Chapter 9:

Twilight went to prepare for her outing with Luna, that meant writing a list of what to do whilst she was out. Prepping her quill and paper, she began to write out what she needed, essentials like milk and bread but some other more obscure items; lens polish, lubrication grease and a blank business ledger, all needed for the aspiring astronomer, which Twilight was. Lens polish to clean the intricate array of lenses compiled to allow Twilight to view distant stars, lubrication grease to keep it sliding smoothly and the blank ledger to note down anything, along with its coordinates in the sky. List complete, Twilight walked back to the main living area to find Luna sitting patiently on the chair, waiting for Twilight.
“Sorry, I was just making a list.” Twilight said and Luna stood up.
“No need to apologise, preparedness is a virtue.” Luna replied walking up to the other mare, together they walked to the front door and exited, list now tucked safely away in Twilight’s saddlebag. The library door swung slowly shut behind them.

The walk to the town centre took under five minutes, the two mares walking in silence for the entire time, neither knowing what to say. Once they arrived at the market, Twilight removed the list from her saddlebag, even though she had it memorised, and read the first item on the list.
“I was thinking that we should have some lunch first, and then do the shopping, that way we don’t have to carry everything around with us while we eat.” Luna said from beside her. Twilight replaced the scroll before replying.
“Sure, that sounds like a good idea.” She said, knowing that once they sat down together they would have to talk about what had happened the day before. “Where do you want to eat?” Twilight added a moment later.
“Well... Didn’t your rather enthusiastic pink friend ask us to come to ‘Sugarcube Corner’?” Luna replied after failing to think of an a proper answer.
“Sugarcube Corner it is.” Twilight stated before setting a path to the Cake’s shop, Luna keeping pace beside her. The bell hanging above the door heralded their arrival as they stepped into the shop, Mrs Cake walked out from behind the counter to meet her customers.
“Ah, Twilight, how nice to see you, and who is your guest? She looks familiar, but I can’t place my hoof on it...” Mrs Cake said, peering intently at the mare beside Twilight in an attempt to work out who she was. Twilight glanced at Luna, unsure whether she would want to be revealed as the princess. Luna gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head and Twilight turned back to Mrs Cake.
“It’s nice to see you too! This here is... Moonlight, she will be staying with me for a while.” Twilight said, if Mrs Cake noticed the slight pause Twilight made she didn’t say anything.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you Moonlight, I’ll let you two get settled and decide on what you want, just call if you need anything.” Mrs Cake replied, Luna nodded in greeting, not trusting her voice to be different enough not to give her away.

The two mares were the only customers in the shop, Twilight wondered where Pinkie was, and Mr Cake, as Luna sat down, Twilight turned back to Mrs Cake and voiced her question.
“Mrs Cake, where’s Pinkie and your husband?” Twilight asked, Mrs Cake looked up from the glaze she was spreading over a bun.
“Oh, there was this pastry convention over in Manehattan, me and my husband go every year but Pinkie was so keen on going, and she had been looking after my babies so well that we decided that she should get to go in place of me, so here I am, holding up the fort. Oh that reminds me! Be right back!” Mrs Cake replied, rushing out of the shop and down the road. Twilight watched her until she had disappeared before returning to Luna and sitting down opposite her at the two seat table.
“So, I guess it’s just us...” Twilight said, Luna nodded.
“Moonlight?” She asked, as Twilight stifled a giggle.
“It was the first thing I could think of.” Twilight said, suppressed giggles threatening to rise. Luna sighed.
“I guess it will have to do...” Luna said, they sat in silence for a moment more, Twilight’s giggles growing stronger until they had almost burst out of her mouth, but Luna beat her to it. The previously po-faced Princess burst into laughter, setting Twilight off too. Their laughter was tinged with hysteria though, the hysteria one has when they are completely out of their depth and is trying to mask their emotions.

As their giggles subsided, the two mares breathed heavily for a few seconds, out of breath from the intense laughter. Once she had regained her breath, Luna decided that they should have a talk whilst they were alone.
“I think that we should have a talk now that we’re alone.” Luna said, once more serious, Twilight read the situation, and she too became serious, the two mares sitting straight in their chairs.
“This is about the other day isn’t it.” Twilight asked, Luna nodded in confirmation.
“Yes, while neither of us have done anything remotely like this before, we both know how serious this is.” Luna elaborated, Twilight nodded and Luna continued.
“Not only are we both mares, while I don’t really wish to be known as one at the moment, I am a princess, and this could cause a major stir if released at the wrong time, and to the wrong people, I think we should keep this hushed for now, I can’t think of any time in history when there has been a... mare and mare relationship involving royalty.” Luna explained, struggling to find a word to describe their relationship, which had barely even started and was already rife with confusion and secrets.
“I agree, however, I think we should release it to trusted friends, individually, over some time so we can deal with them one by one, instead of having a huge flock of ponies assaulting us with questions which frankly, I don’t even know the answer to.” Twilight replied.
“You’re right, we should find out more about our relationship before we tell others about it.” Luna replied, and silence followed her remark, neither knowing what to do. The silence grew more awkward until Luna broke it with a question.

