Phases of the Moon

by Laurence Brown

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character
Length: 83294

Sequel to Moonbeam

Sequel to Moonbeam. Follow along and learn how Princess Luna fares in reintegrating herself back into Equestrian society, and how her friends from Ponyville cope with the changes to their lives that being close to royalty brings.

Published 2012-02-11 02:34:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-06 07:30:50 UTC

Part 1: New -- Chapter 1

When Twilight Sparkle had received the invitation to come to Canterlot to visit with Princess Celestia, she had been ecstatic. While she had been busy during the months since she had arrived in Ponyville after the Summer Sun Celebration and Princess Luna's return, she had still missed the daily interaction she'd had with her teacher. She assumed that she would get to spend the day talking with her mentor about subjects ranging from her studies to what had happened since they had last seen each other face to face.

Now, after spending most of the day with Princess Celestia, she felt a bit disappointed about the whole ordeal. Sure, there had been some small talk at the beginning, but Twilight could tell that the princess had wanted to discuss something else; Luna's time in Ponyville. Twilight couldn't blame her either; she was still in awe over everything that had happened, and the lengthy conversation had helped her get a better understanding of the events.

Twilight slowly walked down a hallway in the castle, heading towards the cloud chariots that were waiting to take her home. She shook her head in amazement at everything that had recently happened. Even after she had spent all day talking about it, even though she had experienced it during the last couple of months, it was still hard to believe that Princess Luna had disguised herself as an earth pony and had lived incognito in Ponyville among its residents. Twilight still remembered the first day of it, when the disguise spell that Luna had cast had spread ripples through the aether, and she had received Princess Celestia's letter asking her to keep an eye out for Luna.

It had taken several days for Twilight to find a copy of the spell book that Luna had used and piece together the clues she had gathered before realizing that the moon princess was disguised as an earth pony named Moonbeam. Princess Celestia had visited her later that night, and after a lengthy discussion it was decided to let Luna continue what she was doing, with Twilight keeping an eye on her. Twilight and her friends had been out of town when Luna had finally decided to drop the disguise, and only today she had heard from Celestia what had happened. While the thought that Nightmare Moon had still been able to exert herself in some manner frightened Twilight, knowing that the younger alicorn had managed to banish her newly freed dark side to the moon again kept Twilight from constantly looking over her shoulder for the evil incarnation.

While Twilight and Celestia had spent the day sharing information about the past, Princess Luna had spent the day with the friends she had made during her time in Ponyville. Twilight smiled at the thought that she hadn't been the only pony to arrive in town and soon find themselves surrounded by new friends. Luna had been quickly taken in by two mares who had been friends since they had been young fillies; Dewdrop, an orange unicorn who worked at the Ponyville Inn, and her roommate Feather Down, a pink earth pony who worked as a waitress when she wasn't sprinting through town or taking a nap. Shortly after that, while searching for a house for Luna to live in, they had met first Pine Needle, a green earth pony stallion known for having a green hoof, and then Haystack, a brown pegasus farmer stallion known for his serious demeanor. Those four became a close circle of friends for Luna to bond with, something that Luna had been unable to find in Canterlot since her return from the moon. Celestia had told Twilight that she suspected that Nightmare Moon may have had a hoof in that, but had no way to confirm it.

For now, the plan was to let Luna's friends visit once a week, with Celestia providing transportation for the ponies to and from Ponyville. Twilight wondered if that would truly work out. She couldn't imagine how she would take being able to only see Applejack, Rainbow Dash and her other friends so infrequently. Still, Twilight couldn't think of a better compromise off the top of her head. It would have been awkward to have one of the royal sisters living in a small town like Ponyville, and Luna's friends all had jobs that couldn't be moved to Canterlot. It was better than nothing, Twilight concluded. She only hoped it didn't lead to them growing apart over time.

A soft glow surrounded her horn, and the door in front of Twilight swung open to reveal one of the many gardens in and around Canterlot Castle. Luna was there, saying goodbye to her friends. As they noticed Twilight, they waved at her, and she walked over.

"Now, next week, you're going to help me figure out where to plant that sapling you brought with you, right?" Luna asked the earth pony stallion as Twilight came up to them. "We can even use it as an exercise to see how much I can access earth pony magic as an alicorn."

"I will be more than happy to. Mine only concern is taking up too much of your time, and not leaving you enough to spend with everypony else." Pine Needle replied. He nodded to Twilight. "Greetings! I hope you had as good a time with Princess Celestia as we had with Moonb- I mean, Princess Luna?" He rapped a forehoof against his head and turned back to Luna. "I am sorry. I fear it will take me some time still to get used to not calling you by that name."

Luna smiled. "It's alright. If our positions were reversed, I know I would be having the same problems."

Twilight smiled weakly. "Well, I don't think I had as good a time as you guys did, but it was nice to spend a day with Princess Celestia again."

"I'm glad to hear that," Luna said. She then paused, and then looked down at the ground. "Twilight Sparkle, I haven't said this to you yet, and I should have before now. I want to apologize to you, for deceiving you as I did in Ponyville. Even if things did turn out well in the end, what I did was dishonest. Knowing that every time somepony called me Moonbeam I was perpetuating a lie hurt me then, and it still stings to think about it now." Luna turned her gaze up, and looked Twilight in the eyes. "I'm sorry for what I did. It was wrong of me, and you deserve better than just a simple, spoken apology from me. If there is any way that I can make it up to you, please let me know."

Twilight chuckled. "It all right, Princess Luna. To tell the truth, I had figured out quite early on who you were, and had been told to keep it a secret so I could keep an eye on you for your sister. She was afraid that if you had gone to such lengths to hide in the first place, that you might go even farther away if you were aware that we knew who you were. It was uncomfortable for me too, to keep that hidden from you, while trying to find ways to be close to you on a regular basis." She smiled widely at the princess. "I'm just glad that things are working out for you now."

"Thank you so much, Twilight!" Luna said with a relieved look on her face. "Would you be willing to do me a favor? I've already talked this over with my friends, and they're willing to help me, but I need your help with it too."

"I will if I can," Twilight replied. "What do you need from me?"

"Well, there are a few other ponies in Ponyville that I need to apologize to as well, and while Dewdrop can help me set up meetings in Ponyville with most of them, there is one pony who they think you would be the best to help me out in setting up a meeting with."

"That shouldn't be a problem. Who is it?"

"Pinkie Pie. She did so much to help me out. Her wonderful songs, volunteering to help us get Haystack's harvest in..." Luna sighed. "I don't honestly know if an apology even begins to make up for what I did."

Twilight smiled at the moon princess. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, you highness. I don't think I've ever seen Pinkie Pie get mad at anypony. But yes, I'll be glad to set up a meeting for you to get together with her. Is there a certain time or day that you're aiming for?"

"Dewdrop says she thinks the evening will be best, so that it won't conflict with anypony's work schedule. Of course, we don't have anything set up yet; maybe you and Dewdrop can coordinate and then send me a scroll to let me know, please?" Luna blushed. "I'm sorry to be making you do all of this extra work for me. It should be me doing this, but well..."

"I understand," Twilight said. "It will be much easier for us to ask them, with us being in town while you're here in Canterlot." Twilight turned to Dewdrop. "Want to set things up tonight after we get back to Ponyville?"

The orange unicorn nodded. "Sounds good to me. No sense in putting it off, right?"

"Exactly." Twilight turned back to Luna. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Oh, goodness no! You're already doing more than enough! Thank you again, Twilight!" Luna gave Twilight a hug. "I better let you all head back home, before I keep you so late that you end up getting back to Ponyville after the sun sets."

Luna gave everypony one last hug and waved to them as the cloud chariots took off. Haystack flew alongside the chariot that carried Dewdrop and Feather Down, and Twilight found herself paired with a very nervous looking Pine Needle in the other one.

"There's no need to be so tense," Twilight said, trying to reassure the earth pony. "The only way you can end up falling is if you purposefully jump out of the chariot."

"I understand that," Pine Needle replied, "and while I know that in my head, my heart is refusing to listen. Also, it does not help that it simply feels so... weird to me to not have a direct connection to the ground underneath me."

"Oh, is that because of that earth pony magic you talked about during the Running of the Leaves?"

Pine Needle nodded. "It really isn't anything worse than what it feels like when you're nervous, but I'm a bit afraid of heights to begin with, so..." he trailed off, trying to find the words, but failing he finally settled for simply shrugging. "I'm sure I'll get used to it in time."

Twilight nodded. "Absolutely!" She looked around, trying to think of something to talk about to help distract the other pony from his current state. "So, what was it that Luna was talking about when I came in? Something about you helping her out with magic?"

"Yes, kind of like what we did back during the run. She is curious to know if she can still access it now that she is back to being an alicorn, instead of an earth pony. I think she should be able to, but I admit that I have zero experience with something like this, so it will be interesting to find out."

"I would think so!" Twilight said. "I remember back when I was a filly, and Princess Celestia made me her personal student. It was, and still is to be honest, quite an honor. You must be excited about the situation."

"Oh, I am! That, and, if I may also be honest, I am very nervous about it too."

She chuckled. "I'm sure you'll do fine." Twilight looked around and saw that the chariots were starting their descent towards Ponyville. "Hey, look! We're home, you'll be able to get your hooves back on the ground again shortly."

Pine Needle gave Twilight a relieved smile. "Thank you very much for keeping me occupied during the trip."

"Well, what else could I do? It wouldn't have been fun for either of us to see you turn into a nervous wreck." With a barely noticeable bump, the chariot's wheels touched down, and a coupe of seconds later the trip was at an end. Twilight motioned with a foreleg. "After you!"

Pine Needle quickly jumped out the back, and once back on the ground his demeanor visibly improved. "Ahhh, you can't know how good this feels, to be back on the ground. No offense my friend," he said to Haystack as he landed next to him, "but I am glad that I do not have a pair of wings as you do."

Haystack rolled his eyes. "Sorry if he was a bother, Twilight."

"Not at all." She exited the chariot and turned to the guards who had powered their trip home. "Thank you again for your time, sirs."

Nodding, they waited as Dewdrop woke up her roommate and got Feather Down to groggily leave the back of the other chariot, allowing the guardponies to begin the trip back to Canterlot.

Dewdrop walked up to Twilight. "Shall we go talk to Pinkie Pie first? Once I know what times she's available, I can set up the other meetings around that, and you can be free to do whatever you want."

"Sounds good to me," Twilight said. "Let's go." And so, the unicorns walked off together towards Sugar Cube Corner, and the other ponies all headed their separate ways to their homes.

Nightmare Moon laid motionless in the dry, white dusty soil. Her eyes were closed, and she had no desire to open them either. What was the point? She had triumphed; then she had failed. Now she was back where she had started, on the moon.

Her plan had worked so well too! Subtly reaching out through the cracks in the cell the Elements of Harmony had imprisoned her in, she had been able to gently influence Luna and those around her. She had bred mistrust and despair. She had encouraged actions to be taken without those doing them to think them through. She had worked Luna into such a frazzled state of mind that she had allowed Nightmare Moon to have a way back into the world. And her plan had worked!

For the first time since returning to the moon Nightmare Moon's train of thought- one that had been a loop of self pity and condemnation against the poor luck she had suffered- paused in its circular path. No, she realized, her plan had NOT worked; she had wanted to possess Luna, to once again make the body they had shared her vessel. What had happened was that she had somehow freed herself from Luna altogether, and had become not the dark side of the Moon Princess but instead a creature of her own.

Now that she had actually taken the time to think on the event clearly, she could see that her failure to regain control of Luna's body had in fact been her downfall. Even though she had managed to knock Princess Celestia from the sky, she had forgotten about Luna, which had allowed the little brat to get in a position to send her back to the moon. Had Luna succumbed to her will, Nightmare Moon realized, victory would very likely have been hers.

Nightmare Moon sighed. Knowing how she had lost still didn't change her current situation. She was still stuck on the moon, and this time she didn't have a connection to Luna to utilize. She was alone, with nothing to occupy her time.

'Well,' she thought, 'I was able to wait a thousand years before. I guess I can do that again.'

Luna waved goodbye to the Mayor of Ponyville, accompanied by Twilight and Dewdrop. The two unicorns had been able to quickly get in contact with everypony that she had wanted to apologize to. Now, just a couple of days after asking for their help in setting up the meetings, she was almost done with them. She was so thankful that everypony she had talked to had been willing to forgive her. The manager at the Ponyville Inn, the stallion she had rented her house from (she chuckled at the thought that she still had it available to her for a couple more weeks), her neighbors, and of course the Mayor, who they had just left.

Which left one last stop, Sugar Cube Corner, to meet with Pinkie Pie. While the other ponies she had met with had been at first surprised that Princess Luna wanted to meet with them, and then shocked to see her apologize to them, Luna wasn't certain how Pinkie Pie would react. While the pink party pony was unfailingly in good cheer, she was also quite random. For the first time tonight, she was worried that her apology might not be accepted.

Dewdrop glanced over at Luna and, seeing that the princess had started to slow down and looked a bit nervous, came up to her and gave her a gentle nudge. "Now, now hun," she said gently. "There's no need to worry. You've seen how everypony else has reacted. If anything, I would think Pinkie Pie would be the easiest one to apologize to, since she's the least likely to be overwhelmed by who you are."

Luna nodded. "I understand that, I really do, it's just..." Luna sighed. "I think it also has to do with the fact that, out of everypony that I've set up a meeting with today, she's the one who was the most like a friend to me. She has a lot to be upset at me for, especially when I think of how hard she worked to help Haystack bring in the harvest. Without me, she wouldn't have had to do that!"

Twilight gave Luna a reassuring smile. "I think you're over thinking things, your highness. I'll admit that I can't predict exactly how she'll react, but I bet she'll be glad to know where the pony she knew as Moonbeam disappeared to at least." The three mares came to a stop at the front door of Sugar Cube Corner. "Well," said Twilight, "we're here. Are you ready?"

Luna nodded and, swallowing her fear with an audible gulp, knocked on the door with a hoof. There was no response from the other side. Luna looked back at the two unicorns, who after glancing at each other looked back at her and shrugged in unison. Luna turned back to the door and knocked again, this time louder in case her first effort simply had been too soft to hear.

Again, silence. The only sound came from behind them, where a small group of fillies were talking about what game they wanted to play next. "I don't know why she hasn't answered," Twilight said, looking as confused as Luna. "She said she would be here. Try one more time?"

Luna did, knocking so hard that on the final rap, the door actually swung open slowly to reveal darkness inside. Luna stuck her head inside and called out, "Hello? Is anypony home? I'm looking for Pinkie Pie, is she here?" Luna tentatively stepped inside and inhaled, ready to yell out one last time-

When the lights all came on at once, and Pinkie Pie stood off to the side, tossing confetti into the air. "Surprise! Welcome to the 'Mystery Pony Meeting Party'! I was so excited when Twilight..." Pinkie Pie trailed off when she saw that a startled Luna had somehow managed to jump up and squeeze herself onto the top of the door. "Oooh, you're good! I've only been able to get up there once or twice myself!"

Twilight dashed in, looking frantically around until she had located Pinkie Pie. "What are you doing?" she loudly asked. "You had us all wondering if you were even home!" Dewdrop stuck in her head nervously behind Twilight, trying to see what was going on. Luna, finally over her shock, tried to lower herself slowly from the door, but lost her grip and fell to the ground behind the door with a thud.

"Well," Pinkie Pie said to Twilight as she went to go help Luna back onto her hooves, "you and Dewdrop were really secretive about who wanted to meet with me, so I figured it must be somepony special! And then I asked myself, what would be the best way to welcome the mystery pony? And I thought, why, a party of course!"

Dewdrop simply blinked in astonishment, while Twilight placed a hoof against her forehead as she sighed. Luna smiled at Pinkie Pie. "I should have known you would do something like this. Thank you, Pinkie Pie, but I'm afraid that I asked for this meeting for a not so joyous reason."

"Really? Why's that?"

"I need to apologize to you."

Pinkie Pie blinked. "You do? I don't remember you doing anything to me, unless you count what you did as Nightmare Moon back in that castle in the Everfree Forest, and I don't blame you for that at all! Ooh, wait, did you do something at the party here in Ponyville after we all came back? I don't recall you doing anything to me, but then that was a few months ago, so I might have forgotten since then. But really, if I can't remember what it was, there's no need for you to apologize, silly!"

Luna gave Pinkie Pie a sad smile. "No, you see, we have been together since then. That's why I need to apologize, I was in a disguise. I was Moonbeam."

Pinkie Pie's eyes widened in amazement. "No way!" she said, in a breathless voice. In a flash, she was right in front of Luna, and she grabbed her horn and tried twisting it.

"Ahh! Pinkie Pie! What are you..? That kind of hurts!" Luna protested, not sure what the pink pony was trying to do.

Twilight ran over and pulled Pinkie Pie off of Luna. "What in the hay are you doing?" she demanded of her friend.

"Well, I figured, in order for her have had such an amazing disguise, she had to have had some way to take off her wings and horn, because I never saw Moonbeam with either of those! I was checking to see if I could unscrew her horn," explained Pinkie Pie.

"No, I used a spell," Luna said. "It was an enchantment that actually turned me into an earth pony. That's why I want to apologize to you though, because I misled you. I lied to you about who I was and what my name was."

Pinkie Pie stared at Luna with her head tilted. "You know, I think I can see some resemblance between you and Moonbeam too. Do you think you could cast the spell again? I think it would be neat to see you turn into Moonbeam again for a while!"

Luna shook her head slowly. "No, I'm sorry, but I can't. The spell was actually made for unicorns, not alicorns. It really hurt to cast that spell, and it took me almost an entire day to recover."

Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her chin and hummed in thought for a second. A few seconds later, her face lit up and she looked over at Dewdrop. "Could you cast the spell then? Please?"

Dewdrop waved a hoof in front of her. "Oh no, hun. I've never been very good at magic, and even if I was strong enough to cast such a spell, I don't know the spell in question. I'm sorry."

Pinkie Pie then turned to Twilight. "How about you? You're one of the best when it comes to magic, right? And you're my last hope now too! Please?" Pinkie dropped down onto her knees and grabbed a foreleg of Twilight's, her eyes growing large with tears starting to well up in them. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?"

Twilight paused to consider the request. "You know, we do have a copy of the spell book in the library. I could run back and get it..." A giant smile grew on Pinkie Pie's face when she saw that her friend was seriously considering her request.

"Are you sure, Twilight?" Luna asked. "I can see something going wrong all too easily! What if, I don't know, the stone the spell makes gets dropped, and falls down through a crack in the floor? What would you do then?"

"Well, we have you here, Luna," replied Twilight. "If anything, your magic should be strong enough to lift up the floor boards, or even the entire store if you really needed to. After all, you raise the moon every night, right?"

Luna blushed and looked at the floor. "Actually, Celestia is still raising both the sun and the moon. I couldn't have done it while I was disguised as Moonbeam, after all. And while most of the neighsayers have dropped their objections to me resuming that duty, there are still enough of them that Celestia and I think it would be better for them to calm down before I take over in that capacity again."

"But my point still stands," Twilight said. "If you had to, you would be able to use your magic to retrieve the stone without any difficulty, correct?"

Luna nodded slowly. "Yes, I could. I won't stop you if you want to do this Twilight, and I'll admit I'm curious to see what it looks like when the spell is cast correctly. But still, please don't do this unless you're one hundred percent certain that you want to. I don't want you to think you're being forced into doing this."

Twilight smiled at Luna. "I understand, but I'm sure it'll be okay. Just let me run back to the library and get the spell book, okay?" And with that, Twilight turned and left the bakery, galloping back to the library.

Luna watched Twilight gallop off before turning back to Pinkie Pie. "I do want you to know how sorry I am that I misled you about who I was though. Especially when you did so much for me! I remember waking up for the first time in my house, and shortly afterwards, you were there, singing me an invitation for my welcome party. It put me in such a good mood for the rest of the day! Or when you volunteered to help us out at Haystack's farm. If you hadn't been there, I don't think we could have done it. I just wish that there was some way that I could make it up to you!"

"Aw, there's no need to be so sad about it!" Pinkie Pie came up to Luna and gave her a hug. "I know you didn't mean any harm by what you did, and I was happy to do all of those things! And you helped me to get Haystack to smile, that alone was worth doing all of that work! Just do me one favor, okay?"

"Of course! What is it?"

"If you do ever cast that spell again, let me know so I can be in on it, all right? It'll be our own little secret. Think of all the pranks we could pull with it! We'll have Rainbow Dash's head spinning in circles!" Pinkie giggled. "Ooh! Would you look like Moonbeam again, or as a different pony?"

"I honestly don't know," said Luna. "I only cast the spell the one time. If it isn't too tiring of a spell for Twilight, maybe you can ask her to cast it twice to see what happens?"

"That's a good idea!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. She looked out the door. In the grassy area outside, she saw Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom running around, playing a game of tag. "I wonder what's taking Twilight so long. I hope she hasn't misplaced that book again."

"Does she do that often?" asked Dewdrop.

Pinkie Pie sighed. "It's amazing how many books she takes off the shelves at a time. Half the time it seems like I'm the one who's finding the stuff she's looking for. She may be smart, but sometimes I think she forgets how to look for things!"

"She's only been gone for a couple of minutes though," Dewdrop said. "That's barely enough time to go to the library and back. Let's give her a few more minutes before we start worrying, okay?"

"Ooh! There she is!" Pinkie Pie pointed through the the door towards a rapidly approaching Twilight, who was carrying a book in her mouth. "This is going to be even better than the party I had planned!"

Twilight slowed down as she entered the bakery. Placing the spell book on a counter, she smiled at the others. "Okay, let me just find the spell, shouldn't take me long..." Her horn glowed, and pages quickly flipped past. "Aha! Here it is. Give me a moment to study it, please. While I've looked at the spell before, when I was trying to figure out how Luna had disguised herself, I never paid that much attention to how the spell was cast."

While Twilight studied, Pinkie Pie served some cupcakes to the others. "They were for the party, so please eat as many as you want!" They all slowly snacked as they waited.

After a couple of minutes, Twilight looked up from the book with a confident smile on her face. "All right, this should be pretty straightforward. The hardest part is just getting the spell started. After that, it kind of goes on its own."

Luna nodded. "That's what I remember happening when I cast it. Of course, it had the drawback that I couldn't stop the spell once it was going either. With how much it hurt, I would have gladly stopped it if I could have."

Twilight stepped into the middle of the room. "Okay, everypony, stand back." The others moved back to stand next to the wall as Twilight's horn started to glow brightly. Soon, a large ball of light sat on the end of her horn, growing larger and larger by the second. When it had reached the size of a pumpkin, it flew from the end of Twilight's horn, zipped around her twice, then expanded as it enveloped Twilight and raised her from the floor.

Luna watched Twilight for any sign of discomfiture as the spell continued to do its work, but didn't see any. Twilight's horn slowly unraveled and started to fly around her, and her coat slowly lost all signs of blue, turning into a deep crimson red. Her mane and tail became more full, and the stripes lightened to become oranges and yellows, instead of shades of blue and purple.

Sweetie Belle stopped in the open door, watching the proceedings with her jaw hanging wide open. Twilight's cutie mark morphed from a large star surround by smaller ones into a picture of the sun peeking over the side of a mountain. After Twilight's appearance stopped changing, the streamer of color that Twilight's horn had become shrunk in on itself, and turned into a small ball of light before one last flash made everypony turn away for a moment.

Twilight gently dropped to the floor, eagerly glancing around her. "Where's a mirror, I wanna... whoa, my voice sounds different! It's squeaky now!" In front of her, on the floor was a small, blue gemstone. "Oh hey, that's the spell focus!" She stared at the gem on the floor intently for a while, and then her face scrunched up as she glared at it.

Luna laughed. "Oh, I did the exact same thing myself. I forgot that I no longer had my magic. Let me help you with that." Luna's horn glowed, and the stone rose up to eye level to Twilight. "Remember, Dewdrop, when you first found me?"

Dewdrop blinked, then burst out into laughter. "Oh my! So that's what you were doing! I thought you were concussed from falling down the hill! The way you just stood there, glaring at your possessions."

Twilight turned to Luna and sheepishly said, "I guess I did forget. Thank you!" Stepping forward, she inspected the gemstone the spell had created. It looked like a sapphire, and she could barely make out the six pointed star from her cutie mark inside of it. Slowly, Twilight walked around it, examining it from all angles. "So, in order to cancel the spell, all I have to do is-"

"TAG! You're it!" Scootaloo rushed Sweetie Belle from behind, crashing into her and sending her flying into the bakery where she collided with Twilight. The unexpected push caught the former unicorn off guard, and she stepped forward to compensate... only to feel the levitated gemstone enter into her open mouth. Twilight choked in surprise and swallowed reflexively; It took only a moment for her to realize what she'd just done. She froze in terror, her eyes growing wide as a hushed whisper escaped her lips.

"Oh dear."

New -- Chapter 2

New -- Chapter 2

"Oh dear."

Luna stared in disbelief as the events around her went from calm to chaotic in the blink of an eye. She had been levitating the sapphire that had been created when Twilight had cast her spell that had changed her into an earth pony. Then, a filly had been shoved through the entrance of the bakery and into Twilight, who had then somehow managed to swallow the gem!

Twilight tried to cough up the stone on her own, but was unable to regurgitate it. Sweetie Belle glared back at Scootaloo, who was rubbing her head with a hoof from the collision she had just initiated. "What were you thinking?" the unicorn filly demanded of her friend, pointing at the coughing pony. "Now you've gone and made Twilight choke on something!"

Scootaloo tilted her head in confusion. "Twilight? What are you talking about, Twilight isn't here!" The orange pegasus filly motioned with a hoof. "Now come on! We're in the middle of a game, remember?" Without waiting to see what Sweetie Belle was going to do, Scootaloo ran off towards Apple Bloom, who was waiting for them a short ways away outside.

"But, but, magic, glowing, Twilight, changing..." Sweetie Belle's voice drifted off as the filly tried to comprehend everything that had just happened and found herself unable to do so. "You are Twilight, right?" she softly asked the crimson red earth pony in front of her.

Twilight gave Sweetie Belle a sad smile. "Yes, I am." Seeing the filly's eyes start to tear up, she placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I don't blame you for this, and I'm sure we'll be able to find a way out of this mess. Just don't go telling everypony about this, okay?"

Seeing Sweetie Belle nod, Twilight steered the filly towards the door. "Why don't you go back outside and play with your friends, we'll take of things here. After all, we have Princess Luna to help us out. She'll be able to solve this quickly with her magic, right?"

Sweetie Belle looked over at Luna, who nodded and said, "We'll have this taken care of in no time at all, I'm sure. Now go ahead, you don't want to keep your friends waiting, do you?"

The filly glanced back and forth between Twilight and Luna one last time. "Okay, if you're sure. And I won't tell anypony, Twilight. I don't think they'd believe me anyway!" She then turned around and ran out the door.

Dewdrop walked over to the door and closed it. "So, what do we do now?" she asked worriedly.

"Well," Luna said, "I think the first thing we have to keep in mind is that we have a year before the spell becomes permanent. We don't need to rush or stress about anything for quite a while."

"Why is that stone so important?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"That's the spell focus," explained Luna. "In order for the spell to be canceled, so Twilight can return to being a unicorn, we need to break the stone. When I changed back from being Moonbeam, I just needed to give mine a stomp."

"Ooh! Want me to stomp on your stomach, Twilight, to see if I can crush the stone that way?"

"Um, thank you for the offer, Pinkie Pie, but I think I'll hold off on trying something that desperate at this point," Twilight replied wryly. She turned to Luna. "I don't suppose you know some sort of spell that could get the stone to come back up, do you?"

Luna paused to consider the request. "I don't think I could do it with simple telekinesis. Too big of a risk of me pulling on something that I shouldn't. I could maybe do it if it was inside of me, since I would have a better idea of what I was manipulating, but I wouldn't feel comfortable trying it on somepony else."

"Ooh! I know!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "We could find somepony who has the flu! We can make you sick, and then all you need to do is have a bucket nearby!"

Dewdrop made a disgusted face. "Eww, no! Besides, she'd still be sick afterwards, that'd be no fun!"

"I'd like to avoid getting sick as well, if at all possible," Twilight agreed, "but that does give me an idea. Maybe there's some sort of spell to make a pony vomit. In case somepony eats something they shouldn't have, like a poisonous mushroom? Would any of the nurse ponies here in Ponyville know one?"

"No, Nurse Redheart is an earth pony, so she wouldn't have any use for a spell like that," Dewdrop replied. "Still, I can go check to see if she has some sort of medicine that would do the same thing. Want me to go check?"

"Please do," Twilight said. "While you do that, the rest of us can go search the library. After all, it had the spell book with the transformation spell in it, so I don't see why it couldn't also have a book containing medical spells."

Luna nodded. "We could also have Spike send a message to my sister, I'm sure they could find a spell for the job in Canterlot if you don't have one here in Ponyville."

Twilight paled at the suggestion. "Um, I'm not certain I want to tell Princess Celestia about this right now, to be honest. I wouldn't want to worry her, especially if we have the solution here in town."

Pinkie Pie giggled. "Somepony's embarrassed!" Seeing Twilight give her a reproachful look, Pinkie Pie bounced over to her friend and tossed a foreleg over her shoulders. "Don't you worry, Twilight! I won't blab about this to anypony. Besides, like I was telling Luna earlier while you were getting the spell book, this could be the perfect chance to prank Rainbow Dash! She'll never know what hit her!"

"Let's get the stone out of her first, and then we can see what Twilight's feeling up to, okay?" Luna looked at Twilight. "And we don't have to tell Celestia anything right now if you don't want to. I only suggested it because it might help get the stone out of you faster."

"And I appreciate that, I really do." replied Twilight. She looked at Luna with pleading eyes. "It's just too embarrassing at this point though, and we have some options to explore first before we have to tell her, right? I don't want her to think that I need to go to her whenever some emergency comes up. So let's get working on our ideas first, that way if we have to ask her, it won't be too late in the day when we do."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Dewdrop said as she opened the door again. "Let's head on out, I'll catch up to you at the library as soon as I can!" With that, the orange unicorn left the bakery, followed closely by the other three mares.

Even though it was a short walk from Sugar Cube Corner to the Ponyville library, Twilight still felt nervous that somepony would point at her and start laughing. She was relieved to see that Princess Luna was the one receiving all of the attention. Many of the ponies they passed bowed down and called out greetings to the alicorn, while a few also waved to Pinkie Pie.

When they got to the entrance of the library, Pinkie Pie hopped ahead and opened the door. "Don't worry," she called back to Twilight and Luna, "I'll handle Spike." Bouncing inside, she looked around and, not seeing the young dragon around, hollered out, "Spikey! You have some visitors!"

"Coming!" After a second, Spike came down the stairs carrying a couple of books. "Heya Pinkie Pie! Oh, hello Princess Luna! Wait, weren't you with Twilight? Where did she go, and who's this other pony?"

"Well, this here is my aunt Sunri- mrrphit!"

Twilight shoved a hoof into Pinkie Pie's mouth. "Actually, I am Twilight, Spike. Remember how I just ran in here a few minutes ago to grab a book?" Seeing Spike nod slowly, she continued, "The book I got was 'Teakettle's Tome of Transformations'. The book that Luna used to disguise herself as Moonbeam, remember?"

"And so, you cast the spell yourself then?" Spike asked. "Why haven't you changed back?"

"Well, um, that's a long story, but to make it short-"

"Hey!" Spike interrupted. "Where's the book? Twilight would never leave a book behind!" Spike turned and pointed at Pinkie Pie. "This is a prank of yours, isn't it?" The pink pony started to protest, but Spike interrupted her. "You almost had me. Getting Princess Luna, of all ponies, to go along with it was a master stroke, but I saw through your scheme this time!"

"Oh my gosh! I left the book at the bakery!" Twilight exclaimed. "I need to go get it!"

Spike nodded as he watched the crimson earth pony gallop out the door. "Yup, and the next thing you know, Twilight will be the one who comes back in. Just watch!"

Pinkie Pie was smiling widely. "Yup, Spike, you figured me out! And you're right, Twilight will be coming back through that door in just a minute or two. You're on top of things today!" She then turned, covering her mouth with a hoof in an attempt to conceal the fact that she was about to explode from laughter.

Luna did her best to hide the grin that she felt growing on her face. While she felt some guilt about the prank, she thought it might be best to let Pinkie Pie have this chance now, instead of trying to fool somepony else later when it might have worse consequences.

Spike continued to look smug while they all waited. Soon, they could hear the galloping hooves of an approaching pony, and Twilight came back through the door. Closing it behind her, she dropped the book onto an empty shelf. "Boy, I can't believe I did that! Just goes to show how rattled this has me."

The dragon looked at Twilight. "Look, there's no need to keep trying to fool me, I-"

"Spike! I am Twilight!" She stomped a hoof in frustration. "I cast the spell that changes a unicorn into an earth pony, but we had a literal run-in with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and I ended up swallowing the stone, so I'm stuck like this for now!"

Pinkie Pie burst out laughing. "See? You were right! Twilight was the next pony to come through the door!"

Looking at Luna for confirmation, and seeing her nod in agreement, Spike simply stared at Twilight in shock. "So," he finally said in a weak voice, "are you going to be stuck like this forever?"

Twilight gave her dragon companion a comforting smile. "Not if we can help it. We've got a couple of ideas we're looking into, and Princess Luna can ask Princess Celestia for help if we need it. We'll figure this out in no time." Twilight turned and headed for the stairs. "Now, if you'll excuse me for a couple of minutes, I'm going up to my room. I haven't had a chance to look in a mirror yet, and I want to see what I look like before I change back."

As Twilight trotted up the stairs, Luna turned to Spike and asked, "Maybe you could help us get started in our search, please?"

"Um, sure. What are you looking for?" asked Spike, who was still trying to come to grips with what had happened.

"We're looking for a book that might have some medical or healing spells in it. We would like to be able to help Twilight get the stone to come back up, if possible."

Spike considered Luna's request. "Well, with how often the books get taken off the shelves, things aren't as organized as they should be. However, there" he said, indicating a shelf near the ground, "and there," while pointing across the room to another group of books, "might have what we're looking for. Let me go grab the ladder, there's also another section up there that might have something too." A few minutes later, Twilight came back down the stairs with a thoughtful look on her face.

"What's up, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked after placing a book down on the floor to look through.

"Oh, I'm just wondering if this is how I would have looked if I was born an earth pony instead of a unicorn."

"Oooh. That would be weird, especially with you being the Element of Magic and all. Or would you still be the Element of Magic?"

Twilight blinked. "I hadn't even thought about that. Wow, I wonder if some other pony would have become the Element of Magic then. I can't see anypony but a unicorn in that role." She looked around. "Well, those thoughts can wait for later. What can I do to help?"

Luna pointed to a small stack of books next to her. "How about you read through these while I keep on looking for more possibilities?"

"Sounds good to me." Twilight trotted over and peered at the stack for a moment before shaking her head. "No offense, princess," she said as she awkwardly used her hooves to open a book and slowly flip through its pages, "but I hope I don't stay like this long enough to get as good at doing things without my magic as you must have been."

"Oh, the first week was miserable, let me tell you," Luna said with a chuckle. "I felt like a foal, learning how to do even the most basic of tasks all over again. Preparing a meal, taking a bath... I almost drowned the first time I tried to pull the plug from my bathtub while it was full! The hardest thing for me was trying to learn how to use my telescope. So many tiny and precise adjustments go into setting it up, it drove me to frustration at times." She paused to levitate another promising looking book down from the shelves. "Still, after a while, I got used to it, and it really wasn't any problem at all. I just had to keep on telling myself I was doing things that fillies and colts did on a daily basis, so there was no reason why I couldn't do them either."

Twilight nodded slowly. "That makes sense. Still, I don't want to stay as an earth pony long enough that those things become second nature. No offense, Pinkie Pie!"

"None taken! I can't imagine what it would be like to lose something like that. Oh, wait, maybe I can. I bet it would be like if I lost my Pinkie Sense. That would be terrible, not knowing when things were about to fall out of the sky!" Pinkie Pie gave Twilight a very sad look. "Don't you worry, Twilight, we'll get that stone out even if I have to reach down your throat myself to get it!"

"Hopefully it won't come to that. Worst comes to worst, I'm thinking we'll just have to wait for it to work its way through."

The next half hour was spent in silent study. Soon everyone had a small stack of books next to them, and they were all scanning the tomes, looking for a suitable spell. A knock on the door made them all look up. "Who is it?" called out Twilight, who then put a hoof to her mouth.

"It's Dewdrop! May I come in?"

"Please do!" called out a relieved Twilight. Once the unicorn had entered and closed the door behind her, Twilight said, "I was worried that I had just called out to somepony who wouldn't recognize my voice and wonder who the new librarian was!"

Dewdrop was carrying a bag in her mouth which she placed on the floor. "I'm sorry I took so long. Nurse Redheart didn't have anything to help induce vomiting, but she did want to know what the problem was. So I gave her a very basic account of what happened. I told her that a friend of mine had accidentally swallowed a rock, and I asked if there was some way to get it out, since she was worried about it getting stuck in her stomach.

"Nurse Redheart said that while there was a very small chance that the stone might get stuck, she didn't think it was likely, and that all we had to do was wait a day or so for nature to take its course. Still, to be on the safe side, in case you want it, she gave me some medicine to help you out." Dewdrop opened the bag to show a jar containing a green powered substance. "You sprinkle some of this on your food, and it will help your digestive system. It will give you the runs, but should guarantee that the stone works its way through. She also said that if you use the medicine to drink a lot of water, so you don't get dehydrated."

Luna walked over to examine what Dewdrop had brought with her. She sniffed at the jar, and then wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ick, not a pleasant odor at all." She turned back to Twilight. "Well, we haven't found anything yet, but we still have some books to go through. What do you want to do?"

"Hmm, well, if Nurse Redheart thinks that the stone will come out on its own, I think I can wait a day and see what happens. I honestly wasn't that keen on making myself vomit anyway." She turned to Dewdrop. "Thank you for visiting with the nurse and bringing me back this medicine. I don't think I'll use it yet, though. If by this time tomorrow nothing has shown up, then I might take some and see if that helps. After that..." Twilight shrugged. "I don't know. But I'll have time to think about it, and that's what matters."

After a brief moment of consideration, the other ponies were nodding their heads in agreement. "Let me go back to Sugar Cube Corner," said Pinkie Pie. "If you're going to make that stone work its way through you, you might as well have it helped along by something tasty!"

After she had bounced out the door to make good on her word, Twilight turned to Dewdrop and Luna. "Thank you very much for your help, and I'm sorry that I kind of stole the show from you, Princess."

Luna smiled at Twilight. "And thank you again for your help in setting everything up for today. I know you didn't mean for this to happen, Twilight. I'd like to stay and help you out in any other way that I could, but my sister is expecting me back home shortly."

"I understand," said Twilight. "It would be awkward for me to have Spike send her a scroll asking you to spend the night with me, without explaining the situation to her. Dewdrop, would you be willing to stay and help me out? I don't foresee there being any difficulties, but then I didn't think I would be in my current situation either."

"Of course, hun. Just give me a few minutes to run back home to tell Feather Down where I'll be and to gather a few things." She turned to Luna. "I'll see you again in just a few days. I'll make sure to tell you how things went then, if we don't end up asking Princess Celestia for help in the meantime."

"I'll be looking forward to it." Luna hugged her friend tightly. "Tell Feather Down I said hello, would you?"

"I certainly will." The two mares headed to the door to leave, and opened it to reveal what was apparently a mobile stack of cakes, muffins, and other sweets.

"Thanks for getting the door!" Pinkie Pie called out. "Twilight, where do you want me to put these?"

Twilight boggled at the sheer amount of food that Pinkie Pie had brought back with her. "There's no way that I can eat that much!" she exclaimed.

Pinkie Pie giggled. "It's not all for you, silly! The rest of us will need something to eat too!"

Luna's horn glowed, and she floated the baked goods onto a table. "I wish I could stay, Pinkie Pie, but I have to be heading back to Canterlot."

"Aww! Do you have to? I barely got the chance to see you too! You'll come back to visit more, right?"

"I'll try to come as often as I can, but I can't guarantee anything. Celestia is keeping me busy, what with all the studies I let slip when I left last time. I'll do my best though, I promise."

Pinkie Pie bounced over and gave Luna a hug. "Okie dokie loki!"

Luna waved to everypony one last time, then walked out the door and headed to where the guards patiently waited for her by the chariots.

"It'll take me around ten minutes to go home, get my things for the night, and come back," Dewdrop said after Luna had disappeared around a corner.

"Just knock and come on in when you get back. I'm not expecting anypony else at this hour," said Twilight.

"Don't take too long," cautioned Pinkie Pie, "or all of the food may be gone by the time you get back!"

Dewdrop paused to look at the mountain of food that Pinkie Pie was referring to. At just a quick glance, she counted no less than four cakes, a platter with some fritters, two plates of cupcakes, a bag full of muffins, and a few items she couldn't see clearly because they were behind or underneath the other items. "Just how much food are you going to..." Dewdrop paused as Pinkie Pie opened her mouth and proceeded to eat a cupcake in a single bite. "Ah. Right. Well, save some for me, please?"

"Will do!"

"Thanks, hun. I'll be back as quick as I can." Dewdrop briskly trotted away from the library.

Pinkie Pie watched Dewdrop leave, then turned towards Twilight. "All righty! Let's get some tasty pastries inside of you! What do you want to start with, a few fritters, a couple cupcakes, or a dozen danishes?"

Feather Down was surprised to see her roommate enter, yell out a quick greeting, and then run upstairs. "Hey," she yelled up to Dewdrop, "what's the rush?"

Dewdrop poked her head back into the stairway. "Sorry, Feather Down, something came up, and I'll be spending the night at Twilight's."

"Really?" asked Feather Down. "I'm not trying to be nosy or anything, but what do the two of you have in common besides being unicorns? Oh, does this have anything to do with those meetings you helped set up for Luna?"

"Ah, well..." Dewdrop blushed a little. "To be honest, I really don't want to talk about it. It's kind of unicorn related, but..." she trailed off and looked away from her roommate.

Feather Down was surprised. There were practically no secrets between the two of them; whatever it was that Dewdrop didn't want to tell her must be pretty embarrassing for her to keep her mouth shut. She smiled up at her childhood friend. "Well then, don't worry about telling me. You just let me know if there's anything that I can do to help you out somehow, okay?"

Dewdrop gave Feather Down a relieved smile. "Thank you so much for understanding! By the way, have you seen my toothbrush?"

"I think you left it in the kitchen. You were in such a big hurry to get to work this morning, you pretty much did everything at the same time. I'm surprised you didn't try to eat your hair brush and use your breakfast to wash your face!"

Dewdrop lightly rapped her forehead with a hoof. "You're right, now that you mention it I know exactly where I put it. Thank you!" She came back down the stairs with her saddlebags on her back, and walked into the kitchen. "I'll be honest, I'm not certain how long I'll be over there, but I'll be surprised if I'm not back before this time tomorrow." Her horn glowed, and her toothbrush rose from its resting spot in an empty glass next to the sink to float into her bags.

Feather Down whistled. "A whole day maybe? Huh. Well, I won't pressure you, but like I said, I'm willing to help if you need it."

"And I appreciate it, hun. I really do." She gave Feather Down a big hug. "But it isn't my call on who I can tell. I'll pass along your offer though, I promise."

"Okay. Have a good night then, Dewdrop!" Feather Down held the front door open for her friend. "I'll try to find some way to survive," she said melodramatically.

Dewdrop rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you'll manage somehow." With a final wave, the orange unicorn galloped off.

Feather Down closed the door and looked around. "Ooh!" she said, her eyes lighting up, "If I'm right..." Trotting into the kitchen, she opened the freezer door. "Yup! Looks like the last of the mint chocolate chip ice cream is mine for the taking!"

Dewdrop knocked on the library door and then stepped inside. "I'm back!" She looked around and didn't see anybody except Spike. "Huh. Where did they go?" she asked the dragon.

Spike pointed at the stairs leading up. "They're getting the bed ready for later tonight. Pinkie Pie said to help yourself to the food." He gestured at the table, which looked to Dewdrop to have only half the food on it that she remembered it holding just a short while ago.

"My goodness, Pinkie Pie sure ate a lot, didn't she?" Dewdrop said as she chose a couple of pastries for herself.

"Actually, Pinkie made sure to feed most of it to Twilight. She really wanted to make there was enough stuff in Twilight's stomach to help push the stone." Spike glanced upstairs. "I'm a bit worried though," Spike admitted.

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Twilight isn't much of a big eater, or one for too many sweets."

"Ah, you're worried that Twilight's going to get stomach cramps?" asked Dewdrop.

"Actually, I'm more afraid of what all that sugar is going to do to her. I'm not sure the world is ready for a hyper Twilight Sparkle."

Dewdrop giggled. "Well then, it may be a blessing in disguise that she doesn't have the use of her magic right now." Her horn glowed, and a plate with the food Dewdrop had chosen rose up to sit on an empty shelf near the ceiling. "I'll save that for later. Right now, I better go check and see how they're doing on getting things ready up there."

