A Tender Touch For Moon Dancer
A Tender Touch For Moon Dancer
By Duskhoof
Edited by Salty Alty
~*~
The Friendship Express rattled as fast as it could through snowy hills and sweeping landscapes, searching for Canterlot. Onboard the first class coach, Twilight was pacing anxiously. She had taken up one side of the carriage with a rolled up and bound canvas. On the other side, her young dragon friend Spike watched her march back and forth past him.
“It’s okay, Twilight,” the young dragon insisted, “we’ll make it in time.” As he said the words, the door ahead of them opened. A ruby maned, sandy furred mare trotted into the carriage, looking between them both with an expression calmer than the alicorn’s.
“The driver has agreed to get us there at full steam,” she advised, making her way towards Twilight. The parma violet princess moved in fast to hug Moon Dancer. “He has said that at this speed, he should get us to Canterlot with a few hours to spare.” She finished triumphantly as she accepted Twilight’s thankful embrace and returned it with one of her own, nuzzling her comfortingly.
“Thank you, Moon Dancer,” Twilight already sounded slightly more reassured, “Whatever happens, I couldn’t have done this without yo--”
Her Highness was interrupted as everything in the coach squealed. The train jolted without any more warning and flung the ponies off of their hooves. Forward momentum pulled at Twilight, throwing her down on top of Moon Dancer with a heavy crash. The high pitched wailing and the fierce rattling died out around them and the engine ahead of their private carriage whistled in irritation.
Blowing scarlet and burgundy mane out of her eyes, Moon Dancer groaned and looked for Twilight. When she found said mare’s face pressed against her chest, she blushed for a moment. As much as she would have liked to dwell on this, however, she did not have time as their royal colleague was back onto her hooves as fast as lightning to first check on Spike.
“Spike, are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Nope,” he pushed his way up out of a pile of books Twilight had brought along for the journey, now filling the hoof well of the chair he’d been sat on. “Your reading material broke my fall.” Sparkle assisted her sardonic assistant out of his predicament then pushed her cheek to the window to look out of into the frozen world.
“We’ve stopped?” She cried out in confusion.
“Maybe the driver misunderstood your request, Moon Dancer,” Spike suggested, stood on the seat cushion to get a better look at the wintery darkness as well.
Moon was about to explain that no, she had been very clear what she needed from the driver when the front door slid open again with an urgent clatter. The very same stallion burst through and hurried over to them, checking quickly that no pony was hurt.
“I’m sorry Princess,” he apologized to the worried Twilight, “there’s been an avalanche over the tracks ahead. We’re not going to be able to remove all of that snow in time to get you Canterlot for the Hearth’s Warming pageant. Best we can do is try to clear it away in the next few hours and hope that we get through it in time.”
“Oh no!” wailed Twilight, “what are we going to do?”
“Twilight, you’re the most magical pony there was since Celestia, Luna and Starswirl,” encouraged Spike, grabbing and shaking some resolve back into her, “you gotta be able to do something, surely. Can’t you just blast the snow away with your magic?”
“No can do, son,” interrupted the engine driver, dampening the dim light of hope that had begun to return in Twilight’s eyes, “The blockage needs to be removed carefully. Anything too rash could damage the rail tracks, and then no pony is going anywhere until the line is fixed.” Twilight sagged and folded her ears back, shaking her head. A hoof rested on her shoulder and a pale yellow nose brushed her cheek.
“Don’t lose hope. Come on. There’s always a way, just don’t overthink it,” Moon Dancer offered soothingly, her thick but endearing eyebrows raising. Twilight’s slate disks looked up to her and searched her for an answer. The unicorn sat, nudging under her red and plum mane to fix her glasses and Twilight took a seat beside her combing her brain for options. It took a moment between them before Moon Dancer hummed thoughtfully to herself. “You’ve got an advanced knowledge of teleportation, haven’t you Twilight?”
“Yes,” yet Twilight wiggled her hoof from side to side, indicating her uncertainty. “We’re still far too far from Canterlot to attempt to teleport there. The longest record of anypony teleporting themselves from one place to another was when Coffee Bean did the Manehatten to Fillydelpia jump. Even then a feat like that nearly spliced her into two halves.” She trotted back to the window. “We’re still in the Macintosh Hills, it’s way too far a jump for us here.”
“Even for an Alicorn?” Moon Dancer asked although she understood before Twilight nodded in confirmation. If it was that easy, the Princesses would be hopping all over Equestria and chaos would be more rife than a night with Discord. Dancer accepted this, but she was not done yet. She gestured to the driver, who had lifted his cap and was rubbing the soot out of his mane.
“Is there a map or something that shows the route this train would ordinarily take?” The train pony answered that there was, and showed her the the front of the carriage where a framed image of the route of the line through Equestria hung on the coach wall. Moon Dancer lit her horn and elevated Twilight across the thin room to the picture, pointing it out to her.
“You don’t have to teleport yourself and the canvas all the way back to Canterlot in one go. You can do it in smaller hops, one station at a time!”
“What?” Twilight studied the picture, then gasped, “You’re right! The distance of each station is much more manageable, I would just have to hop from station to station until I made it back!” The princess grasped Moon by her shoulders and for a moment the faint lemon mare believed Twilight Sparkle was going to kiss her. She only puckered a little before recognizing the feelings of the hug in place of a quick smooch.
“You’re a genius, Moon Dancer!” Before Dancer could answer, Twilight slipped back to act on the plan straight away. She started by unlatching the picture from the frame, pausing and looking sheepishly to the engine’s driver, “do you mind if I take this?”
“If it gets you where you need to go, Princess, you can be my guest!” He helped her slide the thin and flimsy paper map out of the frame. Any other time, Twilight would have been concerned about tearing it but if the plan worked, she knew she would not need it for long. Moon Dancer watched from behind, twiddling with her mane at the compliment from earlier.
“Thank you.” She rolled the chart up and tucked it into her saddlebag. “Alright, I don’t have a moment to lose. Spike, Moon Dancer, help these ponies get their train moving again and--”
“No way,” Spike burst out, “I’m not letting you go alone, Twilight. I’m coming too.” He bounced out of his seat and stomped over to the other side of the canvas, picking it up. The princess followed him, sighing with heartfelt concern.
“Spike, it’s going to be dangerous. I could get completely lost or too tired and stuck someplace.”
“Exactly!” the child drake flung his claws out and rose his shoulders, “all the more reason for me to come with you. You need someone to help you out if things go wrong, and I’ve always been the dragon for the job, haven’t I?” Twilight blushed and smiled at this, one ear going floppy.
