Maidens Day

The sky was just barely turning from purple to deep blue before dawn as Twilight Sparkle made her way to the newly forested hilltop. The trees and brush started halfway up the hill, and grew thicker towards the top so that Twilight had to circle several times before finding an opening to land. The clouds above the hill spread in tatters, nearly a fog in the sky thanks to the wild storms that had ripped them all night.

Imagining the cause of the storms and the new growth made Twilight blush, and that only deepened when she saw Princess Celestia smiling fondly over a messy pile of ponies in a nest of honeysuckle.

As weird as the situation was, even Twilight had to smile at the scene as she neared. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both filthy, their coats and manes wild and matted with mud, grass, and other things that Twilight prefered not to think about. They lay facing each other, their rear legs entwined and Dash’s muzzle resting on Applejack’s shoulder, buried in her loose mane. Applejack’s rose crown was hanging off of one ear, while the only thing keeping Dash’s lightning crown on her head was that her mane was thoroughly tangled around it.

But both of them wore blissful smiles in their sleep, and when they shifted it was to pull the other closer, or rub their muzzles against the other pony wrapped in their legs.

“It’s a beautiful ritual, isn’t it?” Princess Celestia said, still looking at the sleeping ponies.

Twilight nodded, “Oh, yes! Even if it’s a little dirty.”

“In more ways than one.” Princess Celestia winked, turning Twilight’s face an even deeper shade of purple. The elder princess chuckled. “Come now, you’ve seen the way the earth ponies and pegasi treat that act. It’s a rather enjoyable part of a celebrated ritual; to consider it shameful seems like an insult to those ponies.”

“I didn’t mean that! It’s just... surprising.” Twilight regained her composure. “But the ritual was amazing. I’ve never felt magic like that, except for the Summer Sun Celebration. It was like all of Equestria was glowing.”

“This used to be the Summer Sun Celebration, before my reign. Or, at least, it accomplished the same thing -- restoring the magic of unicorns to the celestial bodies.” Princess Celestia smiled at Twilight, seeming to expect her next question, but waiting politely for her to ask.

“So, why did the unicorns stop taking part? Why don’t you take part now?” Twilight asked, following her cue with an expectant smile that matched Celestia’s.

Celestia frowned a little. “I said that to consider this shameful would be an insult to these ponies. Unfortunately, that is not a view that was shared by the unicorn tribe at the time. While pegasi and earth ponies celebrated their roles in restoring magic and balance to the world, the unicorns considered it uncouth to take part in such primitive magic. The Sun Maiden was never considered a noble role, but a druge sent out of necessity.”

“But the Sun Maiden would have been giving the unicorns their magic, the power they needed to raise the sun! How could they not consider that noble?” Twilight asked, incredulous.

Princess Celestia nodded to the disheveled ponies on the ground. “Would the nobles of my court consider that an honor? The scholars at my school? It’s an ancient magic, Twilight, it’s powerful, inelegant, and effective. I can’t think of words that less describe most of the unicorn nobility.”

Twilight frowned. She had to admit that she couldn’t see most unicorns she knew taking part in something like this. Rarity would probably swoon if she found out about it. Twilight liked to think that she would have volunteered, just to know what that magic felt like, but if it was something that would have made her family ashamed she knew that she might not have been that brave.

“So, they just stopped coming to the ritual?” Twilight asked.

“When I became Princess and took over the role of raising the sun, the unicorn leaders offered me the position of Sun Maiden as well. They seemed glad to be rid of it.” Celestia rolled her eyes. “I never participated in the ritual, myself. Not because it’s beneath me, but because I was afraid that my social status would make it difficult on the other ponies. The things one might do with another Maiden are not always things one might want to do with the Princess of Equestria.” She smirked, and Twilight giggled. “So, I offer the sun’s blessing the morning after, and I restore the sun’s magic at the Summer Sun Celebration.”

Twilight considered that for a few moments, remembering the magic she felt last night shooting off of the ritual space. She glanced down at her happy, contented friends, asleep in the sweet smelling flowers. Finally, she looked to Princess Celestia. “That’s ridiculous! This is a primal force of the universe here. You can’t just look down on it because they have to get a little messy and do things that are outside of normal social behavior. I think it serves the unicorns right.”

