Luna raised her head, having completed the ritual that she had repeated every Hearts and Hooves Day for the past five years. After her first use of Starswirl the Bearded’s revival spell to see her one and only love, Jetfire, a natural curiosity had come over Luna. On the very next night, she had traveled to Jetfire’s gravestone and spoke the magic words, but nothing had happened. Having felt a slight pang of disappointment, Luna had tossed the book under her bed where she hadn’t thought about it until months later when, while pouring through magic history books, she came upon a passage about things called “annual spells” – spells that could only be used once a year and only on a specific date. With great effort, Luna had returned to her royal duties, waiting patiently until the next Hearts and Hooves Day to try the spell again. Sure enough on that day, and every Hearts and Hooves day afterwards, when Luna lifted her head from the gravestone and turned around, she was greeted by the familiar orange pegasus who trotted over and wrapped his forelegs around the happy princess of the night.

This year was no different; without warning, when the words had left her lips, she felt a strong set of hooves lift her from the spot in front of the grave, whip her around and pull her into a tight embrace. Luna smiled as she buried her face in the bright red mane and breathed deeply the subtle scent of cinnamon.

“Jetfire,” Luna sighed happily.

“Hey Luna.” Jetfire said as he leaned in and kissed the princess’ head just beside her horn. “Has it been a year already?”

“Already?” Luna pulled away and gave Jetfire a playful punch with her hoof. “I’d hardly call the time since our last meeting short.”

Jetfire chuckled as he tried to dodge another light blow from his special somepony. “Hey now, time moves faster in the afterlife, or something.” He hooked a hoof around Luna’s outstretched foreleg, pulled her in close, and kissed her.

Luna closed her eyes and giggled as she threw her forelegs around Jetfire’s neck as she happily welcomed the stallion’s lips. It wasn’t long before Luna hungrily forced her way into Jetfire’s mouth, eliciting a light, muffled moan from the stallion as their tongues joined together in a dance. A cool spring breeze blew through the ponies’ feathers as their wings snapped open in excitement; Luna was right, it had been far too long since the last time they had met. Not wanting to let her longing to get the better of her, Luna reluctantly released Jetfire from her embrace, and trotted away, playfully flicking Jetfire’s nose with her flowing blue tail.

A few yards away, under the tree where the two ponies spent their first night wrapped in each other’s hooves, was a soft wool blanket and picnic basket that Luna had set up earlier in that morning.

“Would you care to join me for a special Hearts and Hooves Day brunch?” Luna asked as she sat down on one corner of the blanket and began levitating plates out of the basket.

Jetfire sat beside the princess on the blanket and smiled as she levitated a plate over to him.

“I wouldn’t mind a little bite,” Jetfire said. “What did you make?”

“The greatest food in all of Equestria: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” Luna beamed as two sandwiches rose out of the basket and landed gently on the plates. “I know it isn’t much, but they’ve always been my favorite. I hope you don’t mind.”

Jetfire just stared down at the sandwich, watching jelly drip from between the slices of bread leaving thin dark purple streaks along the crust. Then, without warning, he fell over backwards in an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Luna watched as the full-grown stallion rolled around on the ground like a little colt.

“What’s so funny,” Luna asked as she furrowed her brow in confusion?

“I’m sorry,” Jetfire said, returning to his spot on the blanket and wiping a tear from his eye. “It’s just, only you would think of packing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a Hearts and Hooves Day brunch.”

Luna felt her face flush; she had made the sandwiches special for today because she wanted to share her favorite food with her very special somepony, but now that she thought about it, the whole thing seemed very silly.

“I’m sorry,” Luna said, feeling quite embarrassed. “I suppose peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a bit childish.” She made to put the sandwiches back in the basket, but stopped when she saw Jetfire pick his up and take a large bite of it, grape jelly staining the corners of his mouth.

