Twilight stood, frozen, as she mentally devised a plan to wake them up, before any harm could befall them. Luna too was trying to come up with a solution, but she was constantly looking around, wary of their environment. The ground was smooth cobblestone stretched out indefinitely and with no landmarks. The only source of illumination was the Moon, which cast an eerie glow over the land that managed to mute all colour, Luna’s normally pale blue mane looked almost gray. In her mind, Twilight went through everything that would normally wake somepony up from a dream, however there was nowhere to jump off in order to wake up from falling, or any source of water to make them wake up that way.
“I've got nothing.” Twilight sighed eventually, moving out of her frozen state, and casting her eye over the area. Luna nodded slowly, still lost in her thoughts.
“Most methods of waking somepony up include something in the corporeal world, but we don’t have anything.” Luna eventually said, “However, there is something a narcoleptic mare once recounted to me many years ago. She had a great imagination, and often suffered from lucid dreams, coupled with her narcolepsy she had to work something out to wake herself up.” Luna explained, eyes glazing over as she remembered the memory.

“Once she found it out, she realised it was actually surprisingly simple, it revolves around tricking your brain into exiting the dream. It’s a two stage process, the first part being to keep telling yourself over and over again that you are in a dream. A lot of the time, this step alone would be enough to wake you, but I doubt that will be the case here. The next step is deceptively simple, you must blink.” Luna explained.
“What?” Twilight asked, not anticipating that instruction.
“Yes, have you ever noticed that you never blink in a dream?” Luna asked, Twilight shook her head, “Well you normally don’t since you don’t need to in a dream. However, if you have enough control over yourself in the dream, you will find that when you blink, you open your eyes in the real world, thus waking yourself up.” Luna finished, Twilight nodded, realising that she hadn’t blinked at all in the dream.
“Unfortunately, since you never blink in a dream, it requires a certain amount of control over yourself to overcome your natural state of not blinking.” Luna told her.
“I see.” Twilight said, as she began thinking to herself how she was in a dream, she could feel the grip the dream held on her, weaken slightly. And then it came to the blink, no matter how hard she tried, her eyes would not close, even though she was pushing as hard as she could she couldn’t get herself to blink.

“You may wish to hurry Twilight.” Luna said quietly, pointing skywards, Twilight stopped trying to blink momentarily, to take a look at the sky. In the time they were standing there the moon had doubled in size, and it was rapidly growing.
“It’s going to hit us isn’t it.” Twilight stated, not really posing it as a question, Luna nodded, “What’ll happen when it does?”
“Well, suffice to say there is a reason your body forces you to wake up when you dream you’re about to die, and I doubt this dream will let us do that.” Luna said, waiting for Twilight to blink out of the dream. Twilight turned her thoughts back to the dream and blinking, but it was fruitless.
“Come on, you can do it!” Luna encouraged her student, Luna herself could simply leave the dream with a blink, but she wouldn’t leave Twilight behind. Luna took a glance and the sky and paled, the Moon was nearing, it almost filled the entire sky now. “Quick!” Luna exclaimed.
The Moon moved in, an earth shaking roar started up as the Moon entered the atmosphere of their area, yellow flames licking across the surface of the Moon, as it soared towards them.
“Twilight!” Luna shouted, still not wanting to leave Twilight behind, but self preservation won, and Luna blinked out.

Luna sat up with a gasp, and Twilight quickly followed suit, the two took a few moments to regain their breath before reviewing just how close they had come.
“I could feel the heat of the air in front of the Moon.” Twilight eventually said, shuddering as the adrenaline left her system.
“We cut that rather fine.” Luna agreed, “I’m hesitant to face that again.”
“Same here.” Twilight replied. She got out of the bed and opened the curtains, letting in the late morning sun filter in and illumine her room.
“Well, we should probably get studying that elemental magic artefact.” Twilight said after a yawn and a stretch.
“Yeah...” Luna replied hesitantly, “Hey Twilight? I was wondering, shouldn’t we tell some ponies about us?” Twilight turned to face Luna with a quizzical look.
“You want to tell everypony?” Twilight asked. Luna shook her head hurriedly.
“Oh Celestia no. Just some of your most personal friends, the other Elements of Harmony mainly, out of everypony, they should be the first to know.” Luna elaborated, Twilight nodded, knowing that they would have eventually had to come out with it.
“I think I know who to go to first.” Twilight replied after a pause.

