Chapters Luna's heart fell faster than the limp form in front of her, and her stomach wrenched at the crunch of him landing. A shout of concern left her lips as she ran forwards, quickly scooping up the unconscious head of her look-alike. She gagged at the unnatural twists and bends that the stallion's body made, most of his legs bending in ways they never were meant to, a wing trapped beneath him bent over double. Just moving his head made her shiver as she felt bone fragments grate on each other at the slightest move, and fear wrapped a claw around her heart.
Luna quickly lifted one of her doppelgangers' hooves up, internally thanking that this one wasn't as smashed as the rest, and got a look at the large wound deep in his side. She once again felt bile rise in her throat as she saw such a vast quantity of blood spilling forth, and the visible amount of damage to his internal organs. She quickly lit her horn, her mind racing through the medical knowledge she had accrued over the past few millennia. Magically knitting this tissues back together, she cursed her lack of experience as she struggled with the complicated weaves of magic, being exceedingly careful not to damage the broken alicorn before her. After closing up the punctured lung and patching the dermal tissues together, she finally exhaled a breath she hadn't known she was holding.
At this, she looked up, and for the first time noticed that two other male alicorns were standing nearby, looking at her with varying degrees of concern, confusion, and amazement. One was disturbingly familiar looking, having a coat and cutie mark that matched her sister's, and definitely being the same pony she had seen said sister... cavorting with. The other pony she had not seen before, but his striking resemblance of Twilight Sparkle made him not too hard to recognize. This alicorn was sporting a visible blush, in combination with his look of concern, that confounded Luna until she looked down and realized the very... unbecoming way that she was holding the unconscious form in her hooves.
Luna meeped and immediately, but carefully, put down the form she had been almost wrapped around. Oh my! She thought to herself, blushing a deep scarlet. That must have looked very... personal to them! I, a stranger, latched on to a foreign leader is nothing but a scandal! They must think me the most uncouth pony they have ever met! Oh dear! Oh no! Her mind raced and babbled as she sprung up and stepped back to a much more respectable distance from the fallen pony.
“I am... I mean...” Luna stuttered to the two stallions who were now looking at her with even more confusion and concern than before. “I apologize for being so informal...” She started, but was cut off by the white alicorn, who seemed to realize what was happening.
“By all means, go ahead, you seem to know how to take care of him. We'll, uh, go get some medical supplies!” He quickly said, embarrassment filling his deep voice and a blush becoming apparent as it contrasted so visibly with his white coat. His hooves shuffled slightly as he quickly turned and opened the portal back to Equestria. As he stepped through it, he looked back and noticed his student still fixed in place, questions evidently bursting from his head, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to summon words.
“Dusk Shine! Right flank!” The white alicorn shouted, his voice taking on a commanding tone that immediately jarred his purple companion out of his befuddlement. The younger of the two immediately did a curt about-face and took position on the right of his elder, as they immediately stepped through the portal, and disappeared from the face of the moon in flash.
Luna watched the bizarre spectacle and despite the current situation, managed a short chuckle at the strange behavior. The two ponies, obviously princes from the same Equestria that the prince in front of her was from, interacted more like Shining Armor or another guard captain and a guard member. She thought it was curious that the Solar prince and his student were not friends in the other Equestria like Celestia and Twilight were.
She looked down at the blue alicorn laying crumpled in front of her, and she rushed to pick him up again, cradling his bashed head against her chest. Artemis, she recalled, was what the terrible daemon had referred to him as.
“Oh, Prince Artemis, I hope you are alright.” She whispered to him, taking a step back as she started to unfold his shattered limbs to magically set the bones. Suddenly, as if responding to her, his eyes fluttered open, whirling around wildly until they focused on Luna from the vantage of his sideways laying head.
“Ugh ... who are...” He mumbled as he stirred. He began to sit up, and panic gripped Luna's heart as she saw the sickening distortion of pain across his snout.
“Hold still, you are safe now.” She said, trying to sound as calm and comforting as she could. She tried to mimic Celestia, so confident and motherly, so that this broken pony before her wouldn't panic and hurt himself further. She stepped closer to him, leaning down to look in his eyes as she had seen her sister do to many a scared pony, and was met by the most unabashed countenance of awe she had ever seen. She blushed furiously as she realized the awe was of her, so she quickly shook her head to clear her racing thoughts.
“Am I dead?” The stallion croaked out, causing Luna to smile in embarrassment as she realized that he thought she looked angelic. Her heart swelled as she found that she wasn't scaring somepony for a change, and that she was actually comforting this battered pony.
“Not quite,” She said, feeling fear be replaced by happiness. “And thanks to you, neither are all of us.” She couldn't resist and extended a hoof and comfortingly stroked his shoulder. His eyes continued to bug out as his injury-addled mind tried to take in what was going on. Luna looked over his form, wincing at the grievous injuries on the outside and trying to not to think of what horrible neural damage he must have sustained. She hoped he just had received a concussion, but he could have sustained serious brain damage.
“Just relax, all will be fine now.” She breathed, more for herself than for him, as he passed out yet again.
Closing her eyes and sighing, Luna set her mind to healing the wounds she could at the moment. She patched several bleeding cuts and set his remaining broken limbs, wincing at his crumpled wings and the sickening contortions of his body.
Carefully wrapping the patched-together form in her magic, she lifted Prince Artemis from the lunar surface, cradling the magic bands and braces where his body was the most structurally sound, as to avoid further damage.
Luna then inspected the familiarly-colored form, looking for any more wounds to the stallion. My, why ever is he so muscular? His physical fitness would put even Shining Armor to shame ...She thought as she saw the cut and well-defined muscles very apparent under the blue coat. They felt more like coiled ropes around his legs and shoulders than flesh, more like bands of iron across his barrel than skin.
The other stallions were like that too, were they not? The male Twilight and Celestia looked like Artemis here, more muscular than royalty ever would need to be. Luna examined closer to see if there were any of the tell-tale signs of sedentary ruling that her sister and her bore. She saw no excess flesh anywhere on his body, no wrinkle in his azure coat, not an ounce of fat on his taut form. I am not fat, and neither is Celestia, though she has quite a round plo... flank. I just know that there are a few pounds I could stand to lose, especially around my hips. She looked back at the hips in question, and sighed as she saw the offending flare of flesh she had developed from sitting too long upon a throne. She snapped her eyes back forward to end that dismal train of thought, again studying the stallion before her. They must not have thrones where he comes from, or at least not use them that often, because he is in peak physical condition. Oh my, and his flank is very well toned. My goodness...
She nearly fell forward as she found herself gawking at the figure before her, and stumbled a few steps. Gulping hard and shaking her head, she felt her cheeks burning, and forced herself to look away from the stallion. “Whew, I need a cold bath...” Luna grumbled to herself as she scolded herself for reacting like a filly seeing her first colt, with eyes wandering to... places that were not at all prudent for her to be looking, much less staring in awe.
“Oh, and I would wager you do as well, do you not, Artemis?” She said as she suddenly remembered what was going on. Nodding her head, she concluded that it was definitely time to bring the Prince to the medical ward to be cleaned and properly healed by the trained staff of medical unicorns in the castle.
