"Moondancer, I have to tell you something."  

Twinkleshine's voice was radiating with nervousness.  This was it, this was the judgement day.  This was the day that Twinkleshine was going to confess her feelings to her best friend, Moondancer.  It also happened to be Moondancer's twenty-first birthday.  The two unicorns stood in a small room inside the west castle, the party was going on in the courtyard outside.  

Twinkleshine gulped.  Not once in her life had she been this nervous then she was now.  Not even during her entry exam into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns was she this nervous.  She had known what the exam spell would be, so she had practiced it many times before the exam itself.  It was simple, quick, and got her enrolled into the school.

This, however, was very different, this wasn't some test or spell to master.  This was practically the fate of the rest of Twinkleshine's life.  Everything Twinkleshine had ever wanted to complete her life stood in front of her with a confused expression, awaiting for what the ivory mare will say next.

Twinkleshine sighed.  Why couldn't she just say it?  Just say the simple words: Moondancer, I love you.  Just say the words, and then be judged upon.  The only problem was, what will Moondancer say in return?  Will she accept, or reject Twinkleshine?  The tension was too much, and it was nearly cracking down on Twinkleshine, forcing her to utter the words.

It felt like an eternity, standing here in front of the love of her life, Moondancer.  Each second was transformed into days as her mind was racing at the speed of light to find the right words.  Little by little, they were all located in her head.  She started off slowly, uttering the words softly, but clearly.

"Moondancer, I...I love you!"

There it was, the straw that broke that camels back.  The truth hath cometh out, so they say.  Those four words were without a doubt the hardest words Twinkleshine had ever said in her entire life.  Those words are the ones that will decide her fate.  The fate to be with the love of her life, or to be shunned forever.

The gray coated unicorn stared at Twinkleshine.  Her face was completely unreadable and indecisive.  Twinkleshine could not tell if her best friend was shocked, calm, or amazed.  The seconds seemed to convert to eons under that much tension Twinkleshine was feeling.  As the 'eons' went by, all she could do was stare back at Moondancer, shaking in fear of what the gray unicorn will say in return.

She stayed silent though.  Not a single breath could be heard.  Twinkleshine hung her head low.  She knew what was most likely in store for her.  That was it, she was going to get rejected, and she knew it.  What will happen then?  Will they still be friends?  Or would Moondancer denounce their friendship?

After what seemed like eons of eons, Moondancer finally spoke, "I...I, uh..I have to go."  The gray unicorn stood up and made way for the door.

Twinkleshine was shocked in fear.  I knew it!  She hates me know! She could barely speak as Moondancer headed for the exit of the castle.  She tried to stand up, but some invisible force kept her down.  It took almost all of her strength to utter her next words, "M..Moondancer, wait!"

"Twinkleshine."  Her tone was bitter and sharp.  It seemed as if just her speaking will be enough to cut through the fabric of space and time.  "Just get out of my sight."

Before her very eyes, Twinkleshine was plunged into a world of darkness.  Everything turned against her, the walls of the castle collapsed before her, and the floors became black.  She ran outside, but everything was gone.  Moondancer's entire birthday party seemed to have never even happened.  The world was black.  The sky, sun, earth, everything was black.  The only thing that wasn't black was Twinkleshine.  Even then, she started to become gray.  Her color receded, just like her joy.  

The world was gone, her world was gone.  Everything she knew escaped her grasp, and she just laid down.  Nothing mattered anymore.  The infinite void around her seemed to get blacker by the minute, but she didn't care.  Moondancer was gone, and she now hated Twinkleshine.

When all hope was lost, when the never ending void of pure darkness was about to engulf Twinkleshine forever, a faint light was seen.  The now dull coated Twinkleshine rose her head to view the light.  The light seemed to be soothing despite the darkness enshrouding her.  She started for it, and eventually broke out into a full gallop.  The light seemed to never get closer for the longest of time, but it eventually did.  She reached for the light, and was blinded.

