Twilight Sparkle sat on the train to Canterlot, gazing at the sunset as she tried to read a book and failed miserably. No matter how hard she tried, her brain could only conjure thoughts of her secret marefriend, Princess Luna, and her excitement at finally being able to see her again. ’I should really tell my friends about our relationship sometime soon,’ she thought to herself. ’Oh well. I’m sure a chance will come up soon. Maybe at the bonfire Pinkie has planned for a few days from now.’ She felt guilt at not already having come out to them, but she just couldn’t think of the right way to do it. Plus, her little hint at Rarity’s get-together with Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie ought to have been enough for them to figure it out. The unicorn’s thoughts continued like this for the rest of the uneventful train ride.
Since the ride from Ponyville to Canterlot was not a very long one, Twilight found herself standing in the royal city’s train station in what felt like no time at all. Realizing she was not on the train anymore, the lavender unicorn set off for the palace at what could best be described as a very fast trot. She would have ran at a full gallop, but she remembered from experience just how hard it was to safely navigate the streets in Canterlot moving at any pace faster than a slow walk. After taking much longer than her schedule planned, Twilight finally arrived at the palace gates, where she was waved through with only a glance from the guards. Moving through the entrance onto the castle grounds, the unicorn only made it a few steps before she heard a familiar voice calling out to her.
“Hey Twiley, wait up!”
Recognizing the voice of her brother immediately, Twilight consulted her mental schedule and determined that Luna wouldn’t mind if she stopped to chat with Shining Armor for a few minutes.
“Hey Shining. What’s up?” she asked as the siblings shared a quick hug.
Shining took a moment to give a wistful smile before replying. “Not much. My shift’s almost over and I’ve got the best wife in the world waiting for me at home.” He then proceeded to look quizzically at Twilight. “What are you doing here anyway? Princess Celestia always tells me when you’re stopping by.”
“Sorry Shining, but I’m not here to see Princess Celestia. It’s date night and Luna wanted to stay in so I agreed to meet her here.”
“I shouldn’t keep you then,” Shining replied with a knowing smirk. He was one of the only ponies, along with their parents and Princess Celestia, who had been told of the relationship, and he imagined Twilight doing a lot of the things with her princess that he did with his while they were still dating. Well…almost everything. There are some things you just don’t imagine your sister doing. “Have fun!”
“Thanks BBBFF. “
After that, and one more quick hug, Twilight was back on her way to go see her marefriend. Several minutes later, she found herself in front of the door to the lunar diarch’s chambers. The night guards, just like their brethren at the gate, only glanced at Twilight before knocking on the door and announcing her presence. In what seemed like record time, Luna opened the door and excitedly ushered her marefriend in while telling the guards they had the rest of the night off. After the door closed, the dark alicorn turned and shared a kiss with her love, breathlessly saying “I missed you so much,” as they pulled apart.
Twilight gave her a tender nuzzle before replying. “I missed you too, but it’s only been a week. Plus, I swear we sent about a thousand messages back and forth a few nights ago. I don’t think Spike has recovered from that yet.”
Luna giggled at that. “I know, but every night without you next to me is like torture. I find I can’t sleep as well without you there.”
Twilight couldn’t help but smile at this statement. “It’s a good thing I’m here for the night then,” she gently responded as she climbed onto the bed and settled into the warm mass that was her marefriend.
The two shared several moments of companionable silence leaning against each other, neither wanting to be the first to move. Eventually, though, Luna shifted slightly against Twilight to let her know she was getting up and flared her horn with her dark blue aura. Right when Twilight was about to ask what the alicorn was doing, a table appeared in the middle of the room, complete with candles, a bottle of wine with a couple of glasses, and two plates of spaghetti.
Luna spoke up as the lavender unicorn stared at the incredibly romantic dinner laid out before her. “Do you like it? I really appreciate you agreeing to spend the night in with me, so I had the cooks whip up some spaghetti, since I know it’s your favorite. The wine and candles were my idea,” she finished, somewhat smugly.
“I love it Luna. Thank you.” Twilight’s stomach made its approval known too, in the form of a loud gurgle, which caused the mare to blush a vivid shade of red.
“In that case, it sounds like we should get to eating.”
Dinner passed as it usually did for the two mares, with plenty of merry conversation and a little bit of comfortable silence as they savored their meals. As the table with all of the dinnerware was levitated to the side by Luna for the staff to pick up later, Twilight noticed that her dark marefriend’s cheery attitude was suddenly gone, replaced with one that could best be described as nervousness.
“Luna, is everything alright?” Twilight asked, confusion clear in her voice.
“Yes love, everything is perfectly fine. Hopefully, things will be more than fine soon.”
Not knowing quite what Luna meant, Twilight stayed silent and let Luna talk, since it was clear she wasn’t done speaking yet.
“Twilight Sparkle, you have been special to me ever since you freed me from the prison Nightmare Moon had constructed around my mind. Almost every day after that, I wished that there was some way I could meet you and thank you for saving me, but there was too much to do after I returned that I couldn’t do that as soon as I would have liked. Eventually, though, I finally got approval from my sister to go visit Ponyville on Nightmare Night, with the express purpose of meeting you and your friends. While I found all of your friends quite charming, you were the one I connected with the most, not only because you made it your goal to help me that night, but because you genuinely cared about me and about my night.
After I ‘thanked you’ at the library, I was ecstatic. Not just because it was mind-blowingly good, mind you, but also because you had agreed to start seeing me as my marefriend before our…activities started. I was very worried you wouldn’t be receptive to the idea and not want to see me anymore, but I had to take that risk because I could already tell that you were somepony I wanted to spend a lot of time around. As the months grew on, I began to realize that I don’t just want to spend a lot of time with you, but as much time as I can with you. So, Twilight Sparkle, I have one question for you. Will you do me the honor of allowing me to have your hoof in marriage?”
At this, Luna pulled a small velvet box out from under her wing and opened it, revealing a gleaming golden band inside. Twilight stood there for a minute, her brain seemingly lagging behind what the princess had just asked before suddenly screaming “Of course, you idiot!” and locking herself in a passionate kiss with her new fiancée, happy tears streaming down her face.
Later that night, Twilight settled down for bed with Luna. As she drifted off to sleep, she reflected back on everything that had happened since she moved to Ponyville, trying to find a memory that compared to the one that had been created just a few hours ago. The closest one she could find was the night of the Grand Galloping Gala, with everyone proclaiming that the night was going to be perfect. She only recalled that one, though, because of the hilarity surrounding that now infamous night. No, she realized, nothing she had ever experienced before could ever compare to this. ’Well, I guess I have to tell my friends about us now,’ Twilight thought with a slight chuckle as the finally slipped into the land of the dreaming, feeling the still unusual feeling of a ring around her horn as she did.