Focusing on the portal spell that linked with her mirror in her room so far away, she tore open a fiery ring, revealing the inside of her bedchambers down in Equestria, and took a step towards it. Luna levitated the broken form of Artemis towards the ring and pushed him through the membrane.
However, rather than floating through like an open window, the tail and rear legs of the stallion disappeared like the section on the other side of the mirror had been amputated. Panicking, Luna pulled the form back through. She sighed in relief as she saw the missing portion restored as it was pulled back through the membrane of the portal.
“Woah... alright. So that isn't right, but what is happening? Why does he disappear when he goes through the mirror?” Luna said to herself, her mind whirling with theories and questions about this new anomaly. “Maybe if I go through first?” She said as she turned around and backed in, leading the suspended Prince behind her reverse walk through the portal.
Yet again, though, as the tip of his horn and head met the surface, it did not go through the portal, disappearing like he was being ground down by the membrane.
“What?” Luna huffed in exasperation, blowing an errant lock of her mane from her face with a upward puff of breath. She sighed, closing her eyes and spinning the cogs of her mind up to a higher speed. Recalling her early studies on the mirror and her knowledge of transportation spells, she decided a course of action.
Walking through the shimmering surface of the mirror onto the alabaster expanse, she gently rested the body of the alicorn on the dusty surface. She then scanned her surroundings, quickly locating her quarry and snatching it up in her magical grasp.
This should be magically inert enough to be a control for testing my theory, she thought to herself as she hefted the coconut-sized moon-rock in her magic grip, judging it to be about a kilo. This is large enough to be noticed if it is just emerging from the portal in a slightly different location, as these magics are prone to do.
Turning to face the glowing gateway once more, Luna held the rock right in front of her, so she could keep her eyes on it as she brought it through the portal. She then stepped forward, approaching the membrane as it phased through reality like the surface of a pool. Her eyebrow quirked as the rock stayed floating in front of her, perfectly accompanying her through into her bedchambers. It was seemingly unaffected by the bizarre conduct that was displayed by Artemis' body going through the portal, much to the confusion of Luna.
Why do they react differently to the same thing? She thought, but her musings were interrupted by the sudden realization that the rock was now much different feeling. While her body had increased in weight six-fold, the rock did not feel nearly that much heavier. It feels half as heavy as it should... hmm. What could be the cause of this strange behavior?
As Luna pondered this, she decided to gently set it down to see if it was more magically active than she had thought. However, as soon as it touched the soft black carpet beneath her hooves, it bent inwards, as if the soft fabric was flattening the solid rock. Curious, she released her magic hold, and gasped as the round ball collapsed, losing all form as if it were made of dust. Inspecting the pile of white former moon-rock, she found that it was indeed a fine dust, its particles far smaller than the finest dust on the moons surface.
How could this be? It was most certainly a solid rock on the moon, and it does not appear now, nor did it appear to have any magical properties. Hmm, how bizarre...
As she stood in her room looking at this new mystery, a small form crept around the ebony post that marked the nearest corner of Luna's bed. Now that the massive magical disturbances had cleared, the small white creature was emboldened to the point that it approached the contemplating princess.
Spying the intruder, the concentrated grimace that twisted Luna's features unraveled into a broad grin.
“What are you doing here, Nyx? Did you miss Mother?” She chuckled, extending her hoof to caress the small white kitten approaching her. The feline in front of her loosed a heart-melting meow to show the alicorn her feelings. As the petting comforted her, she stretched her perfectly white form, closing her brilliant purple eyes as she resumed her normal size as an adult cat. “Well, I missed you too. Sorry for all the... err... fireworks.” Luna said, shifting her attention from the magical cat that she kept as a companion to the enigmatic pile of powdered moon rock at her hooves.
“But that still doesn't explain why my portal no longer is working...” She grumbled, nudging some dust with her hoof. Shrugging her shoulders and sighing in vexation, she turned tail and reopened the portal, gruffly stepping through as her mind whirled around looking for an answer. As the membrane let go of her tail, the Lunar Princess ran head-long into what felt like a white cliff-face.
Stumbling back onto her haunches, Luna looked up the sheer wall and saw that it was one of the male alicorns she had seen earlier on the moon. This was the male counterpart for Celestia, she realized, as she recognized him vividly and... disturbingly from her peek into her sister's dream.
“Oh my goodness! I am so sorry!” Luna quickly squeaked, hurriedly standing back up and magically brushing the moon dust from her flanks. Her cheeks tinted in embarrassment as the white alicorn turned towards her, a startled expression playing out across his features as well.
“Excuse me, my lady! I did not see you coming! How rude of me to stand in your way!” The tall prince replied, his polite words and official demeanor reminding her uncomfortably of her sister, which, of course, made her think he was mocking her like she often did. He extended a hoof to help her up, but she brushed it aside looking away from the prince. Please tell me he isn't like her! I don't even know him and he is already picking on me... it's not fair!
“No, it is alright. I should have looked where I was going.” She replied, unintentionally letting a slight twinge of annoyance into her tone. Looking back at the tall white pony, she saw his face was etched with sincere concern, and he tilted his head to look at her.
“Are you alright?” He asked, his tone holding compassion and comfort that she did not expect at all from this pony, being so similar to Celestia. Caught unawares by this, Luna quirked an eyebrow and stuttered slightly in response.
“I... uh.. yea.. I mean...” She stumbled over her words. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to regain her composure, she looked back at him. “Yes, I am fine, thank you.” She responded, nodding her head in what she hoped was a graceful recovery.
To this, the much taller stallion nodded back sagely, only to suddenly widen his eyes as he realized something. He bowed deep and full, spreading a wing ceremonially in front of him, as he spoke, “I forget myself! I am Prince Solaris, co-ruler of Equestria, Aspect of the Sun, and bringer of the day. I give you my most humble and deepest thanks for what you have done.” The prince somewhat belatedly introduced himself, standing up from his low bow when he was finished speaking.
Realizing that she too had not yet introduced herself, Luna nodded her head in return, spreading her wings to her sides with their tips curled upwards as was proper for a mare. “Greetings, Lord Solaris. I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria, Aspect of the Moon and bringer of the night. You are most welcome.” She introduced herself in return, her centuries of court training switching on. Looking around, she noticed that the lavender prince had not returned yet, and that her and Solaris were alone, save the unconscious Artemis. As a moment of silence lulled between them, Luna became slightly uncomfortable, and gave a polite cough, in an attempt to get Solaris to say something.
Sensing his cue, the white alicorn started and began speaking, his cheeks the slightest shade of pink as he realized awkwardness hanging in the air. “I... err... um... oh yeah! What were you just doing, Princess Luna? I came up to Artemis' room to fetch the mirror and bring it back to the castle, and saw the mirror glowing again, but all that was coming through it was my brother Artemis' tail and... flanks.” He chuckled slightly as he recalled the interesting display he had come upon. “I was not at an angle at which I could see the mirror's surface; all I could see was a royal blue rear floating out, which I found to be understandably odd. I saw it retreat back through quickly, so I hurried over to the mirror, only to find it had gone blank again. I got there just in time for it to light back up, and out came his head through the mirror, treating me to odd spectacle of his unconscious body just floating towards me on its own. I found this very bizarre, so I picked up the mirror carefully; his head and the rest of him disappeared again, and the portal went dark as soon as his horn crossed the surface. I flew the mirror very cautiously back to the castle, but no body parts of my brother reappeared. What were you doing with him?” Solaris told the tale with mirth in his voice, but the last question was laden heavy with insinuation.
