, or even caring where it was she was going, so long as it wasn’t where she had just come from. What caught her attention was a loud scream and a lavender mare falling in front of her face. She looked down in shock to see Twilight Sparkle flailing about as she fell to the ground.
Luna quickly dived after her, folding in her wings to gain the speed she needed to catch Twilight. She passed the falling unicorn and swooped up, catching her on her back, a considerable distance before they hit the ground. The added weight however, forced her to the ground, though she had managed to slow her descent enough to not get hurt. She crouched slightly as she gently reached the ground and with a push, she hurled herself back into the air with Twilight, half conscious from shock, on her back.
“What were you-?! “
“I-I’m sorry I’m late… had some trouble with the train.” Twilight cut off, giving Luna a weak smile before fainting.
Luna turned and looked at Twilight for a moment with a worried expression. She flew back to the castle as fast as she could. As she landed on the balcony, she looked Twilight over. Content, she lay Twilight on her bed and waited for her to wake up.
***
Luna wasn’t sure when it was she had fallen asleep but when she finally awoke, it was to find herself clinging tightly to the still sleeping Twilight Sparkle. She quickly jumped away, in fear of creating an awkward situation if the lavender unicorn woke up being held by her princess. The sudden movement caused the unicorn to stir a little but after a tense moment, she relaxed and let out a soft sigh as she continued her relaxed breathing.
Luna felt herself blush a little, as she watched the peaceful looking Twilight, ‘she looks so cute while asleep,’ she mused. She found herself transfixed, staring at Twilight, her eyes drinking in every feature of the lavender mare’s beautiful face. Her eyes wandered from Twilight’s eyes, to her slightly tousled mane and down to her slightly open mouth. ‘Those lips look so soft; I wonder just how soft they are.’ Luna unconsciously bent her head down slowly, moving closer to those soft, moist lips.
Twilight groaned and blearily opened her eyes causing Luna to be pulled from her trance. She jumped back again feeling her face grow hot as she blushed, even more than the last time.
Twilight rubbed her eyes as she began to wake up. Though she wasn’t sure, she could have sworn that she saw Luna leaning over her before jumping back. She shook the thought out of her mind, writing it off as her eyes playing tricks on her.
“P-Princess Luna…” she said groggily, “Where am I?”
The lavender unicorn tried to look around but her vision was still blurry from having just woken up. She didn’t remember anything of last night after she had been caught by Luna.
“You are in my chambers Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said calmly, managing to compose herself as she fought back her blush. “You fainted as I brought you back to the castle, you appeared to be just fine so I laid you down on my bed to rest.”
Twilight’s vision had cleared and she was now looking up at Luna with a curious expression. Luna began to worry that she had been seen bending down to inspect the unicorn’s lips.
“Have you been watching over me all night?”
The question came as a shock, she had been expecting to be asked to account for her earlier actions. She considered for a second before deciding it better to tell the truth, though, with a couple details omitted of course.
“No, I was watching over you for a time but I grew tired and fell asleep next to you. I awoke a short while ago and…” She considered again, ‘if Twilight did see me then that will be her next question.’ “I checked you over again to make sure you were still alright.” she finished with a comforting smile.
Twilight returned the smile but something seemed wrong in her mind, she thought, ‘I did see her bending over me, and that pause is suspicious…’
Before either of them could say anything more however, Twilight’s stomach grumbled loudly. Looking down at it, she realized she hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday. Luna looked at her and giggled.
“It seems it is time for breakfast.” she said as she began walking slowly to the door. “Understandable, considering you missed dinner last night.”
Even though Luna hadn’t said it in an accusatory, or even irritated, tone, it still made Twilight feel a little embarrassed. That wasn’t the only thing that had caught her attention however. As Luna reached the door, she looked back at the now blushing Twilight and giggled again. Twilight didn’t remember ever hearing Luna giggle before, at least not like that; she found it quite… cute.
The spoons scraped and clinked against the bowls as they scooped up the oatmeal that comprised their breakfast that morning. Neither Twilight nor Luna said a word, both of them too nervous to speak. They simply sat there, eating in silence, until they finished their meals.