Twilight knocked on Rarity’s Boutique with her hoof, the sound echoing slightly inside the building.
Rarity’s voice trilled from inside, “~Come iiiiin~” Twilight took a deep breath and opened the door, the pair walking in together.
“Oh Twilight!” Rarity exclaimed as she walked in from the back room to see who her customers were, “And Princess Luna too! How nice to have you back, I trust the tent performed well?”
“Please, just Luna, and yes, the tent worked great, thanks.” Luna said, not comfortable with people addressing her as Princess.
“Well then Luna, it was a pleasure to help out, your mission was successful then?” Rarity replied.
“Yeah, we found the cave on our first try.” Twilight said, not elaborating further.
“I see, I assume you came here for more than just to say hi?” Rarity asked, sitting herself down on one of the waiting chairs in her front room.
“Well, yes.” Twilight replied, sitting herself down opposite Rarity, Luna joining her. Once they were all settled Twilight began.

“You’ve probably noticed this, you’re perceptive when it comes to things like this, but me and Luna sort of... like each other, and we thought that we should tell ponies before it became too out of hand.” Twilight hesitantly explained to Rarity. Rarity nodded slowly, before breaking out into an elegant grin.
“I had my suspicions, and you two are perfect for each other.” Rarity said happily, whether it was for Twilight’s relationship or her own confirmed suspicions, neither Twilight nor Luna could tell.
“You don’t mind?” Twilight asked almost fearfully, nightmares playing at her memories, Rarity lost her grin and frowned slightly.
“Of course not, why ever would you think that?” Rarity asked.
“No reason,” Twilight answered with a small grin of relief, “Anyway, we best be off.”
“I see, well have fun and good luck with your confessions.” Rarity replied, standing back up and waving them out of the door. Once they were out of the boutique and the door was closed Luna turned to Twilight.
“See? There was nothing for you to worry about.” Luna said.
“Yeah, I guess, now that we’ve told the pony who we thought may have already known, who next?” Twilight asked.
“Well I reckon your assistant should know, seeing as how he’s living with us and all.” Luna replied with a grin and the two set off back to the library.

They found Spike in the kitchen when they returned, preparing a quick sandwich.
“Hi Spike.” Twilight said, drawing his attention.
“Oh hey guys, when did you get back?” Spike said, digging into the sandwich.
“Last night, but we had somepony to meet this morning.” Twilight replied, “We need to tell you something.” Twilight continued.
“What?” Spike asked, muffled slightly by the food in his mouth.
“We just wanted to tell you that me and Luna sort of like each other...” Twilight said. Spike stopped.
“But, you’re both mares.” He replied, stating the obvious.
“There is nothing wrong with that.” Luna replied slightly defensively.
“Yeah.” Twilight agreed. Spike nodded in reply, processing what it all meant.
“Well, since we’re all confessing things here I guess I should probably tell you that me and Applebloom sort of like each other too.” Spike said after a pause. Twilight looked taken aback while Luna nodded in affirmation.
“You and Applebloom?” Twilight asked, Spike nodded. “Right...” All three stood there awkwardly, none of them knowing what to say or do. Eventually Luna broke the silence.
“Well, I guess we’d better be off then.” Luna said.
“Yeah.” Twilight agreed.
“Bye.” Spike replied. Twilight and Luna quickly left the room and the library, making their way towards town.

“So, who next?” Luna asked, Twilight pondered the question, who should they ask next? She reckoned Fluttershy and Applejack would be alright with it, Rainbow Dash would probably laugh and not really care, but Pinkie Pie would almost certainly try to get them to celebrate, something she really didn’t want to do right now. On the other hand, if she didn’t tell Pinkie she would definitely find out on her own, and the version she finds out about may not be entirely truthful, or she may host a surprise party and tell everypony...
“Pinkie Pie.” Twilight declared after a pause, Luna was surprised.
“And how did you come to that conclusion?” Luna asked, as they changed course for Sugarcube Corner. Twilight explained how she thought it would be best to get it into Pinkie that they didn’t want to celebrate, before she threw them a surprise party.
“That seems logical.” Luna agreed, just as they reached the door to Sugarcube Corner.

