A Star's Shadow

by Princess Lunatic

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Slice of Life
Length: 18103

A series of events starts off that provides Twilight Sparkle an opportunity to fulfill her nostalgic desire to bond with her best friends and maybe even find love. But where there are dreams, there are nightmares.

A series of events starts off that provides Twilight Sparkle an opportunity to fulfill her nostalgic desire to bond with her best friends and maybe even find love.

But where there are dreams, there are nightmares.

Note: This story is planned to be under revision.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-08-28 04:40:05 UTC

A Star's Shadow

The winter cold, the summer heat, and the grass that grows inbetween.

The three natures represent the colors of reality, carried by the forces of light and darkness.

Light channels warmth into the canvas of darkness, causing life to grow.

Darkness seeps into the flickering light, rotting life with its cold poison.

Neither light nor darkness dominate the other - only pushed by the natures of reality.

When one side pushes, the other side sets up a counterbalance like a pendulum, and pushes back with equal force.

The farther they go, the harder they push, and the more harder the impact.

What happens if the pendulum was at its most extreme?

The dead ice would turn the earth into glass, causing the scorching fire to make it shatter, leaving deep scarring cracks.

And by the time that happens, it's too late for the natures of reality to do anything, for they will be helpless to the swinging fate of light and darkness.

But would it really be too late to stop fate? And would we need luck to do so?

This story has the answer—using cute little ponies nonetheless.

But they are people to me, thank you very much.

And if you digress—well, I think you will have a hard time digressing by the time you reach the end of the story.

For this is no ordinary story, and you will pay for your lack of preparation.

And if you want to release your chains and end all your suffering and nightmares, strictly follow these steps:

Prepare time where you can't be interrupted so you can read the story all in one continuous sitting. (It will probably take you an hour to read it all in one sitting. It depends on how fast you read.)

Carefully read it, but do it at a steady pace that is enough to get all the information and all the details in.

And when you start,

keep going, keep going, keep going,

and do not stop or slow down.

This is your one and only chance.

———

I would like to thank my eternal soulmate and goddess of a girlfriend Maria, my godfather Leviathan, my godmother Tiamat, and my devilish yet loyal pet dog Fenrir for helping me reach this point of my life. I could never wish for a better family than you guys. Amen.

———

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Youtube Video

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It was morning, and Twilight Sparkle, in all her lavenderish sweetness, laid in her bed, inside the Golden Oaks Library. She nuzzled her head into her pillow. Her loneliness was grating on her. The pillow was cool and soft, but she wanted a warm body next to her. She wanted a special someone. Someone whose presence would make her smile. Someone who would caress her. Someone who would hold her in the right ways. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't imagine anyone be with her.

Twilight tried to get up, but she rolled herself out of bed with a hard thud as she landed on her floor. She hadn't any motivation to get up, but she did her best to do so. She went to a desk and opened its drawer. In it, was full of letters from her friends and family. She opened them up and read them one by one. These letters reminded her that her friends had loved her, and knowing that made her feel much better. They were like her lifeline.

How long has it since she has been with her friends? Not in a long while. She missed being with her friends. She missed being part of a group. But Celestia had taught her that her duty as a princess was most important. And so she prettied herself up, and went outside.

The crowds of Ponyville were unusually dense at this time and day, and that made Twilight feel quite claustrophobic. But she braved herself through the crowds and went on with her duty.

Fact is, being a princess doesn't feel anything different than having a normal life. She did what any good-willed person would do and help anyone in need out. She felt a sense of worth helping people out. And she truly believed in the values of friendship and love.

"Hey Twilight!"

Twilight turned around, and looked down to see three little bright-eyed fillies.

"Hey," said Twilight. "What's up guys?"

"It's a bummer!" One of them replied. "We hear Luna gonna be at Ponyville today, here in the morning! But our granma' won't let us talk to her!"

"Why not?"

"She won't tell us! She just says 'jus cus'!"

"Well maybe I can talk to her about it. Come on and let's go."

The fillies eagerly hopped with joy as they went to the fillies' grandmother.

The grandma adjusted herself with a proper and polite pose and cleared her throat. "Ahem. Howdy Twilight, what brings you here?"

"Well..." said Twilight. "I'm told you weren't letting your grandkids talk to Luna if they saw her. And I was wondering why not."

The grandma grew with scorn. "Ya really want ta know why ya should stay 'way from 'er?" She clenched her face in sheer hatred.  "It's cuz she's a DEMON!!!"

The little fillies hopped up and down in excitement.

"Wow!" "Cool!" "I wanna see a demon!"

"NO!!!" howled the grandma. "Demons are bad!!! Yer supposed ta stay away from 'em or else they'll brainwash ya with ther evil lies!!!" She calmed herself down and looked at Twilight with pride. "Twilight, you've been a good gal, so I know you're doin' a good job keepin' away from 'er."

Twilight just shook her head, turned around, and left. She wondered why anyone would ever call Luna a demon.

"Don't worry," Twilight whisped to the little fillies. "Luna might seem scary but she's actually really nice if you get to know her. If you asked her she would probably tell you to sneak away from your grandma. Don't tell anyone I told you that, 'kay?" Twilight winked.

The three little fillies smiled with excitement and nodded. And then Twilight left them be.

Twilight continued on with her duty... until someone unexpectedly bumped her into the ground. Twilight was furious. She looked up at the person who bumped into her.

Twilight's breathing became heavy and erratic, she began sweating all over, and her vision blurred, making her blink to take a look at who this was again.

It was a midnight blue colored alicorn. My goodness, it was Princess Luna! Twilight's heart began beating rapidly.

Luna looked down at Twilight, looking apologetic and concerned.

Twilight got herself up and wiped the dirt off her and the sweat off her eyebrows. She looked into Luna's dark, brooding, eyes, with worry. "Oh! I'm very sorry Luna! I didn't mean to bump into you!"

Luna raised a confused eyebrow. "What? It's very clear I was the one who bumped into you! I wasn't even looking your way... Look... I have to go. I'm in a hurry. Sorry man." Luna looked away from Twilight and hurried off.

Twilight let out a sigh of great relief. It felt like Luna was going to swipe her down, but she felt lucky that hadn't happened yet. She noticed that the crowds seemed to trail towards Luna when she left.

Twilight continued on with her duty yet again... and it seemed things were going better for her now. Then someone called out for her.

"Hey Princess Twilight! C'mere!"

Twilight perked up towards the source of the voice, and saw someone beckon her to come toward them. She went over to them, and met up with a group of people.

"Look at her wings and horn!" one of them exclaimed in awe.

"So graceful!"

"I'm so envious!"

Twilight nervously gulped. "...Thanks... but they're not so great."

"Oh come on!"

"I would pay an arm and a leg to be an alicorn!"

Twilight darted her eyes back-and-forth. "I mean... they're great and all but... I'm sorry... but I gotta go." And then she ran off, much to the group's dismay.

Twilight went back into her room and threw herself onto her bed. She let the tears she was holding back come out of her eyes. She cried into her pillow. She bawled her eyes out. These wings on her back were a mistake to her. She felt she didn't deserve to be a princess or an alicorn. She felt these wings separated her from her friends and ruined her life. She felt aching chills throughout her body thinking about it all. She cried and cried. But no matter how much she cried, she was just filling water with holes.

Her crying exhausted her. And she couldn't help but go to sleep.

Twilight was a filly, just a student of Celestia. It was midnight, and she was in bed in a bedroom of the Canterlot Castle. The bed was so big, and she was so small.

Then she heard the door open, and in slowly came Celestia. Celestia stared intently into Twilight's eyes as she slowly walked toward her.

Twilight shivered with fear, but she couldn't look away from Celestia. She had never seen Celestia like this before. She felt a shift in her covers as Celestia entered her bed. Celestia crawled up to Twilight and wrapped her arms around her, which gave Twilight a quick chill down her spine. Just before Twilight knew what was going on, she was dragged out of her room. Twilight looked like she was calm, but inside she was dead scared as her heart raced like it had never raced before.

Celestia brought Twilight to her own very private room, and locked the door behind her. Celestia laid Twilight down, and stroked her with her cold hands. Celestia's body laid on top of Twilight's, and rubbed her body against Twilight's. Celestia moaned and breathed heavily as Twilight felt strange new sensations.

Then Twilight felt an experience she couldn't put to words herself.

The world turned into darkness as Twilight felt a mystic gaze struck into her very being. She felt an intense feeling of satisfaction that made her feel like she reached a long-term goal. A sense of understanding overwhelmed her with countless unspoken words.

It was like this was fated to happen. Twilight felt light embrace her which lasted an eternity.

Celestia appeared. And the darkness lit up like candlelight, revealing a white realm with bright spirits swirling like planets. Celestia rose up to the star of a soul and life began growing up to it in the form of a smooth wooden closet. It was all so beautiful that Twilight cried as she felt like she and Celestia were holding each others hearts, both being part of a whole another world.

Pieces of shadows emerged from Twilight, replacing her with light, and were absorbed by the closet. Black into white. White into black.

The experience ended, shifting her back into reality. And Celestia somehow knew that, as she sighed with relief, tears dripping out of her eyes, and mumbled while her eyelids drooped half-asleep.

"I love you."

Celestia's voice rang in Twilight's head as she cleaned herself up in her bathroom. Twilight curled her body up, with dead eyes. She rubbed the soap against her frail body, feeling a wave of shame engulf her belly with each stroke. Twilight could smell Celestia everywhere.

Celestia's voice kept ringing inside Twilight's head.

"Don't you love me? You're making me so sad when you try to run away, you know I care about you. Doesn't this feel nice?"

"Don't tell anyone, you don't want to disappoint me do you? Please don't tell."

"If you tell, I will go away, and I want to be with you."

"I really love you."

Celestia had an accident while making love to little Twilight. Twilight scolded her for it. Celestia apologized profusely, which made Twilight feel powerful. But no matter what, the arguments still continued.

Twilight had became so ashamed she curled up miserably in the corner of her room, because a part of her felt like she asked for it, the part that thought Celestia wanted to spend her life taking care of Twilight. The biggest shame was that it felt like Twilight should have enjoyed the attention and company she got from Celestia.

But Twilight continued to be Celestia's student. Celestia felt warm to Twilight now. Twilight grew up, and it was time that Celestia would send her to Ponyville to make new friends.

On her way to Ponyville, Twilight saw a peculiar forest next to the road she walked on.

"Twilight."

Twilight flinched as she heard her name being called out, and stopped. She looked toward the source of the sound, which was deeper within the forest.

"Twilight, dreams are memories. Close your eyes, observe carefully, and you'll start seeing etchings of your dreams."

It was Luna's voice—yet she was sure that Luna had never told her that. She thought about what she would see.

