Moon Dancer almost fell over laughing when Twi faceplanted into the ice. Moon Dancer took a spin around Twi, giggling all the way.

“You,” Twi muttered, her face still against the ice, “are such a pain in the flank!”

Moon Dancer did a flying leap over Twi.

“Why, thank you!”

Inarticulate grumbling came from the lavender heap as Twi tried to get herself back on her hooves. Eventually, Moon Dancer had pity on her marefriend and helped her up.

“Why did I let you talk me into this?” Twi moaned as she wobbled slowly alongside Moon Dancer.

“Because it’s cute to watch you embarrass yourself. And fun. Really fun.”

“Better question: why do I put up with you, again?” Twi asked with a sidelong glance at her.

“Because I’m adorable?” Moon Dancer grinned and fluttered her eyelashes. “Brilliant? Smooth? Generally just… amazing? Almost even… awesome?”

Twi seemed to consider this for a moment before shaking her head.

“No, pretty sure it’s not any those. I think I do because nopony else will. I’m helping Equestria by saving them from dealing with you.”

“Your sacrifice is noted,” Moon Dancer said solemnly. “Future generations will sing praises of your glorious victory against the awesomeness of Moon Dancer.”

Twi groaned, then yanked Moon Dancer’s hat down over her eyes with her magic.

“Hey!” Moon Dancer squawked. “No fair!”

Twi’s giggles were all that she heard for a bit until she managed to pry it off and get her glasses back on straight.

By then, Twi had faceplanted again.

From the other side of the ice rink, Sunny was chuckling at the pair of them, alongside the rest of their friends. More than anything, Moon Dancer knew whatever Twi and her went through tonight was worth it to get Sunny laughing again. Even if Moon Dancer suspected the laughter wasn’t completely real.

For the last month, Sunny had done her best to hide her feelings about Moon Dancer and Twi’s reborn relationship.

To be honest, Moon Dancer still felt a little guilty, even though there was no good reason for it. Of course, she’d been ticked off at Sunny for the whole spying thing for a bit—even if Sunny had warned her—but probably not for the reason she suspected. The real reason was because she knew her best friend too well. She had a pretty strong suspicion how Sunny had taken seeing the reunion with Twi.

She’d tried to bring it up a few times to Sunny, but Sunny each time insisted that she was happy for the two of them.

And somehow, Moon Dancer believed her. Sunny was actually happy for them. She really was. But there were parts of Sunny that weren’t. Those were the parts that bothered Moon Dancer.

Moon Dancer had been raised on logic, rational thinking and critical analysis. Those were her specialties. And she knew none of them would help Sunny work through that part of her.

There wasn’t much she could do.

As she once more helped Twi to her hooves and they began skating in slow, simple circles, she continued to watch Sunny out of the corner of her eye.

Moon Dancer would do anything for Sunny. Despite her own misgivings, Sunny was worth it. But what happened when what Sunny wanted and what she said were two different things?

Even as she bumped against Twi, enjoying the warmth of the pony who’d actually let Moon Dancer get somewhere with a silly fillyhood crush, she wondered. She wondered what would happen.

At the moment, things appeared simple.

Moon Dancer and Twilight Sparkle were enjoying a bumbling night in the Canterlot Garden Ice Rink as their friends watched them.

But she knew better. Things weren’t simple. They were complicated. They would probably get more complicated.

As Sunny turned to show off the latest additions to the Spire project to the rest of their friends, Moon Dancer made a decision.

The future would probably be complicated.

But she was going to enjoy the simple times as much as she could.

With a grin, she grabbed Twi’s forelegs and spun them around, laughing and enjoying every single second.

Fact: I am terrible at ice skating and will never, ever, ever, ever allow myself to be talked into such a stupid thing again!

Moon Dancer finally released Twilight from the enforced spin which had only caused her to feel a great deal more dizzy, making her even more unsteady on her hooves. In fact, the spinning—while fun—had proven that she was not a pony meant to be on anything other than hard, solid surfaces with a proper traction and friction ratio.

Moon Dancer seemed disinclined to acquiesce to this fact, however.

So, she did the best she could. She’d rather be over with Sunset showing off their latest developments on the Spire project. That was something she could handle. Something that did not require constant movement on treacherous terrain.

Yet still, she found a certain sense of exhilaration in the freedom of… well, not being in control. Despite her protests and grumblings, Twilight found the activity of ice skating to be entertaining, if only for the amusement Moon Dancer gathered from Twilight’s bumbling attempts at frictionless locomotion.