Twinkleshine woke up with a scream that was held in her lungs.  It lasted for almost thirty seconds before Moondancer woke up and jumped off her bunk bed to calm her friend down.  The gray unicorn put her hooves on the ivory unicorn's shoulders.  She started to lightly shake her while saying 'shhhh' in a soothing tone until she stopped screaming.

"Shhh, Twinkle, it's ok it's ok.  Calm down.  What happened?"  Moondancer said in the sweetest of tones.

Twinkleshine panted heavily, attempting to recover from both her ear-shattering scream, and her horrible nightmare.  She put a hoof to her chest and applied pressure to stop the heavy breathing.  After a few long breaths, she spoke, "I...I had a nightmare."

She stared at Moondancer for a while.  In the nightmare, Moondancer brutally rejected her.  She was too afraid of that happening in the real world.  All her stocked up emotions came out almost at once, and she wrapped her hooves around Moondancer and pulled her into a tight hug.  Twinkleshine started to cry with her head rested on her friends shoulder.

Moondancer patted her friends back, "Shhh, there there.  It's ok Twinkle.  You don't have to worry about it anymore.  You're awake, the nightmare is gone."

Twinkleshine sniffled, "M...Moondancer?"

"Yes, Twinkleshine?"  Twinkleshine could tell Moondancer was very sincere and open at that moment.  Moondancer only used her full name when she was in certain moods.  It was mainly when Moondancer was angry, upset, or very serious.

"P..please, don't ever hate me."  She said softly between sobs.

Moondancer hugged her tightly, "Why would I ever hate you?"

"The nightmare,"  Twinkleshine thought for a moment.  She didn't want to tell Moondancer it was her that she exposed her secret to, so she thought of a cover-up,  "I told you who I liked...and you hated me for it."

Moondancer broke the hug and stared straight into Twinkleshine's eyes, "Twinkleshine, listen to me.  No matter what you or I do, I will never hate you.  We are best friends," She put emphasis on the word 'best'.

A great wave of relief washed over Twinkleshine at that moment.  She felt relaxed knowing that her best friend could never hate her.  Though she still knew that Moondancer might reject her, it at least eased her tenses knowing that she won't hate her, and that they could still be friends.

Friends.  They've been friends for the longest of time, but Twinkleshine wanted more.  She wanted to hug Moondancer, and have it mean something rather than just a friendly gesture.  She wanted to kiss her, and feel the spark that is supposed to ignite inside her soul.  The thing that ignites the power of love between two ponies.

Twinkleshine pulled Moondancer in for another hug.  She started to cry again, but this time they were tears of joy.  "Thank you, Moondancer!  You don't know how much that means to me!"  Twinkleshine broke the hug, "Oh, and happy twenty-first birthday!"

"Thanks, Twinkle!"  Knowing that Twinkleshine now felt better, Moondancer got up from sitting on the bed and trotted to the kitchen.  She opened the fridge and grabbed a slim glass bottle.  "Now I can finally crack this baby open!"

They both shared a laugh as Twinkleshine went up next to Moondancer, and grabbed the bottle from her, "Not yet, it's too early.  Trust me, morning drinking will not end well!"  The two unicorns laughed again.

"Oh yeah, I remember that time when you turned twenty one and that party.  Then the next morning you were still drunk! Haha!  Yeah..." Moondancer's voice trailed off as she remembered their crazy night.

Twinkleshine shot a death glare at her light gray friend, "I thought we agreed to not speak of that night again."

She chuckled at Twinkleshine, "C'mon, Twinkle, that was like, the best night of your life!"

"I don't see how getting drunk off your flank then jumping off the roof of the east castle is fun."

"Hey, I caught you in time!"

"Yes, I'm very grateful for that, but did you really have to dye my mane black afterwards?"  Twinkleshine raised a brow.

"It was funny!"  Moondancer shot back.

"Then you made me sneak into the library and rip up half of Twilight's books while she was studying!  Do you know how long it took me to finally get her to forgive me, and buy her new books?!"

"She kinda needed that you know!  That mare studies all day AND night!  If you think about it, I did her a favor."  Moondancer leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed her forelegs.

Twinkleshine gave Moondancer another death stare, "And the thing we did with the princess?"

