There is a First Time for Everything

The next morning, Twilight and Rainbow had woken up and formed a plan. After she had dropped Twilight off at the library to set things up, Rainbow had flown all across Ponyville to find the rest of their friends, and she had told each of them to meet her at the library, pronto. Finding the last of their friends, Fluttershy, the two of them had flown back to the library to wait for everypony else.

Landing at the front door of the library, Rainbow and Fluttershy walked in, finding a small circle of cushions.

“Hey Twi! Everything ready?” Rainbow asked, a hint of excited nervousness in her tone.

“Ummm, ready for what?” Fluttershy asked a little meekly as Rainbow went to lay down on the cushion beside Twilight’s.

“Uh, I’d rather wait until everypony is here,” Twilight replied nervously as she glanced to the side, her tail twitching behind her.

“O-Okay…” Fluttershy whispered, sitting down on one of the cushions, making herself comfortable.

After waiting a few minutes, the rest of their friends arrived at the library. Trotting inside, the three of them greeted the others and took their places on the cushions.

Clearing her throat, Twilight took a deep breath to calm her racing nerves. She couldn’t believe what she was about to do, but she felt that her closest friends should know. Looking at each of her friends in turn, she nervously said, “Everyone, I...I have…” she trailed off, her nervousness getting the best of her. She had no problem talking in front of others, being the center of attention, but this was something else entirely. She glanced down at Rainbow and met her gaze. Staring into those beautiful, caring magenta eyes gave Twilight all of the strength that she needed to continue.

Looking back up, she took another deep breath and continued, “I have something really important to share with you all…”

“Yes?” Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack all asked in unison, leaning forward slightly.

“I’ve found-”

“Oooh! Lemme guess! A book! No, that can’t be it… Your blanket! Your pot! Your qu-” Pinkie quickly chimed in before she was quieted by Rarity sticking her hoof in her mouth.

“Dear, you do need to learn a little bit of restraint in situations such as these,” Rarity said, pulling her hoof out of Pinkie’s mouth. She shook it free of Pinkie’s saliva and motioned for Twilight to continue.

“Heh, thanks Rarity. Now, back to where I was…” She glanced down lovingly at Rainbow, who silently nodded back at her with a reassuring smile. “Ah yes...I- I’ve found love with somepony, somepony really close and special to me.”

Everypony’s eyes went wide, especially Rarity’s. “Ohmygosh Twilight, that’s wonderful! So, spill the beans already; who’s the lucky stallion?! Is it somepony we all know?”

Twilight grimaced; this was exactly what she was afraid of. She had hoped that her friends wouldn’t assume that she had fallen for a stallion; what would they think when she said that she’s with Rainbow?

“I… I didn’t fall for a stallion, and yes, you do know her,” Twilight murmured almost inaudibly, much to the surprise of her friends. She couldn’t bear to meet their gazes, choosing to close her eyes, waiting for the imminent backlash from her friends. She had no idea what they were going to think of her now, but that didn’t matter; what truly mattered was that she and Rainbow loved each other, and nothing could ever change that.

“She fell for me, and I fell for her,” Rainbow spoke up as she slid over to sit beside Twilight, laying a wing over her marefriend. Twilight gave her a quick nuzzle in thanks; she hadn’t wanted to do this all alone.

Everypony’s eyes widened at this juicy tidbit of news. “That’s wonderful, you two!” Rarity quickly exclaimed, an ecstatic smile spreading across her face.

“Yay! Now we HAVE to throw a party for you guys!” Pinkie yelled a little too loudly, eliciting a nervous chuckle from Twilight.

“So...you guys don’t hate me because I’m a fillyfooler?” Twilight asked hopefully, a small modicum of confidence returning to her.

“Dear, why would we hate you for such a trivial matter? Seeing as mares outweigh the number of stallions by fifteen to one, it comes as no surprise to see female couples pop up everywhere. It’s pretty hard to find a stallion these days, especially a good one…” Rarity trailed off, a hint of regret tainting her voice as she remembered the events of the Grand Galloping Gala.

“Oh not all, Twilight,” Fluttershy said in her soft, caring tone, smiling contentedly. She had feared that Twilight’s announcement was going to be something worse. “That’s actually quite nice to hear!” She stood up and pulled the two lovers into a hug, followed closely by everypony else.

Twilight was ecstatic. After stressing out over something that turned out to be inconsequential, she felt extremely relieved that her closest friends accepted her for who she was. After several moments, Spike came back from whatever reckless adventure he and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had just gone on, looking like he’d just taken a swim through a pig sty.