“You sure have, Spike,” Twilight pecked his cheek, making him adorably chide her for ‘ruining his cool moment’. Moon Dancer considered protesting against Spike going with Twilight but as she saw the insistence in Spike’s cuddle with Twilight, she realized there was never a world where he would not run into danger with the alicorn mare. Dancer stood up tall and nodded sharply.
“And me. I’m coming too beca--”
“No,” Twilight said abruptly, cutting Moon Dancer’s offer short. The unicorn gave a hurt nicker and tiptoed closer.
“But I-” Moon’s friend held up her hoof, shaking her head.
“You both want to help, I understand.” Twilight Sparkle took a stand between them, gazing at each considerately. “Spike is right, I could get into serious trouble if I go alone and I don’t want to leave him alone on this train, no matter how big or brave he is.“ She gave the dragon a rub behind the frills, a gesture he very clearly appreciated. Giving herself some time back to consider her options, she licked her lips anxiously. “Spike, you can come with me. Moon Dancer, I want you to stay and help these ponies get their train moving again. Join us as soon as you get to Canterlot, no matter when that might be.”
Moon’s ears fell as she realized she’d have to split up with her friends for the rest of the trip. Worse still, she would not know if they were safe until she got back to Canterlot herself. She agreed nonetheless, this was their best option. She wrapped her forelegs around Spike for a quick but bolstering cuddle first, then moved in against Twilight.
“Get there safe, okay, you two?” Moon Dancer whispered, rubbing her cheek against the Element of Magic. As Twilight brushed back, Dancer’s ears lifted and flush with a rosy color. The buttery bookworm realised she was once more in close proximity to do something she’d wanted to do minutes ago. She froze up, though Twilight never noticed as she continued to cuddle her close and nuzzle her back.
“We will, Moon Dancer,” Sparkle replied and grinned as she slipped away from the cuddling pony’s chances of a peck. As a poor consolation prize, Dancer received a heartening pat on the shoulder. “I’ll send you a message as soon as we can to let you know we arrived safely.”
“Please do!” Squeaked Moon Dancer, cursing that she had missed the second opportunity to take the extra step with Twilight that she thought she’d never get. Grimacing, she watched the Princess lift one side of the canvas and her pint-sized sidekick raise the other.
“Ready, Spike?”
“Ready!”
Only as Twilight raised the glittering glow of her magic did Moon Dancer had an epiphany. They weren’t gone yet and her oldest friend was unsuspecting. This was it. If she was quick--
Moon darted in just as the magic was encompassing Twilight, canvas and baby dragon. Dancer’s lips connected with Sparkle’s cheek. It was only for a split second, and yet for Moon Dancer, it was the greatest accomplishment she had ever had the bravery to attempt. She flushed with pride and adoration and left the moist mark of her effort in the amethyst fur.
“Good luck!” The unicorn scurried back before the spell took hold and brought her along for the ride. She saw Twilight’s head turn in shock, just before a blinding flash and a suck of air took the mare and dragon far away from an awkward conversation.
She’d done it. Moon Dancer trotted on the spot with a small squee and squirmed gleefully. She’d kissed Twilight Sparkle! She was so ecstatic as she sank into a plush chair that she forgot the request given to her. She gazed about the coach, fiddling with her mane while a silly smile ached on her lesser-used cheeks, and stopped as she caught the driver gazing at her. She scrambled back to hoof and waved away her foolishness.
“Right, coming! Let’s get this train moving again!”
~*~
… Four months later...
Rich aromas of roasting coffee beans were the first greeting Moon Dancer received upon pushing her way through the jingling cafe door. Outside, the city of Canterlot was wide awake and full of bustling ponies on the first sunny day of Spring. However, for the eggshell yellow mare, this was the first moment of the morning when she had truly felt awake. She was impressed she’d even managed to run a brush through her mane that morning, although her new style made it slightly easier than her old one. She had well and truly let her mane down lately.
As soon as that little bell rang, she was on the lookout for the pony she was here to catch up with. A scrape of a chair far across the room caught her attention and the waving amethyst hoof or shining toothy grin were not difficult to spot in the vicinity of the noise. Moon Dancer waved back, sniggering to herself. Moon Dancer had arrived early and yet Twilight had arrived even earlier than her, but that was no surprise to the unicorn. The Princess of Friendship was early for everything, long forgetting her days as Twilight ‘I am sorry I was late, I was reading a good book’ Sparkle.
Once they had reunited a few years back, it was clear to Moon Dancer that building and preserving friendships had become a passion for her foal-hood friend. Twilight would never miss an opportunity to spend time with a schooldays companion over a hot cup of joe in uptown Canterlot.
On the other hoof, Twilight had not arranged this get together. This time around, Moon Dancer had been the one to reach out. She hadn’t said why and Twilight never questioned it, the alicorn just came where she was asked to meet up just as expected.
“Hello, welcome to Hot Beans Cafe, can I take yo--” Moon Dancer waved submissively to the barista as they moved towards her at their counter.
“No, thank you. I’m meeting my friend here and she usually knows exactly what I want before I do. In fact, yes, I can already see two coffees on her table so one must be for me.” Sure enough, Moon spotted her peppermint latte in a tall glass cup out of the two steaming on the table as she got closer to Twilight, while a bowl-shaped mug had been partially drunk from by her friend. She could already smell the minty infusion from the drink the princess had bought for her.
“How do you remember the little things like my favorite coffee?” Moon Dancer enquired as she embraced Twilight close for the first time since Hearth’s Warming and risked a small swift nuzzle as well. The aubergine pony giggled softly and rolled her eyes, smiling as she leaned back from Moon slowly, their noses almost touching.
“I’ve put a lot of my energy throughout my life into learning things,” Twilight explained, sliding back into the leather seat built against the wall, “It doesn’t take too much extra effort to learn the things that are important to my friends as well.”
The logic fascinated Moon Dancer. She slipped into the chair in front of Twilie and inhaled the warm and friendly fumes that wafted from the top of her cup. Then, briefly looked around the room, she took off her saddlebags which were heaving with books as usual. The cafe was buzzing with life, ponies at most tables and only a couple of them sat alone. One particular lonely sole sat on the adjacent table, a fire yellow pegasus who sipped tea calmly and quietly.
Not wanting to sit in silence themselves, Twilight and Moon Dancer joined the babble of conversation. They got stuck into finding out what had been going on in each others lives since they had last saw each other. Moon Dancer had discovered a few new books she felt might be of interest to her friend and Twilight had recently returned from a Friendship mission to Saddle Arabia which had been pretty crazy and, at times, mane-raising. The pale daffodil mare fiddled with her lipstick-red mane as she listened in rapture to her Princess talk for more than half an hour. However, it wasn’t long before their conversation strayed to the reason Moon had called them together, other than a friendly catch up.