Moondancer raised her hoof and opened her mouth to reply, but her face sunk.  "Ok, maybe I went a liiiiiiiiitle far with that one."

"Little?!  You made me steel the princess's CROWN!  We almost got banished for that!"  She paused,  "You didn't even drink that night!  What compelled you to do something crazy like that?"  Twinkleshine noticed her tone was becoming more harsh.  She didn't want to be mean to Moondancer, so she sighed and toned herself down.  "Sorry for yelling."  Just then, a mischievous thought crept into her mind and a wicked smile appeared on her face.  "Just you wait till you drink more than you can handle.  Hehe."

Moondancer gulped, "Well then, I guess now that you gave me a warning, I'll just have to watch how much I drink now, huh?"

Aww shoot!  I gave it away.  Twinkleshine thought, then mumbled something inaudible.

"What was that?"  Moondancer asked.

"Nothing, nothing.  I'm going to take a shower."  Twinkleshine trotted to the closet that was outside the bathroom door and grabbed a towel, then proceeded inside the bathroom and shut the door.

<~>

About an hour later, both unicorns finished their morning routines, and went their separate ways.  Moondancer headed off to the west castle to prepare her birthday party there.  Twinkleshine had other things on her mind.  She knew that she had to tell Moondancer her feelings today at her party, but just how exactly?

Twinkleshine trotted with her head in the clouds, her mind had left this world and drifted in to imaginationland.  She pondered over how she would exactly word her confession.  Should it be just casually tell her in the open?  Or should she lead her to somewhere private?    

Then her thoughts led her to if she should even tell her or not.  Over the past few days, she had gotten over the fear of telling her how she truly felt, but the thoughts still snuck into her subconscious.  She tried to battle with them, fighting back those thoughts for as long as she could, but it was of no use.  Twinkleshine's self esteem fell, and her emotions almost came back out in the form of tears.

She continued to trot slowly through the gardens again to clear her troubled mind.  Her head was still hung low and her eyes were focused on the ground.  She couldn't pay attention to what was in front of her, and she bumped right into another pony.

Twinkleshine looked up and instantly noticed the pony she bumped into.  It was a bleach white stallion with an equally white mane.  The thing that stood out the most, and everypony knew him by, were his blood red eyes.  It wasn't just the rim of the eye that was red, the entire pupil was blood red.

"Oh I'm sorry Professor Diem!  I wasn't paying attention."

Professor Carpe Diem was one of the teachers at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.  He taught students a type of magic called runecasting, where unicorns would draw runes on a surface and cast on or in them to amplify their spells without tiring the unicorn out so easily.

Professor Diem looked at Twinkleshine and smiled, "Ah, Twinkleshine, It's quite alright.  I'll admit that I was lost in thought as well."  He spoke kindly in his Canterlot-elite accent.  "So, how have you been lately?"

Twinkleshine's tenses eased at hearing Carpe's voice.  He was always her favorite teacher.  Every time Twinkleshine had some sort of problem, he was the one to talk to.  His cutie mark was of the famous statue 'The Thinker', implying that his special talent was philosophy.

"I've been, um, ok.  Well not really.  Can I ask you something Professor Diem?"

"Well of course, my dear.  What seems to be on your mind?"

"Well,"  Twinkleshine thought of how to begin explaining her problem to Carpe.  "Have you ever told somepony that you're in love with them?"

Carpe smiled, "Ah, love troubles huh?  I've seen plenty of those before.  Come, walk with me."  The white stallion started walking through the Royal Gardens with Twinkleshine next to him.  "I've never told you the story of Rose have I?"

The ivory mare shook her head.

"Well, she was the most beautiful mare I have ever laid my eyes upon.  I met her about 20 years ago at this very school.  We talked every now and then, and eventually became close friends.  Back than, I was always nervous to ask her out.  It took me about a year, but I did, and she said yes.  We were together for a few years, but alas." He sighed, "One day, she moved to Trottingham for a job offer, and we slowly drifted apart."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Professor."