Luna's cheeks flushed a burning red and she gasped in indignation at what he was implicating. “What! I'd never!” she blurted, scowling at him.
“Just because he can't say 'no ' doesn't mean he is saying 'yes '. You should know this, at least we have several laws on this in my country!” The white prince said, his serious demeanor cracking under the weight of his barely contained laughter.
“I... oh ... you... you pervert!” Shouted the blue princess, glaring daggers at him. “I do not appreciate such humor, it is most unbecoming of a ruler. In my country, we know where to draw the line.” She huffed at Solaris as he burst into great baritone guffaws, his laughter rumbling the very ground beneath their hooves, sending the moon dust dancing in the vacuum.
The Solar Aspect's revelry was cut short as a portal tore open right next to him, and out of the portal stepped Prince Dusk Shine. The lavender alicorn was carrying a small satchel adorned with a recognizable red cross on it that marked that it had come from the apothecary at the castle.
“Prince Solaris! Pri... Miss... Um... My lady...?” Dusk said, faltering when he turned to address Luna, not being as well versed in courtly addressing as Solaris was. Shaking his head and dismissing this, he remembered his original purpose in speaking. “I brought some pain medicine for Artemis, they said he can take it whenever, but I guess we are gonna wait till he wakes up, right?”
Dusk's question was answered by a blue aura that ripped the pain medicine away from him. Luna opened the pouch and pulled out several colorful capsules, which she immediately floated into the lying alicorn's mouth. She knelt at his side and gently used a hoof to make him swallow the pills tenderly cradling his head as she watched the muscles in his neck ferry the medication into his stomach. As she stood up, she surreptitiously stroked his mane, which was now a light blue head of regular pony hair rather than an ethereal nimbus like hers.
“I guess we aren't going to ask him about it, eh?” Solaris mumbled, looking away from the still angry mare. Remembering himself, he turned to Dusk, and introduced Luna to him.
“Pleasure to meet you, princess.” The element of magic stated as he bowed low in formal greeting. Luna noticed that his form was less than perfect, just like Twilight's, and began wondering how similar these two ponies were to the ones she knew from her world. As he stood from his bow, the purple alicorn's eyes flashed in remembrance, and immediately spoke. “I was in a bit of a rush to bring this back, but I noticed something... odd... by Artemis' mirror back in Equestria. “
A portal was torn open by Dusk, but when Luna looked through it, all she could see was the inside of her room. This struck her as odd; since she was able to open a portal to her mirror, she thought that the spell that the stallions would know would lead to Artemis' instead. Her question was answered before it left her lips when Dusk spoke.
“Right here, by the base of Artemis' mirror, is a little pile of moon dust. I was wondering how it got there, since none of us brought any back with us, and any that we may have tracked in on our hooves would not have formed such a distinct pile there and nowhere else.” The stallion's horn lit a bright purple again, and a small pile of dust floated out of the shimmering gateway, despite the fact that Luna could not see where it was coming from until it appeared out of the membranous portal.
Confusion played out across her face until a thought popped into Luna's head. “Tell me, Lord Shine, what do you see through the portal?” she asked, hoping that her theory was correct.
“I see the inside of Solaris' chambers, right where he brought the mirror from the field I... relocated it to when this whole mess started.” The element of magic responded, looking to the blue alicorn questioningly.
“Oh, I get it now!” Luna stated, beaming as she found understanding, happy that she was able to solve this small mystery. “You see, when I look through it, I see the inside of my room, right out of my mirror, back in my Equestria. It appears that the portal leads to our own world, depending on where we came from. Hmm... but that still doesn't explain the moon rock.” Her grin faded to a look of consternation, afraid that she had gotten ahead of herself. She turned to the portal and summoned forth her own small pile of former moon rock, and examined it.
“What is that? It looks like the same stuff that was in my world. Could it be that matter is leaking from the portal?” Dusk looked over at her, floating his pile of moon dust alongside Luna's.
Her expression cleared like the sky after a storm as inspiration alight in her eyes. “Aha! I understand!” She exclaimed as she took hold of the dust in Dusk's grasp. She combined the two piles, and formed them to the shape of the moon rock she had held previously, grinning as the construct looked exactly the same, and felt to be the same weight as well. “Apparently, that is where the rest of the rock went!” she chuckled, nodding to herself.
“Wait, that is what this is from? You did the Feronion portal test already?” The purple prince asked, his eyes lighting up in understanding and admiration, along with a slight degree of wonder. “Wait, that means that this is a multi-destination portal spell? No it isn't... it is just a binding to a magical mirror. How could that change, since it only went to one place before? There is no way that the runes could have been physically altered like that.”
“But, what if both of our mirrors had the same enchantment? Whenever we activate it, we go to the world we came here from. So when I sent the moon rock through, every other molecule, every other atom, every other quanta of the rock diverted to each world. Half came out of my portal, half out of yours. I guess because they never came through the portal in the first place?” Luna quickly responded, a grin ripping out across her face as she started to geek out about the quantum physics involved with such complicated and eldritch magics.
“Something like that, I bet! Oh wow, do you think if we sent the particles back through at the same time, it would reform the rock?” Dusk grinned as well, characteristically geeking out along with her.
“You wanna try it out?” Luna asked excitedly, sounding like a school filly who just learned something new.
“A-hem ” Solaris interrupted, his face a mix of amusement and annoyance. As both of the other alicorns looked at him, he raised his eyebrows and looked meaningfully down at the form of his unconscious brother a few meters away. “While all of your science-y nonsense is terribly interesting to all of us, there may be something slightly more important for us to spend our time tending to.” Both of them blushed in embarrassment, Luna looking away as Dusk nodded abashedly to his former mentor. “Now that you have... rather vigorously dosed him with pain meds, we need to get him back to the royal surgeons.”
“Wait! You can't!” Cried Luna, her eyes widening slightly in panic. When both princes looked at her curiously, she blushed and hid her face behind her mane as best she could, which was rather difficult as the aeriform hair kept floating away. “Umm... We need to make sure he is... umm... hold on.” She babbled, desperately looking for a way to excuse her outburst but still keep the Lunar Prince with her. “We can't move him till we know he is stable! That's it!” She exclaimed, mentally sighing as she found a reason.
“Well, she does have a point, Solaris. He could have suffered some head trauma that would make his transport dangerous.” Dusk said thoughtfully, nodding his head in agreement with Luna's statement. Luna mentally thanked him for being so analytical that he missed the context of her concern.
“We alicorns have a much more resilient constitution than your ordinary pony, you know Dusk? It will take a bit more than an ordinarily fatal ordeal to harm us.” The white alicorn said, Luna growing uncomfortable as he sounded as if he were speaking from experience. Luna thought back to the few times she or her sister had been injured anywhere near as bad as Artemis was currently. The idea that Solaris was very familiar with injuries worse than this made her blanch internally.
“I do not wish to know how you know that, Lord Solaris. Still, it is better to be safe than sorry with these things.” Luna said, looking back at the prone form behind her. As she went to look back forward, she noticed some movement. She quickly turned and rushed to his side, grinning like a foal as she saw his eyes open and look around. She heard the other two princes follow her, but disregarded them as her heart fluttered in relief.
