Twilight awoke to the sound of crackling. She blearily opened her eyes, squinting against the orange light. Once she was properly adjusted to the brightness she cast a look around the library. A shiver ran up her spine, a familiar and unwelcome sight greeted her. Where she had banished Nightmare Moon the night before, and where she had utilized the fire elemental magic, there was a roaring fire, the flames swiftly consuming the surrounding furniture and literature. Twilight jumped to her hooves, backing away towards the relative safety of the corner. She was on the wrong side of the blaze though, the only exit to the library on the opposite of the obstacle in front of her and already it was too large to hope to get through without at least second degree burns.

Spells ran through Twilight’s mind like wildfire, none of them relevant or sticking around long enough to be of any use to her. She had flashbacks to the nightmares she had suffered before, the ones of her library burning down and the mob outside her doors, and now it was happening in real life! Twilight was asphyxiating as the flames licked towards her, burning up the oxygen around her and the smoke clogging her throat. ‘Twilight!’ a welcome voice called out from the back of Twilight’s mind, Twilight quickly responded hoping Luna was ok. ‘Luna! Where are you?’ she sent out, the reply came almost instantaneously. ‘Wake up.’ Luna’s voice was calm and commanding and stopped Twilight in her tracks. Wake up? What did she mean? Twilight couldn’t get a straight thought out so decided it was probably best to listen to the voice in her head. She blinked.

Twilight awoke to the sound of breathing. She blearily opened her eyes, squinting against the morning’s light. Once she had properly adjusted to the brightness she saw the pony in front of her. Twilight had fallen unconscious on her back, staring up at the ceiling, but her view was now obstructed by a certain blue mare looking down at her concernedly. Luna broke out into a smile once she saw Twilight awaken and quickly pulled her to her hooves.
“It was just a dream.” Luna told her comfortingly as Twilight remembered the flames inching towards her.
“What happened with Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked as soon as she was able, hoping that their attempts had been successful.
“Banished.” Luna confirmed, drawing Twilight into a hug, “You did great, thank you.” But Twilight was still confused.

“Then... what was that nightmare?” Twilight asked, Luna pondered her answer for a moment before replying.
“I think it was just a common nightmare, brought about by various stimuli such as lack of air when sleeping, uncomfortable sleeping position; or in your case, stress.” Luna answered with a pointed look at Twilight.
“Well, I guess I have been working a bit hard this past week.” Twilight said sheepishly with a small grin. Luna shook her head, accompanied by a quick roll of the eyes.
“Listen, we need to take a break.” Luna told her, it wasn’t a request, Twilight nodded in agreement, a break would be nice. She wanted to plan an itinerary for the day but Luna quickly stopped her.
“No, let’s just go out, make it up as we go along.” Luna said firmly, Twilight was taken aback, she never went out without a plan, but she begrudgingly agreed.
“Ok...” Twilight replied, Luna gave a smile and they stood up. Twilight quickly grabbed a saddlebag and filled it with a few necessities and they left.

Twilight didn’t like this, she hated not having a plan, she just felt so vulnerable. But if Luna wanted it then she guessed she would have to follow along with it. Luna seemed to be in charge of their relationship, she was almost always the one to start things off and the one who would comfort her when she needed it, she thought that made sense though, Twilight trusted Luna with this sort of stuff more than she did herself. Luna seemed to have the general layout of Ponyville town down despite only having been there a hoofful of times as she swiftly led the pair towards one of the restaurants dotted around the centre. It was still morning, but late enough that Luna guessed they could have a sort of brunch at the restaurant. When they entered they saw that there was only one other patron, an old stallion lazily dozing in his chair at the back end of the restaurant.

They sat themselves down next to each other in one of the booths and Luna picked up the menu, holding it between them so they could both see it.
“You can have whatever you want, I’m buying.” Luna told her, gesturing with her spare foreleg the items on the menu for emphasis.
“You sure? I don’t mind paying.” Twilight replied, but Luna wasn’t having it.
“No, you’re already allowing me to live with you, the least I can do is help pay.” Luna said her spare hoof now waving firmly from side by side with her words. Twilight nodded and turned back to the menu in front of them. Eventually the only waiter on duty walked over to their table, a notepad held aloft with his magic.
“May I take your order?” The waiter asked looking at his notebook.
“I’ll have scrambled eggs on a scone, please. Oh, and some orange juice as well, please.” Twilight said, she turned from the waiter and looked at Luna expectantly.
“I’ll... I’ll have the same please.” Luna replied, she was obviously unsure of the food around here after living her entire life with posh foods.

