A year had passed since the day that Luna first met her soon to be best friend. The two were inseparable. Whenever Luna got some free time on her hooves she would happily trot over to the workers quarters to smuggle her friend to her room. They would laugh together, play together, they shared their every single thought.

Luna had made a tremendous transformation over the past year. She had changed from a shy, timid filly to an overly active, happy one. At night, when Luna strolled through the darkened gardens and hills surrounding the royal castle, she wished nothing more than for Lily to be there, right beside her.

But sadly, she was an earth pony and earth ponies needed sleep. She would, often enough, sneak past the window of the worker's quarters, wondering if she should wake the filly up but she always decided not to. If her parents would find out that she was befriended with one of the workers they would surely forbid it.

Luna could already hear her mothers voice. "We are royal ponies Luna. We do not degrade ourselves by conversing with these filthy peasants. I forbid you to ever see that girl again!" Luna shuddered at the thought. She had never been as close to anypony before, not even her sister.

Whenever she felt down Lily would always try her best to find a way to make Luna laugh uncontrollably. They became closer every day. And so days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. Luna never had to hide who she was around her friend, Lily told her that she understood, even when she didn't.

Lily was just, if not twice, as happy about their growing friendship. Every night, before she went to sleep, she would think to herself: "What does someone like her see in me? I'm nothing special." Lily shared a room with the other filly's that worked at the palace. She would often keep them up all night, rambling on about the countless adventures that she had with the princess of Equestria. None of them would believe her of course. Maybe they would if the excited little filly didn't tell the stories in a way that nopony, sane or insane, would believe her.

Luna groggily wiggled underneath her dark blue, silken covers. She smiled contently as she felt the warmth of her sister's sun glow through her massive window, it's rays still shining despite of the icy weather. She smiled broadly as she realized what day it was today. It was her birthday.

She slowly opened her eyes only to close them shut a second later. The sun's morning light had pierced her eyes causing a sting of pain to appear in her head as she rubbed her eyelids with her hooves. Luna had spent a little too much time in the castle gardens, practising her magic, last night.

As a pony, who used to sleep through most of the day and be awake at night, her newly developed sleeping pattern was taking a heavy toll on her. But she wanted to spent as much time with her best friend as possible and she couldn't expect the filly to disregard her much needed sleep.

After a few minutes of slightly opening and closing her sore eyes she managed to keep them open. Ignoring the slight pain that was still stinging in her head, she got out of bed and trotted out of the door. Unlike Celestia's grand festivals, Equestria didn't really get effected by Luna's birthday.

There were no parades running through Canterlot, there were no ponies dancing happily in the streets, and there were certainly no public appearances. Luna knew that her parents wanted to keep her out of view but she could never figure out why.

Ponies were aware of the fact that today was her birthday though. In fact, the main hall of the royal palace was literally littered with countless of wrapped presents for the young princess. They came from Canterlot's riches, wanting to appear good in the eyes of the royal family no doubt.

Luna was not nearly as happy as any other filly in Equestria would be at the sight of the massive pile of toys. She had seen it all before. She didn't really have any use for them seeing that her room was already stuffed with toys. Whenever Luna would open one of her presents she felt a slight feeling of guilt, knowing that others would have had way more use for it than she did.

After she, Celestia, and her parents were done enjoying the massive feast that they called breakfast Luna decided to return to her room for the day to continue with her studies. She pushed the door open and shuffled into her room in a dull manner.

"Happy birthday!"

Luna jumped up at the sudden sound, screaming frightfully as she did. She landed on the ground of her study with a loud thud. She opened her eyes to see a filly beam at her with bright golden eyes. The filly laughed loudly. "Didn't mean to scare you there Luna!" she laughed, helping her friend back on her hooves.

"Lily! You remembered!" she smiled happily. The two fillies entered Luna's playing room. Lily's eyes grew larger as she gazed at the massive pile of toys that was lying in the room, even more so than usual.

"Where did this come from!?" she yelled happily.

"Nobles.." Luna sighed. "I get loads of these every year."

Lily gave her friend a confused look. "Are you actually sad that you got hundreds of toys for your birthday!? You my dear Luna, are insane." she laughed. "Most foals can only dream of something like this!" she said as she circled the presents, closely examining the mountain of toys and wrappings .

"That's the thing! I don't even want them, I've got more than enough toys as it is! I'd rather have them go to someone else.." she said sadly. This caused a devious grin to appear on Lily's muzzle.