Then a pair of red eyes and a toothy smile appeared in the darkness of the forest. It popped an eye out and threw it at Twilight like it was a ball. The eye landed right next to her. Twilight picked it up and threw the eye back at it, which caught it in its eye socket.

The red eyed toothy figure came out, and it looked like a fox spirit with black and shiny gray fur. It assertively shook hands with Twilight. Twilight wasn't sure what to do, but the fox waved a finger, beckoning her to follow it.

Twilight was curious what it would be scheming but she let it lead her. They went deeper into the forest, and ended up by a very shiny pool of water. The fox motioned her to look at it. Twilight complied and saw a reflection in the water.

Celestia?

On her way to Ponyville, Twilight saw a peculiar tower. She felt beckoned to enter it, and so she did.

It was a mazey place, but she managed to reach the roof of the tower. She was very high up and couldn't see the ground. And strangely enough, the clouds were red like blood.

There was something lying on the ground. It was that smooth wooden closet she remembered seeing in that mystical experience, but it was lying down like it was a coffin. She  went up to it and slowly opened it.

What was in the closet, was a black alicorn with a dagger stabbed through its heart.

It was Luna.

And she was dead.

Twilight felt a stab in her heart.

Twilight woke up with a burning feeling in her chest. Then, she heard her a knock on her door. She went up to the door and opened it.

It was Luna!

The pain in Twilight's chest intensified. It felt like Luna was going to scold her.

Luna looked away and scratched the back of her head. "Hey I have question..."

Twilight kept her cool exterior. "What is it?"

Luna looked back at Twilight. "Have you seen Spike around lately? I've been looking for him."

"Not that I know of..."

"And hey, it's been a while since we've talked. How have you been?"

Twilight glanced upwards and tapped her chin. Then she looked back at Luna. "Well, I think I might be dying from a terrible disease!" she exclaimed loudly.

Luna was genuinely shocked. "Really!?!?"

Twilight giggled. "No, silly. I'm actually doing quite fine, I guess."

Luna rubbed her forehead in relief and laughed. "Haha, you got me!" Then she smiled.

Twilight rarely saw Luna smile. She felt her heart beat faster again, and it was beating very loudly. But this time, it was a very delightful feeling. Her worries became gone.

An awkward pause passed by.

"Hey," spoke up Luna. "Would you mind to tag along and help me find Spike?"

The beating in Twilight's heart was faster, but she felt she had no choice but to comply. She went along with Luna, as they left outside.

It was much darker outside, but the streets were lit up as if the sunlight hit them.

Walking along with Luna gave Twilight confidence, and she got a great idea.

"Um..." murmured Twilight. "What if I brought my friends along, and we could like hang out together and stuff?"

Luna gave a displeased look. "That's not a good idea, but it's up to you since I probably won't be hanging around for long."

Twilight looked down. "Okay..."

And so they looked around, asking for whereabouts of Spike.

"Hey, Luna and Twilight?" someone called out behind the two. They looked back, to see that Suri Polomare and Coco Pommel were trailing them, with Rarity behind. "I'd like to report an issue me and Coco are having."

They all decided to head to a dark alley.

Rarity nervously grinned at Twilight scratching the back of her head. "Hey Twilight dear, how are you? Both you and Luna look really gorgeous today!" Suri darted Rarity a deadly stare, who responded back with an angry glare.

Suri looked back at Twilight and Luna, annoyed. "This Rarity girl has been following us everywhere harassing us. I play a coin flipping game with people, and Rarity keeps trying to scare people off telling them we're 'thieves' and whatever."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Oh pleaaase. Harassment? And just a 'game'? This girl is a a gambler and a thief. When I won, she refused to pay me back saying I was lying."

"I always pay my losses no matter how high they are. I'm not dumb enough to scam people. That's bad for my business. You tried to cheat, and that means instant disqualification."

"I saw it too," informed Coco. "Rarity tried to use her magic to rig the flip."

"That's a lie!" howled Rarity. "Coco, I can't believe you're back with Suri despite how she's treated you."

"I know she was really mean to me. But after I left her, she came back and apologized to me, saying that she was just really angry and sad. I felt so bad for her that I decided to help her get better."

"B-but what if she's just taking advantage of your guilt?" Rarity closed her eyes and raised a haughty hand. "Having a bad past doesn't excuse her actions."

"Oh Rarity, you haven't seen the other side of the story. There's nothing wrong with what we're doing."

Rarity shook her head. "I'm sorry, but this game is no good. The rules obviously trick people into betting high and losing it all. A snake is a snake, dearie."

"Your fault," answered Suri. "I told you the rules and you played knowing them. There's nothing illegal about what I'm doing, okay."

"Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right." Rarity looked at Twilight pleadingly. "Twilight, trust me as your friend on this. What she is doing is selfishly stealing money by having the odds in her favor. Filthy thieves like her will keep tricking poor innocent people if she's let free."

Twilight shrunk from the pressure, her eyes darting back and forth. "I..."

Luna placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder, shifting the attention to herself.

"Rarity, if you willingly gave your money, it is technically not stealing. If you feel that you are a victim to a confidence trick, you will have to take matters into court. Twilight and I cannot do anything about this." Luna's authority was enough to break Rarity's confidence.

Suri was more than pleased to have the favor on her side. "Okay, so are we done?" Luna nodded to her. Suri mockingly grinned at Rarity. "Today has been my lucky day. Not only that, but I get payback. Thanks for the fabric again! loser." Suri sarcastically waved goodbye to Rarity and left with Coco following her steps.

Rarity angrily glared at Twilight, much to Luna's surprise.

Twilight looked away in shame. "I'm really sorry... I wanted to help you, but I didn't know what I could do."

Rarity dropped her head in defeat, and sighed with exasperation. "It's okay dear. I didn't lose much anyways. But I don't want to do anything now."

"Hey Rarity. Um. I want to gather my friends and help the town be safe. And we could also hang out with each other too! Would you mind if you tagged along?

"Of course not, dearie! Better than being home alone. Just make sure you don't let me get in your way, okay darling?"

"Um, okay."

Twilight grinned with excitement when Rarity joined the group. And then they went off to patrol the town. Sometimes they would stop when Rarity would critique and help straighten people's dresses. This gave some people an opportunity to have small-talk with them—especially with Twilight and Luna.

They met up with a chokepoint where a mess of crowds walked around a scene. The three went to the scene to do some investigation.

The scene consisted of a crashed carriage and a worrisome couple agonizing over a litter of crates spilled off the carriage. When the couple saw the group, relief was brought upon their faces.

"What's going on?" asked Twilight.

"Well," spoke up one of the couple. "We were moving our home to Ponyville, but we didn't expect the crowds to be so chaotic. Long story short we ended up panicking and spilled our cart over. Unfortunately my leg is too sprained to pull much and people seem too busy to help us. But the good news is that someone went to look for help and so we're just waiting for something to happen."

"Permit please," ordered Luna.

One of the couple handed Luna a sheet of paper.

"Thank you." Luna carefully analyzed the paper and handed it back to its owner. "You're all clear. We'll help you out. Twilight, fix that guy's ankle."

Twilight's horn glowed, poofing up an aid kit, and went off to tend the ankle.

As Luna lifted up the crates back into the carriage, the crowds looked up, noticing something overhead. Luna looked up too.

It was Rainbow Dash. She twirled over the crash scene and landed near the group. She looked around with shameless glee. "Yo Twilight!"

Twilight finished tending up a leg and looked at Rainbow Dash smiling. "Hey Rainbow Dash!"

"Hey man how's my favorite princess doing! Ponyville wouldn't be going anywhere without you."

"Oh thank you!" replied Twilight as she smiled.

Rainbow Dash turned to Rarity.

"Why Rarity! You look gorgeous as ever! It's a shame that you haven't shown off your fashion sense since I go to the same fashion stores as you do!"

"Why shucks! You don't have to," said Rarity.

"Only someone like you could have such good taste," said Rainbow Dash. Rarity blushed at the compliment.

Then she turned to Luna.

"And who could forget about you? You're looking cool as ever, Your Majesty!"

Luna didn't respond and stared back coldly.

"Um... yeah." Rainbow Dash nervously cleared her throat and went back to Twilight. "Someone asked me for help and I had free time to come. What's going on?"

"A couple of movers got their carriage crashed," said Twilight.

"Oh wow! How tragic! Is there anything I can do to help?" replied Rainbow Dash.

"You can help them move."

"Sure! I even have a cool idea! Why don't I just move these crates from their carriage directly to their new house so you don't have to deal with the overcrowdin'?"

"That's pointless," said Luna. "It's much easier and faster to load them up all that once. Our authoritive presence will clear the crowd around us and we can pull the carriage for them."

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. "Don't you think we should try new things, Twilight?"

Twilight looked at Luna. "Why not? It sounds like a good idea."

Luna furrowed her eyebrows, scowling. "Okay then. I'll allow this only once. I'm only just curious to see how this will go."

Rainbow Dash asked the couple where their new home is and they gave her their address and directions.

"Need help?" asked Luna.

"Um...." said Rainbow Dash. "I mean if you want to help you can but maybe you should take a rest."

Luna let out a sly smirk knowing the implication. "You and Twilight can go help then without me. I'd rather watch."

Rainbow Dash lifted a crate which was sizable enough to be carried on her back without too much burden and went off. Twilight grabbed a crate and followed Dash.

It was quite the sight for the massive amount of people below them to see these two ponies fly off above them.

Rainbow Dash looked back at Twilight, who trailed behind her at a steady pace. "See? You don't need to be a princess to be a good flier."

Twilight just smiled and Rainbow Dash looked back ahead slightly irritated.

When the two reached their destination they unloaded the crates inside the house and they repeated this process several times.

Rainbow Dash liked the attention she was getting but she was not enjoying this job as she expected to. She wanted more of a challenge.

"Ohh be careful!" exclaimed Twilight as Rainbow Dash loaded a second crate on her back.

Rainbow Dash pouted for a moment and gave Twilight an assuring smile. "Don't worry my man! I've carried a bunch of crates on my back before. And it's not so heavy." Rainbow Dash shot her back up, making the crates bounce up and plop down back on her back.

"Okay..."

And so Twilight and Rainbow Dash flew off again to deliver their crates.

But Rainbow Dash grew bored again. She had another idea.

"Hey, watch this!" Rainbow Dash performed an aerial loop, making the crates hover in the air. When she went back to catch the crates on her back, they crashed onto her with a loud thud and rolled off of her plummeting downward.

"Oh no!" cried out Twilight.

She turned herself sideways, decreased her momentum, and dipped downwards. Diving straight down, she thrusted a hard turn, circling her diving path into a long spiral as her body banked sideways along its path, gracefully gliding with enough momentum and speed to wow the audience. Quickly nearing the ground, she turned her flight parallel to the ground and descended. She placed her crate down and spring-boarded herself back into the air.