“So, when did you find out your... feelings for me?” Luna asked, struggling to meet the other mare’s eyes without blushing in a way most unbecoming of a princess. Twilight frowned slightly, thinking back to when she first found out her feelings were more than just those of a friend.
“Well, when you became my friend back on Nightmare Night, it felt different from my other friendships, but I put it down to you being a princess, I don’t think I realised it was what it was until after you rushed to the infirmary, despite your state and thanked me.” Luna nodded slowly and came up with a truthful reply.
“I have felt love before, having lived over a thousand years, it would have been a sorry existence had I not, so I knew almost immediately what it was I was feeling, but I was scared. I didn’t know if you felt the same way, so I did not want to destroy our friendship for my own selfish gain.” Luna replied, hurt entering her words as she spoke of the past, old wounds resurfacing and Twilight felt them as her own. She stood up, surprising the other mare who was deep in thought, and without a word sat down next to the Princess, foreleg snaking out around the blue mare and pulling her in close.
“I’m scared too, I don’t know what to do and it scares me. I’ve read books on the subject but, all of them say that it is best learnt through experiences, unlike anything I had ever learnt before.” Twilight said in a whisper, fears threatening to overflow, it was clear Twilight was the sort of unicorn that feared not knowing more than anything else and now she couldn’t know unless she found out for herself. Luna slipped her own foreleg out of Twilight’s hold around her neck and placed it around the mare, the two leaning on each other’s shoulders for mutual support.

“So, what should we do now?” Twilight asked after an indeterminable amount of time later.
“Well I don’t know about you but I’m hungry.” Luna replied, turning to face the mare beside her.
“Yeah me too, do think we should fi-” Twilight’s words were cut off by Luna's muzzle pressed to hers, it was the inexperienced kiss of somepony who had never kissed someone this way before, but it was a kiss nonetheless. It was enough for Twilight’s heart to stop for a moment as they felt the passion that they shared and hungered for more, soon though they broke apart, knowing that they should stop before somepony saw, or it got too extreme. The two mares no longer had their forelegs around each other and instead sat facing each other on the chairs they occupied, cheeks turning a bright shade of red.
“I...” Twilight began but was once more interrupted, but this time by the re-entrance of Mrs Cake, the two mares at the table simultaneously swung round to once more face the table before Mrs Cake could see them.
“Sorry I was gone so long dearies, I had forgotten to get some more diapers, are you two ready to order?”
“Yeah.” Twilight replied, recovering first.

After they had finished and paid for their meals, the two left to buy the equipment Twilight needed. They walked in silence once more, but a slight smile played on both their faces, revealing their true emotions. They bought the essentials first in the market, going from stall to stall to purchase the food to sustain them. As they passed one stall Twilight looked past it to the other row of stalls of produce, and saw her assistant, walking with Applebloom. It was just for the briefest of moments, and when Twilight looked again they were gone.
“What is it?” Luna asked quietly, still not trusting her voice.
“It’s nothing.” Twilight replied, pushing the thought out her head, she had bigger things to worry about than her assistants personal life. They carried on walking, now heading for the rather obscure shop ‘Stargazers’ ever since its opening a few months ago, Twilight had been a regular customer.
“What’s this shop?” Luna asked as they walked up to the front door, the store had no distinguishing features, save from the sign displaying the store’s name so many ponies passed the store by without a second thought. Twilight had discovered it when she was wandering around town and she had forgotten the pegasi had scheduled a torrential downpour for that day, she took shelter in this shop and instantly fell in love with astronomy.

“This is an astronomy shop, I need to get a couple of things here.” Twilight replied, opening the door with a hoof and entering. Luna nodded, not knowing what astronomy was, but not wanting to speak until she saw who was in the shop. As it turned out, there was no-one in the shop, just a note on the counter saying ‘Gone for the day, if you need anything just take it and leave the money on the counter.’ This was written in a long, flowing script that would be almost unreadable, had Twilight not read it aloud. Luna thought about how everyone was so trusting here in Ponyville, or maybe that whoever ran this store was crazy. She started to lean towards the ‘crazy’ idea as she looked around the shop to see the range of apparatus dotted around the shop, a myriad of brass and glass blended together, refracting the light from a small candle on the counter, aside from the candle it was pitch black and the faint scent of incense permeated the shop. As Twilight wandered around the shop, intent on looking for certain items, Luna sidled up to her.
“So, what is astronomy?” Luna asked in a quiet voice, not wishing to disturb the silent peace of the shop, but curiosity getting the better of her. Twilight stopped her search to turn the blue mare silhouetted against the darkness.
“You don’t know what astronomy is?” Twilight asked, confused that the source for her hobby wasn’t aware it existed.
“No... Should I?” Luna replied, searching her memory for the word, she was sure she had heard it mentioned before but had no idea what it was.

