“What is love?”
“Tia, you know I hate these games.”
“I’m not playing a game. I wanted to know what love is.”
Luna sighed. “Celestia, you know what love is. You mean you want to know what I think love is.”
Princess Celestia, ruler of all Equestria, cocked a smile at her sister. “Yes. And no.”
Princess Luna returned an irritated glance before turning back to her telescope. Currently it was aimed at the Horse-Head nebula. “Go on, then, what do you mean, ‘Yes and no?’”
“I mean, yes, I do want to know what you think love is, and no, I don’t know myself. For sure.”
Luna replaced the telescope cap, turned round, and sat on her haunches. The two princesses were on the highest balcony of Canterlot Castle, far above the slumbering city. All was quiet except for the gentle urban hum. The night was still young; Luna had only recently raised the moon, and Celestia liked to stay out with her sister before going to bed.
Unfortunately she had a habit of getting philosophical at these times.
“Well, then I would say that love is when a pony likes another pony very much. Will that do?”
“Luna, we are not on the playground. You can do better than that.”
“Fi-ine. Love is when one pony feels a very deep and special bond with another pony that they cannot explain, to the extent of complete dependence upon him or her. Love knows no gender, and doesn’t discriminate by race – Earth Pony, Pegasus Pony, or Unicorn. When two ponies share mutual love they increase each other’s happiness to a far greater extent than anything else can, and if anything were to happen to one pony of the couple then the other pony would be distraught and extremely upset.”
“And this is true of all types of love – the love between friends, and the romantic love between a pony couple.”
“Yes, yes it is.”
Celestia smiled. “My, Luna, you have impressed me. I thought after a thousand years of isolation you would have lost touch with, but apparently not.”
Luna gave Celestia a cheeky look. “I had a lot of time to think, Tia. But we’ve long since agreed to forget about that.”
Celestia inadvertently looked up to the moon. “We did. I’m sorry I mentioned it.”
“It’s all right.” Luna averted her gaze from her former prison and instead chose to look over the valley below Canterlot. It stretched far into the distance, carved by the river Equine many ages before ponies first appeared. The river’s source was high in the mountains to the West, towering over the Everfree forest and little Ponyville. There the river was wild, surrounded by pine forest and rocky hills – but below it peacefully flowed across the Great Plain, quiet and calm.
“Twilight wrote me a very interesting letter today. It was longer than usual,” Celestia said, still looking at the moon.
“I was beginning to wonder why you asked me that question in the first place,” Luna said, her eyebrows furrowed a little. “What did Twilight have to say?”
Celestia came and sat down next to Luna. “I’ll tell you about it. Every day I’m glad I sent that girl to Ponyville. What I learn from her could fill volumes in the Canterlot library.”
Luna chuckled. “And the ruler of Equestria isn’t omniscient?”
Celestia’s tone was serious as she answered, “No one is ever too old or too knowledgeable to learn. Especially me – sat in my tower here all day. Twilight is my window into the real world of ponies, and from her I learn how things work.”
“I know.” Luna cuddled up close to her sister, sensing a story was coming, and closed her eyes. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“No,” Celestia agreed, and the two alicorns sat for a while together without saying anything.
“You were saying about Twilight,” Luna prompted.
“Yes. The best place to begin is a bit less than a week ago, in Ponyville. Rainbow was clearing the skies after that storm she organised.”
*
“Hai-yah!” With a poof, Rainbow Dash bucked a grey raincloud into thin air. “Woohoo!” She swooped through the air, bucking and kicking the clouds, until the grey sky was completely clear. She fluttered down to sit on an apple tree and admire her handiwork.
“Thank y’ kindly, Rainbow Dash!” A voice called from below, with a heavy country accent. Rainbow turned to acknowledge Applejack, with a grin on her face.
“No problem, Applejack! This is my favourite part – watch.”
As the sun’s warmth spread over the wet fields, it seemed as if the very plants were waking up to the light. A beautiful glow passed over the hills, and spread until it enveloped all that surrounded. After a few moments birds ventured out, and flew through the air, shaking off their wings and twittering to one another.
Rainbow floated down to Applejack, beaming with delight. “I did that,” she said with her characteristic pride.