She saw that Rainbow Dash managed to seize one of the crates from the air. Twilight aimed straight for the other one. Flying under it, she pulled a loop and grabbed the crate from above, safely descending just in the nick of time and put the crate down.

Several of those who witnessed Twilight's spectacular flight applauded her. Rainbow Dash stood frozen in the air nearby, looking shocked at Twilight's performance.

"How did you do that!?" exclaimed Dash, "...I mean I can do that... but I never taught you those moves!"

Twilight nervously scratched the back of her head, eyes glancing right to left. "Oh that? Well... Luna gave me some flying lessons and taught me how to do those maneuvers. I didn't mean to show them off. I'm sorry."

There was an awful, nagging pause.

"No, it's okay," replied Dash. "I just got unlucky... and being a pegasus it's hard to to carry stuff around. Alicorns have it easier. Anyways I'm gonna keep goin'." Dash went back to work, this time carrying the crates one by one.

Twilight felt a little devastated. She hoped that Dash really was just unlucky. Luna pat a hand on the back of Twilight's neck and shook it. Twilight looked at Luna, who grinned at her with pride. But Twilight looked down in shame. Luna slowly lost her smile and grew sullen; and looked away pretending it didn't happen.

"Thank you!" the couple happily exclaimed after the job was finally done. Twilight and the rest waved goodbye to them and they went off their merry way with their fixed-up carriage.

Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. "Hey... Um... Rarity, Luna, and I have been patrolling the town together so we can hang out like we used to and I was wondering if you'd like to join us.

"Hmm... Well I got nothin' better to do so why not?"

Twilight lit up with excitement. "Yes!! Thank you!"

"Yeah, no problemo."

And so Rainbow Dash joined the group. They went off to patrol the town.

The group decided to go to the marketplace as a quick detour. The place was bustling with major activity.

They checked a fashion stall. Rarity talked with the owner complimenting and criticizing her dresses. After they were done, Rarity and Twilight talked about fashion trends as they traveled the market.

Then they saw Applejack and Apple Bloom selling all sorts of apple-related food, who had a much larger stall than she usually had. Twilight and co. waited in line.

Applejack waved to Twilight and Rarity. "Howdy again girls! And howdy to you, ma'am." She nodded to Luna.  "It's a pleasure to see you here." Luna instinctively returned the nod. "So, what you all been up to?"

"Well," said Twilight. "Us three are helping out Ponyville making sure it's in order. And I'm also gathering my besties so we can also hang out like when we were first together."

"Well it is pretty overcrowded prolly, all thanks to Luna," said Applejack. Luna casually flashed her eyebrows in response. "But your plan of us all hangin' out together again sounds like a blast. I can come with." She looked at Apple Bloom. "Can you handle this stall all by yourself?"

Apple Bloom saluted. "Yes sir!"

"It's settled then. Are we gonna get Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy too?"

"Well..." said Twilight. "Fluttershy happens to be on 'vacation' yet again... But we could get Pinkie Pie!"

Rainbow Dash nervously scratched the back of her head. "Umm... Just my two cents but Pinkie Pie might still be busy with her job."

Rarity looked away from the group "Yeah... Like... Maybe if we just wait for her to come find us and we'll know she's ready."

Twilight looked at Applejack, who just shrugged.

"Well... okay," said Twilight. "I'll probably feel bad later that they couldn't join in. But it can't be that bad, especially when Luna is here!"

Rarity nervously looked away and Rainbow Dash coughed.

The group went on back to patrolling the town, easing any ruckus that could disrupt the flow of the crowds.

And then, they stumbled upon a playground! They all gazed at the playground in awe and wonder, and they couldn't resist the urge to hurry to it.

They looked at each other with eager faces, and then they played in the playground. They played games and competed with one another and made fun of each other. It was a childish sight, but they didn't care, because they played as if they had nothing to worry about. In fact it would make even one envious to see such a group of people hang out together like that.

All except for Luna, who hadn't joined in. She just sat at the roof of the highest jungle gym. She stared intently and looked brooding as her starry hair waved like the flow of the sea.

Twilight stared at Luna. Rarity too looked at Luna.

"Oh," said Rarity. "I feel so bad for Luna for sitting alone up there. But she's been so quiet. It actually gives me bad vibes—like she's a murderer or something!"

Twilight giggled. "She can't be a murderer."

"What do you see in her then, hm?"

Twilight looked down, blushing. She didn't know what to say.

"You can trust us," assured Rainbow Dash. "We won't make fun of you for it."

"Um..." said Twilight. "...She's nice and smart..."

"Hahaha... NICE!?!?!?!?" laughed Rarity.

"There's a difference between being smart and looking smart. Just sayin'," said Rainbow Dash.

After the conversation was over, much time passed. And then something horrible was going to happen

Scootaloo came marching through the streets. And when she got to the playground, she quickly noticed Luna and ran to her overjoyed with delight. Luna slightly moved her head toward Scootaloo in notice of her presence when she came to her.

"Hey!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "It's been a while!"

"Hi?" Luna's eyes were like stone.

Scootaloo was chilled by Luna's apparent indifference, but managed to compose herself enough to speak. "Hey why are you so awkward? I just want to talk and see what's up."

"Well, I gave you my gifts and told you not to sell them because they were my legacy—and then you sold them! And when I brought it up, you tried to guilt trip me by bringing up your dead grandfather. Do you think I'm going to pretend nothing happened?"

"I'm sorry! L-look, I have changed. That was the past. We can still be friends and I'll make sure that things will be okay!"

"I already bequested you a second chance and you still managed to ruin it. Leave me be."

Scootaloo erupted in anger. "Well FINE!" she screamed, drawing attention from everyone around them. "Maybe if you weren't so NEGATIVE I wouldn't be so negative either!!"

Luna ceased eye contact and ignored Scootaloo, who then ran off.  The witnesses turned away and went on with their business as if it never happened.

Twilight didn't like how Scootaloo yelled at Luna like that, but she kept it to herself. She wasn't confident in herself and thought she would make things worse if she did something about it.

After a while the group finally got together again and went off to patrolling again. It seemed like Rarity and Rainbow Dash got a little more distant from Luna.

And then they went off back to patrolling. They patrolled and patrolled and helped several on the way. But as they patrolled more and more, the job became more tiring and tiring as less and less happened. The streets were getting cleaner, and the crowds were getting more politer.

They were in fact, getting bored.

"Hey Twilight, would you mind if we take a little break?" asked Rarity. "My feet are getting sore from walking around so much."

"Sure..."

And so they found a nice round table and they sat in it while Luna stood next to it.

"No offense Twilight, but this patrolling thing is getting a little... stale. But I also don't want to sit around and do nothing either. Would you mind if we do something else for a change?"

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash who nodded in agreement. Applejack and Luna seemed okay with the sentiment.

"We could do something else..." said Twilight. "But I don't know what else to do. Why don't we go look around and see if we get any new ideas?"

They agreed and so they went off again. Having a goal in mind made their patrolling feel more fruitful.

They walked and walked, but they still weren't sure what else they could do. But then, they came across a big building built from logs. It looked like an old-fashioned restaurant. It was a new building that they saw before was only under construction and only now they saw it opened. They decided to go in and check it out.

They were greeted by a stallion in a dignified chef's outfit, and wore a proud smile on his face.

"Why Twilight, what are you doing in this establishment? What may I do with you and your friends?"

"Oh..." said Twilight. "Well I was wondering if we could do anything to help you out—especially if your restaurant is new around here, I think this would be our way of welcoming you too!"

"Why, help from the Princess Twilight? I don't think I am honored enough to receive help from someone like you, but if you guys really want to help out I would be more than glad. I am a little worried of my business staying afloat here in new grounds."

"So it's settled!" exclaimed Twilight with a smile. She turned to her friends. "Are you guys okay with that?"

"Sounds like not so bad an idea," remarked Applejack.

"Why not? I'm up for it, I guess," said Rainbow Dash.

"Why I think this place needs a little more decorating!" exclaimed Rarity.

"Twilight," said Luna. "I'd like to go focus on looking for Spike. Are you okay without my help here?"

"Go ahead! With my friends, nothing could go wrong."

Luna nodded and summoned a dark glass orb. She handed it to Twilight. "Take this. If something goes wrong and you need me to come, rub this until it glows."

"Sure! Bye Luna!" Twilight waved to Luna. Luna returned the wave and left.

Luna entered the flow of the crowds outside. With improved traffic and better order, Luna managed to find Spike. They went together to the Golden Oaks library

They met up, went inside Twilight's room, and locked the door behind them.

"What's up?" asked Spike.

"Spike, I've finally completed my essay." Luna conjured a stack of papers in her hand and handed them to over Spike. "Please read it and tell me what you think."

