Chapter 01 - Gift of Friends
Chapter 01 - Gift of Friends
Twilight rolled over as rays of new morning sun danced through her bedroom, absorbing into her eyes. She groaned, clenching her eyes shut, wanting to go back into her dream scape with her marefriend: Luna.
Twilight slowly opened her eyes, her pupils constricted. The young purple alicorn knew of her surroundings, it was defiantly her room, her home.
Without a second thought, Twilight remembered that Luna had shared her bed, spending the night in each other’s embrace. Luna was nocturnal, but she made exceptions while she was with Twilight, which had been every night since the alicorn pair began their relationship.
Twilight noticed Luna sleeping soundly on her bed. She rolled over, being careful not to wake her, not yet. She put her muzzle up against Luna’s staring at her face, watching the stars flashing through her ethereal, flowing mane.
Luna’s left wing with still outstretched over Twilight and her hooves were wrapped around Twilight’s barrel, as were Twilight’s around Luna. Despite being with Luna, questions plagued her mind. Twilight decided that she was going to face her fears in these pressing questions.
At the least today, Twilight was going to confront her friends about her sexuality and her newly-formed relationship with The Princess of Night. What would they think about her? Would they accept her? Would they want to remain friends with her?
Twilight hated the questions her mind proposed to her, questions that caused her over-analytical and Obsessive Compulsive mind to go into overdrive. She decided that she needed to face it with Luna, she knew that she was stronger with her marefriend.
For now, until Luna woke up, she wanted to enjoy every second of the time at the moment.
~~~
“Twilight, Luna, wake up!” Spike yelled.
It took Twilight a second to register what she had heard. She must have fallen back asleep, explaining why Spike was waking the couple up. He was the first to know about their relationship after he asked why Twilight and Luna were sharing the same bed, he wanted to tell everyone about them but he was told not to, not until Twilight and Luna announced it. Spike understood and left them be, without a second though.
“What time is it Spike?” Twilight asked. She was still struggling from the sudden rude awakening.
“It’s ten in the morning Twilight!” Spike said in a hurry.
Twilight’s head sprung up like a spring upon hearing those words.
“It’s ten! Oh no, no, no!” Twilight jumped out of her bed, breaking herself from her embrace with Luna. Twilight’s sudden movements gave Luna a sudden awakening.
“What is it, dear?” Luna said softly, her voice smooth and sweet. The voice no one except Twilight heard.
“No, no, no! I’m late!”
“Twilight?” Luna sat up onto the edge of Twilight’s bed, “Twilight, why art thou so worried?”
“I’m late!” Twilight scrambled around her bedroom, preparing her saddlebags before running over to her desk. Her horn flaring to pull out a piece of parchment and a quill, “I planned to tell them.”
“Twilight!” Luna yelled.
The last time Twilight heard Luna yell like that was, well… never.
“Twilight, what are you going to say to who?” Luna’s voice returned to the calm, compassionate voice that only Twilight heard on a regular basis. Twilight placed the parchment and quill that she had gripped in her magic back onto her desk she pulled them from.
Twilight slowly walked over back to her bed and sat down next to Luna.
“Luna,” Twilight began, “I think that we should tell the rest of my friends about us.” Twilight nervously turned her head away from Luna, waiting for her response.
“I believe that we should too,” Twilight turned her head back towards her larger alicorn, surprised. “I love you Twilight. They need to know, they deserve to know.”
“I agree.” Spike added.
“What should we do to tell them?” Twilight began, “I’m scared about what they will think. Not only that we need to tell Celestia; we need to tell my brother, Cadence and my parents.” Dread was stitched into the very words from Twilight’s mouth.
“Twilight,” Spike walked over towards Twilight. He had been listening as intently as Luna, “they are your friends. Why are you worried about it?”
Luna placed a fore-hoof under Twilight’s chin. “Spike is right dear; as you said, we need to face them. You know that you are not alone.”
Luna slowly moved her own head towards Twilights. Twilight instantly knew what she wanted to do. Twilight in return moved her head forwards, their muzzles met halfway. A kiss formed between the two alicorns
Twilight could see through the mask of emotion that Luna wore from the public. To her, it was just a sheet of glass, while to others, a solid brick wall. Twilight broke through that very wall on Nightmare Night two years prior. All that Twilight could see now was the true Luna, not the mask that hid her emotions and true personality.
