It was getting late and it was nearly time for the day foals to return home for the evening. That meant there was just one last stop for them to make. Out in the gardens, just past the maze, a statue of Nightmare Moon crouching like a beast ready to lunge had been erected. Supposedly Luna had donned her old armor in order to pose for the sculptor and make sure the statue looked especially authentic and frightening. But that was just a rumor as everypony knew the Princesses were above such things. None the less, all the foals had been lead out to the statue while their guardians hung back to keep watch as the little ones made their traditional offering of candy.

Mustering up their courage, the little ones ventured forth into the open where predators could easily catch them. It was easy to spot the elder siblings and more playful parents for they shamelessly stoked these instinctual fears in their charges. Thankfully, the bravest of foals managed to keep the others from falling back as they lead the way.

From the shadows, an unseen figure’s giddy anticipation had been tampered with stoic respect for the brave foals in the lead. It was a private game she’d played with herself whenever she saw such commendable courage in those so young. She’d bet with herself that such foals would hold onto those commendable qualities and go on to do great things in life. If they did, she’d reward herself with a cookie. As such a long lived being, she had the patience to wait for these bets to yield results, leading to the merciless slaughter of countless pastries in the past. Yet now was the chance for her to look forward to a new future as a new generation of ponies rewarded her faith in their abilities with all new batches of delicious treats. She had to catch up with her sister somehow, after all.

The bravest of the foals arrived at the base of the statue first, many holding the hands of their friends and siblings. Reaching into their bags, they extracted a handful of their hard earned hoard and dropped it casually into a pile. They then stepped aside for the foals behind them to do the same and the process continued.

The last filly, pink and dressed as Celestia, looked less than thrilled at having to give her offering. Unlike those before her, she carefully searched her bag only for those candies she knew she wouldn’t be eating later. Gripping the handful of loser candy, the little filly looked up at the grinning statue of the legendary peril. Angry at the hunk of stone for even looking at her with such creepy eyes, the filly threw her handful up into the statue’s snout.

“Ow.”

The filly and other foals froze in horror as they watched the statue roll around her snout where the candy had struck. Her cover blown, Luna decided to just roll with it.

“YOU DARE!?” Nightmare Moon straightened herself up as she boomed in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “YOU DARE OFFER ME, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE NIGHTMARE MOON, THIS TRIFLE PITTANCE,” she gestured to the pile, “AND CALL IT AN OFFERING?”

The foals’ guardians had planned to look on with only mock terror. They’d been briefed beforehand on what the Princess had planned. But this was a little too real.

“FOR THIS TREACHEROUS TRANSGRESSION, WE SHALL INSTEAD DEVOUR…” She bore her razor teeth and lowered her head in preparation to pounce. “YOOOOOOOOU!” On cue, a nearby pegasus night guard delivered a roundhouse kick into a thunder cloud, lighting up the sky behind his dark specter of a Princess. “MWAHAHAHAHA!”

The gardens came alive with activity as foals scattered and adults raced to catch them. It was like farmers trying to catch a greased up pig, only not as coordinated. Things became especially irksome when non-flying adults found themselves chasing after pegasi foals who, upon realizing how high they were, were so impressed that they forgot to look where they were going and began colliding into things. Things were no better on the non-flying front as little unicorns blindly levitate random objects at anything they perceived as a threat while a few of the earth foals took to digging tunnels deep underground. The role of Nightmare Moon required her to laugh maniacally, but in truth Luna was so tickled that she was rolling on her sides and very nearly fell off of her perch.

When all was said and done, the adults had gathered the foals back in front of the statue where Luna, now sitting on a throne of candy and still in her Nightmare Moon persona, was able to assess the damage. Several dozen bruises, no broken bones, a mountain of injured pride, and two new cutie marks. Luna beamed with delight as she could not have been more pleased with the results.