"You just gave me an idea, most esteemed princess!" she said with a playful grin. "Why don't we sneak into the worker's quarters and deliver our fellow foals from the evil that is boredom!" she said as she pointed her hoof to the sky in a heroic display causing Luna to laugh loudly.

"What do you mean?" she asked the over excited earth pony.

"I mean!" she exclaimed. "That you and I go and give your unwanted treasures to the foals that live in the palace." she said as she thought of the sad state that most of the foals that she worked with were in. Their life wasn't easy, the didn't have the time to play like other fillies and colts did. They had to support their parents by working for the royal family.

Luna's eyes lit up at her friend's suggestion, she loved nothing more than making others happy. Happiness was something that was given to her freely but she knew that many others were not as fortunate as her. She looked up at her friend. "Lily, you're a crazy genius!" she exclaimed.

"Luna!" she said with a tone of disappointment. "I much prefer the term mentally hilarious, thank you very much." she said causing Luna to put a hoof to her face as she laughed coyly.

Lily happily trotted through the gilded halls of the royal palace, Luna by her side. She finally had a change to prove their friendship to the other foals that lived in the palace. They dragged a large bag filled with toys over the white, marble floor. Suddenly, Luna felt Lily release the bag from her mouth and grab her tightly, jumping behind a nearby corner.

"What are!?" she tried to speak but Lily had put her hoof to Luna's muzzle.

"shhhh! It's one of the parents!" she said, look around the corner. "I forgot everypony was still here. We'll never be able to get past 'em" she said. "But what if.. Yeah! Lets return here tonight when everypony's asleep and dumb the toys into the children's dorm! We'll be like santa!" she exclaimed.

An unsure look appeared on Luna's face. "Are you sure about that.. It doesn't sound very safe." she asked.

"Oh, and a defenceless little filly sneaking out of the palace at night isn't?" she laughed. "Come on Luna! It'll be fun! What could possibly go wrong?" she said looking into Luna's eyes, summoning her saddest of puppy-dog eyes, her bottom lip shaking slightly.

"Oh god! Stop it!" Luna was never able to resist those eyes. Those big golden eyes. She covered her face with her hooves. Lily walked up to her and put her mouth to Luna's ear causing the alicorn to blush slightly.

"Pweeaaase Wuuuuna!" she squealed.

"Fine!" she yelled, obviously fearing which manner of persuasion her friend would attempt to use if she refused.

"You're too easy!" she laughed. "Anyway, I've got the day off today, wanna hang out?" she asked, beaming at Luna. The two fillies returned to Luna's quarters. They spent the rest of the day playing and talking about whatever they had done over the last few days.

"Mother is going to take me to another one of Celestia's Lessons" she said. "You should see those colts Lily, They're so desperate. It's just sad." she sighed. “I hate it there. Especially when I think about how she wants me to do the same in a couple of years.” she shivered at the thought.

“Rather you than me!” she laughed. “I don't need no icky colts circling around me all day. What's so great about 'em anyway!?” she exclaimed, hooves in the air. “I wish my parents wouldn't talk about finding a coltfriend for me constantly!” she growled.

“I know right!? Mine are even talking about me marrying one!” she said, sticking her tongue out to express her annoyance. Suddenly Lily's face lit up in excitement.

“I know! We'll just marry each other! Then they won't be able to tell us to marry anyone else!” she said, amazed at her own genius. Luna put a hoof to her face.

“Fillies can't marry fillies silly!” she said laughingly.

“Why the hay not!?” Lily yelled.

Luna shrugged. “I don't know. But mother said so, why would she lie?”

“I don't care, I'm marrying you!” she said, obviously too young and naive to understand what those words actually meant. But she had read enough of her mother's squishy novels to know how this worked. She got down on one knee. “Luna, will you marry me?” she said.

Luna laughed loudly at the foalish display. “Sure Lil, I'll marry you.” she said, trying to contain her snickering.

“I'll keep you up on that one!” Lily laughed.

Luna impatiently lied in her bed, practically shaking underneath the covers from excitement. She was going to meet her friend at night for the first time. She stared up at the ceiling, the night sky was depicted on the ceiling, hundreds of tiny stars painted on a dark background.

In the middle of the ceiling, above her bed, a large circular window was built. It allowed her to look up at her favourite stars. She continued to blankly stare through the large window, switching her gaze to the clock ever so often.

She sat upright in her bed and checked the time. “1 am.. She's late..” Luna sighed. “Maybe she isn't coming after all.” she said, looking down into her blue, silken blanket. Suddenly, she heard a mysterious tapping noise coming from above her.