As she set her spoon down on the platter where her bowl rested, Twilight Sparkle looked up to see Luna’s head turning away as her cheeks began to flush a slight pink. Luna had been staring intently at her until she looked up and Luna turned her head away so fast, she was sure that she heard a couple of pops come from her neck.
Unsure of whether or not Twilight had caught her staring, Luna looked to the door where two server ponies stood, waiting to take away their dishes. She signaled to them and they gracefully, with practiced proficiency, took the platters with the dirty bowls and utensils from the table and left to the kitchens.
While their bowls had been collected, Twilight found herself inspecting Luna, whose face had been turning even brighter red by the second. Luna’s eyes kept shifting from Twilight, to the door, each time she did, her face became more flushed and she sank a little into her chair.
Why is she staring at me so intently? Luna asked herself. Could it be that she shares the same feelings for me as I do, her?
Twilight suddenly realized how intently she was staring and looked down at the bare table in front of her, a small blush creeping onto her own cheeks. Luna finally seemed to stop sinking into her chair and looked up with a little more confidence. The princess cleared her throat as she looked back at the lavender unicorn.
“Um… Twilight?” she asked tentatively.
“Y-yes, princess?”
“I uh… W-well, I… I was w-wondering…”
Twilight looked up at Luna to see that she was blushing furiously and was pointedly not looking at her. When Luna realized that the unicorn’s gaze had turned back to her, her breath caught in her throat. She recognized the look that Twilight was giving her, it was the look she gave things when she was trying to understand something.
Is she trying to discern my feelings for her? Could it be that she feels the same towards me and she is trying to find out if I feel the same for her? Or could it simply be that she is trying to find out what I am trying to say? Luna’s mind was reeling, but before she could continue her line of thought, she was interrupted by Twilight.
“Princess Luna?”
“Y-yes, what is it?” she responded, slightly flustered.
“You said, you were wondering?”
“Oh, r-right… I uh… was wondering if… well…” Luna began, watching Twilight for any kind of reaction. All she did was stare curiously at Luna, who sighed and continued.
“I was wondering... what you would like to do today?” she finished quickly.
Twilight looked up with a small smile on her face. Luna is rather cute when she’s nervous, she thought.
Luna on the other hoof, mentally gave herself a facehoof, reprimanding herself for not simply asking how Twilight felt towards her.
“Is that all?” Twilight asked with a little giggle. “Well… normally I’d say, let’s go to the library, but I have a feeling you wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I do.”
Luna smiled widely. This could work out better than I had hoped, now I can ask her in a setting that is more comfortable for her.
“You would be surprised,” she said, raising a brow and smirking at Twilight. “It just so happens, that I have my own, private, library.”
Twilight’s ears perked at the prospect of books she’s never read before.
“R-really!? But, princess, I’ve never seen or even heard of any private libraries here in the castle.”
“That is because it is a secret library,” Luna said, her smile growing wider. “It is where I go when I wish to read without being disturbed.”
Twilight’s eyes widened in wonder, but then, she cocked to the side and stared curiously at the princess again.
“Wait, if it’s supposed to be your secret, private library… then why are you telling me about it?”
“I-I… well… um…” Luna began, racking her brain for an excuse. “Well… we are… such good friends a-and, well… I know how much you love books, s-so I thought it would be nice to share it with you.”
Without saying a word, Twilight jumped out of her chair, hopped over the table, and hugged Luna tightly.
“Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!! I swear, nopony will ever hear about your library from me.” Twilight shouted excitedly.
Luna was stunned. When Twilight finally let go of her, she noticed that the princess was beet red, her blush covering her entire face, she stared forward, mouth slightly open in shock.
“S-sorry, princess” Twilight said quickly, blushing a bit herself and finding it difficult to look away from Luna’s cute, shocked face.
“D-do not worry about it,” Luna said absently as she stood up. “Come, I will show you to the library.”
She walked over to the door and opened it, but before she walked out, she turned back to Twilight.