“Excellent!” Nightmare Moon declared with an uproarious laughter. “This display has pleased your beloved and gorgeous Mistress of the Night. As such, she will not be devouring any little ponies this year.” There was a round of relieved sighs from her audience. “Unless anypony wishes to volunteer?” She smacked her lips for emphasis.

“Well, if you’re offering…” A light purple mare in her early twenties spoke up, only to have her ear yanked by another mare who could be her twin. “Never mind,” she grumbled disparagingly.

At the coaxing of the adults, the foals unanimously declared their thanks to the Princess of the Night for arranging such a fantastic holiday. Luna graciously thanked them and wished all a happy Nightmare Night before they departed. Left alone with her respectable pile of tooth rot, Luna gazed down at the small treasure trove offered up by such happy foals and let out a contented sigh. She then stood from her throne, lit her horn to change from her Nightmare armor back into her bunny suit, and readied herself to return to the real party, at least until she got to do this all over again in the morning.

**********

Talon had had to take an energy drink and walk extra slowly just to keep from wobbling like a drunk as she departed Luna’s chambers. The alicorn had left a while ago with a spring in her step to attend to the candy offering. “Guess the ol’ gal was more nervous than I thought,” she muttered to herself, having second thoughts about taking on this task by herself. Her appetite’s growing, she thought with dread. Might want to hurry up with sweet wing’s induction.

In a few minutes the griffon was right as rain and set about the task of finding her companions. She spotted them moving up ahead, but stopped herself from calling out to them. Using her keen eagle eyes, she saw that the mares were no longer jealously clinging to the human. They were still close enough to rub elbows as he walked between them, but all three were walking at a much more casual pace. Besides the occasional tail brush of the human’s lower legs, the real kicker for the griffon was when she saw Silver stretch her wings out and brush across both Thomas’ and Moonlight’s backs.

Hot damn! Talon cheered. With or without feathers, wings were naturally sensitive. She’d gone over as much with Thomas. But what Talon had neglected to mention was how wing touches, like what Silver had just done, were used as signs of affection, be they platonic or otherwise. Instead of joining in, Talon decided to hang back for now and continue to observe to make sure things were as they seemed.

Ignorant of the griffon’s presence behind them, the man and mares were not so ignorant of how the atmosphere around them had changed. Silver sighed in relief at the absence of hostility from both herself and the other mare. She also grinned at how neither of them flinched away when she’d touched her wing to their backs, implicitly accepting the show of affection.

Thomas was glad to be able to move around with his arms free again. He’d never been one for comfortable silences, but the one that pervaded now just seemed right somehow.

At the same time, Moonlight was coming to terms with just how foolishly she’d been acting all night. Between her overreaction to Pineapple and her petty competition with Silver, she’d been acting like a spoiled brat. But after the haunted house, she couldn’t for the life of her understand why the latter had happened in the first place. Something told her it had something to do with Silver, but she was at a loss to say exactly what.

“Moonlight!”

The mares and man looked up to see an incoming bat mare dressed as a devil. She had red horns and short socks, a black cape, and red detail along the rim of her wings. She carried a red pitchfork and wore a shiny black bikini top and bottoms.

“Grace!” Moonlight waved her over and the other mare took flight. When she landed, the unicorn and new bat pony embraced and Moonlight moved aside to give a clear view. “Everypony, this is my friend and fellow House Guard Blade Grace. Grace. This is Sir Thomas and Lady Silver Bell.”

“A pleasure to meet the both of you.” Grace curtsied before fixing Silver with a grin.

“House Guard, you say?” Silver asked as she stepped forward, leaving Thomas alone, and took her fellow bat pony’s hands in her own. “It’s such an honor to meet a fellow night foal working to protect our Princess.”

“The honor is mine, good lady.” Grace tilted her head forward in a soft bow. “For you provide such a reverent service to her.”

“Not at all, Sir Knight,” Silver said with blushing pride. “I am still only on probationary service. The true honor,” she stepped aside and gestured to the human, “goes to Sir Thomas, my senior, eh, officer.”

