The Forgotten Family

Twilight looked at Rarity, eyes full of love and care. "You are my precious gem. You know that don't you princess?" she said. Rarity blushed as she adjusted her crown. She wanted to be the perfect princess for her beautiful magician.

"Of course I do, dear." she said smiling at her beloved. "You know that you are my most beloved magician, don't you dear?" Twilight simply smiled before nodding. "Good." Rarity smiled. Her precious mage was blushing brightly and she could tell she was in very dire need of affection. "Come here." she commanded in a most regal voice. Twilight smiled even more beautifully before walking up to Rarity's throne.

"Yes, princess?", Rarity honestly did not know if it was a pet-name or her title and cared little regardless. She smiled at her mage before taking her face in her hooves. Rarity closed her eyes, leaned forward, and...

"Rarity?" a voice called out. Twilight disappeared just before Rarity could kiss her. Her crown and throne also vanished.

Rarity became annoyed as she searched for the disturbance and turned to face a large pair of green alicorn eyes. "Princess Luna?", she asked.

Princess Luna smiled down at her with the same compassion her sister might employ. "This is not the first time we have seen you dreaming about being a princess is it?", she asked. Rarity blushed realizing this would be the ninth time in as many weeks she had been caught dreaming of being a princess. "Do not worry, child. We were only entering your dream to deliver a message."

"A message?", Rarity asked. Who could ask a favor like this of Princess Luna of all ponies?

"Yes, we... that is I.. have a friend who wished not to be named. He told me to tell you the question you have asked, can only be answered with 'Enchantment'... that is all we know." she said.

"Enchantment?", Rarity asked. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand, your majesty. Surely you can tell me more than that."

Princess Luna shook her head. "It is a friend I owe almost as much as I owe my sister. If he chooses to stay nameless.... I am sorry."

Rarity smiled at the princess. "If they mean that much to you I won't pry princess." Princess Luna smiled at her. It was an odd thing to see the princess smile. "I do have a favor to ask of you if you would?"

Princess Luna did not look surprised and her smile never faltered as she nodded. "What ever you need, child."

"Could you keep an eye on my little sister? I had her sent back to Ponyville alone and I'm a little worried about her."

"On one condition.", Princess Luna said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Tell us... Does Princess Twilight know about your feelings?"

Rarity blushed as she replied. "Yes, and she returns them." Princess Luna smiled even bigger. "I believe we are currently dating."

"Good. I have a debt to collect... after I have checked on young Sweetie Belle of course.", Princess Luna winked at her (actually winked) as she walked away.

Rarity woke under a large wing and smiled. She contemplated snuggling further under it and trying to go back to sleep but, decided against it. She took a moment to take stock of where she was. She was on a train, laying in a seat next to Twilight with a large wing draped over her. She smiled and looked at Twilight. Twilight was reading a book that she seemed very interested in.

"What time is it?", she asked. She had not even been aware she had gone to sleep.

Twilight looked down at her with a smile that made her heart flutter. Twilight was obviously tired and yet, she still looked at Rarity with the warmth and love Rarity had come to depend on in the past few days. "Good morning. It's only about eight.", she answered, her voice piercing her sleep addled mind with it's softness.

Rarity looked at Twilight and smiled again (she was doing that a lot recently). "Twilight, why would Princess Luna need to collect a debt if she discovered we were together?", Rarity asked.

Twilight giggled softly. "Luna is a gambler.", she said mischievously. "You'll see."

Rarity laughed as she imagined the implications of what that could mean. "Also dear, what do you know about enchantment? Princess Luna paid me a visit in my dream and... she said a friend told her to tell me 'Enchantment' and that's all she could tell me..."

Twilight shook her head. "I honestly don't know a lot about enchanting. I'm not very good at it but.... that's because.... I'm not..." Twilight sentences became choppy as she trailed off. "Ugh.", Twilight yelled into the air making the only other passenger on the car (A large pony under an old blanket) jump. "I should have figured it out." She turned to Rarity and started speaking so fast that Rarity had to really focus to keep up. "Because I don't have plenty of gems on hand that Spike doesn't constantly eat. Gems are the best filter for enchanting, and your special talent is Gem and I should have realized that but, I haven't because I haven't been thinking. Well I have been thinking, just not about you... Well about you but, not about your talent. Well about doing things with you like dates, and movies, and how all this is gonna work, and how we are going to tell our friends and-", Rarity wisely cut her off with a kiss.

"Sweet Celestia, you are adorable.", Rarity said after their kiss. Twilight blushed brightly and looked at the floor blushing.

"Sorry... guess I got carried away." she said.

"Quite alright, dear." Rarity smiled. "Sometimes, you just need to remember that everything is alright."

"Right....", Twilight looked at the floor. "So enchanting...?", she said.

"Yes dear. That's all Princess Luna said." Twilight placed a hoof on her chin while she thought (it was absolutely adorable) and sat like that for several minutes.

Finally when Rarity believed she was on the cusp of giving up she spoke. "It would be a very likely aspect of your talents. Next time you have a gem try enchanting it." she said. "All you have to do is imagine what properties you want the gem to have. Like if you wanted somepony to be stronger you would imagine strength as you pour your magic into the gem. There are also enchantments for healing, enhanced magic, faster flight, better balance, and several other useful enchantments."

