It was early afternoon when Luna ran up the stairs, her saddlebag bouncing at her side as she climbed higher and higher towards her and her sister’s bedroom. When she finally reached the top landing, she wrenched the door open, flew across the room to her bed, tossed her saddlebag on the floor and slammed the door with her magic. The little filly lay on her bed, her head buried in her pillow; she was so embarrassed about what had happened at school that she ran home as soon as the school bell rang. Now all she wanted to do was be alone in her room to hide forever and never come out.
“Luuuuuuuuunnnnnnaaaaaaaaa!” Celestia chimed moments later as she trotted happily into the room hauling an overly stuffed saddlebag that she tossed onto her own bed. When the bag landed on the mattress, it burst open, letting loose a mess of heart shaped boxes and cards. “Did you have a good day at school today Luna?”
“It was ok I guess.” Luna said, trying hard to hide her head from her sister.
“Awww, what’s the matter? Did somepony not have a happy Hearts and Hooves Day?”
Luna didn’t answer, she just kept her face buried in her pillow.
Celestia was surprised to see her sister so depressed; the little filly was usually jumping around the castle when she got home from school, excited to tell her big sister all the new things she learned in class. Unable to get a hint about what was wrong from Luna, Celestia turned her attention to the discarded saddlebag, which lay in a heap on the floor next to Luna’s bed. Sticking out of the corner of the bag, Celestia noticed a small piece of red paper that looked like it had been hastily tucked away.
“What’s this?” Celestia asked as she withdrew the piece of paper from the bag using her magic.
Luna looked up from her pillow to see her older sister staring at the thing she had tried so hard to hide in her bag at the end of the school day.
“No Tia!” She yelled as she dove for the floating piece of paper. “Give it back! Don’t look at it!”
“Oh my! Luna, is this a Hearts and Hooves day card!?”
Luna’s wings started buzzing as she flapped them rapidly trying to lift herself off the bed. She jumped up and down on her bed, her outstretched hooves reaching for the card, but her little wings weren’t strong enough to get her close enough to the floating piece of paper. In one final attempt to get the card back from her sister, Luna dove, but Celestia held the card just out of the little filly’s reach.
Celestia giggled as she began to read the card out loud:
“My Dearest Princess Luna,” Celestia read, “I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now that I think you’re the smartest, prettiest filly in class…”
“Tia stop, please!” Luna buried her head under her pillow again, desperate to drown out the sound of her sister’s voice.
“Your wings are beautiful,” Celestia continued, ignoring her sister’s pleas, “and you’re really good with magic; I really admire you. I know you are a princess, and I’m just a simple pegasus, but I hope you’ll be my special somepony for Hearts and Hooves Day.”
Celestia giggled again as she placed the card on the bed next to Luna.
“Awww, that’s so cute Luna; you’ve got an admirer.” Celestia beamed at her sister, but her enthusiasm was met with a glare as Luna emerged from under her pillow.
“I can’t believe you read that Tia,” Luna scowled. Her cheeks were burning red through her blue coat.” I told you not to read it; it’s really embarrassing.”
“What’s to be embarrassed about Luna?” Celestia asked as she sat on the bed next to her sister. “It’s just a card.”
“B-but,” Luna stammered, unable to look her sister in the eye. “This was my first Hearts and Hooves Day at school, and I wasn’t expecting to get a card. I was so surprised when he gave it to me; I just stuck it in my bag and ran away. Afterwards I couldn’t look at him for the rest of the day. I never even gave him an answer or thank him for the card; I just ran home when school was over.”
“Oh, there, there, Luna, it’s ok.” Celestia said as she ran her hoof through her sister’s mane. “Everypony get’s a card on Hearts and Hooves day. Look,” she pointed a hoof towards the flood of cards that had burst from her own bag. “Even I get cards; it’s not a big deal.”
“I know, but…” Luna’s face continued to turn a deeper shade of crimson.
“But?”
“It’s just a bunch of lies.”
“Lies? What do you mean sweetie?”
“Look at me Tia.” Luna jumped off the bed and slowly spun around. “I’m not pretty; my mane is so short and plain, and these wings,” she stretched her little wings to their fullest length so her sister could see, “look at how stubby they are. Some of the other fillies in my class have already started molting their baby feathers.” She slumped on the floor, and rested her head on her crossed forelegs, the hint of a tear started to well up in the corners of her eyes.