After a quick climb up the stairs, she saw that Twilight and Pinkie had managed to successfully get a second bed set up. "Hello! Spike said you two were up here, so I thought I'd see what was happening."

"Hello Dewdrop!" Twilight said in a happy voice. "I've been thinking about this whole situation, and I realized that this is a chance to do some experiments that I might never get a chance to do again! Well, I guess I could do them again, all I need to do is cast that spell, but honestly why tempt fate more times than I need to, right? But this is an opportunity for me to see just how much I take my magic for granted, by trying as many everyday tasks as I can! I've been making a list of them, and the funny thing is, I didn't even think that making a list was one of the things I was going to put on the list until I got started writing and realized just how hard it is to write with the pencil in your teeth instead of using a basic telekinesis spell! So far, I've got making a bed, reading a book, making a list, watering plants, making a sandwich..."

While Twilight continued to read off her list, Dewdrop edged over to Pinkie Pie, and quietly asked out of the corner of her mouth, "Sugar rush?"

Pinkie Pie nodded with a giant smile on her face. "Sugar rush!" she exclaimed happily.

Dewdrop sighed. She hoped things weren't going to be this hectic the entire night. Seeing Twilight pause in her reading to take a breath, she asked, "What can I do to help you, Twilight? Would you like me to be in charge of the list?"

"Please!" Twilight said enthusiastically. "It'll be much easier for you to take notes, and this frees me up to actually do the things I've written down." She motioned for Dewdrop to come over and take a look. "What do you think we should start with?"

Dewdrop examined the list. It was obvious that Twilight had very little practice writing without using her magic; she could barely make out half of the words because of the sloppy pencil work. She was about to comment on it when she realized that she would be no better if in Twilight's position. Thinking back, the last time Dewdrop could remember writing with her mouth was way back in school, before her magic had come into bloom.

Seeing Twilight looking at her questioningly, she smiled. "Sorry, my mind wandered for a bit there. Well, it looks like you can cross a few items off this list," she said as she levitated a pencil. "You've made a bed and a list, for starters. Hmm, well, we have some dirty dishes downstairs, do you want to try cleaning those?"

"You bet!" Twilight trotted down the stairs, humming a tune to herself.

Dewdrop looked at Pinkie Pie. "Do you think it was a good idea to get her so hyped up on sweets?"

The pink party pony nodded enthusiastically. "Yup! Not only is she so excited that she's turned her apprehension about not having her magic into a fun challenge, when the sugar rush wears off it'll be easy to get her to bed for the night. Hopefully the crash will overwhelm any lingering worries she might have, and she'll fall asleep right away."

Dewdrop was momentarily stunned. "Wow, that's great thinking Pinkie Pie! I apologize, I had thought you were just being reckless, but you've obviously put more thought into this than I have."

Pinkie Pie smiled at the orange unicorn. "Oh, I also did it to see what Twilight is like when she's all hyped up on sugar," she said with a wink. "C'mon, let's go make sure she doesn't break anything in the kitchen." Pinkie hopped down the stairs, and Dewdrop quickly gathered up Twilight's list and the pencil with her magic and followed after her.

Down below, Dewdrop saw Twilight stack a couple of plates on top of each other, then carefully grab the bottom one with her teeth. Fearing the worst, She prepared a spell to try and grab anything that the former unicorn might drop on her trip to the kitchen. Although Twilight had to occasionally stop in order to make sure nothing fell from the small pile she carried, she made it through the door that Pinkie Pie held open for her without dropping anything.

Carefully placing the stack down next to the sink, Twilight looked around the kitchen for her cleaning supplies. "Let's see, I have some dish soap out already, and I have some towels and sponges too. All I need to do is fill up the sink, and I'll be set!"

Pinkie Pie looked at the stuff that Twilight had assembled. "Oooh, it's going to be hard to clean dishes with a sponge like that. Want me to run over to Sugar Cube Corner and grab one of our sponges for you?"

Twilight blinked. "What's wrong with my sponge? I use it all the time to do the dishes."

"With your magic," Pinkie noted. "You won't be able to get a good grip on a sponge like that with just your hooves though. The sponges we use at the bakery are like socks; they slip onto the end of your hoof, and let you scrub without worrying about losing your grip on them."

"Hmm, thank you for the offer, Pinkie Pie, but I'm going to try this with what I have here. If I don't get them clean now, I'll make sure I do them again once I get my magic back." Twilight leaned over and turned the hot water faucet on with her mouth. She then looked around for the bottle of dish soap, and picked it up with her hooves.

Or at least tried too. The half empty bottle was slippery from previous uses, and the container squirted out from between her hooves to fall into the sink, dumping some of its contents in the process. "Oh no!" Twilight exclaimed before fishing with both hooves in the slowly filling sink for the bottle. She finally got it up against the side of the sink, and managed to drag it out to leave it laying on its side on the counter top.

By now, a lot of suds had built up, and Twilight found herself having a hard time finding a way to reach the water faucet without getting her muzzle sudsy. Finally, seeing that the sink was about to overflow, she gave up and stuck her head into the soap bubbles and turned off the water. When she pulled her head back out, Pinkie Pie and Dewdrop both laughed. Twilight's head was framed by a fluffy halo of soap suds. "You look like you have a manticore's mane!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

Twilight giggled and brushed the bubbles off of her face and back into the sink. "Okay, here goes nothing!" Grabbing the top plate from the stack she had brought in with her, Twilight slowly let it slide into the sink. She then carefully grabbed a sponge with both hooves and dropped it into the sink also. Sticking a hoof into the water, she pinned the sponge against the plate and started to scrub it clean. She turned to her friends and smiled. "This is weird! I've never gotten my hooves wet doing this before, and now even my forelegs are getting soaked. I hope we have enough towels."

After half a minute of scrubbing, Twilight grabbed the plate with her hooves and lifted it out of the sink to inspect her work. Blowing a clump of clinging soap bubbles back into the sink, she then eyed her work carefully. "Could use a little more effort," she decided as she put the plate back into the sink. "Oh, I forgot to fill up the rinse sink! I'm so excited by all of this I'm forgetting simple things."

As the other sink filled up, Twilight went back to cleaning the plate. She stopped several times to feel the dish with her hooves, and after finding spots she missed each time resumed her scrubbing. Finally she felt she had done enough work on the plate. Dunking it in and out of the rinse sink, she put it on a towel to air dry.

Pinkie Pie gave the plate a look over. "Good job, Twilight!" she said. "It may be taking you longer than usual, but it's as clean as it was when I loaded it up with food to begin with."

"Thank you. Let me get the rest of these plates clean, then I'll try something else on the list. No sense filling up the sinks just to wash a single dish, after all."

Over the next few hours, Twilight helped Spike put books back on the shelves, swept the floor, performed a simple experiment in the basement, and watered the plants outside the library. The sun had finally set, and Dewdrop noticed that Twilight's energy was quickly fading.

"Well, you managed to get quite a few things crossed off the list," Dewdrop said as she looked over the scroll. "Did you want to call it a night and start again in the morning, or...?"

Twilight shook her head. "There's one last thing I want to try, and I've been saving it for now. Luna said the hardest thing for her to learn to do was use her telescope. Well, I've got a telescope on the uppermost balcony, so I thought I'd give that a try now that it's dark enough to use it without blinding myself."

The three mares headed upstairs, and soon found themselves outside, shivering as a breeze made the autumn night feel colder than it was. Dewdrop whistled at the sight of the telescope. "Wow, this one is much bigger than the one Luna had. But I think hers was made to be carried around. This one looks to be more stationary."

Twilight nodded. "It is, although it can still be moved easily enough. For example, if the pegasus weather teams have a storm scheduled, I make sure to bring it inside. And with winter about to start, I'll have to drag it in so it doesn't get snowed under." She looked over the knobs and dials on the device. "Okay, see that mountain top over there?" Twilight pointed with a hoof to a nearby peak.

"Ooh! That's the one where the dragon wanted to take its nap, right?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Correct. Since the telescope is currently set to look at the Pleiades, this should be a good challenge of how well I can adjust it without my magic."

Twilight took a moment to consider how she wanted to proceed, and then got to work. She found that while it was easy to loosen the knobs that held the telescope's barrel and lenses in position, getting them tight again while maintaining what she was aiming at was extremely difficult. Even the slightest unintended bump to the barrel of the telescope would result in the viewing target being off center.

After struggling with it for a good twenty minutes, Twilight looked ready to give up and head back inside when inspiration struck her. "This is almost cheating, but I think I have a solution that will work for what I want to do." She turned the telescope away from the mountain, and started to adjust its aim by supporting the telescope's barrel with her back.

Dewdrop looked at Twilight with a funny look. "That may let you get the telescope set up easier, but you're going to end up looking at the side of Canterlot Mountain, not the peak you were talking about."

Twilight gave a knob one last twist with her teeth, and then turned to smile at the unicorn. "Right now, yes. But, all I have to do now is turn the entire telescope around like this..." Twilight grabbed a hold of the base of the telescope, and slowly tuned it counter clockwise. She looked into the telescope's sight, then made an adjustment with the base.

After half a dozen more nudges, Twilight looked into the telescope and smiled. "It may not be perfectly set up to see all of it, but I think this is close enough. Take a look!" Pinkie Pie and Dewdrop took turns, and saw that the telescope showed a view of most of the peak, although the left part was cut off from view.

Twilight shivered as a strong gust of wind blew through. "Alright," she said, "that's enough of that. Let's head inside, I'm feeling really tired all of a sudden!" The three mares headed inside and got ready for bed. While Pinkie Pie and Dewdrop were busy brushing their teeth, Twilight went and got some buckets from the basement. "I don't know if there is a chance for it to come out tonight or not," she explained as she put them in a corner of the bathroom, "but I'd rather start checking for the stone too soon instead of too late."

Spike came up to grab his sleeping basket. "If its all the same to you, I'm going to sleep downstairs tonight," he said. "I don't want to be kept up listening to you three talk about girly stuff all night long." Twilight chuckled and gave him a good night hug, and then the baby dragon went downstairs, basket and blanket in tow.

Soon, the trio were pulling back the covers and climbing into bed. Twilight was in her usual bed, while Dewdrop and Pinkie Pie shared the other one. Once everypony was comfortable Dewdrop turned off the lights with a quick spell, and they drifted off to sleep.

Dewdrop awoke with a small gasp, her head shooting up from her pillow. It had been a terrible dream; she had been back in Sugar Cube Corner, right as Twilight was casting the spell. However, instead of Twilight turning into an earth pony, the spell had reached out and grabbed her horn instead and then flew off with it. Thinking about it, it all seemed awfully silly, but it had felt so real!

Waiting for her heart to slow back down so she could try to get back to sleep, she looked around the darkened room. She was surprised to see the light of the moon reflected in another set of open eyes across from her. "Twilight?" she whispered, trying not to wake up Pinkie Pie next to her, "Is that you?"

Seeing the silhouette of the other pony nod its head, Dewdrop asked, "Having a hard time sleeping?" Another nod came in reply. "Have you gotten any sleep at all?" Seeing Twilight shake her head no, Dewdrop frowned and slowly got out of bed, doing her best not to disturb Pinkie and quietly walked over to Twilight.

"What's wrong, hun? Too much sugar in your body to get to sleep?"

"No," Twilight whispered, her voice sounding ragged. "I'm scared, Dewdrop. Really, really scared. I know I shouldn't be. After all, if I need it, I can have the two most powerful ponies in Equestria helping me. And the nurse said there shouldn't be any problems. But still..." Twilight rubbed her eyes with her hooves. "What if it does get stuck? What if it blocks things up inside me, and I need to go to the nurse, but she can't do anything? What if I miss the stone coming out, and I end up flushing it away?

"What if I'm stuck like this forever?" she asked, her voice cracking.

Dewdrop reached over and pulled Twilight into a hug. "I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for you right now," she said, feeling Twilight starting to cry against her, "and I wish I could tell you that you don't have to worry about those things, because I don't know if they're valid fears or not.

"What I can tell you though is that you aren't alone. You have friends that will do anything they can to help you out. Not just me and Pinkie Pie and the princesses either. I'm sure if you asked, everypony in Ponyville would do whatever they could to help you out. Feather Down didn't even know what the problem was, or who was in trouble, but she wanted to help too. We'll do everything we can to get you through this, okay?"

A rustling from behind Dewdrop told her that Pinkie Pie had woken up. "Oh, Twilight!" the pink pony said, and hopped out of bed. She walked to the other side of Twilight and joined in the hug. "You don't need to cry! We're going to get through this, okay? Everything will be all right, and that's a Pinkie Pie promise, you hear me?"

Twilight cried for a little bit longer, and finally settled down. "Thanks guys. I'm sorry. I just couldn't fall asleep right away, so I stared at the ceiling, and my head kept on coming up with all these terrible thoughts. I tried to think of other things, but no matter what I did, my brain kept coming back to those awful ideas." She sighed. "I'm sorry."

"There's no reason to be sorry," Pinkie Pie said. "You're scared, and I know just the thing for that!"

The smallest signs of a smile appeared on Twilight's face. "You're going to sing me a song?"

Pinkie's eyes lit up. "Ooh! That might work, but I don't have any songs for unicorns turned into earth ponies who can't fall asleep. No, here's what we're going to do." Pinkie climbed into Twilight's bed. "We're all going to sleep in the same bed. We're going to be right here next to you, so you know you aren't alone." She patted the mattress next to her. "Now scoot on over so Dewdrop can get in on the other side of you."

Twilight did so, and soon all three ponies were scrunched together on the bed. "It's a little bit of a tight fit," Twilight said as she pulled the covers up, "but you're right, Pinkie. I do feel better already. And it's comfortable too." She closed her eyes, and after a short yawn said, "Thank you. Both of you."

Before long the three ponies were all sound asleep, one big ball of soft snores and smiles.

Dewdrop woke up, feeling much more refreshed than she though she would have been from the cramped sleeping conditions. Being the first awake, she wondered how she could extract herself from the pile without waking either of the other two up when she felt Twilight start to stir next to her.

"Good morning," Dewdrop whispered. "I hope you'll excuse me, but I'll need to go run by the inn real quick to let them know I won't be able to come in to work today."

"Oh my gosh, you don't need to miss work for this!" Twilight exclaimed.

The orange unicorn smiled warmly at Twilight. "Don't you worry. The other day shift mares owe me from a couple of weeks ago when I covered for them. I'm sure Hazelnut and Lilypad won't complain at all, despite the short notice. It isn't like we're that busy this time of year anyway." Dewdrop got out of bed and stretched. "I'll just gallop over there and back real fast, I should be gone a few minutes at the most."

"Thank you Dewdrop, I really appreciate this."

"I'm glad to. And after everything that happened yesterday and last night, you had better believe I want to be here for the end of it!"

By the time Dewdrop returned to the library, Pinkie Pie was awake and was already downstairs. "Twilight's in the bathroom right now," she said. "I'll wait to see what happens, and if the stone doesn't come out, then I'll run over to Sugar Cube Corner to get us something for breakfast and tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake where I'll be today."

A few minutes later, Twilight joined them downstairs. "No luck yet," she said. "The worst part of this has to be the searching. It's just... eww!" She shuddered at the thought.

"Okay, it's my turn to go out then," Pinkie Pie said. "You better not go to the bathroom again until I get back! I want to be here when it comes out, all right?" Before Twilight could reply, Pinkie was out the door and on her way.

The rest of the morning was uneventful. With the novelty of having no magic gone, as well as last night's sugar rush, Twilight didn't feel any desire to perform any more experiments. So the three of them simply sat around and chatted. Twilight made several trips to the bathroom, and Dewdrop and Pinkie Pie waited right outside the door to find out if the stone had finally been passed. "You know," Twilight commented on one visit, "it really feels weird having other ponies waiting on me as intently as you two are. Even with the door closed, I feel a little self conscious."

Finally, right before lunch time, Pinkie Pie and Dewdrop had their wait interrupted by the loudest exclamation of joy that either of them had ever heard come from inside of a bathroom. Throwing decorum out the window, they rushed through the door to see Twilight hold up a soiled stone between her hooves. Pinkie Pie started to hug her friend, then stopped when she considered how messy that would get. Dewdrop's horn glowed, and soon she had everything cleaned up.

Twilight set the stone down on the bathroom floor in front of her. "I hope you two don't mind, but I'm not going to waste any time, or risk another accident, by putting off changing back." She quickly brought a hoof down onto the stone and shattered it.

White light erupted from beneath her hoof, swallowed her up and lifted her off the floor. A purple streamer appeared from nowhere, and flew around Twilight several times. As it circled her, her coat and mane returned to their normal, purple hue, and her cutie mark reverted to its normal design. Finally, the streamer floated to her head and twirled around itself until it shaped itself as a horn and attached itself back to Twilight. The light around her faded away, and she gently drifted back to the floor.

Twilight smiled widely and hugged both Pinkie Pie and Dewdrop tightly. Seeing Spike looking in from outside the bathroom, her horn glowed and she picked the dragon up with a spell and carried him over to her so she could give him a hug also. "Just needed to make sure my magic was back," she said as Spike half-heartedly protested the affection he was being showered with.

A short while later, Pinkie Pie and Dewdrop had their possessions gathered up and were getting ready to leave. "Thanks again so much," Twilight said. "I don't even want to think of how much of a wreck I would be right now if you two hadn't been here last night. I owe both of you so much."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Pinkie Pie said. "After all, you'd do the same for somepony else if they asked you, right? That's what friends do, after all. Ooh! Are you going to write about this to Princess Celestia, and make it into a friendship report?"

Twilight shook her head. "Maybe later, but I'm still pretty embarrassed about the whole thing. Besides, I don't think she'll want to hear about me digging through my own manure."

"Aww," Pinkie Pie said, "that's too bad. I even had the perfect line for it!"

"Really? What was it? I may use it if I do write a report later."

Pinkie Pie cleared her throat, and then spoke in a very cultured tone. "It might not always be obvious who your friends are," the pink pony intoned, "but no matter how messy things may get, you'll see that they'll shine through in the end, like a diamond in the roughage."

Dewdrop groaned, and then joined the other two ponies in laughter. Spike simply shook his head, muttered something about toilet humor, and entered the kitchen to make lunch for himself and Twilight.

New -- Chapter 3

Luna waited impatiently for the cloud chariots carrying her friends to arrive. She hadn't heard anything from her sister regarding Twilight's dilemma, so she figured that things had turned out all right. Still, not knowing was driving her a little crazy with curiosity. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of pacing, she could make out the sight of the incoming chariots from Ponyville, flying through the sky.

After a short round of hellos and hugs, the group slowly wandered away from the landing area and deeper into the castle gardens. Luna lagged a bit behind the others, and catching Dewdrop's eye motioned for the unicorn to come back to her. Once they were side by side, Luna leaned in and whispered, "So, what happened? Is Twilight no longer stuck as an earth pony?"

"Everything is back to normal," Dewdrop answered. "A little before lunch the next day, the stone finally came out; she wasted no time changing back."

Hearing the news, Luna let loose a breath she hadn't been aware she had been holding and smiled at the orange unicorn. "That's good to hear!"

"What's good to hear?" asked Feather Down from up ahead. "Does this have to do with why you spent the night at Twilight's, Dewdrop?"

"It is, but it's nothing important," she replied. Then, with a wink to Luna, she said, "I'm just letting her know that everything came out all right at the end."

Luna groaned at the bad joke and Dewdrop giggled, while the other ponies simply looked on in confusion.

"Don't worry guys," Feather Down said to the two stallions, "I'll find out what happened and pass it along." Turning back to Luna, she said, "Anyway, what's the plan for today?"

"Well, last time we stuck to the gardens and just a couple of rooms in the castle. Today, I was thinking I could give you the grand tour, so to speak. I could also show you some places in the city, although I've only visited a few. I'm still learning the town myself. As you can imagine, there aren't that many buildings still standing from a thousand years ago. Also, I want Pine Needle to help me out with the sapling, although when we do that isn't a concern to me. And, of course, if there's anything you guys want to do, I'd love to hear it." Luna's friends looked at each other, trying to determine if anypony else had a preference.

"Well, I would love to have a tour of the castle," Haystack volunteered. "I think it would be neat to see some of the famous rooms in it. The great hall, the throne room, the parade grounds..." Haystack turned to his friends. "...Unless one of you has another idea?"

Dewdrop shook her head. "I'd like to explore the gardens some more, I had no idea how big they were, but that can wait. That's something I can do while Pine Needle and Luna work together."

"That works for me," Feather Down said. "How about you, Pine Needle? Anything you'd rather do instead of the tour?"

Seeing the earth pony shake his head no, Luna smiled and motioned for her friends to follow her. "I don't know of anything happening in the throne room this morning, so why don't we stop by there first? It's this way."

Feather Down rolled onto her side, shooting Princess Luna and Pine Needle a grumpy look. They were in the gardens again, their tour of the castle having been completed, and she had been stuck at their side for what seemed like hours, and thus far they hadn't even moved.

"You know," she said, "when I decided to stay behind with you two, instead of exploring the gardens some more, I thought that there might be something, I don't know, spectacular or flashy to watch. Instead, it's just been the two of you standing there with your eyes closed, whispering back and forth! Bor-ing!"

Pine Needle opened his eyes. "I have told you many times in the past that earth pony magic is very subtle. Just what were you expecting?"

"I don't know..." Feather Down stood up and starting to gesture wildly with her hooves. "Pillars of earth shooting up from the ground, plants growing like crazy, some sort of light show... I mean, this is magic we're talking about, right?"

Pine Needle chuckled. "Well, I don't think even Luna could do something like that, although I could be wrong. But I know that nopony in mine family has ever been able to do anything like that."

Luna opened her eyes and looked at Pine Needle questioningly. "You don't think I could make plants grow on my own?"

"Hmm. Maybe. The only way I can think of it happening would be for you to gather up all the potential in the area, and then force it into the plant. That could make it grow fast in the short term, but it could also harm it's growth overall. It might even hurt it by leaving the ground around the plant barren, so whatever short term gains you produced would be ruined by the fact that it would then slowly wither and die."

"How about the rest of what she said, like manipulating the earth?"

Pine Needle shook his head. "I can't even begin to think how earth pony magic could accomplish that. And I think it would be easier for you to use unicorn magic to perform such a feat."

Luna nodded. "You're right, it wouldn't be that hard at all for me to do that with telekinesis. Although I think the gardeners might object to me doing so."

Pine Needle turned back to Feather Down. "To be honest, I thought you volunteered to stay because it would be a good excuse to take a nap. I'm sorry, I would have said something sooner if I had known otherwise."

Feather Down softly sighed. "That's all right. This is what I get for not ever listening to you when you've talked about this in the past." She looked around. "Though if you two don't mind, I'm going to go ahead and explore the castle a little more, if that's okay with you, Luna?"

"Of course it is! And I'm sorry for boring you, but this is my only chance to be able to do this."

Feather Down waved a hood dismissively. "Don't worry about it at all! There were a couple of things I wanted to take a closer look at, like some of the stained glass windows, but I didn't want to make the tour drag on for everypony else. This will be the perfect chance for me to go do that."

Luna smiled at Feather Down. "Thank you. Remember to meet back here if you hear the bells ring for dinner, okay?"

"Will do!" Feather Down said as she trotted away. She soon found herself in the hallways of Castle Canterlot. Pausing at an intersection to get her bearings, she noticed a hallway that was filled with the stained glass windows she had mentioned to the princess. Instead of heading towards it though, she took a different path, and smiled as she found herself entering one of the quieter parts of the castle.

She felt a small twinge of guilt. She hadn't exactly lied to Luna; she really had wanted to get a better look at some of the fine displays of craftsmanship that the window builders had utilized long ago. However, there was something else she wanted to see up close; really, really wanted to see up close.

On their first visit, they had all gotten to see Luna's bedroom. And while the princess had a suitably amazing bed, she was surprised to find that it wasn't that much better than hers. Oh sure, it had a fantastic canopy held aloft by jeweled pillars, and all sorts of fancy sheets and lace trim on the side. But those were all decorations. The important part, at least to her, was the comfort. After all, it didn't matter how extravagant a bed was if you couldn't get a good night's sleep on it! Luna had been nice enough to let her lay down on it, and while it was better than her own, she couldn't tell that much of a difference.

Feather Down paused at a corner to sneak a look around the turn. Seeing that the next stretch of hallway was empty, she walked as quietly as she could. The marble floors were making it hard to be stealthy when every time her hooves came down, the resulting sound echoed like crazy. Reaching the next intersection, she waited a moment to let her rapidly beating heart slow down. Then, she slowly stuck her head around the corner, and quickly pulled it back.

It was the very door that Luna had pointed out during their tour that morning. And there was only a single guard, slowly pacing up and down the hallway. If she could time things just right, and be quiet enough...

She would get a chance to see what kind of bed Princess Celestia had yet!

Princess Celestia finished composing another scroll of instructions to be sent out to her representatives across Equestria. Finding herself out of sealing wax, and not seeing any close by, she got up from her giant purple cushion and walked into an adjoining room to see if she had some in her private library. She had just located a good sized brick of it when she heard the door to her bedroom open and close with just a soft click.

Sealing wax instantly forgotten, she gathered the magical energy in the area to her, and cautiously looked back into the bedroom, wondering who had entered her quarters unannounced. She was quite surprised to see that the intruder was one of Luna's friends, Feather Down.

Keeping herself hidden in the side room, Celestia watched as the pink earth pony slowly looked around. The princess frowned; instead of gazing about in wonder, enthralled at all of the knick-knacks and souvenirs she had accumulated over the last millennium, it seemed Luna's friend was searching for something in particular. She slowly circled the room, forcing Celestia to step back into the shadows and release her hold on the magic she had readied so that her glowing horn wouldn't give her presence away.

She thought back to the letters that Twilight had sent her and what her sister had told her about Feather Down. She couldn't recall anything that would make Celestia think that the earth pony who was carefully nosing about her room was some sort of burglar. She certainly hadn't come equipped to properly rob her room; she lacked any means of carrying anything away with her besides what she could hold in her mouth.

So what did she want? Was she here to spy for some foreign kingdom? Did she have some tie to a dark cult, or an evil organization that wanted the princesses out of the picture so they could claim power? Celestia couldn't see the pony in front of her being such an agent, but then, wouldn't that make her the perfect candidate for such a position?

Celestia watched as Feather Down looked into the other side room, where she kept her jewelery and (for those rare times of conflict) armor, as well as her rarely slept in bed. Most nights she found herself working very late on one thing or another, so she ended up falling asleep on the cushion that took up a good part of the floor in front of the fireplace. Feather Down paused, and then slowly entered the side room.

The princess's mind raced, considering what was in that room that might be of interest to somepony else. Did she mean to steal some of the royal jewels? Or maybe- Her thoughts came to a halt when Feather Down slowly walked out of the room with a puzzled look on her face. The earth pony had taken nothing from the room, and unless she had a photographic memory, there was no way she could have studied anything in the side room long enough to have gained any insight or information!

While thoughts of punishment still worked their way through her head, Celestia was now more interested in discovering just what the intruding pony was looking for. Feather Down walked towards the fireplace, and paused next to her cushion. She nudged it with a hoof, then thoughtfully walked around it twice, before nodding her head in approval. Then, to Celestia's surprise, Feather Down took a step back and then jumped into the center of the cushion like a filly leaping into a pond. She stretched her body back and forth a couple of times and then, with a very content sigh, quickly fell asleep.

Princess Celestia stood still, blinking and trying to comprehend just what exactly had happened. Had Luna's friend broken into her bedroom... just to take a nap? Quietly, Celestia walked over to where the earth pony softly snored with a smile on her face. Taking a moment to consider how she wanted to approach the situation, she decided against doing the angry monarch bit, with eyes and horn aglow with power, and settled for simply prodding Feather Down awake with a hoof.

Or at least she tried to, but the sleeping pony seemed oblivious to the subtle attempt to wake her. Celestia then placed a hoof on Feather Down's shoulder and shook her, but all that did was cause her to murmur something unintelligible before rolling onto her side. With a soft sigh, she channeled her magic, and created a small bolt of magical energy which arced from her horn to Feather Down's cutie mark to give her a mild shock.

Feather Down awoke with a start, and Princess Celestia fought back the urge to laugh. The earth pony's eyes darted back and forth before spotting her and widened in astonishment and fear. Instead of accusing her of any crimes, or demanding to know what was going on, Celestia simply raised an eyebrow while keeping a neutral face.

Softly, barely audible, the awakened pony said, "I can explain..."

Feather Down found herself in an all too familiar situation; awakened by somepony who was not amused by her actions. Granted, this was the first time that it was the ruler of the realm awaiting an explanation, instead of her roommate or her boss. However, she had learned long ago that there was only one way to successfully handle this kind of encounter.

"I'm sorry, Princess Celestia, but I had just wanted to see how comfortable your bed was. Once I got in it though, well, it lulled me right to sleep." A slight twitch in one of the alicorn's eyes was the only sign she got, but it was enough. Once again, telling the truth, no matter how wacky and improbable it sounded, had been the way to go.

"So, why lie down here then, and not on the bed?" Celestia asked, gesturing to the side room.

"Oh, please," Feather Down said derisively. "That thing is barely worth putting in an inn, let alone a royal bedroom. Even for you the height is wrong, plus the sheets are too coarse, the pillow is made from an inferior grade of down, and it's plain to see that you don't favor it because it doesn't have any valleys in it from where somepony would sleep on it regularly."

She stood up and gently walked off of the cushion. "Now, take this marvelous thing. While not your typical bed, it's strategically situated near a fireplace, so being down on the floor won't leave you cold in the fall and winter. Also, the stuffing is sturdy enough to support you comfortably, and it's obvious from the impressions in it you sleep here more often than not. I bet you don't even worry about it lacking a pillow, do you?"

Feather Down's recitation was answered by laughter from the princess. "It isn't often I am pleasantly surprised like this. Thank you." Celestia stepped back onto the cushion and knelt down where she had been working previously. "While you are here, would you mind taking a moment to chat with me?" Celestia motioned at an open corner of the cushion. "While I've heard about you from Luna, I would like a chance to get to know my sister's friends personally."

"Of course, your highness!" Feather Down quickly made herself comfortable. "What would you like to know?"

"Well, first off, how are things going? I'm surprised to see you away from the others."

"Oh, that's because Luna and Pine Needle are working together on something to do with that earth pony magic he keeps talking about. Not much for the rest of us to do, but that's okay. Luna doesn't have any other chances to get to do something like this with him, and the rest of us had other things we wanted to look at. Dewdrop and Haystack went off to explore the gardens, although not together," she said with disappointment in her voice.

"Oh? Is there a reason why they would?" ask Celestia.

"Oh my goodness, yes!" Feather Down exclaimed. "It seemed like they had been in each other's faces forever. Always bickering and giving each other the cold shoulder, I was amazed that they even willingly entered a room if the other was already there. And then, they shared a moment, and it was beautiful! Dewdrop even kissed him on the cheek! And while they aren't nipping at each other anymore, there still seems to be some sort of distance between them.

"Take the chariot ride over here, for example. I keep on offering to ride with Pine Needle so the two of them can be together, but Haystack insists on flying over instead. Doesn't want to burden the guards any, he says. Heck, I even stayed behind when they went off to explore the gardens, to give them some time alone, but it's like they didn't even notice!" The pink earth pony sighed deeply.

"Maybe they aren't interested in each other?" Celestia asked.

Feather Down shook her head. "I thought about that, but I'm certain they are. I mean, Dewdrop makes sure that Haystack is included in our get-togethers in Ponyville all the time now, something she almost never did before. And seeing Haystack grin used to be as rare as finding a five leaf clover, but he does that all the time around Dewdrop now. He even made a joke once! Not that it was any good," she added, "but the fact that he even tried was amazing in and of itself."

"Well, maybe they just need some time?" the princess suggested. "I know it always seems to happen so quickly in the stories, but from what I've seen over the years, true love rarely happens at first sight."

"Oh, you're most likely right," Feather Down said with a sigh, "but they're my friends! I just want to help them out, somehow... oh, listen to me! Here I am, going on about this, wasting your time. I'm sorry!"

Celestia smiled. "No need to be. I did ask, after all. How about you? Are you enjoying your visits here? I know they aren't the best way for you and Luna to keep in touch, but I can't see any other solution that works without making things difficult for the others."

"Oh, I fully understand," Feather Down said. "She mentioned all the studies she has to catch up on. Heh, I had trouble when I missed half an hour of school, I can't imagine how much she missed over the last thousand years!"

"How does a pony miss just half an hour of school?" Celestia asked, her voice filled with curiosity.

Feather Down shook her head sadly. "School is hard when your special talent is sleeping, let me tell you. It's almost impossible to not take a nap when the teacher is describing multiplication tables. If Dewdrop hadn't helped me with my homework, I might not have graduated." She tilted her head questioningly at Celestia. "So, what do you have Luna studying for, anyway? Is she going to retake her old positions, whatever they were?"

Celestia sighed. "Actually, that's one of the hardest problems I face right now. Everything has changed so much, whatever tasks she took care of that haven't become obsolete are now run by other ponies. To give them back to her would mean that they would be out of a job through no fault of their own. I'm trying to find new things for her to do, but most of what I come up with might be better suited for somepony of a lesser station." The princess cocked her head. "What do you think? Would Luna be satisfied with doing things like that, or would she take offense?"

Feather Down stared in amazement at Celestia. "You, you're asking me, of all ponies, about something like this?"

The alicorn somberly nodded her head. "You see a side of Luna that I don't get to. Anything you can tell me that would help give me a more complete picture would be greatly appreciated."

Swallowing nervously, Feather Down thought about the question. "I don't think I can give an exact answer, but in my opinion I think she would be happy to do what she could to help you out. When she was disguised as Moonbeam, she was always willing to do whatever she could for us. Assisting Dewdrop at the inn, getting help for Haystack's harvest... I think that, as long as what you find for her to do are things that need to be done, and aren't just busy work, she'll be happy to do them."

Celestia smiled. "Those are my thoughts too. It is good to hear them from somepony else, though." The princess stood up, and floated over a couple of pieces of parchment to her. Looking them over, she tucked them under a wing and motioned for Feather Down to follow her. "Let's go find my sister and your friends then, I have something I want to ask all of you about."

The two mares stepped out of the bedroom. The guard gaped as a pony he didn't remember seeing go into the princess's chambers came out with the alicorn. "So, to the gardens, then?" Celestia asked, pointedly ignoring the stammered apologies of the guard. Feather Down nodded, barely containing the laughter that was bubbling up inside of her.

Luna struggled with the small shovel in her hooves. Although the digging implement had been built so that ponies without magic could use it in a pinch, she was beginning to think that the creators hadn't tested their design before sending the plans off to wherever the shovel had been built. She looked over at Pine Needle, who was helping her with a shovel of his own. He seemed to be having better luck, although it looked to her that he wasn't making any significant progress either.

"I still don't understand why we're doing this the hard way," she said as she stabbed the head of the shovel into the ground once more. "I could have the hole dug and the sapling planted in less than a minute if I used my magic."

"Think back to the Running of the Leaves in Ponyville," Pine Needle said. "Why do you think we have all the ponies run the course, instead of simply having the pegasus ponies create a giant windstorm to blow all the leaves down?"

Luna thought about the situation for a moment. "Well, my first guess is that the amount of wind needed to blow down that many leaves might also damage the buildings nearby. However, given what we've been doing for the last couple of hours I'd have to say that it has something to do with earth pony magic. But I'm still not completely sure as to why, except that the act of doing it with earth pony magic is somehow important?"

Pine Needle nodded. "It is. How can I describe this?" He tilted his head in thought for a moment. "Okay, it's like... no, no. Ah! It is like a a coat of paint put on a house. While the house will still stand with or without it, the paint helps to protect the house from the elements. In a similar manner, that's how the earth pony magic used in the Running of the Leaves helps the tress. It gives them more strength to survive the harsh conditions of winter."

"That makes sense. It feels kind of backwards to me though. Magic is something I've always used to make things easier, but in this case it's making things harder instead." She removed another spade full of soil from the hole. "What do you think, is this deep enough?"

Pine Needle looked back and forth between the sapling and the hole they had dug. "I think so. Go ahead and put the tree in."

As Luna carefully lifted the sapling with her hooves and placed the plant into the hole, Haystack and Dewdrop came walking up. "Hello!" said Dewdrop. "I see you two are finally finishing up?"

"Indeed! Now all we have to worry about is if the gardeners will take offense to us doing some unannounced additions to the area." Pine Needle looked at Luna. "I am assuming that you have permission to do this?"

Luna chuckled. "Of course, silly!" She grabbed the shovel and started to scrape dirt back into the hole to fill it up again. "Did you two have fun exploring?"

"I sure did!" said Dewdrop. "I found this one clearing with a bunch of plants trimmed to look like various animals, what are they called? Topiaries?"

Haystack nodded. "That would be the word. I found a really interesting fountain, it was shaped like a dragon, and the water sprayed out of its mouth in a way that made it look like it was breathing fire into the sky."

"Well, I'm glad the two of you had fun," Luna said as she started to tamp down the loose soil around the sapling. "I just need to finish filling in this hole, and then I'll be done. After that, we can wash our hooves real quick, and then we can look for something else to do." She turned to Pine Needle. "Well, what do you think? Did I do an adequate job?"

"I'm sure you did, but let me double check." Pine Needle closed his eyes briefly, only to open them up again right away. "Princess Celestia is coming," he said.

Dewdrop blinked. "Are you sure?" she asked.

The earth pony nodded. "The only other pony I know who has such a bright essence is Luna. And since she is here already..."

Luna nodded as she quickly cleaned her hooves with a spell. "Simple reasoning would certainly point that way, wouldn't it?"

Sure enough, a few seconds later Princess Celestia came into view, followed by Feather Down. "How were the windows?" Pine Needle asked when the two had come to a stop next to them.

"Windows?" Celestia asked Feather Down. "You should have told me, we could have passed by some on the way here."

"You didn't," Dewdrop said, an annoyed look on her face. Seeing Feather Down give an embarrassed chuckle while looking at the ground, the unicorn moaned. "Are you trying to get us banned from the castle for good?"

"What?" Haystack asked, looking back and forth between the two roommates. "What did she do?"

Celestia chuckled. "Oh, Feather Down came by my room and after I woke her up we had a nice little chat, that's all."

Haystack stared slack jawed at Feather Down as Dewdrop hung her head to the ground in dismay.

"Now, now, no need to be upset. I was hoping to get a chance to talk to each of you sometime soon, so it worked out for the best." She smiled at the group. "But that isn't what I'm here for. I have something I'd like for you to consider for your next visit." Celestia lifted her wing slightly, and the pieces of paper she had retrieved from her room floated out to lay on the ground in front of the ponies.

"My school for gifted young unicorns is hosting a charity function next week. It's a fancy dinner, followed by the chance to mingle with the hosts and the other guests afterwards." She looked at Luna. "I was thinking your friends might enjoy the chance to attend an upper class event like this. And I'm certain that once the word gets out that both princesses will be present that the dinner will sell out quickly."

Luna studied the leaflet and then looked at her friends. "Well, what do you say? Do you guys want to go?"

Dewdrop nodded. "I think it would be a fun experience. Besides," she said with a chuckle, "this may be the only time I'll get to be inside such a prestigious school."

"You bet I want to go!" Feather Down said. "The chance to be served a fancy meal, instead of being the one who has to pass out the food? And who hasn't wanted to be at a high society event like this?"

Pine Needle and Haystack looked at each other nervously. "Well," Haystack said, scraping at the grass with a hoof, "you know I'm not all that great when it comes to being sociable." Seeing the mares start to frown, he hastily added, "I'm not saying I won't go. I'm just warning you that I won't be the best pony to be around is all. Remember the 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for Luna? All I really did was talk to a couple other farmer ponies and keep away from Pinkie Pie."

"Well, you won't have to worry about her this time," Feather Down said. "And you'll have us to hang around with. We can keep each other company and make fun of all the silly outfits if nothing else, right?"

"I suppose so..." Haystack conceded.

"Great! And how about you, Pine Needle?"

"Um, well, sure, I'll go," he replied, unable to look any of the others in the eye.

"You don't sound like you want to go," Dewdrop said after an uncomfortable moment of silence. "Why not, hun?"

Pine Needle sighed. "An earth pony farmer, at an upper class event for a unicorn school? I'm going to stick out like an unkempt mane."

"It won't be as bad as you're making it out to be," said Dewdrop. "As long as you don't eat your food like a colt, the dinner shouldn't be a problem at all. And just stick next to us for the rest of it, we'll make sure that you aren't forced to talk about stuff like the latest styles in hoofwear, or who's running for mayor in Manehattan."

Pine Needle sighed, "Very well." He lifted his head to give the others a small smile. "It would be rude of me to refuse to do this when you all let me monopolize Luna's time today."

"Excellent!" Princess Celestia said. "Make sure when you come next week to bring your dress wear with you. And now, I had better go inform the organizers that my sister will be there, as well as four extra guests." She smiled at the group before turning to walk back towards the castle.

Luna had listened to the preceding conversation silently, watching her friend's various reactions as well as her sister's. As Celestia walked away Luna turned to her friends and said, "Wait here one moment, please," and trotted after her sister.

Catching up to the white alicorn, she asked in a quiet voice, "This dinner has been in the works for months. Why invite me and my friends at the last minute? I would think that the tickets had been sold out long ago."

Celestia nodded. "They have. But I think this dinner will be a great learning experience, and adding five more ponies to the guest list won't be a problem at all."

Luna looked questioningly up at her older sister. "But eating in public was one of the first things you made sure I got reacquainted with, because of all the formal dinners with foreign dignitaries. Do you think I still need more work on it?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Celestia chuckled. "This isn't for you, but for your friends." She stopped and looked Luna in the yes, her face suddenly very serious. "They mostly know you as an earth pony, who wandered into town one day with very little to her name. I want to make sure that they understand just exactly what being the close friends of royalty means."

Seeing Luna about to protest, she raised a hoof. "I'm not trying to drive them away from you. Trust me. In fact, that's why I chose this upcoming dinner. Since it's for charity, the majority of the attending ponies will be there because they believe in helping a good cause; you won't find a more accommodating crowd for your friends to get their first taste of high society with.

"And with winter coming up, there will be lots more of these events happening. You'll need to be present at some of them, if you want to be able to regain the full trust of everypony." Celestia smiled sadly at Luna, who looked very frustrated. "I know, these events are quite often tedious and boring. And it seems like there's always another one to attend. But that's just the way society has evolved. It may be dull, but at least it keeps the nobles away from the ponies who actually get the work done."

Luna slowly nodded her head. "I understand."

Celestia grinned at her younger sister. "Good. Oh, and when Pine Needle has taught you everything that he can, I'll be happy to show you what I learned about earth pony magic over the years." Seeing Luna's shocked expression, she chuckled. "There's a lot of free time to fill over a millennium, after all." With that, Celestia turned and headed back inside the castle.

Luna watched her sister leave. While she understood Celestia's intentions, she wasn't certain that she approved of her methods. Was such a roundabout approach to the situation needed? Frowning, she turned around and headed back to her waiting friends.

New -- Chapter 4

With a set of old saddlebags draped across his back, Haystack slowly glided towards an open clearing in Ponyville. He circled around, scanning the area below to make sure that no other ponies were in his path. Satisfied that his approach would be clear he flew down and- once he was low enough- transitioned from his glide to a quick trot. After a few hasty steps he slowed his pace to a brisk walk which carried him the final few steps to the front door of the library.

His knock produced a cry of "Coming!" from inside, and after a few seconds, Spike the dragon opened the door. "Hey, Haystack. I'm sorry, but Twilight's not in right now. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Actually, there is," the pegasus replied. "I was hoping to be able to check out a book, I need one on the topic of etiquette."

Spike motioned for Haystack to follow him inside. "Etiquette? You mean, like, manners 'n stuff?"

"Indeed." Haystack replied as he entered the building. "There is a dinner in Canterlot that me and my friends have been invited to, and I would like to avoid making a foal of myself if at all possible."

Spike stopped and scanned the shelves for a moment. "I didn't get to go to many parties or events like that when I lived there. Twilight pretty much kept to herself and did a lot of studying in her room, which meant I usually had to be there helping her find books and other stuff." Walking over to a section of the shelves, he asked over his shoulder, "So, what's the event? Some sort of dance?"

"No, it's a charity dinner that's being held at a school run by Princess Celestia, if I recall correctly."

"Oh, I know which one you're talking about! Twilight and I got to go to that once, what with her being Celestia's student and all. That's great that you managed to get tickets, they usually sell out pretty quickly from what I remember." Spike reached up, examined a book, and then put it back in its place. "No, that one won't do, let's see... ah! Here we go!" He turned and held the tome up for Haystack's approval.

"Etiquette for Everypony: The Manual of Manners for Mares and Stallions," Haystack read the title of the book aloud. "Thank you very much, Spike, that should fit the bill perfectly. Is there any paperwork that I need to fill out?" he asked as he opened one of his saddlebags and deposited the book inside.