“Oh, also, there is no need to keep calling me ‘princess’. It is perfectly alright for you to call me Luna.”
The halls of Canterlot Castle were quiet, unless you took into account the loud laughter of Twilight Sparkle as she ascended the spiral staircase alongside Princess Luna. Luna had bumped into Twilight as they walked and so Twilight had playfully responded with a shove which quickly escalated into a shoving match up the stairs.
When they reached the top, Twilight’s laughter rose as she finally managed to knock Princess Luna onto her side. The two continued giggling as Twilight helped Luna back onto her hooves and they began down the empty hallway back to Luna’s tower room.
As they reached the door, Twilight stopped her giggles and looked questioningly at Luna.
“I thought you said we were going to your private library.”
“We are,” Luna said, smiling mysteriously.
She opened the door and walked inside, Twilight followed, filled with intense curiosity. This time when Twilight walked in, she looked around, looking for another door or anything that could be hiding the door. The only thing that jumped out at her though, was the single, solitary bookcase which had five shelves and stood just off to the side of Luna’s ornate desk.
Twilight stepped over to it, watched closely by Luna, and inspected the bookcase. It was flush against the wall, making it impossible to see behind. She tried moving it, it wouldn’t budge. She sighed, stepped back, sat down, and stared at it, mind reeling.
Luna giggled quietly, bringing a stern look from Twilight, she wanted to figure this out herself. Luna smiled sheepishly and allowed her to continue inspecting the bookcase, she was so cute when she was contemplating.
After a few moments, Twilight got up and stepped back up to the bookcase, looking closely at the titles of the books now.
“Aha! I think I figured it out,” Twilight said, turning to Luna to confirm her suspicions.
“Oh?” Luna asked, giving Twilight a fake curious look.
Now Twilight wasn’t so sure, she could see through Luna’s guise and it made her feel less confident.
“I… er… Maybe if I pull on this book…”
Twilight tugged a book off of the second to the top shelf. Nothing happened. Twilight looked down at the book she now held in her hoof and deflated.
“But… I was sure,” Twilight said sadly. “I thought the bookcase would move or something.”
Luna just smiled and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
“Pray tell, what is the title of the book you just pulled out?”
Twilight looked down and read the cover.
“The Library Bathed in Moonlight…”
Twilight looked up at Luna, curious. Luna simply continued to smile back.
“Open it,” Luna said excitedly.
Twilight cocked her head at Luna, shaking it uncomprehensively. She looked back at the book and flipped the cover open.
In the blink of an eye, the room around them was gone, replaced by ebony shelves with books of every size stretching out in all directions. A fireplace appeared, a fire lighting itself in its hearth, in the center of the now giant room, along with several comfy looking bright red cushions. As she looked on, Twilight saw dark blue walls forming. A marble staircase appeared, leading to the second floor which just a balcony with shelves covering the rounded walls. Another staircase popped up and ran all the way up one of the walls to the ceiling, ending in a balcony with a comfortable looking couch and a telescope pointing out of the window. She looked up to find that the ceiling was a dome of windows, through which the moon and stars were shining brightly.
Twilight kept spinning on the spot, taking in everything. The room she now found herself in was just so beautiful. Luna watched as Twilight began running between the bookshelves, looking at the titles as she passed by them. When she finally reached the fireplace, she began jumping with joy. There were so many books she had never read here.
Luna giggled and walked over to join Twilight by the fireplace. As she approched, Twilight calmed down and waited there, smiling sheepishly.
Luna sat on one of the cushions and said, “Well I am glad to see that you will be enjoying yourself in my- er… our library.”
Twilight’s face froze in shock. “D-did you just say, ‘our library’?”
Luna giggled again before responding. “Well, you are welcome here anytime you want so it is no longer mine, and only my library. It is yours as well now.”
Twilight’s eyes began to water. “Oh Luna, thank you!”
Without any warning, Twilight jumped over to Luna and gave her a tight hug before bounding off in search of a book. She wanted the first book she read here to be a very, very special book that she would never forget.
