Lifeblooms

Bloom didn’t need Bastions eyes to know Luna was watching her. It wouldn’t have been a problem, if not for the fact that there was no sound in the train car but their breathing. It seems that everyone on the train decided it would be a good idea to choose seats away from the princess of the night, and the large scary wolf made of wood. The princess had apparently teleported all the way from her castle in Canterlot. This resulted in the thunderous boom announcing her arrival, as well as quite the display of swirling shadows filled with stars, if the whispers on the street were to be believed. And so the three of them sat in the empty train car, Bastion didn’t even breath, Luna seemed more than content to simply let the silence be, and Bloom; Bloom was desperately trying to will the awkward out of the still air.

After giving up on making the awkward leave, Bloom started running through equations in her head, trying to figure out just how much power it must have taken to teleport from Equestrias capitol, to the far end of the zebra lands. Dragging up an old memory from ‘cutie mark crusaders train conductors’ Bloom plotted the rout this particular train took to get back to Equestria. The trip took around 2-3 days by train depending on how many stops there were along the way. It was an old rout, and as such took a long winding path around the mountains; sometimes even meandering off to connect an obscure town. Still even a straight teleport would take an absurd amount of magic. Luna didn’t even seem winded when she marched into the jail demanding there release, and that there charges be dropped as a favor to Equestria. It hadn’t taken much for the charges to be swept under the rug, almost as if no one wanted to deal with the mine field that was Bastion and Bloom. That, and if the cold in the room was anything to go by, it was in no one’s best interest to argue with Luna about anything right about then.

All and all things went surprisingly smoothly. A bit of paperwork, and a short walk later found the three on a train bound for Equestria; in silence. Using Bastions eyes, Bloom sneaked glances at Luna trying to see if she was mad or not.

Do you think I should talk to her?

Probably m’lady, she did save you after all.

But what if she’s mad at me? You felt how cold it was in the prisons office.

Are you scared of her? There was a clear taunt in Bastions voice.

I feel no shame in saying that yes, yes I’m scared of the massively powerful lunar princess, who can teleport from Canterlot to here, without so much as a sweat I might add. What if she’s mad? What if I’m not the Element of Honesty? What then? Bloom was starting to sweat now, even though the train car was quite cool thanks to Luna’s presence.

Please calm down m’lady, there isn’t anything we can do about that now. All we can do is take everything in stride and hope the princess understands.

You’re right, you’re right. I’m going to talk to her. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Bloom licked her lips nervously before starting. “T-thank you Luna.” Her voice sounded small and broken even to her ears.

Luna looked away from the window to stare at the little pony in front of her. A long time passed, and Bloom was starting to worry she shouldn’t have said anything when the princess let out a long, exasperated sigh. “I cannot believe you actually were stupid enough to do something as absurdly irrational, as a soul binding. To a tree no less, have you completely lost your mind?” She looked out the window again, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “More than that though, I am extremely impressed with that young zebra friend of yours. Few could pull off a soul binding with so little training and not kill the participants; she will become something great someday.”

A wry smile crawled across Blooms face. “To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure myself she could truly do it. Looking back now everything seems to have turned out rather well considering.” Her smile spread into an all-out grin as she faced Luna. “Especially the part where the lunar monarch rides in on thunder to save the poor filly from jail.”

Luna made an extremely un-princess-like snort at this, “riding in on thunder was I?”

“The way I hear it you road thunder and shadows across a bridge of starlight, all to save me from a truly awful fate.” She shrugged, “at least that’s how I’m gonna tell it.”

This caught Luna by surprise, “you are going to be telling this story?” she hadn’t thought the small pony would want to share much about herself with anypony. The letter she sent seemed withdrawn, and more than a little self-conscious.

Bloom frowned, taking a moment to sort through her thoughts before speaking. When she spoke again it was much more subdued, and lacked her previous playfulness. “I already promised Rarity that I would answer any of her questions. I suspect that I’ll have to answer a good bit more before me and Bastion can simply live in peace.”

“You are likely right,” Luna said, her eyes lost in the stars above. “The question then is; are you going to explain your magic, and the magic that binds you and Bastion?”

This time it was Blooms turn to be surprised; none of her teachers at Axum could ever wholly explain how her magic worked. After years of no explanation she just assumed no one knew how it worked, so she began to tinker with it; looking for the limits of what she could and couldn’t do. It had taken years, but Bloom had come to understand enough about her own magic to get by. She was sure there was more to it, but she hadn’t stumbled across it yet. A bit hesitantly, not wanting to get her hopes up she asked, “do you know how my magic works?”