"I'll just need a signature, hold on one second while I fill out the form." Spike walked over to a desk in a corner of the room. He pulled out a paper, grabbed a quill, and started to fill in the blanks. "There is a one week check out period for books," he explained as he wrote. "If you need to keep it longer, just stop by and see if any other ponies have asked for it. If not, we'll let you keep it another week. You still live out at your farm?" Seeing Haystack nod, he quickly jotted down a note and then held the quill up for him. "Then just sign here on the bottom line, that means you understand how long you can keep the book, and that should the book be damaged while you have it, you'll pay to repair or replace it."

Grabbing the quill in his teeth, Haystack signed his name, and waited for Spike to retake the writing instrument before replying, "Thank you, Spike. A week will be perfect for me. The dinner itself is five days away, I'll return it the day after we get back." He turned, and started walking towards the door when he paused.

"Oh, by the way, you said this dinner we're going to usually sells out fast?" the pegasus asked, keeping his head turned away from the dragon to hide the troubled look on his face.

"Almost always, yeah. Why?" Spike asked as he placed the form into a basket before leaving the desk.

"Oh, no reason. I guess we were lucky to get in, huh?" Haystack opened the door and stepped outside. "Thanks again Spike, and I'll see you in about a week," he called back as he took off. Circling as he gained elevation, he waved at the dragon below, and then headed back towards his farm.

A few minutes later he was home, headed towards the barn where he had left Pine Needle earlier that morning. His earth pony friend was inside, busy sweeping the floor. "Good news," Haystack said once he was sure that he had Pine Needle's attention. "Spike was able to find me a book. Once we're done here, we can go grab some lunch while we take a look at it."

"That sounds good," Pine Needle replied after he leaned his broom against a wall. "I've swept most of this area, but the other rooms still need to be done."

"Good work. Let me go put my saddlebags inside the house, and then I'll help get the cleaning done." After matching deeds to words, the two stallions spent the rest of the morning sweeping the floors of the barn and performing other small jobs that were found as they worked.

As they headed back to the house for lunch, Pine Needle turned towards his pegasus friend. "What is wrong? You have been very quiet since coming back from the library," he asked.

Haystack blinked in surprise. "Have I? Oh." He stopped, and his face scrunched up in thought. Pine Needle stopped and turned around a few steps later, a look of wonder on his face. Haystack sighed as he shook his head. "I don't know if something is wrong or not. I'm not even certain if what I'm concerned about is legitimate, and I don't want to be spreading false gossip if it isn't."

"Well, now you have gone and made me even more curious!" Pine Needle said with a chuckle. "But I shall respect your privacy," he added as he approached the door to the house and held it open for Haystack. "Just, please, if there is something I can do to help you with it, let me know."

"I will, thank you." Haystack stepped inside, and headed towards the kitchen. "For right now though, let's just concentrate on lunch and that book."

The tolling of bells alerted Luna to the fact that it was noon. Sighing, she used a piece of fabric to mark her place in her book, A Summation of the Griffin Wars, and stretched as she stood up. While she didn't mind her studies, some of the topics were actually quite fun to read about, she was starting to resent the sheer amount of history that had transpired while she had been banished to the moon for a millennium.

Smiling to Mrs. Hardback, the librarian of Canterlot Castle, Luna left the stacks of books and made her way to the royal dining hall. Noticing that she had arrived before her sister, she sat down and waited, not wanting to start lunch until Celestia was also present. It was hard, especially with the gurgling sounds her stomach was making (how could she get so hungry just by reading books? It didn't seem possible!), but lunch was one of the few times during the day when Luna got to spend some quality time with her sister. She wanted to stretch it out as much as she could.

Thankfully, Celestia arrived just a few moments later. Smiling at Luna, she took her seat across from her and motioned for the servants to bring them their midday meal. Over sandwiches and a small salad, the two sisters made small talk and discussed their plans for the rest of the day. Luna hoped to get through the rest of her book, while Celestia had an afternoon ahead of her filled with meetings and audiences.

Soon, too quickly for Luna's liking, they had finished their lunch and were nibbling on some sweet breads for dessert. "So," Celestia asked her, "I was thinking about your friends and the dinner coming up, and I was wondering, do they have any clothes that are appropriate for this kind of event?"

Luna considered the question as she slowly chewed her mouthful of dessert. "I'm not sure," she replied after swallowing. "I know Dewdrop has a dress that Rarity made, but I don't know if the others have anything. There really weren't any reasons to dress up while I was there, to be honest. If they do, they didn't talk about it."

Celestia smiled. "That's what I thought. Well then, don't you worry, I'll take care of that. It'll be entertaining to see how they react."

"What do you mean, entertaining?" Luna asked warily, not certain that she liked the undertones of her sister's statement.

"Well, consider this. What the worst thing that your friends could do at the beginning of the dinner?"

"Well, I'm assuming you mean reasonable actions, and not anything like one of them deciding to attack the other ponies," Luna said with a chuckle. Seeing her sister grin, Luna continued, "I would say letting the spectacle of it get to them would be a disaster. If doesn't matter how polite the other ponies are, if all my friends do is gawk and stare at everything and everypony, the first impression they would give the others would be hard for them to overcome."

Celestia nodded and smiled. "And on those same lines, showing up in an outfit that is clearly sub-par will do that too. So, I'll take care of both of those problems at the same time, and have myself some fun while I'm at it." She stood up, and made her way towards the door. "Besides," she said in a muted tone, "these dinners are almost all the same. This will be a nice little test run before some of the bigger events, like the Grand Galloping Gala in a couple of weeks, to see if my plans will work out like I think they will."

Luna watched her sister leave, stunned by the revelation. Her sister didn't like these dinners and events? She found them monotonous? And just what did she have planned for her friends? She trusted Celestia enough that she was sure her sister wasn't planning anything insulting or embarrassing, but she wished she had been more open with her. Did she really need to go to such lengths just have fun nowadays?

Thanking the servants for a wonderful meal, Luna got up and slowly made her way back towards the library. She had a feeling, with so many new things to consider, that she wouldn't be making much headway into the accounts of ancient battles this afternoon.

"Okay, my turn," said Haystack as he looked at the book of manners in front of him. "When is it permissible to put one's hooves on the table?"

"Only when you are passing a dish to another pony," replied Pine Needle. "I have to admit, these are all rather common sense rules. No eating with your mouth open, keeping your voice down, always saying please and thank you... I think mine biggest fear is forgetting something due to everything happening around us."

Haystack nodded. "Well, don't forget you have it a bit easier than me and Dewdrop. You don't have to worry about spreading your wings out in surprise or anger, or using your magic at the wrong time."

"I am quite surprised on how many rules there are about unicorn magic," Pine Needle said. "I guess it makes sense, because there are so many things that can be done with it and it seems that every unicorn has a spell or two that they have developed on their own. I don't know if I am more astonished by all the situations that are unique to magic, or the fact that the book seems to have an answer for all of them."

"Hmm, you may be on to something," Haystack said, and went to the back of the book and started looking through the index.

"I... what? You are making no sense, mine friend!"

"That thing that I've been working on since I came back from the library? You just made me realize that maybe there's something in here that could help me figure out what to do."

"Ah, yes," Pine Needle said dryly. "That thing which you continue to tease me with, yet never share. I don't suppose there is something in the book about doing that to your friends?"

Haystack sighed. "I'm sorry, I really am... and no, of course there isn't anything in here about catching someone in a lie. Just my luck."

"Oh? Just who did you catch in a lie?"

Muttering under his breath, Haystack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, look, I'll tell you, but please don't go spreading this around to anypony else, okay?"

"Of course!"

"It's just that, when I was talking to Spike at the library while I was checking out the book, he told me that the dinner we're going to sells out fast. But Princess Celestia told us that she hoped with Luna added to the guest list that the rest of the tickets would sell quickly." Haystack looked up at the ceiling. "It just doesn't add up to me."

"Well, did Spike say that it always sold out fast?"

"No, he didn't say always, just usually. But I still have a hard time believing that any event that has Princess Celestia as a guest would have a hard time getting ponies to line up to attend it."

Pine Needle paused and thought for a moment. "Well then," he said, "maybe it was just something she said to make us feel better about accepting her invitation to attend? Maybe she felt we might feel bad if we knew she was squeezing us into an already sold out event?"

"No, I thought of that," Haystack said while shaking his head. "I just can't see her going to such lengths for us. Or, rather, I don't think she would fabricate a story over something like that."

"I think you are putting too much thought into this, mine friend. Do you really think she has some sort of scheme that she is trying to hide from us?" Pine Needle started to gesture with his hooves. "Do you think she plans on using us attending a charity dinner to, I don't know, radically change the way that Equestria is governed, or use us as a cover to have some splinter group be removed from the picture?"

"It does sound rather silly, when you put it like that, doesn't it? I don't know though, I just have this feeling that there is more to this," Haystack said, clearly frustrated.

"Well then, why don't you go discuss this with Dewdrop?" Pine Needle suggested. "If she can't convince you of things, one way or the other, I don't know who could."

"You know what? That's an excellent suggestion. Thank you, I think I will. Do you still need this book, or are you all right if I take it with me? I'd like to have some other reason to go see her than possibly being paranoid."

"Not that you need any specific reason to go see her," Pine Needle said, rolling his eyes. "But yes, take it with you. Do you mind if I go home?"

"Oh, not at all!" Haystack said. "We got everything done before lunch, there's no reason for you to stick around by yourself doing nothing." Haystack went to fetch his saddlebags. "Thank you again, not just for your work today, but also for your suggestion."

"Of course! See you tomorrow morning at the usual time?"

"Please. I want to go and inspect the south face of the hill and make sure everything is in good shape for the coming winter." Placing the book into his bags, he went and held the door open for Pine Needle. "Until tomorrow, my friend!"

Watching Pine Needle leave, Haystack looked things over one last time and, seeing nothing out of place, took to the skies. A short flight later he found himself outside the Ponyville Inn. Taking a deep breath to calm a sudden attack of butterflies in his stomach, he opened the door and entered.

"Greetings, and welcome to... oh! Hello, Haystack! What brings you here today?" Dewdrop said from behind the front counter.

"Do I need a reason to visit you?" Haystack replied nervously. "But um, yeah, I actually have a couple, heh." He walked up to the desk. "The first is I just got done reading a book on manners that I checked out from the library. I was wondering if you might want to look through it before I returned it?"

Dewdrop arched an eyebrow. "Are you saying that I need to work on my manners?" she asked. Seeing Haystack starting to stammer and sweat, she chuckled and waved a hoof. "I'm just kidding, dear. I actually would like a chance to skim through it, just to give myself a refresher on everything that I should know. Thank you. So, what's the other reason?" she asked as Haystack took the book from his bags and placed it on the desk in front of her.

"Well, um, I know you're on the clock still, but is there anyplace where we can talk privately?" he asked nervously. "I have something I want to talk to you about, and I'm not comfortable about other ponies overhearing what I have to say."

Dewdrop felt her cheeks start to heat up. "Uh, sure, we can use the office behind me, that way I can hear the bell ring if anypony comes in." Her horn glowed, and the door opened. She led the way into the room, and checking one last time to make sure that the lobby was empty, she closed the door. She looked at Haystack, her curiosity building as to what he was going to say. It was rare for the pegasus farmer to come visit her at work, so she figured it was something important.

Trying to figure out where to start, Haystack looked around uncomfortably for a moment before sighing. "Look, I don't know if I'm being an idiot or what, but I think something is going on with us being invited to this charity dinner."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Dewdrop asked, intrigued by what Haystack said while also feeling oddly disappointed.

"Well, when I was checking out that book on manners this morning, Spike mentioned that this dinner usually sells out quickly. And yet, Celestia told us that she was hoping that Luna would help ticket sales."

"Hmm. So you're wondering why there is a contradiction between what Celestia told us and what Spike said?"

"Exactly!" Haystack said, relieved that Dewdrop had caught on to his worries. "Pine Needle thinks that she was just trying to make us more comfortable in accepting the offer, so we wouldn't feel like we were being an imposition, but I've just got this nagging feeling that there is more to this than just that."

Dewdrop paced around the office as she considered his words. "Sorry dear, but I think I'm going to side with Pine Needle on this. I can't really come up with any other good reasons why Celestia would say that, other than this being the rare year where tickets for the dinner didn't sell quickly. Like they say, the simplest answer is usually the correct one."

Haystack nodded slowly. "You're probably right. Sorry for troubling you over something like this."

"No need to apologize! I'm just glad you to see you during the day for a change." She smiled at the pegasus. "Normally, the only times we cross paths are after work or on our trips to visit Luna. And thank you again for bringing that book. I'll make sure to get it back to you in the next couple of days, so you can do a final read through of your own before the dinner."

"Thank you. Well, that's all I came here for, and I don't want to get you in trouble here at work, so I guess I'll be heading home then?"

Dewdrop opened the office door. "Sounds good. Are we all still on for getting together for dinner tomorrow night? I know Feather Down is looking forward to it."

Haystack grinned. "She likes any chance to be the servee instead of the server. And yes, both Pine Needle and I will be there. We wouldn't miss it. All right then, until later!" He waved and left the inn.

The rest of the week flew by for Luna in a rush. Between her studies and helping out her sister when and where she could, the day when her friends came to visit, as well as of the dinner, almost caught her by surprise. At Celestia's insistence, she only wore her royal regalia; her crown, necklace, and shoes. "Trust me," her sister had told her that morning, "we don't need to do anything else to be impressive in their eyes. They admire us for who and what we are; there's no need for us to rub it in their noses by dressing up extravagantly for something like this."

And so, Luna anxiously waited for the chariots carrying her friends to arrive. She wasn't worried about them being late; after all, it was only mid morning, and the dinner was still many hours away. No, what had her concerned was her sister. Celestia's comments from several days ago still puzzled her, and even with all the thought she had put into them, she was still unable to figure out what, if anything, she could do for her.

Finally, the chariots from Ponyville made their approach and landed in their usual clearing. She trotted over and hugged her friends, making sure not to disturb the saddlebags they wore. "It's so good to see you all again! Are you ready for tonight?"

"I think so," said Dewdrop. "We brought our best clothes," she said as she nodded her head towards her saddlebags, "and we all spent some time brushing up on our manners so we don't look or act like the small town ponies that we really are. We'll do our best not to embarrass us or you," she said with a smile.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine, all of you. C'mon, you can put your things in my room until we need them later in the afternoon." Luna started to walk towards the castle, and her friends followed after her. "So, do any of you have any questions about what we'll be doing tonight?"

"I do, actually," Feather Down said. "Are we going to be eating with you, or at own separate table, or with other ponies, or... what?"

"I believe the setup consists of several long tables, each hosting several dozen ponies at each, banquet style. We'll be close to each other, but there will be some guests between you and me, although I think that we should be able to see and speak to each other if we need to." Luna held open the door for her friends. "It's after we eat that we should have time to be together, although I'm sure I'll have a lot of other ponies coming up to talk to me. I certainly won't be offended if you want to go and mingle some yourselves."

"I'll see how well I do during the first part, before making any predictions about the rest," Pine Needle said as the group worked its way through the castle hallways. "I hate to say this, but I'm feeling very nervous."

"Oh? About what part of it?" Luna asked.

"Every part, to be honest. Am I going to forget something simple, like how to properly talk to somepony? What if I spill something during the dinner? And the clothes I have, while they fit, they aren't exactly what you would call current. I think the last time I wore them was back when I still lived in Stalliongrad."

"Oh, I've gone over that with you a couple of times already," Feather Down said. "That's a classic sports coat you have there, those don't go out of style. You'll be fine, trust me."

Luna was relieved to hear Feather Down reply. While she figured that her sister had some sort of plan to help her friends out if needed, she was still unable to guess at what it might be. She didn't want to have to go out of her way and try to hide what Celestia might be planning either, so she kept quiet as her friends talked about what they had brought with them for the dinner.

They arrived at her bedroom, and she pointed to a corner. "Go ahead and put your things there for now, they'll be safe." She watched as her friends went and placed their bags where she had indicated, and was surprised when she saw that Feather Down was standing as still as a statue outside the door to her bedroom. "Umm, Feather Down, are you all right?"

"Yeah," she said in a strained voice. "Or, rather, I will be. Just give me a moment. I have to fight the urge to go jump on Ricardo."

"Ricardo? Who is..." Luna sighed, resisting the urge to put a hoof to her forehead. "You named my bed, didn't you."

"Please! You can't tell Phillipe about this! I don't want him to think I'm cheating on him!"

"And Phillipe is?"

"My bed back home!" Feather Down wailed. "I don't have the heart to tell him that I found other beds as comfortable as he is, let alone better!"

"Oh, for goodness sakes," Dewdrop muttered as she stomped over and made a point of grabbing her roommate's saddlebags with her teeth and putting them into the bedroom for her. "I'm going to make you retrieve them yourself, I hope you realize," she said crossly.

"You're such a great friend!" Feather Down said as she gave Dewdrop a big hug, to the amusement of the other ponies.

"Yes, yes, I know." Dewdrop returned the hug and turned to Luna. "So, what's the plan, before we have to get all dressed up later on?"

Luna smiled. "I was hoping to introduce you to one of my friends here in the castle. She's the librarian, and her name is Mrs. Hardback..."

The day passed by uneventfully, and they were back in Luna's bedroom, where she and Dewdrop helped the others get dressed with their magic. Both Pine Needle and Haystack had simple black sports coats with bow ties, and Dewdrop was wearing her dress that Rarity had given her several weeks ago. Feather Down wore a basic light blue dress that was plain but wasn't unattractive. 'They won't be the talk of the event for how nice their outfits are,' Luna thought, 'but they shouldn't be openly mocked either. I'm glad.'

Everyone was surprised when there was a knock on the bedroom door. "I wonder who that is?" Luna said as she went to open it. Her stomach twisted into a knot when she saw her sister standing on the other side. "Celestia! Come on in! What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to make sure everypony was ready for tonight, that's all," she said in a voice that sounded a bit too happy for Luna's comfort. "Come now, there's no need for you ponies to bow to me at a time like this, I just came to see... oh," Celestia's voice changed from one of joy to dismay in an instant. "Oh dear, no, that won't do at all."

Seeing that her friends were too stunned to make any sort of response, Luna asked, "What do you mean, sister? What won't do?" She found it hard not to scream in frustration. Whatever it was that Celestia had prepared, she was certain that she was playing right into her sister's plan, even though she had no clue what would happen next.

Instead of answering, Celestia walked back to the door and stuck her head into the hallway. "Cummerbund! Chemise! Get in here! It's just as I feared!" Two ponies galloped into the room; one was a blue unicorn stallion with a darker blue mane and a cutie mark of a red sash on his flank, while the other was a yellow earth pony mare with a silver and white mane whose cutie mark was a white shirt.

"How can we be of service, your Highness?" the mare asked in an exaggerated accent that Luna couldn't quite place. She looked at Luna's friends and gasped. "Oh my! Yes, I understand! Cummerbund! Go get the racks, I shall makes plans on what to do until you return!"

Luna fought the urge to groan out loud, and she edged closer to her sister. "You're going to play dress up using my friends, aren't you?" she asked quietly out of the corner of her mouth.

"Now now, while I wouldn't put it in such a crude manner, I guess that is essentially what I'm going to do," she replied.

"You know, you could have just told them that you would have provided something for them to wear when they got here. They wouldn't have minded at all, and it would have saved them the hassle of bringing their own outfits. And did you really have to go to these extremes?" Luna asked, her frustration showing in her voice.

Celestia started to answer, but paused when half a dozen other ponies came into the room, bringing with them several racks of outfits. After the hubbub had died down some, and Luna's friends found themselves being examined and prodded, she turned and softly replied to Luna, "Remember what I said at lunch a while back? This isn't just about getting them to look nice. It's also to get them past that first state of shock, to help get them acclimated to the amount of attention that they'll receive for being friends of yours." She smiled, and with a wink said, "Also, this way I get to have some fun too. I don't get to do that as often as I like, you know."

Luna looked at her friends. Feather Down seemed to be enjoying having other ponies offer up dresses for her to try on, and Haystack looked to be holding up too, putting up what Luna thought was a stoic front. Pine Needle however had been backed into a corner by unicorn mare twins, each magically carrying an outfit for him to try on, and Dewdrop looked like she was ready to come to blows with Cummerbund. Luna started to step towards Dewdrop to help her out when Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. "Please, sister," Celestia said, "let me handle this."

The white alicorn walked over to the two unicorns and asked, "Is there something I can do to help?" she asked.

"There most certainly is!" Dewdrop exclaimed. "I don't mind if this colt doesn't like my choice of clothing, but to call this gift from Rarity a complete disaster is going way too far, and I won't put up with it!"

"Now, now," Celestia chuckled, "maybe his choice of words were a bit strong, but he does have a point. That dress of yours is, to be blunt, inappropriate for the event ahead of us."

"But, but..." Dewdrop stammered, unsure of what to say.

"It is a nice dress," the alicorn continued, "but it's the kind of outfit that would be worn by a servant, or a maid. It isn't what one would wear to a formal event, unless they were one of the ponies helping with the dinner or cleaning up afterwards." Seeing Dewdrop slowly nod in comprehension, she said, "Now, why don't you let Cummerbund here help you get into something that won't have you mistaken for being one of the servants, and I'll go help your stallion friend over in the corner who looks like he's about to have a nervous breakdown."

The unicorn mare looked in the direction Celestia was referring to. "Pine Needle? Oh, oh my, yes, please do." Dewdrop turned to Cummerbund and sighed. "I'm sorry for my earlier outburst. It's just that this is all happening so fast!"

Leaving the two unicorns behind, Celestia headed over to Pine Needle. "Oh dear," she said as the earth pony seemed to be ready to bolt at the first open route in front of him. "What seems to be the problem? I don't think I can recall the last time I saw a stallion be so afraid of two lovely mares wanting to help him out!"

Pine Needle blushed at the giggling coming from the twins. "I, I am simply shocked by how insistent they are! I am not being given a chance to breathe, let alone time to decide if I think what they are offering for me to wear is any better than what I currently have on!" he said, trying to hide his nervousness behind a facade of bluster.

Celestia studied his outfit for a moment, while the twins stepped back a pace to give the princess room. "Hmm, if I'm any judge, I'd say what you're wearing is several years old at the least. No reason for you to wear something like that when you have access to the most up to date fashions. Also, it seems to be very reminiscent of what is worn in the northern cities, such as Trotingham and Stalliongrad. In other words, a little too heavy to be worn in a room with a couple hundred other ponies. You'll be drowning in your own perspiration before we finish the main course!" She motioned to the selections the unicorns had brought with them. "If I can get these ladies to promise to not be so... forceful in their efforts, would you be willing to try these on, and see how they fit?"

"Well, when you put it that way, yes I can, your Highness," Pine Needle said grudgingly, trying to ignore the laughter coming from the two mares.

"Thank you very much," Celestia said with a smile. She left them and walked back over to Luna.

"For the record," Luna said quietly when Celestia was standing next to her again, "I'm still upset about all of this. I understand your reasoning behind most of it, but..." she trailed off, shaking her head at the scene in front of her. "I don't know, it just feels over the top to me." She was surprised when her sister bent down and nuzzled her.

"Good," Celestia said, her voice soft and proud. "I'm glad you care this much about your friends. And I'm even happier that you're willing to tell me when you aren't happy. I think that was one of the biggest problems we had in the past, both the recent and the distant. We weren't able to tell each other when we were upset by the other's actions, and that's what led to us going separate ways. Please, promise me that you won't ever hold anything back, okay?"

Luna stood in shock, surprised by Celestia's words. "Of course, sister! And the same for you too, please! I don't want you to think you have to hide stuff from me either!"

Celestia smiled. "Thank you. And now," she said as she straightened up again, "I have to go on ahead to the school so I can be there to greet the guests as they arrive. I'll be looking forward to seeing what your friends end up wearing, so please don't keep me waiting too long, okay?" She walked towards the door, and turned around before leaving. "Oh, and tell them that they can keep whatever they decide on, my treat for putting up with this."

Luna nodded, surprised by her sister's generosity. She looked again at the clothing being offered up to her friends. They were made of quality materials, and looked to be on the cutting edge of fashion. She figured that each outfit must cost at least several hundred bits, and would be good to wear for the entire winter without looking out of date. Turning back to Celestia, she said, "Thank you."

With one last dip of her head, her sister left the room, leaving Luna to stand back and watch as her friends were asked to try on outfit after outfit in rapid succession.

New -- Chapter 5

"Hello there Sunny Day, how are you doing?" Celestia asked the orange unicorn that had just entered the school. The princess had arrived around fifteen minutes ago, and had been welcoming guests as they showed up ever since. It was a point of personal pride for her to be able to greet each attendee by name, without them offering it to her first.

While it came across as an amazing feat of memory to the guests, she would admit that the task wasn't as difficult as it seemed. For starters, the number of ponies attending the event was only a couple hundred. In addition to that, many of the guests attended year after year, so the number of new names to recall was small, only a few dozen at most. Toss in a millennium of memory training, and pulling up the identity of the visitors as they arrived was quite easy.

Hearing the door open, she turned to see who the latest ponies to arrive were. She smiled when she saw that it was Luna and her friends. "Greetings, sister!" she called out. "And, oh my! Look at you four, I hardly recognize you."

Feather Down led Luna's friends into the building. She was wearing a yellow dress accentuated by narrow white stripes and trim. Her mane was also adorned by several white bows. Behind her, Dewdrop and Haystack walked side by side. Haystack wore a simple yet classy white collar with black lapels around his neck. A black bow tie covered where they buttoned up on the front, giving him a professional look. Dewdrop was wearing a red dress that had yellow dots along its edges. She also wore blue earrings that matched her water droplet cutie mark. Celestia smiled, glad that she had thought to include specialized jewelry for the mares in her plans.

At the rear of the group was Pine Needle, still looking uncomfortable, although not as bad as Celestia remembered him looking back in Luna's bedroom a short while ago. He was wearing a black dress jacket with golden buttons, with a white shirt and a black bow tie to complete the ensemble. Luna led them all up to her, dressed up in her princess regalia. Celestia was glad to see her sister looking so confident and happy.

"Hello, Celestia," Luna replied when she was next to her. "Is there anything that we can do to help?"

"We still have some time before we need to get everypony in their seats for the dinner," Celestia replied, "and ponies will be arriving up until then. I would appreciate it if you stood here next to me and helped greet the guests as they arrived." She turned to Luna's friends. "I would suggest that the four of you take this time to wander about. Get to know the building, find out where you've been assigned to sit for the meal, and mingle with some of the other guests if you feel up to it."

"Thank you," replied Dewdrop, "we'll do just that. And thank you again for the invitations for tonight's event, and for these wonderful outfits."

"I'm just glad that you like them. Oops, here come some more guests now. Hopefully we'll get the chance to talk later tonight." Celestia turned her attention to a pair of pegasi walking up to her. "Greetings, Mr. and Mrs. Breeze. Has your day been enjoyable so far?"

Waving goodbye to Luna, the quartet wandered deeper into the building together. "So, anything that anypony wants to do in particular?" asked Feather Down.

"Well," said Dewdrop, "I wanted to take a look around the place. While I would have never been able to pass the entrance exams for a place like this, I'd like to at least see what I missed out on."

"That sounds good to me," replied Feather Down. "Why don't me and Pine Needle go find where we're sitting for the meal, and then we'll catch up to you two?' Without waiting for a reply, she pushed a surprised Pine Needle down the main hall towards a large room, where several long tables could be seen through a set of open double doors.

Haystack blinked and softly said, "Sure, I'd like to do that, thank you for asking me." Shaking his head slightly, he turned to Dewdrop. "Well then, where to first?"

Dewdrop chuckled. "You know, you don't have to come with me if you don't want to," she said.

"I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I went off on my own. Besides," he added, "I'm not complaining about the decision, just the manner in how it was made."

"I know, dear," Dewdrop smiled, and then motioned towards an open room off to one side. "Let's go take a look in there."

The two found themselves in a classroom. One wall was dominated by a large chalkboard, covered in hastily scrawled notes and diagrams. The center of the room was empty, and the outer areas were filled with desks sized for fillies and colts. In one corner was a larger desk, with shelves on the walls behind it filled with books and teaching aids.

"It reminds me some of the school I went to when I was younger," commented Haystack. "Of course, this place is bigger, and much more up to date than the one room building I attended as a colt."

Dewdrop nodded, and walked over to inspect the books behind the teacher's desk. "Same for me, although it looks like they also study more advanced subjects than me and Feather Down did when we were in school. That's to be expected, I guess, considering the nature of this place."

She turned and looked straight at Haystack. "While I have the chance to do so privately, I need to apologize. You were right, Princess Celestia was up to something. Mind you, I don't think we could have done anything about what happened back there in Luna's bedroom, but I'd like to think I would have handled things better if I had taken what you said to heart."

Haystack shook his head. "I don't know if it would have helped at all. I was just as caught up in all of it as you were, it happened so fast. One moment Princess Celestia was knocking on the door, and the next we were surrounded by her helpers, trying on outfit after outfit." He frowned. "Luna didn't seem too happy with all that happened either, from what I could see."

"You saw more than I did then," Dewdrop said, also frowning. "I'm sure Princess Celestia did it for good reasons, but I can't figure out why she did things the way she did."

"Me either," Haystack sighed. "It just makes me wonder though, how often does Luna have to put up with stuff like that? I want to ask her, but..."

Dewdrop walked up to him and gently nudged him. "I know. Even though we're friends of Luna, it doesn't feel right bringing up stuff about the two of them. They're princesses, and we're just regular ponies from Ponyville." She gave Haystack a small, sad smile. "After all she's done for us the last few weeks, we aren't being very good friends in return, are we?"

"I'm sure there's something we can do. I just need to think on it is all." Haystack's voice and face took on a determined edge. "Just give me some time, okay?"

"Of course," Dewdrop said while nodding in agreement. "And I'll be thinking on it too. It's not like making beds and cleaning rooms takes up all my attention, after all."

"There you two are!" Feather Down said as she entered the room, followed closely by Pine Needle. "We've got around five minutes before they'll let us sit down at the tables, and it'll be another ten to fifteen after that before they start serving." She looked around the classroom. "Huh. Interesting place. I'm not sure if I agree with the idea to put all the students on the edges of the room though. I would think it would make it harder to teach them all."

"Maybe they need the open space so they can practice their magic without any risk of hurting anypony else?" Pine Needle suggested. "After all, this isn't your average school."

"Hmm, that's a good point." Feather Down looked at Dewdrop. "So, see everything you wanted to in here?"

Dewdrop gave a final look a round the classroom. "I think so. It's not as different as I thought it might be. I suppose it's more how and what is taught, and not the classroom itself." She smiled, and then headed towards the door. "Well, shall we make our way towards the dining area then? No need to rush, but I don't want to make us, or Luna, look bad by showing up late."

Luna took her seat, which was positioned at the head of one of the three tables set out for the event. The one in the middle had her sister at the place of honor, and the one on the other side of Celestia's featured the Headmaster of the school. Using the school's bells, they had called everypony into the dining area. There was a short wait as the guests milled about, finding their seats and greeting others. Eventually, everypony was situated and the servers started placing salads in front of all the guests.

A third of the way down the table she saw her friends, who seemed to be getting along well enough. She caught Feather Down looking at her and flashed her a quick smile, satisfied when she received one in return. She was too far away to talk to them during the meal, but just being able to see them made her feel more at ease.

She nodded at the ponies who took the seats closest to her. This was it, she realized. Since returning from her exile, this was the first social event where she was, for all intents and purposes, on her own. Her sister wasn't there to give her support, nor were her friends able to lend a helping hoof. Even though this was just a formal dinner, she still found herself a bit worried about how she would be received. Celestia had said that this was an accommodating group, but that was in reference to her friends; would they extend the same kind of hospitality to her, considering her past? So far things had been okay. Of course, she hadn't expected anything else while she had been standing next to her sister. But now, even though Celestia was just a hop, skip, and a jump away, she was as alone as a pony could be in such a crowded room.

Taking a steadying breath, she turned to the pony to her left, an older grey unicorn stallion who sported a top hat and was wearing a monocle that was attached to his dress jacket by a golden chain. "Greetings," she said, "and thank you for attending today's dinner, good sir."

"The pleasure is all mine, your Highness!" the stallion replied with laughter in his deep, booming voice. "I'm always glad to support events like these, and to have a chance to talk to one of the rulers of the realm in the process? Truly, I am a lucky pony. But where are my manners? My name is Charger, and this here is my lovely wife Cloudsong," he said, motioning at the pale yellow pegasus mare who was seated next to him.

Cloudsong nodded demurely at Luna. "It's an honor to meet you, your Highness," she replied in a soft voice.

"I'm glad to make your acquaintance," Luna replied. She smiled at the couple, and then turned her attention to her right. "Hello," she said to a white earth pony mare. "Welcome to tonight's dinner."

"Thank you, your Highness," she replied. "My name is Snowflake, and I hope you'll excuse me for being a bit nervous tonight," she said, blushing slightly as she spoke. "Even though I've lived my whole life in Canterlot, this is the first time I've ever been in the same room with any member of the royalty, let alone sitting next to a princess. This has to be one of the most exciting days of my life!"

Luna blinked, and fought back an unexpected chuckle. She had been so worried about how things might go wrong, so focused on trying to calm herself, that she hadn't even considered that others might be nervous around her. With a friendly smile, she gently placed a hoof onto Snowflake's shoulder. "Only if you excuse any mistakes I make myself. It's been a long time since I've been a part of an event like this, so I'm a little bit nervous too."

Snowflake nodded and smiled back at Luna. The servers chose that moment to place the salads in front of them, and the conversation quieted down as they focused on their food. Luna glanced down the table at her friends again, hoping that they were also having good luck with the ponies they were seated next to.

Pine Needle slowly leaned forward and carefully took another bite of his salad. Across the table from him, Feather Down was happily chatting away with the pony next to her, and to his right was Dewdrop, who had Haystack sitting opposite of her. To his relief, nopony had gone out of their way to talk to him yet, and so he focused on doing his best to eat his meal without getting anything on his new clothes or making any embarrassing mistakes.

He swallowed and started to reach for another leaf of lettuce when the pony to his left, an elderly earth pony mare with a light blue coat and a yellow mane, turned to him. "Hello there, I don't believe I've made your acquaintance yet. My name is Marigold," she said while extending a hoof towards him.

Pine Needle stared at the proffered hoof, trying to recall what he was supposed to do with it. Was he supposed to lift it up and place his lips against it? No, that was only for royalty, but a hoof shake seemed a bit out of place for an event like this. Not knowing if he was about to be rude, but certain that ignoring the lady's gesture would be the worst thing he could do, he reached up and gently shook her hoof with his. "And mine is Pine Needle. A pleasure to meet you," he replied, hoping that his nervousness wasn't audible in his speech.

"Oh my, such a wonderful accent!" she said. "You must be from Stalliongrad?"

"Yes, I was born and raised there," he answered, surprised and a little pleased by her knowledge. "Not many ponies can so quickly place it, I am impressed."

"Well, to be honest, I've been there several times myself on business trips. I've even made some friends who live there, so I... oh! Did you say your name was Pine Needle?" she asked.

"Ah, yes I did," he said, not certain if he liked where things were heading.

"Would you happen to be related to the mayor, Pine Cone?"

No, he certainly didn't like the current line of questioning at all. "Yes, he is my grandfather, on my mother's side," he replied flatly.

"Oh, how wonderful! And here you are in Canterlot! Are you looking to follow in his tracks and pursue a career in government?"

Pine Needle politely chuckled, while cringing at the fact that everypony around them, including his friends, were now looking at him with interest. "Oh, goodness no. I'm only here with some friends, I actually live in Ponyville. Stalliongrad was getting a bit too cramped for me, I guess you could say. So I left home, looking for someplace else to live. I prefer to work with plants more than ponies, to tell the truth."

"My goodness, from Stalliongrad to Ponyville? That must have been quite the change of pace for you."

"Indeed," he said, nodding in agreement. "But it is one that I like. No crowds to fight in the marketplace, ponies are much more friendly here... And of course, the warmer climate is much more comfortable. I just wish mine body would get the hint and stop trying to grow such a thick winter coat," he said, glancing at his foreleg ruefully.

Marigold laughed. "Oh, I can only imagine. Well, it was nice to meet you, Pine Needle."

"And I am glad to have met you too, Marigold," he replied. He watched in relief as she turned her attention back to her meal. He started to do the same, but held up when he saw Feather Down staring at him intently. "Yes?" he asked his friend.

"How come you never told us about your grandfather being some sort of big shot government official?" she quietly asked.

Pine Needle quickly glanced around. Everypony else had shifted their attention away from him. "Look," he said in a whisper, "I'll tell you later, I promise. Just not here and now, okay?"

Feather Down's eyes narrowed. "Okay. When the dinner is done, and we get to the mingling part, we're going to go find someplace private, and you're going to tell me. Although I can't figure out why you're acting so secretive about it."

Pine Needle grimaced. Instead of replying however, he simply took another bite out of his salad, leaving his earth pony friend to think things over for a little while longer.

Luna was surprised by how fast the meal passed by. She barely found time to to eat her food with all the conversations that swirled around her; it seemed that every time one pony was done talking to her, another would jump right in with something to say. While she feared she would have to ask the cooks back at the palace to make her a night time snack when she returned, she certainly wasn't upset by how things had turned out.

Her current conversation with Snowflake was brought to a halt when the caterers came and took away their dessert plates. She was about to comment to Snowflake on how tasty the peach cobbler had been when the tinkling of a bell cut through the hum of conversation that permeated the room and slowly brought the dining hall to a state of silence. Luna looked over to see her sister using her magic to ring the bell and call everypony's attention to her.

Seeing that she had all eyes on her, Celestia smiled warmly. "Thank you everypony for attending tonight's event. Before I begin with what I have to say, let's all give a round of thanks to the fine ponies who put this dinner together, and served us such a wonderful meal." She led the round of applause, and then patiently waited for things to quiet back down again.

"Thanks to all of you attending tonight's dinner, we've raised enough bits for my school to be able to keep offering the same number of scholarships for financially disadvantaged families as we have for the past decade." Celestia paused as another round of applause broke out in the room.

Luna watched her sister intently as she continued to give her prepared speech. Now that she knew what she was looking for, she could spot the signs. Eyes that stared straight ahead, instead of slowly moving about to encompass the whole room like the books she had read on public speaking suggested should be done. An almost imperceptible slouch in her posture. The ring of true excitement in her voice that she knew so well that was missing. Luna didn't want to believe it, but she knew she couldn't ignore what her senses told her.

Celestia was bored of these events, and if Luna's guess was correct, her sister would rather be back home with a book, curled up in front of the fireplace reading instead of doing what she was at the moment. She turned and looked at the crowd. Everypony's eyes were centered on Celestia, and it seemed that none of them had any idea what was going on. She was the only one, it seemed, who saw through her sister's mask.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard her sister say, "...and to my left, as I'm sure you've all noticed by now, is my sister, Princess Luna!" Suddenly finding herself the center of attention, she smiled and waved, doing her best to not be overwhelmed by the applause and all the happy faces turned towards her. After a few seconds, and the applause started to fade, Celestia asked her, "Is there anything you would like to say?"

Luna blinked in surprise. This certainly wasn't anything they had talked about previously! Was this more of her sister having fun? Looking at her, she decided that no, this was merely a spur of the moment, friendly gesture. Simply an opportunity for her to take, if she wanted, to talk to the assembled ponies. Deciding that she did want to speak, she nodded her thanks, turned, and looked at the crowd in front of her.

"Thank you, everypony. I'll admit, when my sister asked me if I wanted to attend this dinner, I was hesitant. It's been a long time since I've attended an event like this. Not many chances for gatherings like this on the- at the school I have been attending the past couple of months." She did her best to hide a wince; she had almost blown it by reminding them all of her lengthy banishment on the moon. Fortunately, she had remembered the cover story Celestia had told her she had used to explain her absence while she had been in Ponyville, disguised as Moonbeam.

"However, Celestia assured me that I wouldn't find a more accommodating group of ponies, and was she ever right! Since I've arrived, you have all done nothing but offer friendly greetings and kind words. So, thank you for being so willing to help out my sister's school, and thank you one and all for the amazing time I've had tonight, Please feel free to come up and chat with me afterwards, I would love to make your acquaintance if I haven't done so yet."

She waved to the crowd as applause washed over her, and then turned and smiled at her sister, indicating that she was done speaking. Celestia smiled back at her, and after the crowd had once again quieted down, resumed her speech. Looking down the length of her table, Luna saw her friends all looking at her proudly. She was glad that they seemed to be enjoying themselves too, and couldn't wait to get a chance to talk to them later, although she feared with the invitation that she had just given out that wouldn't be happening until after they had returned to the castle after the dinner.

As soon as Celestia had finished her speech and invited everypony present to take the chance to mingle, Feather Down grabbed Pine Needle and led him through the halls of the school. The first rooms they passed were already filled with other groups of ponies with goals similar to hers; finding a private place to have a conversation, away from the hundreds of other ponies in the vicinity. After rounding a corner in the hallway, she found a small walk-in closet, and motioned for Pine Needle to enter.

"I think you are overreacting," Pine Needle said once Feather Down had followed him into the tiny enclosure. "I don't see what you are so upset about."

"I'm not really upset," Feather Down replied. "I'm just shocked, I suppose. Not only because of what I heard, but also after I thought about it, I realized I had never thought to ask you about your life in Stalliongrad before."

Pine Needle shrugged. "I never thought it was that important. It's all years in the past and hundred of miles away from where we are now. For me to bring up the fact that mine grandfather is a mayor, without any real reason to do so, would just be bragging."

"But surely you're proud of that, right?" Seeing an uncomfortable look cross her friend's face, she sighed. "I know I would be if someone in my family did something grand, or accomplished something like that. There's no need to be that self conscious!"

"Well, like you said, nopony ever asked me, and it really isn't all that important." He looked over Feather Down's shoulder to the hallway behind her. "Are we done? I'd really like to go see how Luna is doing. When we left, she looked like she was about to get mobbed by half the ponies in attendance."

"No, we're not done!" Feather Down said, stomping a hoof for emphasis. "Look, maybe this isn't the best time, place, or method for this, but I'm honestly intrigued by what life must have been like for you growing up! Luna is going to busy for another hour at least, so that leaves us plenty of time to talk, especially since this is fresh in my mind."

"But Haystack and Dewdrop-"

"Will be fine," interrupted Feather Down. "So, you share part of your name with your grandfather. Is that part of why you're attracted to Applejack, similar family name traditions?"

"While we may share several things in common, they aren't the reason why I love her," Pine Needle huffed. "But yes, my family does have a, as you say, naming tradition. Off the top of my head, I can think of Pine Bough, Pine Wreath, Evergreen, Douglas Fir, Foxtail Pine, and many others too. Our family is old, and takes pride in that."

"You don't," commented Feather Down. "Now that I think about it, I can't remember you ever bringing up your family before. You hardly even mention Stalliongrad either, for that matter."

"No need to," he replied while looking at the floor at his hooves. "It was where I grew up, different than Ponyville, but not necessarily better or worse. It was crowded though, a lot of ponies living together in one city due to all the nearby mountains. That's why I left."

Feather Down studied her friend's face. She slowly nodded, and backed out of the closet. "Fair enough. But seriously, if you ever feel the need to talk about the past with me or anypony else, don't be afraid." She smiled warmly at him. "We certainly won't think of you as a braggart if there's something that you want to share with us. There's no need to keep it all bottled up, okay?"

Pine Needle nodded as he stepped back into the hallway. "Thank you, I will keep that in mind." He looked up and down the hallway. "For now though, I would simply like to go back and make sure that Luna doesn't get overwhelmed."

"Says the pony who was the most nervous of us all just a few hours ago," Feather Down said with a chuckle. "All right, it's this way," she gestured as she turned, and led the way back to the dining hall.

As soon as Celestia had finished her speech, Luna had been swamped by other ponies coming up to her. While she was uncomfortable with the sheer number of them, all eagerly yet patiently waiting their turn to get to speak with her, she didn't feel panicked or afraid that something bad was about to happen. Soon, she found she was able to simply focus on the one in front of her and tune out the rest, and in doing so found herself much more comfortable with the situation.

Her only regret was not being able to spend any time with her friends. The only chance she got to see them was when Dewdrop had managed to work her way through the throng and finally get a chance to talk to her. It was a welcome, if short, reprieve from the steady flood of the same questions, asking how she was, what she had been up to, and if she was going to be at any other functions in the future. Sadly, the press of the other ponies kept their conversation to a minimum, and soon Luna was once again on her own.

After what felt like forever, but was likely only a couple of hours at most, she found herself suddenly free of having anypony right in front of her. Blinking, she scanned the room and saw that the servants had long ago cleared everything away. The only other ponies left in the room, besides the retreating forms of the happy couple she had just finished conversing with, were her friends and her sister. Walking over, she gave them a tired smile and said, "I don't think I've talked to so many different ponies before in my life!"

Celestia chuckled. "I think this was the first time in years where I haven't been the most sought after pony to talk to. You did well, sister. Thank you for the easy night."