She looked up to see a white hoof tapping the glass in her ceiling, soon followed by Lily's face grinning down at her. Luna looked up in disbelief. Her horn started to glow with a shadowy aura as she used her magic to slide the window open causing Lily to fall down, landing on top of Luna with a loud thud.

“Ouch! My wings!” she said as she angrily pushed her friend off of her. She stumbled back up on her hoofs.

Lily giggled. “Sorry about that. Didn't expect the window to suddenly open.” she laughed. She walked over to the large sack that was now filled with Luna's birthday presents. “So, are you ready for this!?”

“How the hay did you get up on the roof in the first place!? Do you know how high up we are? You could have hurt yourself.” Luna said.

“No need to worry about me! I've been roaming these roofs since the day we moved into the palace. There's a small window above my bunk bed. Luckily, I sleep in the top.” she laughed. “No need for wings or magic, I've got this baby!" she said as she wiggled a bundle of rope in front of Luna.

"B-but.. I don't fly so well.." Luna said softly. Lily looked at her friend with an annoyed expression on her face. Luna stood shaking on her hooves, a bundle of rope hanging around her neck. She had lived inside the castle for most of life and she was never allowed to go outside without a supervisor.

Needless to say, she had never developed any flying skills. "Come on Luna! It's only like fifteen feet high. All you have to do is fly up on the roof and throw me the rope so I can climb up there with the stuff!" Lily said.

"Ok.. here I go.." she whispered. She started to hastily flap her wings through the air causing her to rise. She hanged in the air, her hooves just inches away from the ground. Her wings started to beat faster and harder in an attempt to ascend the little filly further from the ground.

"You're doing it Luna!" Lily yelled as she bounced on her hooves.

Luna saw the window draw closer and closer. Beats of sweat ran down her face, she had to use all of her strength to stay afloat. "Almost.. Almost!" she thought. Her head reached through the window, the rest of her body still hanging high in her room.

She peeked over the edge to see a what appeared to be a rolling meadow of white roofs. The sky was dark, except for Luna's thousands of stars. They shined brighter than ever before that night. The moon hanged in the heavens, It's dim light shining down on Equestria.

Luna took the beautiful atmosphere in. Gazing at the higher parts of the castle that still towered above her. White, flowing rooftops surrounded her in every direction. She was so taken aback by it all that she didn't even notice her wings giving in. She yelled as she started to fall back into her room, quickly grasping at the edges of the window, being able to grab hold of it just before it was too late. "Luna!? Are you ok?" Lily yelled at the alicorn, hanging from the ceiling.

Luna looked down at the ground, instantly regretting that decision. Her wings were frozen to her back in fear as she held the edges of the opening in her ceiling with her hooves. It was a pretty long way down. Nothing that would seriously injure most ponies but she was just a foal. "I am for now!" she yelled back. She felt her hold loosen. "But I can't hold on much longer!"

Suddenly, the roof slipped out of her hooves causing her to rapidly fall down, screaming all the while. "Luna!" Lily yelled, jumping into action. Just before Luna was about to hit the ground she landed on top of Lily, who had jumped underneath the falling alicorn.

Lily collapsed to the floor as soon as Luna landed on her back, both of them hitting the hard ground of Luna's bedroom. "Uugh.. I guess we're even now.." Lily said in pain. "Can't you just flash us up there with that fancy magic of yours?"

Luna brushed the dust off of her shoulders. "I'm not supposed to use advanced magic for trivial tasks. Father would have my head." she said, shuddering in fear as she thought about the last time that she had abused her powers.

Lily looked up at the window. "This is no trivial task." she said, laughing loudly. "Come on! This is the only solution. Unless you want to give flying another try." She said, sending Luna a mischievous smile. She already threw the coil of rope over her neck, knowing all too well that Luna would never try something like that a second time.

Luna turned her head upwards. in all her years at the palace the ceiling had never seemed higher. She started to shake on her hooves again as her wings refused to leave her back. "Magic it is." Luna pointed her horn towards Lily and, within a brief moment of concentration, she flashed the filly up on the roof.

“You're almost there Luna! Just a bit more!” The filly groaned as she pulled her friend, plus a large bag of toys, over the edge of the window. Luna landed face first on the roof above her bedroom. She pulled herself back up on her legs and looked around.

She could not believe what she was seeing. She had never been up on the palace roof, let alone at night. The moonlight shone upon the roof tops causing them to glisten. The normally dull roof tiles looked like a sparkling sea of white stone.

