Despite All Odds

Heavy bass echoed through the empty building, reverberating back and forth between the walls and pounding into the lone pegasus and her partner in the middle as they danced with reckless abandon. They both felt the thundering music flow through them like the blood in their veins. They drew together and rubbed against each other, their eyes closed but knowing exactly how to hold and feel the other pony in their arms. When their eyes opened as the music tapered off, they gazed deeply into each others eyes.

The pegasus knew that the unicorn was placing great trust in her by showing her eyes (which were the same cerise colour as her own eyes) and she sighed happily, ignoring the light burning in her lungs from dancing and whispered, “I love you. I love you more than anything in Equestria.” While her words were honest, she couldn't help but feel odd. She never was good at expressing herself with emotions, but thankfully her partner didn't care. “I love ya too Dash, no matter what happens.”

They closed their eyes again and as the last note played, pressed their lips against one another. No matter how many times they had kissed before, it still held that euphoric sense of happiness for both Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch. They pulled each other closer until their bodies meshed together, rubbing their coats against each other and both feeling the heat radiating off one another. Vinyl snaked her hooves around and gently began to caress the blue wings she had become so familiar with over the past couple of weeks, drawing a moan from her marefriend.

She used this opportunity to strike and take dominance of Rainbow's mouth with her tongue. However, she knew Dash wouldn't give up that easily and as soon as she figured out what was going on, the cyan pegasus didn't let the unicorn down by fighting back. Eventually, they fell to the floor with Dash being on top. Vinyl couldn't help but giggle as she felt the prismatic locks of hair tickle her forehead. She felt Rainbow Dash smile against her lips before she pulled away, allowing them both to take in the air they so desperately needed. The two ponies laid there on the floor, panting heavily as music poured from the speakers the surrounded them.

Normally, Vinyl would always listen to the transition from song to song, but whenever a certain pegasus was around, she always lost track (which wasn't too bad considering she was usually “occupied” whenever her marefriend was around) of the song transitions. When they somewhat regained their breath, the quickly closed the distance between them once more as each pony's mind became more hazy and fogged with a desire that many ponies feel, but only the ones who truly loved another could even experience. With a lustful smirk, Vinyl slowly lowered one of her hooves down Rainbow's back towards a more...intimate area.

Meanwhile, another pegasus was diving down towards a tree and as soon as she went through the leaves, she pulled up and headed for then next one as apples fell behind her. When she had finished another three trees, she wiped her forehead and began to lazily scout her lover from amidst the orchard. It didn't take her long to find the tell-tell cowpony hat that almost never left her head. 'Emphasis on never.' The pegasus thought with a chuckle. The earth pony seemed to sense her decent because she turned and smiled. The fiery pegasus hovered about two feet off the ground as she neared the orange pony.

“There ya are. I was just about ta call for ya.” No matter how many times she heard it, the pegasus always found that southern drawl adorable. “Well the sun's gone from the horizon so I figured I'd come find you, eat, then cuddle with you in bed until tomorrow morning.” Spitfire said, laughing as Applejack blushed. “I don't know why you blush when I say it; it's what we do every night. Well...apart from the nights where we share a romantic evening under Luna's moon.” Spitfire smiled as the earth pony's cheeks became even darker. She lowered her head and Applejack met her half way, crushing their lips together. Spitfire couldn't help as her wings fluttered a little faster as Applejack slowly coaxed her to the ground where she quickly dominated the pegasus.

The farm pony had quickly learned that Spitfire was of the submissive sort and had loved to take advantage of that fact as they stood there with lips locked and breath forgotten. To them, the kiss seemed to last forever despite only lasting a few minutes before they finally allowed themselves a breather. “You know...I'm really glad that your family accepts us. I don't know how I would deal with having a secret relationship.” The Wonderbolt said between breaths. Applejack simply nodded. It hadn't taken long for the two to admit their feelings to the farm family due to Applejack's unease at lying. However, the Apples simply took it in stride instead of condemning them for it like the other founding families would. When they had both caught their breath, they stood beside each other, Spitfire's wing over Applejack as they gazed at the moon, resting their heads against each other. “I love ya Spitfire.”

“I love you too Applejack. Now come on, I'm sure Macintosh is looking for us right now and I'd hate to have him see us kiss again.” They both began to laugh as they headed for the farmhouse. “I know I've asked before, but why is it that you're only able to see me every so often? I mean, being a celebrity must be tough work, but half the time I only see ya in shows. The rest of the time you're training so you'd think you'd be able ta see me more often.”

