Ever since my talk with Discord, I've done nothing except for piano shopping with him. He insisted on coming with because he apparently dabbled in music for a small amount of time and knows where to find a nice piano for me. Being a princess, I naturally have a fair amount of bits, definitely enough to buy a piano good enough for somepony just starting out. It helps that a lot of stores tend to insist on giving me a discount. I don't know why, it's not like their taxes will become smaller because of it. I'm just happy that it's an option for me, since I tend to be pretty cheap (especially for a princess).

In any case, today is finally the day of The Grand Galloping Gala and Discord said that he'll bring his friend for me to meet. I know nothing of him, I don't even know if he is a he. All I know is that he's apparently a really good pianist and teacher. He better be, if he's not, then I'm wasting a lot of time and money getting a piano.

I was preparing to go to the Gala, in my room, when my sister knocked on my door. I yelled, to be sure she could hear me from the other side of the door, "Come in!"

"Your door is locked," she yelled back, but still sounding muffled.

I trotted over, now having my dress on, and unlocked the door. She came in and immediately took a few steps back at the sight of me. She simply said, "You look amazing, you got the dress from Portrait Finish?"

"Of course," I said in response. The dress was nearly completely black with white curves and lines making up the borders surrounding the darkness. My cutie mark, of a crescent moon, was on the front and back. Inside of the vast blankness that made up eighty percent of the coloring were hundreds, if not thousands, of sparkling stars. It looked like Portrait Finish trapped my night sky into a dress, if only for one day. I took a look at myself in the nearest mirror and realized that I didn't look bad. But something, I'm not sure what, was mis-

Before I could finish my train of thought, Celestia came up right behind me and said exactly what I was about to think. "It looks beautiful, downright gorgious on you. But there is something missing." She then left the room, but only for a minute or two, to come back with a white carnation. She places the flower between my right ear and my head and says, "Discord gave this to me on our first date." She took a couple steps back, to take a good look at me, before continuing, "The most lovely mare in all of Equestria. No doubt, Mom and Dad are smiling down at you from the heavens, beaming with pride."

With that, she hugs me tighter than she did the day I earned my cutie mark and kisses me on the forehead stating, "I'll see you in the ball room, for the Gala."

I just stood there, thinking of what she said as she trotted out the room. Was I really that beautiful? Could this be my lucky day with Chrysalis? Those, along with so many more questions spun around in my head for several minutes. Thinking about it all, I placed my head onto the mirror in front of me and stated in a soft voice that no one but me would ever be able hear, "If only I was 'the most lovely mare in all of Equestria.'"

I must have been up there for a while, because at some point Starswirl came up to check on me. He knocked on the door three times, when I gave him no answer, Starswirl proceeding to come in. He closes the door as quietly as he could and then the unicorn sat down next to me. I was just sitting there, staring at myself through the mirror like I have been for at least twenty minutes.

Starswirl broke the silence soon after, stating, "What is it that's bothering you? Do- do you want to talk about it?"

I answered back as soon as I knew what to say, "Is- is what Celestia said... to me, true?"

"What did she say?"

"She said I was beautiful, gorgeous, lovely, she kept complementing me like never before. Do I- do I really... look that good?"

"Of course you do, you've always looked dazzling. Look... I know that can't be the thing bothering you, really, why would it? What's the problem? Does it have to do with Princess Chrysalis?"

"Do you... think I have a chance with Chrysi? That she would ever want me as more than just her friend? That she would... ever consider taking our friendship to the next level?"

"You do have a chance, absolutely. But- whether or not she will want you forever as her very special somepony, only time can tell... You just, have to take this relationship of your's slowly. If she needs you as her fillyfriend in the future, she'll call out to you, I'm sure. Then you can make your move. But for now, she needs you as a friend. And, quite frankly, you need her as a friend right now more than vice versa."

"What if it doesn't... exactly work out? What if that day where she needs me as her filly... never comes?"

"Then it wasn't meant to be in the first place. You live, move on, and find a new pony to fall in love with."

"But-"

"Let me tell you a story... about a stallion named Winchester." I stopped talking, I was done doing whatever I was doing. I was now, just listening to what Uncle Starswirl had to say.

He paused for a moment to make sure I was listening, and he then continued, "You see, Winchester, when he was a little older than you are, fell madly in love with a pegasus named Zoom Flash. She could fly faster than any other pony in Equestria and quickly caught the interest of Winchester.

"He did all he could think of to get her attention. Buy her flowers, become an amazing magician, he even tried flying as fast as she could. But nothing seemed to work. He tried at every angle, except for being her friend."

"But, wait," I interrupted, "How could he be a magician and be able to fly? You need to be a unicorn to create magic that will do your bidding and you need to be a pegasus to fly?"