“There’s nothing beautiful about me.” She said, wiping away the tears with her hoof. “He must have written the card as a joke.”
“Oh Luna, that’s not true.” Celestia sat on the floor and levitated a small mirror off of her dresser. “Look Luna, you’re very pretty. You’re mane is a wonderful shade of blue, and it’s really cute; any filly would want a mane like yours.”
Luna stared her reflection; was Celestia right? The little filly did like the color of her mane, it reminded her of the sky on a cloudless day. Come to think of it, Luna thought, on the first day of school, there was a group of fillies who told me they really liked my mane.
“But what about my wings? They’re so ugly. And look,” she started rapidly flapping her wings again until she was lifted an inch off of the ground, only to touch back down again a few seconds later. “I can’t even fly with them.”
“Well of course you can’t sweetie; you’re still a little filly after all.” Celestia wrapped a foreleg around her little sister. “You’re wings are beautiful just as they are. And don’t worry Luna, you’ll start getting your big girl feathers before you know it.”
Luna looked up at her sister.
“You really think my wings are beautiful?”
“Of course I do sweetie. They might not be big or powerful, but they have their own charm; they have the type of beauty that can only be found in a princess’ feathers.”
Luna couldn’t help but smile at her big sister; she felt so much better.
“Thanks Tia,” she said, giving her sister a big hug.
“You’re welcome sweetie.”
The two sisters sat on the floor, embraced in each other’s hooves until Celestia finally pulled away.
“So,” she said with a sly smile. “Who’s the lucky colt whose heart you’ve stolen?”
“Oh,” Luna blushed, “his name’s Jetfire. He’s a pegasus in my class.”
“I see. So what’s he like?”
“He’s really cool and nice. He’s got most of his adolescent feathers so he spends a lot of time at recess practicing his flying. He’s also really smart and funny.” Luna started giggling. “There was this one time when these two older ponies where picking on this little colt, so Jetfire filled a few balloons with cold water, flew up into a tree above the bullies, and dropped the balloons on their heads. They were soaking wet and had no idea what was going on; it was really funny and cool.”
“He sounds like a good colt.”
Luna nodded.
“Do you like him?” Celestia pressed on.
Luna could feel her cheeks turn red.
“I-I-I,” Luna took a deep breath to calm herself. “Yes, I do.”
Celestia giggled.
“And do you think Jetfire knows that you like him?”
Luna shook her head.
“No, I’ve been too nervous to tell him.”
“Well, why don’t you go tell him right now?”
“WHAT!? ARE YOU CRAZY!?”
“What’s the problem? He’s already given you a card and asked you to be his special somepony, so you already know that he likes you. All you have to do is take a deep breath, go up to him, and tell him how you feel.”
Luna jumped to her hooves with newfound determination.
“Yeah, you’re right Tia, I really can’t lose, can I?” She checked the clock on the wall. “Hearts and Hooves day isn’t over yet. I’m gonna go find Jetfire and ask him to be my special somepony.”
“Good for you Luna. Do you have any idea where he is?”
“I think so; he usually goes to the park after school to practice flying with his friends.”
Celestia pulled her sister in for another tight hug.
“I wish you the best of luck Luna.”
“Thanks Tia.” Said Luna, returning the embrace. “Oh wait, there’s something I gotta do first.” She pulled away from her sister and ran over to her bag where she grabbed a notebook, a quill, and bottle of ink. “I’ve gotta make him a card too.”
“Good idea sweetie. Would you like any help?”
“No, this is something I have to do on my own.”
Celestia smiled as she watched her little sister set to work on making her first Hearts and Hooves Day card.
Twenty minutes later, Luna was running through Canterlot Park, a red heart shaped card gripped in her teeth. She searched all over for Jetfire, but she couldn’t find him. Where was he?
“Look out below!” Came a shout from just above Luna’s head. Luna barely had time to see the red and orange blur as it crashed into her.
“Ouch,” Luna said as she dropped the card and rubbed her head. She tried getting to her hooves, but she couldn’t; there was something heavy on top of her.