Stopping herself just short from jumping on Artemis, Luna considered her company, and decided to formally introduce herself for their benefit. Taking in a breath, the blue mare looked sideways at the two other princes and spoke in a formal tone, loud enough to be heard by all. “Lord Artemis, I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and...” She noticed the confusion that played out over the injured alicorns features, and switched approach. Lowering her voice as well as formality, she softly said “I am Luna, how are you feeling? I have done all I can out here to treat your wounds, and I have even returned to acquire some pain medicine from the apothecary, which I have dosed you on.” A twinge of guilt ran across her expression as she realized she had not asked permission first, as well as fibbing about Dusk being the one who got the medicine. She shook the feeling, telling herself that he wouldn't mind, and that now was not the time to burden him with such minutia.
“Thank you, fair Luna. Your care..” The battered alicorn started saying as he began to sit up, but stopped short. He grit his teeth and squinted his eyes in pain, and Luna 's eyes widened in fear. Relaxing again, Artemis looked around and spoke again, “Wait, why are we still on the moon? If you have had enough time to go back to the apothecary, why didn't you simply bring me with?” Luna jumped forwards as the injured prince yet again tried to right himself, and she put a hoof out to stop him as he grunted in pain.
“We feared to move you, but I still did try, yet to no avail.” Luna said, trying to mollify Artemis, so he would stop stubbornly hurting himself. “You see, as I try to open a portal, it leads back to my mirror in my room in my castle. But when either of your fellow princes try, their portals lead back to your mirror in your room. I tried carrying you through my portal, but it seems that my spell only works for me to get to my world. Your brother and his student could bring you with them but...” Luna paused, her heart beating fast as she cleared her throat nervously. Her mind raced and she closed her eyes, trying to get a hold of herself. Finally, she decided he deserved the truth, so she whispered, “I wouldn't let them take you away.” Luna turned her head away quickly as she blushed furiously, a single tear welling up and running down her cheek before she could catch it. She straightened up and took a half step back in uncertainty, fearing she had gone all mushy on him, which she had heard stallions did not like.
Artemis was looking down when Luna looked back at him, and her heart sank a bit as she took this as a sign of his discomfort. Immediately changing the subject, he looked past her at his compatriots, and said, “Well... I guess I should say sorry about that...” he said with an uncomfortable chuckle. Great , thought Luna, I had to go all clingy and gushy on him, and I barely know him. Oh no, he could never like somepony like me! Why do I mess up everything! She sullenly took a pace back, trying to be unnoticed in her embarrassment.
Her position was replaced with the large form of Solaris, bending down to rest a hoof on Artemis' shoulder. “I should too, really. But at least I didn't try any planet killing with my... uh... experiments.” He chuckled, to which the laying prince shrugged off the hoof and glared at him. Luna, too, glared at him for being so inconsiderate to his younger sibling. I guess that is just how it is with older siblings , Luna thought ruefully.
“How about you keep your so called 'experiments ' to a minimum, and let's stay away from abusing mom and dad's relics while you're at it.” Artemis replied to his brother, but Luna gasped quietly as he tried to hit his brother and groaned in pain. She immediately rushed to him, relocating the larger prince with perhaps a bit more force than entirely necessary. That felt good .
“Are you alright?” She asked, bending her head in to examine her medical patchwork on his body. “I'm fine, just a slight twinge.” He replied, but Luna saw right through that strategy, since she used it so often with Celestia. She smiled and shook her head, tallying up his many injuries in her mind. “You have six broken ribs, three broken legs, a broken wing and a punctured lung at least that say otherwise. Don't try and move, get me to do anything you would like for you.” She said, trying her best to be funny and helpful to improve her image to him.
“Don't say 'anything ', he takes everything literally, and I'm not sure you would want to venture that far. Not without dinner first, at least.” Solaris called, now standing a few paces away with a grinning Dusk, obviously from the discussions the two princes were having. Luna flushed, standing up to face him only to realize how unbecomingly close she had been to Artemis.
“I didn't mean...!” Luna cried, hearing Artemis say “I would never...!” as they both tried to rebuff the lecherous allegations the white prince was making. Dusk Shine immediately burst out laughing, followed by Solaris.
“You were so right! They even made the same face!” Dusk squeezed out from his barely controlled cackling. Solaris booming laugh echoed as Luna and Artemis glared at him, shame and rueful anger now etched upon their faces.
I'll show these ruffians not to trifle with us! Luna thought, summoning two of the crystals from the distant mound. “Don't make me use these.” She said warningly, giving them her most wicked grin. That seemed to shut them up, and she laughed in her head as their eyes widened and mouths snapped shut.
Luna's heart swelled as she heard approving laughter coming from Artemis, proud she was making him happy. She started laughing a moment later, sharing in the revelry of the prince. “I wouldn't mess with her, she still could totally blow up Equestria.” Artemis guffawed out, only adding to her laughter.
Meanwhile, Dusk was eyeing the magical crystals Luna was was pointing menacingly at him. Gulping, he carefully asked, “Um, how many more of those are there?” Solaris timidly followed suit by asking “And where might they be?”
Luna glanced sideways at Artemis, and as their eyes met, she knew what to say. “That is none of your business.”
The two lunar alicorns laughed, and Luna looked over at Artemis, thinking Oh, he is so cute when he laughs! That is absolutely not fair that they are taking him away from me! Why can't I just keep him here..? She quickly shook off that train of thought as she reminded herself of his current condition. But I would take so much better care of him than those... brutes...
“You don't have to worry about them.” Artemis said, causing Luna to stare at him as he seemingly read her mind. “We will handle them and dispose of them in a safe and responsible fashion.” Oh, She thought as she realized that she was talking to his friends and not her. That would be ridiculous, being able to read each other's minds no matter how similar we are. Though we seemed to be thinking the same thing a few seconds ago...
“You had better, you know how dangerous that much raw magic is. You probably scared a lot of ponies down in Equestria!” Solaris said, his voice changing to a warning and lecturing tone that Luna found irritatingly familiar.
“Yeah, a lot of ponies, especially you!” Artemis joked, though his chuckle was only half hearted as he grimaced at the memory of what he had done. Solaris gave him a glare, but relented as he saw his brother's crestfallen expression.
“Well, at least let me help you out, man.” Dusk was the one to speak this time, surprising the two brothers. He walked over to Artemis and put a hoof on his shoulder. “I know a thing or two about cleaning up magical mishaps and mayhem. I mean, you guys should know how much experience I have.” His quip diffused the tension in the air, and all present chuckled, thinking about the uncanny frequency that disaster struck the lavender alicorn, male or female.
“Alright, that will probably be a good idea.” Artemis said, smiling appreciatively to his friend. Luna saw this and thought to her growing friendship with Twilight. Well, some things don't change, I guess. I should talk to her about this “Dusk Shine” and see what she thinks about this situation. She know more about friendship than I, perhaps she can help me with stallions too...
“In that case, I had better retire to my world to brief my sister and her former student on the situation. I also probably have to put out some fires with her and apologize. Though she owes me an apology too!” Luna said, opening a portal and walking towards it.