Luna gave her a knowing smile before going back to looking out the window at her night sky. “How old do you think I am Bloom?”

“I…” she paused, “I don’t know, maybe 1300 or so including the time spent on the moon.” Internally Bloom winced, not thinking before she had spoken. She wasn’t sure of Luna would want to talk about her time on the moon.

To her surprise though the princess began to laugh. It was a rougher sound than her sisters, but it also seemed more… it took Bloom a second to find the words to describe it; it felt, more mortal than Celestia’s. The few times she could remember meeting the older princess she seemed almost too perfect to be real. It made her a bit off-putting to talk to. As if she knows that she’s better than you are, but she doesn’t judge you for it because she knows it’s not your fault. Luna by comparison felt like an old friend. It had only taken a few minutes of talking with the younger princess to feel at ease enough to speak casually.

“Oh it is good to know I do not look a day over 1300.” She started laughing again, and this time Bloom joined in. Luna’s laugh was infectious that way. “In truth,” Luna said once she managed to get a hold of her giggles. “I am more around 2600 years old if we include my time spend on the moon. And over the years ponies like you are not that uncommon. In fact most earth ponies do a bit of what you do, just on a much smaller scale. Truth be told one of the more shocking things for me coming back, was just how much of the old ways have been lost or abandoned.” Luna continued to look out the window, and when she spoke next her voice took on the wistful air of remembrance. “Once upon a time, pegasi and earth ponies could use magic as readily as any unicorn. Not as varied as a unicorn to be sure, but magic none the less.”

There was a long pause before Bloom worked up the nerve to ask, “What happened?”

“I do not know. Perhaps with no more wars at our doorstep ponies moved away from the old ways. Perhaps ponies slowly just stopped learning and teaching them, and over a thousand years they all but vanished. Either way it is a true shame that they are gone now, the things earth ponies could once do with plants would take your breath away. Pegasi too once shaped clouds and storms with ease and grace rarely seen these days. I once knew a pegasus who slept in a storm cloud, and could summon lightning from a clear sky.”

“Could you show me some of this magic?” Bloom tried to keep the hope out of her voice, but it seemed to creep in nonetheless.

Luna nodded, and then glancing at Blooms covered eyes she said, “Yes, I know how most magic works. I could share a bit of what I know if you like.”

“Please do!” she wanted it to come out calm, yet intrigued. Bloom was fairly sure it came out more like a small filly begging for ice cream.

The lunar monarch was quiet for a long moment, her eyes betraying nothing of what was going on inside. When she spoke again there was a sense of seriousness in her tone. “If I am to tell you how your magic works, you must also understand more than you do about the magic of this world. I suppose starting from the beginning would be best then.” Her brow furrowed as she collected memories millenniums old, twisting them into something coherent. Bloom waited patiently for her to continue. “Few actually learn about their own magic these days,” she started. “It has become so common place that it seems only a rare few scholars bother to study how it all works and where it came from.” Her voice took on a slightly sad tone. “It always amazes me how much has been forgotten of times long past. There was a time when even the youngest foals knew where they came from, and the weight their names carried.”

Bloom was absolutely brimming with excitement at the thought of finally getting some answers. One thing nagged at her though, “what do you mean ‘the weight their names carried’?”

Luna smiled but shook her head. “All in good time little one, we have a long ways to go and this is a bit of a long story.” Settling into a more comfortable position she continued, “For now though let us start at the beginning of it all, or at least as far back as I can go.

“There are four realms that can be accessed for magic, including our own there is the Fey, the Nether, and the Void. Our own realm was once full of much more life and magic than it is today, but few can remember that time before the Nightmare Wars. After the wars ended there was little left of the world’s former glory, and only the ancient resilience of nature spirits still reflect those forgotten days. With so little magic left in the world, the immortals of the realm decided to work together as one for the first and last time in known history. Alicorns, Trolls, Sirens, Dragons, the Changeling Queens, and the Named all pooled their remaining strength to-“Luna looked up to see Bloom raising her hoof like a school filly. “Yes Bloom?”

“What are the ‘Named’?” she had never heard a mention of anything called the ‘Named’ in her life.