“So, Hearth’s Warming...” Moon Dancer let the words trail off her tongue with a click behind her teeth as Twilight nodded. They shared a slightly awkward chuckle.
“That was something, huh? Princess Celestia nearly abdicating her throne over the contents of a dusty old book, days before Hearth’s Warming Eve,” She scratched the back of her head, grinning delicately, “but all those warm messages from Celestia’s old students we gathered really proved her worth to us. I know I’ve said it before but I couldn’t have fixed things without you. I cannot thank you and Spike enough for going all over Equestria with me to get those signatures.”
“I wasn’t going to let you go off all alone. You were upset by what you found out about Celestia in that book, and devastated when she found you with your nose in it. I felt awful for being the one to put the book in your lap in the first place, and besides,” Moon Dancer sighed, gazing at her. There was an odd moment of silence, something that made Moon Dancer wonder whether a time spell had been cast.
All became clear when she saw Twilight’s eyes cast to the hooves on the table, the Element’s held tenderly beneath Moon Dancer’s. Laughing nervously, the sunflower unicorn slid hers away, but could not turn off the suspicion that remained in Twilight’s eyes. Dancer cleared her throat, finding a place to send her eyes where the potent purple circles were watching her.
“I knew where a lot of our friends were living,” she croaked hoarsely, “so it only made sense that I came along with you for the ride.”
Twilight’s smile was thankfully resurrected and the alicorn nodded, the touched hoof still resting in the same spot on the square tabletop. She licked her lips, then levitated her coffee up to wet them, giving her some cover to hide the thoughtful expressions she was wearing. There was a study in Twilight’s eyes, and they were looking for the truth in the similar shade of fig eyes owned by Dancer. The Princess’ coffee comrade tried to dance her pupils away from the line of sight once more, so Twilight let her bowl cup drop back into its saucer. With a fluttering shift of her wings, she brushed the foam ‘stache away from her upper lip.
“I was wondering something,” she began, causing Moon Dancer’s ears to spring up, “On the last journey home, when Spike and I were preparing to teleport from the Friendship Express, you did something. Do you remember?” Twilight tried to keep from smirking as she watched Dancer feign innocence, shrugging with several squeaking ‘no’s.
“You kissed me on the cheek and wished me good luck.” The orchid pony watched her friend’s face turn pillarbox red and her muzzle point down in embarrassment, confirming a suspicion. Still, Twilight continued, “was that really just a kiss for luck, or was there more to it than that?”
Moon Dancer faltered. She could quite easily believe that Twilight Sparkle’s shining eyes had the ability to detect any lies the buttercup mare might dare to tell. Moon ground her teeth nervously and urged her slipping, taped together glasses back to the top of her nose. Everything was happening so fast. This had been why she was here after all, but she had wanted to approach the discussion on her own terms. Twilight had completely blindsided her with her question and cut away the gentle segway Moon Dancer was planning to use to approach the subject.
“Kiss? Right… um… well… You were going and I was staying and... see… I… I was nervous for you and…” The stutters only grew worse as the smart mare with the shade of amaranth in her mane clenched her eyes shut. She could sense her brain growing stupid and she didn’t like to look the idiot nor feel as gullible as she had felt on that birthday long ago. She flicked her ears back and pulled her glasses off, rubbing her closed eyelids.
“Yes, Twilight, there was something else behind it. There was a LOT behind it.” The righteousness that had held Moon Dancer in good stead when she was all on her own bubbled back up. She cringed at her weakness and shook her head.
“I’ve-” She hesitated, then burst out with it, “I’ve got a crush on you.”
Twilight sat back, placed her hooves together, her eyes gazing into Moon Dancers. It felt to the confessing unicorn that the Princess held her poker face for an uncomfortably long time. Eventually, however, Sparkle shrugged nonplussed and rubbed her chin. Moon Dancer felt the air hitch in her throat and stay there as Twilight’s pose changed, until a solitary word escaped the blue-magenta mare’s lips.
“Okay.”
Moon Dancer waited for more, but more did not come. She blinked at Twilight Sparkle and watched the princess take an easy sip of coffee from her large cup before she cracked under the pressure of the silence between them.
“I-I have since we were foals, I guess. Before I even knew mares could be, you know, like that. Before I found out it didn’t just have to be fillies and colts holding hooves and doing mommy and daddy things. I saw a pony in you that I could really look up to and admire back then.”
Nerves kicked in and Moon Dancer used her drink as a distraction, taking a bigger gulp than she had meant to. She continued to speak despite coughing as the coffee rolled down the wrong hole in her gullet. “I -hack- thought I -ah-ahem- had lost you when you -cough- left.” She massaged her throat with her hoof, “but when you came back into my life and let me reuse the tower library, I felt that same special feeling return.” She played with her long cup, hoping her oldest friend and longtime rival in the field of academia would understand. She especially hoped she would not be angry.
“At-At my birthday party, the one you didn’t come to, I was going to ask you if you felt the same way. It was my hope that you’d see everything I was doing to impress you and that you... that we… would… you know? … Kiss.”
Moon sat back in her chair, one weight off of her shoulders but another, more ultimate one replacing it. All she could do was watch Twilight sip on her beverage again, here eyes having closed as she listened to the full revelation. She had heard Moon Dancer’s side of the story and now this was it. This was when her smart princess schoolmate would say something deep and profound…
“Okay.” Dancer waited once more, but no. That was it.
“O-Okay?” Moon Dancer asked incredulously, tapped her hoof on the tabletop, “I just lay down that I have a crush on you, and all you have to say is okay?”
“Yes, Moon Dancer, it’s okay,” Twilight sighed as she put her cup down. In truth, the cappuccino had been finished several minutes ago, and she had brought the cup back to her lips so many more times for the comfort it brought. She gazing across the table to her friend from her youth.
“I’m sorry, I guess the blunt response is my new way of processing information like this these days.” Using the tip of her purple hoof, Twilight touched her empty mug and swirled it around like a drunken ballerina for a moment or two, thinking of her next words very carefully. Running her mind over the months and years of the friendship she’d had with this bookworm, she could see clearly now behind the stuffy demeanor Dancer put on. Moments flashed in Sparkle’s mind, long before they were reunited, when Moon had been desperate to be noticed. She analyzed the pony in front of her and admired the vision she saw.
“I had it figured out for a while, Moon Dancer,” Twilight moved the cups to one side and reached out, taking the hesitating yellow rabbit by her hoof. She guided it into the centre of the table and held it there, hers not moving in a sign of mutual trust. “You copied my manestyle up to the moment I moved to Ponyville. I can see now that you’ve started doing that again, even down to scenting it with spring grape, and you play with it often when I am around.”