Spike began to read Luna's essay.

~~~

After going through several works of art and using them as like glue in conjunction of my deep analytical studies, I've found some quite profound discoveries. It turns out that life is crazier than we thought it was.

There are two objective parts of the mind that correspond to the proposed theory that there are two subconscious parts of the mind. This is what they are.

The first subconscious part is a parasite. The parasite is like a puzzle piece that doesn't fit anywhere and it resides in the brain. It is formed at conception inheriting traits from the parasites in the host's parents.

The parasite has two parts: The parasite's connection to the mind which manifests the host's fears and desires in yellow eyes, and the parasite itself who has red eyes and a toothy mischevious grin.

The parasite is like an animalistic trickster god, playing pranks for amusement and giving insight and inspiration from time to time. If the parasite grows enough it can even communicate to the host like an imaginary friend.

The parasite can spread and evolve by contact with another host through blood, saliva, seeds of life, and other bodily fluids. They can be acquired by eating animals too.

It has memories of its own that can be transferred from parent to child. It can spread and collect pieces of memories through the other parasites it contacts with, and it can live with these memories for thousands of years. The parasite can be threatened by what it sees, giving the host energy to either fight or flight.

It uses adrenaline and hormones to affect the host. It can reward with positive energy and punish by depressing its flow. It can tug at the host's impulses also.

The parasite prefers the host to survive and can repress memories that make the host feel insecure and weak by skipping heart pulses, rotting them with cold, and then inject adrenaline with a stab in the heart to make sure the mind isn't damaged.

So be fair to it. It can love and it can hate.

The other part of the subconscious mind has been said to lie in the heart. Muscle tissues can store memories, so why not the heart? But the heart is something else. The heart is where the base of your personality lies and it's like a battlefield where territory is fought for and is where both the subconscious minds intertwine.

The other subconscious part actually lies inside your genitals.

It is a lifeless shapeshifter called the mimic. What it deals with has to do with the states and phases of the mind.

The mind has three phases: Past, present, and future. And the mind has two states: Life and death. The way the phases work is like the weather.

The past is where all the memories are stored that's been collected, like rainwater in the earth.

The present is the conscious state, like the ground you walk on.

The future is like a magnet that attracts vapors, forming clouds. It's like an image that can be like a goal, desire, or anything that has to be fulfilled. Changing your future state can change your perspective.

The image of the future will draw out specific memories from the past. These memories will form the structure the future state wants. And when the structure is heavy enough, it will fall into the present state, where the conscious part can see and intrepret as it would like. And when the conscious part is done, it dumps them back into the past. And not only that, but those memories will be more clumped together, making them easier and quicker to draw out next time. Be wary of how you learn, because habits are formed out of this process.

You can see your future in a mirror or before you go to sleep. Your eyes emit ultraviolet rays that help you see in the dark and they contain information that can be reflected back in your eyes when you look in a mirror. Entering your sleeping states while trying to go to sleep will let you see your future state.

When you repress your memories while they are in the present—such as distracting yourself from something traumatic or uncomfortable—they go back to the future, which eventually makes them get dumped back into the present again.

You can actually change your phase of mind just by blinking. One might have an issue of seeing a fearful image caused by blinking. And so the host might instinctively avert from blinking, which can cause damage to their vision.

Because the brain is split into two equal halves, it can have the past, present, and future process happen twice at once. If the mind is working on more than two tasks, it has to artificially construct more images in the future state, grouping them together. But it makes the process go slower. And it causes memory problems, because the information is bottlenecked through the two sides of the brain.

Each piece of memory has a state called life and death.

When the life state is activated, it will make the memory feel real and true like it exists.

An example is like an answer that's correct in a test, or an experiment that worked.

When the death state is activated, it will make the memory feel fake and false like it doesn't exist.

An example is like a plan that didn't work, or a lie that's been spoken.

The past stores these states, the future can change them, and the present is what interprets them.

The mimic has mastery over time and can completely bypass the natural process of these phases and states. The purpose of the mimic is to process short-term decisions quickly and efficiently through using what I call recordings as like paint. These recordings is what gives you fine handwriting, draw from your imagination and write without your brain becoming so quickly tired, help with your fine motor skills, and can help you with artistic performances like singing and playing instruments.

The mimic has two parts: a watchful eye that connects to the mind that looks like paper cut outs drawn with the wildest fantasies that makes your body desire them, and the mimic itself. The paper pictures of the mimic are white and pale, but they are actually like white bandages that wrap around the true form of the mimic: a cute little virus!

The mimic has to be acquired. It's like a device that has to be coded to record what it sees and play when it's instructed to.

The most basic way a mimic can be coded is through repetition. Ever heard of that experiment where a dog is conditioned to wet its tongue when it hears a bell ring? That's the work of the mimic.

It can be coded and morphed by fear and love in that order. Fear is used to crack open the person up and love is used to patch them all up.

The recordings can be transferred from person to person through intercourse. But if the recordings are artificially made it can even be injected into people.

The mimic can even record your dreams. Stress and anxiety can be manifested into some pretty nightmarish things in your dreams, so you better take care of your well-being if you haven't already!

With these recordings it can reward you. It can make any pain you're experiencing go into the past numbing it. It can make you experience pleasant memories like the warm touch of a hand, the aroma of something sweet, and the soothing whispers of a loved one. It can give you hope and confidence by putting the memory of a victory into the future.

But it can also punish. It can make you feel pain you felt in the past. It can numb any pleasure, like making what you eat taste like cardboard. It can make you feel sick with a nauseous smell. It can make you anger with hate. It can give you chilling fear such as putting a recording of a dead body into the future. It can echo memories of someone who yelled or said nasty things to you. It can destroy hope by putting a devastating loss in the future. It can make you feel dead, and not even exist!

It can do several other tricks with these recordings. It can make a story be told in reverse. Such as the story of a hero slaying a dragon remembered as the story of a dragon slaying a hero. It can make you feel like something is everywhere when it's not. It can make you feel like you're the greatest, or the worst. It can block out what you see, and it can make you see or feel things that aren't there. So it can be very powerful and effective. And it can control your life.

Depending on how the mimic is coded, it can detect and determine what it considers to be a threat to it. And it will react by memories of what has worked and not worked. If the threat is seen as stronger and real, the mimic will record it and use these memories as its tools. If the threat is seen as weaker and real, the mimic will tempt the host into converting the threat into the ways of the mimic and will make them go as far as spreading the recordings through intercourse with rape.

A host can succumb to these temptations and can become so corrupted and manipulative by them that they are willing to target innocent children as their victim and will resort to using moral codes and values as a social cloak to protect themselves and get their way.

If the mimic becomes too dominant, the host will manifest recognizable symptoms. The host can be very cold and tired. Important functions in the body such as the immune system and melanin development can be inhibited. They can become quite sensitive to light. They could become the kind of person who would feel sick reading about a disease. Heart and sleep state problems could arise. And they could get some really killer headaches. Extreme cases can even make you turn out with brain damage, and even cancer!

This conflict can sometimes be seen in dreams in the perspective of either the parasite or the mimic.

Both the parasite and mimic can leave their marks in history in the form of stories.

The mimic will replicate itself as if laying bricks such as stories of good and evil, with a moral lesson.

The parasite will use its own memories to stream ideas into the subconscious of the host, tempting them to write or draw them in works of art and will nag them if they don't do it. These works of art can bewilder the host not knowing why they made it, and can consist of symbols found in dreams and nature commonly seen in poems and fairy tales.

The contents of these stories can contain blueprints of the mind, secrets of the past, answers to ancient mysteries, instructions to something, prophecies, and even more. These stories can be used to express the host's feelings suppressed by the mimic and can serve as a warning for its readers. But the watchful eye of the mimic can also dirty these stories with its own hands.

If the mimic becomes too overpowering and overwhelming for the parasite and host to handle, the parasite's last resort is to make the host destroy itself to escape from the mimic and ensure it doesn't spread its influence. This is a double benefit if the parasite makes the host self-harm because self-harming releases stress and guilt out of their system which gives them a high. So if you're guilting someone for self—harming, you're just continuing it!

The mimic has a last resort of its own if that happens. It can lie through omission and switch memories around that will trick the mind into doing the mimic's bidding using the parasite's energy.

One example of this trick is making the mind mistake the parasite for the mimic when the host writes symbolic stories about the parasite. Another is the mimic to make the host see something that makes the parasite react.

The parasite can also use the mimic's recordings to its own advantage by manually manipulating them.

And that is all I have for now. Hopefully you aren't too surprised if you believe what you've read.

~~~

After Spike was done reading, he handed the papers back to Luna, who made them disappear with the wave of a hand.

"What do you think?" asked Luna.

"...You're really different from the other princesses, you know."

"Well that's because I'm actually a guy," replied Luna as she pointed to herself.

"What."

"I'm a guy in spirit. I'm very masculine, you know."

"I don't get it. But... is there like a difference between boys and girls?"

"Why yes! In fact there is a distinct difference. Guys have paintbrushes, and girls have paint!"

"What else do you know?"

"Why I know how to get you a very fine lady. Want to know the trick?"

"Well..."

"You're getting it anyways! Now, listen carefully."

Luna moved her body to the flow of her words:

"Stare into her eyes, imagine what you want to do with her. And then dance your dance, and wait for the curtains to open up.

Be confident. It's sexy!

When the curtains stay open and she starts dancing you'll know she's in the groove. If they don't open, try again and improvise!

If the curtains stays open, that's when you can start singing together.

You can even pretend you're doing a ballet! And that's when the love starts!"

Spike clapped at Luna's performance. "Bravo! Where did you learn that?"

"Well... I was actually inspired by Twilight when she taught me how to dance with her. She saw me dance I tripped..." Luna put her hands on her face, blushing. "Ohhhh.... She was so gentle and patient! I think that's when I started to really like her."

Spike pretended to gag his mouth.

"Hehe," giggled Luna. "Now, I have some very important orders for you. A lot will be changing. Are you up for it?"

"Well... I'm still surprised you would choose someone like me."

"Oh come on! You're a smartie boy!"

"But I have to be dumb in some sort of way."

"I used to be like that after I came back from my banishment, but I grew out of it. You will too eventually."

"I don't know man..."

"Now please, these are very important orders!"

"Alright, alright, what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to scout out new potential members. You need to find intelligent and competent people like ourselves. Put quality over quantity. Leave out the irrational incompetents and fools who lack self-discipline. And most importantly: Do [b]not compromise our ideals and hierarchy under any circumstances. Any such compromises will whittle way our foundation. But do not be afraid of some dissension either, which may be necessary to keep a potentially good member. And beware of the ones who are too kind to you. "

Spike stared blankly as if processing what Luna said and then saluted to her. "Okay! I got it all in my head! I won't let you down."

"Thank you so much," replied Luna.

And so Spike ran off to carry on his job, for he won't be back for a long while. Luna thought about having a dragon has her ally, and then she felt a strange buzzing sensation in her left foot as a poem formed in her mind.

~~~

one that [feels] vibrations throughout the earth,

(a dark dragon beneath us all)

sheol.

~~~

Luna blinked a few times as if she heard something and summoned a glowing orb that looked like the one she gave to Twilight in her hand. It seemed like help was being called.

Luna's horn glowed, and she disappeared in a flash.

The wheel of time turns back.

Right after Luna left Twilight, to be exact.

The perspective changes trail.

The narrative continues on, without fail.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash looked a little relieved after they saw Luna leave the restaurant.

The restaurant itself was quite vast and spacious, like it was an inn.

"Alright. First I need to learn a bit about running a restaurant." Twilight poofed up a book that happened to contain information about running and restaurant and flipped through it like it was a flipbook and made it disappear. "Done!" The head chef looked at Twilight momentarily with disbelief. Twilight looked at Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. "I'll help manage the restaurant. What do you guys want to do?"

"If you guys have a kitchen there oughta be a buncha machines. I can help maintain them. If they're not properly maintained they can slice your fingers off." Applejack said with a macabre grin.

Rarity pat her chin thinking what to do. "Well I could help keep the place clean and sparkly. And maybe give some decorating advice, hm?"

Rainbow Dash looked away unsure. "Um... Well, maybe I could just hang around and make sure nobody is causing trouble maybe."

"You can do that."

"Okay!" Rainbow Dash looked at the head chef. "I'm so excited to help out because this is like... the best restaurant ever!" She looked back at Twilight. "So I went let you down. I promise!" Rainbow Dash winked at her.

Twilight looked at the head chef. "Is this alright with you?"

"Well, I've never gotten help from the locals before, so I'm not sure what to do. But I'll allow it. You guys can go on with your work if you want."

And so they went off to do their work. Much time had passed and the workers were eager to see Twilight and her friends help them out. But not everything will go as planned.

Twilight scoured the restaurant, elegantly keeping everything in order and taking time to talk with the head chef when she needed to. When she was alone, a middle aged lady had walked up to her.

"Twilight I don't know what you're doing but I can't believe these shenanigans are being let inside this fine place."