Officer, am I? Is that how harem’s are ranked? Thomas thought as he softly bowed as he’d seen them do. “Nice to meet you too. How are you enjoying the party, so far?”

“I’ve heard many ponies saying that this is the best Masquerade ever, and I’m inclined to agree,” Grace said happily as her eyes roamed appraisingly across Thomas’ body. “The decorations are grand, the food is scrumptious, and the foals were absolutely ecstatic when I saw them leave.”

“Naturally,” Silver bragged. “Despite its… unfavorable origins,” her ears briefly drooped, “who else could make Nightmare Night better than the illustrious-”

“Princess Luna!” Grace chimed in, speaking in unison with Silver and leading to both mares to giggle at what they’d done.

Moonlight had moved back to Thomas’ side where she noticed him leaning up to whisper something.

“Fast friends, those two,” he whispered.

Moonlight was fairly certain that Thomas wasn’t being quiet enough to avoid the bat ponies’ notice, but they seemed to be doing a good job of pretending to not hear. “Bat ponies have a universal love for Princess Luna,” she informed. “It’s always been a strong core for their relationships.”

“So…” Thomas inclined. “An entire race of fan-girls?”

Moonlight smirked as she caught sight of Silver and Grace’s ears flicking their way. “Oversimplified, but yes.”

**********

Luna had been indulging in her party guests for nearly half an hour before she caught sight of something to distract from the monotony of it all. “Sister,” she called to the brown garbed alicorn who stood above the rest.

“Sister,” Celestia returned the greeting with a forced grin as they closed the distance between them. Her breasts bounced with each step, showing that her skin-tight cat suit provided no real support for the top-heavy white alicorn. “How goes your first Nightmare Night Masquerade?”

“It goes splendidly!” Luna declared stridently, not caring of who was bothered by her volume. Despite the vibrations of her voice, the clever craftsmanship of her suit ensured that her own breasts managed to stay firm and still. “The foals were an absolute delight and I have been hearing wonderful things from the haunted house.”

“Wonderful, you say?” Celestia asked skeptically. “Sun Dancer seemed to think you could have toned down on the fright factor.”

“Oh?” Luna raised a brow in concern. “Did she not enjoy the ride, then?”

Celestia averted her eyes as a smirk took her lips. “Red Amber said he first met her on her third trip.”

The alicorn sisters shared a giggle as the surrounding guests shouted their approval of the haunted house, which was now being dubbed as Halloween. Many praised Luna for her creativity, both in the ride and for her costume. Others expressed concern that the ride was not appropriate for the foals being let on, despite the arguments that the young ones were enjoying it most of all.

“I have been hearing similar tales, sister,” Luna said, ignoring the cacophony of conversations around her. “And it raises the quandary of why adults seem to be so much more affected than the foals.”

“I am unsure.” Celestia extended her elbow, which Luna took as the pair gracefully walked across the room, basking in the praise of their guests. “Foals have always been more open minded than their elders. Perhaps this is a matter that bears further examination.” The Princess of the Sun giggled as Luna was hit with another wave of compliments to her creativity. Celestia gave her sister a wry look that seemed to ask ‘so when are you going to tell them?’

“All things in good time, sister,” Luna replied, nodding to her guests. A sizable crowd had grown in the last couple minutes. No doubt in response to word of the presence of both Princesses. “For now, let us all enjoy the party.”

Celestia darted forward and stole a quick playful lick of her sister’s cheek, causing Luna to blush and sending a wave of murmurs across the crowd. Luna retaliated with a swift snap of her tail against her sister’s costumed bottom, causing it to jiggle much more than it normally would. The alicorns shared a wry grin and silently vowed to postpone their game until later. For now, they decided to split and attend to their guests.

**********

By the time Thomas and company, now with Blade Grace, had returned to the Masquerade, the grand hall was nearly full to bursting with costumed ponies. The lights had brightened a bit and taken a more violet sheen to let all know that the Masquerade had officially begun.