“O-Okay,” murmured Dancer meagerly, echoing her friend’s earlier single word answer.
“If I put a book down, you pick it up, and not just because you want to read it. You don’t like to fall behind or not know something I know. You carried that on even when I was gone and I still haven’t figured out how you learned which books I was reading each week. You remember what I say even down to insignificant things, you give me little gifts, even when it isn’t a special occasion. Most of all, you always reach for my hoof when it is close by.”
They both glanced down at the two hooves still resting together and Moon Dancer gulped, having not realised that these had become her habits. Twilight smiled discreetly.
“You see, Moon? Even before that kiss for ‘luck’, I had a good idea of how you felt about me.” The Ponville friend rose her hoof only slightly and swirled it in circles across Moon’s ankle delicately, causing the pony in front of her to whimper and tug her hoof back sharply. Twilight, who’d believed this was what Moon Dancer wanted, was surprised to find her recoiling now.
“If you knew this whole time and you said nothing and did nothing, then you clearly don’t feel the same, Twilight,” Moon Dancer lower her head to one side, wincing painfully. Despite many mended fences, some were still tattered and awaiting repairs. The unicorn could not shake that occasional feeling that somewhere she was being made a fool of. Dancer expected the entire cafe was in on the act. Her head played out the teasing calls of the whole establishment, turning in their chairs to point and laugh at her idiocy. She wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction, and after returning her glasses to her nose she pushed back her chair to prepare to leave.
“No, wait-” Twilight started, getting to her hooves. Moon continued to gather her belongings, and sensing she was losing her friend’s trust the alicorn’s horn shimmered faintly.
“Thank you for the coffee, Twilight, I expect you will be busy for the rest of the- Wa-aah!” Moon Dancer’s intention to leave was hindered as the chair was suddenly pulled her back to sitting, legs under the table and her half finished peppermint latte pushed back under her nose.
“Please Moon Dancer, just hear me out?” Twilight begged. “At least until you’ve finished the coffee.” Moon looked from the cup to the friend keeping her prisoner and back, sighed with a roll of her eyes and lifted her shoulders. Her Highness watched her lift the tall glass to her lips and knew Moon was literally only going to give her the few seconds it would take for the drink to be gone. She did not have that long to say something that would be enough to make Moon Dancer stay.
“I know that I’ve let you down a lot and I am sure you expect that to be the case again. After Hearth’s Warming, I’ve had to spend these last few months thinking about what I want as well and-”
“Finished,” Moon Dancer announced, sitting her cup back in its saucer and pushing her chair out once again. Twilight groaned and realised she could not stall this any long. She pulled the mare back to the table with her magic, pressing her hooves on it and leaning over towards the glaring bespectacled pony. Moon Dancer was about to protest that this was criminal confinement but Twilight’s hissed whisper beat her to it.
“I’ve got the hots for Spike.” Twilight stared at Moon Dancer, waiting for the reaction her catalyst of words were bound to create. Sure enough, the library-goer’s expression of annoyance was washed away and painted with a look of shock in its stead.
“But, he’s a dragon,” Dancer mumbled, sounding dumb for the first time in her life.
“Not to mention that he is a minor,” Twilight responded shamefully, her head buckling into her chest.
“Oh, you noticed that part?” The soft-lime coated horse responded sarcastically, causing a hurt expression to appear on the princess’ face. Dancer let her own face soften and gazed at Twilight with sympathy. “Twilight, he’s like your baby brother.”
“I know,” lamented Twilight, “I shouldn’t even let the idea of it cross my mind.”
“Then why are you?” Moon Dancer’s hoof found Twilight’s once again and this time it didn’t move. The guardian of the baby dragon gazed woefully at it, finally lifting the glittering orbs to her genial judge and willed the words to come.
“When I was learning the spell from Cadence that brought snow-ponies to life, I accidentally created a version of Spike that was the same age as my brother. He looked so sweet and was every bit as innocent as my Spike, I couldn’t evaporate him again, so we took him into Cadence's bedroom, and… Well, while we were trying to decide what to do with him, he got a little…” she wavered, licking her lips, remember the touch of the fake dragon. “He showed his curiosity for mares and touched me. One thing led to another and…” This time she could not continue, only look for any loathing in her friend's eyes. What Twilight found there was sympathy, not the disgust the Princess had expected. Moon’s hoof twirled over Twilie’s as she smiled mercifully to her.
“Oh Twilight,” she whispered, patting the leg, “didn’t Cadence put a stop to it?”
“For a while, she encouraged it,” Twilight remembered, flicking her tail against the leather seats as she became nervous at the warmth encroaching her undercarriage. ”But once the snow melted, she saw the effect the experience had on me. She has been trying ever since to get a moment to sit down and talk to me about it alone. I have made sure I’m never alone when she calls and otherwise avoided her, but it’s starting to hurt our sisterly relationship.” The grape-colored mare settled back and watched her empty cup with a heavy conscience.
“I’ve tried to put those thoughts of him out of my mind, Moon Dancer,” Twilight concluded, “but they always come back. I don’t know if I can feel the same way about somepony else,”
Moon Dancer could not help but feel her spirits droop as she heard Twilight talking about her feelings for another, even if that other was their friend. She wanted to keep encouraging and comforting the mare she had come to adore, yet how could she do so when the Ponyville Princess had her heart set on somepony she could not romantically entwine with? Watching her hoof on Twilight’s, Dancer felt her progress with her own object of desire had hit a dead end.
“If only I had somepony else who could show me there was another way…” The meadow yellow triangles in the waves of Moon’s crimson and violet mane sprang up. Had she heard the words correctly? She looked up to see the shimmering dusky-sky lights of Sparkle’s eyes proving those last words had been an offer, a question and a hope, all at once. Twilight has only meant one pony to hear that thought, and that pony had heard her loud and clear. A slow, sensitive smile appeared on the lips of the unicorn, while the mind that only came second to Twilight Sparkle’s worked out a new game plan.
“Twilie, I’m glad you’re talking to me about it,” Moon Dancer almost purred, slipping out of her chair without Twilight’s magic to stop her this time. The primrose mare found a spot beside the alicorn on the smooth leather seats where she could sit intimately beside her friend. Her foreleg slipped across the shoulders of the Princess and squeezed gently. Twilight reacted almost immediately with a spread wing brushing and cushioning her friend’s back. To a spine that ached from long nights hunched in a library and burdened with the weight of a dozen books most trips, the rub of quills was heavenly.
“I have to wonder what this means,” Moon Dancer continued. “Clearly, you trust me,” she smiled brightly as she watched Twilight nod but touched her lips before she could talk. “Good start, but I doubt that’s all it means - oh, no. Don’t tell me. I want to work this out for myself.”