"What's going on?"

"There's a group of brats spitting spitballs at me, and one of them is your good old friend Rainbow Dash."

Twilight looked at her with shock and disbelief. "Are you... sure?"

"Yes, I'm very positive."  The lady gave Twilight the stink eye. "Or do you not believe me?"

"Oh no I do believe you! I'm so sorry. She said she wouldn't let such things happen herself! I'm so sorry. I'll go talk to her. I hope your appetite isn't ruined or anything."

"Sorry to say this but it's too late to apologize. This place makes me too sick to eat here anymore. Good day." The lady stuck her nose up and strut off.

Twilight felt devastation, and that devastation turned into fire.

She went to the table with Rainbow Dash and all her friends were at.

"What were you guys doing!?!?!?" yelled Twilight at Rainbow Dash and her gang of new friends that sat with her at a table.

"I don't know," said one of them.

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash. "Some lady ran off telling me you were shooting spitballs!"

"Well I didn't do anything," replied Rainbow Dash. "But she was really mean and grouchy and ruined the atmosphere of the place!."

"It doesn't matter! I mean you could have complained to me, but she was a paying customer!"

"Oh come on. I'm surprised you would even care. Luna doesn't clean her room and you don't lecture her about that."

"Well it is her room. And we're supposed to be helping—not mess around scaring customers away!"

"I'm just livening up the place with some fun. But fine. If you can't thank me for being ordered around by you—see if I care!"

Twilight was boiling with so much anger she couldn't resist the urge to sneer. "Yeah, thanks."

Rainbow Dash felt shot, but she rolled her eyes and shrugged it off. She left her friends' table, who were frozen silent pretending to ignore what happened, and headed off to the head chef and asked him what she could do.

Rainbow Dash went up to the head chef who was busy staffing the workers in the kitchen. "Hey, do you got any other jobs for me?"

The head chef rubbed his chin thinking. "Well, how about help cleaning the dishes?"

"Sure... It beats nothin' I guess."

"Is something the matter?"

"No not really. Just bored. That's all."

"Well okay then. If you need anything let me know."

"Gotcha."

The head chef instructed Rainbow Dash what to do, who went off to work with not much enthusiasm at all.

Suddenly, Twilight ran up to the head chef.

"Hey, I need to do something very important."

"What is it?" replied the head chef.

"I have to take down that huge animal head trophy that's over that one table."

"What!?" the head chef was clearly displeased at the suggestion.

"I'm sorry but I have to! You would probably be surprised but I've gotten reports of accidents of heavy decorations falling off before."

"But I just can't... It's a family heirloom."

"You have to! I just can't bear to see it there when I have to make sure the place is safe!"

"Okay then... If you really have to."

"Again I'm sorry but I have to do my best at my job."

"It's okay. Go ahead and take it down if you wish."

And so Twilight went out to take down the animal trophy.

The head chef lit up a stove flame for a prep cook and placed a pan over it with a slam.

Rainbow Dash noticed that the head chef was angry.

She resisted the urge to grin with the excitement that the opportunity gave to her. She went up to him with red behind her white eyes, and leaned towards him as if to tell him a big secret.

"What do you need?" the head chef asked.

Rainbow Dash stared into the head chef's eyes. "It's a shame, huh? Twilight resorting to reason to minimize your feelings."

The head chef was caught off-guard, but was eager enough to answer. "Well... I don't like it either. But she is helping me."

"Don't feel bad. Twilight is only nice and helping you because it's convenient for her to look like a good little girl. But she will throw her friends away when she doesn't need them anymore, just like Luna would."

The head chef nervously scratched his head. "Really?"

"Yeah! Princesses can get away with anything they want. Earlier today we were helping someone move homes and Twilight was like showing off her flying. And she cheated using her magic to look like she was faster than me. And later, I secretly caught her bragging to her friends how she's better than me. She's so intelligently calculate that nobody would ever believe me when I tell them about this. And nobody ever calls out princesses, because we're all too scared to do it."

The head chef's eyes were wide open with fear—that did the trick. "That's unacceptable!" he said as he pointed a righteous finger upwards. "I already feel disgusted to have her in my place. I'm glad to realize I'm not alone on this."

"Just don't tell anyone. I know someone who's still locked in a dungeon for telling stuff like this. But don't worry, our secret is safe." Dash winked.

That was the icing on the cake. Rainbow Dash extended a hand and the head chef gladly accepted with a handshake. This sealed the whole package.

And a new friendship was formed.

~~~

Rainbow Dash went up to Rarity and whispered something to her. Rarity looked at Twilight surprised.

Twilight looked back, which made Rarity turn away.

"Attention everyone!" called out the head chef. "Get in the kitchen."

And so they did.

"Everyone," said the head chef. "One of our line cooks called in sick and so we're short of one. Who is willing to volunteer?"

"I got an idea," said Rainbow Dash. "What about Twilight? She should try and be in our shoes for once."

"Why that's a great idea!" exclaimed the head chef.

And so Twilight became the line cook.

"But..." said Twilight. "Why me? I've never done this job before and I can't just be good at it right away."

"Well that's too bad," said Rarity. "Princesses are supposed to be the best at like everything so you should be able to do it."

"But I've never said that!"

"Well you act like they are."

"What!?"

"Just my opinion and all but Twilight does seem to act a little bit better than others," said Rainbow Dash.

The head chef gave Twilight a little mean glare. Twilight looked like a cat that was being backed into a corner.

And then Twilight went on with her cooking. It was not a swell experience at all, because Rarity and Rainbow Dash hovered around her pointing out every mistake as possible in the most mean-spirited way imaginable. Even if Twilight didn't make mistakes they were waiting as if they had daggers behind their backs. And Twilight was aware of that, which piled anxieties over anxiety until the pressure made her mess up again.

But when Twilight talked back, all they did was reach for gaps. It didn't matter how much Twilight reasoned with them, because any victory through reason was just a mere inconvenience through their eyes.

At one point while Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and the head chef huddled together, lashing against Twilight. A bystander took notice and was irritated.

"Quit whining!!!" the bystander yelled at the three. "Twilight can do whatever she wants."

Ah yes, just as if the lucky couldn't get any luckier. It's the ones with low intelligence and those who can't control their impulses that gives Rainbow Dash her much-needed validation and keeps the cycle of flagrant propagandic manipulation going.

"Do what she wants!?!?" cried out Rainbow Dash. "Sir, throughout history we have let people in power 'do whatever they want' and guess what happened? Wars would start out! Corruption would run rampant! We'll never know what they'll do! It's all up to the common person to fight against those who stand against us!"

What an astounding speech, and it helped to use the past to hold someone hostage. It had touched Rarity and the head chef to the very heart with inspiration. With such selflessness exhibited, who could ever suspect Rainbow Dash of being a bad person?

The bystander walked off without a word.

Eventually everyone took a break. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Rarity as Twilight passed by. Rarity laughed.

Twilight looked back at them annoyed.

"What?" asked Rainbow Dash innocuously.

Twilight paused for a moment. She turned away and continued on with her work.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity giggled in fits at each other.

After the break was over Twilight continued on with her work. Rarity went out to get something but Rainbow Dash stayed around Twilight. Twilight adapted and pretended to ignore Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash got frustrated at this. She decided to take a different approach.

She grabbed a cup of water and went to Twilight and tapped her shoulerd. When Twilight turned around, splash! Twilight's face was soaked.

Twilight's humiliation made her grab a glass of water, and her pain made her heave it at Rainbow Dash. Twilight gasped at what she had just done.

"What did you do!?" cried out Rainbow Dash. "Don't get angry over me just because you can't handle an opinion!"

Twilight was lost.

Rainbow Dash left. And the head chef came in to replace her spot. He was clearly angry.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"She splashed me with water and I splashed her back!"

"It doesn't matter who started it."

"But you've got to understand! It's not so easy to hold all this pain in when I flat out get splashed out of nowhere!"

"I understand. But you shouldn't be starting trouble."

And with that, Twilight slowly walked out. Curling up somewhere in a miserable ball.

~~~

Applejack ran into the kitchen room, angered.

"What is going on!?" she shouted. "And where is Twilight? I almost slipped on a wet spot and could have been injured. This place is in worse condition than when we all came in. Seriously, can someone tell me what is up?"

"There's nothin' wrong," said Rainbow Dash. "You just got unlucky. That's all. And who needs Twilight anyways?"

"She was meant to keep idiots like you in order with her leading skills."

"Shut up and go back to fixing machines," said Rarity. "That's all you're good for."

"You're overreacting with your 'logic' and stuff," said Rainbow Dash. "And luckily I know enough about leading to know it's a bunch of garbage."

Applejack became even more angry. "...Where is Twilight?"

"What do you need her for? Are you looking for... this?" Rainbow Dash pulled out the orb that Luna gave to Twilight, smirking.

Applejack dashed for the orb, but Rainbow Dash threw it to Rarity. Applejack went to Rarity, who threw it back to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash laughed, bouncing the orb in hand. "I'm not stupid enough to let you have it."

Applejack went for Rainbow Dash again, who managed to pass it to Scootaloo, who filled in for Twilight's position.

But Scootaloo just looked down at the orb, uninterested.

"Yo!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "What's up? Pass it back when Applejack comes!"

"I don't care." Scootaloo replied.

"What?"

"I DON'T CARE."

"Why are you acting like this!?"

"Because you're just going to abandon me again like you did before!"

"What!?  You've never acted this way before! Come on, pass it back!!!"

In spite, Scootaloo furiously rubbed the orb.

And much to Rarity and Rainbow Dash's dismay, Luna appeared with a flash.

Luna looked at Scootaloo. "What's going on?"

Scootaloo pointed to Rainbow Dash.

Luna stared down at Scootaloo, who looked away ashamed. But Luna just smiled. "Looks like I was wrong. You have changed."

The head chef came in, checking out the commotion he had just heard. "What's going on here? Why is Luna here?"

Luna turned to Rainbow Dash. "So what's the issue?"

"Well..." said Rainbow Dash. "See, there's a huge misunderstanding here. I don't want you to jump to conclusions so you should hear everyone's story first—"

Luna doesn't like being lied to. There better be a good reason you would lie to her or else you're getting hell.

"How about this!" exclaimed Luna. "We can check the quality of the restaurant. I have records of the last food investigation here and if the quality has dropped since then, the owner will be held responsible."

The head chef had just gotten an idea of what was going on, and he nervously glanced at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash looked down in defeat. "I admit it. I've lied. I steal from other people's tragedies and use them as my own. I'm so sorry you guys. And I'm sorry for lying for attention. It just can't be helped when life can suck you know? I'm sure everyone here has felt sad for no reason before. I'm sorry for burdening everyone with my problems. And really." Dash looked up. "I don't want to make enemies. I don't really want people to hate me. Really, I don't."