“How so?” Celestia said with a smile.

“Because every little pegasus and earth pony filly has a better chance of experiencing true, raw magic than the most powerful noble unicorn. They’ll never know what Rainbow Dash and Applejack knew last night... and that’s their loss.”

Celestia nodded, the smile still on her face. “I couldn’t agree more. I believe Cadance said the same thing, when she learned why unicorns excluded themselves from the ritual... of course, she had been a Cloud Maiden herself before she was a princess.”

Twilight’s face quickly shifted from a glow at Celestia’s approval to mild discomfort. “Ew. Cadance is my brother’s wife, Princess.”

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. “She wasn’t always, Twilight.”

“Yeah, thanks. Not something I wanted to know.” She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Anyway, isn’t it nearly time to raise the sun?”

“It is,” Celestia agreed. She turned to the east, and with a shimmering magical glow she pulled the warm light of the sun from beneath the horizon, casting the warm colors of sunrise over Equestria.

The daily miracle would never grow old to Twilight, but today it reminded her of the miracles that took place in this spot last night. She glanced down at her friends, bathed in the first light of dawn.

Princess Celestia leaned over and kissed Applejack’s lips softly. Applejack opened her eyes and blinked, confused, then the smile returned to her face as she glanced at the pegasus in her legs. Then Princess Celestia kissed Rainbow Dash, who tried to push her face deeper into Applejack’s shoulder.

Applejack whispered into Dash’s ear, “Rise and shine, sunshine.”

“Huh? Wha- oh. Oh!” Dash pulled away quickly, but when she saw Applejack’s smile she grinned and hugged her closer. “We did it!”

“We sure did,” Applejack agreed, returning the hug.

“I believe Equestria is expecting one of the finest harvests in memory,” Princess Celestia informed them, earning excited smiles from both ponies.

“That magic was incredible!” Twilight said, grinning at her friends. “I told you both you had nothing to worry about.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other and started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked, confused.

“Nothin’, Twilight. We had a bit of a bumpy start, but we worked it out,” Applejack said, smiling at Dash.

“Yeah, that was a wild night...” Dash agreed, trying and failing to take her eyes off of Applejack. “Uh, you’re sure it’s over?”

Applejack’s smile turned sad. “Yup. That was it. No more magic, for us at least.”

Dash thought for a second, then quickly caught Applejack’s lips in a deep kiss. Applejack’s eyes went wide, then she relaxed into the kiss.

Twilight’s eyes remained wide, even after the two broke the kiss and looked at her and Princess Celestia sheepishly.

“I, uh, just wanted to check and make sure the magic was gone,” Dash explained.

“Is it?” Princess Celestia asked, smiling.

“Nope! I mean, I think there’s some left.” Applejack said quickly, with a glance at Dash.

Dash nodded. “Yeah, we might have to use that up... it could take a while without the ritual. Days. Maybe weeks!”

“Really?” Twilight raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Yup!” Applejack said, chuckling nervously. She turned to Rainbow Dash. “We, uh, oughta go someplace else. I think we need to talk ‘bout this. Alone.”

Dash smirked and leaned towards Applejack. “Alone. I like that.” The she darted up, pulling AJ to her hooves. “Come on!” She flew around to AJ’s backside and started to push.

“‘Scuse us, princesses!” Applejack called over her shoulder. “We got some Maiden business to work out.”

“Take your time.” Princess Celestia smiled knowingly, and Applejack returned a grateful smile before taking off running with Rainbow Dash.

Twilight shook her head. “There’s no leftover magic, is there?”

“I have no idea. There’s none from the ritual, of course, but it’s not uncommon for more to bloom in the ritual than flowers.” Princess Celestia smiled at Twilight, who raised her eyebrows and watched her friends happily racing together down the hillside as Celestia went on, “Even hundreds of years ago, when it was unheard of to marry outside of one’s tribe, a romance between Maidens was smiled upon by even the staunchest traditionalists. It was considered lucky, and likely to be happy for both of them.”

Twilight smiled, “I hope so.”

Princess Celestia moved next to Twilight, and wrapped a wing around the young princess. “There are many kinds of magic. We will never understand them all.”