Much was like for Luna’s physical form. Her body looked rough but her lips were warm and soft, just like the very love shared between the alicorns.
After what seemed like forever for the lovers, they both pulled back. They just stared into each other’s eyes, waiting for the other’s loving words. This was when Spike spoke up.
“I ship it.”
Twilight tucked her head into Luna’s side in embarrassment. She knew exactly what Spike had meant by that, Luna on the other hand…
“Ship?” Luna asked.
“TwiLuna.” That sneer by Spike only caused her to bury her head in more. Luna dropped a wing over her.
“Oh, now I understand. Let them call us ‘TwiLuna’.”
Twilight pulled her head out of Luna’s coat; she still however kept her head on the larger alicorn.
“Should we go to them now?” Twilight asked.
“I am ready whenever you are dear.”
“What about my parents, my brother, Cadence, and Celestia?”
“We will ‘cross that bridge when we get to it’ I believe the saying goes.” Luna had been doing research into modern society ever since that same Nightmare Night; common sayings were included in those pages.
“What about the nobility?” Despite Luna’s reassurances, the questions still remained. “What about when we announce our love to the press? How long do you think it will go on for before they leave us alone?”
“Once we tell Tia and the media, she will ‘keep them at bay’.” Luna really liked modern sayings. “As for the media, that is one plus of us being alicorns; we are immortal.”
What Luna said about being immortal was an option Twilight had not considered.
“I may not be immortal Twi,” Spike began, “but I will continue to be here to ship you two for the next 500 years.”
“Keep shipping lover boy. I’ve seen Cadence’s portfolio of ships.” Twilight had a counter pent up for a while now. “You and Rarity are among the first ten.”
“Anyway, shall we go and tell them dear?”
“Breakfast first?” Twilight asked. She then glanced a look over to spike giving him ‘the queue’ to make breakfast.
“Ok, ok, I’ll do it,” Spike complained, “I’ll see you two lover birds later shortly.”
“Shall we follow him, dear Twilight?” Luna asked as spike was walking out of Twilight’s bedroom.
Spike was repeatedly shaking his head side to side while mumbling something under his breath.
“Like Spike said, ‘shortly’.” Twilight closed her eyes and once again buried her head into Luna’s dark blue coat, Luna then tightened her embrace around the younger alicorn.
The two basked in the warmth formed by their embrace. Twilight was enjoying the moment before the real trouble could potentially arise.
~~~
Applejack looked back on the apple tree and the baskets placed around it. The new morning sunlight seemed to blend in with her straw-blonde mane and absorb into her orange coat. She leaned forward, lifting her hind legs of the ground to perform buck the tree a practice was performed so many times, it became second nature to the orange farm mare.
A loud thud came from the tree as Applejack’s hind legs struck the tree. Within moments of impact, the two dozen apples once hanging in the tree broke free and landed into the baskets at the bottom of their decent.
“Hey Applejack,” came from a very familiar cyan Pegasus, “whatcha doing?” The cyan mare was flying low off the ground, an act that she did often.
“Mornin’ Rainbow Dash, just doin’ my normal tree bucking.” Applejack replied in her signature county accent. “Aren't yer suppose t’ be practising like yer usually do?”
“Well… I was, but then Pinkie said that Twilight has something she wants to say with us.” Rainbow gave her look of confusion when she spoke of Pinkie Pie, that pink mare seemed to have an endless supply of energy. “Twilight says it is really important.”
“Well shoot,” Applejack lifted up one of her fore-hooves and scratched the side her head. “Ah was plannin’ to bring these apples in fer cookin’, but hey. If Twilight wants t’ tell us someth’n important, and then ah reckon that we are t’ listen.”
Rainbow was out looking out into the distance a barely registered a word that Applejack had said.
“Isn’t that right Rainbow Dash?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Let’s go then!” Rainbow Dash yelled, her ego never shrinking in size.
Rainbow Dash proceeded to fly off into the direction of Twilight’s castle: The Castle of Friendship. Applejack rolled her eyes and trotted off to the same destination.
~~~
Rarity was at a light trot, moving fairly slowly but consistently on the road to Fluttershy’s cottage. She took note of the many birds and other small animals that the cream coloured Pegasus took care of, glancing her head over to the many other features around this simple cottage. Rarity’s coat and mane colours look very out of place from the shades of green that made up the majority of the nearby garden beds, accented by the many colours of flowers, it was a simple life.