Carpe smiled again, "No need to worry, deary.  I am very strong minded, and I can handle things easier than most ponies can.  I just learned to accept it and move on with my life.  But anyways, tell me, what is your love problem?  Maybe I can help?"

Twinkleshine gulped, "Well you see, umm, I'm in love with one of my friends---"

"Moondancer."

Twinkleshine stopped walking and her entire face turned scarlet, "H-how did you know?!"

"I've caught you secretly staring at her before in my class.  My eyes may be different, but I can still see very well."  He chuckled.  "So let me guess, you're afraid that if you tell her your feelings, she will reject you and your friendship will never be the same?"

"Umm, yeah that...that basically sums it up."  Twinkleshine replied, still blushing.

Carpe cleared his throat, "You must learn that in life you must take risks.  The world today will be drastically different if ponies in the past did not take certain risks.  Most importantly, do not let your thoughts control yourself.  You love Moondancer, correct?"

She nodded.

"Then that is that.  Do not let your mind control what your heart desires.  Get out there and tell her what you feel.  If she says no, then you must move on.  I know it might be hard, but you have to.  I myself have learned to not care about what life does to me, I simply laugh at everything it throws at my face, and shrug it off.  My mental state has greatly improved after thinking this way.  One day you will look back at this day and ask yourself 'Should I have told her?' you may never know if you two would have been something."

Twinkleshine stood in awe as she allowed every wise word from Carpe sink in.  After that, her mental state had greatly improved.  She no longer fears loosing her best friend.  She no longer fears what Moondancer will think of her.  She said it herself in their room, 'No matter what you or I will do, I will never hate you.'  The decision has been made; She will confess her love to Moondancer today at her party.

"Just one more question.  How did you ask out Rose, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well, being me, I sought to humor her to the lighten the mood.  I said, word for word, 'Hey there Rose!  So guess what?  I heard of this thing called dating, and I was thinking that we should try it out!  Sounds like fun right?'"

Twinkleshine couldn't help but laugh.  Carpe was always a joker.  She gave the stallion a quick friendly hug, "Thanks Professor Diem!" And she galloped away for her dorm room.

<~>

This was it.  In only thirty minutes, Moondancer's party will start.  Twinkleshine had gone back to the dorm room to retrieve the present she bought for Moondancer.  She had been saving up her money from working a part-time shift at Donut Joe's doughnut shop.  It wasn't that big a deal, but Moondancer had been begging for this really fancy perfume for a while now.  So Twinkleshine bought it, wrapped it up, carried it on her back, and set out for Moondancer's party.

Along the ways, Minuette and Lemon Hearts accompanied Twinkleshine to the party.  They also ran into Twilight Sparkle, but she had 'studying' to catch up on, and couldn't make the party.  The trio made it to the west castle courtyard just in time for the party to start.  

When they arrived, Twinkleshine could not believe what she was seeing.  The party was huge!  Everypony in the school must have been here!  The entire courtyard was filled with unicorns, and even some of Moondancer's pegasi friends got invited and were now hovering above the crowd of unicorns.

The music was blaring over the roar from the ponies.  Twinkleshine looked over and noticed that the famous DJ Pon-3 was the one responsible for the music.  The three made their way down the hill to the courtyard, carefully maneuvering around the thick crowd.  Once they made it past, the three entered the west castle building.  Upon entering, they were greeted with a large pile of presents.  The three decided this is where they should put their presents for Moondancer, so they did.      

"Can you believe this, girls?" A familiar voice called out from behind.  "When the word got out that DJ Pon-3 was playing at my party, everypony just invited themselves."  She chuckled.

The three unicorns turned around and noticed Moondancer standing before them, "Oh hey there Moondancer, happy birthday!"  Minuette said.

"Thanks, Colgate."  She knows that her real name is 'Minuette', but everypony calls her Colgate.  Even some of the professors call her by her nickname.  

"Yeah!  Happy birthday!" Lemon said.

"Thanks.  Well what are we waiting for?  Let's go out there and have some fun!"

Minuette and Lemon cheered and galloped for the door.  Moondancer turned to follow, but was stopped by Twinkleshine's.