“I know, and I really wish I could be here more. But to answer your question, the Wonderbolts get three weeks off for every time the seasons change; the week before, during, and after the seasonal change. Like right now it's still the week before fall becomes winter. Then, I'll have the week off while all the pegasus ponies switch the weather, then I have the week after. After all that, we have to go back to entertaining and making appearances.” Applejack nodded, taking in the information. “So when Winter Wrap-Up comes along...you'll be back?” Spitfire nodded. “Eeyup.” They shared a chuckle at Spitfire's imitation of the simple phrase that many of the Apples used. Applejack sighed happily and nuzzled the pegasus's neck softly. “I'm glad I met ya sugercube.”

“Me too Applejack...me too.”

The Princess of the Night smiled as she felt the love between ponies emerge in many different places all over Equestria, especially in Ponyville and Canterlot. “Tis always strongest in these two places.” She said happily as she turned from her balcony and headed for the pony sitting on her bed. The pony in questions back was to her, but Luna knew that the earth pony could sense her approach. “Shall I begin to play love?” Luna climbed onto the bed and made her way to the grey pony. “Not quite yet.” She gently turned the head of her lover and tenderly kissed her. The earth pony pressed back, equally as soft.

They might not have expressed their love as passionately as some of the other couples in Equestria did, but they still felt the same overwhelming sense of bliss everypony else did. When she broke the kiss, Luna laid her head down on her lover's lap. “Now you may begin my dearest Octavia.” The musician nodded and whispered, “I love you.” Before she began to draw the bow across the strings. Octavia's eyes slid closed as the notes began to pour from her cello and Luna sighed in silent contentment. She had originally invited the earth pony to come and play for her on occasion and eventually it had evolved into the relationship they were sharing now.

She couldn't help but snuggle closer to the warm stomach that was next to her head and she could feel Octavia shiver. She held in the small chuckles that welled in her throat so as not to disturb the musician any further. She played for at least an hour and a half before finally bringing her notes to a graceful end.

“Beautiful as always my dear.” Luna leaned up with eyes closed and kissed Octavia's neck, making her draw a sharp breath. The lunar princess removed her head and crawled into the bed normally as Octavia replaced her cello with perfection and precision. She had an obsessive hold on the instrument, a story which had yet to be told to Luna. She knew being curious and asking may or may not turn out well so the alicorn simply decided to wait until Octavia herself told her.

She had already had her eyes closed when she felt the blanket move and the bed shift to accommodate more weight before feeling the near familiar warmth of another pony against her. She wrapped her hooves around Octavia as best she could and sighed happily once more. “I love you too.” It didn't take long for Octavia to fall asleep, but the night princess knew she couldn't sleep yet; not until her sister rose the sun and relieved her of her celestial duty. She inhaled deeply, catching the smell of Octavia's perfume as well as her natural scent. She clutched the mare a little tighter against herself as if making sure the earth pony wouldn't just disappear and turn out to be a figment of her imagination.

Luna was relived that Octavia had taken her loneliness seriously. The alicorn had never really been the most social of ponies and because of it, could never understand relationships very well. So when Octavia had shown interest in her of all ponies, she jumped on the chance to have a relationship right away. At first she was glad that somepony could love her. However, as time went on, she began to truly understand what love was. She was grateful that the mare in bed with her was patient enough to not get mad or upset whenever Luna did something inappropriate or something. She kissed Octavia's head, hearing a content mumble from the slumbering pony. Luna chuckled lightly and rested her head on Octavia's and closed her eyes; not to sleep, but just for the sake of being in complete darkness with nothing but the sound of her lover sleeping and the feel of another as she waited for the sun.

As Twilight stirred from the depths of sleep, she clenched her eyes tighter shut to escape Celestia's sun as it crept over the horizon. She buried her head deeper against the pillow, mumbling to herself. However, her eyes shot open when she heard a light chuckle followed by, “Stop Angel, that tickles.” She back away a little and saw that she had been trying to bury her head in Fluttershy's chest. The yellow mare gave a light snore and scratched her muzzle tenderly. Twilight smiled as memories of the night before played in her mind. She laid back down and happily cuddled back up against Fluttershy. As if it were instinct, the pegasus extended her free wing and draped it over Twilight.

Twilight beamed happily as she simply laid there under the wing of her new lover and enjoyed watching the light of the rising sun creep slowly across the floor and eventually begin it's ascent up the wall. It was about halfway to the ceiling when Fluttershy stirred. By then, Twilight had become quite comfortable so when her marefriend shifted, she gave a light snort of unhappiness as the warmth removed itself from her. Fluttershy yawned (cutely Twilight thought immediately) and her eyes fluttered apart. She smiled upon seeing Twilight's face and nuzzled the unicorn. “Good morning Twilight.”