His only response was a smirk and a chuckle as he continued. "At some point, Zoom Flash did find the right stallion. They married, bought a house, and had a few foals. This left Winchester heart broken, he was downright depressed for a long time. That was until he met Matrot.

"Matrot was a unicorn who loved learning magic. Because Winchester practiced magic a lot while trying to woo Zoom Flash, the two became very good friends. They'd hang out and trade magical spells. Overtime, he found that he started forming feelings for Matrot and vice versa. Of course, he didn't know this at the time, as she was already in a relationship. So, he continued being her friend until his day would come.

"Then, one day, Matrot's coltfriend got angry. Real angry and he started drinking. At first, it was just one bottle... then two... then three, until he was completely drunk. She got into an argument with him soon after, and in a fit of drunken rage, he hit her. His whole hoof went right across her face.

"In self-defense, she pinned him to the wall and galloped out, tears gushing out of her eyes. She ran to the first safe place she could think of, to Winchester's house. She explained the situation to Winchester and he understood. He understood that he had to be there for her, as a friend.

"The next day, Matrot sent a telegram to her coltfriend telling him to never see her again. She stayed with Winchester until she could get her own place to live. But, by then, she didn't want to leave. She chose to stay with Winchester... forever, for she was in love with him. Cut to years later, they get married and they have two adorable fillies... Celestia and Luna."

I had nothing to say, what could I say other than, "Was that what really happened to my father?"

Starswirl simply nodded, looking down, avoiding my eye contact. He then added, "Do you see? You have to be patient. Get Chrysalis to like you too before you start dating her."

I simply nodded, nearly about to cry my eyes out. It's been years since I last thought of my parents. Even though, I didn't know them that well, especially my father, all the memories I had of the two were very happy. I knew they were good ponies. And seeing Celestia be depressed over our loss only helped drive that point forward like a stake in the heart. When they died, I didn't cry. I didn't mourn their death, I was too busy taking care of Celestia to do that. Now was my chance to, and yet, I just continued sitting there. Didn't think about all of the moments I had of them, didn't cry, didn't say or do a thing. I just sat there, like a rock.

At some point, Starswirl got up and started trotting to the door. He asked me, "You ready to come out yet?"

I replied, "In a minute, I'll be right down."

With that, he made his way back to the Gala, closing the door silently as I now had even more to think about.

Author's Note

Man, this chapter title must be confusing to anyone who hasn't listened to "Here Today" by either Paul McCartney or The Beatle Bronies. So that's your homework for today because those songs are fucking awesome!

Anyways, still no new critiques (maybe the critics think that the story has finally become perfect), so let's talk about this actual chapter.

First of all, I am a bit disappointed by the amount of words. I was hoping it'd be higher. But there is no way in hell I am going to add onto this chapter, it deserves to stand on it's own as is.

Then there's the fact that this was the first chapter to not be planned out! Every single chapter so far was planned since the beginning. I have a short description in my head of what each chapter is supposed to be about. This one was, for the most part, improvised on the spot. But, after finishing the writing, I realized that it made for a good chapter & I chose to keep working on it until I got what you just read.

And if anyone's wondering, maybe. The story Starswirl tells Luna might be canon to the overall story. It's really more up for interpretation. The whole point of having him not look Luna in the eyes as he nods his head is to make it seem like there's the possibility that he's lying to her. Just trying to calm her down a little. But with that said, Celestia and Luna's mother was a unicorn, it's my canon, shut up!

With that said, keep that story in your mind as the chapters go on. It may not seem like it yet, but it will be important.

It's kind of funny. At one point I was kind of proud of the first 2 chapters. Now I'm doing my best to make up for how horrible they are! I never had Luna mourn their death, so it was interesting to do so without her completely sobbing or getting depressed like Celestia did. And yet, this chapter was done in the spirit of those 2, especially in Starswirl's story. Not extremely descriptive, but enough to get the basic plot and moral across. I like how I did it.

By the way, the names killed me. I spent so much time just coming up with the names of the 3 new characters. At first, Zoom Flash was Fast Zoom, then Zoom Dash, then the name I stuck with. That alone took me several minutes! I never spend so much time on something that trivial in the story & yet still have it come out horrible! I'm a bit disappointed in myself in that category. So if anyone has a good name for Luna's piano teacher, I'd be more than happy to take it!

It's also kind of funny that I spend a lot more time working on my YouTube channel and have been doing that for a lot longer, & yet this fanfic is starting to become more popular. It boggles my mind!

And when Starswirl & Luna first start talking, that's me trying to replicate normal speech. In all fairness, I don't like it much either, but I thought it helped with the mood.

Oh yeah, & the description of Luna's dress came from Cartoontiger on Deviantart. I found it & thought it looked absolutely perfect, so I used it. Go look him up, he's actually really good!

Okay, I believe that's all. I really enjoyed writing this chapter & I hope you enjoyed reading it! Thank you so much for doing so!