She smiled as she once again started to skate toward her friends with Moon Dancer steadying her the entire way. She could feel the other unicorn’s magic on her hooves, keeping them straight—when she wanted to at least. It was a tiny gesture, the equivalent of training wheels. But it was appreciated.

She glanced over at the pony she had decided was her marefriend. Moon Dancer’s face was red from the cold, but Twilight could see blush beneath it. The other unicorn’s glasses were slightly foggy and her breath came out in puffs of frost. Her red and purple mane was mostly wrapped underneath a woolen grey cap while her scarf fluttered behind her. Most of her body was hidden beneath her black winter coat.

Fact: Moon Dancer is definitely beautiful.

But more than anything, the two most attractive things about Moon Dancer were her wide smile and the way her eyes sparkled every time she looked at Twilight. If Twilight hadn’t known better, she’d suspected Minuette had been giving Moon Dancer lessons to better accomplish that smile.

Instead, she knew that the smile was—somehow— a result of Moon Dancer’s involvement with her.

This was a known fact. It had been stated within her mind numerous times. However, she found it helpful to remind herself from time to time. But what was more important was to remind herself of the second fact.

Fact: I am dating my first and best friend.

With snow now falling regularly as Hearth’s Warming Eve approached, they had taken to studying more at each other’s homes. More often than not, they fell asleep with some random book in their lap.

Moon Dancer had even been instrumental in helping them finalize the first stage of the spellwork for the Spire. The Princess had approved Moon Dancer coming on permanently to help Sunset and Twilight in their studies on unified harmony magic, though she had sensed some faint hesitation at first.

And while Twilight could pretend to have no idea why that hesitation had been present, in truth, Twilight knew the source of it.

Despite all that, Sunset had been… amazing.

After the first week, Sunset had returned with a renewed vigor, determined to repair her somewhat atrophied friendship with Moon Dancer and continue developing her friendship with Twilight. After the rather mortifying confession regarding just what their friends had witnessed on Moon Dancer and Twilight’s first date, there hadn’t been nearly as many awkward pauses or faint blushes between Sunset and herself.

Some part of Twilight missed that. But awkward moments paled in comparison to watching the snow fall through Moon Dancer’s front window over mugs of hot cider.

Fact: Three months ago, I could have counted the ponies I called friends on my hooves.

Fact: Today, I not only have more friends than I know what to do with… but I have a marefriend as well.

If she was completely honest with herself—and if she couldn’t be honest with herself, her time studying had been wasted quite thoroughly—she would have to admit this entire thing was moving far faster than Twilight would have thought possible. It seemed ludicrous that a pony who had originally signed on with the Royal Canterlot Archives just to escape these ponies now embraced them as friends. And one as more.

When she stopped and thought about it… she occasionally wondered.

They eventually slid up to the large covered pavilion where Twilight, Sunset and Moon Dancer had put out their prototype of the Spire in the middle of a collection of couches the Princess had been generous enough to have set up for them. Coco and Rara were sitting together—as usual—laughing over something Minuette had just said one seat over. Cheerilee was speaking with Sunset on the far side of the Spire table. All of them were bundled up against the Canterlot snow and had either hot cider or hot chocolate beside them. Even though their breaths puffed with every exhalation, none of them looked even slightly interested in going inside.

Despite Moon Dancer’s complaints, Twilight decided she was done with skating for the moment. She was quite happy to let somepony else make a fool out of themselves. Moon Dancer pouted a little, but she wasn’t putting nearly enough effort into it to actually mean it.

Fact: I’m becoming better at reading ponies through these relationships.

After a moment, she decided to revise this conclusion.

Fact: I’m decent at reading Moon Dancer.

Twilight’s gaze fell on Sunset.

Fact: In the last month, I have become both better and worse at reading Sunset.

This troubled her, but she was also willing to accept it as something she could do little about. While Moon Dancer had attempted to broach the subject numerous times with Sunset, Sunset hadn’t been interested. She’d smiled, assured the two of them that she was happy they were doing so well in their newfound relationship and quickly changed the subject.

No, she wasn’t good at reading most ponies. She knew that Sunset still had unresolved emotions regarding Twilight. However, this was something Princess Celestia had warned them about. And every time she thought about Sunset, and what Twilight had seen that afternoon three months ago, she thought about the following day.