Luna's stomach chose that moment to remind her that how empty it was. "With all the new faces so eager to talk to me, I'm afraid I didn't have much time to eat," she said, her cheeks red from embarrassment.

"Well then, we'll simply have to visit the kitchens when we get back home, won't we?" She turned to look at Luna's friends. "And I imagine you all have a lot of stuff to talk about."

"Do we ever!" exclaimed Feather Down. "Seeing the school, meeting other ponies, this wonderful dress, thank you again for it, Princess!" Seeing Celestia nod, she turned to Luna. "So, is this going to be a regular part of our visits? Attending dinners and dances?"

"I don't know," admitted Luna as the group started to move down the hallway towards the front doors. She looked up at her sister. "I know that a lot of these things happen during the fall and the winter, since the cold weather and the snow makes a lot of the outdoor activities unfavorable. So I would guess that we'll probably be attending more of them in the months to come?"

Celestia nodded. "If you want to. None of you will be forced to go to any that you don't want to, and I'm sure there will be times when you will want to do other things as well, which is perfectly fine." Her horn glowed briefly, and the doors opened, letting the cool night air wash over them as they stepped outside. "Still, I think it will be good for you to attend as many as you comfortably can, at least in the near future. It should only help overcome the rocky start you had when you first came back after the Summer Sun Celebration."

Luna nodded and looked up, taking in the star filled sky. She thought back to the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville, and how quickly things had changed for her since then. Like her sister had said, things hadn't gone that well for her to begin with. But after she had spent some time in Ponyville, her luck had been steadily improving. She didn't know if it was because she had a group of really good friends, or if it was because her link to Nightmare Moon had been destroyed, and the evil, jealous part of her was now banished to the moon again, but she was looking forward to what might happen next.

Perhaps all she had needed, she thought, was a new perspective on things.

Marigold entered her house, glad to be home after the lengthy dinner. It had dragged on for much longer than she had expected it to, mostly because of Luna choosing the event to be her first public appearance in Canterlot since returning home. Not that she begrudged the princess, goodness no. It's just that she had something she had been wanting to do for hours now, and to have left the dinner early would have been rude, to say the least.

Now that she was finally home, she could get to work. She trotted to the study of her house right away, not even bothering to take off her outfit despite the fact that it was a little bit uncomfortable around the neck. Pulling out a piece of stationary, and grabbing quill in mouth, she started to write with a speed and skill that spoke of many, many hours of practice.

Dear Pine Wreath,

I hope this letter finds you doing well. I hope you will forgive my sloppy writing, but I am so excited by what just happened at a dinner I just attended that I have to write it down as fast as I can, before I forget any details.

I remember, while I was up in Stalliongrad this past summer, hearing you talk about your family, and how you were hurt by the fact that your son moved away without telling you where he was going. Well, imagine my surprise when I found myself seated next to a young stallion who not only turned out to be from Stalliongrad, but had to have been your son! His name was Pine Needle, and he admitted to being Pine Cone's grandchild, so I can't really see him as being anypony but your prodigal colt. He told me that he is living in Ponyville, a small village that is a short ways from Canterlot.

I hope that this news will enable you and your family reunite. If there is anything that I can do to help you out, please don't hesitate to ask.

Your friend,

Marigold

Looking over her work, she nodded and smiled. It felt so good to be able to help out a friend, she thought, especially when the aid being provided was unasked for but would be welcomed. She carefully folded the letter up, put it into an envelope, and after addressing and affixing postage, she placed it in the mail slot to be picked up in the morning. Smiling, she headed upstairs, her good deed done, and got ready to go to bed.

There were times, Nightmare Moon realized, that having a superior intellect was a curse and not a blessing.

It had been only three weeks, not even a month let alone a thousand years, since she had been sent to the moon, and she was already going crazy from the boredom. At first, she had been willing to simply lie still and wait things out, secure in knowing that in the end she would once again have her chance. Her mind was restless though. At first, it had worked through her past failures, studying her mistakes and how she could avoid them the next time. Then she had thought about what she would do once she was once again free. Finally, all she could do was think about how long she still had to go.

At that point, she had simply raged. To be forced to spend so much time locked up! To know that the weak part of her was still free! Eventually her anger faded, and she had finally been able to simply zone out and let her thoughts wander aimlessly. But every time she thought she would be able to let time rush by in a thoughtless haze, the very act of realizing that she was about to reach the mental state she so desperately wanted snapped her out of it, sending her back to square one. With nothing else to do though, she kept on trying. She hoped that, if nothing else, she might accidentally stumble onto what she was hoping for through blind luck.

As she felt her thoughts starting to wander once again, she felt something else, something new. Somehow, she felt a faint pulsing of... power? Energy? Magic? She didn't know how to describe it, only that the sensation was different. The moment she tried to focus on it, however, she seemed to lose it.

Intrigued, she thought about what she had done, and what she had just experienced. She tried relaxing again, but it wasn't until she was almost to the point of complete distraction that she was able to sense it. This time, instead of lunging at it with all of her will, she slowly took her time to narrow her thoughts, to carefully bring her focus in on it. Finally, she had a fix on the source of what she was feeling, and she slowly stood up, letting the small layer of moon dust that had settled on her fall away.

She started walking. She could tell that what she was headed for was a long ways off, but she had time. Lots and lots of time. She wondered why she hadn't felt this before. Had being a part of Luna during her previous incarceration on the moon kept her from noticing this? Was this something she could only hone in on because she was no longer linked to her weaker half? She might not know the answers, but for the first time since being banished she was looking forward to what might happen next.

Perhaps all she had needed, she thought, was a new perspective on things.

Part 2: Crescent -- Chapter 1

Pine Needle gently placed his dirty breakfast plate into the kitchen sink to let it soak a bit before he got around to washing it. Looking out a window, he saw that the sun was already high in the sky; it had been very late when he and his friends had finally returned from Canterlot the night before. What had started out as small talk among the girls had turned into a lengthy discussion about fashion and what attending school had been like for them.

Before they knew it, Celestia was knocking on Luna's bedroom door- without the other ponies this time, thankfully- to inform them that, unless they planned on spending the night, they would have to leave soon to give the guards who would be pulling the chariots time to get home for bed themselves. Pine Needle was kind of glad that Feather Down had to work today, and that Dewdrop had her usual early shift at the inn. While he wouldn't have minded spending more time with his friends, he felt much more comfortable sleeping under his own roof.

The only downside was that a chariot ride through the night sky was even more unnerving to him than one during the day. At least when the sun was up, he could distract himself from how high up he was by looking at the distant mountains. In the dark, it had felt for all the world as if he was flying through the stars in the sky, with the ground so far below him that it might as well have not been there. He shuddered again at the thought. If only he was as fast as Feather Down, he would gladly spend the time and energy to gallop to and from Canterlot.

Instead, he had arrived back home strung out, and despite the how late it had been, it had taken him a couple of hours of simply lying down and staring intermittently at the ceiling and the back of his eyelids before he finally fell asleep. He was thankful that Haystack had told him that he wouldn't be needed until after lunch today. His friend had said that he had several chores to take care of in town during the morning, and Pine Needle suspected that Haystack had probably slept in too.

The soft sound of somepony knocking brought Pine Needle out of his reverie. "Coming!" he called out as he trotted to the front door of his house. Opening it, he saw a yellow pegasus mare with a pink mane standing next to a white rabbit. It only took him a second to recognize her from the recent advertisements he had seen for his favorite brand of carrot juice. "Fluttershy!" he cried out in surprise. "What brings you... to..."

He stood there blinking as Fluttershy disappeared from his doorstep, only to poke her head out cautiously from behind one of his pine trees a dozen paces away. The rabbit glared at him, shook his head, and then placed a paw in front of its mouth in a shushing motion. He then hopped over to the petrified pegasus, and after a few insistent tugs on her mane, was able to coax her back to Pine Needle's door.

"Sorry about that," she told him in a very soft voice. "It's just that I'm not very comfortable around loud noises, or ponies that I don't know that well, so, um," she trailed off, looking at the ground between them.

Pine Needle chuckled. "There is no need to apologize," he said in a much more subdued manner. "I am aware that sometimes I come across a bit too strongly, and I hope that you will forgive mine outburst?"

Fluttershy looked up from behind her mane and gave him a small smile. "Thank you. I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could ask a favor?"

"But of course. What can I do for you?" Pine Needle asked, curious what the shy pegasus wanted from him.

"Well, winter is coming up very soon, and I'm trying to find places for all the woodland creatures to spend the winter. Me and a few other ponies have been working hard, finding burrows and trees and dens that would be appropriate, but we're having a hard time finding enough." As she spoke, her voice gained volume and confidence as she warmed to the subject. "I noticed the other day as I passed by that you have some very nice pine trees here, and I was wondering if you would mind if I took a look at them, to see if any of them might be suitable for some squirrels to spend the winter in?"

"Be mine guest," he said, making a sweeping motion with a foreleg. He watched as Fluttershy nodded in thanks, turned, and started flying around the trees that surrounded his home. Pine Needle smiled, glad to know that all of the hard work he had put into growing the saplings that he had brought with him from Stalliongrad was being noticed by other ponies in town.

After a few minutes of watching Fluttershy carefully examine each tree, he turned his attention to the small rabbit that had remained standing next to him. "So, how long do you think she will take?" he asked to fill the silence, wondering if the animal could understand him. The rabbit turned from watching Fluttershy briefly to give him an annoyed look. It then shrugged its shoulders, and returned to watching the yellow pegasus. Pine Needle blinked, and wondered how something so small could carry around so much attitude.

A short while later, Fluttershy finished her searching and returned to where Pine Needle and Angel waited. "I'm sorry, but it looks like there is only one place suitable for a squirrel in your trees. I was expecting there to be a lot more knotholes then there were."

"Ah, I am actually surprised that there is even one, to be honest. Mine trees are actually quite young, I planted them when I first arrived from Stalliongrad. I brought them with me, so they are only a couple of years old," he explained.

Fluttershy looked at the trees and then back at him. "Really? Wow, they sure grew fast. Do all tress from Stalliongrad grow so quickly?"

"No, it's just that caring for them is mine special talent," he said, pointing to his pine branch cutie mark."

"Oh, how wonderful," she said, giving him a smile. "So, would it be okay if we had a squirrel spend the winter in your trees? They don't hibernate, but they aren't very active either, so it shouldn't be a hassle."

"I would be honored to have mine trees help in such a way. I am only sorry that there is only room for one."

"Oh no, there's no need to apologize," she said. "Also, would it be a problem if I kept your place in mind for the future in case I have trouble finding places for all of the animals for winter again?"

Pine Needle smiled. "But of course!" he exclaimed, happy to be able to help her out, only to feel like an idiot as his latest outburst sent the skittish mare back to hiding behind one of his pine trees again. He sighed, and hung his head in embarrassment. "Sorry!" he called out to her, trying to ignore the angry glare coming from the rabbit.

Luna wandered the halls of Canterlot Castle, searching for her sister. She was trying to decide where to go next, having already looked in the throne room and Celestia's private quarters. There were still a couple of hours until lunch, so she didn't think the dining area would be likely, and the only times she ever saw her sister enter the library was when Celestia was looking for her. She had even asked several of the castle staff if they had seen Celestia, but none could recall having spotted her recently.

She was just about to check outside in the gardens when she heard her name being called out. Turning, she saw a page galloping up from behind. She stood and waited for the messenger to catch his breath after he had come to a stop before her. "Your Highness," the earth pony said in between tired breaths, "Princess Celestia is looking for you, and would like to speak with you in the throne room."

Luna blinked in surprised, and after a moment chuckled. "I've just spent the last fifteen minutes looking for her, and I even checked the throne room first," she said in an amused voice. "Thank you for letting me know where she is. I shall head there right away." She gave the young stallion who had given her the news a quick look over. "Are you going to be okay? Is the matter that Celestia wants to talk to me about so important that you needed to run yourself ragged to find me?"

"No, ma'am," he said, seeming to be finally regaining his wind. "It's just that Celestia sent four of us out, and said whoever was the first to find you would get a bonus added onto their pay for the week."

"Well then, come along, and I'll make sure that you don't get cheated out of your reward." She started walking towards the throne room slowly at first, to make sure that the page had fully recovered. Seeing that he had, she then broke into a brisk trot, equally eager to not only end her search but to also find out why Celestia was looking for her. A couple of minutes of traveling through the hallways later, and they had arrived at the entrance to the throne room. After taking a few seconds to compose herself she nodded at the guards, who opened the double doors for her.

Celestia looked up from a scroll she was reading when she heard the sound of hooves walking across marble. "Sister! There you are! And good work Fleet Hoof, I had a feeling you would be the one to find her." The page bowed, and then stepped back to stand along the wall, ready to once again head out if asked to.

Luna gave her sister a rueful smile. "Did you know I've been looking for you too? I even checked here first, but you weren't around. Let me guess, you were out looking for me?"

Her sister chuckled as she walked over to her. "Correct. I checked your rooms, and then I looked in the gardens. After talking to Mrs. Hardback and learning that you hadn't been in the library at all today, I sent out the pages. So, what were you wanting to talk to me about?"

"The Grand Galloping Gala. It's this weekend, and I was hoping to be able to attend."

Celestia smile faded, and her face took on a serious look. "Interesting. I was looking for you to talk to you about the Grand Galloping Gala too, but for the opposite reason. I was hoping to suggest an alternative for you, instead of attending."

"An alternative?" Luna was shocked to hear her sister say such a thing. "But things went so well at the dinner last night! I know that the odds were tilted in my favor, but I thought my friends and I handled ourselves wonderfully! Do you think we're not ready to handle something as big as the Gala, or...?" she trailed off, not wanting to voice the possibility that she still might not be welcome at such a large gathering.

"I agree, you all were wonderful last night. And no, that isn't the reason why I don't want you to attend the Gala at all." Celestia looked at her sister straight in the eyes. "I don't want you to attend because, frankly, it would be a giant waste of time for you. An experience that you would find tepid at best, and mind numbingly boring at the worst."

"R-really?" Luna was shocked. She remembered her sister saying in the past that she wasn't too fond of these events, but to hear her state it so bluntly left her reeling.

Celestia nodded. "Do you know what I get to do for the entire night? I greet ponies. I stand at the top of the stairs, and they all line up so that they can spend ten seconds with me." She sighed, and shook her head. "The queue stretches out of the room at times, and after everypony has had their turn, things are wrapping up. I'd like to just drop that part of the event, but for many it's the only time they get to meet me, and they're all so happy to have the chance, I just know they would be heartbroken if I didn't do it.

"But I certainly won't subject you to that if I can help it. And rest assured, if you were to attend, that is what would be expected of you. If not standing next to me, then wherever you happened to be, just like after the dinner last night." Celestia gave Luna an appraising look. "Unless I'm wrong? Do you want to spend an entire night talking to ponies, one after another, with no time for anything else? No chance to grab a bite to eat, enjoy a song played by the band, or a brief moment to walk through the gardens by yourself to regain your composure?"

Luna took a moment to consider. In a way, she wanted to attend even more now. If what she had accomplished last night really had helped improve her image, then doing the same at the Gala would only help things out more. Still, last night had been tiring. She hadn't been able to get a proper meal, and by the end, she could feel herself getting worn out. If that was only a small dinner, how draining would attending the biggest social event of the year be?

She sighed, and looked at Celestia. "No, I guess you're right. If this was later in the season, I might be willing to trying it. But I don't think I would be up to it right now." Her head drooped. "And I was hoping to surprise my friends with tickets to it too."

Celestia chuckled. "Actually, I have an idea that would be an even bigger surprise for them. I think it would be a marvelous alternative to attending the Gala."

"Oh?" Luna asked, curious as to what her sister had in mind.

"How would you like to visit them in Ponyville that night instead, and treat them to something that hasn't happened for a thousand years?"

Luna blinked, trying to figure out what her sister was referring to, when it hit her. "You, you want me to raise the moon again?" Seeing Celestia nod, she smiled. "You finally got approval from the rest of the nobility?" she asked excitedly.

"Well, about that," her sister replied hesitantly, "no."

Luna took a step backwards, stunned by what Celestia was suggesting. Defy the nobility? Sure, they didn't have that much power, and Celestia was so loved by the populace that she could ignore the protocol that the situation called for. They could get away with it, but with the care she had taken to improve how others perceived her, did she really want to take such a risk?

She drew in a deep breath, and gathered her resolve. "Then no, I don't want to do it. Not if we can't do it the right way."

"We don't even have to tell them, you know," Celestia said slyly, walking up close to her. "After all, it isn't like I'll make a big deal about it. They'll see the sun set and the moon rise, just like they always have, and nopony will be the wiser that it was you, and not me, who raised the moon for once."

Luna openly gawked in disbelief at Celestia. She couldn't believe that her sister would be so willing to do something like this in such an underhanded manner. It went against everything she knew about her to such an astonishing degree that it seemed like a terrible joke. It felt like it was what Celestia had done to her friends with the clothing yesterday, but on a much grander scale and with consequences that she wasn't comfortable with.

She turned and looked outside. The sun was still climbing in the sky, steadily making its way toward noon. "Celestia," she said, quickly arranging her thoughts as she realized how to explain things properly. "You're the sun, not just in duty and responsibility, but in how people see you. Bright, beloved, and warm. Not only that, the sun is always full. Unlike the moon which waxes and wanes as time goes by, the sun is always at its fullest, just as you are at the height of power and recognition.

"And I am the moon. Again, not just in what my duties used to be, but in how I am perceived. And right now, I'm a new moon, in more ways than one. I'm newly returned from my exile. I'm still finding out how different things have become since I was gone. And like a moon that isn't visible, that's how I am to most ponies. Without any real duties other than trying to catch up to the present, I'm out of their sight, and thus out of their thoughts.

"And I don't want to be a new moon any more, Celestia! Even if all I do is grow to be the slimmest of slivers, the thinnest of crescent moons in the sky, I want to be able to at least have the chance to get there. Regaining my duty to raise and lower the moon the right way, even if we could do it without the consent of the nobility, would let me grow in everypony's mind." She paused to catch her breath, surprised at how easily the words had come once she had started talking.

"I was hoping you felt that way," Celestia said, her voice filled with relief and with a proud look on her face. "I thought you did, but until you hear somepony speak their mind, you can never be certain. Very well, I will call for an assembly the day after tomorrow, and we'll bring the matter up then. Will that be enough time for you to prepare your case to them?"

"Honestly? I could probably take a month and still not be ready," Luna admitted. "But I want this. I really want to do this, so yes." She looked up at her sister. "And I'll gladly take any assistance you can provide too."

"Of course," replied Celestia. "After all, they'll be questioning me too." She smiled warmly at her younger sister. "You won't be alone in this, remember that. Even though all the questions will be directed at you, in a sense I will be the one they are truly questioning. Am I being deceived? Am I showing you too much favor, simply because you are my sister? Do I really have the best interests of the kingdom in mind?"

"Who would think that you didn't?" asked Luna. "After all these years, and with how far things have come over the centuries? If they could see what it was like in the early days, they-"

"That's just it," Celestia said, interrupting her younger sister. "They don't have the luxury of being immortal like us. They lack the long view. Even when we have a down year, where the harvest isn't as productive, or when some unforeseen illness sweeps the land, we know that it is only a temporary thing. That even at its worst things are still better than they were in the distant past, when ponies would have died from starvation instead of simply growing lean from smaller meals, or perished in the hundreds instead of just suffering for a few weeks due to our advanced medicine.

"Mind you, I don't hold that against them. With how short their lives are, compared to ours? They're like flowers, possessing a limited time to grow, to bloom, and to call attention to themselves. To make something worthy to pass along to their kin." She paused and sighed. "Listen to me, carrying on. Forgive me, Luna. It's just that it has been so long since I have had somepony who understands this, who can truly appreciate what I'm talking about. Please, forget about my whining. We have more important things to worry about. How can I help you prepare?"

"No," Luna said, sorrow in her eyes, "I don't want to forget about your complaints. You have every right, if not more, to share your concerns with others." She walked over to Celestia and nuzzled her. "I may not be able to help you with everything, but I'll always be glad to listen to your worries."

The two sisters stood there for a minute, leaning against each other. "Thank you," Celestia said, "I needed that." She stepped away from Luna. "Now, again, what can I do to help you?"

Luna considered things before answering. "I've come a long ways in my studies, but I'm still catching up. What I know about government proceedings is still several centuries behind where we currently are, and I'm sure it is quite outdated. If you could send me books or transcripts that show or describe what I'm about to face, that would be perfect."

Celestia nodded. "I'll ask around the various government archives, and see what I can dig up. We actually don't have too many sessions like what we're about to go through, but I'm sure I can find something. I assume you'll be in the library, looking through stuff there?" Seeing her sister nod she said, "I won't keep you then. I'll bring over what I find personally, okay?"

"Sounds good to me!" Luna smiled and then trotted out of the throne room, motivated and determined to put on the best showing she could.

Haystack knocked on the door to the Ponyville Library, and heard a familiar cry of "Coming!" from inside. A few seconds later, Spike the dragon opened the door. "Heya Haystack, c'mon in," he said, motioning with a wave of his arm as he turned and walked further inside.

The pegasus followed him, and found himself having to be careful of where he stepped; the floor was littered with dozens of books. "Wow, what happened in here?" he asked as he walked towards the desk in the corner where Spike was leafing through a short stack of papers.

"Oh, Twilight has been searching for some spells to use this weekend. So she'll pull down any and every book that looks like it might have something to help her out, and just put it off to the side if it doesn't. Of course, I get to be the one to put them all back," he said resignedly.

Haystack blinked, and looked around the room again. "That doesn't seem very fair to me," he said.

"Eh, it isn't fun, but really it isn't that hard of a job either. Just takes some time. My only complaint is how often I end up having to do it, really. Aha! Here we go," Spike said as he pulled out one form from the stack he had been looking through. "Are you returning the book, or did you want to keep it for another week?"

"I'll be returning it," he replied, and then reached into his saddlebags and pulled the book out. After Spike had taken it from him, he said, "Thank you again. It was quite helpful for me and my friends in getting ready for the dinner."

"Oh, that's right. How'd that go?" the dragon asked as he put the book down on the desk.

"It wasn't that bad, I guess. I'm not the most social of ponies, but I had an okay time. The girls sure seemed to enjoy it, especially getting to show off their new dresses."

"New dresses?" asked Spike. "Did they stop by the Carousel Boutique and have Rarity make them something?"

Haystack shook his head. "No, in fact, it was because of one of the most surreal things I've ever been a part of. We were getting ready in Luna's room when Celestia visited us. All of a sudden, it was chaos. A whole bunch of other ponies came in with racks of clothing, and before I knew it we were all dressed up in some admittedly very nice outfits." He sighed, and said, "I mean, it's obvious she had the whole thing set up ahead of time, but I could see that Luna was caught off guard by it all too. I don't understand why she had to go to such lengths to keep what she was doing a secret."

Spike shrugged. "Beats me. Although," he said thoughtfully, "that does remind me me of what Twilight told me about Princess Celestia's latest visit here to Ponyville."

"Oh?" asked Haystack.

"Yeah, I guess she brought her pet phoenix with her, but she didn't tell anypony what it was. So they all saw this sickly looking bird, sitting in its cage while it coughed and slowly lost its feathers. Then she got called away and left it behind, and none of the guards thought to keep watch over it either, so Fluttershy took it on herself to try to make the thing better."

"How'd that work out?" the pegasus asked, intrigued by the tale.

"Well, Twilight found out about it on accident when she went to visit Fluttershy at her place. By then the guards were starting to look for it too, and I guess all sorts of crazy things happened until the phoenix went through its renewal process and turned into a pile of ash right in front of everyone."

Haystack could only stare in disbelief, his jaw hanging loosely. Seeing his reaction, Spike nodded. "Yeah, I guess it drove Fluttershy to tears, until Celestia showed up and explained that was just part of what phoenixes do. Then the ash rose up and turned into a healthy flame colored bird."

"Wait a minute," Haystack said. "Celestia knew that was going to happen, but she didn't tell anypony? What was she trying to do, set up some sort of display for them to watch?"

Spike shrugged again. "I have no idea. I wasn't even there, I just heard about it from Twilight afterwards."

Haystack's face twisted in thought, and then sighed. "Well, thanks for sharing that with me Spike, and thanks again with the help in finding that book for us."

"Glad to help!" Spike said with a smile. "Stop on by anytime you need something, okay?"

"Will do." Haystack left the library and flew away. Instead of heading home though, he simply glided through the late autumn skies, trying to figure out how this latest piece of news fitted into everything else he had seen and heard already.

Crescent -- Chapter 2

Despite the seriousness of her work, Luna was having fun. After gaining permission from Mrs. Hardback, she claimed a corner of the study area in the castle library and set things up to her preferences. She moved away tables and surrounded herself with several reading stands. After searching the shelves for books that she thought might be of assistance to her, she picked a few out and started examining them. Whenever she found something she thought might be relevant, or at least interesting, she would use a ribbon to mark the passage, and place the book onto one of the stands.

Soon she had several tomes set up, and only then did she start to compare what they said to each other, taking notes on what they agreed on, and also where they differed. After that, she read some more books and did some more comparisons, adding to the organized chaos around her. She got so wrapped up in her studies that she barely heard the bells announcing lunch, and with some reluctance she pulled herself away to get something to eat.

At lunch, a note from Celestia was waiting for her, stating that she was still busy visiting the various archives and gathering transcripts for her and that she wouldn't be there for lunch. Luna was a little disappointed that she wouldn't have a chance to talk to Celestia about what she had read so far, but knew that she would get her chance when her sister returned to the castle with the papers she had set out to find. She quickly ate her meal, thanked the servants for their work, and excused herself as she made her way back to the library.

Back in the center of her work area, she continued with her studies. She was so engrossed that she failed to notice another pony approach her, and it took the sound of a throat being cleared to notice that somepony was trying to gain her attention. Seeing a spot of white out of the corner of her eyes, she marked her spot in the book she was currently perusing as she said, "Sorry about that, Celes-" She quickly swallowed the rest of her greeting as she saw that the pony waiting for her attention was not her sister, but a different member of the nobility.

"Prince Blueblood! Please forgive me, I was a bit wrapped up there. How can I help you?" Luna was surprised to see him; the two of them had rarely crossed paths since her return, and while she hadn't had any bad experiences with the noblepony, she had heard tales spoken about his rudeness and attitude. Still, they had said similar things about her too, so she gave the unicorn stallion a friendly smile, hoping to have those stories about him proven false.

"That's quite all right, Princess Luna," the stallion said while bowing his head slightly. "I fully understand how one can get wrapped up in what one is doing." He looked around at the various books that Luna had set up. "Ah, preparing for the assembly, are we?"

"Yes!" she replied happily. "I'm brushing up on all of the procedures and protocols. But that can't be why you're here. How can I help you?"

"I am here on somewhat related manners," Blueblood admitted with a coy smile. "After receiving Princess Celestia's call for an audience in two days, I thought I would seek you out and offer my services, to help you prepare for the ordeal ahead of you."

Luna smiled warmly. "I would welcome any assistance you could provide."

The stallion nodded. "While I agree that you should polish your presentation, and prepare yourself for what is sure to be a harsh gauntlet of questions, I believe I can best aid you in a manner that may not have occurred to you."

"Oh? What might that be?"

"The one thing that should be on your mind is winning the final tally. It doesn't matter how eloquently you speak or how well you follow the rules if you don't get the votes you need." Seeing Luna nod slowly, he continued. "Also, due to preconceived notions, no matter what you say or do there will be those who will vote for you and those who will vote against you. Your goal then must be to do what you can to win those votes that are still undecided."

"Agreed," Luna said. "Is there some special strategy that you would recommend to help me with that? A certain type of speech when I present my case? A special style I should employ when I answer their questions?"

Prince Blueblood shook his head. "Your highness, you limit yourself if you only use the assembly itself to influence those whose votes are up in the air." Seeing Luna give him a curious look, he elaborated, "You could benefit by meeting with some of those swing votes ahead of time, and make your case on a personal level."

Luna frowned. "I can see that helping, but I have so little time, I would not be able to meet even with a small portion of those who are still undecided."

"True, but that is where I can help you. I can direct you towards those who are the ones that would benefit most from receiving a personal visit from you."

"That would help me a lot," she admitted, "but I can't help but wonder why you would be so willing to assist me. We've rarely met, outside of a few official gatherings."

Blueblood chuckled. "Ah, but now that you are asserting yourself back into politics, it would well behoove me to make sure that I am seen to be one of your allies. For me to be known as a pony who has given you aid would be a boon to my reputation. And there is no need for us to limit our interactions to this either. For example, there is the Grand Galloping Gala coming up," he said, arching an eyebrow suggestively. "We could make the rounds together, perhaps we could share a dance or two there? Or-"

"I'm sorry," Luna interrupted with false sincerity, starting to grasp the prince's true motives. "I actually won't be attending the Gala this year, I'm afraid that I have other duties to attend to."

"Oh." Blueblood looked shocked, but quickly recovered. "No matter. There are still other things we could do, such as you treating me to a fancy dinner, or maybe paying me a visit at my estate?" he said with a wink.

"I'm afraid that I will have to pass," Luna replied icily. "I thank you for your advice, and I shall consider your words with all of the attention that they deserve, but for now, I believe that my time will be better spent here studying."

Prince Blueblood blinked a few times, trying to understand where he'd fallen short, when a voice from behind him drew his attention. "Why, Blueblood, imagine seeing you inside a library. What brings you here?"

The royal unicorn whipped around to see Celestia eyeing him wryly. "Your Highness, my apologies, but I was just leaving. If you'll excuse me?" Seeing the white alicorn nod, Blueblood turned and hastily left the library.

Luna made a sour face. "And here I was hoping the stories I had heard about him weren't true." Seeing her sister chuckle, she then asked, "So, just how long were you listening in on us?"

"Oh, not long at all, I only caught the tail end of your conversation. So, what pretext did our self centered noble use to visit you?"

"He wanted to help me with the upcoming assembly, and offered his aid in helping me single out nobles to visit personally to help sway their votes in my direction. It seemed like a viable idea when I first heard it, but the more I think on it, the more it smells of trading favors, or even outright bribery," Luna said with distaste.

Celestia nodded. "Oh, such tactics are used among the nobility quite often, sister. Sometimes it's done honestly, with nothing more than a well reasoned argument made, although this usually only happens when they come to me." She chuckled. "It's hard to bribe the pony who already has access to anything she needs if there is an honest call for it, after all. Still," she continued, her features showing doubt, "I find it odd that Blueblood was able to come up with such a plan so quickly."

Luna gave her sister a puzzled look. "Surely he isn't that incapable... is he?"

"Possibly not," Celestia conceded, "but I only sent out the call for the assembly a couple of hours ago. For him to come up with such a scheme overnight? Certainly. In just a few hours, though?" Her face turned thoughtful. "Now I wish you had agreed, just so we could find out who he was going to have you visit. I'd wager that those were the ponies behind this."

Luna shrugged. "Oh well. Still, I find it a bit unsettling that others are so quick to capitalize on this for their own gain."

Celestia laughed loudly, and then quickly put a hoof to her mouth when the other library patrons stared at her for making such an outburst. "Sorry!" she softly called out. She returned her attention to her younger sister. "Oh, Luna, I truly wish that this was just an aberration of how things go with the nobility, but trust me, this happens all the time."

"Why do you put up with it then?"

"The biggest reason is that it keeps them busy. You saw how clumsy Blueblood was in trying to sway you. Could you imagine how poorly run a town would be under his guidance? Or what would happen if he was put in charge of, say, the treasury? By keeping them occupied with trying to one up each other, they usually leave the running of the kingdom to those more qualified to such tasks."

"Then why even keep the royalty intact at all?" asked Luna.

Celestia chuckled. "Silly Luna, where would that put us then?"

Luna blushed, and then gently hit her forehead with a hoof. "Let's forget I said that, shall we?" she asked with a giggle. "Now, did you bring those transcripts like you promised?"

"I most certainly did," Celestia said with a smile. Her horn glowed, and a stack of papers floated up from the floor where she had put them previously. "Now, let's get to work, shall we?"

Dewdrop pulled up a seat, and smiled as Feather Down came trotting over to her. "Hello!" her earth pony friend greeted her. "I'll be on break in just a few minutes, okay?"

The orange unicorn smiled. "Sounds good," she replied. "I'll just look over the menu until then." She watched as Feather Down waved and headed off to bus a table that had just emptied. After skimming through the familiar list of salads and sandwiches, she turned her attention to what was going on around her. If she had one regret about her job at the inn, it was that she spent almost all of her time indoors and didn't get to witness the general activity of everyday life in Ponyville.

"Sorry about the wait, I know you only have a limited amount of time before you have to head back to work," Feather Down said as she sat down across from her. A blue mare came over to take their orders, and after they made their selections, left to go get their meals started. "So, how are you holding up after a short night's worth of sleep?"

"I'm doing okay," Dewdrop replied. "The hardest part was waking up. Thank goodness we have an alarm clock, or I don't think I would have made it to work on time. How about you? I thought I heard you stumbling about upstairs as I left, but I wasn't certain."

"Oh, you know me. I almost fell back asleep a couple of times, and I had to gallop to get here on time, but I made it with a couple of minutes to spare. It was worth it though! Even with how late we ended up staying in Canterlot, it certainly was a fun night, wasn't it?"

"Most certainly! Mind you, what happened before the dinner was a bit... hectic? Crazy? I don't even know exactly what to call it, but I certainly wasn't expecting to be ambushed by ponies bearing dresses for me to wear, that's for certain!"

Feather Down laughed. "Oh, that was one of the highlights for me! Not just getting to try on more dresses than I could afford in a year of working here, but did you see what those twins did to poor Pine Needle? I know I shouldn't laugh, but I can't think of any other stallion who would be scared in that situation."

"Well, I would think if the stallion had a mare friend he might be deservedly concerned, especially if they happened to be in the room at the time," Dewdrop said. "But yes, once I got over my initial shock at the situation, I was also having a hard time not laughing at poor Pine Needle."

"Heh, he's taking his crush on Applejack way too far. Say, speaking of stallions, how are things going between you and Haystack?"

Dewdrop shrugged and stated to reply when the waitress brought them their orders. "Thanks, hun!" she said to the mare before she left to go help some other customers. She took a bite of her sandwich, and then replied, "Things are going okay with us. Slow but steady, so I can't really complain, I suppose."

Feather Down rolled her eyes as she swallowed her mouthful of salad. "Seriously, what's taking him so long?" she asked in an exasperated tone.

"Well, first of all," Dewdrop said, "you have to remember rule number one of dating-"

"All stallions are idiots when it comes to love. Yes, yes, I know." Feather Down said. "But still!"

Dewdrop smiled at her roommate. "Well, also consider how things were before that night at the inn. We weren't what anypony would have called close friends. In fact, I would think that most ponies at first glance would have called us rivals, or possibly even enemies."

"Not enemies, but I get your point. There was a certain chill in the room whenever the two of you had to talk to each other. But it's been over a month now! How long does he need?"

"Oh, he's coming around. Remember, he actually came to visit me at the inn last week." Dewdrop took another bite of her lunch before continuing. "Why are you so gung ho about this anyways?"

"What? I can't help my best friend find happiness?" Feather Down asked defensively.

"Of course you can, although you're starting to come across a little bit too strongly as a matchmaker, to be honest."

Feather Down looked down at her salad. "I don't want to be seen as that, it's just..." she sighed. "I'm starting to hear other ponies talk, is all, and if I can hear some of them say something, odds are that lots more are saying it where I can't hear it."

"What are they starting to say?" Dewdrop asked, curious.

"You know, what they they say about any pair of mares who live together. That we're a thing."

Dewdrop tilted her head back and laughed loudly. "Oh, hun, does that really worry you that much? If ponies are that quick to judge and spread gossip, without doing any actual thinking, it's not going to matter what we do. Just ignore them, okay? Besides," she said as she floated her sandwich up towards her mouth, "if you want to put an end to those kind of rumors, you should go on a date or two of your own."

Feather Down made a sour face. "No thank you. There isn't anypony who I'm interested at the moment, and I'm not about to try the dating scene again anytime soon. Remember that dance we went to around a year ago or so?"

Dewdrop paused, trying to recall the event in question. "Oh!" she exclaimed, and then chuckled. "Is that the one where you fell asleep in the middle of a dance?"

"When they call them slow dances, they aren't kidding!" Feather Down said. "And that stallion was so boring, ugh! All he could talk about was his mane. I'd rather run through the Everfree forest than go on another date with him again!"

The two mares laughed at the thought, and around small talk finished their lunches. Giving her friend a hug, Dewdrop paid for her meal and headed back to the inn to finish her shift.

Pine Needle put away his newly cleaned dishes and was about to leave for work at Haystack's farm when he heard a knock at his door. He trotted over and opened it to see Fluttershy holding in her mouth a basket carrying a squirrel.

"Perfect timing," he said, careful to keep his voice quiet to avoid scaring the timid pegasus again. "I was about to leave for work soon, but I certainly can take a few minutes to do, um, whatever it is that I need to do to help get the squirrel moved in." He gave the creature a closer look. "Does it have a name? Is it a boy or a girl? Is there anything that I should know, or do?"

Fluttershy carefully put the basket down on the ground before replying. "Oh, no. There shouldn't be anything you have to do, unless something goes wrong, but you can watch if you want to. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes. And his name is Acorn."

Pine Needle gestured towards his pine trees. "Then do what you have to do, and I shall watch."

Fluttershy picked the basket back up, and trotted over to the trees, with Pine Needle following a couple of steps behind. When she got to the base of one of the pines, Fluttershy flew up and then took hold of the basket with her hooves and held it out next to a knothole. "There you go, Acorn, your home for the winter," she said.

The squirrel leaned forward and examined the proffered place. He sniffed it a couple of times, and looked it over carefully, going over every inch of it. Finally, it turned around to look at Fluttershy and made some chirping sounds.

"Oh, I know it isn't the biggest of places," Fluttershy said to Acorn. "But we had a really hard time finding places for everyone. And you wanted a place all to yourself, right?" The squirrel made some more noises in reply. "Well, I suppose that's true, but if you claim this place now, just think how big and comfortable it will be in the years to come. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Acorn replied in a tone that Pine Needle thought to be begrudging. Then the squirrel hopped out of the basket and lied down in the knothole. Fluttershy quickly descended and landed next to Pine Needle. "He didn't seem to be happy about his new home," Pine Needle commented.

Fluttershy nodded. "I'm sure it's just nerves," she replied. "This is his first winter away from his parents, and with it being in a strange place on top of that, I'm sure he just needs a few days to get used to things and then he'll be fine."

Pine Needle nodded. "I remember my first days here, after arriving from Stalliongrad. Everything was so different, and I didn't know anypony. I'm sure you're right. Is there anything I can do to help him make the transition?"

The pegasus considered the question. "No," she finally replied, "at least, nothing that I can think of anyway. Just keep an eye on him if you can, and if you have any problems, please don't hesitate to let me know, okay?"

"I most certainly will," Pine Needle promised.

"Okay. I still have a lot of things to do, so I need to be leaving."

"By all means, do not let me detain you. Thank you again." Pine Needle waved as the yellow pegasus took to the sky and watched as she flew away. He looked up at Acorn, who was currently exploring the branches of the pine tree he now resided in. "I'm off to work," he called up, unsure if the animal could even understand him, but decided that it couldn't hurt to act friendly towards it.

Acorn looked down, and made some chattering noises that Pine Needle wasn't sure were friendly or not. Putting the matter aside, he checked to make sure everything was as it should be in his house, and made his way to Haystack's farm for a half day of work.

On the way, he passed by the house that Luna lived in while she stayed in Ponyville disguised as Moonbeam. He saw that while the place still remained unoccupied, it seemed to be taken care of by somepony; the landscaping looked to have been recently tended to. He fondly recalled walking to and from work with her, and chuckled when he considered that very few ponies could claim to have worked alongside a princess on a daily basis.

A short bit later, and he had arrived at Haystack's farm. He opened the gate and walked under the sign that read 'Haystack's Hill'. Looking around, he didn't see any sign of Haystack in the air above the farm, so he went and knocked on the front door to his house. After waiting a short wait and not hearing any noise come from the other side, he leaned over and, grabbing a nearby dangling rope with his teeth, rang the bell that hung next to the door to alert anypony out working in the field or the barn that there was a guest.

After a minute of waiting, Pine Needle started to get worried. He trotted over to the barn and searched inside, fearing that something might have fallen over and pinned his pegasus friend, or worse even injured him. Finding nothing was out of place, he then galloped up the hill that dominated Haystack's property.

Reaching the top of the steep incline, he caught his breath as he looked around from his vantage point. Seeing no sign of Haystack, he slowly walked back down the hill. Was his friend still in town running errands? It was the only explanation that made sense, but it seemed strange to him. Haystack was very punctual in everything he did, and for him to not be home when there was work to do went against everything that Pine Needle knew about the serious minded pegasus.

Wandering back to Haystack's house, he decided that even though Haystack wasn't around, he could show up at any time. He went back to the barn and left the door open to show where he was and started sweeping out the small layer of dust that had accumulated over the weekend. Soon he found himself absorbed in his work, and humming a song to himself.

He grew so preoccupied with what he was doing that he was startled when he heard Haystack call out his name. "I'm so terribly sorry," the pegasus said as he walked over to him. "I don't even have a valid excuse. I simply got lost in thought and forgot what time it was."

Pine Needle put down his broom and smiled at his friend. "Lost in thought? I shall refrain from commenting on that and just say that I am glad that you are okay."

Haystack looked at the floor. "I probably deserve whatever comments you have to make. I got sidetracked after returning the book to Spike at the library."

"Oh? What happened?"

Haystack shared with Pine Needle what Spike had said about the confusion with the phoenix. "Turns out we might not be the only group of ponies that she's had some fun with. As far as I can figure it out, she either had planned to show off the phoenix's rebirth cycle to everypony, and simply got distracted by other things, or she brought it along as some sort of... I don't want to say sick, but strange joke?"

Pine Needle nodded. "And based off of what we went through last night, you are more inclined to think that it is the latter?"

Haystack made a sour face. "I don't want to think that our high ruler is some sort of a jokester who spends all of her time thinking up ways to play small pranks on everypony..." he looked up at the roof of the barn, trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to. "She's done an amazing job though. If you had told me these things even a month ago I wouldn't have believed them. I would like to think I have a fairly well organized farm here. But Celestia's management of Equestria makes me look like a yearling playing in the mud."

Pine Needle gave his pegasus friend a puzzled look. "So what is your point then? What are you trying to say?"

"I don't know," Haystack admitted. "That's why I was so lost in thought. Is there any reason to be concerned about these... jokes that Celestia plays? Are they something I should even be paying attention to? And if so, what can I do about them?" He sighed and shook his head on frustration. "So many questions, and not a single one of them has an easy answer." He jumped slightly as a broom clattered to the ground next to his hooves.

"I have found in the past when I have something that I can not figure out, it helps to just walk away from the problem for a bit. I'll work on something else, and while I'm doing that I often find that an answer to the first problem will simply jump into mine head," Pine Needle explained.

Haystack tilted his head in thought briefly, then shrugged. "It can't be worse that what I just spent the past couple of hours doing, at least. I'll give it a try, although it will be hard to not have my thoughts wander off towards it if all I'm doing is sweeping."

Pine Needle smiled. "Well then, let me tell you about my day so far to help distract you," he said as he pushed some crates so Haystack could sweep behind them. "I now have a squirrel in mine pine trees, due to Fluttershy trying to find winter homes for the woodland creatures..."

Luna had spent the remainder of the day studying for the assembly, and spent her time after dinner writing a rough draft of her speech for the assembly. After a peaceful night's sleep and an early breakfast, she did her best to polish her presentation, practicing in front of a mirror in her room until she felt comfortable enough with the words for what Celestia had promised would be an arduous process; going through a mock up of the assembly with Celestia and some other ponies chosen for the trial run. While she had to admit that things were difficult, the nature in which they actually turned out to be so had certainly surprised her.

"Dur de dur! Meesa Princey Blueberryblood! If we gives you de moony woony again, are you going to use it for a paperweight doohicker?"

The dozen or so ponies all broke down in laughter at the purposefully terrible impression of the unicorn royal, one that was made even more hilarious by the fact that it was Celestia who was making it. "Sister!" Luna wailed, laughing so hard that tears were starting to pour from her eyes. "Surely that isn't going to be something that I'll be asked tomorrow!"

"Oh, most likely not," Celestia agreed. "Sorry, but I couldn't resist. Besides..." she paused, and the bells announcing dinner started to ring. "It would appear that my stomach was correct, time to call an end to this and get ourselves something to eat." She turned to the other ponies who had helped them the last few hours by peppering Luna with various questions and follow ups. "Thank you again for your time and help, everypony."

The other ponies waved and filed out of the meeting room that Celestia had sequestered for their afternoon practice, soon leaving the two alicorns alone. "Thank you again for all of your help, Celestia," Luna said as they walked out of the room together. "I'm sure that the assembly itself will be even harder, with there being so many more ponies there in the audience and asking questions, but just having a chance to experience even just something like this has helped me a lot."