The waiter quickly jotted down the order and read it back to them for confirmation, which they provided. He looked up for the first time.
“Will that b-?” He began, but his eyes fell on Luna and he stopped. “Princess Luna?” He gasped, both Twilight and Luna quickly hushed him.
“How did you know it was me?” Luna asked, she knew that she wasn’t exactly putting on a disguise but she assumed that since almost everypony in Ponyville had seen her on Nightmare Night they would only know her regular form. The waiter seemed flabbergasted but managed to answer.
“I saw you at the parade of your return after Nightmare Moon was defeated.” He replied, still staring bug-eyed at the princess, he was obviously not used to meeting royalty.
“Were you not at Nightmare Night?” Luna asked quizzically, the waiter shook his head.
“N-no, I was away in Manehatten.” He replied with a slight nervous stutter. ‘That explains it.’ Luna thought. Twilight was looking back and forth between the princess and the waiter, unsure what to do to help.

“Well there’s no point in trying to hide it then.” Luna sighed, “Yes, I am Princess Luna, however it would be greatly appreciated if you could keep it a secret, I’m living here, uh, undercover as it were.” Luna quickly told him. At the mention of ‘secret’ and ‘undercover’ the waiter grinned, let out a huge theatrical ‘Oooh’ and tapped the side of his muzzle with a hoof conspiratorially, much the way Pinkie had done when Twilight and Luna had told her about their relationship. Luna returned the smile in a rather regal way, her old ways of acting around the citizens coming back to her.
“I see, I’ll leave you too it then, your order should be ready in about five.” The waiter continued, he gave them an exaggerated wink and left them in order to relay their order to the cooks, though not before confirming that their secret was safe with him.
“Well then...” Luna said after the waiter had left as she settled down into the cushioned bench.

Twilight was giggling softly to herself, obviously trying to hold back.
“What’s so funny?” Luna inquired, Twilight managed to stop giggling long enough to whisper;
“That waiter’s face.” Twilight replied, remembering the exaggerated facial expressions the waiter had on when he had talking with Luna. Luna frowned.
“Twilight! It’s rude to laugh at other people.” Luna said firmly, Twilight stopped, but Luna burst out laughing too and Twilight joined back in, “I guess it was rather amusing.” Luna said after the laughter had subsided. A quick glance over at the counter of the restaurant showed them that waiter still standing there, peering intently at them, wondering what they were laughing at. However, they caught his eye and he quickly trotted into the kitchen. This evoked another round of laughs from the two mares.

They chatted idly while they waited for their food to be ready, talking of various things, magic mainly though, Luna displaying her obviously great intellect. However, they never strayed to talk of the future nor of any plans, they wanted today to be a well deserved break from all that. Eventually their food arrived, the waiter setting down the food in front of them with a bow.
“Please, just pretend I’m a normal pony.” Luna said wearily, it could get annoying having everypony bow down to you.
“Yes Princess.” The waiter replied.
“And call me... Moonlight was it?” Luna continued, looking to Twilight for confirmation, Twilight gave a nod in return. “Yes, call me Moonlight.”
“Yes Moonlight.” The waiter repeated dutifully and left them alone. Luna gave another sigh as the waiter once more disappeared into the kitchen.

They ate their meals undisturbed, it was too early for the lunch rush, the staff were all located behind the closed doors of the kitchen and the stallion at the back stayed unconscious. They continued their small talk as they ate, occasionally stopping for a drink or whatnot. Eventually they finished and Luna sat back with a satisfied sigh, Twilight looked at her with a smile, glad she was enjoying their break as much as she was. Twilight noticed a small bit of egg on the side of Luna’s face and made to wipe it off with a napkin. Luna turned to Twilight just as she reached over, the tissue going straight into her mouth which she had just opened to say something. Luna spat it out and fell into uncontrollable laughter, Twilight grabbed another napkin and attempted to wipe off the egg once more but Luna’s laughter made it hard.
“This is the toast all over again!” Twilight blurted out randomly, focussed on trying to get the offending food stuff off of the other mare’s face. This just made Luna laugh all the harder at the absurdity of Twilight’s words. Finally, Twilight got it and triumphantly squashed it up in napkin, looking very pleased at herself.

Luna wheezed to a stop, all out of breath and cheeks hurting from the laughter.
“That felt good, I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.” Luna admitted, still smiling, Twilight returned the grin. It was now around midday and other ponies would be arriving soon so the staff had left the kitchen, prepping the place up for the awaited customers. The waiter came over to their table.
“Would you like anything else?” He asked, back into his formal voice that he had greeted them with, he seemed to have calmed down.
“No thanks, this was fine thank you.” Luna replied, the waiter nodded and gave them the bill which Luna paid with the bits she kept in her saddlebag, along with a generous tip.
“Th-thank you.” The waiter stuttered, gathering the money and moving swiftly back behind the counter.

“Why did he look so surprised? Was I not meant to tip him?” Luna asked once they were outside and walking once more, Twilight snorted.
“It was fine to tip him, but I don’t think he expected that much, you gave him about twice his normal monthly wages.” Twilight replied, Luna gave a blush.
“Oh.” She replied, she guessed she had been a bit overboard with her tipping. They walked with their sides touching with a slight lean into the other pony, it was the moving equivalent of holding hooves and earned them a few odd looks as they walked by, but no one seemed outrightly angry or suspicious so they continued.
“So where are we going now?” Twilight said after the silence began to stretch out. Luna shook herself out of her reverie and took in her surroundings, they were just exiting the main town centre and were on their way down a cobblestone path that would take them to ‘Ponyville Park’ as the post they passed proudly presented.
“The park.” Luna replied, Twilight nodded.