“They are powerful and ancient immortal beings. They are not a race in their own right because there is only one of them or they are an oddity amongst their race. The Changeling Queens are a bit of an oddity because changelings are a race, but there four queens are the only immortals amongst them.”

“I see,” Bloom said. Then she closed her mouth, and patiently waited for Luna to continue.

“As I was saying, they pooled their considerable power to craft an unfathomable spell. It formed an invisible, yet no less permanent link between our world and the three other realms. The Fey is likely the most important of these realms, as it is where most of the elemental spirits that help this world function are from. There are many other creatures in the Fey to be sure, but only the elementals are allowed to come and go between the realms as they like. It is incredibly difficult to cross from one realm to the other, and as far as I know the only other creatures in the Fey that can, are the Fairies.

“But I digress; the next realm bound to ours is the Nether. It is a place with an overabundance of raw magic, and it is the place where any creature with internal magic draws there supply from, myself included. Few can draw from the Nether consciously, that’s why most creatures like unicorns for example, only regain their magic with a good night sleep. And before you ask; yes I can draw magic from the Nether awake, and no I cannot even begin to understand how the spell binding it to this world works.” Bloom closed her mouth and settled back into the bench she was sitting on.

“The last realm bound to ours is the Void. I do not truly know why the Void was bound; its magic drives any creature that uses it mad. I have heard that some Nightmares can safely use the Voids magic, and even that there are a few interesting creatures in there. But considering how dangerous the Voids magic is, all research and study of it has been forbidden, even before my banishment. It is likely that only the Nightmares truly know what is in the Void, and why it was bound to our realm, but they have little love for most.”

“Isn’t everyone that originally bound the three realms to ours immortal?” Bloom asked.

“Yes.”

“So why has no one just asked them why it was done?” It seemed fairly straight forward to Bloom.

“If only it was that simple,” Luna said with a wistful sigh. “I could explain to you why, but you would have to understand complex spell matrix, advanced alchemy, and more about consciousness melding than I have time to tell you. You will just have to trust me when I say that there are probably one or two beings that know why the Void is here, and they are not talking.”

Bloom let out a defeated sigh, but didn’t argue. “Ok, so now that you have explained where magic comes from, not that it wasn’t interesting, but can you explain how mine works?”

“Patience little one,” Luna said, and Bloom didn’t need Bastions eyes to know the princess was enjoying drawing this out. “I will explain it all in good time, but you cannot simply skip parts.” Somehow Bloom doubted that all the information she was about to get would be relevant, still all she could do was shut up and let Luna explain in her own way. “First of all, do you know how magic is shaped?”

“How it’s shaped?” Bloom paused, “umm, with a horn or by the spirits?”

Luna gave that wry smile of hers. “Both of those are technically correct, but that is like saying the sea is wet. Yes it is true, but you are missing so much. You see there are three parts to magic, energy, ability, and supremacy. The first is straight forward as it gets, it is the power that a spell uses to perform whatever it is that you made it for.”

Bloom nodded.

“The second one is ability, and it is a little more complex. Your ability forms the spell, gives the raw energy focus and purpose. For races like unicorns this is extremely important, as your ability in a school of magic is the difference between casting a spell, and having it blow up in your face. At the same time races like zebras, and earth ponies like you care little for ability. Without a horn, or an equivalent, you cannot connect with the Nether. As such you do not have enough internal magic to cast your own spells.

“That brings us to our last point, supremacy. This is most important for you; it is pitting your will against that of the spirit you wish to do your bidding. If what you say is true, you have only ever asked the spirits for assistance so I doubt you know it, but you could force them to do your bidding.”

“I would never!” Bloom was aghast she would even suggest binding the spirits to her will.

“And it is best that you do not,” Luna said. “It is a shame that most shamans these days are taught to simply master supremacy, and force there will over the spirits. While I have no doubt it is much easier to simply control the spirits, one who is loved by them can perform the most amazing feats.”

Like headmaster Settoris, I could tell he was loved and respected by the wind spirits.

“So...” Bloom paused, “what’s the point of supremacy? Creatures that cast spells don’t use it, and those who can, shouldn’t.”

“An excellent question my dear, you see supremacy is simply the act of pitting your mind against another’s. There are few who still know mind control spells, so most do not practice strengthening their mind anymore. A few creatures outside of Equestriea are naturals at mind magic, Nightmares among them. You are right though, these days mastering ones supremacy is not of much importance.” She was silent for a bit, thinking. “I suppose the only true need for mastery would be in alchemy.”