“Both of you are just learning to be friends. Do not complicate matters. Such magic tends to magnify emotional states. What you feel at present may not be the truth.”

Celestia was wise beyond comprehension. She was a goddess in all but name. She was a being of astounding power, with the ability—and responsibility—to manipulate planetary bodies every single day. She had negotiated treaties with Diamond Dogs, fought alongside Dragon Lords, had tea with ancient Griffon Kings and walked the secret places of the Deerfolk.

And when she saw the Princess with Sunset Shimmer, she saw something that boggled her mind. A warmth and love that surpassed all but the expressions she had seen in her own mother’s face.

Twilight knew she would never have that kind of relationship with the Princess of the Sun. And, in truth, she was fine with that. The idea of becoming so intimate with royalty was terrifying. Yet, Celestia had taken her on as a second student beside Sunset. She had set the two of them on a path to friendship… a path Twilight didn’t see an end to. Celestia treated her as an equal to Sunset Shimmer in all ways, save for that special expression.

Twilight had not met Sunset’s parents. From the occasional passing comment from one of her newfound friends or Sunset herself, she had no real desire to do so. Sunset had made it abundantly clear that she wanted nothing to do with her parents and Twilight respected Sunset too much to go digging into her past without permission.

With a lack of evidence to the contrary, Twilight had determined that, at present, Celestia herself was the closest thing Sunset had to a mother figure. Celestia and Sunset both reacted in a way consistent with this hypothesis. This fact continued to astound her.

When Twilight combined the ageless wisdom of the Princess of the Sun with the maternal manner in which she behaved around Sunset Shimmer, Twilight found herself completely unable to object to the Princess’s warning.

“Both of you are just learning to be friends. Do not complicate matters. Such magic tends to magnify emotional states. What you feel at present may not be the truth.”

Sunset had decided to listen to the Princess. Twilight could do no less. No matter the bond between them, she did not intend to complicate matters further. They were already complicated enough.

Fact: What I have with Moon Dancer is complicated too… but at the same time, simple.

And there was a great deal of comfort to be found in that fact.

“Equestria to Twilight?” Moon Dancer nearly shouted in her ear.

Twilight jumped to the side, glad she had put her boots back on and was no longer wearing those infernal skates. “Gah! Wha? What happened? What’s going on?”

Then she suddenly realized everypony was staring at her as if she had been spouting limericks in dragonese.

“You’ve been out of it for a good few minutes, Twi,” Moon Dancer said with a laugh. “Seriously, you need to come up for air once in a while. You’ll drown in that head of yours.”

Twilight just huffed at her, which only made Moon Dancer smile more. For some reason, the other mare seemed to enjoy it when Twilight acted in a petulant manner. So, Twilight played along. She may not understand much about this sort of relationship, but Twilight was a good student and a quick learner.

Moon Dancer levitated over a mug of cider. Twilight greedily took a few gulps, feeling the pleasant warmth rush through her body and beat away the winter chill. With a sigh, she settled herself on one of the unoccupied couches near the Spire.

“So, you ready to show us what this thing can do?” Minuette asked as she peered at the runes. “I have to admit… I really want to see it in action.”

“Despite all this, well…” Sunset rubbed the back of her head. “I’m not sure it’s ready for any sort of test yet.”

“It’s not completed,” Twilight chimed in. “It won’t be for some time. A few months minimum. Perhaps up to half a year.”

Sunset nodded. “But since Moon Dancer here helped with the foundation, we thought you all should at least see it.”

“Oh come on, can’t you try to turn it on?” Minuette pouted, using her best puppy dog eyes on both Sunset and Twilight.

“I’d like to point out that thing turned me into a deer.” Moon Dancer muttered.

“You helped fix that imbalance!” Twilight cried.

“Doesn’t mean I trust it!” Moon Dancer stuck out her tongue.

“To be honest,” Rara said with a smile. “I don’t even know what this thing is supposed to do.”

Coco raised a hoof. “I don’t really know either.”

Cheerilee chuckled to herself, grabbed another mug of hot cider and settled onto a smaller couch.

“I believe your class is getting restless, Sunny.” Cheerilee smiled. “After all, you can’t show off a shiny new toy to the fillies and expect them not to want to play with it.”

Sunset shot her a glare. “More playground wisdom?”

Cheerilee shrugged, but she didn’t disagree. “I’ve found it works no matter where you go.”