Luna sat there for a moment, stunned at Twilight’s reaction. When she regained herself, she looked around to see where Twilight had gotten off to.
“Twilight?” Luna called out across the shelves.
A lavender head popped up over the set of shelves to the right of her. “Yes, what is it Luna?”
Smiling, Luna replied, “I just wanted to ask a small favor of you.”
Cocking her head, Twilight asked, “A favor? What kind of favor?”
“Oh, it’s just… There are a few books here that even I haven’t read. I was w-wondering if you’d… r-read one of them to me?” As she spoke, a blush had crept up on Luna’s face, this was the real reason Luna had brought Twilight to the library. She wanted to be read to by the one she hoped would be her very special somepony.
Twilight sat there for a moment, staring at Luna. She found it cute how flustered Luna was. Realizing that she was staring, Twilight coughed and looked away.
“O-of course I can read you a book. Which one w-would you like me to read?” Now Twilight was blushing.
She remembered Rainbow Dash had asked her on several occasions to read Daring Do books to her, it was just a friendly gesture… So why was she getting flustered over Luna asking her to read to her?
“There is a book in here called, Trapped in Winter Daydreams. If you wouldn’t mind finding that, I would very much like to hear you read it.”
Twilight smiled, “Very well, I’ll be right back.”
It only took Twilight about ten minutes to find the book, the system for the library was fairly simple to understand. Within moments she was bounding back down between the rows of books carying a small, paperback book in her magic.
“I’ve got it Luna,” Twilight said, making herself comfortable next to the princess on one of the cushions.
Luna smiled and waited for Twilight begin reading.
Twilight closed the book quietly. She smiled down at the sleeping princess, intently studying Luna’s peaceful face, from her gently twitching eyes, all the way down to the small droplet of drool slowly making its way to the floor from her slightly open mouth.
Twilight giggled silently to herself, she never would have imagined she’d see a princess drool, let alone look so cute doing it. ‘Well, maybe not ‘cute’ exactly… more like silly, but still kinda cute…’
She shook the thought from her head and continued to gaze serenely at the peacefully sleeping princess. She knew that, even in sleep, the princess’ ethereal manes flowed as if immersed in water, but it was still mesmerizing as she gazed at the many stars strewn along the vivid blue of Luna’s mane. She moved to run her hoof through it, ignoring the part of her that told her not to do it.
It felt odd, much like running her hoof through a gently flowing stream, only, her hoof didn’t get wet. It was soothing though, and strangely therapeutic, she continued stroking Luna’s mane and smiled softly to herself.
Luna smiled, her eyes still closed, and softly whispered, “Mm, Twilight, that feels nice.”
Twilight went rigid; she hadn’t expected Luna to be awake yet. She had only just fell asleep maybe twenty minutes ago. She stopped her hoof mid stroke and pulled it back.
Luna pouted and groaned out, “Why did you stop?”
Twilight’s face was burning red. She was sure that Luna was still asleep as her eyes were still closed. Luna rolled over and grumbled a little, something about getting ice cream and then there being some on Twilight’s nose… It was when Luna giggled and said she’d lick it clean that Twilight jumped up and ran across the library, ignoring everything but the embarrassed feeling she now felt.
‘Does Luna really feel that way towards me? D-do I feel that strongly for her?’
As she ran on, she imagined the same thing only with ice cream on Luna’s nose… Her face burned even hotter as she shut her eyes and plowed forward towards the wall of the library.
There came the sound of skull hitting wood, the creak of a door, and finally the door slamming shut again.
Twilight felt the world fall from beneath her hooves, it was only then that she finally opened her eyes, only to regret it instantly. She found herself falling into blackness.
It wasn’t that far of a drop really, she had only been falling for… the better part of the last hour. Twilight was starting to feel like the drop would never end, that she would fall forever, when she slammed against the rough surface of rapidly flowing water. The impact caused Twilight to cough and nearly inhale a lungful of water. She managed to surface but the pain of the impact kept her from fighting the current of the river and she was forced to let it sweep her away, coughing and sputtering up the water.