“Good morning sleepyhead.” Fluttershy gave a look of groggy confusion and Twilight said, “It's probably 10:30 in the morning by now. I woke up about two hours ago, but you just looked so peaceful and beautiful I just had to let you sleep.” Fluttershy fought with all her might the blush that tried to make itself known. Twilight on the other hoof was still adjusting to the feel of such honeyed words coming from her mouth to speak about another pony. Twilight rolled off the bed and began to stretch as Fluttershy did so on the bed. It reminded the unicorn of a cat; stretching her limbs forward and lightly pulling on the blanket as she brought them back to her body and the way her back curved so gracefully the whole time she was doing it.

Her wings slowly unfurled and quivered as they reached their full span. She flapped them lazily a few times, then a few more times quicker before closing them back against her sides and hopping off the bed to join Twilight. Before they could do anything else, a light grumble let itself be known. “Heh...shall we go get some breakfast?” The pegasus laughed as Twilight blushed in embarrassment.

“That sounds wonderful.” Fluttershy began to walk out the door, but stopped when she didn't feel a presence beside her. She turned back around and saw Twilight fixing the blankets and sheet of her bed. The unicorn sheepishly chuckled and walked past Fluttershy to some unknown area of the castle. As they walked, they saw Luna's guards switching posts with Celestia's. A few of the guards smiled at the pair or said good morning, but otherwise were too tired to do much else. As Twilight turned a corner, she stopped in her tracks, causing Fluttershy to bump into her. “Twilight? Are you...” Her words stopped short in her mouth as she watched Octavia's lips slowly separate themselves from Princess Luna's. They were both too shocked to say anything or do anything beside watch Luna close her door and Octavia walk away with her cello strapped to her back as she hummed a light tune happily.

Fluttershy was the first to break herself out of the trance. “Wow...I had no idea...” Her statement was followed by another grumble, much louder than it had been in Twilight's room. “Can we please discuss this after breakfast?” Fluttershy laughed and kissed Twilight's cheek.

“Lead on.” Twilight's brow furrowed as the yellow mare just smiled and soon enough, Twilight smiled back. 'Fluttershy almost seems like a whole new pony when it's just us.' She thought as she walked through the familiar corridors until she made it to the dining room where Celestia was sipping something from a cup. Twilight spoke first, followed by Fluttershy. “Good morning Princess.”

“G-good morning.” The Princess of the Sun looked up and smiled warmly.

“Good morning my faithful student. And good morning to you as well Fluttershy. I didn't know you were staying here as well.” Fluttershy immediately felt nervous energy run through her. “O-oh...well Twilight b-bumped into me last night and since s-she's been looking for me, I thought I should c-come and stay.” Celestia just nodded and Fluttershy mentally sighed in relief.

“So how much longer can we expect you here at the castle Twilight Sparkle?” The princess asked, taking another drink of whatever beverage she had in her cup. “Oh, probably until tomorrow. I'm sure Spike's getting worried, not to mention behind on the library duties so I'll need to get back to make sure they don't get too messed up.” She chuckled as she levitated a few pieces of toast over for herself and Fluttershy, as well as two cups filled with orange juice. They all ate in silence with the occasional sound of a service pony coming in and checking up on them. When Celestia finished, she stood up and as she walked towards the door said, “Well, it was nice to be able to have breakfast with the two of you, but I'm afraid duty calls. Twilight, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk and catch up with you sometime later today. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is Princess. Have a good day.” The princess nodded and walked out. However, just before the door shut, she turned and looked straight at Fluttershy; as if into her soul. The stare was backed by the power of the sun itself, burning into Fluttershy and paralyzing the pegasus in place. “Fluttershy? Are you okay?” Twilight's voice barely reached the ears of her marefriend. 'Why did she look at me like? It was a normal enough look, but I could practically feel the anger she was pouring into it. Oh no...is it about Twilight and I? Oh...how am I going to deal with an angry princess?' Twilight's voice finally made its way into Fluttershy's consciousness. “Oh, I'm so sorry Twilight. What were you saying?”

“I was just asking if you were alright. You got kinda pale for a second...” Fluttershy took a few breaths and said, “Yea, I'm okay. I was just remembering one year before winter came a small animal came to me and was...well...not in good shape.” Twilight just gave her a confused look and Fluttershy simply shrugged as she reached for her last piece of toast. Twilight chuckled and finished her juice as she waited for Fluttershy to finish. When the staff cleaned away the table, the girls began to wander the castle with Twilight leading. She told Fluttershy of all her childhood memories within the castle and about her occasional mishap inside the massive structure. If anypony had been around, they would've heard the laughter of two mares simply enjoying each others company.