“Alchemy?” Bloom had heard of alchemy at the university. Not much unfortunately, only that there was no class for alchemy. To learn it one had to go find an alchemist, and ask to become a disciple.

“Look I am no alchemist,” Luna said, “that would be Celly. All I know is that she would often comment on how much of a mental strain some of her potions were. Personally I never had the patience for the art.”

“But what even is alchemy?”

“Alchemy is the art of convincing reality that it is wrong.” Only the serious tone of her voice let Bloom know she wasn’t joking.

“What? And How? And… well… how?”

“Honestly. I have no idea how any of it works. The most I ever got from Celly was “because reasons”, before she would go back to whatever potion she was crafting at the time.” Luna shook her head. “To be honest, all I know for certain is I have never met a master alchemist who is all there, if you know what I mean.”

Bloom couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Are you saying princess Celestia is crazy?”

“Of course not,” Luna matched Blooms smile with one of her own. “I am simply implying, quite strongly, that there is the possibility of my sister sometimes acting in a way that may be viewed as, abnormal.” Her smile grew just a bit more, “perhaps that is just me being behind the times though.”

The two broke into another bout of laughter at Celestias expense. Luna recovered first, wiping a tear from her eye. “Oh, it is good to enjoy a laugh, tell me Bloom, do you know where I left off?”

“I believe you were explaining the function of supremacy,” Bloom said around fading giggles.

“Ah yes, now I remember. As I am sure Bastion will attest to, there is not much a spirit hates more than being forced to act against their will. That is where family names and bloodlines come into play. The deal the spirits came up with was simple. When they found a creature who acted beneficial or kindly towards the spirits, they were allowed to place their mark upon the creature’s soul. The mark was a symbol to any spirit that saw it, telling them that the creature in question had earned the loyalty of that spirit.”

“That still doesn’t explain why a bloodline matters, if all the spirits care about is what you do.”

“Your name is important though. The thought is that if your parents where loved by the spirits, they would pass on those values to their children. The children will not simply be given the same level of trust as their parents, but a strong bloodline can do wonders for the ease at which you earn that trust. Take Rainbow Dash for example. Do you know why she was the first in almost a millennium to perform a sonic rainboom?”

“Because she’s a prodigy and a genius in the air?” Bloom said. Even living half way across the continent, Bloom still heard about the Element of Loyalty. And it was no longer simple boasting when she said she was the best flyer in Equestria, and possibly the world.

“True, she is one of the most gifted pagasi I have ever met. But she is also from an extremely old and well respected blood line. I can trace her family all the way back to my lunar guard, nearly 1300 years ago. To say her name carry’s significant weight amongst the spirits would be an understatement. She has the spiritual leverage to put just about the entire royal guard to shame, of only she had the patience to slow down and listen.”

“Just about?” Bloom asked. “You just went on a whole little speech about how amazing she is, who’s better than her?”

“Prince Blueblood for one,” Bloom was about to interject, but Luna raised a hoof to stop her. “I know it may come as a surprise to you because of how he acts in public. In truth though, the Blueblood line has been members of Celestias honor guard for almost as long as Equestrias been around. And the current prince is not only a magical genius, but also hates politics with a passion. The compass rose cutie mark should give it away, but he is more of an explorer than a politician.” Luna paused, and when she spoke again there was more than a little venom in her voice. “That infuriating stallion is a damn good actor I will give him that. He plays the part of a stuck up prince perfectly, and does his best to make everyponys life a living hell. His hope is that if no pony wants him around, we will let him go off exploring to his heart’s content.” The lunar princess had slipped into a full on tangent now, and was simply venting her frustration. “As if he can just go tromping around the world while we are stuck running a country! But two can play at that game; I put him in charge of all royal parties. That way he has to suffer through long and boring small talk, while the stuck up nobles have to suffer through his presence.” She was grinning now, with just the slightest edge of sadistic joy deep within. “The poor colt is two thousand years too early to try and play me, I wrote the book on this game.”

Bloom cleared her throat.

“Ah, yes in any case one should not take how Blueblood acts around others for how he truly is.” Her dark coat made it hard to tell, but Bloom could have sworn she was blushing. “He is an explorer, a philosopher, and a gifted magician. As well as quite fun to be around when he is not trying to make you hate him.”

“Wait, back up a second, Bluebloods a unicorn, why does his bloodline matter at all?”

