masquerade balls were extremely boring, hence why princess gem of dawn was sitting in the moonlit garden outside the ballroom, waiting for time to waste away. her mask, golden like the sun that the people of dawn worshipped so reverently, had been discarded by her side just about as soon as she'd sat down. she didn't expect anyone to stumble across her out here, so it would likely be fine.

it turned out likely wasn't the same as definitely. 

another woman, dressed in heavy, layered skirts of indigo and amethyst, happened to wander out into the garden, looking for a bit of fresh air, and found gem sitting among the lillies. she wore a mask in the shape of a moth, antenna and everything.

"hello," she greeted, and then got a good look at gem's face. her voice turned sour. "gem."

naturally, gem narrowed her eyes. "who might you be?"

the woman with the moth mask sat down next to gem and removed said mask, setting it down in her lap.

"ah," gem said, with just about as much distaste as she could muster in her voice, "pearl."

"that's me," said the princess of luna. "fancy seeing you here."

"yeah," muttered gem, "moon-worshipper."

the two rival princesses sat out in the garden for a while, neither of them saying a word to the other. eventually, gem broke the silence with, "it is a nice night, though."

"it is," pearl agreed. "it's almost full moon."

"is it?" asked gem, squinting up at the sky. "it already looks full to me."

"it's two days away," pearl informed her. "i don't blame you for thinking it's already full, though. sometimes it's hard to tell."

gem hummed. "and how do you tell, when it's like this, if it's completely full or not?"

pearl launched into an explanation and gem listened quietly, soaking in every word. they continued to talk after that; first about the sun, and then about shared interests, such as painting and wildlife. they very quickly became fast friends. eventually, though, the night was over, and it was time for them to separate. 

"shall we keep in touch?" asked pearl, putting her masquerade mask back on. 

"of course!" gem chirped. "i'll send you a letter as soon as I get home."

and so, the two parted ways, proud to have forged a new friendship from moonlight and the smoldering ashes of a decades-long rivalry. 

***

author's note

word count: 402

yep, its more shiny duo :]] idrk where this came from, i worked on my current project for an hour, finished the chapter i was on, and then decided i wanted to write a oneshot right away. my brain is fried.

this is my first non-ship oneshot, woo!

i can not stop writing in historic eras. i literally went from writing something in the middle ages to writing something in the renaissance era. next will be the industrial revolution or something lol.

i've been editing stuff and writing a/ns for almost two hours straight now, so i'm gonna leave it here. have a great day!

-blu

oh also i imagine gem's mask looking kinda like king louis xiv's emblem but less creepy because that thing is jumpscare material. vv