“So after I stumbled out of the passage, I ran into some of the Royal Guard and they didn't know what to do.” Fluttershy laughed and Twilight couldn't help but notice how loudly the pegasus laughed. She looked at Fluttershy and was about to continue, but before she could say one more word, Twilight was pressed up against the wall with lips against her own. She closed her eyes, not caring how dark her blush was as she tried to kiss back. Of course, she had no experience other than the kiss they shared at Octavia's so she decided to let Fluttershy lead. She felt her knees wobble as the unicorn felt a light flick of the pegasus's tongue run across her bottom lip. She slowly opened her mouth to allow the sensual organ better access and couldn't stop the faint moan that died against Fluttershy's lips. Twilight hesitantly wrapped her free legs around Fluttershy and pulled her closer.

However, she accidentally brushed her legs against the pegasus's wings a little roughly and the result was instant; Fluttershy broke the kiss and rested her forehead against Twilight's chest, panting heavily. “I...I didn't know that would really work...” Twilight breathed. After a moment, Fluttershy set all four hooves back on the ground, allowing Twilight to do the same. Thankfully, it wasn't until they were both on the ground when a few guards walked around the corner. “Ladies.” One said as they walked past the pair. They both looked at each other and smiled, sharing a quick kiss before continuing their walk.

At some point, the managed to go outside and sat on one of the many balconies that were placed on the castle. “I used to come to this particular balcony a lot when I was younger. This was the best spot in all of Canterlot to look up at the night sky. Sometimes I'd do it for studies but as I got older, I noticed that I was doing it just for the sake of doing it.” As Twilight spoke, Fluttershy leaned her head on Twilight's, feeling the light vibrations of her voice when she spoke.

“Oh! I still need to go talk to the princess. Would you like to come with me?” Fluttershy immediately thought of the glare from earlier and shook her head. “N-no thank you. I want to go see if I c-can find Princess Luna and talk to her.” Twilight nodded, though she couldn't help but notice the stutters when the yellow pony spoke. 'Huh...She must just be nervous about talking to a princess is all.' She hugged Fluttershy and kissed her cheek. “Alright. I'll meet you back in my room later okay?”

“Okay.” Fluttershy hugged Twilight back, wishing she had the courage to speak of what had happened earlier. 'But if I did that, it could ruin the image of Princess Celestia that Twilight has built over all these years. I couldn't do that to her...she'd be devastated.' As Twilight turned and began to walk back inside, Fluttershy called out to her. “Hmm? What is it Fluttershy?” The pegasus took a deep breath, then said just louder than a whisper, “I love you.” Twilight smiled warmly, ignoring the warmth on her cheeks.

“I love you too Fluttershy.” And with that, Twilight disappeared behind the door and walked down the hall to who knew where. Fluttershy sighed and looked up into the sky and saw only one cloud, floating alone against a sea of blue. She saw that the day alicorn's symbol was beginning to descend upon the horizon so she figured that it was at least 6:40 or so. After sitting for another minute or so, the yellow pony got up and began to retrace her steps back towards Twilight's room and more importantly, Princess Luna's. When she turned the corner that lead to the hallway where the bedrooms were, Fluttershy could've swore she saw Octavia walk into the lunar princess's bedroom. So, she quickly made her way to the door and knocked three times. “Enter.”

She swallowed a small lump in her throat and pushed open the door. She took a breath when the door finally gave way and allowed her entrance into the room. “Fluttershy? I thought you and Twilight would've been back to Ponyville by now.”

“Eh? Twilight has made up with you then Fluttershy?” She heard the Princess of the Night ask after Octavia's question. “Oh yes, we made up and are...together.” She squeaked the last word, causing the other ponies to laugh.

“I could've swore I told you this yesterday sweetheart.”

“You told me no such thing my beautiful musician.” Fluttershy couldn't believe the two other ponies were being so...open around her. “So...” Fluttershy's mind was drawing a blank. She didn't think she'd be able to ask about this relationship so soon after seeing it.

“Let me guess...you wonder how long we've been together?” The yellow mare nodded, taking the seat offered to her beside Octavia. “Well...it was about a month and a half ago...”

Twilight pushed open the doors to the throne room as quietly as she could and saw that the Princess was still in court. “I see. Well, I believe I may be speaking with him tomorrow so I shall bring up the matter to him before he leaves.”

“Oh thank you Princess, thank you!” A stallion cried out before bowing out of the room leaving only two guards, the Princess, and herself. “Ahh, my faithful student. Guards, you may take your leave for the night.” They thanked the alicorn and left the room without so much as a peep. Twilight made her way eagerly to sit beside the throne of her mentor. “So what did you want to talk about Princess?”