Twilight watched the mare return to confidence in spectacular fashion. Here was Moon, once bitter and jaded now acting thoughtful but flirty as she pretended to think through the possible conclusions she could draw from the Element of Magic’s confessions. She let her glasses slip to the end of her nose, peering at the Princess with almost hidden pupils. Sparkle nearly jumped out of her mortal coil when Moon Dancer gasped loudly, and flinched at the naughty smile creeping onto that mare’s face, her eyebrows arching dangerously.
“It means that you hope I might be able to help you? Am I right?” She looked hopefully to Twilight and watched the smart horse scan her. A trembling violet lip slipped between her teeth then the mulberry head nodded, her fringe swaying like drapes in the wind as she confirmed Moon Dancer’s suspicions. Moon leaned towards the scrunching lilac snout, her own indigo-red eyes examining the largening pupils of the winged unicorn.
She was close enough to kiss her properly this time, she could feel the hot breath and hear the softer nervous sounds from Twilight. Yet, she did not take the swift but safe route to the warm heart of the Friendship Princess. Instead, her horn lit with a pale shroud of light, and this time Twilight did leap out of her own body for a split second.
“MOON DANCER!” She did well not to scream the words as she stared at the pony in front of her. Her gaze trailed up to the magic glittering around the spire atop her head like a atmospheric mist hugging a castle turret. Moon Dancer shrugged cheekily, doing well to hold herself partially parted from the gulping Princess.
“What?” The studious pony acted dumb, shaking her head and ‘searching’ for the cause of Twilight’s outburst, before releasing a teasingly surprised nicker. Her eyes had dropped to the mauve, silky legs that were eagerly attempting to keep crossed and closed, yet were unable to hide the glittering shield disappearing into the area of her groin. Twilight felt the twinkles touch her sensitive bellflower and struggled with another squeak, prompting Moon to hurriedly stroke the starting perspiration under her mane. “Oh goodness, Twilight, I see. You poor creature…”
“M-Moon Dancer, p-please,” she managed to whimper, “w-we’re in p-public...”
For that brief moment, Twilight thought that this might make Moon Dancer stop. Maybe she would realize that this joke had gone far enough, perhaps a sudden strike of conscience would pull her back from her reckless social activities. Sparkle was already preparing a friendship lecture solely for Moon on how it was not the best practice to take advantage of a friend this way in a busy little cafe.
It was one report she was never going to give. Instead, Moon Dancer ducked under the table. Would she dare? Twilight’s mind bleated, envisaging a moment when she’d feel Moon Dancer’s nose in place of the stroking, inquisitive magic.
Relief and regret filled Twilight’s pleasure-stoked body when Moon Dancer rose back up, horn still gleaming. The difference in the few seconds Moon had disappeared was the Princess’ saddlebags clasped in her mouth. The alicorn quivered between curiosity and felicity, wondering what her bag had to do with this and yet not wanting to stop anything to find out. She was coiled up in the scales of a pleasantly warm, conscientious snake whose tail was dipping in and out of her body with considerate knowledge of where and when to touch her. She knew she should protest and struggle against the affectionate serpent of aphrodisia, but she could not. The contact of the glittering force making ripples along the puffy, moist leaves betwixt her thighs had captured her mind as well as body. Sparkle knew the risks allowing Moon’s enchanted constrictor to keep her in this glorious state of noxious arousal, yet the words ‘no’ and ‘stop’ had been erased from her internal dictionary.
Unable to warrant reason to clamp her hind legs together any longer, Twilight parted her limbs and risked a look at the spell being weaved under the cover of the table. She could see the ethereal tool Moon Dancer was using upon her, creating the ghost of a stallionhood without a master to wear it. Instead, it listened to a mistress, the mare with the scarlet mane watching right alongside her. The spirit-cock charmer leaned across her puppet, placing the bag between the Princess’ recently parted legs, covering up the exciting sight. In her fuddled, sex-drenched mind, Twilight wondered why Moon Dancer would hide the fruits of her labour. A yellow carnation leg reached out, cuddling her into the spectacle wearer once more.
“There we are. You don’t want to get caught too quickly, do you?” Dancer muttered, leaning back against the puffing purple Princess and stroking her mane. “All of these ponies here. Most if not all know who you are. Imagine how they would feel learning that the mare they looked up to was getting off in a tiny cafe in Canterlot, packed with her loyal subjects?”
Twilight looked around wild-eyed and panting sharply behind a hoof. Moon Dancer was not wrong, the place was nearly at full capacity. All manner of ponies were enjoying their conversations and going about their businesses, not noticing that she was being taken advantage of in her own little spot in this shop. If she dropped her perseverance for one short moment and let sound leave her lips, she’d be besmirched as the princess who got her rocks off in the back of her favorite little cafe. She’d never be able to come back and drink coffee or read books in the quiet corner again.
Her body flushed at the thought and for a moment even she believed that the full-torso squirm she gave was one of discomfort. When it happened again, her hips rose and angled forward into the massaging magic of Moon Dancer. Her heart raced with the speed of another friend’s azure wings, while her mind mingled between parties and anxiety attacks. She couldn’t be caught, she must not get found out, yet the idea touched her privates deeper than the spectral rod was reaching. She humped again, but Dancer was there to catch her before she slipped too far.
Twilight had to grab the saddlebag herself to stop it falling out of the chair, all the while looking horrified at her own actions. Fear turned to annoyance and she swung her head around to Dancer, ready to glared in hopes she could summon a Fluttershy stare to stop this craziness. Sparkle was not prepared for the other mare’s smile. Gone was the coquette cockiness and in its place was hope and wistful affection, as though she was a strongly-attached doctor taking care of her cherished patient. Twilight whimpered and reached out to her, and Dancer took the hoof, swiping over it with subtle lips.
“You’re enjoying it now, aren’t you, Twilight? Just like you enjoyed your moment with your visage of Spike. Only this is real, this is what being loved really feels like. Once you start to relax, it gets a whole lot better for you.” She slid her cheek onto Twilight’s shoulder, unable to resist tasting the fresh damp fur from the perspiration of holding everything in. Nudging her glasses back up, Dancer floated her eyes from the trembling catmint gut holding the secrets of the sexual spells to the flustered face of the friendship mare. “Things have a habit of being that way, you see? If you stop worrying about them and just proceed, they naturally find a way of working out.”
By now, Twilight was a leaking dam. She was sat in a puddle on the leather chair and could smell herself permeating through her fur, a heady balance of natural musk and jasmine. She could feel the heat and beat from her lower region whizzing in a whirlpool between her stomach and legs. Her tummy gurgled as though it was hungry, yet there was only one thing she hungered for. Moon Dancer’s magic danced deeper into the uncharted depths, finding new and exotic treasures to pluck out, making Twilight want to cry out all the more. Each touch and tingle was steadily destroying her brilliant mind and sending her insane. Twilie practically bit her whole hoof as she hummed.