“Wow, thath really good.” Jetfire said, his mouth still full of sandwich. Luna’s jaw hung open as she stared in shock at the stallion who was taking another large bite of the sandwich. After swallowing his second bite, Jetfire looked up from his sandwich to se the mare staring at him, dumbstruck. “What’s wrong, aren’t you gonna eat your sandwich?”
Luna shook her head, returning to picnic.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” Luna said, blushing lightly. “I wasn’t expecting you to enjoy it so much. I mean it’s just a sandwich.”

“Yeah, but you made it, so for me, this is the best thing I’ve eaten in a long time. Quite literally, actually.” Jetfire smiled at Luna who had taken to eating her own sandwich.
After a meal of many sandwiches (so many, in fact, that Jetfire had lost count), the two ponies curled up together under the tree, reminiscing about the days during their courtship. Jetfire recalled a particular afternoon during the summer before Luna had left school to start her royal training, and Jetfire had gone off to become a cadet at the military academy:

Luna had wanted to celebrate her and Jetfire finally graduating from school, so she invited the young stallion to spend the weekend at the princesses’ beach house. On the first day there, the two had spent the morning swimming in the clear blue ocean, and, upon Luna’s request, making a sandcastle.

With the help of a bit of magic, the two had created an exact scale replica of Canterlot castle, complete with towering spires, a small courtyard, and a wall that surrounded the castle. When it was finished, Luna took a seat on a towel that she had placed behind the castle walls and began bellowing orders at Jetfire – “Guard, move that rock,”
“Guard, bring me another beverage,” “Guard, my shoulders are sore, rub them,” – and the stallion happily did everything that was asked of him, each time responding with “It would be my honor, princess.” After twenty or so more ridiculous tasks, Luna gave the tired stallion one final order:

“Jetfire, make love to me.” Luna had said in a soft, sultry whisper.

The stallion stood frozen in place, shocked by his princess' bold request.

"What did you say?" He asked, not sure that he had heard her right.

Luna felt her face flush.

"I said that I want you to make love to me."

Jetfire felt himself blush too; the two ponies loved each other very much, but they had never had an overly physical relationship. It's not that he hadn't thought about it, but he didn't want to move too quickly, especially with a princess; he was content waiting for her.

The stallion had taken a step towards Luna, her request still making it difficult to move or think clearly.

"Are you sure Luna? I wouldn't want to do it unless you're abso-"

The words had barely left the Jetfire's mouth when the young princess had wrapped her forelegs around the stallion's neck and pulled the him on top of her, bringing his lips to her own.

"Jetfire, I love you" she whispered into his ear, "but if you ever want to be a captain of the royal guard, then it would be wise for you to follow your princess' orders."

Jetfire couldn't help but laugh at how forceful she was being.

“It would be my honor, princess.” He whispered.

Jetfire placed a hoof behind Luna's head, her beautiful blue mane wrapping itself around his foreleg, and brought her close until their lips were locked in another passionate kiss. The pegasus’ wings snapped open as he continued his endeavor, delving further into Luna’s mouth, massaging her tongue with his own. Excitement was building within Jetfire; he knew he couldn’t wait any longer. Breaking the kiss, Jetfire repositioned himself on top of Luna, ready to take things to the next level. That’s when everything went wrong.

Just as the two ponies were about to experience love making for the first time, an all too familiar voice came from a few yards away, causing Luna and Jetfire to jump.

“Luuuuuuuunnaaaaaaaa!” Celestia called out in a singsong voice. “Are you in there little sister?”

In a panic, Luna threw Jetfire off of her, and into the well-packed sand wall across from where they had been lying.

“What’s goin-” Jetfire started to say but was stopped when Luna turned to him and gave him a dangerous look.

“Shhh. If Celestia finds out what we were doing in here she’ll, well, let’s just say it won’t be good.”

“Luna, is someone in there with you?” Celestia poked her head over the side of the sandcastle wall and saw Jetfire leaning against one wall, his legs crossed rather awkwardly, and Luna a few feet away, blushing and smiling weakly.