“Do you have to leave so soon...” Artemis called out to her, causing her to turn around, hope budding in her heart and butterflies buzzing in her stomach. “Well, I guess you probably should, never mind...” She saw his face fall slightly, making her want to run back to him. Looking up, however, she saw his brother nodding in agreement, and suddenly felt awkward and shy around the stallions.
“O... kay. I will see you... around.” She said, her voice quivering slightly in uncertainty as she turned and stepped through the portal. She looked back, seeing Artemis looking after her, causing her to feel bad for leaving him. The portal slipped close, and she was left alone in the dark of her room. She released a breath she did not know she had been holding, her cheeks flushing as she was rocked with a wave of emotions.
A few tears dripped off her snout, but she was smiling broadly. Her feelings twisted like a roller coaster, confusing and confounding her logical mind as she lost control over her body. She collapsed in a heap, not sure whether to sob or laugh, and she felt a soft brush against one of her outstretched hooves. Opening her eyes, she saw the white form of Nyx rubbing up against her hoof, trying to comfort her guardian. Luna cracked a smile and stroked the slender form of the small cat, her head clearing slightly from the haze of feelings.
“Oh, Mother is just a mess, dear Nyx. Do not worry thyself, I'll be fine as soon as I stop acting like a doughy-eyed filly after the harvest dance.” She chuckled ruefully as she stood again, levitating the magical cat up to her chest and rubbing her cheek against her white fur. Sighing, she set her down and left the room, seeking out her fellow princesses.
~~~
Luna eventually found her sister, who was frantically writing scrolls behind her large mahogany desk in her study. “Sister...” She said as she stepped into the room. Celestia's eyes raised from the paper in front of her and widened as she vaulted over her desk and tackled her little sister.
“Oh Lulu! I was so worried! Are you alright!?!” She cried out as she pinned the smaller form of Luna to the floor. “I'm... fine... can't... breath” She managed to reply as she was squished by the large form.
“Oh, sorry.” Celestia said as she quickly got off her sister, allowing her to take a deep breath. “Alright now, little lady. What happened?” She quickly turned serious and motherly, which annoyed Luna to no end, as usual. As she was about to respond, a puff of magical fire startled the two sisters, and as they turned around, they saw a few scrolls land on her desk. “Alright, never mind. Short version now, long version later.” Celestia amended.
“We discovered your experiments. Prince Solaris seems... nice .” Luna said, sending a verbal jab at her sister. She smiled internally as said sister's eyes went wide as platters and her jaw dropped. “There was an incident, and we solved it. All is well, worry not.” Luna succinctly stated, then nodded and left.
Walking out of her office, she turned towards her own study, and started down the hallway. Nearing her room, she heard a familiar voice talking, and as she rounded the corner, she saw Twilight Sparkle standing outside of the Lunar Study speaking to a handful of guards. As soon as she entered the hallway, Twilight broke out in a broad smile, and quickly dismissed the guards.
“Luna!” She called out as she ran forward and embraced her friend, leaving both princesses smiling. “How are you? What happened? Where have you been?” She loosed a string of questions at close range, causing Luna to almost fall backward under the overwhelming curiosity of her friend. This would have bothered her, but the genuine concern in her voice and lack of accusation made her much more comfortable than Celestia's barrage of questions.
“Well...” She started, explaining the situation. As she relayed the story, the two friends walked into the study, and sat in the plush seats in one end of the room. Twilight listened carefully, her expression showing that she was breaking down all of this information like a computer, storing it in caches of memory for usage, and analyzing the interesting magical usage portions of the story.
“Oh my, that is... wow...” She said when Luna finished recounting the story. “No wonder that was such a large ball of energy. Geez... I can't believe you all survived that.” Twilight shook her head in amazement, but when she looked at Luna, she saw her expression was far away and starry eyed. Luna was lost amongst her thoughts of Artemis, and was only roused when Twilight waved a hoof in front of her face, realizing that she was staring off into space again.
“But what about this Artemis guy?” Twilight said, changing her tone to the verge of conspiratorial, garnering a blush from her fellow princess. She noticed this and jabbed her with an elbow, coaxing her further. “He sounds like some stallion, from the way you described him.” this statement, along with her raised eyebrow finally burst the dam of Luna's shyness.
“Oh my! Oh goodness... He is... something else...” Luna spilled out, her voice thinning to a whisper near the end. Her cheeks had taken on an alarming red shade from her blush, and Twilight barely could bite back a laugh at the curious expression. “You don't even know... He was just so... Oh! ” She closed her eyes, shaking her head as she pranced slightly in place. At this, Twilight lost it, bursting out at the her acting more like a filly than an eons-old princess.
“Well, someone is quite the smitten kitten.” Twilight said, chuckling. Luna looked at her questioningly, finally back in control of herself. “Oh, just something I heard Rarity say... Go on.”
Blushing in embarrassment, Luna quietly said “I am a not smitten anything . He was just such a gentlecolt to me, it was a refreshing change.” When Twilight looked at her incredulously, she blushed and projected a memory of him on the far wall. As the image appeared on the surface, a memory of what Luna had seen began playing. Twilight looked in puzzlement at the scene until she understood what she was seeing. Never having been to the moon, the dizzying contrast of the lunar surface against the blackness of space threw her briefly, but she understood when she saw the blue orb hanging in the void. Her stomach lurched as she saw the blue alicorn, who looked very similar to Luna, fall down and crumple on the white ground. She reasoned that this was the 'Artemis' that Luna had been ranting on about.
Luna grimaced as well, remembering the disgusting crunch his body made as it shattered against the white moon rocks. She looked over at Twilight to gauge her reaction. As the image showed Artemis close up, Twilight's jaw dropped. “Woah! What a hunk!”
“I know, right!?!” Luna quickly said, squeeing slightly at the sight. She watched the picture flicker slightly, and remembered that she had been crying. Twilight looked over at her, so she skipped forward in embarrassment. In her memory, she looked up from the body of Artemis, and saw his two fellow princes running towards them. Hearing a strange noise from Twilight, she looked over at her friend and smiled in bemusement. The lavender princess was bug-eyed, her mouth looking like it was about to fall off her face. “See something you like, hmm?” She said, startling Twilight out of her gawking.
“Woah... Is that...” She said, trailing off as she looked at the lavender prince in the memory. Luna stopped the image, trying to encourage her friend to keep talking. “What are they all on!?! I mean, I guess it makes since that a male version of me would have been to a gym in his world, but, like, once or twice... I mean, how could my male version be some muscle-headed brute?” Twilight blurted out, surprising her.
“He was no brute, well, not too much of a brute.” Luna said, trying to comfort her friend. “In fact, they all seemed to be equally educated and intelligent as us, if a tad more brash in humor. Still though, I wanted to ask your question as well, what are they on? My sister and I are unfathomably strong, in terms of simple brute force, from our earth pony traits. We are one third earth pony, and just like our unicorn magic is increased untold times above a normal pony, so too is our earth pony strength. But these two... I can't imagine how they would work out? I mean, It's not physically possible to bench press a planet, but it looks like these stallions could do that easily.”