Thomas had to wonder at just how much he resembled a pimp with how he had Silver to one side and Moonlight and Grace on the other. While initially worried about being mobbed by stuck up ponies clamoring for favors, Thomas was relieved to find that, for whatever reason, he and his friends had been rendered largely invisible to the other guests. Other off-duty guards noticed Grace and Moonlight and a handful of nobles came up to greet Silver, but no one seemed to recognize Thomas unless either of his companions expressly pointed him out to them. But this suited the human just fine as it afforded him more time to spend with the ponies he actually cared about.

“I had managed to board the haunted house at the very beginning,” Grace bragged. “I must say, they prepared us for a lot of things in the guard, but I never expected to see anything like that.”

“Did you go with anypony?” Moonlight asked, affectionately pressing her side against the gray mare.

“Lavender Crush, actually.” Grace tittered. “I swear I never heard a stallion scream like that before.” Her laughter was joined by the others.

“What was the scariest part for you?” Silver asked. “For me it was the vamponies coming out of the furniture.” She shivered. “I don’t think I’m going to look at Quills and Sofas the same way again.”

Another round of nervous laughs before Moonlight answered. “It was the thing right after, that guy shaped like a cone.”

“I did not care for the clown, or that little round foal looking thing without eyes.” Grace declared. “Psht. ‘We’re not mean’ my flank,” she scoffed at the lyric.

All eyes fell on Thomas for his contribution. “I don’t know about scared, but I really didn’t expect them to use actual fire on the pumpkin scarecrow.”

“What do you mean you didn’t expect?” Grace asked.

“That’s right.” Moonlight recalled and set her hand on Thomas’ back. “Our good Sir Thomas knew about the haunted house ahead of time and saw fit not to warn any of us.”

The mare’s warning tone was made clear, but Thomas only gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry, but I really didn’t think that stuff would be so scary to you guys.”

“Not scary?” The mares asked in unison, only to turn away in embarrassment at admitting such a weakness in front of a stallion.

“Well, yeah,” Thomas shrugged. “Moonlight. Remember when you asked where this costume came from?” He gestured to himself. “Well that was it. That’s the movie I loved as a kid.”

At the confused expressions on both bat mares, Moonlight leaned in and answered “human term for foals.” And they nodded in acceptance.

“So you actually show things like that to your foals?” Silver asked in concern.

“That’s not even the worst of it,” Thomas chuckled as he recalled a few of his other childhood favorites. “Standards have gotten a lot stricter in recent years, but ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, what the ride is based on, its actually pretty tame compared to the other stuff.”

Moonlight felt an odd twinge of pain in her chest at Thomas’ explanation. It was like hearing a friend confess some terrible trauma they’d suffered, but Thomas looked like he couldn’t be more thrilled about it all. Maybe human culture does a better job of preparing their foals for such things? Moonlight wondered. Or maybe Thomas doesn’t think such things are scary because human minds are different? This led to a new level of pain at the prospect that there were some aspects of her human friend that, perhaps, were simply unknowable.

“What’s kris-mass?” Silver asked, breaking Moonlight of her revelry.

“Christmas is…” Thomas trailed off as he considered. “It’s a lot like Hearth’s Warming. Similar to how Nightmare Night is like the human holiday Halloween,” he explained, gesturing to a column decorated with cobwebs and cutouts of bats and ghosts.

“Don’t you think it’s rather odd how there are so many similarities between our cultures?” Moonlight asked. “Reversing sex roles is one thing. That’s just biology, I think. But to have holidays so similar is just so… so… peculiar?” She asked, checking if they agreed with her word choice. They did.

“Agreed,” Thomas nodded as he folded his arms. The show made pony holidays similar to human ones to make the story relatable, but there’s really no explanation for similarities across universes.

“Maybe there’s been contact between countries before?” Silver suggested. “That’s what Firestorm seemed to be implying.”

“Even so,” Thomas said skeptically. “Our version of these holidays only came about in the last half century or so. And from the sound of it your holidays have looked like this for millennia.” He paused until his unasked question was met with a round of nods. “So how would that work?”