"Wait, Moondancer, I have to tell you something."  Her voice was surprisingly calm, given the situation that she was putting herself into.

The light gray unicorn turned back around to face her friend, "Sure, what's up?"

Well, this is it, the real thing.  This isn't the dream Twinkleshine had this morning, this was real.  No more hiding, no more suppressing these feelings she has.  Now is the time to confess.  Twinkleshine took a deep breath, and started off slowly.

"Do you want to know who's the mare I have the crush on?"

Moondancer jumped up in excitement, "Yes!  Who is it who is it!"  She trotted up close to Twinkleshine, wide eyed and eager for the secret to finally be exposed.

Why?  Why did the emotions all have to come back?  Why, at this most crucial of moments, did all her locked up emotions break out of their cell and take the form of tears?  Twinkleshine tried to hold them back, she forced her eyes shut, but they secreted through.  

"It's...It's...."JUST SAY IT!

Almost one year of stocked up feelings poured out of Twinkleshine.  She became weak in her knees, and nearly fell to the floor.  Her vocal chords seemed to completely shut off and not want to work.  NO!  I will not let my mind get to me!  I love Moondancer, and I WILL tell her!

"It's you, Moondancer!  I'm in love with you!"

There it was, loud and proud.  The words now lay dangling out in the open, looming throughout the building.  What has been said, cannot be unsaid.  All in all, Twinkleshine stayed strong.  She didn't cringe in fear, or cower beneath something.  She stood there, stared Moondancer right in the eye, and expected an answer.

There were no words though, instead, Moondancer lunged at her friend and pulled her into a bone crushing hug.  "Oh Twinkle, I know, I knew all along!  I'm so proud that you finally got the courage to say it to me!"

Twinkleshine sat there in awe.  She was completely bewildered by what her friend said.  It felt as if a truck full of bricks hit her, twice.  Moondancer knew all along?  How?  When?  For how long?  Twinkleshine's internal war in mind had been settled, every single disrupted emotion had calmed itself down, and she was at ease.  

Even though her tensions eased, she was still as confused as ever, "W...What?"

Moondancer broke the hug and looked at her.  The light gray mare's eyes had tears in them as well.  "I knew it was me that you are in love with.  I kinda knew for a while now, I was just waiting for you to tell me yourself."

She blinked, trying to process all the words in her mind.  "How?  When?"  She was able to force out.

Moondancer smirked at her, "What?  You don't think I've never caught you staring at my flank?"  That made Twinkleshine blush, "Or you never thought I noticed you blush whenever you're around me?  C'mon Twinkle," Moondancer ruffled up her friends mane.  "And also, yesterday morning, when you were kissing your pillow.  I kind of heard you say my name in your sleep...hehe."

Another wave of scarlet washed onto Twinkleshine's face.  "And also," Moondancer continued, "You got to stop blushing all the time!  It's cute and all, but If we're gonna be dating, you gotta stop!"  She said, jokingly.

Twinkleshine's eyes widened to the size of bowling balls, "Did you just...say...?"

Moondancer smiled and nuzzled her new marefriend, "Yes, Twinkleshine, I will go out with you, on one condition."  Moondancer threw on a wicked grin.

Twinkleshine gulped, "What's that?"

Her smile grew wider, "Teach me how to multitask like a boss!"

The two mares shared a laugh.  It wasn't a normal, friendly laugh.  To Twinkleshine, it was more than that.  This was a whole new chapter in the story of her life.  She couldn't be happier, she had Moondancer as her marefriend, her life was complete.  The two lovebirds walked out of the west castle side by side to enjoy the rest of the party.

This is not the end.  Not all love stories are sunshine and rainbows, and Twinkleshine will soon find this out.  There will always be conflict, there will always be interference.  Somewhere along the way, there's always that one point where something really bad happens by mistake and the couple have a huge argument and break up.  Then they realize they can't go on without each other and makeup the next day.

Life is full of these things, challenges every new couple will have to face eventually.  There could even be somewhere along the lines a third member that will interfere with the two.  It happens in every love story.

But for now, enjoy the tale.

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