“I can't imagine how destructive their fights would be...” Muttered Twilight in amazement, getting a glare from Luna. “Hey, just saying, you and Celestia have your little tiffs every now and then, and for guys like that... there would be massive fallout from a bout like that.” She shook her head, then remembered something and spoke. “I guess we saw how destructive they can be. They almost blew up the planet, and from the looks of it, could have done even worse. Are you sure we want to have anything to do with these guys? They seem almost too dangerous for us.”
Luna thought about this for a moment, but then shook her head. “No, that was just an exceptional fight, I know that I haven't been that emotional since... well... a thousand years ago. The difference was that I had to push past all that to help out Artemis. I guess when he got to the moon and didn't find me... well... he didn't take it too well.” She shrugged and looked her fellow princess in the eyes. “And no, we definitely need to have something to do with these 'guys ', as you said, because I was the only one who was able to stop them. I guess they just need a mare's touch to their lives.”
The burning edge of the portal collapsed into a zero-dimensional point and popped out of existence with a small flash. This cued Artemis to cease staring at the retreating lazuline posterior, and he closed his eyes to shake himself. After he snapped out of his reverie, he looked up to see his brother much in the same state as he was just a few moments ago, except with an almost hungry glint in his eyes that disturbed the Lunar Prince.
“Solaris!” He shouted, startling the gawking prince as well as his student, who apparently was also staring after the shapely flanks that had just marched their way out of their presence. Solaris started his usual deep chuckle, though Artemis thought he spied a light crimson tint to his cheeks. The blush of embarrassment was much more glaringly obvious upon the youngest prince, as he furiously turned away from them trying to hide the burning red across his face.
“We are of much too high a rank and stature to be reduced to a couple of drooling buffoons at every pretty pair of eyes and round set of... ahem . It is far below us to act so inappropriately around a foreign dignitary. What kind of impression do you think that left on her? That an entire country is ruled by a set of lunkheads who think only with their... uh... other horns when around members of the fairer sex?” Dusk dejectedly kicked at the moon dust at the scolding, and to Solaris' credit, he too looked genuinely ashamed at his behavior.
I sure hope that nopony noticed that I was acting that way too, especially not her ... Artemis thought to himself, slightly embarrassed.
“Well, I guess we should get you back to the apothecary, uh, right?” Dusk Shine said hesitantly, trying to change the subject. Artemis nodded to him and he relaxed, thankful he was getting back into territory he was familiar with. Carefully, the two standing princes lifted the third with their combined telekinetic grips, and slowly walked through the portal back to Equestria.
Artemis' head spun at the sudden change of environment, actually being surprised not to see Equestria up in the sky, and instead being indoors at the castle. He looked around and was immediately confused about something.
“Why is my mirror in your room?” He asked, looking accusingly at his brother, but it was Dusk who spoke up.
“Well, I told you that I would blast your room out of the castle at any sign of dark magic... and there was a lot of that when you left for the moon that last time so I... made good on my word.” There was a definite apology in his tone, but no hint of remorse. Artemis saw from his confident expression that he was sorry he had to act, but not sorry he did.
It was standard procedure to isolate the source of dangerous magical artifacts, which his room had become a host to, but Artemis knew that Dusk had plenty of experience with things like this. He also knew that his friend had suffered the consequences in training when a simple magic barrier could not contain the more powerful of artifacts. The isolation had been instead administered in distance rather than a magic containment field, and there was no collateral damage this time other than his belongings. Artemis recalled stories his brother had told him of how Dusk had learned that belongings could be replaced, but some other thing could not.
Dropping that melancholy train of thought, the Lunar Alicorn decided to change the subject. “I guess we should alert the apothecary that we will be coming? I can't imagine the commotion we would stir up if we arrived like this unannounced.”
“They have already been alerted and are ready for us.” Solaris said as the trio reached the door leading out of his private chambers. “In fact...” He said as he opened the door, revealing a mass of uniformed and mask wearing medical ponies assembled in the hallway beyond.
“We woke u' the day shift ponies early, and called in all o' the private surgeons from around Can'erlot, per your order, Prince Solaris.” Stated one uniformed pony whom Artemis recognized as the Master of the Royal Medica Academy. Though stately in posture, Master Arwyl was undoubtedly an old pony, his round face clearly showing wrinkles from around his medical mask and his spectacles giving him an odd sort of grandfatherly appearance.
Shooting his brother a glare, Artemis swallowed his dismay at the large turnout and addressed the elderly unicorn. “Master Arwyl, while it is appreciated that you have taken my medical needs seriously, it seems hardly necessary for so many ponies to be here just for me.” He felt himself being gingerly lifted onto a medical gurney by several dozen anxious magical fields cast by the surrounding mass of medical ponies. The overzealous care from those assembled resulted in a painstakingly slow transfer, as no two ponies seemed to agree on a set pace, nor when to release him.
After finally being set on the soft blankets and sheets atop the trolley, the old pony answered him, being one of the concerned ambulatory ponies himself. “Well, m'lord, I mean no disrespect, but alas, twas your elder brother's wish. He specifically directed that all available ponies with even a lick o' medical training were ta be assembled for your arrival.”
An even more venomous glower shot from the Lunar Alicorn to his brother, which was interrupted only by the gentle forward motion of the gurney under him as he was wheeled down the hallway. Hushed murmurs were passed through the crowd as the Prince came into view, his grievous wounds available to see until a senior nurse noticed and covered his mangled frame. Even some of the more experienced surgeons were looking green around the gills at such a graphic display of twisted limbs and crumpled wings on a pony, much less their Prince.
As Artemis was wheeled around a corner and out of sight of his brother, the seething anger in his chest was replaced by burning embarrassment. All of these subjects seeing me in my weakest and most vulnerable state, the term 'Unbecoming' falls utterly short. I will make Solaris pay for this cruel knavery!
His angry thoughts were interrupted as he unintentionally tensed his wings in anger, and a white hot bolt of pain shot down his back as torn muscles pulled and broken bones bent. A scream of agony was barely toned down to an intense hiss, but this still was noticed by the hypersensitive group of doctors and nurses. A score of concerned questions rung out, asking how he was, what hurt, where it hurt, what he did, and the like. Willing the welling tears back into his tear ducts, he opened his clenched eyes and tried to conciliate them. However, these ponies were used to the usual “I'm fine” routine, and anything he said went totally unheeded by the attendants as they continued to do their best to examine the Prince before he even made it to the medical wing of the castle.
“Master Arwyl! Please! Call off your blood hounds before they comfort me to death!” Artemis finally called out as the elderly unicorn came into view. He quirked an eyebrow and came over to the Prince, confused by the contrast between his two rulers orders. After a brief private discussion with the Lunar Prince, he quickly began ushering away the vast majority of the assembled ponies. Though nopony could see it, he was wearing a bemused smile under his mask at the antics of these two royal figures, who were acting more like a pair of unruly youngsters pranking each other than the two most powerful beings in Equestria.
As the doors to the Medica opened to allow Artemis into surgery, the old stallion nodded respectfully and encouragingly to him and the now much more reasonable-sized medical team. He smiled again at the grateful look on the Prince's face, and turned towards the classroom in which he taught and set off, already formulating how he would tell this tale to his fellow masters of the Arcanum at lunch break.