“It does and it does not, let me explain. A bloodline will not simply vanish like a family name might; it is a part of you that never truly leaves. At the same time if you forget where it is that you came from, if you forget your history your bloodline might as well be gone. One cannot learn from a forgotten past. That is why such things are important to races that interact with the spirits. Rainbow Dash may not be into history, but I guarantee you she can name her ancestors and their deeds.

“Unicorns on the other hoof do not need to remember where they came from. Some bloodlines are simply more pure than others, and as such are bound closer to the Nether. On occasion there are unicorns born who are abnormally close to the Nether, and can do things others simply cannot. It is possible for such unicorns to be born to a less pure bloodline, but such things are rare.” Luna smiled at that.

“So, what does Blueblood do that makes him so special?”

“His telekinesis.”

This took Bloom by surprise. “Cant every unicorn do that? I thought it was just a thing they were born with.”

“True, every unicorn can use telekinesis, but Bluebloods is a little special. Every other unicorn uses telekinesis by pulling from their internal magic to manipulate an object. Even Twilight had a bit of trouble when she tossed that ursa minor into the forest. Blueblood though draws the power for his telekinesis directly from the Nether. So long as his body can handle the magic he is forcing through his horn, he can lift it. It is not a stretch to think he could probably rip Canterlot castle off the side of its mountain if he really wanted to.”

Bloom just sat there, open mouthed. Luna grinned at her before adding, “For the record, I could put it back with just as much ease.”

Shaking her head in an attempt to clear it, Bloom collected her thoughts before speaking. “I feel like we have gotten off track following interesting trains of thought. Still though I’m in the dark on a bit of how my magic actually works.”

“Well how about this, sense we have already gone through about all of the basics relevant to nature magic. How about you ask me questions about what you are still confused on. And I will do my best to answer them. Sound good?”

Bloom didn’t even have to think about it, it wasn’t like she could have asked for a better deal. The chance to ask and immortal princess about magic was something out of a dream. “I love that idea. Hmm, where to begin.”

Do you have any ideas on where we should start?

Perhaps we should ask about doing magic other than nature magic. She might know if it’s even possible, and if it is what the safest way to go about it would be.

Sounds good to me. “Luna, me and Bastion were talking before about the idea of using raw magic from nature spirits as a substitute for internal magic, so I could cast spells like a unicorn. Do you think it would work?”

Luna was quiet for a long while after that question. Bloom noticed she wasn’t the type to ‘umm’ or ‘ah’ as she thought. She didn’t need to hear her own voice so badly that she would fill the air with empty noise. Instead the princess was quite comfortable simply sitting in complete silence as she thought. Only choosing to speak when her thoughts on a matter were fully formed and ready to be presented. As such there were no stalls in her speech as she looked for the correct word. Bloom realized she liked the way Luna spoke, and decided then and there she would work on her own speech to someday speak with Luna’s grace.

“Speaking purely theoretically,” Luna said, breaking Bloom from her internal thoughts. “I can see it being done. Being bound to a nature spirit as you are it would be possible to attempt unicorn magic, if you were so inclined. Using yourself as a conduit, and Bastion as a horn to shape and direct the magic you could in theory do such a thing. What you must remember is that spirits are only experts at shaping and controlling their own magic. And any horn you two could come up with would be nowhere near as effective as a true horn. On top of that neither of you have any training in the arcane arts, formal or otherwise. In short what I am trying to say is never try this yourselves, this is a thought experiment and nothing more. Arcane magic is notorious for being hard to control and easily messed up. If you tried to cast a simple telekinesis spell for example and screwed it up, you could rip your own heart out instead of lifting off a necklace. Do you understand?” Luna’s tone made it clear there was no room for negotiation on this matter.

“Yes ma’am.” Bloom said immediately.

Seems that idea won’t be something in our bag of tricks.

That’s fine; our bag is brimming with tricks compared to a normal earth pony. Then a thought

occurred to her, do you know why there aren’t more earth ponies that can do what I can? It wasn’t easy to learn how to cast spells and talk to spirits, but it wasn’t that hard.

Why are you asking me? Luna is the immortal princess with all the answers.

Bloom would have rolled her eyes if she still had them. “Luna, do you know if there are more earth ponies who can talk to the spirits and use nature magic like me. And if there are why have I never heard of them?”