Celestia nodded. "I would be surprised if you face too harsh of a time at the assembly tomorrow. While there are some ponies that might not want you to reclaim your duties of raising and lowering the moon, I would bet that the number that will be brave enough to voice those concerns in the same room as you or I will be quite small. I think the best thing you can do is to answer the first couple of questions with full confidence. If you show weakness or uncertainty at the beginning, you'll give those who oppose you the belief that they can pester you the entire time. Show them that you won't put up with it from the get go, and the rest of your time should hopefully be much easier."

Luna nodded at the advice as they walked down the hallways of the castle. "I've been wondering what to do with myself tonight, now that we've finished everything we planned to do, and I think I figured it out."

"And that is?"

"I've spent the past couple of days studying and preparing like crazy. What I need to do now is just give myself a chance to let it all sink in. I'll go over things once more tomorrow before everything happens, of course, but I think for tonight I'm just going to lie down and do some light reading for a change. It will be nice to read something that I won't have to worry about memorizing or being tested on afterwards."

Celestia smiled. "Lucky," she said in a teasing voice. "I still have a bunch of papers that I need to go over tonight before I have any free time."

Luna's smile quickly turned to a grimace at the news. "I'm sorry. It's because of all the time you've put aside to help me today, isn't it?" she asked. "Is there anything I could do to help you get through them faster?"

Shaking her head, Celestia gave her sister a reassuring smile. "No, but thank you for asking, it means a lot to me. And don't you worry about it, I agree that the best thing for you to do tonight is to just take it easy. You'll have plenty of time to be nervous once the assembly begins. No sense in getting worked up before the event if you can help it right?" The two sisters paused as the door to their eating room were opened up by the guard on duty. "Just make sure you get plenty of rest tonight. Do that, and it will make things much easier for both of us," she said with a smile as they seated themselves at the table.

Luna nodded, and thanked the servants as they carried over the first course of the meal. As she slowly chewed a mouthful of salad, she thought back on all the preparations that had been made the last couple of days. She was nervous, and even a little bit scared. What if the nobility refused her request? What would she do then? She did her best to shove those thoughts to the back of her mind. If the best efforts of her and Celestia came up short, then so be it. For now, though, she'd think only on the positive, and make sure that when the time came, she did the best job she could do.

Crescent -- Chapter 3

Acorn was starting to have serious doubts about his decision to move away from his parents and into a tree of his own for the winter. It was his third day in his new home, and what had looked to be a rather nice place at the beginning was starting to showcase some faults that hadn't been readily apparent before.

One of the shortcomings that he hadn't been aware of was just how alone he was in his new abode. None of the other nearby trees had any squirrels living in them, which meant he didn't have anyone he could talk to, even if for just a few minutes each day. Sure, he had wanted to escape from the crowded conditions of living with seven other squirrels in a den meant for three or four, but he hadn't wanted complete solitude either.

Another problem was the wind. When Fluttershy had brought him to check out the place it had been a calm day, so Acorn hadn't given any thought to which way the air currents traveled. The next day though had featured a steady, chilly breeze, and it had blown almost straight into his den. He had been forced to curl up into a very tight ball on one side of his already somewhat cramped quarters in order to avoid the frigid temperatures. He had hoped that it had been a fluke, but last night right before he went to sleep the wind had picked up and once again it had come from the same direction.

Now he found himself in a dilemma. Fluttershy had been pretty insistent that there weren't enough places to go around, and that he had been lucky to get this place. Would he be able to ask his parents to let him back in for the winter, even though he knew how cramped and uncomfortable it would be even with him not there? What would his friends Chestnut and Walnut say to him, after he had bragged about getting his own home?

The sound of a closing door interrupted the squirrel's thoughts. Looking down, Acorn saw that the pony who lived in the nearby house was once again heading out. He wasn't sure where the green equine went, but he seemed to spend a good part of his day there before retuning late in the afternoon. He was friendly enough, Acorn supposed, even though the two of them were unable to understand what the other said. That didn't keep the pony from stopping at the base of his tree and waving up at him while neighing some random noises.

Acorn got to thinking as he watched the pony leave. Just where did he go, anyway? On a whim, he made his way down the trunk of his tree and followed the pony. While the thought of a long and tiring journey didn't exactly thrill him, it certainly beat the prospect of spending another day curled up, trying to keep the cold at bay. Add to that the possibility of meeting other squirrels, and it might not turn out to be such a bad idea after all. With a determination rarely seen in a carefree species such as squirrels, Acorn did his best to keep the pony in sight as he scampered down the road after him.

"Hear ye, hear ye! I hereby declare this special session of the Royal Assembly to be open! Would everypony please take their seats so that we may take the roll?" Luna watched as the royal herald repeated his cries, trying his best to get the nobles in attendance to break up from their small circles of discussion and get down to business. Soon, the room quieted, and the call and reply of the roll was underway.

Luna looked around the large meeting hall that the assembly was held in. At the front of the room was a raised podium, where the herald was currently calling attendance. Arrayed in front of him were numerous rows of seats of various types. Each pony seemed to have a different preference for what they wanted to spend hours seated in, and so accommodations ranged from simple hay bales to custom crafted cushions, complete with their owner's cutie mark prominently displayed on them. There were even a few, Luna noted, that eschewed seats altogether and simply stood in place.

Behind all of that, taking up the back third of the area, was a standing room only section for spectators to quietly watch the proceedings. Apparently word had spread about today's agenda, because it appeared to Luna that it was filled with ponies, all packed in shoulder to shoulder. From where she stood, next to the wall to the side of the podium, she couldn't tell what the mood of the attending ponies was, but she took the lack of outbursts to mean that they intended to watch the proceedings peacefully for now. Of course, she mused, the half dozen guards keeping watch between them and the nobles probably had something to do with that too.

Finally, the taking of the attendance was finished, and the herald called for the secretary to read the minutes of the previous meeting. Luna did her best to hide her impatience at the lengthy procedures that had to be followed. She glanced to her side at her sister, who gave her a reassuring smile. "How are you holding up?" Celestia asked her in a whisper.

Luna smiled weakly in return. "I was doing okay when we first got here," she quietly replied, "but with how long all of this is taking, I can feel my confidence slowly slipping away."

"You'll do fine," Celestia assured her. "Remember, this is a smaller gathering than the dinner we were at less than a week ago. You handled that eager crowd easily, and this group won't be rushing up to you for a chance to shake your hoof." She pointed at the stack of notes that lay at Luna's hooves. "You put a lot of hard work into that. Trust in yourself, put on a confident show, and we'll be celebrating your success over dinner."

The secretary finished his recitation, and the herald then called Celestia to the podium. Giving her sister one last wink, she made her way to the stand and nodded her thanks to the herald. She waited for the polite applause to quiet down and said, "Thank you, noble ponies of Equestria, for answering my hasty summons on such short notice. I have called you here today for what will likely be viewed as a major historical event in the centuries to come. Me and my sister Princess Luna come before you to ask for your approval in giving her back the duty of raising and lowering the moon every night."

Having already heard Celestia's speech during their practice runs, Luna turned her attention to her notes. She quickly skimmed over her own speech, which would be given shortly after Celestia's, and focused instead on the notes she had taken to help her answer some of the more personal and difficult questions she expected to be asked of her. She really hoped she wouldn't have to explain exactly why she wasn't going to turn into Nightmare Moon again, or why she had done so a thousand years ago, but she had a suspicion that she was going to have to regardless of her wishes.

Hearing her name called, Luna gathered up her notes with a quick spell and floated them over with her to the podium, taking a moment to look at the assembled ponies. After swallowing down a knot of nervousness, she began to speak. "Nobles, commoners and elected officials. Ponies of earth, sky and magic. Thank you all for your time and your attention. As my sister Princess Celestia so eloquently said, what we are about to ask you to vote on is something that will be remembered for generations to come. Never before in the annals of our history has something like this been considered, which is why we have come to you for guidance. So please, when you cast your votes on this matter, don't think only on what it means for us today, but also about what kind of precedent you will be setting for the future.

"I understand that many among you still harbor distrust towards me over the events of the Summer Sun Celebration last summer, something that I fully understand. As I have stated many times since then, while I was not fully myself during that time, I have accepted full responsibility for my actions. Since then I have done everything that I can to atone for what was done while also moving past it. I feel that I have done so successfully. Indeed, I would not be here before you today if I didn't feel that I had done so, and as she said a moment ago, Princess Celestia would not be helping in this matter if she didn't think that I had either.

"Still, for me to simply expect for you to simply take my say so without any qualms would be rather presumptuous. That is why we are here, to give you the opportunity to ask me your questions or voice whatever concerns you may still have, and to give me the chance to answer them. Please, assembled nobles, take and use this time to its fullest. I eagerly await not only your queries, but the chance to prove myself before you."

Having finished her opening statement, she politely bowed her head to the assembled nobles and stepped back from the podium. She walked past the herald who was taking the podium to further the proceedings and headed back to Celestia, who gave her a proud smile. "Well done! If you keep that up, there shouldn't be any doubt at all about the outcome of today's assembly."

"I'll be honest," Luna replied, "that went easier than I thought it was going to. All that practice we put in helped a lot, so thank you again."

Her sister chuckled. "I'm glad that it did help. However," she said, her expression turning serious, "that was the easy part. Are you ready to answer the questions they're going to bring up?"

Luna nodded. "Yes. If anything, this is a blessing in disguise, having to go through this. It will give me the chance to say all the things I've been trying to. Add in the fact that I have a captive audience, and with reporters in the back taking notes so that other ponies who aren't here will also get to know what I said? I don't know if I could have arranged to make my case to such a large group by myself."

Celestia turned her eyes upward for a brief second before looking back at the podium. "It looks like you have just a couple more minutes before the 'fun' starts up. Let's take one last look at those notes, shall we?"

"Whew, that took a bit longer than I expected, but I'm glad it went smoothly," Haystack said to Pine Needle as they stood side by side, looking over their handiwork. The two stallions had spent the morning harvesting the last of the produce from the vegetable garden next to the pegasus's barn. "We had a couple of days to spare, but we weren't going to get anything else from the plants this season, so why put it off, right?"

Pine Needle nodded. "Indeed! So, what now, mine friend?"

"Actually, I was going to ask if you've seen that squirrel that seems to have been watching us all morning?" the pegasus replied, pointing off towards the one of the few shade trees in the front yard of his house. "I don't have any squirrels in my trees, and the intensity with which it has been keeping an eye on us has made me curious."

"Squirrel?" Pine Needle asked, looking at the tree that Haystack had indicated. "It couldn't be Acorn, could it?" He slowly trotted over and looked up. While he wasn't positive—since he previously hadn't made a habit of trying to notice the differences between various tree living rodents—he thought that the squirrel looking down at him could very well be the new tenant of his pine trees.

"Is that you, Acorn?" he called upwards. "What are you doing out here?" The squirrel overhead replied with a string of chatters and chirps that, even though the earth pony below understood none of it, made Pine Needle certain that it was Acorn. "Get down here right now!" he said in a stern voice, tapping the ground in front of him firmly with a hoof.

Haystack trotted over with a bemused look on his face. "So, that's the new neighbor that Fluttershy herself brought over to you?" He looked back and forth between his friend and the squirrel, who both seemed to be doing their best to frustrate one another. "Um, does it even understand what you're saying?"

"I don't know," Pine Needle admitted. "I don't think so, but then Fluttershy was able to talk with it like I'm trying to, so I think that it can?"

"Ah, there's your problem. Fluttershy has a skill when it comes to communicating with animals. My guess is that it might understand the general gist of what you're trying to convey through tone and actions, but I'd be surprised if it could actually understand exactly what you're saying."

Pine Needle turned from the tree to look at Haystack. "Really? Huh. That seems to be an odd talent for a pegasus, if you don't mind me saying so."

"Says the earth pony who claims to use some sort of unheard of magic, to the pegasus who works as a farmer?" Haystack replied dryly.

"Ah, err, um, well said," Pine Needle said, embarrassment plain on his face. "Anyway, I don't suppose you have any clue what to do?"

"Well, maybe that earth pony magic you talk about can help you bridge that gap somehow? Have you tried using it while talking at it?" the pegasus asked.

"It doesn't work that way, but I suppose it can't hurt to try it either," he conceded. After a short moment of closing his eyes and focusing, he looked upward at Acorn. "If you understand what I'm saying, please show me by, um, coming down here and waving at me." The squirrel tilted his head to one side briefly before replying with another barrage of scolds and chatters.

"Try talking to it in squirrel," Haystack suggested.

Pine Needle turned and gave Haystack an incredulous look. "I have no idea if squirrel is even a language, let alone how to talk in it!" he exclaimed.

"Well, try copying the sounds it's making, while using your magic. Like you said, it can't hurt to try, right?"

Swallowing a sigh, Pine Needle turned his attention back to Acorn. "Um, squeak squeakun squeek squeekers?" he called up. As he expected, it seemed to make no sense to the animal above.

"Just out of curiosity, what were you trying to say to it?" Haystack asked.

"Same as before, although knowing mine luck I probably said something about dancing with a rock or the like if what I said meant anything at all." Pine Needle looked back up at the squirrel, who seemed to have run out of things to make noise about for the moment. "Still, I'm surprised that he followed me all this way. I didn't think that squirrels ranged so far."

"I didn't either, but then I'm no expert. The only pony I can think of who would be off the top of my head would be Fluttershy. Maybe she would know why Acorn followed you all the way out here?"

"That's actually a good idea," Pine Needle admitted. "She told me that if I had any problems that I should come and see her. I'd take Acorn there myself, if he would just COME DOWN HERE, NOW!" He stomped at the ground in front of him as he yelled the last bit up at Acorn, who in return resumed his barrage of squeaks and chirps from above.

"How about you just stay here with Acorn, and I'll go see if Fluttershy has a spare moment to come here instead?" Seeing his earth pony friend nod, Haystack took to the sky and flew off to fetch the pegasus animal prodigy.

With a nod from the herald Luna retook the podium, but before she could even open her mouth half a dozen nobles shouted out for her attention, wanting the opportunity to be the first to speak. She almost froze in shock, not expecting such eagerness from the assembled nobleponies, but managed to keep her composure. Not having any preference as to who asked her the first question, she pointed a hoof at a dark purple pegasus who was seated near the front and said, "You first, good sir."

The pegasus stood with a pleased look on his face, and the hall quickly fell silent so everypony could hear. "Thank you, your highness. First, please let me state on behalf of the entire Windwalker family how glad we are to see you wanting to take a more active role in Equestrian society." Seeing a nod of thanks from the princess, he continued. "That said, just how will raising the moon on a nightly basis help you to do that? After all, the rising and the setting of the sun and the moon as performed by Princess Celestia are, with the exception of certain special occasions like the Summer Sun Celebration, non events. Are you planning to change the status quo if you regain the privilege of raising and lowering the moon, and if so how?"

"Excellent questions, Lord Windwalker," Luna replied. "If I may answer the second part first, no, I do not plan on changing the status quo. As my sister has certain days where her ability and duty to raise the sun are highlighted, I would only make a spectacle of moving the moon when it would be part of something bigger. Which leads to the first part, that it would be during such events that being able to raise and lower the moon would give me more chances to interact with the ponies of Equestria. The only obvious changes that I could see being made would be resumption of ancient festivals, such as the long forgotten Winter Moon Celebration, that have been dropped from common usage due to my crimes from a millennium in the past."

The pegasus bowed and resumed his seat. Again, numerous ponies raised their hooves and made calls for her attention. She gestured at a bright green unicorn, who had been looking at her with obvious distrust. 'This is a good time for me to get what should be a difficult question out of the way,' she mused, 'especially after such an easy start to things'.

"I hope you'll pardon my bluntness, your Majesty," said the unicorn is a gravelly voice, "but I have to wonder just how we can trust that we won't have a repeat of the previous Summer Sun Celebration? Why should we believe that you have had such a sudden change of heart?"

"No offense is taken at all, sir," Luna replied as she glanced at her notes. "I can give you several reasons. First off, not only have I undergone a change of heart, but I have also gone through one of body. As Nightmare Moon, I was much taller then I am now, a dark reflection of Princess Celestia in almost every way. While that by itself won't be enough to sway you, please know that my current stature is indeed indicative of the transformation of my spirit as well.

"The best argument that I can offer you is, if I haven't changed at all, if I am still the evil, power hungry entity that I previously was, why would I go through all of this? Why place myself in a position where there could be any chance of failure, when I have had many chances to catch my sister unaware and alone?"

The green unicorn scowled. "I would say because you can't beat your sister as you are now, and need to use underhanded ruses like this to regain the power necessary to do so. Then, once you've had it returned to you, you'll have nothing to fear."

"An interesting theory," Luna conceded, "although one that has a giant flaw. You need to understand, the ability to raise and lower the moon is not one that confers great power. If anything, it is a duty that requires lots of magic. Consider our ancient history; back before Equestria was a nation, the changing of day to night and back again was performed by many unicorns acting in unison. This was because of the massive amount of magical energy needed to move the celestial bodies of the sun and the moon. While being able to raise and lower the moon will, hopefully, grant me some prestige and help me integrate back into society, it will not give me any sort of a power boost."

"So you say," said the unicorn grudgingly, "but how are we to be sure that you don't still harbor such thoughts deep inside, where nopony can see them?"

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Luna gently replied, "How would you suggest I go about proving that I don't have such plans, if by your very definition they can't be seen? Would the lack of finding any be proof that they do exist, or that they don't?" Seeing the unicorn about to reply, she cut him off. "No, good sir, I can't offer you an answer to such an unintelligent question. I am more than willing to undergo any reasonable test of character that you may propose, but I will not waste the time of this Assembly by entertaining such impossible to prove or disprove queries. Next question!"

The green unicorn seemed unwilling to sit down, but a brown earth pony a couple of seats next to him stood up and said, "You've had your turn, Shamrock, sit down and give others a chance." Waiting until Shamrock had taken his seat, a drawn out process that included a lot of muttering and grumbling, the earth pony then turned his attention to Luna and asked, "Might I please take this chance to ask you a question, your highness?"

"Go right ahead," she replied with a smile.

"My question is a simple one, I hope. While I can understand your reasons for wanting to regain your former duty, is there really any need for you to do so? Things have worked well for the past thousand years as they are, I would like to think, so why make any changes?"

"While I agree that change simply for the sake of change and nothing else is bad, I assure you that this is not the case here," answered Luna. "One benefit that would be had from me regaining the ability to raise and lower the moon would be that of redundancy, or having a back up if you will. While my sister has handled her daily tasks admirably, I would also suggest that you have been lucky. What if Princess Celestia had come down with some sort of illness, or suffered from a terrible injury, that left her unable to perform her duties?

"If I may be allowed to give an example that may be a bit confusing," she continued with a wry smile, "what if I had been there as I am now when Nightmare Moon attacked? Celestia could have handed over her duties to me, preventing Nightmare Moon from being able to lock Equestria into a state of perpetual night. I would think for that reason alone it would be prudent for me to regain the honor of being able to raise and lower the moon. While I won't be trying to bring ruin to our kingdom, that doesn't mean that other entities won't threaten us in a similar fashion in the future. To deny ourselves of such a simple and effective defense against future calamity would be foalish."

Luna watched as the earth pony nodded his head in thanks and then retook his seat. Again, numerous ponies vied for her attention, and she found herself fighting back a sigh of resignation. While she had known that the questioning would be a long and arduous process, not even the practice sessions she had been in had fully prepared her for how draining it would be. Doing her best to maintain a serene front, she pointed to another pegasus and awaited his question.

Haystack slowly turned and landed a short distance from his friend Pine Needle, and waited as Fluttershy landed next to him. The two pegasi looked over at Pine Needle, who was still standing at the base of the tree, yelling and gesturing at the squirrel above. For his part, Acorn seemed to be giving as good as he got, sending a steady stream of scolds and chatters at the earth pony below him. Hearing a soft sigh and a whispered, "Oh dear," Haystack motioned with a hoof for the yellow pegasus mare to go ahead and do what she needed to do.

Fluttershy trotted over and quietly tried to interject herself into the commotion to little effect. After several attempts to make herself noticed, she finally turned and looked back at Haystack pleadingly. Doing his best to hide his annoyance at the turn of events he walked over and, to the pegasus mare's shock, gave Pine Needle a forceful knock to the back of his head with a hoof. "Hey!" he said sternly to his friend, "Fluttershy is here to help you out, but you need to give her a chance, okay?"

Wincing in pain, he turned and bowed his head in shame towards Fluttershy. "I apologize, it was not mine intention to become so absorbed in what I was trying to do that I would ignore you. Forgive me, please."

"Th- that's all right," she stammered in reply. Turning towards Haystack with her eyes still wide in disbelief she asked, "Was it really necessary to do that?"

"It was the fastest way I could think of to get the situation under control," he replied with a shrug. "If he was so engrossed in what he was doing that he couldn't even notice somepony else standing next to him calling for his attention, I don't think anything I would have said could have done the trick either."

Rubbing the back of his head with a hoof, Pine Needle sheepishly chuckled. "While it does not happen very often, I do tend to focus on some things a bit more... intensely than is probably healthy."

Haystack nodded. "You should see him when the mare he has a crush on is around, nothing gets through to him then. While I understand your concern, please realize that Pine Needle is my very best friend, and that I would not have done anything to hurt him if I had not thought it absolutely necessary."

"If you say so," Fluttershy said, doubt still audible in her tone of voice. Turning her attention to Pine Needle, she said, "So, Haystack tells me you and Acorn are having some difficulty getting along?"

Pine Needle pointed up at the squirrel in question with a hoof. "Well, he followed me to work today, which isn't a problem, but I find it very puzzling that he did so. I wanted to figure out why, but since we can't understand each other, I kind of let my frustration at the situation get the better of me. If you could please ask Acorn why he came out here, I would be very appreciative."

Nodding, Fluttershy flapped her wings and rose up to hover next to Acorn and started talking to him quietly. While she was doing so, Pine Needle turned and quietly asked Haystack, "Seriously, did you have to hit me on the head? Wouldn't a prod to mine side have worked just as well?"

Haystack felt his cheeks burn as he looked down at his hooves. "Sorry about that. I guess I wasn't thinking. I wasn't trying to hurt you, just get your attention, but you're right, there were better ways I could have gone about doing so. I won't do that again, I promise."

Pine Needle smiled at his friend. "Sounds good to me. And besides," he added while glancing up at the pegasus mare, "getting a chance to see somepony as beautiful as her is worth a small lump to the head any day of the week."

"Oh, what's this? Has some other mare besides our local apple magnate finally caught your attention?"

Pine Needle rolled his eyes. "Please, you must be joking. You know mine heart belongs to Applejack and her alone, but that doesn't mean that I can't recognize and appreciate beauty in other ponies, especially when they are as polite and kind as she is." He looked back up at Fluttershy. "Anyway, I don't think I could fall for a pegasus pony. Just thinking about flying through the air makes my stomach twist and turn, how you manage to live your life like that is beyond me."

Haystack's reply was cut off when Fluttershy flew back down to them, and Acorn ran down the tree to stand next to her. "It seems that I may have made a mistake when I asked if you would let a squirrel live in your trees," she said to Pine Needle. "What I thought was a suitable place to live is actually dangerously exposed to the weather, and Acorn could run the very real risk of freezing if he had to spend the winter there."

"I am sorry to hear that," Pine Needle replied, "but I do not see why that would lead to him following me here."

"Well, Acorn was in a really crowded situation before, and he doesn't want to burden his family by trying to move back in with them. He was hoping that he could find someplace else to stay by following you around, or another squirrel to talk to that might know of someplace for him to stay." She looked down at Acorn, who nodded in confirmation. "Unfortunately, he wasn't able to, which doesn't surprise me since we are having such a hard time trying to find winter homes for all of the animals."

"Hmm, I don't suppose any of the trees on my farm would be suitable?" asked Haystack. "I know I only have a couple, and they aren't that big, but if any of them would work, I'd be happy to let him live in one."

"Acorn, would any of the trees here on this farm work as a place for you to live in?" After a short string of chirps from the squirrel, Fluttershy shook her head sadly. "No, none of them have any knotholes or hollows that would serve as a den for him."

After taking a moment to absorb the news, Pine Needle asked, "Is there anything that I can do to help then? I remember when I first came to Ponyville, and how anxious I was until I found a place to live. It isn't any fun at all, not knowing where you're going to be able to sleep for the night. If there is something that I can do, please let me know."

Fluttershy looked back and forth between Acorn and Pine Needle a couple of times, and then hesitantly said, "While I don't know if it would be the ideal solution, there is one thing I can think of that might work."

"Oh, what's that?"

"Have you ever considered owning a pet?"

The question and answer period had gone on for over an hour now, and Luna was worried that she wouldn't be able to maintain her resolve much longer. At first, it had almost been fun, facing the challenge of answering the questions presented to her. But as things progressed, the process started to lose its appeal. The questions became more and more repetitive, and the attitude of those asking them seemed to take a turn for the worse too. She suspected that some of the nobles weren't interested so much in using the chance to gain knowledge, but to see if they could score points in some obscure game by seeing if they could force her to make some kind of mistake, or have her contradict a previous answer.

Still, she had persevered, and only two ponies were left. One of them she had purposefully left for last on the advice of her sister, and by the calm look he had maintained throughout the session, Luna suspected that he was aware of the fact that he was being held in reserve for that purpose. The other pony was one that she had been avoiding intentionally, but now she had no choice but to give him his turn. It wasn't that she was afraid of what he might ask, but considering how their previous encounter had ended, she had no idea what his question might be. Suppressing a sigh, she pointed a hoof and said, "Your turn, Prince Blueblood."

The regal white unicorn stood and gave her a small nod with his head. "Thank you, your highness. I know that these proceedings have taken a long time, so I shall make my question short and to the point. If you are granted the right and the ability to raise and lower the moon once again, what sort of fail safes will there be to make sure that you don't abuse your new position?"

"While there won't be any specific ponies assigned to such a task," she replied, "I would say that there will be the obvious restraints that are in front of all of the nobleponies here in attendance. There will be my sister, Princess Celestia, always close by, but more importantly there is the goodwill of the ponies of Equestria as well. As I have stated several times already today, with or without the duty of attending to the moon it would be detrimental to my standing in the eyes of the people for me to abuse my station as a Princess of Equestria.

"While I can understand how it might make others feel more secure, knowing that there is some sort of a fail safe method to keep me from overstretching my bounds and, for example, use the moon as a paperweight, I honestly can't think of any way to set one up. You are going to need a battle tested squadron or the Elements of Harmony close by at all times in order to try to overpower me should the need arise, or you will simply have to trust that I am sincere in my words."

Prince Blueblood sat down, and Luna was relieved to see that nopony else had come up with any other questions, leaving just one pony left. She looked at him and said, "Duke Aura, the floor is yours."

A blond unicorn stood up and bowed deeply to Luna. "Thank you, your Highness. I am a bit ashamed to admit that all of the questions that I had in mind have already been asked to you. So, lacking any specific query, I will instead ask as hopefully the final presenter, is there anything else that you would like to bring up or remind us of, before we get to the all important task of the vote?"

"Only this," Luna said with a smile. "Since my return to Canterlot, I have experienced a wide variety of responses. From distrust and even outright hatred, to indifference, and finally kindness and trust. As the weeks have grown to months, I have seen the number of the first steadily decrease, and in turn the number of those who I can count as being kind to me, if not outright friends, seems to grow on a daily basis.

"One of the things that has bothered me is that there is almost no way for me to be able to properly show my thanks and gratitude to everypony who has been willing to forgive the sins of my past, and been willing to give me a second chance. With this, I feel that maybe I can by showing them that their trust in me was not misplaced, that I truly am a different pony than the dark avatar that tried to plunge our land into night eternal.

"So, if after all of the questions and answers that you have asked and listened to over the past hour or so have yet to sway you one way or the other yet, let me give you one final reason why you should allow me to regain my former duty. Not for me, but for the ponies of the Equestria, so that I can reward their kindness and generosity. Thank you."

Duke Aura again bowed deeply and resumed his seat. Luna held her breath, and softly let it out when nopony raised their hooves to call for the chance to ask another question. "Anypony else?" she asked, disliking the need for doing so but knowing that it was required. Seeing that nopony had still taken the chance, she glanced over at the herald. "It seems that I have finished with their inquiries."

The herald walked up next to her and called out, "One last time, are there any other questions for her highness, Princess Luna?" Seeing that all hooves stayed down, he turned to Luna and said, "You may return to you place, Your Highness." After Luna had walked back to her sister, the herald faced the nobles once again. "Very well, we will now commence with the taking of the vote! Prince Alabaster, how do you vote, yay or neigh?"

Luna looked up at Celestia, "Oh, I'm so nervous," she said in a whisper.

"Relax," she replied to her younger sister. "You did great up there. Just a few minutes now. I know this must be hard to wait through, but I'm confident that the vote will fall in your favor."

"Oh, I certainly hope so. I'd hate to think I went through all of that just to fall short."

The two sisters fell silent, and listened as the herald called out name after name. After each noble gave his vote, three ponies would mark it down in a ledger. Luna had read that having the vote kept track of by three separate secretaries was a product of ancient times, when the three tribes of ponies still didn't fully trust each other. This way, the tallies could be checked against each other, and any errors made in counting up the votes, be they on accident or purpose, could easily be worked out.

Finally, the herald turned to the secretaries and waited for their signals that the votes had been counted. "Secretary number one, what is your tally?"

"I find the measure has passed in favor of Princess Luna!"

"Secretary number two, what is your tally?"

"The same, passed in favor of Princess Luna!"

"Secretary number three, what is your tally?"

"Unanimous with the other two, in favor of Princess Luna!"

Luna could barely keep from jumping up and down and shouting in joy. The herald turned to the nobles again and cried, "So let it be known, voted on and passed by this Assembly, Princess Luna may once again be given the duty, honor, and privilege of raising and lowering the moon. Are there any complaints from the nobles assembled today?" Hearing none, he said, "then if there are no other matters to be brought forth at this time..." he paused, and after a few seconds of silence he finished by saying, "then I hereby call this special meeting of the Assembly to be over with. Thank you for your time, everypony."

Luna turned and hugged Celestia tightly. "We did it! We did it! Thank you, I couldn't have done this without you!"

Celestia returned the hug. "And I'm so proud of you, Luna. Facing all of those questions one after the other, without any breaks, must have been trying. Let's go get something to eat, and then we can plan on how you'll spend this Sunday with your friends."

"Actually," Luna said as she led the way out of he hall, "I've been thinking about that, and I believe I know the perfect way to go about it."

Crescent -- Chapter 4

Dewdrop’s breakfast was interrupted by a knock at the front door. Turning from her plate of apple slices, she trotted out of the kitchen, wondering who it could be so early on a Saturday. Opening the door, she was surprised to see Ponyville’s mail mare standing there with a scroll at the ready for her. “Oh, hello Derpy!” she said as her horn glowed to float the scroll towards her. “This is a surprise, you usually don’t stop by here until late in the afternoon.”

“Special delivery!” the pegasus cheerfully replied. “It came in with the overnight bundle from Canterlot, with instructions to have it delivered first thing. I have two more to drop off, and then I’ll be starting my usual rounds for the day. Can I get you to sign here, please?” she asked as she produced a clipboard from underneath one of her wings.

“Of course, hun,” Dewdrop said, stretching her spell to encompass a quill attached to the clipboard, and quickly signed her name with a flowery script. “There you go. Anything else I can do for you?”

“Nope! That’s all I need, thank you.”

“No, thank you!” Dewdrop replied. “Have a good day, and I’m sorry you had to be out and about so early on account of us.”

Derpy chuckled. “Oh, I’m up early all the time because of my work, so this is no bother at all. You have a good day too!” the pegasus cried out as she flew away, waving as she left.

Dewdrop waved back, then closed the door behind her as she headed inside. She opened the delivered message, but before she could start reading it she was interrupted by a groggy voice from above asking, “Who the hay was that at this early hour?”

The unicorn turned and smiled at her sleepy roommate, who was standing at the top of the stairs that led to their bedroom. “Eight o’clock isn’t that early, Feather Down. And that was Derpy, dropping off an important piece of mail for us. I’m guessing it’s from Luna, since she said it came from Canterlot. Come on down and I’ll read it to you,” Dewdrop said, waiting patiently until Feather Down made her way down the stairs to stand across from her.

“Let’s see,” Dewdrop said as she quickly scanned the parchment floating in front of her. “Feather Down and Dewdrop, you are both cordially invited to a moon viewing party to be held tomorrow at sunset. Since I have continued to pay the rent on where I lived when I was disguised as Moonbeam, I figured we could hold it there, which would make it the perfect place to try to make up for how the first one I hosted ended. Of course, since I will have to take some time to set things up, this will mean that your weekly trip to visit me in Canterlot will be cancelled. I apologize for that, but we would have been very restricted in what we could have done with all of the preparations going on for the Grand Galloping Gala anyway. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow! Your friend, Luna.”

Feather Down rubbed the sleep from her eyes with a hoof. “Aw, I was kind of hoping it was going to be a last second invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala, but this should be fun too. How long has it been since the first moon viewing party? About a month?”

Dewdrop nodded slowly, her eyes looking upward in thought. “That sounds about right. Maybe a week off one way or the other, I couldn’t tell you exactly without looking at a calender.”

“That’s okay, there’s no need for that. I was just thinking that the moon should be close to full again at least. Doesn’t it take around a month for it to go through its phases?”

“I have no clue, hun,” the orange unicorn replied. “To be honest, I forgot a lot of what she told us during the last moon viewing party once we got to looking through the telescope. It was all so fascinating! And, of course, anything I might have held onto after that was lost with what happened at the end, and our subsequent journey into the Everfree Forest. That was more excitement than I like, let me tell you,” she said, shivering a little at the memory of it.

“Ah, don’t worry Dewdrop,” Feather Down said, “we won’t see a repeat of what happened last time. I mean, it would be impossible for us to have an exact repeat, right?” Seeing her friend nod slowly in agreement, Feather Down smiled and turned to head back upstairs. “We’re just going to be spending the night looking up at the moon with a princess! What could go wrong?” Feather Down froze, and then drooped her head. “I just jinxed us, didn’t I?”

Dewdrop chuckled. “Oh, I’m sure we’ll be okay. Although I do appreciate being able to blame you if things go wrong.”

Feather Down blew Dewdrop a raspberry, and trotted back up to her bed as Dewdrop laughed from below.

Placing one hoof in front of the other, Nightmare Moon continued her steady pace. Having no need to stop to eat or sleep, she had covered an amazing amount of ground. She was now on the far side of the moon from Equestria, the world below having passed from her view some time ago. She tried to remember when that had happened; had it been yesterday, or the day before? She had been so focused with honing in on where the energy she was feeling was emanating from that she had lost track of time.

Now she found herself stopping at the top of a ridge, looking down on a plain covered with rocks made of basalt, and she quickly realized where she was; the eastern ‘sea’ of the moon, or as it was called by the astronomers of old, Mare Orientale. It had been formed when, presumably, an asteroid had crashed into the moon long ago in the past, leaving behind a startling series of concentric circles where it had impacted. The sages of old had been drawn to it for its unique look, as well as for the fact that it wasn’t always visible from below, due to the moon’s want to rotate slightly on its axis when it was being raised and lowered.

While the ponies of the past had been pulled to it for aesthetic reasons, Nightmare Moon found herself pulled towards it because of a much different purpose. Curious as to whether or not the center of the Mare was indeed where the sensation she had been following was coming from, or if it was merely past it in a straight line past it from her, she decided to angle her path a little off to one side. If her goal was where she suspected it might be, she figured she would start to notice a change in what she was detecting after a few hours of steady travel. Pleased that she had something of interest to keep her occupied during her imprisonment, she resumed her steady pace down one of the gradual parts of the ridge she was currently standing upon.

Exhausted after a busy morning, Pine Needle had stopped for lunch at one of the many diners near the market of Ponyville. He was pleased that he had been able to order a small bowl of nuts for Acorn, who was happily and peacefully chowing down on them. The squirrel, his new pet, had been the reason for his shopping expedition. After a long talk about the joys and responsibilities of owning a pet (as well as a stern lecture directed at both of them about the less than friendly attitude they had shown towards each other in her presence), Fluttershy had then gone on at length about what Acorn would need in order to be comfortable and content as his pet.

Still feeling bad about how he had treated his friend earlier, Haystack had given him some bits to help cover the costs of buying food and other essentials for Acorn. The hardest part had been trying to communicate with the squirrel what he wanted to get for him. Through the use of excessive pantomime, the two of them had finally been able to work some things out, only to realize that it was then so late in the day that most of the stores they would want to visit would be closed. So, the two of them had gone to sleep, with Acorn spending the night curled up in some old sheet of Pine Needle’s.

He had just finished breakfast when Derpy stopped by to deliver an invitation for Luna’s moon viewing party. Thanking the cross-eyed mail pony for her efforts, he placed the invitation safely on a shelf and got through to Acorn that they would be heading out to go shopping for him. Pine Needle found that Acorn enjoyed riding on top of his head, the lower half of the squirrel hidden from view by his mane.

Shopping was an interesting experience. He ended up attracting a small crowd of fillies and colts who, having no school that day, followed him around to watch him act things out to the squirrel, who would then carefully consider his options before selecting something. He had even overheard two ponies mention how cute he looked with Acorn perched in his mane, which had led to a brief stop as he floated through a daydream where Applejack complimented him on his taking in the squirrel as a pet. Acorn, for his part, had made himself useful by waking him up from his stupor with a couple of well placed stomps after he became bored of waiting for the pony underneath him to start moving again.

“Pine Needle!” Hearing his voice called out, the green earth pony looked about and spotted Feather Down walking towards his table. “You don’t eat out all that often, what brings you... why do you have a squirrel eating with you?”

“Feather Down, mine friend! Sit, sit, have you had any lunch yet?” he asked as he quickly swallowed a mouthful of greens. “I have been out shopping all morning for mine new pet, Acorn,” he said as he gestured at the bundle of wrapped goods next to him and at the squirrel. For his part, noticing that Pine Needle was talking to someone else, Acorn looked up from his meal to examine the pink pony that was sitting down at the table across from him.

“A pet? That’s new. What made you decide to get one? Oh! I bet this has something to do with your pine trees and that earth pony magic you keep on talking about, right?”

Pine Needle sighed. “As I keep on having to tell everypony, that isn’t how earth pony magic works. But, you are correct on mine pine trees having something to do with it.” He stopped for a moment as a waitress came over to take Feather Down’s order, and he then proceeded to give his friend a quick recap of what had happened yesterday and that morning. By the time he had finished, Feather Down’s meal had been brought over, and the conversation paused as they all focused on their meals for a few minutes.

“So,” Feather Down asked after finishing off half of her dandelion sandwich, “are you going to bring him with you to the moon viewing party?”

“If he’s up for it,” the earth pony stallion replied. “Fluttershy said that squirrels usually go to bed once it gets dark, to help them avoid all of the predators that are out and about during the night time. I’d like to, to be honest, just so we can get used to each other some more.”

“It’ll be a good chance for you to show him to Dewdrop and Luna too. Hmm, is he going to come with us on our trips to Canterlot?”

“I honestly don’t know yet. That will be something I’d like to talk to Luna about tomorrow. In a way, it’s a blessing that she’s coming to Ponyville tomorrow instead of us going to visit her in the capital.”

“I guess so,” Feather Down said reluctantly.

“What’s wrong?” Pine Needle asked, sensing his friend’s discomfort.

With a sigh, Feather Down said, “Oh, I’m just being silly, that’s all. I had such a great time at the charity dinner we went to last time we were in Canterlot, and a small part of me was hoping we’d get to go to the Grand Galloping Gala. I know I’m being greedy, but still... it’s the Grand Galloping Gala!”

Pine Needle blinked a couple of times before asking, “And this Gala, it is something, um, grand?”

Feather Down shook her head in dismay. “I really should know better than to discuss high society with farmer stallions,” she said with a sigh. “Yes, for simplicity’s sake, it is very grand. It is the biggest social event of the whole year, and everypony who is somepony will be there.”

“Except for Luna, apparently,” commented Pine Needle.

Feather Down paused, and a serious look covered her face. “Now that you mention it, that is kind of odd, isn’t it? I wonder why she’s coming to Ponyville to spend the night with us instead of going to the Gala? You would think that with her trying as hard as she is to fit back in that it would be the perfect event to help her out.”

Pine Needle shrugged. “I don’t know. You should ask Haystack about it, he seems to be spending a lot of time wondering about the princesses lately, although more about Celestia now that I think about it. It sounds like a lot of the other things he’s heard or talked about recently.”

“Hmm. Actually, I think I will. That’s a good idea, Pine Needle. Thank you. Do you know if he’ll be at his farm today?”

“As far as I know he should be,” he answered. “At least, he didn’t mention to me that he was going to be doing anything out of the ordinary yesterday.”

“Of course. It isn’t like he comes into town that often anyway,” she replied with a chuckle. Feather Down then proceeded to quickly devour the rest of her sandwich, slapping some bits onto the table to pay for it as she got back to her hooves. “Well, I’ll be heading off to Haystack’s farm then. If you’ll excuse me?” Upon receiving an acknowledging nod from the stallion she headed out, accelerating quickly to a gallop and was soon out of sight.

Acorn looked at Pine Needle and made some questioning chatter sounds while waving his arms. Pine Needle simply shrugged expressively in return, which garnered a disdainful sound from the squirrel. It wasn’t until later, on their way home, that Pine Needle realized that he and Acorn had come their closest yet to actually understanding each other. All it had taken was the one thing that had befuddled males of all species since the beginning of time: Just why were females so confusing?

Luna woke up early on Sunday, having spent Saturday planning for her moon viewing party, eager for the events of the day ahead. She had worried that it might be difficult to get some of the things that she had needed, due to all of the preparatory work going on in decorating the castle for the Gala, but it had turned out to be the opposite. With the chefs making snacks for hundreds of ponies, getting them to give up one tray for a small group of five had been easy. Finding a pair of guards willing to pull a chariot for her and her supplies had been a surprise too; it turned out quite a few members of the guard didn’t like having to take care of all the minor hassles that so many ponies together inevitably caused, and she had been forced to wait until one of the commanders had come by to help her decide who would get to spend the evening as her personal help.

There was one last task that still had to be completed, the transferring of the duty to raise and lower the moon. While there wasn’t any need for a specific spell to be able to influence the celestial objects, the ponies of long ago had developed enchantments that made the task much easier, and the passing of these magics from one pony to another had been a vital piece that had helped create the monarchy that currently ruled Equestria. She had wanted to make tonight be the first night that she performed the duty herself, and so had told Celestia to keep it until today. With a spring to her step that she rarely exhibited, she made her way to the dining hall, hoping her sister would already be there. Opening the door with a quick spell, she smiled widely at the sight of her sister patiently waiting for her.

“My, my, somepony sure looks happy,” Celestia said with a grin. “We both have big things waiting for us today, are you ready?”

“You bet!” Luna said as she took her seat. The servers brought out their meal, a platter with a variety of fruit slices on it, and the two sisters broke their fast.

“So,” Celestia said after a few quiet minutes of eating, “do you need any help with anything for tonight? Did you have any problems?”

Luna shook her head. “No problems at all. Right after lunch I’ll go get the guards, and they’ll help me get everything loaded into the chariot. The hardest part is going to be waiting that long, to be honest. Is there anything I could help you with while I wait?”

Her sister shook her head while smiling. “Thank you Luna, but no. I will be spending most of the day simply waiting and keeping out of the decorators way. Unless some sort of emergency comes up, I’ll probably use the morning and the afternoon to get caught up on my reading. Speaking of which, how are your studies coming along?”

“Oh my goodness!” Luna said while blushing in embarrassment. “I’ve been so busy this week, what with the assembly and now tonight, I don’t think I’ve even looked at my history books, let alone done any reading.”

“Well then, why don’t you join me in my quarters?” Celestia asked. “That way you can ask me any questions that might come up, we’ll be out of way of the decorators, and we can take care of the transfer while we’re there too. To be honest, I think it would be best if it was done in private.”

Luna paused, her magic holding a slice of pear in the air in front of her. “Not that I wanted to make a big scene of the transfer, but why would you prefer it be done in private? Are you afraid that something might go wrong?” she asked, her voice tinged with worry.

“No, not at all,” her sister hastily replied. “I’m just a bit... nervous about it, that’s all. After all, I’ve never had to give somepony else the enchantments before, and while it should be easy, I’d rather spare us both some embarrassment if I happen to mess it up somehow. Still, to be on the safe side, make sure you eat a full breakfast. My biggest worry is that raising the moon for the first time in a thousand years may be particularly draining. I don’t want you passing out from the exertion in front of your friends.”

With a nod, Luna ate everything on the plate in front of her. With a barely visible nod, Celestia let the servers know that they were finished. After the table had been cleared, and compliments to the chefs and the servers had been given, the sisters headed to Celestia’s quarters with a brief stop at the library to pick up Luna’s books and say a quick hello to the Mrs. Hardback. Luna had to fight the urge to gallop on ahead; finally, after so long, she would soon be an actual part of how things worked in Equestria again.