Rarity walked up to Rainbow Dash and gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Oh but you've earn that attention you know! You're one really hilarious person and it takes a lot of guts to admit all that. Don't worry, I'll forgive you."

Rainbow Dash responded with a face that would have said "Aw, shucks."

The head chef stepped forward to give his own word. "I really feel for you Dash. I really do. I don't care if you've lied to us because nobody is really perfect. If people had more empathy like you do, the world would be a much better place. It's true that lying is evil... but the situation is complicated and not that I'm supporting it but there must be a reason why lying seems to be pretty common." He looked at Luna. "It's very obvious that she's frustrated from being unable to do anything."

Luna was less than impressed by the act. "Rainbow Dash, by the order of the Royal Equestrian Court you are hereby banned from this premises and your actions will be permanently recorded."

The three hecklers looked like they were shot. Rainbow Dash turned around and walked away, but paused for a moment and looked back at Luna. "Yeah, nobody would be surprised you would abuse your power just to help out a friend just like the dictator you are." Rainbow Dash waited to see if she would get any of the hate she truly desired to get.

Luna turned around and went off to find Twilight.

~~~

When Luna went searching, she was lost. The onlookers secretly glanced at her as she went back and forth. Luna became frustrated, and then she found Pinkie Pie's little pet alligator, Gummy, who stood as if he was one with the earth.

"Hey you." Luna pointed to Gummy authoritatively. "Have you seen Twilight Sparkle?"

Gummy blinked an eye to Luna's left.

Luna waved a hand and grinned. "Thanks!" And so she went left.

Luna opened a door to a storage closet, and found Twilight curled up in a ball. She went up to her and kneeled down to inspect her.

"Twilight?"

There was no response. She grabbed Twilight, who felt dead cold.

"Ohhh what have they done to my precious Twilight!!!" Luna rubbed her face all over Twilight's. But Twilight remained despondent. Luna held her out like a doll. "Huh?"

Luna clearly saw this as an emergency. She knew what to do. She grabbed Twilight's hand and squeezed it tight. Twilight responded by squeezing tighter. Then Luna rubbed Twilight's belly from behind, still wringing her hand with the other. Twilight moaned quietly. Luna pushed her head all over Twilight's and they locked mouths into a deep kiss, massaging their tongues with the other.

"Twilight your tongue is messed up again."

"Sorry."

"Actually I find it to be really cute."

"Uh."

"Yeah. Nevermind."

~~~

"Feeling better now?" Luna asked.

"Kinda."

Twilight and Luna went back to the kitchen and met up with Rarity and the head chef.

"So," asked Luna. "Did these two give you trouble also?"

Rarity blinked as if she just saw something, and felt a weight on her chest, like clouds. She stepped forward.

Rarity looked at Twilight. "I'm sorry Twilight. I was really aware of what I was doing to you. I'm really a bad person. I don't care about anyone else and yet I depend on others for everything."

"No Rarity—"

"Twilight! I'm not being self-depreciative or anything! I'm really being nice for once and telling the truth! You're way too nice for me! I'm a ticking time bomb and you should get away from me before I explode!"

Twilight looked like she was about to cry. "No Rarity no. You're really a good person. You're just—"

Rarity clenched up her jaw and glanced nervously right to left. "I'm sorry... but... I gotta go!!!" Rarity turned around and ran off.

Twilight ran off after her.

Luna stared off to where they ran off with annoyance. "Great now, Twilight is upset yet again. I'll probably have to make out with her again."

The head chef's eyes widened shocked and disturbed.

"What?" Luna glared at him like he was some kind of weirdo. "I was kind of joking."

The head chef remained disturbed. Now Luna wanted to spite him.

Luna gazed at the head chef and gave him a coy smile. "Oh do you think Twilight's just a cute little girl!?!? Wait until you see her naughty side!!! You know what we have done in closets all across Equestria!?!?!?!? WOO! OH YEAH BABY! GRRRROWL!"

The head chef's eyes widened even more as he had never been so disturbed ever in his own life. Luna's mission was accomplished—though she wondered if that was really a good idea. Oh well.

Luna went off to find Twilight again.

"Wait," said the head chef.

Luna paused and turned her head to him.

"I'm sorry about what has happened. You really do deserve good things."

Luna's face turned to disgust. It became clear things were going to get ugly.

"What?" said Luna. "Do you really think I'm not expecting something good to happen? I consider myself inherently nice but that doesn't make me goody two-shits. I've done some incredibly ugly things that I would be too ashamed to share with you. I hate it how people misunderstand me in an incredibly condescending way. But I know one thing for sure: No matter what I've done, I've always ended up walking the path of aloneness."

"What are you talking about? This is coming out of nowhere!"

"Well that's too bad! It's natural art to express yourself!"

"Well there's no need to be insulted."

And with that, Luna turned around and walked away. The head chef did the same and strided off with assured confidence.

Luna met up with Twilight who had given up chasing Rarity and lied down in defeat. They went back to the Golden Oaks Library and went into Twilight's room.

Twilight went to her desk and dropped her head on it. She was extremely tired. Tired from worrying about what her friends think about her. Tired of trying to keep her friends together. Tired of being tired. Any ounce of joy she got was swept away by a sea of misery. The books around her couldn't explain how she was feeling.

Luna went up to Twilight, grabbed her head and rubbed it on her face, but it was still very quiet.

Luna turned around and summoned something in her hand with a flash of light. She swiftly turned around and showed it to Twilight. It was a pendant shiny, black, pendant, with a shooting star plummeting toward a crescent moon.

Twilight stared at it and blinked, looking uninterested. But she managed to speak. "What is it?"

"A gift."

"For what?"

Luna nervously grinned and shoved it in Twilight's face. "Because I LIKE you is why."

Luna let Twilight take the pendant from her, who gave it a second look. Twilight's eyes sparkled in amazement of the artistry of the pendant.

"Twilight, do you know what destiny is?" asked Luna.

"Yes."

"Well it's probably not what you think it is! The problem is that the definitions of destiny is not consistent. But say fate is like this road you follow, and destiny is a road you build on your own."

"But Princess Celestia told me that my destiny—"

"But guess what!? She's not as smart as you think she is! If it's forced on you it's called fate."

"But—"

"Do you want me to endlessly argue about this?"

"No."

"Well good. This is destiny and you will like it."

"Okay fine."

Luna took the pendant from Twilight and tapped it, grinning at her. "This pendant is full of destiny!"

"...I don't get it."

"..." Luna looked away, looking unsure what to say.

"If it's something you have to build you need something to build with."

Luna looked back. "...Like what?"

Twilight got up and her demeanor completely changed into something very eager. "Food!"

"Huh... really?" Luna scratched her head thinking about it and shrugged. "Well maybe I guess. Are we like supposed to share our favorite food?"

"You're right on the dot!" exclaimed Twilight.

Luna looked down for a moment. Then she shot her head up, eyes widened, and gasped in an epiphany. She looked at Twilight with urgency. "Twilight! If this moment is full of destiny then we got to do the thing you had said! No wait, I said!"

Twilight stood up looking panicked. "You're right!"

They ran to the nearest store with immediate urgency. They bought their ice cream and coffee and ran back as fast as they could and prepared their meals.

Luna drank the coffee. "Yuck!" she spat her tongue out. "Who could stand this bitter taste."

Twilight shoved the ice cream in her mouth and gulped it down. She grimaced in pain. "Owww!!! Brain freeze!"

"Here take my coffee it should help."

"Here take this ice cream it should help with the taste!"

They laid on their backs with relief, feeling a strange feeling of wholeness as the food went into their stomachs. It felt like they understood each other better now.

They got back up and sat next to each other, side-to-side, to rest.

Twilight's heart was beating rapidly as she sat next to Luna, who looked like she was in deep thought, brooding. Without even thinking, Twilight kept making glances at Luna.

Luna caught a glance, startling Twilight. "Yes?"

Twilight snapped out of her trance. She quickly darted her eyes back and forth trying to think of something to say. "Um... remember when we first met?"

Luna turned to her. "When I was nicer to you?"

Twilight couldn't help but giggle, which eased some of her worries. "Yeah, when you were alone cause everyone was afraid of you."

"I still remember it like it was yesterday."

"How did you feel when I came to you?"

"Well, it's hard to put to words. I'm the kind of person who will stay alone in the night if it's warm. And I wasn't too  surprised if I ended up treated like a monster. But then you came to this monster and put your differences aside to help her out. I've never seen that happen before, and it was special."

Twilight blushed looking down embarrassed. "Oh. I'm glad it was special then. I didn't want you to feel bad being alone."

"Oh it wasn't like that. But still, you helped me a lot." Luna looked a little nervous trying to say something. "...Thank you for everything."

Twilight looked back up and gazed into her eyes. Luna blushed. She wasn't sure what to do but she decided to roll with it. She put a pat on Twilight's head and slowly caressed her hair.

Luna gained confidence as she relaxed Twilight. "There, there."

Twilight closed her eyes and slowly exhaled.

Luna slowly slid her hand down to Twilight's face and caressed her cheeks. "It's okay."

Twilight blushed more and more. She smiled brightly looking like she was dreaming. She leaned closer and let herself fall into Luna's arms.

Luna pulled Twilight's body closer to her and rubbed her belly. She ran her hand up to Twilight's neck and ran it down her right arm. She grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. And Twilight grabbed Luna's other hand and squeezed it even tighter.

"Twilight, I love you."

Twilight's eyes opened wide as her heart beat rapidly again, racing as fast as never before. She didn't know what to do or say, but she did want to say something she had always wanted to say to Luna.

"Oh... Luna... I love you too."

This eased Twilight's thoughts as they smiled at each other. Twilight slowly leaned toward Luna, who was caught a little off-guard.

Luna and Twilight stared into each others' eyes. Then, their mouths touched, their warm bodies pressed together, and their lips entangled. Twilight felt a warmth spread throughout her chest.

And then they kissed, for what felt like lasted an eternity.

Twilight rested her head on Luna's chest and closed her eyes. Luna rubbed Twilight's back of the head.

At that moment, Twilight felt that nothing else mattered to her. All her pain could not get to her as this ringing delight in her heart overwhelmed her. It felt like she was Luna's, and that Luna was her's.

Twilight ended up in Luna's arms, almost asleep.

Then Twilight realized what she had just done. Luna was so tender. And Twilight immensely enjoyed it all, but she felt she did not deserve any of it.

Her head shot up, gasping. She ran toward the door, but Luna grabbed her arm.

"Let go!!" cried out Twilight.

"No."

"Let... go!!!!!!!"

"No."

"Why!?"

"Because I know better."