“First of all earth ponies do not just seem to be better with plants than other races, they are better, and that is because of the spirits bond. Few know it, as it is not something most look into, but have you ever wondered why you sister and brother could clear every apple off a tree with a single buck? Trust me it was not because they just hit the tree so hard the apples fell off, it was because of their connection to the spirits. In fact I would be willing to bet if they stopped and listened for a bit, they could have simply walked around asking the apples to fall. And as for why you have not heard about earth ponies preforming magic like you, it is because none do. Only a few members of the royal guard and a few of the older earth pony families still practice nature magic. And none practice as you do because it is a relic of a bygone age.”

Bloom furrowed her brow. “What do you mean by that?”

“Tell me Bloom, when was the last time Equestria was at war?”

“It’s been...” Bloom paused once she realized she didn’t actually know when the last war was.

“931 years.” Luna said with a proud smile. “My sister has kept Equestria safe and out of war for 931 years. The last time somepony made a nature elemental was almost 920 years ago. Does it make sense now?”

“What about the guards?”

Luna’s smile shifted from proud to knowing, “I think you would be impressed if you knew what some of my and Celestias honor guards can pull off. Still I am slightly embarrassed to say most of my honor guard would probably lose to you in your orchard.”

Bloom raised an eyebrow over the threadbare ribbon covering her eyes. “Your honor guard is that weak?”

Luna let out a humorless laugh, “it seems you do not remember your home that well. The way I remember it was something like rows and rows of ancient apple trees stretching on for acres and acres. You may not give yourself enough credit, but you drew enough magic from the scattered patches of nature around your university to make an elemental. I dare say sitting in the middle of your orchard, the number of mortals who could match your magic does not even break the double digits.”

Bloom wanted to argue, but in truth she had never been anywhere with more than a dozen fully grown trees sense she learned to listen. She couldn’t begin to fathom how it would be to come home and feel her family’s orchard, no, her orchard welcoming her. Thinking of her orchard brought on another question, “you said you could trace Rainbows family line. Could you trace mine?”

Luna gave a warm smile, “I could, but I think it would mean more if you looked them up yourself. Come by the castle some time and I will show you the royal archives. Do you have any more questions?”

Bloom yawned and shook her head. “None right now, if I think of some in the morning can I ask you?”

“Of course you can, but I have a question of my own I would like to get answered if you do not mind.”

Bloom shrugged, “shoot.”

Instead of asking a question, Luna lit up her horn and the shadows in the train car began swirling towards a point in front of the princess. After a few moments the shadows formed  a sphere about the size of Blooms head. Then, like water from a popped balloon, the shadows fell away revealing a polished wooden box. The box was clearly of high quality, though it was left plain without carvings or paint. Still the simple box had Bloom shaking as if it contained a monster, which it might as well have for how badly the little pony was sweating.

“D-do you think it will really accept me?” She stammered, now that it was really here, Bloom wasn’t so sure she was as good as her sister once was. Applejack had always been so honest, not to mention kind and hard working. When their parents had died, Applejack had stepped up to not only run the farm, but also take care of her brother and sister. All Bloom could think of now was how she had run away, how she had left everything behind to try and forget. Suddenly the necklace in Luna’s magic looked extremely heavy, and Bloom wasn’t sure she could ware it. Her sister made it look easy, but she was sure the golden necklace would weigh a ton holding all her regret.

“One way to find out,” Luna said. And with that she lifted the necklace, placing it around Blooms throat without ceremony.

Bloom tensed as the necklace wrapped around her neck, sure that it would see how inferior she was to her sister, and burn her for her cowardice. When Luna released her magical grasp, Bloom mistook the necklace for a warm hug. Her sister’s hugs she remembered, not only that though, it came with sunshine and crisp apples, Fresh baked pies, and laughter. It took her a few moments to realize what all this was, and when it hit her she would have cried if her eyes still could. For the first time in years Bloom felt loved, and safe, she felt like she was home again.

“Seems it chose you after al-“ Luna was cut short by a small earth pony tackling her in a hug.

“Thank you Luna, thank you thank you thank you.” Bloom only stopped thanking Luna when she was overtaken by a long yawn.

The princess smiled and wrapped the little pony in her wing. “You are quite welcome, now go to sleep, you have had a long day and we can talk more tomorrow.”

Bloom wanted to argue, but with the Element of Honesty around her neck, and Luna’s surprisingly soft wing wrapped around her body, she quickly ran out of fight. With another yawn of defeat, she found a comfortable spot leaning against the princesses’ warm coat, and surrendered to Luna’s realm.