Twilight's hoof rapped against the hard, wooden surface of the door and, no more than a few seconds later, a tall, dark blue mare stood before her, greeting her with a wide smile.
"Twilight! Do come in!"
It had been a few weeks since Twilight had seen the princess of the night and, well, it wasn't really a surprise. They had such overlapping schedules that it was rare for them to even share an hour of conversation before one of them had to leave for whatever reason. Luckily, though, they had both organised a time a few weeks in advance where they were both free and had nothing going on. Barring a sudden changeling invasion or a villain deciding that it was time to invade, they both had the next three or four hours to themselves and it was going to be interesting because, well, they hadn't actually planned to do anything and if Twilight knew Luna well - or at least, as well as she thought she did - Luna hadn't planned anything much either.
The purple mare had expected a sudden wave of warmth to hit her as she entered Luna's bedroom but instead, she felt wind gently caressing her face and mane. She shivered. Twilight realised that Luna had opened her balcony doors. Before she had even a chance to speak, Luna motioned for Twilight to sit next to her and she obliged, setting herself down next to her and staring up into the night sky. There was a moment of silence.
...
...
"I figured that..." Luna paused, "well, that you didn't plan anything, so..."
A magical aura enveloped princesses' horn and a few seconds later, two telescopes made their way out of the wardrobe behind them and sat themselves in front of each respsective princess. Twilight's telescope, she had noticed, was slightly smaller and even had been painted what seemed to be a lilac colour, with a drawing of a little star on either side.
"Of course, if it's something you're not interested in or you already planned something else, I understand. But, well... I've always loved stargazing," Luna said, "and it would be nice to have somepony to share my interest with!"
Twilight's lips curved into a smile and she giggled.
"I would be delighted to stargaze with you - your majesty." Twilight put emphasis on those last two words and gave the princess of the night a sly wink.
Luna clopped her hooves together excitedly.
"Oh, wonderful! I say we start now!"
Luna proceeded to peek through the glass of the telescope and a smile worked it's way onto her lips. Noticing this, Twilight tilted her head to the side.
"Something funny?"
Luna looked over to Twilight. She hadn't even noticed she'd been smiling.
"Oh, no." Luna smiled "I just... well, I suppose it's rather lovely to stargaze with somepony. Stargazing by myself is nice, but it gets lonely sometimes..."
Twilight nodded understandingly, feeling a swell of sympathy for the mare.
"Well," she began "perhaps we could make this a frequent thing? I-if you want to, that is."
Luna considered the proposal for a minute. While she had enjoyed stargazing by herself, she concluded that it was, indeed, a far more enjoyable hobby to share with a friend. However, she thought to herself, what if they grew tired of one another? She shook her head at herself, turning to face the mare.
"That, Twilight Sparkle, is a wonderful idea."
The two exchanged smiles and both turned back to peer into the glass of their telescopes, a peaceful silence enveloped the pair as time passed.
Twilight reflected briefly on the situation that she was in. It was strange, she pondered, how keen she was to go stargazing with the Princess of the night. Usually, she was not a pony who enjoyed stargazing all that much. She was more of a mare of science. Learning about stars? Sure! Studying the composition of planets and their relative positions to their moons? Working out the precise distance between two celestial bodies? Of course! But how come, when Luna herself had offered, she had felt so excited to partake in the activity? She considered that if it was one of her other friends, she likely would have offered an alternate night out, rather than bask in the excitement of going stargazing. Even after she had come to terms with that fact, one word had plagued her mind - why? Why, out of all the ponies in Equestria, did Twilight Sparkle desire to spend time stargazing with Luna? An activity that, for her, was rather distasteful.
Twilight jumped suddenly, recoiling as she felt a wing suddenly wrap around her body, pulling her close. As she realised what was happening and who had embraced her, she instantly relaxed into the wing hug. The pair stayed like that for a few moments, before Luna began to slowly pull away.
Before she could, however, Twilight gently tugged on her wing, urging her to place her wing back into its original position. As she realised what she did, however, she flushed. However, there were no objections from Luna. She wrapped her wing back around Twilight, squeezing her gently with it as she did so. The purple mare nuzzled gently into her friend's side and let out a small sigh of happiness.
What was intended to be a normal, friendly stargazing session had turned into a mini snuggle session - not that either were complaining, of course - and soon both telescopes were forgotten about, the two mares embracing each other tightly in the crisp, cool air of the night.
Luna gently rested her head on top of Twilight's and closed her eyes, sighing in contentment.
"Y'know, " Twilight began, "it'd be nice to be able to do this more often."
"Snuggles?" Luna queried "or stargazing?"
Twilight giggled, looking up into those deep, blue eyes - the eyes that held so much caring and emotion. She leaned forward slowly, placed a gentle kiss on Luna's cheek and closing her eyes.
"Hmmm~...", Twilight hummed, closing her eyes "Snuggles. Definitely snuggles."
Author's Note
I reviewed this one a couple of times over, and couldn't help but feel the pacing was a bit off. I tried my best to polish it off, so my apologies if the story seems to fast in certain places. I wrote this over the course of a few days, so the writing might be a little bit up and down.
Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed! I'm certainly open to any constructive criticism you have!
-Rainbow :3