“Maybe a pony went to the human country?” Grace offered.

“Doubtful,” Thomas dismissed. “And even if one did, I just don’t see them going around and changing a couple holidays, which, for a time were actually banned.”

Before the conversation could go any further, Talon had rejoined them only to wave Moonlight over. Dismissing herself, the mare joined the griffon off at the outskirts of the party where they soon found themselves in the shadow of the third and often neglected Princess. “Hello there,” Cadence greeted warmly. The Princess was dressed as Starswirl the Bearded, which bore a striking resemblance to Yen Sid from Disney’s ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’. “How’s my favorite griffon enjoying Nightmare Night?”

“Not bad.” Talon nodded graciously. “And you?”

“Oh, you know.” Cadence shrugged. “Just trying to get by and have a little fun before captain buzzkill finds-” She cut off as a panting white stallion dressed as a witch approached from behind. “And right on cue. Good job, sweetie,” she congratulated sardonically.

“Don’t listen to a word she,” *pant* “says,” Shining gasped. “I’ve been chasing her around all night trying to keep her from making a scene.”

“A scene!?” Cadence gasped in shock. “When did you stop me from-”

“You tried to steal Princess Luna’s candy offering,” the stallion snapped back as all eyes turned in disbelief onto the pink Princess.

“Besides that,” she crossed her arms and huffed indignantly.

Shining’s witch hat levitated up as he extracted a moderately sized scroll which he unfurled before his audience. “Twenty six confirmed attempts to steal candy from foals; emphasis on the ‘confirmed’ part because you managed to evade me more than once,” he began with cold accusation.

“Shinyyyy!” Cadence bubbled, her attitude doing a one eighty as she draped herself over his shoulders before he could continue with his list. “Oh, silly me. Have I been neglecting my big, strong coltfriend all night? Won’t you pwease forgive your wittle Cady-wady?” She asked in baby talk.

Shining Armor stared between the mare who would be his wife, the scroll listing her numerous crimes, the members of Luna’s harem and House Guard, and then back to Cadence. After much deliberation, he decided to place the scroll back in his hat before turning to the taller mare. “So long as the list doesn’t keep growing, I might, might be willing to withhold it from the other Princesses,” he said warningly.

“Oh Shiny. I love you!” Cadence exclaimed as she seized his lips against hers in an impassioned kiss. “Now why don’t you go fetch us something to eat? I actually wanted to talk to these guys a minute.”

Shining gave a defeated sigh before meeting Cadence’s eyes. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

“I know,” Cadence whispered as she shook her rump at him, giggling at how she’d successfully distracted him for a couple seconds. When he was gone, Cadence turned to face the smaller unicorn with a mischievous grin. “Now that the stallions are away, I think it’s time the two of us have a little mare talk.”

“Okay?” Moonlight gulped questioningly, the seriousness of the Princess’ words making her anxious.

After dismissing Talon back to her own devices, Cadence leaned in close and lit her horn as both of their heads were briefly engulfed in her purple aura. “High precision sound shield,” Cadence said. “Only we can hear what we say.”

“… Okay?” Moonlight’s anxiety was growing by the second. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Moonlight Shield,” Cadence began. “Who am I?”

“Pardon?”

“Who. Am. I?”

“P-Princess Cadence?” Moonlight answered warily.

“Good,” Cadence nodded. “What am I Princess of?”

“Love?”

“That’s right.” Cadence grinned as she nodded again. “So what do you think we’re here to talk about?”

Moonlight skeptically narrowed her eyes on the Princess. “I assume you’re trying to set me up with somepony?” Moonlight asked, receiving a wry grin from the pink Princess.

“You don’t look very happy about that,” Cadence observed with a soft giggle.

“I’m not!” Moonlight protested. “I mean… Not that I’m not grateful or anything, and I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about what you’ve done.” Moonlight had heard the stories. For the last couple decades the Princess of Love had been earning her title by playing matchmaker with countless ponies. She’d even opened up her own dating service where she interviewed numerous ponies seeking love and managed to find matches with a nearly 100% success rate. Even so… “I’m just not really looking for that right now.”