“Oh, nothing in particular. It's just been awhile since we've talked casually. How go your studies? I believe in the last letter you sent, you told me you were studying ancient unicorn rituals.”

“Oh yes! They're quite interesting. I mean, I know you probably already know all about them, but just the variety of subjects that had a ritual in itself was baffling. One for the rising of the sun, one for the rising of the moon, one for each of the seasonal changes, one for fertility, one for romance, one for study itself...the list goes on!” Celestia chuckled at her student's exuberance of learning and simply listened. After awhile, the snowy white royal interrupted. “Tell me Twilight Sparkle...how are your friends all doing?”

“Huh? Oh, well they're all doing quite well. Why do you ask?”

“Simply curious. Though like I said earlier, I did not expect to see the pegasus here with you.”

“Who, Fluttershy? I-” Twilight stopped for a moment as a thought ran through her head. 'Should I tell the Princess of our relationship without letting Fluttershy know? I'm sure she'd want to be at least told before I blabbed about it, even if it is just to the Princess.'

“Twilight? What were you going to say?” The lavender unicorn shook her head and chuckled. “I was going to say...that what she said was true; I had been looking for her the past week or so and since I had found her, I figured that we could go home together and tell everypony the good news. Because everypony's been looking for her as well!” She added quickly.

Celestia just stared for a moment and then said, “Why were you looking for her? Or rather, why was she in Canterlot avoiding you?” Twilight swallowed a lump in her throat that she didn't even know had formed. “Er...well...we kind of got into a disagreement about something and I said something that may have struck a sensitive area for Fluttershy. So, she left Ponyville and my friends and I have been searching for her ever since.”

“I see. Well...that's all I wanted to talk about. I'll be sure to see you off tomorrow before you leave the castle. Good night Twilight Sparkle.”

“Uh...good night Princess.” As she watched the alicorn get up and walk out of the room, Twilight couldn't mask the confusion on her face. 'That was...weird. It's not like her to just end a conversation like that. I guess she's just tired is all.' She yawned aloud and smiled. “Guess I'm pretty tired as well. Time to go back to my room and...cuddle.” She giggled like a school-filly at the last word and bounced down the hall much like Pinkie did anywhere she went. However, in her excitement, she failed to notice the Princess standing around the corner with a slight frown on her lips. “Hmm...” Was all she said before she turned and went to her own room.

When Twilight made it back to her room, she opened the door just enough to allow herself entrance, then shut it quietly. Fluttershy was on the other side of the room, gazing at the sheer mass of books piled high next to Twilight's old desk. With a grin, the magical pony stealthily made her way towards her pegasine marefriend. She stopped as Fluttershy yawned and stretched, but continued on when she figured that she hadn't been spotted. She was mere inches away and lifted her hooves to lightly tap Fluttershy's shoulders when the pegasus spun around quickly and said, “Boo!” Twilight yelped in fear as she scrambled and fell backwards, her eyes wide with shock. “Oh, I'm sorry Twilight. Are you okay?” Fluttershy quickly asked when Twilight didn't move from where she had fallen on the floor. “I don't believe it; Fluttershy...MY Fluttershy actually scared somepony? This is definitely going in a calender.”

They shared a laugh and Fluttershy helped Twilight to her hooves to easily pull her into a soft kiss. Twilight smiled and gently kissed Fluttershy back. She didn't want to say anything, but she thought she was getting good at kissing despite this was only her third kiss. “So...why did the Princess have to say?” Fluttershy asked, leading her marefriend over towards the bed. “It was kind of weird, but I'll tell you on the way home tomorrow. I'm kind of tired.” As if to prove her point, a yawn escaped to punctuate her sentence. Fluttershy couldn't help but follow in example and crawled into bed after Twilight. The pegasus wrapped a wing around the unicorn and sighed happily, gazing with half closed eyes of lavender. “Good night Twilight. I love you.”

“I love you too Fluttershy. Good night.” They shared one more kiss before closing their eyes and allowing blissful sleep to take them.

(Author's Note: Another four days, another chapter. Uh...So, I just wanted to say two things about Octavia and Luna: 1. It's so ADORABLE! and 2. I actually only got the idea after reading a fic on the website. It was incredibly sad, but at the same time was just so...I dunno, heartwarming? Anyways, you should go check it out. It's called All the Stars in the Sky by Lynked. Other than that...how about that Princess Celestia huh? Bein' all suspicious and stuffs...Well, I'm done now so...bye ^^)