“Oh, sorry.” Said a voice; it was the same one she heard before being knocked down.
Luna could feel the weight being lifted off her. “Here, let me help you up.”
Luna took a hold of the orange hoof and felt herself being pulled back onto her hooves.
“Thanks,” she said, dusting herself off.
“No prob, - oh, Luna, sorry about that; I was just trying a new trick, but I think it still needs a bit of work.” Jetfire laughed nervously. “So what are you doing here?”
“Oh, uh, hi Jetfire. I was just coming by to, um, to…” Luna picked up the card with her magic and shoved it in the colt’s face. “IjustwantedtosayImsorryandgiveyouthiscardand…” She could feel her heart racing and her face once again turned red as the colt continued to stare at her. “Uh, I mean…” Luna took a deep breath just like her sister had instructed. “I just wanted to apologize for running away earlier; I was really nervous because I’d never gotten a Hearts and Hooves Day card before, so I panicked and ran home.”
Jetfire smiled at Luna; she was so cute when she was nervous.
“It’s ok Luna. Honestly, it was a lot better than the response I was expecting; I thought you were going to say no. But, I guess since you took it…wait,” Jetfire read the card floating in front of him. “This card…does this mean?” he read the card again, just to make sure he wasn’t mistaken.
“Yes,” Luna said, nervously, “I want to be your special somepony. That is, if you still…”
“Yeah, of course.” Jetfire felt his orange coat turn the same shade of red of his mane and tail.
The two ponies were silent for a moment; Luna had only planned on telling Jetfire how she felt; she hadn’t thought about what would happen next. Lucky for her Jetfire was ready with a solution.
“So, uh, would you like to practice flying with me?”
“Sure.” Luna said with a smile; she couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend Hearts and Hooves Day than flying practice with the colt she liked.
“Ok, last one to that tree is a rotten egg. Ready set go!” Jetfire took off before Luna had a chance to agree to the race.
“Hey wait a minute.” She took a running start as her wings started beating rapidly; she was barely off the ground when Jetfire reached the finish line. The colt turned around to see Luna just struggling to keep aloft, until she was finally forced to touch back down.
“Hey Luna, is everything ok?” Jetfire asked as he ran over to check on the filly.
“Yeah,” she said, “I’m sorry, I’m just not that good a flyer.”
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I guess I should have asked if you were up for it before taking off like that.”
“No, no, it’s ok, but, uh, maybe we could take it a little easier next time.”
“Sure.” Jetfire couldn’t help but laugh; this was going to be a fun afternoon.
…
The sun was setting over the horizon when Jetfire and Luna decided to call it a day. The two little ponies came to rest under a maple tree on a hill that overlooked the park.
“You did a really good job today Luna.” Jetfire said, smile at the princess. “It was a little rough in the beginning, but I think you’ll shape up to be a great flyer someday.”
“Thanks, but I’m nowhere near as good as you. I bet you’ll be the best flyer in Equestria when you’re older. I might even appoint you captain of the guard. But only if you keep up with your training.” Luna and Jetfire laughed.
“I had a lot of fun with you today Luna.” Jetfire said as the two ponies watched the sunset.
“Yeah, me too. We should hang out more often.”
“Well, we will, now that we’re each other’s special somepony.” The colt inched closer to Luna; he could feel his heart pounding as he slowly wrapped his foreleg around the filly’s shoulder and brought her closer. He almost expected Luna to pull away, but she didn’t; instead, she leaned her head in close and gave Jetfire a small kiss on the cheek. Jetfire felt his wings burst open as he felt Luna’s soft lips lightly pressed against the side of his face; it was his first kiss. Even if it was just on the cheek, it was the most sweet, and innocent kiss that had ever been shared between two young ponies.
Luna rested her head on Jetfire’s shoulder; she thought she would be nervous sitting this close to the colt, but she wasn’t. In fact, she couldn’t remember a time when she felt more comfortable. Looking back now, it was hard for her to believe that she had been so worried; she really liked Jetfire, and knowing that he liked her in return made her the happiest filly in Equestria. She couldn’t wait to get home and tell Celestia all about the time she spent with her special somepony on Hearts and Hooves Day.