Twilight shook her head and sat down in front of the mare before beginning her explanation.
“Basically, astronomy is the study of the night sky.” Twilight said Luna looked confused.
“Ponies study my sky? For what reason?” Luna replied, sitting herself in front of Twilight.
“Because ponies hope to find reason behind the celestial bodies.” Twilight explained.
“I see, do you mean reasons like the ones I actually have for them?” Luna asked.
“No, the reasons that we astronomers search for are more personal to us than to you, we look for relaxation and knowledge, mapping paths of stars or searching the depths of the sky for some unknown nebula for example. Astronomy is not only relaxing to do, it is an interesting subject that I have been following for some years now.” Twilight told Luna who nodded slowly at her newfound knowledge.
“So... people look at my stars to relax?” Luna asked eventually as she processed what she had found out.
“Yes.” Twilight nodded, Luna chewed her tongue as she mulled this over.
“I am... happy, that some ponies appreciate my night and I would like it if you would teach me about astronomy, it would be nice to view the night from a different perspective.” Luna said, standing up, Twilight rose with her and nodded once more.
“Sure! That would be great, morning lessons on magic and nightly lessons on astronomy.” Twilight replied, and so it was set, Twilight would learn magic and magical theory from Luna in the day and at night, when the moon has risen, Twilight will teach Luna astronomy, Twilight thought it was quite odd to be teaching the Princess of the Night about the night but she didn’t complain, she loved sharing her passions, though her other friends didn’t really take an interest.

Twilight and Luna searched around the shop for a further ten minutes before finding the items needed to keep Twilight’s astronomy equipment in check. They left the coins on the counter and left the store, Twilight’s saddlebags now full, the walk back to the library riddled with giggles as the two mares shared stories from their past.
“...but it was actually the potato!” Luna finished and they burst into a new round of laughter, just as they arrived at the wooden door to their house, opening it with her hoof the two walked in to find Spike on the sofa, looking like he had been sitting there all day. Twilight thought back to the market and as Luna carried the saddlebags into Twilight’s room, Twilight walked over to her assistant.
“Oh hey Twilight.” Spike said as if he had just noticed her there.
“Hi Spike, how was your day looking after animals with Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, Spike shrugged.
“It was okay I guess, the animals were pretty tame.” Spike said, Twilight nodded.
“Okay then, see you round.” Twilight said, walking to her bedroom and shutting the door behind her. Luna was sitting on the floor, the astronomy items Twilight had bought strewn in front of her, she picked up each one individually, as if trying to determine their use just by the look and feel of it.
“I think there’s something Spike’s not telling me.” Twilight said, Luna looked up from the lens polish she was examining.
“What makes you say that?” Luna asked.
“He was supposed to be accounting for Applejack.” Twilight said, Luna nodded, apparently having heard the short conversation through Twilight’s open door, which was now shut behind her.
“Well, he’s growing up and everyone deserves a little privacy, I’m not saying you should completely ignore it but you should keep an eye open.” Luna replied after a pause, collecting the three items and standing up, Twilight nodded, knowing what she said was logical.

“I don’t suppose we could start our astronomy lesson? I’m eager to view the sky from your perspective, I’m so used to seeing my own reasons behind every star.” Luna asked.
“Sure, it’s just starting to get dark so while we wait I’ll introduce you to the equipment I use.” Twilight replied, turning around and heading up to her telescope.
“You know, it feels so weird to see the moon rise without me controlling it.” Luna said as they walked, Twilight nodded in reply. Once they reached the telescope Twilight walked her through the various tools; telescope, astrolabe and a small portable sextant. By the time everything was explained to Luna, the moon had risen in full and Luna was itching to get a look through the telescope. Twilight sat her down in front of it, and gave her a coordinate in the sky that would show her Venus, in its transit in front of Jupiter. Luna gasped at each discovery, never before seeing her own creations in this way, recording events in the blank business ledger. As she panned around the sky, Twilight talked her through various astronomic terms and what sorts of things she could find in the sky tonight. When their lesson finished, it was just pushing the early hours of the morning, Twilight let out a massive yawn that they both ignored.
“This is astonishing, I never knew any of this before, you have books on the subject, I presume?” Luna asked. Twilight grinned, she had a whole section devoted to it.
“Loads.” She replied, leading her to the library proper and showing her the book case stocked on books and tomes on astronomy, Luna took no time picking out a book and sitting down on the sofa to read it. ‘Might as well read up on magic while I’m at it, see if I can find anything more on that elemental magic.’ Twilight thought, setting off in search, a minute later she found what she was looking for.

It was an old book, dust caked on in a thick layer, dusting it off she found it was entitled ‘On the History of Magic’ there was no author’s name written on the front or anywhere that Twilight could see, so she had no idea from what age it was from or whether it was trustworthy, she decided to give it a try though. She sat herself beside Luna and began reading, the two mares sitting in silence. As it grew colder Twilight magicked a blanket around their bodies, leaving their forelegs out so as to hold their books. The night wore on, sky gradually tinting the red of sunrise and the two mares slept, heads resting on each other, wrapped in a blanket. The books lay on the floor, dropped after sleep claimed them.