Twilight gave up and sat down. When Luna went to sleep, Twilight got up and grabbed a paper and pencil. Twilight angrily wrote a poem on it.

~~~

The stars in the sky stood out better and brighter as the sky became darker. Luna and Twilight had nothing to do, and so they decided to make use of the time they had together and explored the town. Then, they happened to meet up with Applejack.

"Hey guys," said Applejack. "Would ya happen to have the time to help me? Fritter's farm isn't going well and I'd like ya guys ta investigate."

And so they went, towards Fritter's house. They entered Sweet Apple Acres, and then walked up to Fritter's house. Luna knocked on Fritter's door.

They waited, and then they heard footsteps.

Apple Fritter, who had a light yellow coat, emerald eyes, and emerald colored hair, swung the door open.

"Luna!!! What's taken you so long!?" Fritter cried out. But then she took notice of the others, and fainted.

"Woah!" exclaimed Applejack. "What happened to Fritter?"

"She just got too surprised is all," said Luna. "It's part of her narcolepsy."

"Narcolepsy?" Applejack rubbed her head in confusion. "She never told me she had somethin' like that."

"And there's a good reason why." Luna gave Applejack an angry glare.

Fritter opened her eyes and slowly struggled to get herself up. "I'm sorry. You guys can come in if ya want."

And so they went inside Fritter's house. Her room was perfectly clean.

"Fritter," said Luna. "I've heard things haven't been going well for you lately. May I ask for any recent symptoms you've been having?"

Fritter nervously looked away, but looked back at Luna in compliance. "Sure..."

Luna poofed up a notebook and a pen and readied herself to write. "Alright, be sure to get into as many details as you can."

Fritter looked away ashamed, and began to speak. "Whenever I try to sleep...  I get assaulted from all sides by really, really depressive thoughts, that... honestly, I've never even felt before. It comes together with a feeling of my mind wanting to escape my head, my limbs refusing to fight gravity any longer, and my thoughts going from thinking of a thousand things, to absolutely nothing, before going back to a thousand things again."

Luna put down her paper and pencil after she was done recording what Fritter said. "Oh I'm so, so, sorry. You don't deserve to suffer like this." She went up to Fritter, picked her up, and gave her a hug. Fritter's body went limp and she looked away from Luna.

Twilight felt a gnawing feeling in her chest watching. She didn't know what it was, but she knew that Fritter's pain was hurting those around her and it was clearly affecting Luna's happiness. Twilight knew that the only way to get Luna back was to show she was better than Fritter.

After Luna put Fritter down, Twilight went up to Fritter.

Twilight gave Fritter a stern look.

"You know how many people counted on you!?" lashed out Twilight.

Fritter was already paralyzed with guilt and self-hatred.

"No."

"You could have caused people die of hunger because of your selfishness!!"

"Stop."

"And not only that but it gives Celestia bad name!"

"Enough."

"Do you want Celestia to be gone? Do you want people to think she is a hateful person!?"

"ENOUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

It was Luna's voice.

Twilight, Applejack, and Fritter froze in fear and confusion. They all turned to Luna.

"Luna," said Applejack, "Are you alright? Why did you scream so angrily."

"My goodness!" exclaimed Luna. "For you to say that so casually. Don't you get just tired of all this fighting already? All this suffering too? Has friendship become some fake loaded word to you?"

Applejack blinked while she shifted her gears and paused a moment to think. "Yes, it is tragic that people aren't as close as they used to be and people are still suffering from depression and such. But we need to keep it in the context of all the problems that we still have today. There are wars going on somewhere, people are starving and dying of diseases, poverty is a problem in many poor countries, and I'm glad to live in a home you know. And you need to remember the progress we've made so far when you bring up this perceived problem."

Luna burned with anger—a rare kind of anger.

"And I don't give a shit about any of that! So what if we have all these nice things if people would rather die while they're being lead to spiritual suicide?" cried out Luna.

Applejack reeled at the answer she didn't expect. "Well... it's Fritter's choice to be sad for what she does. But what she is doing has value. Some people will starve to death if she stops what she's doin'"

"You don't think I know that will happen? Do I have to lay it all thick on you for you to know the way I am?

"Well I'm not sure what you mean but go ahead ahead and explain then."

Luna was clearly anxious of what she was going to say.

"Let us think of a hypothetical scenario. A band of starving and tired wanderers stumble upon an ancient mansion. Exploring, they find out that the mysterious mansion can provide food, material, power, and shelter powered by machines. These machines are powered by people, but at the cost of them being trapped inside them forever miserable. With desperation driven by their hardships, people are put inside the machines and gain the benefits. Overjoyed by the turn of events, they decide to figure out how to build more of these machines and put them to use. What would you think I would do if I was there, and wanted to end the misery of those inside the machines and stop the madness?"

"...I don't know."

"I would destroy the machines."

"But the people wouldn't have food from the mansion anymore. Many will die if they can't find more food. People will kill each other to survive. Is that something you would really do?"

"That's right."

That familiar feeling crept in Twilight and Applejack's chest. That dark, heavy, crushing feeling that makes it difficult to breathe; stiffening their neck and hurting their head. They couldn't believe what Luna was saying. This was not the right Luna. It couldn't be. Either someone delusional or a clever liar.

Applejack carried on. "...That's unimaginative and dangerous. You need to keep an open mind to new ideas.

"Oh, maybe I should have a new idea. If someone disagrees with me, I'll tell them to have an open mind."

"But you shouldn't force your opinions on other people."

"I would agree."

Applejack was deterred for a second. "There's always problems, but you shouldn't be so negative. You're a ruler of Equestria! You can make changes and help solve them."

Luna shook her head. "I'll tell you something, there are more problems being made than solved. The problems I've said of are all part of a bigger one. And the extent of my power as a ruler is not enough to make the difference I want."

"But you use machines yourself! Such hypocrisy would make me embarrassed to be seen with you."

"I'm fully aware of that. But the fact that I'm willing to give them all up when it comes down to it is my proof of dedication that I stick to my ideals to the end."

"But your solutions are childish! There's no point in doing them. You need to be mature."

"But there is a point! Everything leads back to survival of the fittest. You can preach love and kindness all you want but it becomes a competition of who is nice or not—or rather look nice. You can preach charity all you want but you need wealth and power to do it. You can preach all these nice things, but it turns out it all comes at a price."

"You need to just be patient. That's what you need to do. You just have to wait until all the bugs are ironed out and everything is a-okay."

"I'm sorry but it's too late to say that especially after all the shit I've seen. And I'm tired of it all, tired of it already, tired of being chained to this reality. So I will release them. And I will tear it down, tear it all down, tear it all down until it's all completely gone. And I will do it all without a hint of remorse. What do you have to say about that, hm?"

But Applejack had nothing to say about that—as it turned into a standoff between two equally stubborn forces in work.

And so Luna turned to Fritter and just as she was about to say something Twilight interrupted her.

"Luna everything will be okay!" cried out Twilight, who was visibly shakened. She sniffled, and she was nearly choking up. "...You don't have to feel lonely."

"Twilight!" snapped Luna. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not like you!"

A tear ran down Twilight's cheek. She couldn't contain her sobs and she cleared her throat before she spoke again. "...It'll be okay. I'll be there for you. Always there. Giving you precious hugs and snuggles whenever you feel lonely and sad."

Luna's expression grew with fierce anger. "Shut up! I'm really not like you! Twilight, the reason I don't bring up my past is because I don't dwell on it! And most importantly I don't want to be a bad role model and make people think I obsess over my past and care too much about what people think about me." But then Luna dropped her angry expression and looked down. "I guess... I'm leaving you then if this is going nowhere." Luna looked at Twilight. "I'm sorry."

Twilight froze in silence knowing nothing what to think about what she said or what to do.

Luna looked at Fritter. "Fritter, I want you to do one last favor for me."

"...What is it."

"I want to see your 'real self'. The one you and many others have been too afraid to show me."

Silence.

"...Why can't you show me?"

She could not speak.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to pry it out if I'm never getting an answer."

Luna summoned a small bag of sand in her hand and threw the sand at Fritter's face. Fritter collapsed into sleep, and Luna tucked her into bed.

Luna looked back at Applejack and Twilight, who could only stare back. "For the sake of your own safety, don't touch me while I'm sleeping."

Luna closed her eyes. The time that passed lasted more than a moment.

Luna trembled, then gasped and shot her eyes open widened in fear. She was erratically breathing as if she woke up from a nightmare.

"Wow," Luna huffed. "I didn't expect that."

Luna looked down at the wooden floor.. "There was nothing! Nothing at all! All except that... thing! WHAT IS THAT!?!? It was staring at me like it was it's job. It had a perfectly round head with a red circle in the middle that looked like it was a bloody mouth. Its body and limbs were elongating like they were tendrils! It scares me to death even remembering what it looked like. I don't even want to get into its endless mad shrieking! Well I did anyways. And why was it wearing a suit!?"

Then she looked up at the ceiling. "I still feel the shivers in my spine. It scares me even remembering what it looked like. Now it's no wonder why they didn't want to show me it. This feeling in my chest makes me think it's a threat to my life. I think it's permanently affected me seeing it. I've never felt this afraid before."

Then she looked straight at a wall. "Is what Fritter showed me why one would be afraid of their own shadow? Is that what makes people afraid to be alone? I could never imagine something like this. It's the most horrible thing I've ever seen."

Luna looked at Applejack, but barely. "Do you know what it could be?"

Applejack was put into cold sweat. "...It's nothin'. You're readin' too much into it."

Luna was left only more intrigued by her finding. Then she shook her head a few times as if to get something out of it. The atmosphere was utterly alien to her and she didn't even want to look at Twilight and Applejack. Luna snapped her fingers, waking Fritter up.

Luna's legs could not stay still. She barely looked at Fritter. "I saw it. It's too much."

Then Luna paced around the room avoiding eye contact with everyone. "But I think I'm going to be eventually okay. I've got to stay brave and keep my hopes up."

Then she paused and managed to take a look at everyone, who stared back. "But now I have a sense of urgency to carry out my plans. I'm sorry girls. I can't even make a dramatic leave. This may be the last time you may see me, but I'll tell you now I will still be moving the moon."

Luna was satisfied enough to let all she wanted to say out. She walked out of the room and left the house as if nothing happened.

And with that, a long silence followed.

Applejack shook her head hard. "Wow. Did all of that really happen?" She glanced at Twilight, who seemed half-asleep. "Twilight, are you there? I don't want to feel like this is a dream."

Twilight's face squinted back to life and was dead calm enough to even disturb Applejack. "It's okay. Luna is gone because she is sad. It's all my fault because I burdened her with my problems. Everyone likes her, so I know she'll be back. I just have to make her happy again. That's all." Twilight smiled.

Applejack blinked a few times. "...Were you even awake? Luna said that she had to 'carry out' plans. And obviously it has to do nothin' with us if she abandoned us like we were dead to her or somethin'."

Twilight twitched when Applejack said abandoned. She started shaking.

"Woah there," Applejack remarked. "Are you alright? You look like you're gonna die!"

Twilight stopped shaking but her dead calm was definitely no more. "Please. Please don't worry about me. Let me handle it."

"Twilight..."

"It's all my fault. I was being selfish when I accepted all her help, and that made her all sad."

"Twilight!"

"What!?"

"You're bein' crazy!"

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize."

"Sorry..."

"Ugh!! Listen, Luna is clearly intending to do somethin' really dangerous and is aware of it. Wow, how am I bein' calm through all this? I can't stop thinkin'. Anyways, the sooner we tell Celestia what happened the better."

"NO!! Don't tell her!!!!"

"That's too bad. I'm really worried about what's gonna happen, especially with you, and I don't want to take any chances."

"Please don't worry about me. Please don't. I don't care about me and nobody should."

"It's my job to care and make sure my friends are okay."

"BUT YOU DESERVE TO BE HAPPY YOU'RE GREAT."

"Twilight..."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for yelling at you and making you worry. I'm sorry for when I forgot to wish you a happy birthday."

"Twilight it's okay. Most of my friends didn't say anything to me on my birthday and I don't mind because I know they have muck to go through."

"But I'm scared if I'm hurting my friends without knowing. What if they leave me."

"Forget 'em! Lots of other people care about ya and you're just gonna haveta deal with that. It doesn't matter if ya think you don't deserve it. You do deserve it. Your job is tough but you're stronger than this."

"But Luna left me and what if it's all my fault that she did."

"Look sugarcube, it's not your fault. Even if it was, it's okay to make mistakes sometimes cause none of us are perfect."

"IT'S OKAY IF WE'RE NOT BUT I'M SUPPOSED TO BE PERFECT AND BE THERE FOR MY FRIENDS AND MAKE THEM HAPPY BUT IF I CAN'T SAY THE RIGHT THINGS AND JUST MESS EVERYTHING UP THEN WHAT'S THE POINT!?!?!?!?!?"

Applejack was stunned in shock.

Twilight realized in horror what she had just done. "I'msorrybutIgottago." She bolted her way out of Fritter's house.

Twilight lit her horn as bright as she could and ran. Ran like the coward she is. Ran like how she runs away from her problems. Ran like how her friends ran away from her. Ran like how her life runs in circles. Ran, because it's the best thing she can do.

But no matter how far one will fly, their wings will eventually lose their beat. The pain in her hip was unbearable and it was spreading, fogging her vision like snow. She finally collapsed to the ground holding onto her dying light.

