Rainbow Dash's mouth fell open in shock at the question, staring wide-eyed at her marefriend.
"What?" Luna frowned at the cyan mare tucked in her wing. "Is that such a strange question to ask at this point?"
"You mean you don't know?" She exasperated, swinging her hoof in the air. "How could you possibly not know?"
Luna waved a hoof in defense. "I-It's not like that! You must not understand. I know that you like me." And she rolled her eyes with an amused smirk. "I would have to be blind not to see that after the past eighty-six and a half weeks."
"Uhum, yeah," Rainbow quipped, but she was grinning now. "Not to mention how many times I kiss you in a single day. I was beginning to think that was another one of those totally platonic traditions from before your banishment you talk about."
Luna giggled and shook her head. "Not like that, it isn't."
Rainbow cackled, her wings rising a tad. She seemed to take pride in that.
Luna's heart fluttered. It was an adorable little laugh.
Eventually, the alicorn looked down at the cloud beneath them. She shifted a hoof along its fluff. "It's just… when I confessed to you my feelings that day, you… looked so shocked. Reasonably so, but still. It was clear you only said yes to that first date because you were in an unfair position. I am… a ruler and symbol of Equestria. It may have seemed awkward for you to reject-"
"Hold up. You think that's the reason I said yes?"
Luna's ears perked up as she looked at her. "Surely it was. You were so reluctant."
Rainbow nudged her with her wing. "I said yes because you're awesome. And I probably just came across as reluctant because I was…, you know, nervous."
“Nervous?” Luna echoed, puzzled. “But what for?”
“What do you mean what for? I was nervous to embarrass myself in front of you, obviously!”
Luna blinked at that. "You? Nervous to embarrass yourself… in front of… me?" And when she finally grasped the concept, she burst into a delightful fit of laughter.
That day had been such an achievement for her, and such a long and painful build up. Frightened out of her mind to reach out, fearing the worst of judgments. That she’d seem awkward, confusing, out of her mind, or even frightening. Though it felt like it had been years ago now. To think, she went through all those nerves just for Rainbow Dash to be nervous around her.
Rainbow’s face took on an ever slight red tint. And she brushed her mane over her head nonchalantly as Luna laughed, as if trying to keep her dignity from flying off somewhere. “W-Well, of course I was. You’re the princess of the friggin night! You spend all night battling everypony’s vicious nightmares all the time! How could I possibly not recognize that?”
“Well, perhaps battling is a bit of a stretch,” Luna chuckled, and the laughter died down as her gaze trailed along the warmly colored clouds of the rising sun.
It was the first spark of the morning, the time she and Rainbow tended to nap together. But she hadn’t been able to fall asleep quite yet. Not without asking the question.
“Even still. ...You hadn’t yet known me very well. You hadn’t yet come to understand me for everything I really am. …Nor could I have truly understood you. But now that it has been some time, I think you’ll agree that that has changed.
“So I will ask again,” she prepared, gaze rising to meet Rainbow’s once more. “Do-… Do you love me?”
Rainbow stared at her, unspeaking. Peering through Luna to find everything she could manage to find in her eyes. Until finally, she softened.
“Hehe. Now I understand,” she rasped under her breath with a gentle smile.
“Understand what?” Inquired Luna. Maybe for a nanosecond, she considered complaining about her lack of an answer, but the desire to understand what was happening behind those eyes far outweighed it.
Rainbow stared off at the sunrise. “When I was dating Applejack, I used to shower her with as much physical affection as I could. That was how she could see my love for her, so that was what I did day in and day out. I guess ever since then I just kinda figured everypony felt the most love that way.” She glanced back at Luna with a joyful smirk. “But you’re like me.”
"Like you?" That certainly caught Luna's interest. “How so?”
“How all that stuff is just a bonus,” Rainbow explained, dazing off again. “But at the end of the day, no amount of kisses or Sonic Rainbooms or chillaxing together is going to be worth as much as hearing the words themselves. ...Am I right?”
Luna felt her face flush a little bit. It actually frightened her. She thought of Nightmare Moon, and how not even Celestia had used enough real words to assure her that she was loved. It must have been an obvious thing to Celestia, but to her...
Embarrassed and a little ashamed, she considered denying it.
“Well. I suppose there can be no denying it at this point,” She sighed. "It is just… I’ve never really been good at reading ponies. I know that for others it is only natural for them to pick up on that sort of thing. Things like… love. But for me, it has always been a struggle. Feelings are hidden behind faces, and there is no certain way to tell what a face is trying to tell you. Feelings are silent. As such, I have had a hard time hearing them.” Her eyes flicked away. "It has been somewhat of a burden to those around me in the past. I understand if it is difficult to adapt to."
"Seriously? That's not a burden at all! I'm telling you, I get it! If the words are what you're into too then you should have just said so!” Rainbow beamed, hopping out from under Luna's wing and into flight. “Here, let me answer your question.” She sucked in an incredibly large breath and then screamed:
“I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU! I, RAINBOW DASH, AM COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH THE BEST PRINCESS, MARE, AND PONY IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA AND THAT'S LUNA!”
Rainbow Dash slunk back onto the cloud to catch her breath. She wiped at her brow with a wing. “Whew… Sorry about that. Guess that must have been kinda ov--”
But Luna tackled her with a violent hug of hooves and wings, squeezing so tightly she could barely breathe enough to finish her sentence.
“Aagh--... Over-… -due!” She managed.
“Sorry,” Luna loosened, beaming. She was teary eyed. “I never would have expected to get so emotional, it’s just…. I am so glad to have found somepony like-…” And then the tears were falling, and her nose was red, and her voice was congested. “...You.”
Rainbow just rolled her eyes away from her. “Jeez,” she agonized despite her laugh. “You are way too sappy, you know that?”
Luna sniffed and wiped away the waterworks. She smirked devilishly, despite her blubbery face. Tugging her closer again. “But you love it?”
And Dash touched her muzzle to Luna’s with soft pride. “You bet your flank I do.”
Luna hummed in delight. “By the way, Rainbow."
“What’s up?”
“THY PRINCESS VERY MUCH LOVES THE AMAZING RAINBOW DASH AS WELL!”
The sheer volume from the Canterlot voice had forced Rainbow to cling onto the cloud beneath her just so she wouldn’t blow backward.
It made Luna giggle.
Rainbow rubbed her ears flat against her skull, soothing her eardrums.
Luna was still smirking. “Want me to do it again?”
Rainbow blushed, itching her neck. “Heh heh. I really appreciate it and all, but maaaayyyybe that wouldn’t be very wise for my eardrums.”
“I can adjust my volume,” She offered, before leaning in to whisper in her marefriend's ear. “I love you.”
The cyan mare went beet red and pushed Luna’s face away, laughing. “Okay, okay, okay, I get it, I love you too. Don’t you need to get some sl--”
“Oh, what happy days!” Luna beamed and trapped Rainbow in yet another suffocatingly tight hug, unable to contain her excitement at hearing the words again. Laughing.
Rainbow didn’t even bother to finish her sentence this time. She had a feeling that there'd be many more opportunities for words to be said. And they were going to be said a lot.