Before he could even greet anypony, Twilight trotted up to him happily, saying, “Hey Spike, I need you to take a letter! I’ve learned probably the most important lesson friendship yet, and I have to tell Princess Celestia at once!”

Perturbed by her enthusiasm, Spike grabbed the parchment and quill, waiting for Twilight to begin.

“*Ahem*

Dear Princess Celestia,

This is probably, no, it is, the most important and personal letter I’ve sent you thus far. I’ll get straight to the point; I have found love with one of my very close friends, Rainbow Dash. Ever since you sent me to Ponyville to learn the magic of friendship, I always wondered if there was anything more than that. In the past few months, I have come to realize that the next level of friendship is love, something that I never knew that I was craving for.

We love each other, and we’ve had some really nice times together, and I’m sure the future holds bright things for us.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle”

“Alright Spike, send it!” Twilight said, trotting back over to where Rainbow was patiently waiting for her. She laid down next to her, pushing her coat against her’s, humming contentedly as Rainbow wrapped a warm wing around her.

“Done! So I take it that you just told everypony about you two being together?”

“Wait, you knew?!” Rarity exclaimed, hitting the floor indignantly with her forehooves. “And you didn’t tell me?!”

“Well, they did want to keep it a secret…” Spike said, shrugging as everypony else giggled around him. He took a seat on Twilight’s empty cushion.

“So how long have you been together?” Rarity asked, a silly smile plastered on her face. She absolutely loved things like this, the fact that two of her close friends had found love with each other was an enormous deal to her. She waited impatiently as Twilight and Rainbow glanced at each other, silently deciding who should respond.

“Umm… I think we’re coming up on three months, right Twi?” Rainbow glanced at her marefriend, smiling when Twilight nodded, agreeing with her statement. “So yeah, about three months.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Pinkie asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. “I could have thrown you two cute lovebirds a party a long time ago!”

“Yeah, sorry about that, Pinks. I’ve been wanting to tell you guys about my awesome marefriend here, but Twi was a little afraid of how everypony would react.” She nuzzled Twilight affectionately, eliciting a small chuckle from the unicorn. “See Twi, there’s nothing to worry about!”

“Hehe, I guess not, I don’t know why I was-” Twilight was cut off when Spike suddenly burped up a letter. Knowing that it had to be a response from Princess Celestia, she unfurled it with her magic and held it before her and Rainbow. She silently read,

“Twilight,

Both you and Rainbow must come to Canterlot to discuss this matter with me; it is of grave importance that you come immediately.”

Rainbow and Twilight sat perplexed, both staring at the letter hanging in the air before them. Even after reading it several times, Twilight still felt a little apprehensive. The letter made it sound like the princess wasn’t happy with this news, and it made her worry. What if she didn’t approve of her relationship? “That doesn’t matter; I’ll just explain why I love her, and why I’ll never leave her for the world.”

“Uhh, Twi? What’s up with the letter? I thought Princess Celestia would have been happy to hear about us...” Rainbow said, a little apprehension tinting her usual confident voice.

“I...I don’t know, Rainbow,” Twilight said nervously. “Wait! What if she thinks Rainbow will distract me from my studies?” A million other thoughts popped into her head, each based on an unfounded fear, making her close her eyes and groan in annoyance. “Everything’s going to be okay…” she thought to herself. “I have Rainbow, and that’s all that matters…”

“Twilight?” Rainbow nudged her marefriend. “You okay?”

“Huh?” Twilight snapped out of her reverie. “Oh, yes, I’m fine.” Standing up, she spoke to the rest of her friends. “Guys, I’m sorry that I have to cut this short, but Princess Celestia has requested that Rainbow and I see her right away.”

“Is everything alright, dear?” Rarity asked as she and others started to leave, sensing her friend’s discomfort.

“I- I hope so,” Twilight said, trying to put as much confidence into her voice as possible. Turning to her assistant, she said, “Spike, can you hold down the library while I’m gone? I don’t know how long we'll be, but I’ll send you a letter if it’s going to be more than a few days.”

As everypony walked out of the library, Twilight grabbed her saddlebags from her bedroom and returned to the main room. “Do you want to stop by your place to get some things for the trip, Dashie?” she asked as the two of them walked outside.

“Nah, I’m good. I have everything I’ll ever need, Twi… you.” Rainbow said a little sheepishly. She was still a little shy about showing affection in public, but she was slowly getting over that fear. Hearing the train whistle blow on the other side of town, signaling that it was about to leave, she said, “Oh horseapples, we’re gonna miss the train if we don’t hurry!” With a cheeky grin, she picked Twilight up and flew as quickly as she could, making their eyes water from the air whipping past them. Landing on the train platform seconds later, they bought their tickets and jumped on the train just as it started to pull out of the station.