“Oh, uh, hello sister,” Luna said, trying to regain her composer. “I wasn’t expecting you here.”

Celestia surveyed the two skeptically.

“Yes, well, the meeting with the delegates from the Griffon Empire ended early, so I decided to spend some quality time with my little sister at the beach house. But I didn’t realize you were…entertaining a guest.”

The two ponies broke out in a fit of laughter.

“You know she knew all along, right?” Luna asked as she turned her neck and kissed Jetfire on the cheek.

“What? How do you know?”

“Oh please, it was so obvious. Tia was supposed to be meeting with the griffon delegates all weekend, and she decided to spend the rest of her weekend at the beach.” Luna couldn’t help but laugh. “Back then there was only one thing that would have prevented her from attending to her royal duties, and that was making sure I was behaving myself. She did a pretty good job too…well, for the most part.” Luna blushed as she recalled the events that transpired between the young couple in Jetfire’s bedroom later on, on that same night, after Celestia had fallen asleep.

“Yeah,” Jetfire gave a little laugh, “I guess the weekend wasn’t a total loss.”
Jetfire began running a hoof through Luna’s star filled mane; all this reminiscing had reminded the stallion that there was something important that he needed to do before Hearts and Hooves Day ended and he returned to the afterlife. Releasing Luna from his embrace, the stallion rose and stretched his wings.

“Jetfire?” Luna asked, watching her special somepony with confusion. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no I’m ok.” Jetfire rubbed his head shyly, a hint of pink filling his face. “It’s just that, well, there was something that I wanted to ask you last year. Actually, it’s something that I wanted to ask you over a thousand years ago, but, well, certain events got in the way.”

The princess blushed; she was almost certain what was coming next.

“Luna, will…will you marry me?”

Neither pony spoke for several seconds; the only sound that could be heard was the racing of the ponies’ hearts, pounding in unison.

“I know it would be hard,” Jetfire continued, “I know you’d only get to see me once a year, but you would make me the happiest stallion in this life, and the next if-”

“Yes.” Luna whispered. She was finding it very difficult to speak.

“What?” Jetfire asked. He wasn’t sure he had heard Luna correctly over the sound of his beating heart.

“Yes Jetfire, I will marry you.” Luna beamed as tears began trailing down her cheeks. She reached her forelegs around Jetfire and buried her face in his mane, once again taking in the delightful aroma of cinnamon. “I don’t care if I only get to see you on Hearts and Hooves Day, nothing would make me happier than to have you as my husband.”

Jetfire lifted Luna’s head with his hoof and drew her to his lips. The two ponies remained locked to each other, reveling in the joy of being bound together forever. Suddenly Luna pulled away.

“You know what,” she said, catching her breath. “I have to go tell Tia, I’m sure she’ll want to hear the good news.”
Jetfire nodded; he knew that Celestia would want to here that her little sister had said yes to his proposal.

“Just don’t forget to come back to me.” Jetfire said as he reluctantly released Luna from his embrace.

“Don’t worry silly, of course I’ll come back; I always do Besides,” she gave the stallion a quick kiss on the cheek, “we’ll need somepony to perform the ceremony, and royal customs dictate that it be the duty of my older sister to do so.” Luna spread her wings and rose from the ground and began heading in the direction of the castle and her sister’s room.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she called back. “I love you”

“I love you, too.”

Jetfire sat back down, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It had taken him over a thousand years, but at long last he was able to ask that one simple question. Jetfire felt tears running down his own face; he couldn’t remember a time when he had felt happier. Yet, at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel sad; he had finally been able to ask Luna to marry him, and it wouldn’t really matter. Once the clock struck midnight, everything would go back to the way it was before; they may start a life together, but in the end, he would still be dead, and there was nothing that could change that.

Author's Notes:

As usual, I'm sure there are spots that I missed during my editing, so don't worry, I'll go through and fix them. So please, judge fairly.