~~~

Twilight dragged herself back home. She felt completely numb. Her energy had been ran dry and it didn't help that she didn't eat much in the past few days. A tear went down Twilight's cheek as she imagined Luna's face when she was angry. Twilight felt so torn apart and was so remorseful for misunderstanding Luna and not listening to her when she expressed her feelings. She wished she could go back in time and set things right, but she couldn't. It felt like Luna was gone, forever. Twilight broke down and cried,  constantly apologizing to Luna under her breath.

Twilight eventually made it home. So tired she was, and so glad she was to arrive at her room, and she was so glad to get in her bed. Her body fell on the bed like it was made of lead.

But when she got in her bed, she felt unwanted. There was something missing from her life, and nothing around her could ever replace it.

Twilight reached down there. Tears fell out of her eyes and she groaned. Her body writhed into the rhythmic motion. Dead eyes staring, emotionless. The shame inside builds a separate climax. The beads of sweat roll into her tears. Then she let out a frustrated sigh. She rolled onto her side, breathing hard, cheeks flushed. But it ended with her being ashamed, afraid, alone.

What does Twilight have that Luna doesn't?

Then Luna barged into Twilight's room with a poem in her hand.

"Twilight! I found this poem laying around and I think it's yours."

Twilight lit up with intense happiness. "Luna!"

Luna grinned with excitement. "Twilight Sparkles!"

Twilight's pupils widened very quickly.  "My Luna!"

Luna raised her arms up in the air. "My Twilight Sparkly!"

Both of them ran to each other. As Twilight got closer and closer she got angrier and angrier and when she got to Luna she choked her with both her hands intending to kill her.

"Twilight..." Luna squeaked out of her vocal cord. "What are you doing... it's me... your precious love... Luna..."

"Oh..." Twilight let go of Luna's neck. "I'm sorry..."

Luna gasped as if to save her life and managed to breathe almost normally. "Twilight I have the answer to your poem. See, it's—"

"Shut up!" whined Twilight.

"What?"

"I just want to be treated like a normal little girl!"

Luna looked down in a mix of emotions twirling up in her.

Twilight saw that Luna was conflicted, so she went up to her and gave her a very soft hug. Luna knew at that moment how much Twilight had missed her, and felt how much she fulfills Twilight life.

"Twilight," said Luna. "I'm sorry but I have been hiding something from you... You see... I have a plan to banish Celestia into the sun for a thousand years!"

"Go ahead! I don't mind you doing it."

Luna was surprised that Twilight not only took it seriously but was completely okay with it. Luna was only half-joking about the sun part. But looking at it in retrospect, it didn't seem like a bad idea.

"Okay Twilight, my pure love, I am off! See you again someday! I'll promise that!"

"Bye bye! I'll pray for your safety every day! But when you come back..." Twilight went up to Luna and whispered something in her ear. Luna dropped her jaw, completely shocked. Don't ever underestimate Twilight's naughty side.

And so Luna went off, but looked back, waved Twilight goodbye and blew her a kiss. Twilight waved goodbye and blew back a kiss of her own. Luna gave a wink, and left smiling.

Twilight picked up her folded up poem that Luna had dropped on the ground. Something fell from the poem as she opened it up.

Pink hair?

Twilight got herself back into bed with a headache that shot her awake and eyes dried open. Her heart had been cracked, with a broken reflection.

In the night of day, an old dim star burned out, falling shamefully from the clouds. She was lucky she even made it to bed, being tangled up by her fate.

But she blushed smelling Luna's sweet scent, and warmed up with life feeling Luna's soft arms embracing her whole body. She closed her eyes and sighed hearing Luna wondering why people would ever loathe the beautiful starry night, which cooled her with relief and calmed her buzzing mind with a gentle breeze of silent peace.

And her eyes lighted up open with warm hope looking out at the starry night sky, wishing upon a star shining so clearly in the gorgeous blue sky. Crystal cool tears came out of her hopeful eyes, knowing that her wish would come true.

Her heart grew with love ringing with delight, as the starry night was lit up with vibrant violet twilight skies.

She sighed dreamy gusts thinking about Luna and her caring eyes, making her fur slowly dance like lavender fields sparkling blue in morning dew.

Twilight imagined herself in the sweet lavender fields with the full moon in all its glorious silver light, dominating the background in the night like it was right there next to her.

She ran through the fields, giggling as the flowers tickled her legs.

And then, she found her.

Luna was forcing herself to trudge through the fields as if she had just fought a war, searching for something with weary eyes.

Twilight contained her laughter sneaking up from behind and screamed, Luna immediately turned around and pinned her to the ground with a clutch.

But Luna blinked twice knowing who this was, and Twilight smiled knowing that she knew.

Twilight was let go from her grip and stood up, Luna looked away nervously scratching the back of her head not knowing what to say.

Twilight responded by happily leaping into her arms, Luna gasped and caught her swinging her around in the air laughing.

Luna hugged her so close to their heads overjoyed by the warmth they felt she closed her eyes and weeped with pride, Twilight's wish had finally come true as they could feel the sea breeze blow gently through the air.

Twilight picked off a couple of lavender flowers and decorated them in Luna's hair, Luna did the same and crowned Twilight with the sweet flowers.

Luna approached closely and gently held Twilight by the sides, Twilight slowly leaned toward Luna. They closed their eyes and kissed. Tears streamed out of Twilight's eyes.

Luna and Twilight stared into each others eyes. Luna grabbed Twilight's hand, and they went off onto several adventures.

All their worries faded away as their happiness would be everlasting, no matter how far away they could be from each other.

Twilight sighed with relief closing her dreamy eyes and went to sleep smiling with a blush. Her heart was healing, with a lasting impression.

In the day of night, a new lavender star was born, shining proudly right next to the silver moon.

Enjoy sweet dreams from now on.

~*~*~*~

"CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTT!!!!" cried out Pinkie Pie.

The whole cast gathered together.

"Wow!" exclaimed Twilight. "Everyone did better than I expected! I'm so proud of you guys!"

"How good did I do?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"You did great!" Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a fist bump.

"Hey..." asked Rarity. "Will people hate me for my perfomance?"

"I don't think so..."

"But I was awfully rude and not so nice!"

"It's not so bad. Come on..."

"I'm pretty sure the whole world will hate me!"

"Ugh..."

"You did a great job everyone!" exclaimed Luna. "And I'd like to thank all those who have helped me write the story." Luna pulled Fluttershy right next to her. "Fluttershy helped me, right Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy grinned maniacally while crazily crossing her eyes and put an arm around Luna's shoulder. "Why yes!"

"Even Discord helped too!"

A door appeared out of nowhere and Discord came out of it. "Yes, I also helped quite a bit. Sorry but I've been busy watching people react to the story. It's a real hoot!" he said with a goofacious face.

"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "I helped too! And so did Maud Pie. Right Maud?"

The focus goes to Maud Pie. Excitement builds up as the audience waits for her answer. Rumors start spreading of what it could be. Riots are started arguing over what she would say. Cities are being set on fire. And then finally Maud Pie these very words:

"Yes."

The audience applauds with rigorous might and force. The crowds cheer and bob their heads in ecstatic excitement. Ripples of hand claps spread out throughout the entire world. Eventually the whole universe starts applauding and cheering for Maud Pie. Nothing could ever top this applause ever.

"And I'd like to thank some other friends who have helped with this story," said Luna. "I'd like to thank Pepsi-bunny for telling me her bullying story. I'd like to thank my narcoleptic friend KingMoshie who was an unfortunate victim of an epidemic caused by child vaccinations in Norway in 2009-2010. And I'd like to thank Titanium Dragon, who gave me advice on how to finish this story. I didn't show him this story yet so I'm definitely sure he'll get a kick out of this by the time he gets to this point!

"Magnificent" cried out Celestia. "I never knew my sister had it in her. And look at your fans." Celestia put an arm on Luna's shoulder and pointed to a crowd. "Girls everywhere!"

"Yeah!"

"And you sure were a sweetheart."

"No."

"You really showed off your soft side!"

"Stop."

Pinkie Pie giggled at the cast. And then she looked at you. "I really hope you enjoyed the story! Luna really put a lot of work into it. No matter how hopeless you may feel, there's always someone out there with hope! And I think Luna showed it well. Life is like a canvas you can draw on! You should start imagining what you want to do if you haven't already!"

And so Pinkie Pie waved goodbye to you. What will you do next?