She wanted to react, to do… something, anything smarter than her current actions, but at the same time, she didn’t want to change a thing. She knew she was supposed to stop Moon Dancer long before it got this heavy and yet she did not want to. She did not want to feel empty inside again.
‘No,’ the rational portion of her mind called out to her consciousness, ‘you do not want to feel alone again.’ Something rebooted the world Twilight sat within, and suddenly saw things anew. Moon was not attacking her freedom, she had never wanted to do that. This was a proposal to be the one to take her mind away from Spike, and what’s more, it was working. This was the longest Twilight had gone without thinking about her special assistant all grown up, and it was all thanks to the tender magical touch Moon Dancer was delivering.
The clammy anemone belle glanced to her lotus-heart lover, seeing the look of adoration in those bluebell-red eyes. She shivered as delicately as her quim below and moved in, her nose brushing slowly against the tip of Dancer’s. The eyes glittered at the shared embrace of sight, touch, and sound, understanding coming to both of them. At this distance, Sparkle could smell what being the dominator was doing to her dear friend, a hint of cherry in the mix of Moon’s pheromones. The lips of the pale yellow mare were once again so close and yet the bridge was still incomplete. The alicorn very briefly hung there, sucking her breath the moment it left Moon’s lips as pleasure wracked through her body, her senses heightened. The unicorn shifted closer in hope of lips meeting and had managed to press to the lilac skin when Twilight illuminated up her horn.
Smooch forgotten in a blink of an eye, Moon Dancer sat up in a jolt and cupped her hooves over her muzzle. Twilight grinned breathlessly back at her, nuzzling her shoulder. The original perpetrator's magic petered out as the Princess snatched up the satchel from her lap and examined it. The alicorn sighed, both in comfort and disappointment as Moon’s magic touch evaporated away from her and her walls were made to hug themselves in a sense of loss. Her muscles still spasmed and her purple lily still leaked dew, but the need remained. Keeping most of her focus on producing a supernatural toy worthy of her devilish friend, Twilie still subtly dipped a free hoof to comfort her wet hyacinth.
“L-Look at what y-you made me d-do,” Sparkle stammered, reworking her voice to get the pipes working again. She plopped it down between Moon’s legs to hide the purple and silver magic gleaming between Dancer’s unsheltered groin. Before covering her up, Twi’ admired the translucent erection prodding Moon Dancer’s lower lips, which were already winking in acceptance. The Princess smirking mischievously as she knew what treats awaited her enamored sweetheart.
“D-Didn’t think... Ah-ha… I’d s-sit back and let you fool with me without a little response, did you? Tsk tsk,” Twilight sniggered slowly, squeezing the unicorn’s shoulder delicately with her stretched wing. Moon attempted a response only to whinny pitifully, obligating a heather hoof to push into her muzzle to stop anything alerting anypony else. The same shade of lips pecked gently on a yellow cheek and curled up at the corners smugly, Sparkle resting the back of her head on the hot chocolate chair. “What is this, huh Moon Dancer? Did you think I’d just flop over and be your little filly? Submit to you as I did to Snow Spike?”
“Nuh-nuh-nuh…” Moon Dancer managed to mumble dumbly as the magic drove through her, giving her a true taste of her own medicine. The rose-maned mare relit her horn in a vain attempt to resettle her redeemed upper-class chum, but all she managed to create was a lazy moan and a silly giggle from the attached Princess.
“Good girl,” she purred, her hips rolling to the latest sensations under the table. “Don’t you dare st-“
“Hi there, your highness and your highness’ friend!” The voice of a chirpy stallion halted them. A cheerful waiter had sneaked up on them, stood at the front of the table. He held a tray of dirty cups in a spell of levitation and extended his spell to collect their empties too. “Can I get you anything else today, a cake or fresh coffee perhaps?” The pair of ne’er-do-wells shared a glance at each other. Both mares were snuggled familiarly together, Twilight’s hoof was still below the table and their magic had not ceased the incessant pistons within each feminine navel. They returned gazes to the waiter and braced themselves.
“We’re good!”
He chuckled good naturedly, nodding at their response in unison and glanced to their horns. His eyebrows dipped slightly and a puzzled sound ended his endearing laugh.
“Say, er, what do you happen to be magicking here, exactly?” he pried with polite curiosity. The pair urgently glanced to one another again.
“Books!” they cried together again, a little too shrilly, as two large hardbacks flew out of the saddlebag hiding Moon’s mischief and landed heavily on the coffee table in front of them. The pages fluttered open and both heads bowed to pretend to revere their studies, avoiding eye contact with the stallion across the table from them. Unperturbed, he chortled again and arranged the mugs on his tray.
“Ah-ha. Looks like a pair of, er, interesting reads…” When neither paid him extra heed, he shrugged and nodded. “Well, my name is Piccolo. Piccolo Latte, just give me a wave if you want anything else.” He lingered, making the pair believe he was just about to figure them out, but with the duet now ignoring him he turned around with an unflappable grin.
Moon Dancer released a relieved sigh. That had been too close. She was about to tell her best friend that she was sorry she took things this far and that it was probably time to leave the cafe when she saw the look of absolute devilment on Twilight’s face.
“Actually, garson,” the Princess called, waving her untainted hoof in the air. She caught the attention of Piccolo as her magic forced itself far inside Moon Dancer, bumping the shelter that cradled her womb within. The alicorn relished the sound of the crimson maned smart alec trying not to release her cries while they watched the pony in the apron weave back over. The unicorn mare squirmed nervously as the male returned, all smiles, notepad ready.
“could I get another—“ Twilight started, at first managing a normal response. Moon Dancer retaliated before the clever clogs could finish the order, squeezing her massaging euphoric waves further inside Twilight’s quivering canal. “CARAMEL CAPPUCCINO!” She gulped and laughed off her awkward screech. “Sorry, in-in-indigestion,” Sparkle said to brush off the use of her outdoor voice, letting the waiter swallow his heart back into his chest and note the request.
“And for you, Moon Dancer?” Twilight put emphasis on the question while she fluttered her magic back and forth inside Dancer’s legs, practically filling Moon’s sex with a telekinetic tornado. She adored watching the awkward faces Moon Dancer was making as she tried to form sensible words.
“P-P-Peen- N-No, Pep—“ the yellow mare scrunches her snout and pushed her hooves to the table, forcing out the commission with the same strain as her inner-working were taking. “Peppermintlatteplease!” She flopped back, feeling triumphant and nodded, meekly ‘mhm’-ing at the stallion. He blinked at the two flustered faces and frowned slowly, lowering his pad.