Twilight opened the door with a hoof and the pair entered. Mrs. Cake was stationed behind the counter whilst Mr. Cake was baking something in the kitchen.
“Hello there Twilight, and... Moonlight, was it?” Mrs. Cake greeted them.
“Yes, and it is nice to see you too.” Luna replied formally whilst Twilight nodded in greeting. “Have you perchance seen Pinkie?” Luna asked.
“Ah yes, she went over to Fluttershy’s house to deliver some buns she was hoping to feed a sick bird, and Fluttershy didn’t want to leave the bird alone, so we sent Pinkie off to deliver.” Mrs. Cake answered.
“Oh okay, thanks.” Twilight replied, “Well, goodbye.”
“Goodbye!” Mrs. Cake replied cheerily as they left and headed towards Fluttershy’s cottage.
“I guess this is a good thing, now we can tell both of them together.” Twilight said as they walked. They travelled in silence, Twilight formulating what she was going to say once she got there in her mind, while Luna considered whether this was actually a good idea. She knew that Spike and Rarity had reacted well, but this Pinkie Pie seemed too irrational to keep it a secret, it was too late to turn back now though as they walked along the path to Fluttershy’s cottage.

Twilight knocked on the door, hoping that Pinkie was still there, they hadn’t seen her on the way over here, so she assumed that Pinkie should still be around, but knowing Pinkie Pie anything was possible. The door opened, and they were greeted by the sight of a certain pink mare who then let out a gasp.
“Twilight! You’re back! And Luna too!” Pinkie exclaimed, opening the door wide, and positively bouncing with joy as they timidly entered. Fluttershy was sitting on the floor with a small sparrow, small bits of bread being fed to it.
“Come on sparrow, you need to eat a bit more.” Fluttershy said in a quiet voice to the bird, too intent in her caring to notice her visitors. Twilight and Luna stood patiently, watching Fluttershy while Pinkie explained how Fluttershy had got her to break up the buns into small pieces for the sparrow to eat. Eventually, once the sparrow had eaten his fill, she put him on a cushion by the window to rest and turned to face the trio by the door.
“Oh, hi guys.” She said timidly.
“So how come you’re here?” Pinkie asked, hopping over to stand next to Fluttershy and address Twilight and Luna. Twilight explained to them her relationship with Luna.

“You know what this means?” Pinkie began, Twilight tried to stop her,
“Pinkie...” Twilight began, only to be cut off by Pinkie exclaiming.
“A PARTY!” She bounced, excited to no end about the prospect.
“Pinkie. No.” Twilight said forcefully, knowing it was the only way to get Pinkie’s attention. Pinkie seemed to deflate slightly, and stopped bouncing. It was rare for someone to outright go against her plans for a party.
“But... why?” Pinkie asked confusedly. Twilight decided to tie it to something Pinkie knew about.
“You remember Cranky Doodle?” Twilight asked, Pinkie nodded, “You remember how he wanted to be left alone after you found the other donkey for him?” Another nod from Pinkie, and then she got it.
“Ohhh!” Pinkie said exaggeratedly, “Okay then, I can wait.” Twilight sighed in relief.
“I think that’s the best we’re going to get.” Luna whispered to Twilight, who nodded in agreement.

All through the conversation Fluttershy stood silent, content for others to talk without her but now Twilight turned to her.
“What about you Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, Fluttershy visibly winced at being addressed, and seemed to compress into herself slightly.
“Well... umm... I think that it’s great for you two, I hope you two are happy...” Fluttershy replied, petering out towards to the end, to the point where no one heard her last few words.
“I see, well I guess we’d be off.” Twilight replied, giving up on trying to get Fluttershy to talk. Pinkie let out a grin and tapped the side of her snout, symbolising that she was going to keep the relationship a secret, at least Twilight hoped that was what it meant. Luna opened Fluttershy’s cottage door and let Twilight out, following her right after.