Rarity absorbed all of this new information with the enthusiasm of a school filly during a lecture. She did care for her marefriend but, she really could go on and on. "Well I'll keep that in mind. " She smiled politely.

Twilight positively beamed. "Do you want to know any more?"

"No, thank you. I believe I can work with what you've already said, dear.", Rarity smiled. "I was curious about a few things though... if you don't mind.", she had several questions she had been wanting to ask her new marefriend when they had a moment.

Twilight smiled warmly. "Of course.", she said quietly.

Rarity did not exactly blurt her question, more like, in a ladylike fashion, said it very abruptly and loudly. "When did you realize you cared for me in that way?"

Twilight smiled. "Do you remember when the ponytones quartet sang at Fluttershy's event? It was when I saw you standing on the stage singing and.... I wished you were singing just for me....." Twilight blushed. "I asked my brother a few questions about how he felt about Cadence and from the way he talked... it seemed like I was feeling the same thing... towards you. Then I guess I just kept making excuses to spend time with you.... like with the dress."

"That's very sweet dear.", Rarity said.

"What about you?", Twilight asked.

Rarity felt her cheeks get warmer. "Well... I guess I first noticed it when we all went to Manehatten. I just kept thinking about you... and when I walked out onto the stage and saw you weren't there... I felt bad that all of my friends weren't there but.. I kept thinking about you."

"Well I always thought you.... like stallions?", Twilight seemed to be a little bashful when it came to that particular subject.

"I've honestly never cared about another mare... besides you.", Rarity smiled. She hoped that Twilight wasn't offended. "When did you realize that you.... liked mares?"

Twilight smiled reassuringly. "I've honestly just always found them more attractive. You especially.", she said with a wink.

Rarity giggled at the compliment. "Well thank you, dear. Truth be told I've always found you attractive, even before I had these... feelings for you."

Twilight sighed. "I'm glad you wanted me to be your magician.", it was probably the most corny and heart-felt thing Rarity had ever heard. She smiled at the alicorn.

"I'm glad you chose me as your princess.", she said matching Twilight's corniness.

A bark of laughter from the sole remaining passenger irked at her. She turned around intent on informing him of how rude that was to see he was gone. Then a door in the opposite direction opened.

Rarity looked to the front of the car to see a large unicorn. He was a stallion with a short black mane, his coat a turquoise color. He glared around the train car before his dark green eyes settled on Rarity and Twilight. He walked slowly towards the couple brow creased and a very unsettling smile upon his face.

"You two the ones lookin' for Mythic?", he asked. He was very blunt and Rarity felt like any answer to his question would not end well.

Twilight suddenly flared out her wings standing between the two unicorns. "Who wants to know?", she said, her voice more brisk than Rarity had ever heard before.

The stallion smiled. It was not pleasant. "My name is Dark Blaze but, I guess you want the name of my.... order." his smile only grew more malicious. "I am with the order of Mythlisombratic."

Twilight gasped before charging a spell with her horn. "If that's the case I'm sure you know who I am.", Twilight's voice was quiet and she did not hide the threat in her tone. "You should leave now. Stop looking for him."

The stallion scowled at her. "We only want what everypony wants.", he said obviously enraged. "Freedom. All we need is your cooperation." Twilight looked at him quizzically but did not release the spell she was charging. "Help us find Mythic. With his power we could overthrow Celestia."

Bang

The words had barely left the stallions mouth when Twilight slammed her spell into his side. "That's Princess Celestia to you. Now if you value your precious order you'll leave now. If you don't leave first I'll knock you into next week, then I'll track down your order, and then I'll DESTROY IT!" Twilight yelled.

The stallion stood and began limping to the front of the train car. Before he opened the door he looked over his shoulder and smiled. "You will live to regret this.", he said his voice conveying all of his contempt. Then he turned his head back to the door touched the handle with his magic.

Another explosion rocked the train, much more powerful than the spell Twilight had hit the stallion with. The beam of pure arcane energy seemed to originate on top of the train car and then spread.

After the blinding light of the blast disappeared, Rarity noticed a hole in the roof above and below where the stallion had previously stood. The stallion was gone.

"What was that?", Rarity asked frightened.

Twilight just shook her head. "I recognize that spell.... It's setup kind of like a bomb. If anypony uses dark magic within range of it.... boom." she said. "Somepony set that up. He was about to use some kind of dark magic, probably to attack us, and the ward went off."

A loud yawn erupted from behind them as the other passenger from before seemed to materialize back in his seat, in the same position he had been in before. Rarity was curious as to where he had gone before and how he could sleep through an explosion like that... but she had had enough craziness for one day.

Twilight sat back down next to Rarity and unconsciously draped her wing over her unicorn. Rarity blushed as she realized she had thought of herself as belonging to Twilight. "Don't worry.", Twilight said, "I'll protect you.", she smiled then and laid down in the seat pressed against Rarity. She kissed her gently on the lips before laying her head on Rarity's neck.

After several minutes Rarity realized she was asleep. How much had they gone through in the last few days that anypony could sleep after that? Rarity shook her head. Best not to worry about it now.

She nuzzled her head further under Twilight's before resigning herself to do the same. The next day they would arrive in the crystal empire, then she would be one step closer to finding her brother, and maybe getting some questions answered.