Applejack gave her a playful nudge. “We’re all very jealous of your weather control, Rainbow. Come to the barn, Ah made you some cider to say thank you for sending the rains. My orchard would have dried out otherwise and the apples wouldn’t be fit for dunking on Nightmare Night.”
“Oo! Oo! Is it the strong stuff?” Rainbow squeaked excitedly, hopping up and down as she followed Applejack.
Applejack shot her an ironic grin, saying “Fortunately not, or you wouldn't make it home. You remember last time Ah made scrumpy.”
Rainbow blushed a little at the memory. “Fine.” She continued behind Applejack, then stopped. “Wait – Twilight said she wanted to see me for something after I’d cleared the skies.”
“Really? What?”
“Um ... nothing. Nothing much.” Rainbow pawed at the ground a little awkwardly.
“Alright then. But come round the barn sometime afterwards, Rainbow. That cider’s good stuff, you know.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Rainbow saluted with her hoof, then shot into the sky. Applejack followed her with her gaze as she streaked into the air, before she was lost behind the branches of an apple tree.
“Rainbow seems to be spending a lot of time with Twilight,” Applejack commented to the trees. She lightly tapped the nearest, caught the apple that fell, and munched on it as she continued back to the barn. “And rightly so, too. It’s good that they’re such close friends.”
Rainbow meanwhile had one last thing to do before she went to Twilight’s library. She flew to the corner of the furthest field, and crouched down on the ground like a coiled spring.
One ... two ... three! She launched herself into the air, corkscrewing up to the sky, travelling in a broad arc and with a rainbow streaming out behind her, before landing in another field on the other side of Ponyville. She turned to look at the rainbow she had left, and was pleased with what she saw. There was only one pony who knew how easily she could make rainbows, and she intended to keep it that way. She didn’t want to become some hired rainbow manufacturer in Cloudsdale, preferring to save her rainbows for special occasions. And this occasion was certainly special.
Rainbow flitted quickly from the fields to Twilight’s library in the middle of Ponyville. It wasn’t a big town, but the library’s height was still a significant advantage in that from the highest balcony you could see all across Ponyville’s rooftops to the fields and the hills in one direction, and the Everfree forest the other way.
Rainbow paused before knocking on the door, prolonging her anticipation. Finally she knocked, and the door was opened straight away by a purple pony – Twilight Sparkle.
“Rainbow Dash! You’re here!” Twilight’s voice was happy, and she leant forward to give Rainbow a little nuzzle before standing aside to let her in.
Rainbow smiled and entered the library, saying “Hello, Twilight.” She always said ‘Hello, Twilight’. She couldn’t think of anything else to say when they met, but those words always sufficed.
Rainbow looked around the room. The shelves were neatly piled high with books, the table was occupied with a volume called “The Equestrian Encyclopedia Encompassing Everything Evident”, and Owloysius was asleep on his perch, but something was missing.
“Where’s Spike?” Rainbow asked.
“I sent him into town to pick up parchment and ink,” Twilight answered, using her horn to fill the kettle.
Rainbow watched her move the kettle to the fire. “But he was buying parchment and ink yesterday. I saw him as I was practicing my loops above the quill shop.”
“We had a big to-do list,” Twilight said, her voice muffled as she ducked into the cabinet to pull out two teacups.
Rainbow laughed as Twilight poured the quickly-boiled kettle into a pot. “You always have a big to-do list.”
“Organisation is a virtue,” Twilight said as she lifted the tea with her horn and started up the stairs.
“I know,” Rainbow said. “I like that you’re so organised.”
There was a tiny moment of silence before Twilight giggled and said “You flatter me, Rainbow Dash.”
“I can flatter anyone I like.”
Now they had arrived at the top balcony of the library tree house. From here the view spread out across Ponyville’s rooftops to the rolling fields beyond. Sweet Apple Acres sprawled across the flat land to the North, and Applejack’s barn was just visible through the trees.
Between the outskirts of Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres was Fluttershy’s tree house, and on the other side of that was the ominous Everfree Forest – though it looked somewhat less intimidating with the sunlight shining through the trees. Closer within the boundaries of Ponyville was Rarity’s Carousel Boutique, and not far from Twilight’s library, right in the centre of town, was Mr and Mrs Cake’s Cupcake Corner, where Pinkie Pie lived.