She did manage to get one good breath in and she decided to try to put it to good use. She shouted, as loud as she could back up from where she came, “LUNAAA!!” And with that, was swept away.
***
Luna tossed in her sleep, rolling off of her cushion and onto the cold, hard, ebony floor. She shuddered and rolled onto her hooves to continue lying on the cushion.
She didn’t remember falling asleep. ‘Could that have all been a dream?’
“Twilight?” Luna asked as she glanced around her surroundings.
She wasn’t there.
Luna jumped up to her hooves in a panic. She galloped to the wall, looking for the door she had seen Twilight go through in her dream. It didn’t take long to find it.
She opened the door without a second thought and as she was about to fly down into the abyss, she heard somepony humming.
Relaxing a little, she looked around the great library. “Twilight?”
The humming continued, it was a familiar song, though Luna was unsure of where she had heard it before.
Luna wandered around the shelves, searching for the source of the humming. She made her way back to the central fireplace before realizing that the humming was coming from above her. ‘Curse the acoustics of this place,’ she thought to herself.
She calmly made her way to the staircase, as most libraries, including hers, had the rule; no flying. She ascended the steps and looked around. Thankfully, the second floor was open, the only books here lining the circular wall. Still no Twilight.
The only other floor was the balcony for stargazing. Elated in the fact she had found Twilight, she bounced up the steps to the balcony where Twilight lay on the red velvet couch, an open book in front of her, occasionally looking up to the telescope, all the while humming softly to herself.
“Twilight!” Luna called as she reached the top of the stairs. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
‘I’ve got to stop reading those Daring Do novels…’ Luna berated herself.
“Huh? Oh, Luna, what’s the matter?” Twilight asked as she looked up at the princess.
“I was… just a little worried when I woke up and you weren’t there.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. You fell asleep and I got kinda bored so I came up here,” Twilight said as she got up and walked over to Luna before giving her a small hug.
“It’s alright Twilight, you have free roam of the library as you please. I just had a bad dream was all,” Luna admitted, returning the embrace.
“Oh? Tell me about it.”
“W-well…”
As Luna told Twilight of her dream, Twilight began to blush. In reality, what had happened had not been all too different from the dream, up until they reached the door with the abyss. Instead of going to the door, Twilight had gone up the stairs looking for something to distract herself.
“Twilight, are you all right? Your face seems to be getting red, do you have a fever?” Luna asked as she placed a hoof on Twilight’s forehead. “My, you seem to be burning up! Come, let’s get you back to the castle and you can get some rest and good food.”
Twilight pulled out of Luna’s grip, her blush intensifying.
“I-I’m fine Luna, really-“
“No, I insist you return with me to the castle and rest,” Luna said commandingly. “Do I need to make that an order, Twilight Sparkle?”
Without any warning, Luna picked Twilight up in her magic and placed her on her back and made her way down to the first floor where the book that would take them back was. All the while, Twilight groaned to herself, wearing a slightly annoyed face that the princess never saw.
“Nonsense, you are burning up. I am going to go and get you some hot soup from the kitchens,” Luna replied, the worry evident in her voice.
Before Twilight could protest, Luna was already out the door. She sighed; she was feeling kind of hungry, maybe it couldn’t hurt to let Luna dote on her for a little while. But that would be manipulative. I have to tell her the truth… But it’s so embarrassing…
Twilight hung her head as she laid there in Luna’s bed, silently arguing with herself. After quite some time, she began to nod off. Right as she was about to drift off to her peaceful dreams, Luna burst into the room, levitating a bowl with her.
“I’m sorry it took so long, Twilight. I had to go wake up a chef as I am not the best cook in Equestria,” Luna said with a nervous smile.
Twilight gave her a questioning look and asked, with mild concern in her voice, “You had to go and wake a chef up to make… soup?”
“I… err… well…” Luna stammered. “I-I wanted the best ingredients and for it to be the most delicious soup you’ve ever tasted, seeing as you are sick.”