“Well, four down, two to go.” Luna said with a smile, this was going better than expected. She had to respect Twilight’s friends on taking it all in their stride. Twilight on the other hand was thinking about their relationship on a different level, ‘Does this make it official then? If we’re telling ponies then I guess this is official.’ Twilight frowned unconsciously as the next question came to her mind. ‘What is Celestia going to think?’ She pondered that as they walked along, Twilight leading them towards Sweet Apple Acres. Before they could get there though, they were cut off by Rainbow Dash zipping down and landing in front of them.
“Hey guys, Pinkie just told me something and I was wondering whether it was true or not. She said that you were on your way to tell Applejack so here I am.” Rainbow Dash explained in a rush. Twilight was taken aback, Pinkie had already started telling ponies? And how did she know where they were going?
“Umm... What did she tell you?” Twilight asked, wondering if Pinkie had kept to the truth.
“Well that, you and the Princess were sort of, you know.” Dash replied, uncharacteristically embarrassed. Twilight gave a sigh of relief.
“Yes, it’s true.” Twilight confirmed.
“I see...” Rainbow said, “Well, congratulations I guess.” She finished awkwardly and made to fly away but Twilight called her back,
“Wait! Rainbow, can you tell Pinkie not to tell anypony else please?” Twilight asked, fearful of how many ponies Pinkie could have told during their walk to Applejack’s house.
“Yeah, sure.” Rainbow Dash replied, flying away hurriedly. Luna frowned slightly at her departure while Twilight wondered why Rainbow was acting so embarrassed, normally she would be wholeheartedly unbashful.

They set off again on their original path and arrived at the barn quickly. Twilight, for the third time that day, knocked on the door and waited for a reply.
“Over here, Twilight!” A call came from behind the pair, they spun round and saw Applejack waving at them from the edge of the plantation. Twilight set off towards her and Luna followed.
“Hey guys, nice to have you back, whatcha need?” Applejack asked amiably.
“Well, I just wanted to inform you about something.” Twilight said, thinking how this never got any easier, no matter how many ponies she told.
“Well, inform away!” Applejack replied with a laugh.
“It’s that, me and Luna sort of, like each other.” Twilight said, Applejack looked quizzical, not anticipating this, but she was a down-to-earth pony and quickly got over it.
“I see, well I give my congratulations to the both of ya!” Applejack replied with an honest smile. Twilight and Luna smiled in return, grateful for her understanding.
“Thanks.” Twilight replied,
“Thank you.” Luna joined in.
“Well, we must be going, going to be dark soon.” Twilight said as they waved goodbye, and left the orchard. Applejack waved them away.

As they walked back to the library, the sun set, casting a reddish hue over the sky, before disappearing, the Moon rising from the opposite side of the world. They walked in silence, Twilight happy with her confessions today, glad that she had told ponies before things got too out of hand. Luna was still stuck on the thought of Rainbow Dash, ‘Why did she seem sad with their relationship, even though everyone else was so happy?’ Her thoughts were dispelled, however, by the arrival at the tree. They discussed what to do as they entered. They talked in whispers, for Spike was already asleep, curled up in his bed.
“I think it’s too late in the day to examine the artefact, what do you want to do?” Twilight asked as the door closed behind them. Luna blushed slightly.
“Well, I think we should start living up to our newfound reputation...” Luna said quietly, Twilight didn’t understand.
“Wha-” She began, but was cut off almost instantly by Luna, as she pressed herself against Twilight, heartfelt passion fuelling the moment.

They weren’t sure how long they stood there for, locked together like that, it could have been just a few seconds, or it could have been years. They pulled away simultaneously.
“Heh.” Luna said with a grin.
“You need to give me some sort of warning next time.” Twilight replied, returning the smile.
“I did try, you just didn’t get it.” Luna said in faux frustration and the two burst in to silent giggles. After they had faded away, Twilight once more asked Luna what to do.
“How about some astronomy, it’s a great night.” Luna replied, glancing towards the telescope eagerly. Twilight let out a small laugh.
“Alright then.” Twilight replied, and they climbed up to Twilight’s telescope.