The walk to the park took a couple of minutes and the entire time they didn’t see any other ponies, they guessed that since it was a school day in the middle of the working season most ponies would be busy working and not have much time to be going to the park. This suited the both of them, neither one the sort of pony that liked crowded places. Twilight did feel a little guilty at having to close the library for another day, but she consoled herself in the fact that ponies barely ever came to the library anyway. They found a nice spot that was in the shade of a large oak that still let them have a view of the sky above. They lay themselves down on the grass, staring at the sky. They each held one foreleg above their eyes to block the sunlight. With the other hoof they grasped the spare hoof of the other. ‘This is what this sort of relationship is meant to be like.’ Twilight thought with a smile, trying not to think of the many books she had read on the subject and instead trying to do it as natural as possible. While they rested, unbeknownst to them there was another couple in the park, Lyra and Bon Bon sat together on a park bench away from them. Lyra pointed Twilight and Luna out to the other mare.
“See? I told you we weren’t the only ones.” Lyra said triumphantly.
“I never doubted you.” Bon Bon replied with a roll of her eyes.

Twilight and Luna lay there for hours in the companionable silence, content with just holding each other’s hoof and staring at the great expanse of blue stretched out above their heads and each with a faint smile on their faces. Eventually Luna climbed to her feet with a small groan, releasing Twilight to stretch her limbs, an action which Twilight quickly joined in on, lying still on the floor for several hours can make anypony feel stiff.
“Come on, let’s have an early night tonight, one hopefully free of nightmares.” Luna said as they made their way back to the library. Twilight nodded in affirmation, they hadn’t had a normal night sleep in days and an early night would do a world of good.

When they entered the library they found Spike rearranging a couple of books which had been out of place on the bookshelf. He turned around to face them.
“Oh hey guys you’re back.” He stated redundantly.
“So are you.” Twilight replied, equally redundant, “So, how did it go?” Twilight continued, referring to Spike’s sleepover at Sweet Apple Acres. Spike nodded his head slowly.
“Not bad, I think Applejack took the news pretty well, she did pull me out of the room and spoke to me in a scary voice. She was all like ‘Now you look after her, ya hear? I don’t want to hear anything about you hurting her or anything, do ah make mahself clear?’ but yeah.” Spike responded with a slight shudder.
“Oh Spike, Applejack just wants her sister to be safe, I’m sure it’s just a big sister thing.” Twilight responded, “And well done, you were very brave to do that all on your own.” Spike smiled in pride.
“So, you guys want anything to eat?” Spike said.
“No thanks, I think we’re going to pack in for the night.” Twilight responded.
“Suit yourself.” Spike replied, giving a polite nod to Luna before turning and entering the kitchen. When they entered their bedroom, even though they knew that Nightmare Moon wouldn’t be there to torture them in their dreams they climbed into the same bed instinctively, as though it were the natural thing to do, and for all they knew, it was.

They surrendered themselves to sleep quicker than normal, there was no hesitation to enter the realm of the dreams and with Luna wrapped around Twilight comfortably, they both slipped into unconsciousness swiftly. Twilight waited nervously, a small niggling sensation at the back of her head telling her that this wasn’t going to be good. But a familiar scene faded into view and dispelled those thoughts. She found herself atop the Redwood looking over Ponyville, the leaves tightly packed to form a ground of sorts. She felt the breeze blow against her skin and smiled the view of Ponyville at night putting her at ease. The lights from various windows down below creating a complex, indiscernible pattern of illumination through the entire town.
“You chose here?” A voice said behind Twilight, she turned around as saw Luna, silhouetted by the moon, standing there with a smile on her face, Twilight gave a shrug.
“I like it up here, it’s peaceful.” Twilight responded with a return smile. Luna walked over to the large protruding platform branch and waited for Twilight.

Twilight moved to stand beside Luna and looked out over the land. Luna turned to Twilight.
“I’m going to kiss you now. Ok?” Luna went for the less than subtle approach. Twilight’s smiled widened.
“That’s fine with me.” Twilight said, and Luna drew her in. Now that Twilight knew it was coming she could fully appreciate the passion shared between them at that moment, they lost themselves in each other as Twilight held Luna’s sides and Luna gently stroked Twilight’s mane. What seemed hours later, but was probably just a few seconds, they pulled away, a faint smile on their lips. They sat themselves down on the branch and stared out across the treetops and houses, leaning on each other and heads touching.
“Thank you.” Twilight said, putting all of her emotions into those two words.
“No, thank you.” Luna replied, equally emotional, all of their unsaid feelings passed between them to be shared by both as they continued to sit, the moon silhouetting them against the night.