Twilight sighed, resigning to tell Luna the truth. Before she could however, Luna pushed the soup into Twilight’s hooves with a bright smile. The bowl was so hot, it burned her hooves. Twilight jumped with a pained yelp, tossing the soup into the air which flew right towards Luna.
The princess cringed and Twilight looked away, but after a few seconds of not hearing any splash of soup landing on the princess, after which it would also be expected to hear a shriek of pain as the soup burned Luna’s head, or the clatter of the bowl hitting the ground, possibly even shattering; she looked back to see that the princess had caught both the bowl and the soup in her magical grasp right before it could even touch her glowing horn.
Luna looked up, surprised that she had stopped the soup from landing on her. Sneaking a glance at Twilight, she quickly jumped up and sat with her back straight, trying to make Twilight think that she hadn't just cowered in fear of a little bowl of soup.
“HA HA!” Luna bellowed, puffing her chest out with pride. “You thought you could best me, searing soup of burning pain? You had no idea that my cat like reflexes would save me!”
Twilight began to giggle softly, causing Luna to turn her head and blush profusely with an embarrassed smile. Twilight’s giggles slowly evolved into a full laughing fit which Luna slowly joined in on. As their laughter died down, Luna finally returned the liquid to its bowl and put it down in front of Twilight.
“I… err… meant to do that,” Luna said, shifty eyed. “After all, laughter is the best medicine.”
Luna giggled awkwardly, hoping that Twilight wouldn’t question it.
Twilight didn’t see Luna’s shiftiness, but she could hear the awkwardness in her voice. She let out a slow, calming breath before saying, with heavy sarcasm, “Suuuuure…”
Luna just sat there and smiled, her cheeks still pink.
“E-enough of this,” Luna said, shaking her head vigorously, her voice regaining a hint of seriousness. “You should eat your soup and rest.”
Luna lifted the soup into Twilight’s hooves again, this time making sure it was cool enough to hold and waited for her to eat it.
Twilight begrudgingly brought the bowl up to her lips and began sipping the soup. This is actually pretty good, she thought to herself. Still a bit hot though…
Twilight quickly gulped down the rest of the soup and sighed as she set the bowl back down.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Luna said, jumping up and stepping closer to Twilight. “When I told the chef that the soup was for a sick pony, he also gave me a thermometer and told me to put it in your mouth to more accurately check your temperature.”
“Umm, Luna… I don’t thi-“
Twilight was cut off by Luna shoving the thermometer into Twilight’s mouth and held it there with her magic so that she wouldn’t spit it out. After a couple of minutes, Luna pulled the thermometer back out and turned it to see the number the mercury had risen to.
“I don’t think that you’re goi-“
Twilight was cut off again, this time by Luna shrieking in panic.
“Oh my, it’s worse than I thought!” Luna shouted as she ran to the door.
Luna turned back to Twilight as she opened the door and picked the mare up in her magical aura for the second time that night before sprinting out the door, Twilight in tow.
“Sister!” Luna shouted as she slammed the door to Celestia’s room wide open, carrying Twilight in her magic behind her.
“Luna!” Celestia exclaimed in shock, jolting from her bed at the sudden outburst. “What is the matter?”
Luna placed the scowling Twilight next to Celestia and said, “She is quite sick and I do not know what to do.”
“I’m not sick,” Twilight growled angrily.
“But you have such a high fever, how could you not be sick?” Luna asked, her voice hysterical.
Celestia looked at Luna then to Twilight and a small grin slid over her muzzle for a short moment.
“Let me see,” she said as she lifted Twilight up to face level with her magic and put her hoof to the unicorn’s forehead. “Oh my, you’re burning up, Twilight!”
“See, Luna? I’m perfectly… Wait. What!?” Twilight’s head whipped to face her mentor. “B-but Princess, you know I’m fine! I don’t have a-“
“Hush now, Twilight. You wouldn’t want to make that little fever worse,” Celestia said, trying in earnest to keep a straight face.
“But Princess-“
Twilight was suddenly cut off by a hoof from her mentor.