Rarity moved her purple mane mane back into place, an action that very quickly became a mannerism. She began to walk over the bridge that the road connected to Fluttershy’s cottage. The bridge moved over the stream of water flowing underneath, the sunlight from that bright and early sun danced of the stream. The stream underneath took the reflection of the clouds and the sky above.
Rarity arrived at the acacia door connected to Fluttershy’s cottage. Earthly colours were constant throughout her home. Rarity pulled out a fore-hoof and knocked in against the door.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
“Dear Fluttershy, are you home?” Rarity asked. The door still shut.
A few seconds pasted and Rarity watched as the acacia-wood door opened. As the door was opening, parts of Fluttershy’s waterfall-like rose pink mane became visible. The cream mare’s face was slightly hidden by her mane, a natural mannerism much like how Rarity flicks her own mane back into position.
“Um, hey Rarity, h-how are you?” Fluttershy asked in her usual nervous tone. Angel, Fluttershy’s rabbit pushed her right fore-hoof out of the way, an angry expression carved on his face.
“Yeah I have been good, dear. Twilight asked if she can speak to all of us about something.” Rarity was straight to the point, not wasting any time at all.
“I-I’ll be right out. I, I guess.”
“Great! Twilight wants to see us at her castle.” Rarity’s face quickly turned to a serious expression. “Twilight said that what she wants to tell us is something important.”
“I guess that we should go, I guess.”
Fluttershy walked out of the rest of her home. Angel slammed the door on Fluttershy’s way out, clearly glad for her to be going out.
~~~
The five mares arrived at the door of Twilight’s castle, each mare with a seemingly different expression upon their faces.
Rarity looked to be very eager to hear what it was that Twilight wanted to say to her friends. Pinkie Pie wore an expression of, well… Pinkie. The pink mare’s expression was full of energy as always. Fluttershy was much timid, recessive and usually hid her cream body behind that waterfall of a mane. Rainbow Dash was floating of the ground, a sub-conscious action of the Pegasus, her fore-hooves were crossed and her face showed an endless display of confidence. Applejack was the most serious of the group at the moment, displaying a constant face of seriousness.
All of the mares gazes were focused on one object and waiting for it to open, the door to Twilight’s castle, her home.
The door to Twilight’s castle opened, part of of the purple alicorn’s head appeared; still covered by the shadows inside. Twilight felt like jelly, her anxiety kept eating away at her insides. The nagging thought of their potential negative response wedged itself in there.
If Twilight wanted to call of the meeting with her friends, Luna and of course herself, it would only cause suspicions and unearth more questions for her friends. Luna was there as well to give her support and she was there to support Twilight if the worse were to happen.
“Hey girls.” Twilight called out after coming out completely from the shadows of her home. “Thank you all for coming here.”
Twilight’s friends shared glances at each other, non of them had heard Twilight speak like that. They all could tell that there was either something wrong or she was extremely anxious, the latter it was.
“Hey Twi,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, “what’s going on?”
“Yeah. What happening darling?” Rarity assured.
“Tell us sugar cube.” Applejack added.
“Before we tell you all, can we go inside?”
“We?” Fluttershy spoke up.
The group of six mares entered into Twilight’s home. The dimmed interior of her castle only increased the suspicion of the five mares. As the doors of the castle shut behind the group, Twilight lead them through the hallways and into the castle throne room.
The throne room was more dimly lit then the rest of the castle’s interior. Once then group entered, the door shut and Twilight began to speak.
“It is defiantly about time we tell you.”
“Applejack took a step forward towards Twilight. “Twilight, who is ‘we’?”
A familiar voice came out of the shadows; the voice of Princess Luna. “That would be me.”
Luna’s dark form blended almost perfectly into the darkness present in the room; her Ethereal mane darkened by the room, but still able to be seen flowing. Luna trotted into the light pouring in from one of the windows.
“Twilight...” Rainbow Dash began; worry was already visible on her features. “What’s going on?”
“Are you two…?” Rarity began to ask.
“Indeed we are dear, Rarity.” Luna confirmed.
“That is why I brought you all here, to tell you about us.” Twilight’s voice came with a sense of relief to finally be able to tell her closest friends. There still however remained the question of how they would perceive her relationship with Luna; this still terrified her.
Twilight trotted over to Luna’s side for what she was going to say next. “Girls, Luna and I are dating, we have been dating for just over a week.”