After what seemed like an eternity of walking down long hallways, they finally reached Celestia’s rooms. Once inside, Celestia shook her head and laughed at the eager and excited look in Luna’s eyes. “You know,” she told her younger sister with a grin, “if some of those grumpy ponies from the Assembly saw you right now, they would think that all of their crackpot conspiracies were correct.” Seeing Luna roll her eyes, Celestia chuckled and said, “Okay, hold still for a minute, if you can, and I’ll get this done so you’ll be able to actually concentrate on what you’re reading.”

Luna stood perfectly still and closed her eyes. Celestia’s horn glowed white, and then both of the sisters were covered with a bright, almost blinding aura of magical light that Luna could see through her eyelids. After a few seconds, she felt a slight tingle throughout her body, starting at the top of her horn and quickly spreading throughout her entire body. Soon, every part of her felt different, from the tips of her wings to the bottom of her hooves. Finally, with one last pulse the light flared and slowly disappeared, and the tingly sensation faded away.

Keeping her eyes closed Luna activated her magic, and she felt inside of her the enchantments that had been developed long ago in Equestria’s past to assist the royal alicorns in their duty of raising and lowering the celestial bodies. She smiled as she explored it with her magical senses, getting reacquainted with it. After a minute or so, she opened her eyes to see her sister studying her closely, a puzzled look on the elder alicorn’s face. “You did it, Celestia!” she said happily, only to fall silent as her sister seemed to ignore her by slowly walking around her, her puzzled look growing.

“Um, is something wrong?” Luna asked, suddenly growing very nervous. Her sister didn’t answer, and simply continued her circuit around her. Feeling panic starting to turn her insides to jelly, she said, “You’re starting to scare me, Celestia. What are you doing?”

Celestia shook her head, as if trying to clear it. “I’m sorry Luna. Nothing is wrong at all.” She gave her younger sister a reassuring smile. “To be honest, I had a silly little theory, but it seems that I was incorrect. I’m actually a bit embarrassed by it now, looking back on it. Nothing to be concerned about at all.”

“You’re sure?” Luna asked, doubt still audible in her voice.

“Yes. One hundred percent. Please, don’t worry about it at all.”

Luna nodded slowly. “Okay, then, I won’t.” A smile grew on her face. “Thank you again.” The two sisters nuzzled each other and then sat down to start on their reading.

Haystack landed from his glide onto the road outside the house that Luna had lived in as Moonbeam. It was still around an hour before sunset, but he had wanted to make sure that he had arrived early rather than late. Looking at the house, he saw that Luna had brought with her a much larger telescope than what she had used last time. Wondering just how well it would let him see the moon, he started up the path to the front door of the house, only to stop when an armored pegasus came outside and shot him an intimidating look. “Hello, sir. I have my invitation right here,” he said to the stone faced guard as he produced the scroll that Luna had sent him from where he had tucked it underneath his wing. The guard looked it over, and then silently motioned for Haystack to enter the house.

Inside, he called out a greeting as he looked around the place. One wall was covered by a large map of the surface of the moon, and the table was covered with a enough snacks that Haystack briefly wondered just how many others Luna had invited. His thoughts were interrupted when Luna came down the stairs and greeted him with a friendly hug. “I’m so glad you could come for this!” she said excitedly.

Haystack chuckled. “Well, it isn’t like I had anything else planned for today. I’m sorry if I’m too early.”

“Oh no, not at all,” Luna quickly reassured him. “If anything, I was hoping that you would all show up early, so we could at least get some of our usual talking in before the actual event begins. Speaking of which, how are-” Luna was cut off as the front door opened to reveal Dewdrop and Feather Down.

“Hello Luna!” Feather Down said as bounded over to hug the princess. “I’ve been waiting all day for this, let me tell you. Why, I think I’ve only been able to nap once or twice this afternoon because of my excitement!”

Dewdrop walked over to stand next to Haystack, and the two ponies exchanged smiles. “How had your day been, dear?” she asked the pegasus.

“Honestly, it’s been kind of strange. I’ve gotten used to having Sunday’s off from work because of our trips to Canterlot, so I found myself with nothing to do. I ended up just walking around my farm and letting my mind wander for most of the day,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof self consciously.

“You know,” the orange unicorn replied with a chuckle, “you could have come into town, there’s lots of things to do. Even if all you did was stop by our place and chat for a bit, I’m sure that would have been better than just tromping around that hill of yours all by yourself.”

Haystack blushed a little. “You’re right, of course. It’s just that I’m still uncomfortable around large groups of ponies I don’t know. Being social has never been easy for me.” He looked around. “All we’re missing is Pine Needle, want me to go grab him?”

“No need, he should be here any second,” Dewdrop replied. “We passed by his place on the way, I guess he’s trying to find out if Acorn wants to come along or not.”

“Acorn?” Luna asked as she and Feather Down walked over to the other two ponies. “Who’s that?”

“Pine Needle seems to have adopted a pet,” Feather Down explained. “A squirrel. I’ll let him explain it all when he gets here.”

At that point the door swung open again, and Pine Needle entered with Acorn perched on top of his head. “Mine apologies for taking so long to get here everypony,” he said. “I had wanted to be here sooner, but getting that across to Acorn was, as always, a challenge. Luna, may I please have the honor of introducing to you mine new pet, Acorn the squirrel.”

Luna smiled at the green earth pony. “I find it very fitting that you have a pet that lives in the trees that you are named after. Well then, since we still have some time before sunset, let’s use it to get caught up on everything that has happened.” She motioned towards the snack laden table. “I made sure to bring more than enough, so please don’t feel like you need to hold back.”

The next hour was spent in conversation. Luna was evasive about what had happened during the week, and did her best to keep her friends talking. She was glad that, besides Haystack, none of the other ponies had had much of a chance to see Pine Needle’s new pet, and so she was able to steer the conversation towards him rather easily. Finally, the sun disappeared behind the horizon, and Luna waited for a lull in the talking before getting their attention.

“My friends! It looks like it is just about time for the official start to this party, so let’s all head up to the viewing area, okay?” Hearing them voice their approval, Luna led them up the stairs and out onto the porch, where a telescope that was taller than the dark hued alicorn stood. Luna’s friends all stood and gawked in amazement at the size and complexity that the knobs and dials hinted at.

“My goodness!” Dewdrop exclaimed. “This thing is bigger than the one Twilight Sparkle has at the library! It couldn’t have been easy to bring over here.”

Luna grinned at her friend. “Well, I did have the help of the guards,” she said while pointing at the two armored pegasi who were slowly circling the area, keeping a watch out for anything out of the ordinary. “And, of course, I have my magic, something I didn’t have for the last party. Let me tell you, I am so glad to be able to adjust this telescope with spells instead of teeth.”

Feather Down stared at the horizon. “Pardon me for saying so, Luna, but I think your sister is slacking off. Shouldn’t the moon have started to rise right after the sun set?”

‘Well...” Luna drawled, her grin turning into a giant smile. “About that? One second, let me get the guards down here, this is important.” Her horn aglow, she looked up at the flying guards and projected in a voice much louder than normal, “Sun Ray! Iron Pinion! Please come here!”

After the two pegasus had landed, she said, “Everypony! I am pleased to announce that you about to witness something that has not happened for over a millennium! Tonight, I shall renew my duty to raise and lower the moon in our night sky!” Seeing her friend’s mouths drop open with astonishment, she added, “I’ll admit, I’m a bit nervous, not to mention out of practice, so please forgive me if things don’t go as smoothly as they usually do. While I’m sure that eventually I’ll be able to do this as easily and effortlessly as Celestia does, I will be going through some extra motions tonight that will assist me in getting this done correctly the first time.”

Slowly flapping her wings, Luna rose from the deck. Closing her eyes, her horn started to glow brightly, and soon she was enveloped by a silver aura bright enough to cast shadows. The pace of the beating of her wings quickened, and beads of sweat started to form on her brow. In response, another glow formed on the horizon, and the moon started to reveal itself. Straining, as if she was trying to fly against a strong head wind, Luna continued to climb slowly in the sky, and the moon in turn ascended with her. Finally, around half a minute after she had started, she opened her eyes and her horn dimmed. Turning, she shouted in triumph as she saw that she had successfully raised the moon high into the night sky.

Her friends and the guards all cheered and stomped their hooves in applause as Luna landed back on the porch. She felt exhausted, and was glad she had taken her sister’s advice from earlier, yet she didn’t have any fears about falling over from fatigue. The joy that was welling up inside of her felt like it was about to lift her back into the night sky. “Thank you! And now that that’s done with, let’s get on with the actual party itself!”

It had taken several hours before she felt safe in believing her hunch to be correct, but once she was certain that what she was feeling was coming from the center of Mare Orientale, Nightmare Moon quicken her pace. The only thing keeping her from breaking out into a full gallop was the unevenness of the rocky, scree covered terrain and the possibility of twisting a leg after an ill placed step. While she felt somewhat confident that she could either heal herself, or at the least make her recovery faster than what it would normally take, she didn’t feel inclined to put her theories to the test if she didn’t have to.

A while later-- maybe a day, maybe two, she wasn’t entirely certain-- she came to a stop at the edge of the center impact ring. In front of her, the ground was as smooth as glass, and seemed to act as a mirror for the star filled sky above. The faint tug she had initially felt had now grown to become an almost insistent pull. Suddenly wary of a trap, Nightmare Moon stepped ahead cautiously while trying to discern if she was being manipulated in any fashion. She didn’t think she felt anything subversive in what she had been following, but she wanted to make sure. While she wouldn’t mind using what laid ahead in whatever manner she could, she would never allow herself to be used by another.

On an impulse, she turned from the center of the Mare and ran away as fast as she could while still keeping her focus on what she was experiencing. Five minutes passed, and then ten, and she was back onto the scree covered terrain, and still she kept galloping. After half an hour all told, she finally came to a stop. Not once had she felt even the slightest change in how she felt what she had been following, just the intensity of it based on how close to it she had been. Satisfied that she wasn’t being influenced in any way, she once again turned around, and headed back towards the center of the Mare.

A couple of hours later, she found herself at the very center of the impact site. In front of her was a hole that opened into a large cavern beneath her. Flapping her wings, Nightmare Moon floated downward, illuminating the depths around her with a light spell centered on her horn. Below her, around forty to fifty feet down, was the core of the meteor that had created Mare Orientale long, long ago. Landing next to it, she could tell that what she was feeling was coming from the ancient rock from far away. It resonated with her in a way that she didn’t think would have been possible if she had still been a part of Luna. Slowly, she circled it, trying to figure out not only why it was doing so, but if and how she could utilize this power for herself.

“...and with that, I think we had best call this a night,” Luna said to a series of groans from her friends. “I know, I’d stay up all night doing this if I could, but it wouldn’t be fair to the guards who volunteered to help me out tonight. Also, I want to get some rest before I have to lower the moon before dawn, especially with how much raising it took out of me.”

“I have to get up for work in the morning too, hun,” Dewdrop said. “While I’d like to be able to simply call in and ask for the day off, I have to admit that the hour is starting to get to me regardless of how much fun looking up at the moon is.”

Feather Down opened the door that led back inside and led the way towards the stairs. “Thank you very much, Luna!” she said. “I’ll admit, when we first got the invitations, I was hoping that they were for the Grand Galloping Gala. But after what I saw tonight? I had so much fun, I’ll take this over a ball any day!”

“I had a good time too,” Luna said as she entered the house. “You know, I was a bit envious about not getting to go to the Gala myself. Although, with what Celestia was hinting might happen tonight, I think this was the better place to be myself.”

Haystack froze in his tracks, so suddenly that Dewdrop, who was following him, couldn’t stop herself from bumping into him from behind. “Oh my goodness,” he said, “that’s it.”

“What’s it?” Luna asked, her head turned around to see what had caused the collision behind her.

“I, I think I know why Celestia has been acting the way she has been. Why she’s been doing all these strange things, pulling all those kind of but not really pranks. I think,” he hastily added, looking very uneasy.

“Well, don’t just stand there, tell us,” Dewdrop said. “You’ve been working on this for quite a while now, I’d like to hear what you’ve come up with. I gave it some thought myself after you brought it up at the dinner at Celestia’s school, and I couldn’t come up with anything myself.”

Luna stepped up to the pegasus, with a curious look on her face. “I’ve been wondering about this some too, to be honest. Please, even if you aren’t one hundred percent sure, at least tell me what your theory is.”

“Well,” Haystack said, looking at the floor, “it came to me when you mentioned being envious. I think your sister might be envious of you.” Looking up, and not seeing anypony stopping him, he added, “You got to come here tonight and spend the evening with friends, having fun-”

A gasp from Luna cut him off. “And she’s mentioned to me how boring and predictable the Gala is to me several times. She doesn’t have fun at it at all.”

“I don’t think she’s being malicious about it at all,” Haystack hastily added. “It’s just that she sees you getting to have fun on a weekly basis, and getting together with a close group of friends, but who can the thousand year old ruler of a country even get close to? I mean... She isn’t doing these things to be mean, to you or anypony else, but...” He paused and growled in frustration. “I just can’t find the exact words to say what I’m thinking!”

Luna put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “You don’t have to, Haystack. I know exactly what you mean.” She sighed, and closed her eyes to keep her friends from seeing the tears that were threatening to burst forth. “I even left her alone to go on an adventure and make some friends, while she was stuck back in Canterlot, forced to do the same old things that she always has.” Rubbing her eyes with a hoof, she took in a deep breath to calm herself. “I should have thought of this on my own, and yet, I also asked her to tell me if there was anything that she wasn’t happy about. I’m a little upset that she didn’t.”

“How could she, without it turning into a guilt trip?” Dewdrop asked. “I think she knows that you didn’t do what you did to make her jealous, or to hurt her, so why bring it up if all it would do is strain things between the two of you?”

Luna nodded slowly. “You’re right. Or, at least, you were right. However, I think that I can listen to what she has to say now without it doing that. If nothing else, she deserves the chance to open up to somepony, and that needs to be me.” Turning to the guards, she said, “Could you two please see that the telescope gets brought back to Canterlot? I’m going to head back now alone, and I want to get back as soon as I can.” Seeing them nod, she turned back to her friends. “Thank you, all of you. I’m sorry to leave so abruptly, but...” Seeing them all smile at her, she rushed back out onto the deck and took to the sky, determined to fly back to Canterlot as fast as she could.

Luna looked around her, stunned by the mess she saw. Instead of the Grand Galloping Gala still going on, the main ball room was empty and in shambles, with decorations broken and dirt trampled everywhere. Seeing an earth pony holding a broom in his mouth, looking resigned to a long night of cleaning up, she trotted over to him. “What happened?” she asked. “It looks like the weather teams set a tornado loose in here!”

“It was chaos, your Highness,” the pony said after bowing and leaving the broom at his hooves so he could speak clearly. “There seemed to be some confusion as to what the band was supposed to be playing, and then a cake went flying, and then the statue fell, and then the pillars...” He trailed off, shaking his head at the thought of it all. “I was watching from over there, just inside the kitchen, ready to step in in case somepony spilled something, but I wasn’t expecting something like that to happen.”

“That sounds crazy,” Luna admitted. “But I wouldn’t have thought that even something like that would have brought the premier event of the year to a stop.”

“Ah, but I haven’t gotten to the worst of it yet, your Highness. After all of that, Princess Celestia came running in to see what was happening. That’s when the door leading to the gardens burst open, and all the animals came stampeding in. Everypony was afraid that they might get trampled, or that their outfits would get ruined, and they all ran off. I saw Princess Celestia motion to some of them to go past her, and then after making sure nopony else followed them, closed the door and directed the rest of the guests out the other exits.”

“I don’t suppose you know which way my sister left after that?” Luna asked hopefully.

The earth pony nodded. “She went out the same door she let those other ponies leave by,” he said, pointing to the door that Luna had entered through.”

“Thank you very much, good sir. You’ve been an invaluable help to me tonight. If you’ll pardon me, I have to be on my way.” She quickly turned and headed back out of the ball room, and did her best to ask the guards and staff along the way if they had seen which direction her sister had headed. Slowly but surely, she made her way through the castle, finally meeting a guard at a side entrance who was able to tell her that Celestia had flown towards town, and looked to have landed in the educational district. Luna took flight, wondering where her sister might have gone so late in the evening.

From above, she could see that very few buildings were actually open. The cityscape below her was dominated by houses with darkened windows and closed doors. One building stood out though, the light spilling from it’s confines acting as a beacon. Landing a short distance away, Luna peered around the corner of another building to see what had caught her eye. Before her stood a donut shop, with a sign reading ‘Open 24 hours!’ Luna supposed that the students in the area needed someplace to do their late night studying, and was about to take off when she saw a pastel colored mane through one of the windows.

‘Only my sister had a mane like that,’ she thought, and started to head forward to confront her when she saw that Celestia was not alone. Although they were dressed up in amazing outfits, she still recognized Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and the other Elements of Harmony together. Luna paused, and retreated back again, keeping just enough of her head showing so that she could see what was happening. What she saw reminded Luna of the time she spent with her friends every week. Celestia was smiling and laughing, sharing stories with the other ponies. The store’s employee brought over another plate of donuts, and soon they were all snacking and conversing.

Backing away, Luna took flight and headed back to the palace. She still planned on confronting her sister, but at least she now had a better idea of why Celestia went to such lengths. If this was how far she had to go in order to have a night out with her friends, Luna wasn’t about to ruin it by barging in unexpectedly and causing a scene. Now, she realized, the challenge was to figure out how to bring it up to Celestia, and what she could do help her sister out. For now, she thought, she would do what she could by helping with the clean up. It might not be much, but at least it was a start.

Part 3: Half -- Chapter 1

Dewdrop looked at the clock on the wall behind her. It read three in the afternoon, which meant she still had another hour of trying to keep busy at the Ponyville Inn before her shift was done. Having already done all of her tasks twice, she was out of ideas to help kill time and found herself simply standing behind the the front desk, patiently waiting to greet anypony who might stop by.

Not that she expected any guests though. The weather pegasi had dropped a half a foot of snow across the area during the past few days, making the season officially winter. And while that didn’t mean that nopony was out and about, the number of vacationers was drastically down, as the near empty inn proved. While she didn’t mind a lighter work load, she would rather have something to do to help pass the time than just stare at the clock.

Her reverie was broken by the sound of a bell chiming, announcing that somepony had come through the inn’s front door. Quickly turning around, Dewdrop gave a warm smile to the young mare that had just entered. She was a yellow earth pony, with a dark green mane that held its fluffy shape even in the cold weather. On her back was a sturdy looking set of saddlebags, and a white scarf was wrapped around her neck.

“Welcome to the Ponyville Inn!” Dewdrop said, motioning the newcomer forward with a wave of a hoof. “How can I help you?”

The young mare smiled in return and walked up to the front desk. “Hello! I am here looking for a room for the night. Mine journey has been a long one, and so mine hooves are a bit sore, but I am glad to have finally made it to Ponyville,” she said in a very thick accent while stretching out the syllables in her words.

Dewdrop’s eyes grew wide. “I apologize if it is rude of me to ask, but are you from Stalliongrad?”

“Yes!” the mare replied, her smile growing. “Very well done, not many ponies this far south recognize mine manner of speaking. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you know?”

“Hearing you speak as you did was deja vu for me. Several years ago, a young stallion came here and said almost the exact same thing you did, in the same accent too. He’s become one of my best friends since then,” Dewdrop explained.

“I am here looking for somepony who would have arrived here around that long ago!” the mare said excitedly. “Tell me, is your friend’s name Pine Needle?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact it is,” Dewdrop replied, stunned by the turn of events.

“Ah, thank goodness!” the mare exclaimed, her accent becoming even more pronounced in her excitement. “Please, you must help me find him. I am his sister, Pine Bough, and I have not seen mine brother for a long time. I have some important news to tell him, and time is of the essence. Anything you could do to help me would be greatly appreciated.”

“Of course! Let me go talk to my manager. I still have another hour or so left to my shift, but with how slow things have been today, I’m sure I can get off early. I’ll gladly guide you myself. One moment, please.” Dewdrop walked to the door to the manager’s office and gently knocked. Hearing him call out for her to enter, Dewdrop opened the door and stepped inside.

“What’s up?” her manager asked, glancing up from the magazine he was looking through.

“A relative for one of my friends just showed up unexpectedly. It’s been really slow, and I have all of my cleaning done, do you mind if I leave a little early to show her the way?”

“I don’t know, I’m awfully busy just sitting here, paging through this month old thing,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye. “Of course you can. I’ll be right on out to watch the desk until Sundown shows up.”

“Thank you very much, sir!” Seeing her manager wave her out, Dewdrop returned to the front desk. “I got the go ahead, Pine Bough, so whenever you’re ready to go, we can start making our way to Pine Needle’s house.”

“I am as ready as I can be, um...”

Dewdrop lightly bopped her forehead with her hoof. “I forgot to introduce myself again, didn’t I? My name is Dewdrop.” She held the door outside open for Pine Bough, followed her through and fell into place beside her as they walked away from the inn. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to stop by my place first. It isn’t too far out of the way, and I’d like to drop off my apron. Besides, I think my roommate would be very interested to meet you.”

The two mares trudged through the snow, with Dewdrop pointing out various places to Pine Bough and greeting other ponies they passed on the way. After a few minutes of walking, Dewdrop came to a stop. “Here’s where me and Feather Down live. Would you do me a favor, and when my roommate comes down, just say hello and tell her your name?”

The yellow earth pony nodded slowly. “I can do that, but I am wondering why?”

Dewdrop grinned. “It’s been a while since I’ve been able to surprise her. I think her reaction should be interesting, if not fun, to watch.” Casting a quick spell, she opened the door and called out, “Feather Down! I’m home, and I’ve brought a guest!”

“Welcome back, Dewdrop!” a voice answered from upstairs. The sound of hooves on stairs soon followed, and Feather Down soon joined the other two mares in the main room below. “Hey there! My name is Feather Down, nice to meet you.”

“Hello, mine name is Pine Bough, and it is nice to meet you too."

Feather Down’s eyes went wide in shock, then quickly narrowed into a very focused look. “Oh. My.” Turning to face Dewdrop, she asked, “Is she...?”

Dewdrop nodded. “His sister. We’re heading over to his house as soon as I drop off my apron.”

“Right, I’ll go grab Haystack then. We’ll meet you there!” With that, Feather Down charged out the still open front door at full speed, leaving a plume of churned up snow in her wake as she sped away at a full gallop.

Pine Bough blinked in surprise. “That was very... unexpected.”

“Heh, sorry about that, I’ll explain things to you, just let me run this upstairs real quick.” Dewdrop trotted up the stairs and returned a few moments later, the apron discarded and her neck now covered by a red and white striped scarf. Leading the way back out of the house, she closed the door with a quick burst of telekinesis and starting walking down the road side by side with Pine Bough.

“A couple of weeks ago, we were at a dinner in Canterlot with one of our friends, and Pine Needle sat next to somepony that, after recognizing his accent and name, asked if he was related to Stalliongrad’s mayor,” she explained as they walked through Ponyville. “That piqued Feather Down’s interest, because she realized that Pine Needle simply never brought up anything about his past to us besides the barest minimum. I guess she got him alone and tried to dig some more stuff out, but came away empty hoofed. Now that you’re here, it looks like we’ll finally be able to learn some more about him.”

Pine Bough frowned. “He never once mentioned me, or the rest of our family, or why he left?”

“Hun, he barely mentioned the fact that he was originally from Stalliongrad. About the only time I can remember him mentioning it would be in passing while trying to explain something about his earth pony magic. I always assumed he left Stalliongrad because of the weather, although now you have me wondering just what that reason was.” Seeing Pine Bough about to answer, she raised a hoof to stop her. “Wait. Haystack and Feather Down are going to want to know too. I can wait a few minutes easily enough to save you the trouble of repeating yourself.”

After rounding a corner, Dewdrop pointed ahead of them. “See those pine trees? Guess who lives there,” she said with a grin.

Pine Bough started to pick up her pace when a voice from above called down, “Over here, Feather Down!” The young earth pony mare came to a stop as a brown pegasus landed on the other side of Dewdrop from her. A few seconds later, a sprinting Feather Down came to stand next to her, and without word, the four ponies all started walking forward as one.

Around half a block from Pine Needle’s house, Pine Bough came to a stop. She watched as Pine Needle stood next to one of his trees with a basket at this feet. He made wide, sweeping gestures with a hoof towards the basket, and a second later a pine cone flew down from the branches... to hit him squarely on top of his head. Quickly picking up the erroneously thrown cone with his teeth and dropping it into the basket, he shouted something upward while pointing at the basket again. The amused chattering of a squirrel could be heard from above and another pine cone was dropped, this time into the basket.

With a wide smile on her face, Pine Bough trotted ahead, and when she was just a house away shouted, “Pine Needle! Brother!”

Pine Needle whirled around, shock plain on his face. So stunned by what he saw, he didn’t even register the pine cone that flew down and bounced off the top of his snout. Surprised by the lack of a response, Acorn scampered down a branch to see what was happening.

Pine Bough ran up and embraced her brother in a giant hug. Pine Needle’s friends stopped at the edge of the front lawn, giving the two siblings their space in what was turning into a very heartwarming moment as Pine Needle returned the hug and lifted his sister off the ground to spin her around. “It, it is you!” he exclaimed as he put her down, still having trouble processing what was happening. “You’ve grown so much since I last saw you? How long ago was it?”

“Almost three years, mine brother," she replied, her accent showing up in full force in her joy of the moment. "You missed me getting mine cutie mark too, see?” she pointed at her flank.

Pine Needle bent his head to get a closer look at it, a trio of small pine trees. “I, I’m so proud of--”

THWACK!!

Pine Needle was sent tumbling to the ground as Pine Bough used his diverted attention, and convenient placing, to buck him squarely on the cheek. Pine Needle’s friends all stared in shock, mouths open wide in disbelief, at the sudden turn of events. Pine Bough walked over to stand above her brother with tears starting to trail down her cheeks. “That’s for leaving like you did! You didn’t tell anypony, you didn’t leave a note, NOTHING! I was so afraid that something terrible had happened to you, and mother and father were in such a panic...” She broke down into sobs, unable to say anything else as the memories of the past overwhelmed her.

Pine Needle slowly stood up and, without saying a word pulled her in and silently comforted her. Haystack led the others forward and, pointing to the house, said, ”Maybe we should take this inside? That way we can have some privacy, and we can all find out just what the hay is going on.” Seeing the two siblings nod, they all entered the domicile, Acorn quickly scampering after them all, not wanting to be left outside by himself.

Having finished her studies for the day, and with some time remaining before dinner was served, Luna walked the halls of Canterlot Castle lost in thought. Looking back on the night of the Gala, she realized how lucky she had been that she hadn’t confronted her sister about what she had discovered. While she felt she had a point to make, she had quickly realized that she didn’t know how to convey her thoughts appropriately.

Pausing in front of one of the many detailed stained glass windows that were prominent throughout the building, she pondered what to do. It still made her upset that Celestia hadn’t told her about being jealous of her and the time she got to spend regularly with her friends. However, her anger had long since shifted from her sister to herself for not picking up the signs on her own. All the clues that had been dropped around her, and the subtle hints discretely placed, looking back they all seemed so obvious.

She shook her head in frustration; she needed to stop beating herself up over what had happened, and think about how to make the future better. She had come up with several ideas during the past few days, and had quickly discarded each of them in turn for obvious defects. Now she was down to only two real options left that she could think of. The first was to follow in her sister’s tracks and do as she did; leave clues for her in the same fashion that Celestia had done for her, hoping that her sister was able to see them and figure out her intentions. The other was to simply grasp the bit firmly between her teeth and bring it up bluntly.

Part of her really wanted to try the first path, if only to see how well she could do in emulating her sister and her methods. She had a suspicion that it might be just what Celestia wanted, a private game between the two of them, as they tried to carry out a conversation that was communicated not through words or personal actions, but through events and unvoiced hints. Even if she failed, Luna suspected that her sister would still be happy for the effort that she had put into it.

The problem was it went against her nature so strongly that Luna couldn’t see any result but failure. The last couple of evenings, while waiting to carry out her duties in raising the moon, she had tried to create some schemes that she could put in motion. And while she had come up with a couple of basic ideas, she knew that she still lacked the connections and resources to pull them off effectively.

Hearing the bells announce that dinner time had arrived, she took a deep breath and made her way towards the royal dining room. Upon entering, she found that she had arrived first, so she quickly gathered up all of the servers. “I’m sorry to ask this of you, but after you bring us our meals, would you all please leave the room? I have something that I want to discuss in private with my sister.” Seeing them nod, she thanked them and then took her seat.

A short while later, Celestia arrived, looking worn out. “How was your day?” Luna asked as her sister took her seat at the table.

“Oh, the same as it usually is during the start of every winter Luna,” the white alicorn replied. “Having to deal with the inevitable hiccups in the distribution of the snow, the usual increase in ponies needing help to deal with the weather, and of course there are always some nobles trying to find a way to turn things to their profit or advantage.” She sighed and gave Luna a weary smile. “But you don’t want to hear me complain about that, I’m sure,” she said as the servers placed a large bowl of salad onto the table. “Tell me, how was your day?”

Instead of answering, Luna nodded to the servers, who with a quick bow left the room. Seeing Celestia raise an eyebrow inquisitively, Luna looked her in the eyes and said, “Actually, yes, I do want to hear you complain. Be it about the nobles, the state of Equestria, or...” she paused, taking one last brief moment to prepare herself before committing herself to her course of action. “Or especially if it is about me, and how inconsiderate I have been to you.”

Celestia paused, a bite of leafy greens halfway to her mouth, and eyed her sister questioningly. “What are you talking about, Luna?” she asked, confusion evident in her voice.

“Sister, I have been a foal, and I apologize,” Luna replied. “Every week, I get to spend a day with my friends. I get to escape the day to day grind of being a princess, even if my duties pale in comparison to yours. I can’t imagine how that must make you feel, knowing how rare such chances for you are.”

Celestia let her salad return to the plate in front of her. “Luna, please, there is nothing for you to apologize for. It isn’t your fault that things are as they are.”

“But it is!” she said forcefully. “If I hadn’t been so blind to what you have to go through on a daily basis, if I hadn’t run away in a desperate attempt to turn my life around.” She paused, and lowered her gaze down to the table in front of her. “If I hadn’t allowed myself to let my jealousy get the better of me all those years ago, and left you all alone for so long.”

“Oh, Luna, you know I forgave you of that! Please don’t tell me you’re still beating yourself up over something that happened so long ago.”

Luna shook her head slowly. “No, I’m not, or at least not directly. But the consequences are still making things harder for you even today. The fact that I can’t help you in governing Equestria yet, that you have to bear that burden by yourself, instead of splitting it with me. Look at you right now, worn out, physically and mentally from having to do the same things, over and over again! You can’t tell me that you’re enjoying yourself, with how things are.”

Celestia paused to gather her words, and replied, “No, no I’m not. But that’s why I’m doing everything I can to help you, Luna. That’s why I keep on pushing you in your studies, so that you can be able to help me out sooner, rather than later.”

“I understand that, but I think that isn’t enough,” she said, feeling her confidence build. Celestia wasn’t dismissing her outright. She was taking the conversation very seriously, which meant that she was hitting the nail on the head. “There has to be more than I can do than spending all day reading books! Have me sit in on your sessions, so that I can get a better understanding on how to handle petitioners. Or delegate some lesser tasks to me, anything to give you some more time for yourself!”

A small laugh escaped from Celestia’s throat. “Oh, Luna, while I greatly appreciate your eagerness to help me out, I think you’re overreacting to me being fatigued.” Her horn glowed, and she once again started to lift a mouthful of salad with her magic.

“This isn’t about today, and you being tired, sister,” Luna said softly. “This is about last Sunday, and the Gala. About how you had to go to such lengths just to have a night with friends. Haystack had been thinking about all the things you’ve done lately, such as your trip to Ponyville with Philomena, and what you did the night of the charity dinner. He helped me realize how blind I’ve been, and so I raced back here, only to see the Gala was already over. I followed you, and I saw you at the donut shop with Twilight Sparkle and her friends. That you have to go so far out of your way to do what I do every week without any complications, I...” she trailed off, not certain what else to say.

“Well,” Celestia said, “that wasn’t the only reason why I set things up to happen as they did. Not that I knew they would go that way, but I had a good feeling that they might.”

“But it was a reason, correct?” Luna asked.

“I... yes. And if I’m to be honest, it was the outcome I was hoping for the most.”

“That’s what I want to help you with, Celestia! You shouldn’t have to do that to have a night off with friends. It isn’t right! So please, tell me how I can change that for you. Let me know what it is that I have to do to help you, not down the line, but as soon as possible!”

Celestia sat silently in her seat, and Luna thought that she might be holding back tears. In a husky voice that confirmed her suspicions, Celestia said, “Okay. I honestly hadn’t even thought about what I could do along those lines, but I promise you that I will tonight. And Luna? Thank you,” she said with a smile. “Thank you so much. I’ll be honest, even knowing that you didn’t mean for it to hurt, that it was never your intention, it still did frustrate me. To hear you say this, to hear how you feel, I...” She swallowed, and then levitated a napkin up to blow her nose into. “Look at me, tearing up over this, how silly is that?”

Luna got up from her seat and trotted over to her sister and nuzzled her. “It isn’t funny at all, Celestia,” she said, fighting back tears of her own. “Not in the least.” The two stood there, necks pressed against each other, for a couple of minutes as they let their love for each other do the talking.

Finally, Celestia cleared her throat, and slowly pulled back. “Very well then. I promise you that, starting on Monday, I’ll have come up with some things for you. I’m not certain yet what they’ll be, but I’ll do my best to help you.”

Luna smiled and nodded, and returned to her seat. “Don’t hold back either. I understand that you might not be able to always find interesting or important things for me to tackle, but that’s good. I think those have to be the worst for you, the boring, mundane things that haven’t changed for hundreds of years, that long ago stopped giving any challenge or excitement.”

Celestia smiled back at her sister. “You’re right about that. For now though, let’s just do our best to regain our composure, okay? I don’t want to give the servers any more fodder for their gossip than I have to, okay?”

“Sounds good to me. And Celestia? Thank you.”

“And thank you, Luna. Thank you very much.”

The main room of Pine Needle’s house was packed. Pine Bough and Feather Down stood next to the front door, while Pine Needle stood on the other side of the room facing them. Dewdrop and Haystack stood off to the side next to each other, watching the others and hoping that things didn’t get out of hand. Dewdrop looked at her roommate, concerned that the pink mare might make things worse than they had to be.

For now though, Feather Down was quite calm. “Well,” she said, looking back and forth between the two siblings, “now that we’ve had a chance to collect ourselves, why don’t you tell us what’s going on?” She turned to Pine Bough. “What brought you here in the first place? Have you been searching for him for a long time, or...?”

Pine Bough shook her head. “No, although if I had even the smallest idea of where he had gone I probably would have. We only found out where he lived because of a letter we received last week, from some pony in Canterlot-”

“Marigold!” Pine Needle interrupted. “It had to have been her, she knew so much about Stalliongrad, and our grandfather being the mayor... I can’t think of any other pony who could have done it.”

“I think that’s who it was who sent us the letter,” she replied, nodding her head slowly. “The day after it arrived, mother and father had already packed some bags and had headed out. They said that they were going to stop by Canterlot first, so maybe they are going to visit her and get some more information before coming here to Ponyville?”

Pine Needle nodded slowly. “That seems like a sound plan to me, anyway.” His face turned melancholic. “I wish the circumstances of our reunion were better than this.”

“Hold on,” Feather Down said. “There’s something I’m missing here. Just why did you leave Stalliongrad in the first place, and how come your parents showing up is so bad?”

“Our parents were very, what is the word I am looking for?” he said with a grimace. “Controlling? Domineering? Especially mother, although our father didn’t lack for it either. When it became apparent just how skilled I was with mine magic, they went to great lengths to help nurture it. At first, it wasn’t bad at all, really. I had a strength that was very rare, even in a family that prided itself on being skilled in said field. So, I found it enjoyable to be given help to make it blossom, to reach mine potential.

“It started to become a nuisance when they started to plan out everything for me. For a while I had wanted to see what it would be like to try some other things out besides working in the fields and improving mine earth pony magic. Some of mine friends in school, for example, did some part time work helping out the construction crews, earning money and picking up some skills by doing some of the lifting and the easier tasks. When I asked our parents if I could join them for a weekend, they adamantly said no.

“Another time, I wanted to take an after school class where we were encouraged to try our hooves at different types of art. Painting, sculpting, and some musical instruments for students to try out were all made available. I didn’t think that I would be any good at any of things they were offering, but I wanted to at least try. Again, I was told no, and they made sure that all of mine time was filled up with extra work so that I couldn’t sneak off to go there anyways.”

“That sound pretty unfair,” Feather Down said, “but I don’t think that it warrants up and leaving without telling anypony.”

“And if that was all that it was, I would agree with you,” Pine Needle replied. “It was somewhat miserable and lonely, and Pine Bough was pretty much the only friend I had after a couple of years of such meddling due to me not being able to spend any time with anypony else outside of school. But that was not what drove me to leave. It was when our parents decided that, in order to help keep the magic strong for future generations they would pick out who I was going to marry, that I decided that enough was enough.

“And so I told mine parents that I didn’t want them to do that, that if I was going to fall in love with somepony, it was going to be with the mare of mine choice, not theirs. Of course, they did not listen. Luckily for me, mine parents had a very hard time finding somepony who not only met their high standards, but was also willing to go through with such a forced relationship. It took them over a year before they found a mare who fit those requirements. I tried one last time to tell them no, and they simply ignored me and insisted that I just needed to give her a chance. That was when I left.”

Pine Needle’s friends all displayed various levels of shock and distaste for the situation their companion had been forced to go through. “Well, I certainly don’t blame you for running away in circumstances like that,” Dewdrop said. “But I still don’t get why you couldn’t have at least told your sister about it. From what you said, and the fact that she came all this way on her own just so she could warn you? I think it seems safe to say that she wouldn’t have told anypony else where you went.”

“Yes!” Pine Bough exclaimed. “I would not have told told anypony anything!”

“And I know that you would not have,” Pine Needle said, his voice filled with misery. “But don’t you see, that why I couldn’t have told you anything! If mother and father even suspected that you knew where I had gone off to, how do you think they would have reacted?”

Pine Bough blinked in surprise. “They, they most likely would have constantly badgered me, trying to find out, hoping to wear me down,” she said in a whisper.

“That’s why I didn’t tell you. With how stubborn they had become, I did not want to you to suffer because of mine actions.” He drooped his head. “Although, it seems that I made you suffer anyhow. I am truly sorry, sister. If I could have done anything else, I would have!”

Pine Bough nodded slowly. “I think that, in the long run, what you did was the best option. After a couple of weeks of frustration, mother and father took some time to look at themselves, and question why their prized son would simply up and run away. I believe that they did not like everything that they saw, and they became much less overbearing. They gave me a lot more freedom in my actions, and even encouraged me to try new things, although I think part of that is because I do not have your level of talent for earth pony magic.”

There was a moment of silence, as the gathered ponies took some time to sort through everything that had been said. “Well, that explains a lot,” Dewdrop said, breaking the silence, “but there’s one thing I’m still not understanding. At the inn, you said you had something important to tell Pine Needle, and you seemed to be in a hurry to do so.”

Pine Bough’s eyes widened in shock. “How could I have forgotten?” She shook her head in frustration. “Because of mine excitement at seeing mine brother again, that’s why,” she said, answering her own question. “Pine Needle, there is a reason why mother and father are coming to find you, and it is not for the same reason as mine.”

With a sigh, Pine Needle slouched. “Well, mine sister, do not hold back. Tell it to me straight, so that we can figure out what to do about it.”

“Well, right before the letter from Canterlot arrived, they were hosting some other ponies. A married couple who did a lot of exploring and wandering, and had their family elsewhere. They struck me as somewhat reckless, to be honest. Anyway, when mother and father read the letter, these visitors mentioned they had a daughter around the same age as you, and well...”

“Let me guess,” Pine Needle said with a moan. “They went and volunteered me to marry this mare, didn’t they?”

Pine Bough nodded sadly. After another short lull in the conversation, Feather Down started laughing. Seeing everypony else turn and look at her in astonishment, she waved a hoof in the air and said, “I just figured out how we can throw a wrench into your parent’s plans! When they show up, all we have to do is make it obvious that you already have a special somepony in your life, and that breaking up that relationship would cause too much trouble!”

“That sounds... plausible, I suppose,” Pine Needle conceded. “However, I just can’t see it working that well. There’s only one pony that I really love, and you know how I act when I get near her! What are we going to do, pretend to have me be dating somepony else?” He shook his head. “No, as good as it might sound at first, I think it might cause too much trouble in the long run. Who would want to go with such a plan anyway? You?”

Feather Down paused to consider the notion. “I guess I could if we had to, as a last ditch option. I was thinking more along the lines of helping you work past being the moon struck love colt you turn into whenever she is around. Wouldn’t that be great, if you actually got to go on a date with her?”

“Well...” Pine Needle paused, his head tilted in thought. “Okay, tell you what. You come up with how we’re going to do this, and after I hear what you’ve come up with, then I’ll give you a yes or no answer. Deal?”

“Deal!” Feather Down shouted in joy.

“I have a question,” Haystack said. “Tomorrow we have our weekly trip to Canterlot. What are we going to do with Pine Bough? On one hoof, I don’t know if it is okay to bring somepony else along without advance notice. But on the other hoof, I don’t think it would be a good idea to leave Pine Bough here all alone, especially if her parents could be showing up any day.”

“I say we bring her along,” Feather Down said. “It’s either that, or Pine Needle stays behind to watch after her. Maybe we can come up with a better plan during our visit with Luna, I’m sure she’ll be able to help us out in some way, right?”

“Luna?” Pine Bough asked. “Wait, there is only one Luna that I know of. Are you telling me that you are friends with one of the royal princesses?”

“Indeed we are,” Pine Needle said with a smile. “And if I am to be honest, I have a hard time believing it myself sometimes.” Seeing his sister’s eyes widen in disbelief, he added, “I’ll fill you in tonight, after I treat you to dinner, how does that sound?”

“That would be great! And I can tell you about all of the things that happened in Stalliongrad after you left.”

“Okay then, we can ask the guards when they come to pick us up in the morning. If they say that she can’t come, then I’ll stay behind, and, um, I don’t know,” he admitted. Turning to face Haystack, he asked, “Would it be okay if we spent the day at your place then? I don’t think it wold be good to be here if they decide to come tomorrow, it would be too easy for them to find us, and I would like some more time before I decide on what exactly I am going to do about their plans for me.”

“Hmm, I’m okay with that, but are you sure that’s the best place to go? If they’re able to find out where you live, odds are good that they’ll also be able to figure out where you work.” He turned to look at Dewdrop. “Maybe they could go to your house if they have to stay behind?”

“I have no problems with that. Do you mind, Feather Down?” the unicorn asked her roommate.

“Not at all! Even if they figure out that you might be there because we’re your friends, there should be enough room underneath Phillipe for both of you to hide.” She turned to face Pine Bough. “Well then, I’ve got some planning to do, and I’m sure you and your brother have a ton of stuff to tell each other. We’ll give you guys your space and see you tomorrow, okay?”

Everypony voiced agreement, and after some goodbye hugs, Pine Needle’s friends departed. Haystack flew back to his farm, and Dewdrop and Feather Down walked back to their house together. Inside, brother and sister sat down, and began the long process of catching up after being apart for several years.

“Help me out here, Dewdrop. Do you have any ideas on how we can help Pine Needle get over how paralyzing his crush on Applejack is?” Feather Down asked as she cleaned up the dinner mess.

“Hmm, I honestly don’t know,” the orange unicorn replied. “I’d suggest something along the lines of negative reinforcement, such as pouring water over his head whenever he freezes up, but I’m afraid that it would be too difficult to do without Applejack catching on to what’s happening.”

“Do you think she even knows?” Feather Down asked after putting the dirty plates in the sink. “I don’t see her much, but I’ve yet to hear her comment on it, or any of her friends for that matter.”

Dewdrop shrugged. “From what I’ve seen, either Applejack doesn’t know, or she’s polite enough to not make a big deal of it. I think a lot of it is because Pine Needle doesn’t make any noise when his love bug bites him, he just freezes up and spaces out, so it isn’t like he’s bothering anypony else when it happens.” Standing up, she walked over to the sink. “My turn to do the dishes hun, I’ll take over from here.”

“Thank you! Well then, I guess there’s only one sure way for me work this out,” she said with a grin.

“Let me guess,” Dewdrop said while rolling her eyes, “you’re going to sleep on it?”

“Yup!” Feather Down said cheerfully. “If you’ll excuse me then?” Seeing her roommate chuckle and nod, she trotted happily up the stairs to the bedroom. Looking out the window, she smiled at the sight of the moon shining through. “Good job, Luna,” she said as she climbed into her giant, luxurious bed, and quickly fell asleep.