Standing in front of the closed throne room doors, Twilight was shivering from the fear of what her mentor was going to tell her. Rainbow sat next to her, staring at the imposing doorway, wondering what was going to happen to the two of them on the other side. “So, Twi…”

Suddenly, one of the throne room doors cracked open, revealing one of Princess Celestia’s royal guards. “The Princess wants to talk to the pegasus Rainbow Dash first, miss Sparkle.”

“Wait, why?!?” Twilight asked, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She had not expected this in the slightest.

“Can we have a moment?” Rainbow asked the guard, waiting a little impatiently for him to close the door. As it shut a few seconds later, she softly said, “No matter what happens, I will always love you. And don’t worry, Twi, everything’s gonna be alright, I promise you that.”

Sniffling slightly, Twilight pulled Rainbow into a hug that could crush steel. A few seconds later Rainbow broke the hug and pushed the door open, leaving Twilight all alone with her worries.

A hurricane of conflicted feelings and fears raged inside Twilight as she worriedly paced back and forth in front of the throne room doors. “What are they talking about? Maybe I can...no, that wouldn’t work. Oh! Maybe I can...darn, that wouldn’t work with either.” Several minutes passed as she wore a track of her hoofsteps into the fine rug under her hooves.

As she was just about to barge in and stop whatever it was from happening, the throne room door opened and the guard from before motioned for her to come in. Pushing both doors open roughly with her magic, she galloped down the large room to stand before Princess Celestia.

As she stood there panting, two things registered in her mind. First and foremost, Rainbow was sitting off to the side, a slightly worried look on her face. Secondly, the princess was looking down at her, her face devoid of any expressions save for something she didn’t recognize. Those two facts led Twilight to come to the worst possible conclusion.

“Princess, please let me explain!” Twilight started, her tone full of worry and fear. “I-”

“There is no need, my dearest student.”

“Huh?” Twilight asked, completely confused.

With a warm smile, Princess Celestia ruffled her wings and continued, “Rainbow Dash made a very convincing argument as to why you two should be together, Twilight. It’s pretty apparent that she loves you with all her heart, and I’m glad that you two have found love in each other.”

“Wait...whaaa…” Twilight sat down, her mouth agape as she stared at the princess in shock. She had been expecting to fight for Rainbow, and all of the arguments that she had thought of suddenly faded away into nothingness. “But- but your letter! It sounded like you didn’t approve of us being together!” As she spoke, Rainbow flew back to sit beside her, giving her marefriend a small nuzzle on the cheek.

“Ah yes, about that. I just wanted to offer you my congratulations in person, and to give you this…” She floated a folded piece of parchment from behind her and laid it in front of Twilight. “But please, don’t open it until you two are in somewhere more...private,” Celestia said with a small chuckle, blushing slightly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to.”

With a short bow, Rainbow and Twilight trotted out of the throne room and back out into the hallway. “Oh, Dashie, I’m so relieved that she approved of us!” Twilight happily said as she hugged her marefriend. Rainbow returned the hug, pulling Twilight closer with her wings.

“Hehe, me too, Twi, me too…” Rainbow whispered, relieved that everything was alright. Chuckling to herself, she remembered what she had done the instant she had gone inside the throne room. She had flown straight to the princess to hover right in front of her, and she had proceeded to give her an earful as to why she loved Twilight. As she thought, she figured that she shouldn’t have jumped to the conclusion that the princess didn’t approve of her relationship with Twilight on unbased fears. “Hey, what did Princess Celestia give you?” she asked, breaking their hug.

“I- I don’t know… Let’s see!” Twilight cleared her throat as she unfolded the note that she had tucked into her saddlebag. Levitating it before her, she read it herself silently. As her eyes went wide in surprise, she checked her saddlebag and gasped in surprise, letting the letter fall to the ground.

Snatching it from the air, Rainbow quickly read the contents of the note.

“My dearest student, if you and your marefriend wish to have some extra ‘fun’ I highly suggest these specialty shops, as they’ve given both my sister and I great pleasure in the past.

P.S. Check your saddlebag; I left the two of you a small gift.”

“A small gift? Twilight, what does she...woah.” Rainbow dropped the letter and glanced down into Twilight’s saddlebag, finding a nicely sized bag of bits sitting in between a couple books. She looked up and met Twilight’s sly gaze.

“You know what this means, Dashie?” Twilight asked in a sultry voice, lowering her eyelids slightly. She continued without waiting for Rainbow to respond. “This means that our love life is about to get a lot spicier…”