Twilight met Sunset’s gaze. Twilight and Sunset both knew what this would take to activate, even in its primitive state. Finally, Sunset seemed to make a decision. She nodded, but gestured to Moon Dancer with her head.

Twilight nodded in response.

Neither of them had said it. Neither of them had even told Moon Dancer.

It wasn’t strictly a lie. It was just an omission that, if revealed, would complicate things even more. And the Princess had said to avoid such things.

So instead, they both turned to Moon Dancer, who blinked in surprise after a puff of steam from her hot chocolate fogged her glasses.

“What?” she asked.

“Looks like we’ll need your help to get things started, Moony.” Sunset rolled her eyes. “As usual, we don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Moon Dancer grinned. “Of course you don’t!”

Twilight rolled her eyes too.

“Thankfully,” Moon Dancer continued as she set down the cup. “You don’t have to worry about ever being without me. You’re all stuck with me. It’s a hard burden to bear, but I’ll take on the responsibility of putting up with you all.”

Twilight tried to pull down Moon Dancer’s cap again, but she was ready this time.

Moon Dancer wasn’t so ready for the snowball Minuette threw at her face.

Moon Dancer laughed as she wiped the slush from her eyes. “You’ll pay for that later, you blue menace.”

“Uh huh.” Minuette teased, her smile never fading. “Just like last time, right?”

“So, you going to help us or what?” Sunset asked.

“Yeah, yeah. Come on Twi, let’s fire this thing up.”

They’re laughing at you. All of them can see through those shields you try to keep up. They can see just how much this is messing you up inside.

I’m not messed up, Sunset snapped back. I’m fine.

Liar. You can barely look at the two of them without getting jealous. What would your dear Princess think to find that her prized student is positively green with envy?

Doesn’t matter. She’ll never know. None of them will.

Oh yeah, because that’ll go so well. Just keep repressing your feelings, Sunset. Just keep trotting down that path. You refused to come to me like you should have. The fact is... you’ll end up like me one way or another. It’s inevitable.

Sunset bucked the voice as hard as she could. She swore she heard it laughing as it retreated into the depths of her mind. But years of practice with Celestia had taught her how to keep her composure. Well, at least sometimes. So, she didn’t let any of it show. Not a single bit.

She refused to do that to her friends.

Anyway, if this was going to work, she needed to focus. She couldn’t let her angry little pony even near her. She had to do this. Not just to show the project off to her friends.

She needed to know she could still make it work.

Six weeks ago, just a few days after the snowball fight to end all snowball fights, Twilight and Sunset had run their first test. And it had worked. They’d managed to actually generate a localized field of magic using the principles of unified spellwork. For lack of a better term, they had created a field of pure Harmony magic. Granted, their tests beyond the proof-of-concept stage hadn’t exactly met with perfect results, but they knew the theory was sound.

Despite that, there had been… complications.

Only Sunset and Twilight knew the truth, though Sunset suspected that the Princess knew, too.

When they’d tried it three weeks ago—just after Twilight’s first date with Moon Dancer—the Spire had refused to work.

Sunset remembered the emptiness. The failure. The vicious words of her angry little pony. The look in Twilight’s eyes. That last one had been the worst. That had done more damage than anything her angry little pony could say.

So, Sunset had asked the Princess if Moon Dancer could help full-time.

The silence had been painful. As for when Celestia had actually said yes… she still didn’t know what to think about that.

So, Moon Dancer had helped. She’d reinforced the foundation. The framework of the amplifiers. The ley crystal antenna. Refined it. And then she’d—

Sunset shook her head when she realized both Twilight and Moon Dancer were looking at her. Both of them had vaguely concerned expressions. Both so similar… yet so different…

“You two ready?” Sunset asked.

She didn’t explain her hesitation. They didn’t ask.

They both nodded.

“Moon Dancer, fire it up.”

Moon Dancer’s horn ignited and magic flowed into the arcane runes about the base of the half-complete crystalline spire. If Sunset was feeling particularly generous, she could have said it looked like some castle of ice. Granted, a half-finished one that had been trampled by a filly or two, but there was some small resemblance.

It only took a few seconds for Moon Dancer’s magic to stabilize the necessary spellwork. Runes pulsed on and off in a slow rhythm that matched her breathing.

The rest of the girls crowded around, giving ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ as the light show continued. But the spire itself was still inert. Now, came the hard part.