“That’s actually the problem,” Cadence asserted. “You’re so focused on not looking that it’s a miracle you haven’t walked out in front of a speeding carriage yet.”

“Princess?”

“Sorry.” Cadence shrugged her shoulders. “It’s just a little pet peeve of mine. It bothers me how many of my clients come to me looking for their very special somepony when half the time they’ve already met each other!” She said with an exasperated sigh. “And that’s what’s been bothering me. I’ve been trying to keep my ‘big pink nose out of it and stop meddling’,” she said in a mocking impersonation of Shining Armor, “but this is really getting on my nerves and it just needs to stop.”

“I still don’t follow, Your Highness.”

Cadence gave another sigh. “Look. I’ve been watching you for some time; not stalking or anything, but I have noticed a few things. For one, thanks to my magic allowing me to see the bonds that ponies feel for one another, I’m guessing you have a preference for stallions on the smaller side; those who could use a little extra protection and probably have a more feminine appearance. Am I right?”

Moonlight blinked in shock as her ears had fully faced Cadence, letting the Princess know she had her full attention. “H-how did … Wait.” Moonlight held up her hand as she processed what she’d heard. “You said you can only see bonds. How does that translate to preferences?”

Cadence nonchalantly turned from the unicorn to examine the surrounding guests, grateful that they knew better than to interrupt. “I can also see the nature of the bonds. They’re like little threads connecting us all, you see, and I’m able to discern the details of each thread and understand ponies’ relationships in ways even they can’t. For example, if I were to close my eyes,” she did, “I could tell you which ponies cared for each other as friends, siblings, parent to child, lovers, and even the thinnest of threads indicating ponies are feeling the initial stages of attraction but just don’t know how to approach one another.” She opened her eyes and looked down at Moonlight, speaking with an air of masterful authority. “That’s what I see when I look at you.”

Moonlight gulped nervously. It’d been a while since she’d been interrogated twice in one night. “So…” she hesitated, trying to understand what was being told to her. “You think I’m having trouble approaching somepony?”

Cadence nodded.

“What about the preferences?”

“Oh that.” Cadence giggled. “That’s got nothing to do with my magic. I just made an educated guess with the data I have. Seems I had the right idea.”

“Uh huh.” Moonlight nodded, not liking the way she was being examined like some lab rat. “And what data told you I like those kinds of stallions?”

“Mostly I just read your body heat whenever Thomas was around.” Cadence smiled slyly at the dumbstruck unicorn. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed a little tingle in your belly each time he says something nice to you.”

The cool air felt uncomfortable to Moonlight’s suddenly dry mouth as she attempted to moisten it. “I, uh… that’s…”

“That’s probably why you became a guard instead of a linguist, right?” Cadence teased. “But that doesn’t change the fact that a certain guard holds certain feelings for a certain charge.”

“I… Princess. What you propose is highly inappropriate.”

“In what way?”

“In wha…” Moonlight was flabbergasted by the Princess’ utter disregard for protocol. “I’m his bodyguard! To do… what you propose would be blatant fraternization and a breach of protocol.”

“Shiny seems to have gotten by just fine without much fuss,” Cadence rebuked casually.

“That’s not… He’s not your-”

“And, while things might not have worked well for Blade Grace, Quick Strike and Sturdy Spear recently sent me a letter thanking me for all my help.” The Princess beamed proudly as she set a hand on the other mare’s shoulder. “The life of a guard demands discretion and discipline, not celibacy,” she emphasized. “I know what protocol says, which considering who I’m courting shouldn’t be a surprise. However, if the rules were interpreted as strictly as you seem to think, then the barracks would be all but vacant.” She released her grip.

“P-Princess?”