Feather Down looked around her. She knew she was in a dream, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember the last time she had been aware of that while she was still in the dream itself. She also couldn’t recall the last time she had had such a strange dream either; she was standing in the center of a large white plain, underneath a very dark, starry sky. The ground was unlike anything she could remember; it was a very dry, gravelly white dirt that was underhoof. Suddenly, on a hunch, she looked up at the sky.

“Hmm, no Equestria above me,” she said out loud. “For a moment, I thought I was dreaming that I was on the moon.”

“Oh, but you are,” said a chilling and scarily familiar voice from behind her. Feather Down turned around, and stared in shock at the sight of a black alicorn.

“You, you’re...” she stammered, unable to give voice to what was was seeing.

“But you’re wrong about one thing. This isn’t a dream,” the dark incarnation said as she slowly walked towards the pink earth pony.

“This is a nightmare.”

Half -- Chapter 2

After finding the asteroid in the middle of Mare Orientale, Nightmare Moon was a bit stumped on what to do with it. While it was emanating power, she wasn’t sure how to access the energy, let alone use it. She carefully examined the meteorite, closely looking at every ridge and crack of the thing, and even tried tasting it just to see if something would happen.

Nothing.

Annoyed, she flew up and out of the hole and landed on its edge so she could look down on the meteorite. She hoped that examining her problem from a new angle would help give her some sort of epiphany. Perhaps if she took in not just the rock, but its surroundings too, maybe she would notice a clue she had missed before.

Nothing.

Aggravated, she glided back down. Her horn aglow, she reached out and probed the rock with her magic, hoping to stumble upon or even unlock the energies within. She lifted it into the air with her levitation, spun it around, and put it back on the floor of the caldera. She tried letting her magic seep through the stone, hoping to unlock its mysteries by either brute force or lucky happenstance.

Still nothing.

Now angry, she gave the meteorite a swift, solid kick out of sheer frustration. Several flakes fell off the rock, but other than that it appeared unaffected. With an inarticulate roar of rage at her impotence in figuring out how to solve the puzzle in front of her, Nightmare Moon turned and gave the meteorite the strongest buck she could.

Her fiery wrath was instantly chilled when she heard a slow, continuous cracking sound come from the rock. Silently cursing herself for letting her emotions get the better of her, she watched in fascinated horror as the crack slowly spread around the meteorite, steadily covering its entire surface with a network of fissures. She reached out with her magic, hoping to somehow halt the spread of the cracks, but found herself incapable of slowing down the damage her hooves had inflicted.

Finally, the entire surface of the meteorite was nothing but a giant cobweb of cracks. Then, to her horror, the rock started to shake. Tiny fragments fell off one by one until, as if directed by some unspoken cue, the meteorite simply collapsed into a pile of rubble to reveal a small, glowing core at its center.

Afraid of what might happen if she made a misstep, Nightmare Moon slowly circled the ruined remains of the meteorite and examined what her hasty actions had fortuitously revealed. The stone reminded her of gems used in jewelry in ancient times; smooth, polished, and elliptical in shape. Tentatively reaching out with her magic, she raised the jewel so that it floated in front of her. Freed of its stony prison, what had only been a faint sensation before was now a powerful pulsation of energy. Intrigued, Nightmare Moon walked slowly away from the detritus of the meteorite, intent on examining her find more closely.

Over the next few days, Nightmare Moon’s studies eventually started to bear fruit. While the energy that the stone emanated wasn’t completely compatible with her magic, she found she could use it to enhance her own energies in an unexpected manner. She had hoped that the green jewel would be able to boost her magical strength directly, possibly to the point where she could free herself from the moon once again. However, her own magic simply wasn’t able to tap straight into the energies of the stone. What she had learned was that she could use the jewel’s energies to help carry her own magic farther. While she had been hoping to somehow gain in raw power, she was still intrigued by what a boost to her range would enable her to accomplish.

With that discovery, the stone now sat upon her helmet, magically locked to the faceplate just underneath her horn. Doing so allowed her to carry it around without having to levitate it constantly. She thought it also added a little bit of needed flair to her headpiece as well. She flew out of the crater and headed away from the center of Mare Orientale and back towards the Equestrian side of the moon. As she steadily flapped her wings, her mind raced, thinking of various ways that she might be able to utilize her new found tool.

Eventually fatigue overcame her, and she found herself forced to walk across the barren lunar landscape instead of flying over it. Still, looking up, she could see the lush world she had once covered with eternal night start to slowly rise above the horizon. When the blue and green orb was fully in view, she came to a halt and rested, mulling over what to try first. While the thought of randomly shooting bolts of dark energies down towards the ponies below amused her, she felt sure that she wouldn’t be able to do that even with the help of the gem. Such attacks were draining even over short distances, and she still wasn’t certain how far the stone would carry the spell.

Instead, she decided to go with something she had been able to do with some success before; enter the dream realm and pull somepony else there to her. She had tried to do so after her most recent banishment, but the link that she had shared with Luna was no longer there, and with it the easy access she had enjoyed meant that she could no longer play mind games with her more pathetic half. Would she be able to torment Luna again, now that she had found a means to boost her abilities? Closing her eyes, she let herself drift into sleep, anxious to find out.

Once in the dream realm, she looked up at Equestria. Reaching out with her senses, and amplifying them with her stone, she found herself able to see the realm above in a whole new manner. Where before she could only sense Luna, now there were dozens of points of light she could see; ponies who were asleep. She paused, puzzled as to why she was unable to pick out more. After all, it was full night in parts of the world, there should be thousands upon thousands of ponies asleep at the moment. she reasoned.

Focusing on one light, she was able to discern that it was a mare who had fallen asleep outside, on top of a small hill. Another revealed a stallion who was napping on a bench on the deck on his home. A third was a palace guard, asleep on his feet in the middle of a long, uneventful watch. Nightmare Moon paused, and quickly concluded that all of the ponies she could sense were outside. Perhaps, she reasoned, only ponies who the moon shined down on were visible to her? Uncertain, but unable to come up with any other reason, she scanned the world some more, until her scrying brought her to a familiar looking pony.

She hadn’t expected to come across any ponies she might recognize, but the pink earth pony mare she now looked upon brought a wicked smile to her face. It may not be Luna or an Element of Harmony, she thought, but I’ll gladly take the opportunity to test out my new magics on one of the simpering princess’s friends!

But could she? Hoping that the stone would let her do as she wanted, she reached out, like she had done so many times before with Luna, and pulled. To her relief and glee, she felt the sleeping pony’s dream self come racing towards her, until it stood in front of her, looking around in amazement. Nightmare Moon chuckled as her victim looked around and away from the world that was visible above the horizon behind her. “Hmm, no Equestria above me. For a moment, I thought I was dreaming that I was on the moon.”

“Oh, but you are!” Nightmare Moon said, her voice filled with malice as she slowly strode towards the stunned pony in front of her. A memory of her, staring at her defiantly as she tried to block her path to Princess Celestia also brought her name to mind. Feather Down, she thought, as she recalled memories that Luna had of her.

“But you’re wrong about one thing,” she said. “This isn’t a dream, this is a nightmare!” Prepared to gloat and taunt the other pony some more, she was brought up short when Feather Down started to laugh.

“Hey, that’s a good one,” she said, getting over her initial shock and seeming to take her current predicament in stride. “So, what else am I going to find here, I wonder?”

Scowling, Nightmare Moon reached out with a spell and wrapped the surprised pony in a cocoon of dark energy. “Oh, how about pain and suffering?” she said.

Feather Down squealed in pain. “What are you doing to me?” she cried out, her voice filled with equal parts of surprise and anguish. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Nightmare Moon. “This is new to me. I honestly don’t know what I might be capable of doing.” Walking over and staring at her prey right in the eyes, she said, “Let’s find out together.”

Dewdrop looked around the kitchen of the house she shared with Feather Down. The dishes were all cleaned and put away, and the table had been tidied. Not feeling ready to go to sleep yet, she entered the main room of the house and sat down on a cushion. Horn glowing, she picked a book up off the shelf and floated it over to her, one she had been slowly working through over the last week, she opened it with a spell to where her bookmark rested between pages and began to read. She knew she was a bit older than the audience that the Harry Trotter books were aimed for, but her below average strength with her spells made following the protagonist's adventures all the more fun. I wonder what it would have been like, she wondered, if I could have gained entry to a special magic school like Harry.

After a few pages of escapism her reading was interrupted by sounds from upstairs. Had her roommate awakened and somehow fallen out of bed? Listening carefully, she heard the noises continue. Unsure of what was going on she marked her spot in the book, put it down, and cautiously made her way over to the stairs and paused at the bottom. From there, she heard the sounds more clearly, and while she couldn’t place what the sounds indicated, a nervous knot in her stomach compelled her to race up the staircase two steps at a time.

Entering the bedroom, she came to a stop in utter shock. Feather Down was thrashing violently in her sleep, and now in the same room, Dewdrop could also hear whimpers of pain escape from the sleeping pony’s mouth. “Wake up!” Dewdrop yelled, but as soon as the words had left her mouth she knew they would have no effect. Feather Down was nearly impossible to wake on the best of days. For her to be experiencing whatever kind of dream she was having, to make her toss and turn like she was now and still not wake up, Dewdrop knew her voice wouldn’t be able to help. Her horn glowing orange, Dewdrop tried to hold her friend down, hoping that would wake Feather Down where words were unable. However, she found trying to get a magical grasp on her difficult, and afraid that she might hurt her friend, she quickly gave up.

So what could she do? Dewdrop looked around the room in a panic, searching for something that could, if not aid her, at least give her some inspiration. Seeing nothing, not even a glass of water to throw in her friend’s face, she raced down the stairs and outside. Maybe she couldn’t do anything, but surely somepony else would be able to lend a hoof! She looked around, for anyone who might still be out and about. But with the night sky above, she quickly realized that most ponies were either already in bed themselves, or getting ready to go to sleep.

Ready to yell out in frustration, Dewdrop heard voices faintly in the distance. Wasting no time, she galloped off towards them. Rounding a corner, she saw Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash side by side, walking towards the library discussing a party they had just left. “Twilight!” Dewdrop yelled, not caring if she woke anypony else nearby. “Twilight! Help!”

The two ponies stopped and turned around, surprised to see anypony else out at the current hour. Seeing the terrified look on Dewdrop’s face, Twilight asked, “What’s wrong, Dewdrop?”

“It’s Feather Down! I can’t get her to wake up!”

“There’s a surprise,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes.

“But she’s having a nightmare!” Dewdrop said.

Twilight frowned. “Maybe I’m missing something here, but aren’t you overreacting just a little bit?”

Dewdrop stomped a hoof in frustration. “You don’t understand! She’s never had one before!”

“Wait, never?” Rainbow Dash asked in surprise. “Everypony has bad dreams. Even I have them now and then.”

“Not Feather Down! Her special talent is sleeping. She can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, she can’t be woken up unless she wants to, and she never has bad dreams! I remember when our teacher tried explaining Nightmare Night to us in class. She had to take fifteen minutes in order to explain what a nightmare was to Feather Down, and even then I don’t think she got it through to her fully. I’m afraid she’s going to hurt herself, and I can’t help her, and...” Dewdrop trailed off, not knowing what else to say to convince them.

Twilight put a comforting hoof on Dewdrop’s shoulder. “You helped me get through a tough night of my own not too long ago,” she said with a comforting smile. “Of course I’ll help you out. You want to come with us, Rainbow Dash?” she asked the pegasus at her side.

“Might as well,” she said with a shrug. “I admit I’m curious. Let’s go.”

Dewdrop led the way, galloping as fast as she could. She opened the door to her house and led the way up the stairs. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash came up short at the sight of Feather Down, who was now twisting around so violently that she seemed certain to toss herself onto the floor at any moment.

Twilight quickly caught Feather Down with her telekinesis, and frowned at the struggle the sleeping pony was putting up. “I don’t care if it is her special talent or not, she should have woken up by now. I don’t know how long I can hold her without hurting her.”

Rainbow Dash flew up next to her and starting screaming into her ear. “Hey! Sleepy head! Wake up, you’re scaring your friends! Do you hear me?! WAKE UP!”

With Dewdrop fretting behind her, Twilight looked around the room, her eyes narrowed in thought. “Something isn’t right here, but I don't know what...” Glancing outside through the open window, she gasped. “It’s a long shot,” she muttered, “but it won’t hurt to try it. Rainbow Dash! Close the window!”

Giving her friend a questioning look, but convinced by the confident tone in Twilight’s voice, she flew over and closed the shutters, quickly darkening the room.

Nightmare Moon paused in performing her experiments. She had found a way to trap the other pony’s dream self, and deny it the chance to escape, but beyond causing her some pain, she hadn’t really found much else she could do.

Not that she had been trying too hard, to be honest. Looking back on the past month or so, she was forced to admit that the complete solitude, after being able to watch Luna for the months before that, had come close to breaking her. She didn’t need friends the way her other half apparently did, of course not! But after being able to experience even just the mere presence of others, only to have it all stripped away again and to be as alone as conceivably possible, had driven her mind to depths that had frightened her.

She looked at Feather Down again, still being held aloft by her dark magic. The captive mare had stopped her screams a while ago, but still seemed to be trying to escape her bonds by constantly struggling against them. Walking over to look her prisoner in the eye, Nightmare Moon asked, “So, what should I try next? Maybe I can control your actions down below? Make you sleep walk? Or perhaps I can try peering into your mind, and see what kind of secrets I can uncover?”

“I’ll never let you possess me!” Feather Down spat out, her voice colored by pain.

Nightmare Moon tilted her head back and laughed. “Oh, trust me, I have no desire to be a passenger in somepony else’s body again. Even if I were to do so, I certainly wouldn’t choose for it to be an earth pony shell. If I couldn’t get an alicorn, I suppose I could settle for a powerful unicorn. But to inhabit a body without magic? Never!

“No, I think I’ll try with using you as a puppet. That could lead to some fun misunderstandings down on Equestria, don’t you think? Maybe I’ll-” Nightmare Moon came to a stop as she felt her link to Feather Down suddenly sever, and watched as the pink earth pony faded quickly from view. Hastily scanning with her magic, she found she could still detect other ponies across Equestria, but was unable to find Feather Down again.

Frowning, Nightmare Moon willed herself awake and started moving from where she had been resting. While she didn’t think it would be possible for somepony else to track her back to where she had been, she decided it would be best to lay low for awhile. She didn’t feel comfortable enough with her new abilities to risk encountering Celestia or Luna yet, so she decided to make her future experiments more low profile in nature. She certainly wouldn’t be taking any more chances tonight. She wanted to think over what she had been able to accomplish, and about what other things she might be able to do.

With a loud gasp, Feather Down’s eyes flew wide open and her struggles ceased. Twilight slowly lowered her back onto the bed, and then released her from her telekinesis spell. Dewdrop jumped onto the bed to give her roommate a closer look, and Rainbow Dash flew back over next to Twilight.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Dewdrop asked worriedly.

“It was terrible!” Feather Down said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. “I, I think I was on the moon, and... I just don’t remember, I’m not sure I want to remember, but not being able to remember scares me too!” She wrapped her forehooves around Dewdrop’s neck and held her tight, burying her face in her friend’s mane.

Dewdrop did her best to comfort her, and looked questioningly at Twilight. “How did you know closing the window would wake her up?” she asked.

“Yeah, I was wondering that too,” Rainbow Dash added. “It didn’t make any sense to me, but I figured trying it wouldn’t hurt.”

Twilight smiled triumphantly. “I remember reading in a old book that after Princess Luna had been banished, all sorts of things that were bad came to be blamed on the moon. Ponies who went crazy were said to be moonstruck, or lunatics. Feather Down seemed to be acting all out of sorts from what she is normally like, from what you two were saying, and while I doubt that there is any truth behind those tales, it was at least something that could be tried, to keep the moon from shining on her.”

Dewdrop frowned. “I can’t see Luna doing anything like that at all, though! It’s so unlike her, I... I just can’t fathom it.”

Twilight waved a hoof in front of her. “No, you misunderstand me. I’m just saying it was those stories that led me to think about the moon shining in. I don’t think Princess Luna had anything to do with it either. More likely than not, the moonlight just got in her eyes and triggered something in her head that made her dream turn into a nightmare, somehow.”

Dewdrop slowly nodded. “Well, however you came upon it, it sure worked. Thank you very much, both of you, for coming to help.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Rainbow Dash asked Feather Down, looking concerned. “That looked a lot worse than any dream I’ve ever had.”

Slowly pulling herself away from Dewdrop, Feather Down nodded slowly. “I think so. I, I think I’m going to need some time before I lie down again though.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Of course you will! Whenever I have a bad dream, I’ll go fly around the area for a little while until I get tired enough to fall asleep again. Maybe you could just go for a jog or something? Get your mind off of whatever it was you were dreaming of.”

“That’s not really the problem,” Feather Down said getting off of the bed. “I honestly can’t recall anything from the nightmare. Is that normal? I know things are hit and miss and it comes to being able to remember what you dream about, but it just feels like I should be able to remember something that terrible easily enough!”

“The pony mind is an amazing thing,” Twilight said. “It probably knows, subconsciously, that you aren’t ready to go through it again just yet, so it’s likely blocking it from you. Give yourself some time, and I bet in a few days you’ll be able to recall it if you want to.”

“That sounds logical,” Dewdrop said. “And we can ask Luna about it tomorrow if you want, I bet she might have some ideas, or know somepony who does.”

Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise. “You two know Princess Luna? How’d that happen?”

“It’s, um, a long story,” Feather Down replied, looking steadier as time passed. “I still find it weird, to be honest, but we’re good friends now. We get to go visit her every Sunday in Canterlot.”

“Oh! That would explain why I keep on seeing those chariots,” Rainbow Dash said. “That’s cool.”

“Well then, are you two are going to be okay?” Twilight asked, looking between Dewdrop and Feather Down with concern.

“I think so,” Dewdrop replied. “Thank you again oh so much, both of you!”

“Yes! I owe you both big time!” Feather Down chimed in.

“Ah, it wasn’t anything that big,” Rainbow Dash said with a wave of a hoof.

“Like I said before Dewdrop, you helped me out a while back, I’m more than happy to have been able to return the favor,” Twilight added with a warm smile. “If you don’t mind then, I need to be heading back home, it’s getting rather late.”

“Oh! Of course!” Dewdrop said, motioning with a hoof towards the stairs. “C’mon, Feather Down, maybe a small snack will help you calm your nerves?”

With that, the four ponies headed downstairs. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash said their goodbyes and headed their separate ways home, while Dewdrop and Feather Down did their best to put the bad dream behind them.

Dewdrop woke up early the next morning to find that Feather Down wasn’t in her bed as she had been when they had finally gone back upstairs to go to sleep an hour or so after the other ponies had left. Frowning, she headed down to find Feather Down sitting on a cushion, and reading her Harry Trotter book.

Hearing her roommate enter the room, Feather Down looked up sheepishly. “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything about what happens, although I do feel like I’m missing out on a lot of stuff.”

Dewdrop put a hoof against her forehead. “That’s because that’s the third book in the series,” she said with a sigh. “Did you spend all night down here reading?”

“Yeah. I tried going back to sleep, but I just didn’t feel ready to. Sorry.”

Dewdrop shook her head. “That’s all right, I’m just worried about how you’ll do today in Canterlot. It’s going to be a busy day and all, especially with Pine Bough coming along too.”

Feather Down’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Oh my goodness! I had completely forgotten about that!”

“Well, maybe you’ll be able to take a nap on the way over like you usually do, and that’ll help,” Dewdrop said with a chuckle. “I’m going to make myself a quick breakfast, you want anything?”

“No thanks.”

Dewdrop had just finished eating a small plate of apple slices when there was a knock at the door. Hearing Feather Down get up to answer it, Dewdrop floated her plate over to the sink and then went to the main room to see Pine Needle and Pine Bough standing outside. “Are you two ready to head out to meet the chariots?” the stallion asked as his younger sister peered inside from behind him.

“Just give me a few seconds and I will be,” Dewdrop called out in reply. “Come on in, you two, I can show Pine Bough around the place in case the guards won't let you two come to Canterlot because of her.”

Dewdrop led the two siblings upstairs, and seeing that Feather Down had decided to settle back down on the cushion and resume her reading, she closed the bedroom door behind her. Seeing Pine Needle raise an eyebrow in askance, she said, “Feather Down had a nightmare last night. Her first one ever, so it really caught her off guard, and she didn’t get any sleep last night afterwards because of it.”

“Oh no!” Pine Needle said after a brief moment of shock. “Is she going to be okay?”

“I think so. She was really thrashing around, I had to get Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash to help wake her up. We’re going to ask Luna about it, see if she knows what might have caused it.”

“That sounds like a good plan to me. Anything you want us to do?”

Dewdrop shook her head. “Just don’t make a big deal out of it, I guess. I’m thinking that if we can convince her that it isn’t anything to be concerned about, she’ll be able to put it behind her that much easier.”

“Will do.”

Seeing Pine Bough nod her agreement, Dewdrop led them back downstairs. There they found Feather Down upright and stretching her legs. “I’m ready to go if you guys are,” she said. With that, the four of them left the house and went to meet the chariots.

Half -- Chapter 3

Luna watched as the chariots returning from Ponyville made their descent towards the landing area she stood next to. As usual, Haystack was flying alongside them, and she was able to make out Feather Down standing next to Dewdrop in one of the chariots. This surprised her a little, since Feather Down usually napped on the flight over, but the usually sleepy pony seemed to be wide awake for a change. This slight shock was quickly surpassed when she saw that Pine Needle was sharing the other chariot with somepony else. She couldn’t make out much from where she stood, but it looked like a mare, yellow in color with a dark green mane.

After the chariots had landed, one of the guards came over to her as her friends stayed in the chariots. “Princess Luna,” the guard said as he bowed to her, “Your friends apologize, but it seems that Pine Needle’s sister showed up in Ponyville unexpectedly yesterday, and they didn’t have a chance to send a letter ahead asking if it was okay for her to come along. If it isn’t, they will gladly find something else to do for the day, instead of interrupting your plans.”

“Of course it will be fine! Come, come!” she said as she waved her friends over from the chariots. “And thank you, Iron Pinion,” she said to the guard. “It must have been a difficult decision to make on such a short notice.”

“I’m just glad I made the right call, your highness,” he said with a relieved smile. He quickly snapped off a salute, and then returned to help his fellow gaurdponies.

After sharing hugs with Dewdrop and Haystack, Luna turned her attention towards the three earth ponies. The one she didn’t recognize, who she deduced must be Pine Needle’s sister, quickly stepped forward and prostrated herself before her. “Vank heu vor thees ahnor!” she cried out, her words hard to understand from being spoken straight into the ground, and also from what Luna could only guess to be a very thick Stalliongrad accent.

Fighting down a giggle at not only the newcomer’s excitement, but also at the sight of Pine Needle raising a hoof on his forehead at his sister’s actions, Luna placed a comforting hoof on the yellow mare’s shoulder. “The honor is also mine, to be able to meet the sister of one of my best friends. Tell me, what is your name?”

The young mare could only stare at Luna’s hoof on her shoulder. It was all Luna could do to keep from laughing out loud at the awe her forehoof was being given. Pine Needle trotted up, clearly embarrassed, and said, “Pine Bough! Did I not tell you on the way over that there was no need for such theatrics?” Turning to face Luna, he added on, “I am sorry about this, I had hoped that I had gotten across to her that she only needed to act naturally, but...”

Now Luna did giggle. “Actually, after the ‘greetings’ that I tended to get after I first returned to Canterlot after the Summer Sun Celebration, this is a rather nice change of pace.” She turned her attention back to the overcome mare at her hooves. “Please, Pine Bough was it?” Seeing a silent nod of confirmation from her, Luna continued with a warm smile, “While I am glad that you consider meeting me to be such a great honor, I would be even happier if you would simply treat me as a friend.”

With a gulp, and with her cheeks starting to turn red in embarrassment, Pine Bough stood up. “I will do my best, your majesty,” she said, “although I am still amazed to have the chance to meet you, when all I did was come in search for my long absent brother.” Luna noticed that as Pine Bough started to relax, her accent also seemed to slowly lessen.

“I’m excited to have the chance to meet you too. I haven’t had the opportunity to meet any family members of my friends yet, so it will be good to hear about them from someone else. I am a little bit surprised that Pine Needle wasn’t able to send word to me ahead of time about your arrival though,” Luna said, directing the last bit to Pine Bough’s brother.

“And if I had known myself, I would have made sure to have sent word ahead,” Pine Needle said, looking sheepish. “However, her arrival was unexpected for... complicated reasons.”

“Oh?” Luna said, raising an eyebrow. “This sounds interesting. Why don’t we head into the gardens and you can tell me about it?”

“Actually, I think that can wait because there is a more pressing problem to deal with,” he said as he nodded at Feather Down.

“My goodness, what’s wrong?” Luna asked, her voice filled with concern as she noticed Feather Down was looking worn out and a little bit ragged.

“I... I had a really bad dream,” Feather Down said in a muted voice.

“That hardly does it justice!” Dewdrop exclaimed. Turning to face Luna, she added, “She was thrashing about so badly, and she just wouldn’t wake up, no matter what I tried. I had to go get help, and thankfully I found Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash still out and about. Thanks to Twilight Sparkle’s quick thinking, we were able to get her awake.”

Luna blinked in confusion. “Is it always so hard to get you to wake up from a bad dream, Feather Down?”

“I honestly couldn’t tell you,” Feather Down said, her head drooped halfway to the ground. “This was the first time I’ve ever had a nightmare.”

“Her special talent is sleeping,” Dewdrop quickly explained, noticing Luna’s surprised look. “As you’ve seen yourself, she can fall asleep wherever she wants, and always has a good, sound rest. I honestly didn’t think it was even possible for her to have a nightmare until last night. Twilight thinks it might have been the way the moon was shining in her eyes that caused it.”

Luna frowned. “Well, while I can’t undo what happened last night, I can help you get some sleep now, guaranteed safe from bad dreams. I’ll even let you sleep on my bed,” she offered, hoping to get a smile from the dejected looking Feather Down.

“You’ll let me sleep on Ricardo?” Luna smiled as she saw Feather Down perk up at the opportunity to sleep on the princess’s bed. “Just promise me that you’ll wake me for lunch, okay? I don’t want to spend the whole day sleeping, when I only get to see you once a week.”

“Of course we will,” Luna promised. “Come on, everypony. Follow me, and after we do that, I can give Pine Bough a tour of the palace.”

After a few minutes of walking through the halls of Canterlot Palace, the group entered Luna’s bedroom. Pine Bough had been looking everywhere in wide-eyed amazement, but now her mouth was agape as she realized exactly where she was. Luna was had been keeping an eye on Feather Down the whole trip, and she couldn’t remember seeing the usually happy pony look so despondent before. The biggest shock of all though was when Feather Down didn’t make a beeline for her bed.

“Wow, I though I’d never see the day when you wouldn’t be ready and willing to take a nap in my bed,” Luna remarked.

“Part of it is the fact that I can’t remember what my dream was like at all,” Feather Down said morosely, standing just inside the room by the door. “I just know that it was something horrible. Twilight Sparkle said that the brain can sometimes keep stuff from us if we aren’t ready to remember it. Is that true?” she asked, finally raising her head to look at Luna.

Luna nodded. “And I bet you’re worried you’re going to have a repeat of your bad dream too, aren’t you?”

“Exactly!” Feather Down said. “I know it sounds silly, being worried about not being able to remember it and also not wanting to remember it, but...”

“I think I understand,” Luna said as she walked over towards her bed. “You want to be able to remember it under your terms, when you’re ready for it, not have it sprung on you without any warning.”

“Yes! That’s it!” She gave Luna a relieved smile as she walked across the room to stand by her. “So, you can make sure I don’t go through what I did last night again?”

With a solemn nod, Luna motioned for Feather Down to lie down. “It just so happens that I know a ward against nightmares. The spell will put you into a deep and restful sleep, and will keep you from having any kind of dreams, good or bad. When it comes time for lunch, we’ll come back and I’ll break the spell, which should hopefully wake you up gently in the process too.”

“Well, I don’t think I could ask for anything more. Thank you very much, Luna,” Feather Down said as she crawled into the bed.

Luna smiled, and then her eyes widened and she laughed. “I just remembered! Think back to the very first day I spent in Ponyville as Moonbeam. I was exhausted and hurt from the spell I had just cast to disguise myself, and then Dewdrop found me and brought me to your place. And you let me sleep in your bed to recover. It feels good that I get this chance to return the favor. Now, close your eyes and relax. You won’t feel a thing, I promise.”

Her horn glowing, Luna darkened the room the best as she could by closing the windows and extinguishing the lights. Despite her efforts, the room was still faintly illuminated as sunlight managed to find a way to sneak through the cracks of the shutters. Then, she leaned down and touched her horn to Feather Down’s forehead. The room was briefly lit by an eerie purple glow as the spell was cast, and then returned to its dimly lit state. Before Luna could even raise her head back up, Feather Down was lightly snoring.

The group quietly walked towards the door. “Thank you so much,” Dewdrop said softly. “I have to say, we sure are lucky that you had the perfect spell for the situation we were in.”

Luna chuckled as she opened the door into the hallway. “Well, after what happened at the end of our time in Ponyville, I thought it might be a good idea to make sure that Nightmare Moon didn’t have any way to influence me through my dreams again. I figured she was only able to do so before because we shared a link, so to speak, but better safe than...” she paused to look at Dewdrop, who had frozen in place with a look of fear on her face. “What?” Luna asked, suddenly feeling a knot form in her stomach.

“Twilight Sparkle was able to wake Feather Down by closing the shutters on the bed room window, and blocking the light of the moon from falling on her.” Dewdrop said, her voice nothing more than a frightened whisper. “You don’t think...?”

Everypony else had come to a halt now, staring at Luna and Dewdrop in shock. With a frown, Luna turned around and walked back into her bedroom. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But there’s one sure way to find out.” She laid down on the floor at the foot of her bed.

“What is going on?” Pine Bough asked, her worried eyes darting back and forth in worry between everypony else.

“I’m going to enter the dream realm, and see if I can reach the moon from here in Equestria. It shouldn’t be possible, that why Celestia banished me there long ago. My theory on why Nightmare Moon was able to trespass in my dreams before was because we shared a link, so to speak.” She looked at her friends solemnly. “I don’t think anything will happen, but if I start acting weird, or in anyway like Feather Down did last night, I want you all to run as fast as you can to the throne room and get Celestia. You know the fastest way there, right?”

“Take a right at the end of the hall, and head all the way down to the big double doors,” Haystack said. “Won’t the guards try to stop us from entering the throne room like that, though?”

“Very likely,” Luna conceded. “If they do, just yell that I need help. Use my name, that will be sure to get her attention. Although, if I know my sister, she might sense that something is amiss if you do end up having to go get her, so you might even meet her on the way. But it shouldn’t come to that. Normally, I wouldn’t be able to reach the moon with my magic. But since the duty to raise and lower it every night was returned to me, the enchantments that aid me in doing so help me reach out farther than I normally can. So, I’m going to see if I can extend myself that far without invoking them. If I can, then there’s a good chance that Nightmare Moon can reach Equestria too.”

Seeing the frightened looks on her friend’s faces, Luna gave them what she hoped was an encouraging smile. “I’m pretty sure that I won’t be able to. Like I said, there’s a reason that we were banished there in the first place.”

“You were able to send her there yourself though, back at that ruined palace where you and Nightmare Moon separated,” Dewdrop said. “And that was before you were given the duty of the moon again, right?”

Luna paused to consider her words before responding. “You make a valid point, but I think my abilities were strengthened by the situation. I think having the full moon directly overhead helped me some, but not as much as the knowledge that if I didn’t do something, my sister and friends were all going to suffer at Nightmare Moon’s hooves. That gave me the strength to do something I normally wouldn’t have been able to do. Maybe I’m being conceited when I say this, but I don’t think Nightmare Moon is able to gain a boost similar to the one that your friendship inspired in me.”

Seeing her friends convinced by her words, she laid her head down on her forelegs. “Okay, here I go.” Taking a moment to calm her nerves, Luna closed her eyes, and willed herself to enter the dream realm.

Luna’s friends stood still for a moment, and the only sound was the constant, steady light snoring coming from Feather Down. Pine Bough slowly edged her way closer to her brother, until they were standing side by side, pressed up against each other. Dewdrop slowly paced back and forth between the two sleeping ponies, and Haystack quietly made his way to stand next to the door. Seeing Dewdrop shoot him a questioning look, he softly explained, “Just in case something does go wrong, every second I can cut off getting to Princess Celestia is a second less Luna suffers.”

The moments seemed to stretch on forever. They were all startled when Feather Down turned over in her sleep, but other than that nothing happened, and soon their anxiety dulled to a nervous boredom. Finally, after several minutes of waiting, Luna opened her eyes and slowly stood up.

With a smile, she said, “Good news, I was unable to reach far enough to be able to send my dream self to the moon. If I had to make a guess, I’d estimate I could barely reach halfway. I feel very confident in saying that Nightmare Moon is similarly restricted.” Seeing the looks of relief on her friends faces, she walked back to the door out of the bedroom. “Now, let's head to the gardens, and you two,” she said to the Pine siblings, “can share some stories with us.”

A few minutes later, the group was seated in a circle by the seedling that Pine Needle had given Luna as a gift. After everyone was comfortable, Pine Needle told Luna his story on why he had left Stalliongrad, and Pine Bough shared why she had only just found out where Pine Needle had gone off to.

“Please, your highness!” Pine Bough said pleadingly. “There must be something that you can do to make our parents stop this craziness! Pine Needle doesn’t deserve to be pressured like this. Maybe you could make some sort of official decree? I bet our parents would listen to that!”

“Pine Bough!” Pine Needle cried out angrily. “You have no right to ask her to do so!”

“But brother! Feather Down was going to come up with a plan to help you, but she can’t because of her sleeping problems. Unless you have a better idea yourself, why not have Princess Luna do something about this?”

“Because she is my friend, that’s why! It would be extremely rude of me to ask or even hope for her to use her rank to help me out of this family problem!”

“Pine Needle is correct,” Luna said, hoping to bring a halt to the argument before it got too heated. “However, I can understand your concern for your brother, Pine Bough. I too would do anything I could to help my sister out if there was a need. Pine Needle is lucky to have a sister who cares so much about him.”

Seeing both of them mollified by her words, she continued. “I will gladly do what I can as a friend to help Pine Needle out. However, he is correct in that it would be wrong for me to use my position as a Princess of Equestria to force a solution. I will not abuse my power in such a manner, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t do everything that I can to help come up with a solution.” Seeing Pine Bough nod in understanding, Luna asked, “So, what is this plan of Feather Down that you mentioned before?”

Pine Needle’s cheeks reddened considerably. “Feather Down was going to try to come up with a way that I could actually talk to -- you know -- her, without freezing up.”

“She Who Must Not Be Named,” Luna said with a laugh. “I remember when Dewdrop told me about that, right after I first met you. I was worried you were trying to hit on me, with how over the top you were acting, but Dewdrop set me straight about how you had eyes for one pony, and one pony only.”

Dewdrop chuckled, both at the memory and Pine Needle’s reaction to it. “I remember that now! Oh, that seems like it was years ago now, doesn’t it? And yet, it’s been only a few months. Wow.” She shook her head slowly in disbelief. “But I don’t think we have the time available to us to come up with a foolproof way to solve that problem. We also thought that setting Pine Needle up with another mare for when his parents finally arrived in Ponyville would work, but...”

“I just don’t like it,” Pine Needle sad. “Too many things could go wrong, and to be honest it sounds like something from a book, or a stage production. It just begs for something to go wrong at the worst possible moment.”

Luna nodded. “I’ve read a few stories in the past couple of months where that’s happened. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to go that route, but all I can think of is to either try that, or just stand up to your parents and tell them ‘no’ when you see them. You’ve been away from them a couple of years now, so it isn’t like they can force you to come home now.” Seeing Pine Needle’s discomfort at the idea, Luna added, “It’s your call, Pine Needle. Whatever you want to do, I’ll do what I can to help you prepare for it, but I think you’ll be better off standing up to them. You don’t want them looming over you like this for all your life, do you?”

“No! Of course not! It’s just...” Pine Needle trailed away and looked at the ground at his feet. “They’re my parents. Even after all that they have put me through, I still love them. I don’t want to hurt them if I can help it.”

A silence fell over the group, as they contemplated what they could do. “The way I see it,” Haystack said, breaking the quiet of the moment, “is that we don’t know how much time we have available to us. Depending on how much faster Pine Bough traveled than her parents, and how long they stay here in Canterlot before heading to Ponyville to find Pine Needle, we might have as little as a day, or we might have a week or more. If we knew we had enough time to set up some sort of diversionary plan, such as Pine Needle having a love interest, real or not, then I think that might be a possibility. But without knowing for sure how long we have...” Haystack shrugged.

Luna nodded slowly in agreement. “Those are my thoughts too. That’s why I suggested that we do our best to help Pine Needle stand up to his parents. After all, even if you have a mare that you look to be in love with, that might not be enough to convince them to back down. If your stories about them are accurate?” Seeing Pine Bough nod in confirmation, Luna continued, “They might try to break you up, or simply come back later if they hear that you’re no longer together. If you stand up to them now though, I honestly believe that you’ll be able to put an end to this once and for all.”

Seeing Pine Needle still looking uncomfortable, Luna added, “It might also get them to lighten up some more on how they treat Pine Bough too. If it helps you any, think of doing this not just for yourself, but for your sister also.”

Pine Needle turned and looked at his sister. Seeing her smile hopefully, he sighed and then straightened up. “Very well. I will do mine best. After all, it isn’t like running away is going to help like it did last time. Not when I have such good friends, and a job that I love.”

“Excellent,” Luna said, as the others smiled and showed their enthusiasm for their friend’s decision. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was cut off by the bells ringing, announcing that lunch was about to be served.

“Boy, time sure flew by quickly this morning. Let’s go wake up Feather Down, and get ourselves something to eat. After that, I can finally give Pine Bough that tour of the palace that I keep on mentioning.”

After waking up Feather Down, the group enjoyed a delicious meal of wildflower salads with a side of fruit slices. Luna was glad to see her friend look and act more like her normal self after her nap. “I’m still a little nervous about how tonight is going to go,” Feather Down admitted, “but now that I’ve had some time to think about it calmly, and that I’ve also managed to get some sleep without anything happening to me, I feel much better about being able to get to sleep tonight.”

As they made their way out of the dining area, Dewdrop discreetly made her way next to Luna. “Thank you so very much, Luna. I’m sorry about dumping this on you, and about me panicking about its cause. The more I think about it, the sillier it seems that Nightmare Moon could have been the cause of it,” she said, embarrassment plain on her face.

Luna shook her head. “I think it was a valid concern. So many small clues were pointing in its direction, I was willing to believe it too. I’m just glad I was able to prove that it couldn’t have been her. I don’t know how we could deal with her if she could strike at our dreams from so far away. I think it may be best though if we keep this from Feather Down, for a night or two at least though. Even though we know it wasn’t Nightmare Moon, I don’t see any reason to even put the idea into her head right now, not when she’s feeling confident about being able to go to sleep tonight.”

“I agree. I’ll make sure to pass it along to everypony else. All it would take is one slip of the tongue, after all.”

Seeing the other ponies looking back at them, Luna motioned to Dewdrop to follow her with a nod. “Come on, let’s go show Pine Bough the sights, shall we?”

Over the next hour, Luna led them through many famous locations in the palace. First they went through the main ball room (“This is where they hold the Grand Galloping Gala!”), then past the training grounds for the guards. Pine Bough stared in awe at all of the armored ponies, going through their drills. Then Luna swung through a couple of smaller gardens, and even pointed out the entrance to the Hedge Maze. “We don’t have time to give it a go today, it covers several acres. We’d have to set aside an entire day to do it justice and see all the things that are hidden there.”

Back into the palace they went, and Luna made her way towards the throne room, stopping to show off the library and some of the stained glass windows on the way. As they approached the large, decorative double doors that led to where Celestia took care of most of the official business of running Equestria, Luna was surprised to see them shut and guarded. “That’s strange,” she said to the others. “She’s usually done with everything by lunch on Sunday. I wonder what’s going on?” Motioning for the others to stay back a short way, she smiled at the guards and quietly cracked the door open so that she could poke her head inside.

Inside the throne room, she saw Celestia was standing at the base of the steps leading up to her throne, and was leisurely talking with a pair of earth ponies. Spying her sister sticking her head through the door, Celestia smiled and called out, ”Luna! I’m so glad to see you! I’ve been chatting with the daughter of the mayor of Stalliongrad and her husband, you should come and greet them.” Celestia paused, seeing a panicked look on Luna’s face. “Oh! That’s right, you’re with your friends, aren’t you?” Turning to the two ponies in front of her, she asked, “Pine Wreath, Douglas Fir, would you mind if Princess Luna and her friends had a chance to meet you? I’m sure they would love the chance,” she said, with a mischievous grin directed at Luna.

“It would be an honor to not only have the chance to meet Princess Luna, but also anypony who she considers to be her friends!” Douglas Fir, a navy blue pony with a short white mane and a cutie mark of a fir tree, exclaimed. He turned to his wife, a yellow mare with a long, orange mane and a cutie mark of a wreath. “Do you not agree, mine love?”

“Most certainly! Please, we would love to meet them!” Pine Wreath said. “Come, come, there is no need to be shy because of us, we are simply two older ponies out on a trip, on our way to visit family that lives nearby.”

Smiling weakly, Luna gave a half hearted chuckle as she felt her insides turn to goo. “Well then, how can I refuse?” she replied. “Let me go get them, we’ll be right in!” Turning around and closing the door behind her, Luna wondered just how much of this had been set up by her sister, and how much of it was just sheer coincidence. Either way, she thought, the next few minutes were going to be very interesting.

Half -- Chapter 5

Finishing off a quick breakfast, Pine Needle stretched his legs and indulged himself in one last moment of procrastination before setting off on what he knew was going to be a very difficult task. After spending yesterday afternoon enjoying music with his friends in Canterlot, they had all returned to Ponyville, weary and still somewhat subdued. Haystack had told him that he could have the day off today if he needed it, and Pine Needle had gratefully accepted, although not for the reasons his pegasus friend was probably thinking of.

No, today he wasn’t going to simply hide in his cottage and mope the day away. Not when he still had some loose ends to clean up that his parents had left for him to deal with.

Taking one last deep breath, he started towards the door when a noisy set of chitterings behind him made him pause. Turning around, he saw his pet squirrel Acorn looking at him in indignation. “I’m sorry, Acorn, but I don’t think you would enjoy coming with me today,” Pine Needle tried explaining. He knew that the squirrel couldn’t understand a word he said, but it helped him to focus his thoughts on how to gesture it out so that his pet would at least be able to get a basic understanding of what he was trying to convey. He had been surprised that he had managed to convince Acorn to stay home yesterday, for which he had been thankful for. Not even counting the showdown with his parents, he didn’t like the thought of trying to chase down a stubborn squirrel in the halls of Canterlot Castle-- or how that would reflect on him and his friends.

However, it seemed that Acorn wasn’t going to take no for an answer today. Despite his best efforts to act out walking into one’s doom, the squirrel either didn’t understand, or was abusing the fact that he didn’t comprehend Pine Needle’s words and was simply pretending to not get what was being told to him. With a sigh, Pine Needle lowered his head, and let Acorn take his usual riding spot in his mane. “Very well then, no need for me to put this off any longer,” he mumbled to himself as he headed out the door.

“Time to go to Sweet Apple Acres.”

Haystack was eating a late breakfast when the bell he had outside his front door started to ring. Curious as to who it could be, he left his half finished plate of grains on the table and went to find out. Opening the door, he saw a familiar grey pegasus mare with a blonde mane standing dejectedly on his front steps.

“Derpy! What’s wrong?” he said, surprised to see the normally happy mail mare looking so down.

Looking up at Haystack with a distressed look, Derpy said despondently, “Hello, Haystack. I’m sorry, but I need to ask a big favor of you.”

“Well, I can’t guarantee that I can help, but I’m certainly willing to listen. Come in and tell me what you need,” he said, gesturing inside with a wave of his hoof.

Nodding thankfully, Derpy followed Haystack inside. The two pegasi walked to the dining table, and Haystack waited patiently for Derpy to say something, doing his best to avoid staring at her wandering eye. After a moment of awkward silence, Haystack said, “So, what’s the problem?”

“Well, I’ve had a vacation planned for quite a while now. It’s been a long time since my last one, and there’s family I want to visit in Cloudsdale... and my bosses in Canterlot don’t like it when I accumulate too much vacation time either.” Derpy explained with a small, rueful grin while shuffling a hoof across the floor.. “Something about keeping the books easy to balance, or something silly like that. Anyway, the pony who was going to be my replacement had a family emergency come up, and with my vacation starting up the day after tomorrow on Wednesday, I’m stuck without anypony to take over!” She looked at the farmer pegasus sadly. “I know it’s a lot to ask out of the blue, if you could please take over my job on such short notice for a couple of weeks, but I just don’t know who to ask!”