“I’m sorry to intrude but are you both okay?”
“We’re fine!” Blustered Moon Dancer, shaking heavily, “we’ve just been studying veryhard! A-All morning and we are running low on p-p-pep…” Piccolo held up his hoof, smiling and nodding in gullible understanding.
“Say no more. Not a problem, let me get those coffees for you, toot sweet.” He tapped his pen on the notepad hung in auric light by his head and started to hurry off, leading Moon Dancer to believe she was safe. She was about to reach the ultimate release and prepared to hold herself together. With a bit of willpower she was sure she could keep the rest of the cafe from finding out about the illicit rendezvous.
“A-And a cake each,” Twilight crowed, alerting Latte again.
“Noooo,” whined Moon Dancer, spinning her head speedily to look in horror at Twilight. She could see the demure and sanguine mask of the regale pony, but behind the facade was a sweat dripping, legs shaking, marehood shuddering filly. The princess had been holding back for much longer and the sensual conflicts were taking their tolls on her. There were cracks in the veneer.
Twilight only briefly caught Moon Dancer’s determined stare. At the same time, the vanilla-yellow horn flared and sent a shock of energy to the place it would have the strongest effect. Twilight Sparkle’s clit.
The previously confident mare balked as the waiter fully turned around. She felt the familiar butterflies in her stomach fight against her resolve. She watched his eyes turn to her and realized the grave error she’d made. She’d been brash, she’d bit off more than she could chew. She opened her mouth, trying to get the order out so that the attention on her went away before she could embarrass herself entirely.
Instead, her voice disobeyed and let out a shrill squeak of dismay. The usually quick thinker panicked, regardless of how bucking amazing her body felt in the moment, and frantically, she sought something to hide her face. She siezed her book, awkwardly called ‘The Cardiovascular System; How To Get The Right Work Out For You,’ and pushed her snout into the middle crease. Shielded from the waiting stallion staring at the cover held in paling legs, she forced her vocal cords to belong to her and not the rising excitement for just a little longer. Her teeth clenched and muscles tightened. She didn’t think she’d get past it, she felt like screaming out from the bubbling frenzy erupting tremendously behind her vulva.
“I’ll have c-carrot ca- Aaa--”
‘Come on,’ the last responsible part of her consciousness told her, ‘we’re so close…’
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaake~! CARROT CAKE!”
Yes, she thought! I made it! She sank back in her chair, hidden by the huge tome and allowed her orgasm to play out, turning her little whimpers into ‘mhmm’s in further hope of hiding her naughty noises from the waiter. The chair and her tail were awash, her back and wings slid down in the seat and her body took control of the rest of her skilled brains. Her intelligence was turned into temporary mush to allow her to enjoy the naughty deed she’d done under the nose of the waiter. Yet, even now, her horn continued to spark and glow…
Moon Dancer believed she had won. She gave a complacent grin to Mr. Latte and opened her mouth to deliver her order. She’d already chosen an extravagant item on the menu, and why not? She deserved a fitting prize after all. The first syllable reached her tongue--
“Choc--” She faltered in shock. Her body burst into lustful overdrive. Twilight’s magic had found the most elusive treasure every Equestrian mare possessed. A jewel hidden so deep and secret within that few located it even when they sought it. It had found the ‘Grïffonberg spot’, otherwise known as the illustrious ‘G’ spot, and with it found the button to Moon Dancer’s explosive climax.
Dancer’s eyes sprung open. Her jaw dropped and her body became as stiff as stone and mortar in a matter of seconds. She stared ahead at the waiter, who was by now passed concern for the two oddly behaved mares and into the realms of unnerved suspicion. She slammed her left foreleg onto the open page of her book, ‘The Unrefuted Bible for Metamorphic Amphiboles.”
“CHOCOLATEDREAMFILLEDWITHWONDERFULVANILLACREAMPleeeeeeeeeeeease~”
She neighed out her polite orgasmic plea, while her soul soared, her body losing its rigidity and causing her to flop into a drooling mess on the page marked, “Cummingtonite - The Unique and Novel Mineral.” Her nerve endings coursed with unadulterated joy and her mind shut down, forgetting the fact that the packed out the cafe and their waiter were still in the vicinity.
Piccolo Latte’s nostrils twitched. His ear flickered and his head swiveled in disbelief. He expected everypony else in the cafe to be mortified by this very clearly debased display. Surprisingly to him, only one other sat staring at the couple. The lone, bright-yellow pegasus with a shag of mane in orange and gold livery was the mare on the next table along, watching in awe.
“I’ll have what they’re having,” The pegasus ordered. The waiter glanced with a gulp at the notes he’d scratched on the sheet in his notepad then stammered back to the only observant mare.
“Wh-Which bit? They order a--”
“All of it,” she answered before he could finish, in a deadpan tone, “if it had that effect on them, please bring me all of it.” She dug into her satchel and slapped more bits than were necessary for the transaction down on the table to highlight her earnest, staring at him insistently.
Piccolo’s eyes finally fell back on the illustrious pair. The princess had slumped back with a silly grin on her face while her associate remained face down in her book, the magic from both horns ebbing away into nothing. Piccolo yammered a little more as he wrote down the second order for the pegasus filly and nodded.
“C-Coming-- I mean, I’ll… it’ll-- I’ll bring--”
He was still trying to give a definite confirmation of their order as he spun, catching his hind ankle on a chair in a bid to escape this sticky scene. For a moment, he lost his magical grasp of the tray, which had somehow managed to remain intact throughout the previous experience. There was a yelp, a clatter, and a crash as the collected dirty cups littering the floor in shards.
“Careful, Latte!” cried the barista, hurrying out from the counter to bring the tumbled waiter a dustpan and brush. As he helped Piccolo up, the fallen stallion grabbed him urgently.
“What do we do, Cafe Culture?” He pointed behind himself without looking, “the p-princess, her friend, they were--” he pushed his snout as close as he could get to the barista’s ear to hiss the illicit word, “masturbating!” The barista’s face was doubtful as he muttered a repeat of Piccolo’s last utterance, looking over to the pair the waiter was snitching on. He blinked, chuckled sarcastically and shook his head, looking disappointedly at the clumsy member of his staff.
“If that’s what you believe masturbating is, you need to revisit sexual education, son,” Cafe Culture informed him. His gesturing hoof revealed the purple mare and her red-headed companion both studying their books serenely. Not one strand of mane was out of place on either of them nor a hint of rosiness in their cheeks. Piccolo spluttered in contention, turning to Cafe, but the barista shoved the broom into his hooves before he could remark further.