“I thought you were my most faithful student, Twilight.” Celestia gave her a mockingly stern look, the corners of her mouth trembling from forcing it to stay flat, and continued in a singsong voice, “Now, let’s see about getting that fever of yours down.”
Twilight roared furiously as her horn burst with magic, forcing herself free of Celestia’s telekinetic grasp.
“I’m not sick and you know it!” She shouted ferociously, “I can see you trying to keep a straight face!”
With that, Twilight burst from the room, tears streaming down her face and cheeks and ears burning with rage. She would have run all the way to the train station to catch the next train to Ponyville, but something caught her attention.
“Sister!” Luna’s voice came roaring down the hall as Luna was using her Royal Canterlot Voice. “How dare you!? All of that for a joke, one of your little pranks you claim are harmless?”
There was a pause in the shouting, Twilight assumed Celestia was saying something but it was too quiet to hear.
“You may think that, but obviously Twilight does not, and I most assuredly do not think so either! Could you not see the pain in Twilight’s eyes when you said she was feeling ill!?”
Another pause, but this time Twilight could barely make out Celestia’s reply as she had raised her voice slightly.
“You thought she was ill too, I was only building on what you said. You presented the opportunity for a good joke and I took it, I didn’t think-“
“No, you didn’t think!” Luna shouted with gusto. “She was already in a bad mood from the things that I had done, she didn’t need anyone else poking fun at her! I came to you for help, sister, and you decided to make it a joke! I wouldn’t be surprised if Twilight was on her way to the train station right now or even her parent’s house just to get away from us!”
There was no stopping Luna now, she was ranting, possibly as loudly as she could, and Celestia couldn't get a word in edgewise. There was only one other time that Luna had been this mad before, right before she had become Nightmare Moon…
Twilight’s mind was reeling, ‘She… really cares about me that much?’ Twilight crept back down the hall towards Celestia’s room, Luna’s voice still echoing through the halls.
“You’re supposed to be the mentor, the role model for all the citizens of Equestria! Instead, you play pranks and make fools of our subjects, why do you think Blueblood acts the way he does? He sees you doing as you please and he thinks just because he has the title of "Prince", he can do as he pleases no matter the consequences other ponies have to face! Tell me sister, when did it come to me, the younger of us, needing to berate you for your actions?”
Celestia was left speechless. She stood there watching Luna huff in her anger until Luna finally shook her head and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Twilight watched as Luna walked out into the hallway stomping so hard, she was afraid the floor might crack from the force.
Luna’s face was contorted with rage and her eyes were streaming, half from her anger towards Celestia and half for scaring Twilight away. It took her a moment to realize she was not alone in the hallway and when she did, her face turned from pure rage to utter shock.
“T-Twilight… You are still here?” Luna asked in an incredibly soft and disbelieving tone. “I would have thought you would be long gone by now, considering everything that has happened.”
Twilight gave Luna a slight smile and said, “I would have been, but I heard something that made me stay…”
Luna’s head dropped. “Was I truly being that loud?”
Twilight nodded. “Kinda hard to not hear somepony shouting in the Royal Canterlot Voice from just about anywhere in the castle...”
Luna just kept staring at the floor beneath her as she grumbled, “I would understand if you were to leave now though, I’ve made such a terrible mess of things.”
“You have been acting a bit odd lately,” Twilight responded with a quiet laugh. “But, I think I can understand why.”
Twilight took a couple of steps to stand beside Luna.
“Twilight, I-“
Before Luna could finish, Twilight kissed her on the cheek and began to walk away.
“Well?” Twilight asked as she turned to find that Luna was still standing there, hoof rubbing her cheek. “I haven’t quite finished gazing at your gorgeous night sky since you dragged me away and would very much like to admire it some more.”
Luna slowly smiled and cantered up to Twilight’s side. As they both walked down the hall, chatting all the way, back towards Luna’s room, Celestia’s door suddenly clicked shut.
“Another flawless victory,” Celestia chuckled to herself as she grabbed a book from her bookshelf with her magic, plopped herself onto her bed, and opened it. “It’s so much fun being me.”