~~~
Dusk Shine cringed as the doctor on the other side of the glass twisted Artemis' crumpled wing into a jig to set the splintered bones. Looking away from the private window on the side of the operating room, he glanced at his mentor, who was standing next to him and sharing in the spectacle. Solaris was acting quite strangely, requesting that they use the operating room in the Medica that was traditionally used in operating demonstrations for the students. As Dusk studied his face closely, he saw the tell-tale signs of tension in his well practiced mask of neutrality that he wore in times of consternation.
“Are you alright, My Lord?” The young alicorn asked, reverting to his tralatitious title to get his attention. He blinked and turned towards his former squire inquisitively, but as he dropped his guard slightly, worry lines spread across his forehead. “You seem pretty worked up right now... I mean, I get it, but you have come closer to being killed more times in my lifetime than I can count... Even by your brother. What's up?”
Solaris took a moment to try to regain his composure, but seeing the honest look of concern on Dusk's face, decided to drop it. Letting out a deep sigh, he closed his eyes and dropped his head, momentarily displaying the immense burden upon his shoulders. Straightening back up, he addressed him in a tired tone, “I am fine, I am simply... concerned for my little brother's well being.” He looked back into the room and shook his head. “This just brings back memories, old memories from a time so far past that even the mountains do not know them. Seeing him like that... ugh...”
“Like what? Like Night-terror Knight? Man, I get that... he sure is scary!” Dusk joked, trying to lighten the mood of his long time idol and friend.
“No, though that pains me too. How he looks now, how injured he looks, and how young he looks with his mane reverted. He really is my little brother in this state... I sometimes forget how much he has grown, but never before has it been so startlingly apparent.” Solaris sighed almost wistfully, lost in memory and thought.
“Oh... I... Uh...” Dusk said, slightly uncomfortable by the change in attitude of this pony who had always been so bold and confident in the face of events like these. A thought struck the inquisitive pony, and his conflicting emotions fell away to inquiry. “What is with your manes, anyways? Would yours do that if you were injured fatally?” He had fought alongside his mentor in countless battles, so he wracked his memory for any such transformation, but could not remember any such occasion.
“Oh, he is not fatally wounded! It takes a lot more to kill an alicorn, and my brother and I are more resilient to injury than most creatures this side of Draconia.” Solaris chuckled, seeming to lighten up a bit. “His mane looks like this because he has lost connection with the moon. His hair is transformed to Aether only when he is the Lunar Aspect, and he stopped being that when Night-terror took over.”
At the look of confusion on his former pupil's face, he decided to elaborate. “Night-terror Knight is a Daemon that infected Artemis' Aspect-hood when he visited the Realm of Nightmares. Using our parent's relics a thousand years ago, he ventured beyond our dimension...”
“I know that already, he told me.” Dusk cut him off, curiosity getting the better of him and overpowering manners. “What do you mean, connection to the moon? Like he can't move it or whatever? Is that what being an aspect means?”
Solaris raised his eyebrows, surprised that his brother had trusted another pony with secrets like that, and also surprised at how brazen this normally reserved and respectful stallion was acting. “He told you about how watching the fears of everypony in that realm invaded him, and how he practically became the Aspect of Fear in the form of Knight-terror?”
“Well, he didn't quite mention that, but I wouldn't have understood him if he had said that anyways, since I don't know what the Aspect thing is anyways!” Dusk replied hastily.
“To answer your questions, I will ask you another question. Were not you and I both able to move the moon ourselves when we needed to?” Solaris stated sagaciously, donning the mantle of instructor for the stallion again.
“Huh, I guess so... It is just a spell that takes alicorn magic to execute, no big deal... So why is his connection to the moon so important?” Dusk replied slowly, pondering this new puzzle.
“It is so important because it is not simply the movement of the moon that his connection is for. When we were but foals; learning to cast basic spells, how to tend the land and culture life, and how to take off in flight; both Arty and I had manes and tails made of normal hair, like you or anypony else. We were alicorns, princes, even, but we were not Aspects yet. Father tended the sky and stars, spinning the cosmos around above, and Mother laying the foundations of the realms. We simply had to learn what it was to be ponies, so we could teach our citizenry in turn. When we were ready, Father past on his powers to us, relinquishing the name and soul of the sun and moon and stars to the sky, to be held by the celestial beings themselves. But they needed guides and keystones, which is where we came in. By studying them and learning from Father, we called their names and held onto them, as they anchored onto us and we supported their pull. We became their souls, knew their names, and they became part of us. That is what being an Aspect means.”
“Wow... O-okay, that is... yeah.” Dusk breathed in bewilderment. “So I guess that means I don't get to cash in on that whole cool hair thing... huh. I thought that was just part of being a Prince...”
Solaris burst out in a great chortle in his deep voice, causing Dusk to let out an abashed chuckle. “No, it takes a bit more than a title and some wings. But do not lose hope, there are plenty of great celestial beings that have no Aspects. Tell you the truth, I think you are well on your way to looking into Aspect of Friendship, if such a thing exists. I had been banking on Aspect of Magic or some such, but even Starburst the Braided didn't achieve that, though she never ascended to a princess either. And anyways, your knowledge and power with friendship is far beyond anything simple magic knowledge could match up to.” He grinned as his pupil seemed to lighten up, a look of wonder creeping onto his face.
“Before you get too worked up, though, it is a tremendous burden to bear, and grants immortality, which is not really the blessing you would think it is...” Solaris' eyes went distant and downcast for a moment, causing Dusk to gulp hard. “The connection, though... that is true power. That is what Artemis does not have right now, the ability to arrange the stars and change the phases of the moon. Being able to make them twinkle and dance, or hide their light completely. He truly can make the night sky his own when he is connected. But without him, the moon hangs lifeless, the stars float dead in the void. A spell can move them, but it is little more than a macabre puppet show, their bodies moving as marionettes for the caster. I would feel sick to see my Sun moved like that, to see my day that empty... ugh...” He shivered, trying to dismiss the mental image.
“I have noticed that the night sky is much more beautiful now that he is back, but I just thought it was Artemis' greater skill with the spell.” Dusk said thoughtfully.
“Not only is it more beautiful, but it is more alive! Under that new sky, nightlife flourishes. Nocturnal animals are more healthy and prosperous, flora that blooms at night has returned, even ponies who are active in the night will tell you that they feel the magic has returned to the night. More ponies than ever have nights out; parties are being held under the moon, nightclubs are being opened. It is subtle, but unspeakably powerful.” Solaris said, his chest swelling with pride for his brother.
“Wow... I never knew that. Well, I never knew any of this, even with my extensive and thorough research of... well, practically everything.” Dusk said, chuckling lightly.
“Of course, none of this is written in books or tombs, it only exists in the memories of my brother and I. Since you are a prince now, we both decided that you had fair range of our secrets now. Well, most of our secrets...” Solaris told his former student with a smile, then blushed as he realized that his secrets had caused this whole mess. Scratching the back of his head, he chuckled guiltily and turned back to looking at his brother, who was being sown up in various places by the surgeons.
“Well...” Dusk said, letting out a great yawn. “Looking back I have gotten like, less than eight hours of sleep in the last... whew... hundred. I really should get on to sleep. It's like...” He looked around and found a clock on the wall, reading half past four in the morning. “Holy crap! I'll see you later, I really do need to get to sleep!” He quickly walked over to the door and opened it, looking back to see if Solaris had heard him. “Are you coming? I think he will be fine, he looks almost done, and you have been up for at least as long as me. And don't give me any of the “Alicorn Fortitude” excuse, you look like Tartarus!”