“Just a hunch, but I’m guessing you’ve been rationalizing to yourself why you shouldn’t feel this way. As Princess of Love, I’m here to tell you that you are a very very very stupid mare.” Cadence grinned at the unicorn’s surprise. “I’m not saying to put emotions over logic. What you need to do is find a balance between the two. If ponies picked one or the other to the extreme, we’d either be a race of soulless blank flanks or whimpering snowflakes who couldn’t pick up a hammer.” She watched as her audience of one nodded absentmindedly, no doubt recalling similar speeches she’d heard in school.

“Moonlight Shield. Let’s pretend for a moment that you weren’t Thomas’ body guard. How would you describe him to me?” At the unicorn’s hesitation, the alicorn offered her most assuring smile. “Please. I’m not here to judge, only to inform.”

“Erm, well…” Moonlight coughed, finding her throat very dry. “He’s, well, nice.”

“Nice? In what way?”

“He’s… He’s got a nice sense of humor.” Moonlight grinned. “He’s normally really quiet, but that just makes him a good listener. When we’re alone he really starts to open up and I just love talking with him.” Did I just say that out loud? she asked herself. Although she was unaware, Cadence’s innate magic was bringing her feelings to the forefront, making the rest of the world seem to melt away before the rightness of her words. “He’s really cute and I really like being around him. Heh. I guess it’s like Tali said about the primal need to protect.”

“No argument here,” Cadence cheered softly, deciding not to go into detail about how she could relate with some of the activities she engaged in when she and her Shiny were alone. “But what about Silver?” Cadence asked, noting the way the mare tensed. “How does she fit into all this?”

Moonlight blushed as her ears drooped. The more she thought about it, the more it all made sense. “I think… I think I was a little jealous of her.”

Cadence reached down and took Moonlights hand, gently stroking it as she nodded in approval. “That’s a very brave thing to admit,” she assured. “But I’m actually curious why you’d have those feelings in the first place, especially in light of how things went with him and Talon.”

“I… don’t really know,” Moonlight confessed, shuffling her hooves in embarrassment. “I was fine with Tali, but Silver… She’s basically been raised to be a concubine since she was born and she’s really good at it. It’s like she always knows just what to say, even when she’s nervous or uncertain.”

“I think that’s only because you’ve primarily seen her in public,” Cadence offered, but Moonlight didn’t seem to be paying attention.

“She’s also really pretty,” Moonlight continued. “Her fur’s a really nice color and she’s got a nice petite figure. Then there’s that lovely singing voice, not to mention-”

“I think I understand,” Cadence cut in with a soft titter. Another theory regarding Moonlight’s preferences was confirmed, but that would have to wait until the current issue was resolved. Ponies might be herd animals, but it was still generally best to take relationships one at a time, no matter how much the world schemed to do otherwise. “She’s a fine mare and you didn’t feel that you quite measured up. Again this is something I have to deal with a lot with my clients. Frankly it never fails to astound me how easily these ponies get so wrapped up in their uncertainty that they forget that there’s room enough in a pony’s heart to hold love for so many.”

“Maybe,” Moonlight said with cautious optimism. “But that’s ponies. What about humans, and does he,” she blushed, “feel the same?”

Cadence’s smile shrunk considerably, but did not fade. “His features are difficult to read. Additionally, his thread is… All species have different patterns to their threads and Thomas’ thread is still alien to me. However,” she perked up, “you are not to take that as a discouragement. Being around him so much, you more than most know what he is like. So tell me, does he seem comfortable in your company?”

“I… well… yes,” Moonlight eventually admitted.

“As good a start as any.” Cadence’s smile returned in full force as she cupped a hand to the unicorn’s cheek. “Nothing worth having in life ever comes easy,” she said with maternal softness. “Follow your heart, Moonlight Shield. Trust that it knows the way.”

“I…” Moonlight faltered as she took in the love and warmth radiating from the alicorn. “I will.”

Yet another doozey, this one. Luna has some real fun with the foals, Silver made fast friends with Grace, and Cadence gets fed up and finally tells Moonlight to mare up and admit her feelings.