“Clean your mess up and serve those drinks,” grumbled Cafe, making his way back to serve his latest patrons. “When this latest surge of customers goes down then you can take a break, you’ve had a long morning. I’m sure Butter Meadow is ready to come back from her break and replace you.”
That, as far as Cafe Culture could see, was that. Piccolo could not interrupt the next wave of orders to go drag his boss across and find evidence of the educated pairs wrong-doings. He thoroughly gathered the accidental carnage he had brought upon the used cups and, once it was ready, begrudgingly carried the two fresh orders over to the Princess, Moondancer and their neighbor. He found the pegasus had joined the unicorn and the alicorn, and thus the three had begun to engage in conversation. They saw him coming and all broke back into hushing noises before smiling at him.
“Thank you, Piccolo Latte,” Twilight offered chirpily, pushing a plate full of bits with a healthy tip his way as he set down coffee and cakes for the three. He eyeballed them each suspiciously, then said with a carefully quiet voice, “I know what you were doing.”
“What we were doing? You mean reading and drinking this delicious coffee?” Moon Dancer asked sweetly, savoring the fresh scent of peppermint rising from her cup. Piccolo’s eyes narrowed and he looked to the pegasus for support.
“Well, you saw what they were doing! I am surprised the whole cafe didn’t hear it!”
“No idea what you’re talking about,” the flame-haired customer shrugged her wings.
“They were touching themselves! With magic!” he protested. “They yelled and moaned and--”
“They were just enjoying the coffee, my dude,” the mare said, reaching out to pat his side with her feathers, “now, run along. Your boss doesn’t look very pleased over there.” She pointed the same wing to Cafe Culture, who was angrily motioning to the number of orders stacking up. Piccolo winced, grumbled a thank you as he took the hefty tip, and hurried away to the tuneful titters of three very cheeky mares.
~*~
Even on his break, Piccolo Latte did not leave the cafe. He sat, ate a butternut squash and daisy sandwich, sipped an orange juice, and watched the Princess with their friends. He waited long after their cups were drained and their plates emptied, and soon his patience paid off.
He hid behind a menu when the trio got up, gathered their belonging and made their way to the exit. His disguise was hardly fooling anypony, but he hoped it was enough to avoid the eye contact of the esteemed group.
“See you again soon, Piccolo,” purred Twilight on the way past, daintily waving her wing in farewell, “thank you once more for such wonderful service.” Piccolo could only stammer a ‘y-y-you’re welcome,’ as it was the way he greeted all gratitude from customers, but as soon as the bell signaled that the crude three were gone, he was up in a shot and racing to their evacuated table for proof.
He pulled back the bench, the metal legs squealing in protest on the tiles, and dove his head down to examine the leather seating. He imagined puddles of female ejaculation drizzled all over the once clean brown hide. He expected the powerful scents of feminine pleasure to be covering the cushions. No. What he found in place of his imagination was nothing. Not a drop of discharge nor smell of a mare’s climax. Unconvinced, he pushed his snout to the seat for a furious snuffle.
“Ermm, excuse me?” Piccolo stood up straight and spun around, finding a mare watching him uncomfortably. She stood with her partner and their two foals, who both believed this display to be the funniest thing they’d seen all day. The unicorn mare tried to silence them with soft head taps. “Is this table free? There isn’t another table for four, is there?” Piccolo regarded the family, then the chair, then the family, and repeated several times before admitting defeat.
“Er… No, certainly, ma’am. You can have this table. Just allow me to clean it for you first, please? Thoroughly.”
~*~
“A globe of silence, a cleaning spell, and a revigorating energy spell. Sometimes, I regret not being born a unicorn,” chuckled their new pegasus friend as they walked alongside Twilight and Moondancer, a purple wing folded delicately over the latter’s back.
“Poor Piccolo,” giggled Twilight, “I really do feel sorry for him. I ought to have been much more careful with that globe of silence but it’s hard to cast a spell atop three other spells, especially in the midst of an utterly mind-blowing orgasm.”
“If you had, I would have missed out on all of the fun,” chortled the pegasus, watching the cuddled pair with a pretty smile, “so what’s next for you two?” Moon Dancer stopped, Twilight’s wing sliding over her head. She straightened up and readjusted her glasses, looking to her right. The pegasus and alicorn paused a few steps ahead to look back at Moon Dancer, seeing her staring at a ‘Hack and Harness’ lingerie store. Of course, frilly lace wear was not the only thing they sold.
“D-Do… You have any toys, Twilight?” She murmured, glancing curiously at the princess. Twilight grinned ruefully.
“Not here with me in Canterlot,” she mumbled, trotted across to sit with Moon Dancer, “but I couldn’t go in there. What we did in the cafe was one thing, being seen in a ‘H&H’ store would cause an absolute scandal.”
“No sweat, you two,” the pegasus piped up, turning their heads, “I’ll pick us up some stuff to make things interesting.” She started for the store entrance, the other two raising their eyebrows.
“Are you sure?” enquired Moon Dancer.
“Totally,” the yellow mare snapped her wing cooly back at them, winking over her shoulder. “Besides, I get the Wonderbolt special discount.”
“Thanks, Spitfire,” Twilight called after her, watching the door swing shut behind the Wonderbolt captain. Steadily, Sparkle reached her wing back around Moon Dancer, pulling her in against her. The pair basked in the contentment of having the other by their side, the warmth of the day no match for the gratification of loving bodies pressed together.
“Did she say she was picking ‘us’ all up some things, Twilight?” The unicorn snuggled herself in comfortably against the monarch of friendship and sighed mirthfully, pushing her glasses back up once more.
“Apparently,” chuckled Twilight Sparkle, staring at the shut door thoughtfully.
“So, um… what does this make us? I mean, me and you?” She murmured against the violet-blue fur, mulberry eyes blinking. Twilight’s eyebrow cocked, glancing down thoughtfully at the mare snuggled against her, considering her answer. She brushed at the strawberry-red mane and followed its contour along her face.
The Princess had been honest to her old friend and Moon Dancer had been honest in turn without judgment or disgust. She’d told her most unnerving secrets to this mare and in response, this mare was now showing her love. Twilight considered the words that could comprehend what that meant to her. She tried to arrive at the things she could say to agree that she was willing to give this relationship a shot. Only one fitting response came to mind.
She gently clasped Moon Dancer’s chin with the tickling wings and lifted it. She looked into the sparkling lavender eyes behind the clear screens and shared a kind gaze. Then, with nopony standing in their way, she leaned in and clasped the soft amber lips in a sensitive, subtle kiss.
~*~
Moon Dancer, Twilight and Spitfire will return...