This would be easier if I could pull on the sun…

But the chilly winter night wasn’t going to make things easy on her.

“Ready, Twilight?” Sunset asked.

Twilight adjusted her glasses, moving them up her muzzle, nibbled on a bang for a few seconds and then finally nodded.

“Then let’s do it.”

Bolts of teal and raspberry magic blasted down into the base of the spire. Twilight took a step back, her horn still glowing. She needed to fire only once. Sunset on the other hoof…

Come to think of it, Sunset would be shocked if Celestia didn’t know the truth.

With a deft twist of her magic, she connected the framework of the base to the tower itself, linking Twilight’s magic with Moon Dancer’s magic. She kept her magic there, a tether between the two, allowing raw power to flow into the crystalline core of the arcane device.

Something in the depths of the Spire glowed for a few seconds before a burst of rainbow streamers erupted from with a series of quick hisses. They flickered around, as if seeking something. Sunset ignored the fact that they ended up all pointing at Twilight and Moon Dancer.

Sweating with the effort of keeping the connection going, she nodded at the girls.

“Go ahead, just reach out and touch them.”

Minuette, of course, was first. The moment one of the streamers came in contact with her hoof, her expression changed instantly. A look of wonder passed over her eyes.

“Wow…” she murmured.

That, apparently, was enough. Rara was next, followed by Cheerilee. Finally, Coco tentatively brushed one of the threads of magic.

Each of them just stared at the three unicorns in wonder.

“That felt…” Minuette mumbled. “It felt like… I don’t even know!”

“Reminded me of the night we met Trixie,” Rara said in the same hushed tone.

“Like a hug from my mother,” Cheerilee said, her eyes a million miles away.

“It was like the smiles from the Midsummer Theater Revival…” Coco whispered.

Finally, Sunset felt the magic starting to slip. Moon Dancer quickly tapped one of the streamers with a hoof. Twilight did it a moment later. Sunset darted a hoof forward and managed to catch the last rainbow thread an instant before it vanished.

And for a split second, she felt Celestia’s wing around her.

“What was that?” Minuette asked, staring at the Spire in wonder.

“Harmony,” Twilight whispered, filled with awe and reverence. “What we felt… it was touching the magic of the world itself.”

“You know…” Moon Dancer’s voice was odd. The usual snark was gone, replaced by a calm… almost meditative tone. “You never did say why the Princess had you working on this thing.”

Sunset almost answered, but the sensation of Celestia’s wing around her was far too fleeting. The comfort faded quickly and she was left with a cold shiver down her spine.

“She said it was to help us understand the fundamentals of magic,” Twilight explained.

Sunset nodded in agreement. But she could feel the eyes of Moon Dancer and Rara on her, as if they knew that wasn’t the whole truth.

Still… she didn’t elaborate. After all, repeating Celestia’s cryptic one-word response of “Training” wouldn’t help anypony.

Least of all, Sunset.

Sunset smiled, trying to put as much truth into the expression as she could.

“Hey, I’m going to grab another thing of hot cider. Why don’t you girls stay out here? I’ll be right back.”

“Are you sure—” Rara began, but Coco tapped her shoulder. To Sunset’s surprise, there were tears in the small mare’s eyes, but they seemed to be tears of joy. Rara nodded at Sunset and then turned to her friend.

Minuette and Cheerilee were talking in hushed tones on the other side of the table, with Minuette gesturing wildly.

Finally, she swallowed and met Moon Dancer’s and Twilight’s unreadable stares.

Sunset smiled at the two of them, forcing herself to remember that she was actually happy for the two mares. Her newest friend and her oldest friend. A pony she’d known for years… and a pony who’s mind she’d seen.

They were perfect for one another.

Sunset wasn’t going to let anything ruin that.

Not even me.

She nodded at them and headed out toward the doorway to the castle proper. The snow had started to fall again. Every hoofstep crunched in the white slush. Occasionally, it would crack where a bit of snow had solidified into a thicker patch. She ignored it and focused on her goal.

She could feel the eyes of her two friends still on her, but she didn’t look back. However, she did look up.

The glimmer of white on the balcony above was all she needed to see.

I’ll make you proud, Sunset thought up at her. I promise.

And she headed inside to get more hot cider for her friends.

Author's Notes:

One final chapter remains. One more viewpoint must be seen before we close the curtains on this tale. I'll see you next week for the finale of A Study on Chaos Theory.

---

If you come across any errors, please let me know by PM!