“That’s funny,” Twilight said.
“Hmm?”
“You can see all of our houses from here except for yours, Rainbow. Where is your cloud house?”
“She doesn’t like the rain,” Rainbow said. “She went over to the Evergreens to avoid the storm. She should be home by tonight.”
Twilight laughed as she set out the tea.
“I’ve always loved how you call it a ‘She’”.
“Twilight, she has feelings! You mustn’t say ‘it’. You’re lucky she wasn’t around to hear you!”
“Come and sit down, Rainbow. Have some tea.”
Rainbow went and sat next to Twilight. The two were side-by-side, looking out over the meadows. After drinking some of her tea, Rainbow observed, “You haven’t commented on what I made.”
“I noticed,” Twilight said, looking at the rainbow. It arched above Ponyville, passing straight over the library. “I think it’s very pretty.”
“I made it for you.”
Twilight’s eyes widened a little in surprise. Then she smiled and leaned over to Rainbow Dash, resting her cheek against her shoulder and nuzzling into her rainbow-coloured mane. “Then I think it’s absolutely beautiful,” she said quietly.
Rainbow smiled and rested her chin on Twilight’s forehead. She closed her eyes took a deep, slow breath. Little fireworks fizzed in her heart and a wide smile of happiness and contentment spread across her face.
“Rainbow?” Twilight asked.
“Yes?”
“How long is there until the sunset?”
“A little more than an hour. Why?”
Twilight shifted slightly closer to Rainbow and said, “I’d like to watch it. From up here. Spike said he’d go straight to bed when he got back from town, since he has to get up early to go to Canterlot tomorrow.”
“In that case,” Rainbow said, “We’ll be here for a while.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Twilight responded.
Rainbow closed her eyes with delight and spread one wing gently over Twilight.
They remained there, watching the sun make its lazy way across the sky. In the street below ponies wandered, some going to the shops, some out for a walk, some playing games with each other. None of it mattered to the two ponies on top of Twilight’s library. Time didn’t matter. There was nowhere Rainbow would rather be than with Twilight, here, and now.
Deep down, Rainbow had always known. She liked that she could daydream in purple, and be safe in the knowledge that nopony knew what she was thinking about when her eyes were closed. She’d never told Twilight because she’d simply never felt the need to – and anyway, she wouldn’t know how.
Now, though, sat here with Twilight as they watched the shadows lengthen, Rainbow realised that she had to take action. She turned to the purple unicorn beside her and said, “I like doing this, Twilight. Spending time together. We should do it more often.”
Twilight answered, “Yes, we should. I like doing this too.”
“I like spending time with you.”
“And I like spending time with you.”
Rainbow swallowed and said “I like you, Twilight.”
“And I like you too, Rainbow”.
Inside the confines of her mind, Rainbow cheered. There was no more to be said. In those words volumes were spoken, and the two ponies remained silent in the hours that followed, leaning against each other as they watched the sun slowly drop behind the hills.
*
“Is that it? That’s what Twilight wrote to you?”
Celestia nodded at Luna.
“But I don’t understand. If that’s all then why did you tell me? I thought something was going to go wrong, and Twilight would have learnt a lesson from it. I was waiting for stuff to happen.”
“Can’t you see the lesson, Luna? Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest. Sometimes the very best thing one can do is sit with somepony special for a long time, even without talking. It’s important to be able to do that every once in a while; to shut out the rest of the world for a bit. And for my dear Twilight, it was the first time she’d experienced such a thing – her letter to me, which she wrote afterwards by herself, was full of joy and excitement at the realisation of what had happened to her. She told me she was always fond of Rainbow Dash, but until she sat on that balcony with her she didn’t quite understand it. Now Rainbow Dash will always have a special place in her heart, and Twilight in hers. It’s quite beautiful, don’t you think?”
Luna nodded. Then after a pause, she said, “So ... are they marefriends now?”
Celestia chuckled. “Even in her excitement when she wrote to me, Twilight didn’t say. I think that she and Rainbow Dash will continue to enjoy their time with each other, and they will discover for themselves what they want to do with it.”
Luna laid her head on her hooves. Even though the night was hers, she was tired. “That’s nice.”
Celestia looked down at her sister beside her, and spread a wing over her. “Yes, it is.”