Thousands of stars hanged in the sky, enlightening the heavens above. “Beautiful isn't it?” Lily asked, smiling softly at her friend. “I love the night.” she whispered into the alicorn's ear. Luna's heart skipped a beat at her friend's words.

Nopony ever told her that, nopony ever cared about her night, let alone loved it. A tear appeared in her eye as she hugged Lily tightly causing the earth pony to blush intensely. “Thanks Lil, you have no idea how much that means to me” she smiled.

Suddenly, a loud noise shook the heavens. Rain started to pour down upon the two fillies. Flashes of lightning started to burst through the sky, piercing the air. Lily, who had always been terrified of thunderstorms, grasped Luna into an even tighter hold as she closed her eyes in fear.

Luna could feel her friend shake in her arms. “Come on Lily! We've got to get going if we want to get this done tonight!” she yelled, trying to make her voice audible over the sound of the raging thunderstorm.

Lily opened her eyes but quickly closed them again as a flash of light blasted through the air before her very eyes. “Come on Lil!” Luna pleaded. The earth pony opened her eyes once more. The sound of the rain pouring past her was only bested by the raging thunder.

She could see hundreds of little raindrops bounce off the white marble roof tiles. “Ok.. Let's go!” she yelled. The two filles marched over the tiles, heading for the roof that stood above the workers quarters.

Often enough, their hooves would slip a bit over the wet tiles, the rain had made them dangerously slippery. “Watch your step Luna!” The filly yelled, the thunderstorm still blasting in her ears. They both pulled the large bag over the roof tops.

After a minute of careful tiptoeing they reached the intersection that stood between the worker's quarters and the private quarters. It looked dangerously steep, water pouring down its tiles. The two fillies looked at each other with an expression of uncertainty.

“Come on! We'll do it together!” Lily yelled as she took hold of Luna's hoof. The princess nodded at her with a look of determination. The two fillies carefully took their first step on the wet tiles. It sure was slippery, but they could manage to slowly, but surely, walk across it.

When they had walked halfway across the roof something terrible happened. The towers of the palace, reaching high in the sky, acted as a lightning rod in the heavy storm. A bolt of lightning blasted into the side of the palace causing Lily to scream in fear as she released Luna from her grip. The bag of toys flew over the edge.

“Lily! Don't let go of me!” Luna yelled as she slipped across the wet tiles, the rain still pouring past them. In a matter of seconds the earth pony snapped out of her state of fear and jumped after her friend. Luna flew over the edge of the roof but Lily grabbed her hoof as she jumped, falling on her belly. She jammed her back-hooves into the roof to keep them from falling.

So there she hanged, at the edge of the palace roof, about a hundred feet above the ground. The only thing that stood between her and a certain death was her best friend who was struggling to keep her from falling down. Their hooves clasped tightly as Luna started to cry, looking down at the ground far beneath her. “Don't let me go Lily! Help me!” she screamed.

“I... can't hold much longer!” she yelled as the edges of the roof tiles started to dig into her legs. The pain was unbearable, but she had to hold on, she just had to. Lily screamed as she used all of her might to pull Luna over the edge.

The alicorn flew through the air, landing on top of her friend. The two of them panted heavily as they lied on the white, marble roof tiles, the rain still streaming over them. Luna looked into the Filly's crying, golden eyes. “Lily.. y-you saved my life..” she panted.

Lily sat down on Luna's bed. She was wet all over. Every part of her body was in pain. Water trickled from her wet mane unto the sheets. Her legs were covered with wounds. The sharp tiles digging into her skin had left a mark. She noticed that her blood flowed from her legs and dripped upon The princess' bed. “I'm sorry, I'm making a mess..” she said, still in shock of what happened.

Luna ,who was also soaking wet, gave her friend a look of confusion as she sat down upon her bed next to her. “I don't care.. you saved my life!” she whispered, still shaken by the fact the she had faced an almost certain death just a few minutes ago.

“I would never let you fall..” she whispered into Luna's ear. “You mean more to me than anything else in this world!” she said as she drew her muzzle closer to the filly's ear. “You are the only bright spot in my life Luna..” she whispered.

Luna responded by hugging her friend tightly. A spark ignited in their hearts. The feelings that used to confuse Luna every day since she had met Lily finally made sense to her. They looked into each others eyes as their muzzles drew closer.

Luna could feel Lily's soft breathing on her face as she slowly neared closer and closer. Finally their lips met in a small, innocent kiss. Both of the fillies blushed furiously. As they closed their eyes. For what seemed like an eternity, the two fillies sat on top of Luna's bed. Finally Lily broke away from the kiss.

“I love you Luna..”