“I knew someone has dating! Love sense was tingling!” Pinkie burst out. The six other mares in the room just looked at the pink mare with confused looks, nothing uncommon with Pinkie Pie.
After a minute silence because of Pinkie’s confusing behavior, Fluttershy spoke up; clearly happy for the alicorn couple.
“I’m so happy for the both of you.” Fluttershy’s voice have a reassuring nudge to Twilight, while Luna gave a physical reassuring nudge to the younger alicorn.
Applejack had remained almost silent for the whole conversation, now was her change to speak up; and the country mare did.
“I think that I speak for all o’ us when I say we’re happy for you sugar cube.” Applejack paused before speaking back up. “Just why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
“Twilight was very anxious to tell you; I’m sure that you know about how Twilight over-analyses incredibly unrealistic situations.” Luna spoke up. “I personally find it cute.”
Twilight attempted to keep her blush hidden by covering her features with a hoof, her smile was still visible though. The other mares in the room couldn’t help but laugh alongside Luna.
Twilight’s face reappeared, through this time her expression was something out of sadness and fear. Luna noticed the change in expression instantly, the Night Princess’ own expression turned into concern for her marefriend.
“Twilight?” Luna began. “Twilight, what is wrong love?” Luna began to notice tears coming down the younger alicorn’s eyes. The five other mares around grew concerned looks as well, though Luna much more.
“M-my parents.” Twilight stuttered. These first words of hers turned her tears from a light drizzle to a pour of sadness and realisations. “I just remembered that my parents are homophobic.”
With this, Luna wrapped Twilight into a tight embrace; allowing Twilight to pour it out herself.
“Oh, Twi.” Rainbow Dash spoke. Verbal words weren’t what Twilight needed at the moment, and that is what she was receiving from her marefriend. Luna stroked up and down with her hooves, encouraging her to let it all out.
“My parents are homophobic, they wont accept us.” Twilight began to stutter much more than before. “They wont give their blessing over our relationship.” That next sentence caused tears to come that made her previous tears look like nothing.
Luna moved her face back, now facing Twilight’s. Streaks of darkened purple coming from under her eyes. “Listen to me Twilight, you said yourself that we need to tell them.” Luna had her ‘serious’ voice on. “I promised you before we talked to your friends that I will be there by your side. I promise you now more than anything that I will be at your side, I will share your pain. I’ve told you many times that I love you.”
“But...”
“No buts Twilight.” Luna prevented her from raising another objection, for now. “Your parent’s view on our relationship will not decrease how much I love you.”
Twilight’s tears stopped, only the marks left my them remained.
“We’re here for sugar cube.”
“One problem at a time love, only when you are ready will we tell them.” Luna’s loving words physical reassurance were all that were needed at the moment. Deep down, Twilight knew that Luna was there for her, no matter what.
A few minutes of silence pasted, nothing else needed to be said. Luna took note that Twilight’s muzzle was moving, wishing to bond with hers, Luna allowed this, moving her muzzle just like Twilight. The alicorn couple closed their eyes, and the lips joined and their fore-hooves wrapped around each other, creating a warm embrace.
Minutes of nothing, but kissing. Twilight’s friends just started at the two lovers; they knew for sure that they were truly in love and that nothing would separate their immortal love. Soon did their kiss, regrettably, needed to break; due to the physical need of air. The alicorn couple’s lips parted, their eyes opened and just stared into the lust visible in the other’s eyes. Then their heads turned to face the other five mares who had just seen proof of their relationship, of their true love; nothing more was required.
Pinkie Pie was the first one to speak up. “Sooo… when do I throw a ‘our best friend is dating the Princess of the Night’ party?”
The group just laughed. Pinkie Pie certainly was the Element of Laughter.
“Just so that you know Twi,” Rainbow spoke again, “we’re here for you.”
“Not as much as Luna, though. That’s pretty obvious to us already.” Rarity said.
“We are so happy for you two.” Came from Fluttershy, whom had remained almost silent throughout the kissing.
“I speak for all of us when I say that all will work out in the end.” Applejack’s honesty, her virtue, never failed to show itself.
“Thanks you girls.” Happiness was once again an expression on Twilight’s face. With Luna and her friends, she would be fine.
Twilight was happy to know that her friends were there for her whenever she needed them. Twilight knew that the next few days were going to be tough, her parents being homophobic and all. But she had the best wishes of her closest friends.
Her friends were truly a gift.