Haystack felt his stomach twist. He didn’t really want to do somepony else’s job with so little warning, but he could see that Derpy really did feel honestly bad about this. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, why me?” he asked, hoping to put off having to make a decision for a little bit longer.

“Well, I asked Mayor Mare if there was anypony who might be needing a job like this, but she didn’t know of anypony. Then she suggested you, because of your hard work ethic, and because of it being winter she said you had mentioned to her in the past that things were somewhat easy for you during these colder months. She said that if I wanted a pony who would take the job seriously and responsibly, I wouldn’t find a better pony than you.”

Seeing Haystack starting to waver, Derpy continued. “You’ll get paid well for the work, and you get Sundays off too, which I know you're busy with your friends. That’s what the Mayor said, anyway. So, please?” she asked, giving Haystack her best forlorn look.

Unable to stand against the large sad eyes of the mail mare, Haystack hung his head slightly in defeat. “Well, I suppose I can. Pine Needle should be able to take care of things during that time by himself, and if there is anything he can’t handle, I can always get to it afterwards myself.”

“Oh, thank you!” Derpy exclaimed, giving Haystack a quick hug. “I know it’s very short notice, but it would be really great if you were able to start tomorrow, so I could at least have one day to show you what all needs to be done. We start somewhat early though, not too long after sunrise. Will that be okay?”

Haystack chuckled. “That’s the same time I’m up and about to start working in the fields, so that won’t be a problem at all.”

“Thank you again! Oh, I need to get going, looking for a replacement has put me behind in my work for today. Just come on over to the post office after you wake up tomorrow, okay?”

“I’ll do that.” Haystack promised. With a wave, he watched the grey pegasus fly away. “Well then,” he said to himself as he looked around his house, “I better make up a list of things for Pine Needle to do while I’m gone. I’ll explain things to him later this afternoon, give him time to wake up and hopefully cheer up some too.” Walking over to his work desk, he picked up a pencil with his teeth and started to write.

Bleary eyed, Luna walked down the hallway to the dining room where she and Celestia shared their meals. She was still getting used to waking up before sunrise everyday so she could lower the moon so her sister could then raise the sun. Even though she could easily find time to take a small nap sometime during the day, the act of getting out of bed so early and then performing a somewhat strenuous magical duty still took some getting used to.

Breakfast though promised two things that would help wake her up. The first was coffee. Ah, glorious, wonderful coffee! Just the thing to chase the lingering cobwebs of sleep from her eyes. And, of course, Celestia would be there too. Beyond the simple joy of seeing her sister, today she was supposed to have some ideas on how Luna could help lessen her work load too, which really excited her. Not only would she be able to finally help her out some, it would also mean she was taking another step down the long road of reintegrating into Equestrian society.

Entering the dining chamber, she smiled at the sight of her sister waiting for her. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Celestia,” she said as she took her spot at the table.

Her sister smiled at her. “Oh, I’ve only been here for a minute at most, no need to apologize, Luna.”

With a nod, the servers delivered the morning meal, oatmeal with honey and fruit slices mixed in. Strangely, Luna felt vexed by the warm meal. Although it was very tasty, she couldn’t eat it quickly without burning her throat, which was already being overheated by the coffee she was imbibing. She hoped her desire to finish her meal quickly wasn’t too obvious, but she feared that with her constant sipping from both her coffee and water cups, interspersed with her quick mouthfuls of oatmeal, that she wasn’t doing that good of a job of it. A quick glance at her sister confirmed her suspicions; Celestia was eying her with a curious smirk.

“Hmm, I wonder what has you in such a rush this morning?” the elder sister asked with a twinkle in her eyes. “Did you want to go out dancing again?” she asked teasingly.

Luna rolled her eyes as she swallowed her mouthful of oatmeal. “At least what I was doing could be considered dancing. I tried figuring out if there was any rhyme or reason to what you were doing, but the best I could deduce was that you were just sticking out your legs at random. You weren’t even in time with the music!” Seeing her sister laugh at her indignation, she huffed. “But you know why I’m impatient.”

Celestia nodded. “Indeed. You want to help out more in running the kingdom.”

“Exactly! And while getting a chance to do something besides studying about everything that happened while I was imprisoned is part of it, I really do want to help make things easier for you too.”

“I know, Luna, and it means a lot to me.” With a quick spell, she pushed her now empty breakfast bowl away from her. “I couldn’t come up with anything that would let you take over any duties right away, but I did think of a couple of things you could do that would let you do so sooner rather than later.”

Swallowing the last of her water, Luna nodded eagerly. “And those are?”

“The first would be for you to spend some time with the scribes.” Seeing Luna give her a confused look, Celestia continued. “While it wouldn’t be very exciting, I think it would be a great way for you to get a better understanding on how things work on a more intricate level, as opposed to what you’ve seen so far. It would be boring, I’ll admit, but you would come to understand what all needs to be done just to, for example, move a loaf of bread from one town to another. It would also have the benefit that, if you do make a mistake, it won’t be in public and there will be many capable ponies there to help fix any errors you might make starting out.”

Luna pursed her lips. “That... doesn’t sound exactly like what I had in mind, to be honest. What’s the other option?”

Celestia grinned. “Well, I figured that you could spend the day with me, and watched as I held court.” Seeing Luna’s face brighten, she held up a hoof to forestall her. “While it sounds like fun, let me warn you now it will probably be just as boring, if not more so, than working with the scribes. You’ll have to spend most of your time in the background, just listening in, and you won’t have the luxury of being able to get up and move about to stretch all that often either. There’s a reason why my throne is exceptionally well padded, you know,” she said with a wink.

Luna giggled. “I think I would much rather do that than work with the scribes. If I have to spend another week doing nothing but reading, I’m going to start seeing scrolls in my sleep!”

“Okay then. Just know that I still expect you to still put some time into your studies though. As boring as some parts of it may be, if you’re going to be able to fill in for me someday, you will need to know all of that and more.”

“I understand, Celestia. I also think this will help me see just exactly what you have to go through, and if I’m in a room with some scribes, instead of where the action is happening, I certainly won’t get that.”

“Okay then, it’s decided.” Celestia stood up. “If you’re ready to go?” Seeing Luna eagerly stand, she led the way out of the dining area. “To the throne room!”

Pine Needle paused at the front gate to Sweet Apple Acres, taking one last moment to calm his nerves before proceeding onward. This was it, his last chance to turn around before anypony saw him, and put off or even forget what he was about to do. Shaking his head angrily, and almost spilling Acorn from his perch in the process, Pine Needle frowned at the line of thought he had briefly followed and purposefully strode forward onto Apple family land. As he got closer to the main building, he was noticed by a yellow filly with red hair and a big pink bow in her mane, who stopped what she was doing and came forward to meet him.

“Howdy! Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres, my name’s Apple Bloom,” the filly said, while looking curiously at him. “Did you know you have a squirrel on your head?”

Pine Needle grinned ruefully. “Hello, Apple Bloom. Mine name is Pine Needle, and yes, Acorn here seems to want to follow me around today. I was wondering, do you know if Applejack or anypony else is around? I need to talk to them about something important.”

“Well, Granny Smith is inside, I can go see if she available?” Apple Bloom asked.

“That would be great. Thank you very much.” Pine Needle waited as the filly trotted inside, and after a few moments returned.

“Granny says to come on in, but that you’ll have to leave the squirrel out here. Maybe I could keep him company?” she asked.

“Well, he seemed to get along okay with my sister. I tend to be the one he saves his mischievousness for.” Pine Needle lowered his head down to the ground in front of Apple Bloom, and the squirrel took the hint and jumped off of Pine Needle’s noggin to eye the filly in front of him. “If he gives you any problems, you let me know, okay?”

“I sure will, thank you Pine Needle!” she said. “Come on, little squirrely, want to play with my dolls over here?” With a wave of her hoof, Apple Bloom led Acorn away.

Pine Needle watched the filly and his pet walk around a corner of the house, and he turned and headed to where he had seen Apple Bloom return from just a few seconds before. Arriving at the door, he raised a hoof, knocked twice, and waited. After a moment, Granny Smith opened the door and eyed him cautiously. Pine Needle recognized her instantly; although he had lived in Ponyville for only a couple of years, even he had heard about how much the elderly matron of the Apple clan had done to help Ponyville throughout the decades.

“So,” the old mare said in a raspy voice, “you must be the pony that Apple Bloom said was here to talk to me?”

“Indeed. Mine name is Pine Needle, and I...” he paused and took one last deep breath. “I’m here to apologize to you, Applejack, and the rest of your family for the actions of my parents.”

“Oh, and just what did they do that brings you here to apologize?” she asked, her voice sharp with suspicion.

Swallowing down a knot in his throat, Pine Needle plunged ahead. “Mine parents have always had a very strong sense of entitlement when it came to raising me, and thought that they knew best for what I should do. So they went out of their way, without telling me, and arranged me to be married to somepony. Of course, when I found out about it, I told them that I didn’t want any part of such a forced arrangement. They got the idea by apparently meeting Applejack’s parents and getting them to agree to such a union, and let me say--”

“Those two agreed to such a thing?!” Granny Smith cried out in anger, cutting Pine Needle off. “Why, those terrible, good for nothings! They know they aren’t welcome here after all the stuff they’ve done, and now they go and do something like this?! Tell me boy,” she said, her whole manner suddenly very calculating, “where and when did that happen?”

“Um, I don’t know when exactly, but it was in Stalliongrad, so at least a week ago, maybe two?”

Granny Smith seemed to sag at the news. “Drat, they've probably moved on by now. Guess I’ll have to hold off on telling Big MacIntosh where they were, he wouldn’t be able to find them all that easily.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry about that, but my son and his wife have never been very responsible ponies, so I’m not surprised that they would go along with such a crazy scheme.” She stepped inside and motioned for Pine Needle to follow.

After a quick walk through a kitchen, Pine Needle ended up in a dining room, with a large, long table in the middle and cushions all around. “Take a seat, sonny,” Granny Smith said, pointing at one of the cushions. “I don’t blame you one bit for what your parents did, and truth be told I’m sorry my son went along with it. If he hadn’t then we wouldn’t be here right now, apologizing for things neither of us had a hoof in doing.”

Pine Needle let out a breath that he hadn’t been aware he had been holding. “Thank you, Granny Smith. And please do not feel that you have to apologize for anything. This is not the first time my parents have tried something like this, I’m afraid, so I place all the blame on them.”

Granny Smith shook her head in disbelief. “Makes you wonder why they thought it work out, don’t it though? Anyhow, I imagine you want a chance to explain this to Applejack yourself?”

Pine Needle nodded slowly. “I don’t think it would be fair of me to dump that off on to you.”

“Well then, you wait right here and I’ll go get her. She’s out making sure the trees are doing okay with all of this winter weather, checking to make sure none of the branches have broken off from being weighed down with the past snowfall. It might take me a bit to find her though. You want some apple juice while you wait?”

“That would be wonderful. Thank you very much.”

“All right then, give me one second to grab you a bottle, and then I’ll be off. I’ll do my best to put in a good word, but I warn you, Applejack has a very strong stubborn streak in her. If she gets the wrong idea, you may find it much harder to get her to listen than you were hoping for.”

Pine Needle nodded and thanked her for the bottle of apple juice, and watched as she headed out a different door. Slowly sipping through the the straw that been thoughtfully provided, he tried hard not to think about all the things that could still go wrong.

Luna had been provided with a large, comfortable cushion for her to sit on, and had spent the morning off against a side wall in the throne room, listening as petitioners came and made their cases to her sister. Many of the petitioners brought what Luna felt were rather minor cases: One pony was upset because the street where he lived hadn’t been cleared of snow fast enough, and another group complained because their favorite park was closed for the season.

“Celestia, how can you put up with all of these petty requests? Doesn’t it drive you crazy with how silly some of them are?” Luna asked during a break.

“Oh, some of them, sure. But there are enough honest requests, like the one family that had lost its house to a fire, that I think making sure everypony has a chance to ask us for help is worth it. Besides, this way I can have some fun with some of the lazy ones too.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Yes, I noticed you had quite the grin when you ‘helped’ that one mare by essentially having her volunteer to help out two other ponies without her even realizing it.”

Celestia smirked, and then took on a more serious look. “Well, you know, sometimes we find some our best workers this way. Sometimes ponies simply can’t find an easy path to doing what they love. Does it really matter how they get there in the end, if they get to do what they like while helping others?”

Luna nodded slowly, considering her sister’s words. As she sat there in thought, another group of ponies entered the room. To Luna, they instantly stood out; the five of them were similarly dressed, and didn’t look to be down on their luck in the least. One of them, a red unicorn mare with a short yellow mane and a rolled up scroll for a cutie mark stepped forward and bowed deeply to Celestia.

“Please rise,” Celestia said warmly. “How can I help you, my little ponies?”

“Thank you your highness. My name is Sunshine, and we are here representing the city of Edmareton. This coming up weekend we will be celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of our winter festival.”

“Oh yes!” Celestia said with a smile. “I got to attend one some years back. I had a great time.”

Sunshine bowed again. “Thank you, your highness. We are planning our biggest celebration yet, but unfortunately our scheduled guest of honor for the festivities had to cancel, and now we find ourselves without an appropriate dignitary for the position. We would love to have you attend again, but we would also fully understand if the very short notice keeps you from doing so?” Seeing Celestia nod sadly, Sunshine said, “In that case, we were hoping that maybe you could suggest somepony else who might be available and willing to make the trip up north?”

Celestia paused to think, and turned to face Luna. “Do you have any suggestions, sister? Maybe we could send Prince Blueblood?”

Luna made a sour face. “Ugh, no, they want someone who will help the celebration, not hinder it.” Luna took a moment to consider the available options. “Maybe Twilight Sparkle could go? It would be nice to see her get some recognition for what she did during the Summer Sun Celebration.”

Celestia shook her head no. “While I do appreciate everything that Twilight Sparkle has done for me and the kingdom, I don’t think she would be a good choice for an honor like this. Her nature isn’t well suited to take up such a responsibility on such a short notice. I was thinking of someone from the nobility here in Canterlot, but so many are away right now, I just don’t know who would be appropriate.”

Luna pondered the options for a few seconds. Her sister was right; many of the nobles were in southern homes, escaping the worst of the cold weather. Suddenly, an idea came to her. “Well, if you wouldn’t mind me going away for a weekend, I could go.” Luna said. “This could be a good way to help with my reintegration into society.” She turned to face the delegation. “Would that be sufficient for you, and if so, could I also bring a few friends with me?”

“Oh!” Sunshine said eagerly. “We’d be very honored if you would accept! And of course we would accommodate any staff you might need to bring.”

Luna looked up at Celestia, and seeing her nodding eagerly, she turned and smiled at Sunshine. “I would be honored to accept. Thank you very much!”

“No, thank you, your highness!” Sunshine said while bowing deeply to her. “My assistant here has all of the paperwork you’ll need, so you’ll know what time to be there, what we’ll be providing for you, and what duties we will need you to perform.” Seeing Luna give her a questioning look, Sunshine quickly added, “There will be a short parade that you’ll be leading, and we’ll ask you to be a guest judge in several of the competitions too. Nothing strenuous or difficult at all. In exchange, you’ll get enjoy the best seats to watch all the performances and competitions.”

“Oh! Of course I’d be happy to do that.” Luna said as she accepted a small sheaf of papers from an earth pony stallion. Seeing nothing amiss, she turned to Celestia. “What time do you think we’d have to leave Ponyville to get to Edmareton in time for..” she glanced down at the papers she had been given. “Well, we’d want to get there early so we aren’t rushed, so say midday Friday?”

Celestia shrugged. “You’d be better off asking the pegasus guards themselves. They’re ones who will have to do the flying, after all. But we can work on that later today.” She turned to face the delegation from Edmareton. “Is there anything else that we can do for you fine ponies?”

“Oh, goodness no, thank you again very much, Princesses!” Sunshine said while bowing deeply to both of the royal sisters. “Indeed, just as you have planning to do, I need to get word back home who we will have coming as our Guest of Honor. There is still a lot of work to be done to make sure that everything is going to be perfect.” With that, the delegation turned around and left the throne room, leaving the sisters alone once again.

“Well, if you’ll pardon me too, sister?” Luna asked as she stood up, levitating the papers that she had been given. “I would like to get things set up, and send some scrolls to my friends. I do hope that they can get the days off on such short notice.”

Celestia smiled. “Of course. Also, it may help if you sent a letter that they could give to their employers. They will most likely find it harder to say no if it’s one of us asking for them.”

Luna nodded slowly. “I don’t like to abuse my position like that, but I know Dewdrop’s boss is very friendly, from what I saw of him when I was disguised as Moonbeam. I’m sure he’d let Dewdrop have the days off without any hassle. My main concern is Feather Down’s employer. At least I know Haystack and Pine Needle won’t have any problems getting the days off. Haystack just has to ask himself,” she said with a giggle.

“Go ahead then, Luna. We’re getting close to the lunch break anyway, so I’ll see you then?”

“You bet!” with her papers floating along beside her, Luna happily trotted out a side door to her room, eager to get to work and happy she had decided against going to study what the scribes did.

Pine Needle had finished his drink, and was starting to get very nervous while he waited for Granny Smith to return with Applejack. What if he froze up in front of her? What if Applejack was so upset at the situation that she didn’t even want to see him? Finally, hearing hoofsteps approach, he turned to see the two Apple family members arrive.

And there she was. Applejack. The pony he had dreamt about for the past two years. The one whose name alone was often enough to freeze him into fantastic stupors. He was surprised to find himself able to keep his thoughts clear. Standing up at their approach, he bowed his head to them. “Thank you very much for being willing to listen to mine story and apology.”

Applejack nodded warily as she sat down opposite from him. “Granny didn’t tell me exactly what was going on,” she said in her drawl, “but she did say I should give you a fair chance, so let’s hear what you have to say.”

Pine Needle sat back down and did his best to ignore the horde of butterflies that had suddenly appeared in his stomach. “Well, it turns out that my parents thought it would be a good idea, for some reason, to arrange a marriage between me and you. I have--”

“Whoa there!” Applejack said, her eyes wide in surprise. “Ain’t no way I’m getting hitched to somepony I don’t know. Only way I’m getting married is if I decide on it, not somepony else!”

“I fully understand,” Pine Needle quickly said, trying to keep the conversation from getting away from him. “That is exactly how I feel too, and I have made sure that mine parents know that I did not approve of them doing such a thing. Please believe me when I say that that was not how I wanted to end up in a relationship with any pony, especially you.”

Applejack nodded, and then paused. “Wait, what do you mean, ‘especially me’?”

Pine Needle winced, and mentally berated himself. He was so nervous, he was saying anything and everything that came to his mind. “Well, I did have a cru--” He cut himself off and tried again. ”Feelings for you for quite a while,” he admitted, “I just could never work up the nerve to let you know. And now that my parents have gone and done this, I know that it would be foolish for me think along those lines anymore, so please, rest assured that I have no plans at all to try to use this as an excuse to press a claim, so to speak.”

Applejack looked a little mollified, but still somewhat upset. “So what, did your parents see that you had a crush on me and decide to use it to their advantage then?”

“No. In fact, they likely had no idea that I even knew you at all! They live in Stalliongrad, you see, so--”

“All the way up there?” Applejack exclaimed, again cutting Pine Needle off. “What made them think they had any right to do that then?”

“Well, they’ve tried it once before, that’s why I left home and moved here to Ponyville.” Pine Needle explained. “I did not tell anypony what mine destination was at all. It was pure chance that mine parents happened to be hosting your parents at the same time they found out where I lived. I met them in Canterlot yesterday. They were on their way to Ponyville to find me, but I made sure that they knew they weren’t welcome here if they were going to keep on trying to control my life like that. I still don’t know if they fully understand, but they did stop trying to force the issue and have given up, at least for now.”

Applejack sat back and gave herself a moment to take it all in. “Well, that’s mighty crazy of them to be sure. I never did get along with my parents either. They spent most of their time wandering about Equestria, and hardly had any time for the rest of us. I resented them for that, to be honest, and I know Big Macintosh and Granny Smith don’t like them that much either. I can sympathize with you, having parents like that.”

Pine Needle gave Applejack a small smile of thanks. “Again, I am terribly sorry for what my parents did, and for having to break it to you like this. But I figured it would be better if I came and told you face to face, rather than waiting and hoping that your parents never sent you a letter telling you about this.”

“Oh, you’re right there, pardner. I can only imagine what Big Macintosh might have done if he had found out like that.”

Pine Needle gulped. “I don’t think I would have liked that either. I imagine he can be very scary when he sets his mind to it.” he said, picturing the large stallion bearing down on him with malice in his eyes. He found himself trying not to swallow from nerves.

Applejack laughed. “Darn straight he can! Well then,” she said while standing up, “I thank you kindly for coming and telling me directly. That couldn’t have been easy to do, and I really appreciate your honesty.”

“And thank you for being willing to listen to me,” Pine Needle said, standing up and following Applejack back through the kitchen which he had entered the house through.

“Not a problem.” She opened the door and held it for him. “And hey, don’t be a stranger, okay? If nothing else, we can talk about how terrible our parents are, right? If you see me in the market, stop by and say hello, okay?”

Doing his best to conceal the giddy sensation that he suddenly felt, Pine Needle smiled and nodded. “You know what? I think I will.”

Pine Needle stepped outside, and just a couple of steps off to his left he saw Apple Bloom playing with Acorn, who had been dressed up in a pink doll blouse. “You know,” Pine Needle said wryly, “if I even pointed at an article of clothing Acorn would have chewed my head off. How did you get him to agree to wearing that?”

Apple Bloom giggled. “Well, I did have a few nuts to bribe him with, that helped a lot.”

Seeing Pine Needle, Acorn started to try to undress himself, looking a bit worn out by what he had gone through.

“Say, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop or anything, we were playing here the whole time, but with the window left open, I could hear your conversation with my sister,” Apple Bloom admitted. She then stepped up to Pine Needle and leaned in close. “So, you had a crush on my sister?” she slyly asked.

Pine Needle nodded, feeling a little nervous at being asked so openly. “Indeed I did.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, why? I mean, I think my sister’s great and all, but I just don’t see why somepony else would get a crush on her when there are some really pretty ponies in town like Rarity.”

Inside, Applejack had been reaching up to close the window, the draft coming through it having brought it to her attention. Now, she found herself pausing, curious to hear what the stallion had to say while Granny Smith looked at her quizzically from behind.

“Well,” Pine Needle said slowly as he leaned in, as if the answer was a great secret that he might share only with her. “You see, Apple Bloom, I see in your sister a lot of things I would like to see more of in myself. She’s an amazing farmer, and I hope to be one someday too. She’s very responsible and hardworking, traits that I try to practice also, although I know that I sometimes fall short. I admire how even though she does so much for Ponyville, she doesn’t let it get to her head, and she’s always there for her friends too.” He paused, and then grinned at the filly. “Also, she has the cutest freckles of anypony that I’ve seen in all of Equestria.”

Seeing that Acorn had finally freed himself of Apple Bloom’s doll dress, he lowered his head and let Acorn take his usual spot on top of it. “Well, I need to get going, if you don’t mind. Have a good day, Apple Bloom.”

“You too, Pine Needle! Feel free to bring Acorn by anytime you want!”

Inside, Applejack closed the window quietly and turned around to head out the other way to get back to work in the orchard. Seeing Granny Smith looking at her, she pulled her hat down to try to hide the blush that she could feel starting to heat up her cheeks. “The big galoot should have worked up the nerve sooner,” she muttered as she brushed her way past her grandmother, who wheezed a laugh in reply.

Half -- Chapter 4

Luna walked back to her friends with a troubled look on her face. “My sister has invited us to all to come inside and meet her guests,” she said, giving Pine Needle a consoling look, “who just happen to be your parents.”

Pine Needle stared in disbelief at Luna, and the other ponies’ mouths dropped open in shock. Luna nodded in sympathy at her friend, who was starting to sweat and look around him nervously. His darting gaze caught sight of his sister, who was looking up at him with a concerned expression. Taking a deep breath, he straightened his posture.

“Very well then,” he said, putting as much confidence in his voice as he could. “It is probably for the best to get this over with right now anyway. There is no reason to drag this out, or give myself time to second guess mine choice. At least I will no longer have to stress out about when they will find me. Let’s get this done now, while I have not only mine friends here to support me, but also while I still have the will to do this.”

Upon receiving a comforting smile from his friends, he started forward with a confident stride when a soft voice gave him pause. ”Brother, one moment please.” Pine Bough waited for him to turn and face her before she continued, “I think it will be best if I do not go in with you. If our parents were to see that I came here all by myself, without their permission?” She shuddered, “I fear to think how long I will might be grounded.” She trotted over to one of the guards standing by the doors, keeping him between her and the giant portal. “Do you mind if I listen in from here?” Seeing the armored grey unicorn roll his eyes but not voice any objections, she smiled at the guard then nodded at her brother that she was set for whatever else may happen.

“Let’s go,” Luna said, and took the lead. With a salute, the guards pulled the doors open, and she and her friends entered the throne room; Luna was first while Pine Needle brought up the rear. Initially hidden from sight, it took a moment before he could stand clear of his friends, which brought a pair of startled gasps from Celestia’s guests.

“Pine Needle?” asked his mother, Pine Wreath. “Is, is it really you?” Seeing her son nod, she dashed forward and embraced him in a tight hug. “Oh, it has been so long! Too long!” The hug was soon joined by Douglas Fir, and the others all watched with misty eyes at the unexpected reunion.

Celestia smiled as Luna walked over to stand next to her. Leaning in close, she softly whispered, “It was a surprise when they sent me a letter saying who they were and that they were in town for a couple of days on their way to visit family nearby. A little bit of research confirmed my hunch, and so I thought it would be nice to help them get together a day or two earlier than they planned.” She giggled. “I was just about to go send a runner to find you, as a matter of fact.”

Luna shook her head, and a sigh escaped from her lips. “It is nice to see, but I don’t think ‘visit’ covers the entire truth of their trip,” she explained after Celestia gave her a questioning look. “This situation is much more complicated than it appears they have led you to believe.”

Stepping back from the embrace that mother and son continued to share, Douglas Fir looked over at the princesses and shook his head in amazement. “We were honored to have Princess Celestia grant our request to meet with her; to have the chance to meet with one so great and wise is rare, and it will be a moment that I will cherish through the rest of my life. And yet, it seems that you have become friends with Princess Luna?” He barked out a laugh in disbelief. “That must be an interesting story in and of itself, I’d wager!”

“I still have trouble believing it myself, father,” Pine Needle replied with a grin. “If somepony else had told me ahead of time how it would happen, I would have accused them of lying.”

Pine Wreath finally broke the hug and stood back, wiping tears of joy from her eyes. “Son, let me please apologize for what happened back in Stalliongrad. We were wrong to not listen to your thoughts on the matter. I do not blame you for leaving, I just wish that you had not felt the need to go so far away.”

Douglas Fir nodded solemnly. “I believe part of our failure to recognize your stance was that the two of us were paired together without being asked, and it worked out very well for us. I think that is what made us so blind to your protests. If it worked for us, why wouldn’t it work for you?”

“Well,” Pine Needle replied, “I am glad that you understand why I left then.” He allowed himself to relax a little; perhaps his parents had changed their minds on the way down from Stalliongrad? Or maybe his sister had misheard them?

Pine Wreath smiled. “Oh, looking back on it, it’s so obvious that she wasn’t right for you. Did you know she ended up moving to Manehattan and marrying a street sweeper? Her parents were so scandalized by the event that they hid it for months!”

“A...street sweeper?” Pine Needle asked, growing confused about where the conversation was going.

“So consider our lesson learned, son!” Douglas Fir said. “Boy, we sure lucked out there, didn’t we? But that’s what happens when you start getting desperate in trying to find anypony who meets the requirements you’ve set up. You lower your standards, and then the crazy ones get in.” The stallion shook his head at the thought of it.

“That’s right!” Pine Wreath chimed in. “We certainly won’t make that mistake again!”

Pine Needle felt his stomach tighten into a knot. “What do you mean by, ‘that mistake’?” he asked warily.

“Of not doing the proper research, of not being thorough!” his mother replied. “That’s why, when we were presented with a possible match for you, we didn’t just take their word for it, oh no, we went and did our research, let me tell you! Why-”

Pine Needle stomped his hoof in anger on the floor. “No! The mistake isn’t that you did not set me up with the proper mare, it is that you tried to set me up at all! Who I fall in love with, who I decide to spend the rest of my life married to, if I decide to get married at all, is my choice!”

Celestia turned to Luna, wearing a frown on her face. “Sister, I’m sorry. I had no idea that this was going to happen. Please believe me that this was not my intention.”

“There is no need to apologize, Celestia,” Luna replied with a sad smile. “There was no way for you to know that this was going to happen. I only found out myself when they showed up this morning. A good portion of our time today has been spent trying to figure out what to do.”

Celestia nodded silently and turned her attention back to the Pine family members. Her frown deepened, not only at the incomplete story she had been given but also in trying to figure out how her sister had learned about it before she had. Was there something else about the situation she had missed?

“Pine Needle,” Pine Wreath said in a stern voice, “you have to believe us when I say that this not like the last time. We are not going to force the two of you together and simply hope that everything works out.”

“That’s right, son,” Douglas Fir said. “We plan to make sure that everything the two of you do is carefully monitored, and we’ll make sure that if she proves to not be good enough for you, then we’ll call it off.”

Pine Needle spluttered in disbelief. “You, you have not heard a single word of mine, have you? I am not upset about how this... this process is carried out, I am angry because there is a process to begin with! I did not run away years ago because you picked the wrong pony for me, I left because you thought it was your right, your duty to assign one to me to begin with!” He stomped the floor again, having no other way to show his anger without losing his composure. “I should have known, when I was told you were coming to see me, that nothing had really changed!”

Pine Wreath found herself speechless; she had never expected to be so thoroughly rebuffed by her son. Douglas Fir however narrowed his eyes and gave Pine Needle a curious look. “If you do not mind my asking, how did you know we were coming? We wanted to let you know, but without an address, let alone not knowing which town you had moved to until recently, we were unable to mail you a letter. In fact, most of our day tomorrow was going to be spent searching Ponyville for you because we had no way to give you notice that we were coming to see you.”

Pine Needle froze. Had he accidentally revealed too much in the heat of the argument? His mouth turned dry as he stuttered, trying desperately to come up with something to say that wouldn't end up with his sister getting in trouble. His eyes darted back and forth, looking at both his friends from Ponyville and the two princesses, but nothing came to mind. Seeing his father’s gaze turn very intense, he spluttered, “Because... because, um, I-”

“Because I told him, that is why!”

All eyes turned to the open double doors. Pine Bough stood defiantly in the doorway, the surprise of her reveal only slightly undermined by the barely detectable quiver in her legs. With a determined look on her face, she briskly trotted up next to Pine Needle. “I knew when I saw how you reacted when you received that letter from Canterlot that you were bound and determined to make mine brother’s life miserable. That is why I took it upon myself to come and warn him, and also for the chance to see him again after you forced him away so long ago!”

“Young lady,” Pine Wreath said angrily, having shaken off the shock of seeing their daughter in front of them faster than her husband. “You are in big trouble, do you hear me?”

“I do not care!” Pine Bough shouted. “I would do it again too, if I had the choice!”

Unsure of how to react to their children uniting against them, Pine Wreath and Douglas Fir stepped back and brought their heads together to quietly discuss how to proceed. Celestia took the chance to whisper to Luna, “I wondered how you had known about this. Of course, it all makes sense now.” Seeing Luna’s pensive demeanor, she asked, “How are you holding up? This can’t be easy, being forced to watch one of your best friends go through something like this.”

Luna nodded sadly. “I want so badly to jump right in and tell them off! I know however that anything I say will be overshadowed by who I am; it won’t be my words that change their minds, but my rank. And while some situations might call for me to use my position as a means to get a favorable solution, here it would be me being nothing more than a bully like Pine Needle’s parents. Just because they think they can use their station as a reason to get what they think is best does not mean that I can do so too.”

“That is one of the hardest parts about our lives, and having friends,” Celestia said while nodding sadly. “Having to always keep the public half of our lives separate from our private halves. All too often it is our private lives that have to suffer, so that the many can benefit from what we do with our stations as princesses. The times where the two fit together are all too rare, I fear.”

“And yet,” Luna said carefully, “even though I am limited in what I can do right now, I think that this is one of those times. While I may not be able to directly help Pine Needle, I think just being here lets me aid him in both ways. As a friend, I can lend him my support just by being here. And as a ruler, I believe that we are helping to keep things civil. See how his parents keep looking in our direction? I’m willing to bet they are worried about making a scene and earning our disapproval.”

Breaking from their huddle, Pine Wreath and Douglas Fir walked back to their children. “It would appear,” Pine Wreath said in a precise and measured manner, “that we have underestimated your displeasure with our plans. If you truly do not want to give this mare a chance, we can do nothing to change that.”

Douglas Fir nodded in agreement. “You must have one amazing mare friend already to not even consider our proposal.” He looked over at Pine Needle’s friends. Pointing at Feather Down, he asked, “Is that the lucky girl who has caused all of our efforts to be wasted?”

“No, she is merely a good friend of mine. Nothing more, nothing less.” Pine Needle shifted his weight, feeling uncomfortable with where things were headed.

“So, who is this mare then?” his mother asked.

“Actually, there currently isn’t one that I am involved with,” he admitted. Seeing his parents eyes light up, Pine Needle raised a hoof to forestall them. “There is a pony that I care for a lot though. Right now, I am still... unsure of how to approach her and let my feelings be known, but I hope to someday soon gather the courage to ask her out.”

“Then let us help!” Douglas Fir pleaded. “Don’t you see we only want what’s best for you? Let us break the ice then! Allow us to present your case for you, and get the two of you together!”

“Yes!” Pine Wreath chimed in. “We won’t even mention marriage, or earth pony magic potential, or anything of the sort! Let us do this to help make things up to you! And then, after you two have that first date, we can all assess how things went, and where to go from there!”

Pine Needle felt himself waver. It seemed that he had finally made some progress in getting his argument through to them. Perhaps his parents could help keep him grounded where he himself had failed?

“No,” Pine Needle finally said, regret in his voice. “While I appreciate the offer, it would not be fair to the mare, and I would not be true to myself. I need to do this on my own.”

“And how long will that take you?” Pine Wreath asked, turning impatient. “How many other mares have you seen before this one? At least tell me that there is some hope for us having grandchildren someday!”

“I do not think that that is any of your business!” Pine Needle snapped. “While you may think you have only my best intentions in mind, I am finding your lines of questioning to be at the best ignorant, and at the worst downright insulting! I will not listen to anything else you have to say about this! As far as I am concerned, this conversation is over, and so is our time together. Out of respect for my friends, I will not storm off, but I will have nothing more to do with you. Do not come to Ponyville, you will not be welcome at my home!” Unable to look at his parents any longer through tear filled eyes, Pine Needle turned around and stood proudly with his back turned to them.

Pine Needle’s parents stood frozen in place, stunned by what they had just heard. After a moment of silence, Douglas Fir softly asked, “Is this how it is going to be, son?”

Seeing Pine Needle refusing to budge even an inch, Pine Wreath softly sighed. “I am sorry that things had to end this way. We will leave you be then, as you wish. Just... please don’t hate us. We were only doing what we felt was best for you. We only did this out of our love for you.” Still getting no reaction from her son, she turned to her husband. “Very well, let’s head home. We will have to tell Mr. and Mrs. Apple that the betrothal with Applejack we planned on will have to be forgotten.”

Pine Needle tensed, his breath caught in his throat.

Douglas Fir trotted over to the princesses and bowed deeply before them. “Your highnesses, please forgive an older couple their folly, and for dragging our family’s problems out into the open before you. It was not our intention to take up your valuable time with such an unseemly display. We will be on our way now, and please do not think too poorly of our father, or our son. If there is to be any ill will, please place it squarely where it belongs, on us.”

Celestia shook her head. “While I am sad to see things end on such a sour note, I am glad that at least your family was able to come to a conclusion of some sort, instead of simply letting it fester and create a bigger divide. Hopefully in the near future, the healing process will be able to begin.”

“You are too kind, your Highness.” Bowing one last time, Douglas Fir turned and walked back to his wife, who was scolding Pine Bough.

“Making such a long trip at your age, at this time of year?” Pine Wreath was saying to her daughter. “Why did you not simply send a letter? It would have gotten here just as fast, and cost a lot less money than what the food and lodging of your journey cost you! That, and you would not be grounded for a year either!”

“Awww! Mom!” Pine Bough complained to no avail.

Turning towards her son, who had still not budged, she softly said, “Goodbye, Pine Needle. I will tell the family that you are doing well. Please... just don’t hate us?” Hearing no reply, and seeing no reaction, she drooped her head and dejectedly walked out the door, followed by Douglas Fir and Pine Bough.

Luna closed the doors behind the leaving Pines, and Feather Down dropped to the ground, jamming a hoof into her mouth to keep her laughter bottled up. Everypony else walked over to Pine Needle, to see why he had still not budged; the news that he had been, for a short while, arranged to be married to the mare of his dreams had left him frozen in a state of shock. Haystack tried waving a hoof in front of his friend’s face, only to get no reaction. Seeing this, Feather Down finally stood up and, her laughter echoing off of the castle walls, ran out a side door. The galloping of her hooves slowly faded away, but her laughter could still be easily heard.

Dewdrop turned to face Haystack. “While I can see the humor in this situation, I certainly don’t find it that funny. I fear I might be a bit too harsh on her. Perhaps you could go get her calmed down, please?”

“Of course. Besides,” he said, looking at Pine Needle, “I think comforting him when he finally regains his senses will be better handled by you than me. I don’t think I could give this the proper touch that it needs.”

Dewdrop smiled at Haystack. “Sounds good to me, dear.” After watching the farmer pegasus follow after her roommate, Dewdrop joined the princesses who were doing their best to gently bring Pine Needle out of his state. After a few moments of calling his name with increasing volume and urgency, Celestia lowered her horn and simply tapped him on his forehead with it. The physical contact finally shook Pine Needle from his catatonia, and with tears forming in his eyes, he sank to his knees.

“I, I have been an utter idiot,” he sobbed. “I let mine parents leave thinking that I hate them, and I allowed any chance that I might have had with the mare that I love be completely ruined!”

Luna blinked in surprise. “I think you are being too harsh on yourself. My impression was that, while saddened by your refusal to speak to them at the end, they were also disappointed by their failure as well. I am sure that you can send them a letter if you want and let them know how you truly feel.”

“And your chances with Applejack aren’t ruined either!” Dewdrop added. “I mean, it isn’t like any of us our going to bring this up to her. She’ll never know about this if you don’t want her to!”

“No, she still could! Even if none of us tell her, what if things do work out between us? What do you think will happen if she wants to meet my parents? What do I do then? What if Pine Bough comes and visits me again, and she lets this slip in front of her?” Seeing Dewdrop still looking doubtful, he continued, “What if somepony that you were going out with had his parents all of a sudden show up and try to force the two of you together? How would you like that, even if both of you were against it?”

Dewdrop blinked. “That would be... unsettling, to say the least. You’re right hun, it wouldn’t be good at all. There would always be that cloud of doubt, of just how much our attraction was natural, and how much was being forced by his parents.” She fell silent, considering the situation and finding it very unpalatable.

“Well, I know it hurts a lot right now,” Luna said, trying her best to sound confident, “but at least you were able to get through to your parents about how you felt. And while you might not be comfortable pursuing Applejack anymore, that doesn’t mean you have to give up on love altogether! Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all, right?”

Pine Needle laughed, but the noise was anything but cheerful. “Does that really count for my case though? If the mare I desired never even knew of my feelings, because I couldn’t even talk to her? Is that really love, or just some childish attempt at it?” He sighed, and laid his head down on the cold, marble floor. “I appreciate your words, so please do not take my attitude the wrong way. I think I just need time. Time to get over this, and time to think about what being in love really means.”

Haystack followed the sound of Feather Down’s laughter through a couple of hallways before finding her leaning against a wall. The pink pony was gasping for air, and her laughter was finally coming to an end. As he walked up to her, Feather Down took a deep breath, and finally brought her mirth under control.

“I’m sorry, Haystack,” Feather Down said. “I know that sounds really bad, coming from somepony who just fled the room in laughter, but...” she paused and waved a hoof vaguely in the air. Her demeanor turned serious, and Haystack thought he saw her frown. “But what else can I do? I just watched one of my best friends not only go through a very trying time with his family, he also saw his chances with the mare of his dreams get dashed in front of him. And all I could do was watch-- there was nothing I could have done to make things go better. If I can’t laugh at the irony of his parents somehow managing to get Applejack’s parents to agree to such a crazy scheme...” She looked around uncertainly. “What else can I do but cry at the injustice of it all?”

Haystack nodded, and put a comforting hoof on Feather Down’s shoulder. “I hated it too. Just standing there, wanting to do something to help out Pine Needle... What could I do though, that wouldn’t have undermined his position? How am I supposed to show that somepony else is strong enough to do things on their own? Wouldn’t the very act of joining in on Pine Needle’s side go against the very nature of his position?” He lowered his hoof to the ground and sighed. “I felt worthless, just standing there.”

The two friends stood there, silently sharing their misery. After a few moments, Feather Down slowly started back towards the throne room, and Haystack fell in behind her. When they returned, they saw that Pine Needle was slowly getting to his feet, looking miserable but at least aware of his surroundings.

Trotting over, Feather Down lowered her head and softly said, “I’m so sorry, Pine Needle.”

“It is not your fault,” Pine Needle said, managing a sickly smile. “I am sure that someday I too will laugh at this.”

“Don’t give up though, okay?” Surprising everyone with the fervor she spoke with, she continued to fill the silence. “There are still plenty of mares out there! There’s Cheerilee, Rose, Pinkie Pie, no, scratch that one, she’s too crazy... um, Daisy, Lily, the twins from the spa... Oh! How about Carrot Top! She’d be perfect for you, I bet! Or how about-”

Pine needle placed a hoof on her mouth to silence his friend. “I thank you for the thought, but I think that maybe I should just take some time off, so to speak, from wanting a special somepony. If the way I acted around Applejack, even when I just heard her name was any indication, maybe I am not ready to be in love. Perhaps I need to grow up some more, and when I am able to treat a mare that I love as something more than something to stare and drool at, then I can consider myself ready.”

“If you mean that,” Celestia said with a smile, “you may be closer to that day than you think.”

Meanwhile, Haystack had moved over next to Dewdrop. “You know,” he said cautiously, “this has gotten me thinking. I can’t but help but look at Pine Needle’s situation and wonder, am I messing things up too? I’ve never been that good at being social, and I like what we have, and I think I want to be closer yet, but I just don’t know how to express that all that well, and-”

“I understand, dear.” Dewdrop said, gently cutting Haystack off. “I like what we have between us too, and I would like it to be more also. And while seeing this makes me want to force things so we don’t end up in a similar position, where our inaction has cost us our chance, I think doing so could be just as bad too.” She smiled up at Haystack. “Let’s just keep on taking our time, and let it happen naturally.”

Haystack nodded, and then on an impulse brushed his muzzle against hers. Seeing her smile back, he then turned and faced the rest of the group. “So, what now?” he asked.

Luna turned to look at Pine Needle. “Is there anything you’d like to do? Anything that might help cheer you up?” Seeing her friend give a noncommittal shrug, she turned to her sister. “You have any suggestions, Celestia?”

“We could go watch one of the afternoon plays, and I understand that several prominent musicians are playing at the local clubs.” She gave the group a wry grin, “Perhaps we could enjoy a bit of dancing, let ourselves go a little. How does that sound?”

Pine Needle mulled over her suggestions. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to go and listen to some music?”

“That’s the spirit!” Celestia said. “I know just the place too. Give me a moment to get ready.”

Luna blinked in surprise. “You want to come too?”

“Of course I do!” Celestia moved her legs about in something vaguely resembling a dance. ”It’s not often I get the opportunity to strut my stuff.” Seeing Pine Needle grin at her antics, she smiled warmly. “There we go! Go ahead and head towards the west gate, Luna, I’ll meet you there.”

Watching her sister leave to inform the staff that they were going to be gone for the evening, Luna then looked at her friends. “Ready to go?” she asked. Seeing them nod in agreement, she led them out of the big double doors and headed to where Celestia had told them to meet her.

Nightmare Moon continued her slow trek across the moon. While she had doubted that she would face any repercussions for her actions on Feather Down, her caution had won out, and she had refrained from trying anything else just yet. Still, night was about to fall upon Equestria again, and with it would be another chance to try out her new found abilities.

Looking back, she realized she had squandered a lot of chances last night. Taking the time during her march to think, she had come up with several ideas she wanted to test out, the first being if she could enter somepony else’s dream without their noticing. She didn’t know if it was possible, but if she could pull it off, it would also open the window for a lot more possibilities.

WIth an malicious grin, she chuckled to herself, looking forward to what tonight, and future nights, might bring.