“I... I am going to just stay up, sunrise will soon be upon us, and then I can declare a state of emergency to get out of court for today. I mean, seriously, this totally constitutes as an emergency, after all.” Solaris said, putting on a haggard grin. “And I wish to stay here with my brother to... see him through this.” Dusk nodded and retreated through the door, leaving the Solar Prince alone with his thoughts.
~~~
Artemis' eyes fluttered open, only to firmly shut again at a glaring assault of harsh white light on his corneas. Squinting, he managed to look around and come to the conclusion that he was in a hospital bed, which explained the bright antiseptic glow around him. This also put him into a sour mood, as bright lights and hospital beds were two of the least comfortable things he could imagine.
After a few moments, he attempted to swallow to clear his throat, only to feel an arid rawness coating the inside of his esophagus. Trying to clear his throat with a cough, he tasted the acrid bight of blood, and decided against that particular course of action. Looking around, his displeasure with his situation increased as no nurses or attendants seemed to be around him, leaving him alone with a single guard leaning against the frame of the doorway. This lax position was definitely out of what his duty demanded of this guard, decided Artemis, as was the disrepair and obvious lack of care for his armour. Inspecting closer at this, it was actually combat armour the guard was wearing, with multiple scorch marks and dents adorning the heavy plates. This was out of the ordinary, and a thought struck the prince that this may not be a guard at all, but an assassin or spy who had stolen their grandfather's armour or some such.
Artemis surreptitiously turned his torso to face the white-coated guard fully, in case of an attack, and attempted to lean forward. At this, a terrible tugging sensation tore about his chest, pain erupting all across his body in numerous locations, causing him to release a few grunts and hisses of agony despite his best efforts to contain them. At this slight noise, the guard suddenly roused, and rushed towards him.
The prince braced himself, attempting to charge an attack from his horn, but before any actions were taken, the guard called out. “My lord, are you alright?” Genuine concern and care laced the white stallion’s tone, allowing for any suspicion of malicious action to be dismissed by Artemis. He then removed his helmet, his coat darkening as the magical enchantment of the headgear subsided. Long locks of blonde hair fell to the brown pony's shoulders, clearly not in regs for the guard, even the lax ranks of the solar guard.
Artemis quirked an eyebrow at the pony, trying to place the face among any of the vast ranks that he had seen, but could not remember this pony at all. Glancing back quickly, he noticed that the stallion standing in front of him had a cutie mark of a bandage and a red cross, which only added to his curiosity.
Hesitantly, he spoke to the waiting pony. “Guard, get me a nurse... and a glass of water.” He rasped out, hoping that this seemingly imposter guard was simply on reserve duty or something, where long hair was allowed.
An abashed grin crept onto the corner of the earth pony's snout before he responded. “Beg your pardon, my lord, but I am a nurse. I am First Aid, the chief night nurse for the royal hospital. The armour is from when I was a combat medic about, oh, half a dozen years back. I am wearing it because... ahaha...” He trailed off, chuckling slightly while trying not to look the prince in the eyes.
“What?” Artemis rasped again, more urgently this time as the thought that they may be under attack gripped his mind.
First Aid took a step back, bracing himself as he extended a hoof forward in a placating gesture. “No, everything is fine!” He said quickly, trying to calm the prince down as his eyes started to dart around the room in suspicion and paranoia. “You just have been... rather aggressive each time you have woken up. I replaced the attendants and nurses who usually would watch after you, as there were a few... encounters...” The Lunar Prince's expression sunk as he understood what the nurse was telling him. Noticing the downtrodden look, First Aid hurried on with his sentence. “But everypony involved is alright, since we are in a hospital, after all. And repairs on your first two recovery rooms are well underway. However, that is why I am wearing my old battle armour, I have been watching over you for the last day and a half.” As First Aid turned the helmet thoughtfully and appreciatively in his hooves, Artemis saw a testament to his violence in the form of several deep dents and magical scorch marks marring the polished surface of iron.
A moment drew out until Artemis cleared his throat and grimaced at the blood he tasted again. The nurse's eyes quickly widened, and he hurried from the room, only to return moments later with a tall glass of water, which the prince accepted graciously.
After downing the contents of the glass, Artemis cleared his throat and stated. “Thank you, First Aid. Your loyalty and service to the crowns has not gone unnoticed, and shall not go unrewarded.” He handed back the empty glass to First Aid after the nurse stallion had risen from his deep bow. A few moments later, the glass had been refilled, and Artemis attempted to grasp it in his magic, but a pain at his horn base stopped him. He reached out and grasped the glass with his hooves, his mind turning inwards as he finally took a moment to examine his faculties and form for what damage he had sustained.
As the alicorn looked himself over, First Aid politely interrupted his musings. “You are doing much better now, my lord, but when you came in you were... in quite a state.” Looking at the chart beside the bed, which had several noticeable scorches to its corners. “Three bones in your right wing were fractured, while all 16 in your left had compound fractures, practically splintered. Both forelegs had broken radius bones, while the rear left leg had a shattered tibia and femur.” Making a face of disgust, he looked up to the prince, seemingly asking if he wanted to go on, to which Artemis nodded. “Eight cracked ribs, broken sternum, three cracked thoracic vertebrae and the top lumbar vertebra. Both temporal bones broken, the left being more severe, fractured into twenty-six pieces. And that is just the bones, so all that and a punctured lung, severe bruising to your heart, along with uncountable muscle lacerations and brain damage. It is a miracle you survived.”
Artemis nodded numbly along with the prognosis until the end, at which he laughed grimly. “Tis no miracle, good sir. While my bones are stronger than an ordinary ponies', alicorn resilience is rooted in our unstoppable ability of recovery and resistance to such injuries. Believe me, my brother and I have sustained much worse on the battlefield before, and then we only had field apothecaries to bind our wounds and hope.”
The earth pony gulped hard and looked at the alicorn in front of him again. The wounds he had suffered had made him seem almost normal, but the thought of a pony surviving something even worse than this was unimaginable. First Aid was yet again reminded of how powerful and strong these princes were, and thanked his stars that he was on their side.
~~~
“Alright, my lord, nice and slow. Horn over hooves.” Said one of the attendants, carefully assisting Prince Artemis to stand up and lean on his crutches for the first time. The other nurse was holding the crutches still with her magic, and bracing the other side of the large pony.
“I have done this before, you know.” Artemis grumbled quietly, but at the look from the nurses, he grinned sheepishly. “That, of course, does not mean I couldn't use you two lovely mares' help...” He clarified after clearing his throat in embarrassment.
First Aid had been replaced by these two mares after he had been awake enough to be deemed safe, and while both ponies were acting and speaking carefully, they were not wearing armour, which was a sign of good faith in the ruler's recovery. Since the rather violent actions of the sedated prince had torn a few holes through the infirmary, Solaris had decided to post a member of the Lunar guard at every corner of the hospital's hallways. While they had helped move the ponies out of the line of fire, those that attempted to stop the restless alicorn in his hazy paranoia of brain injury and tranquilizers were unable to do much of anything except get injured.
After hearing all of the havoc he had dealt, and the inability for even his incredibly specialized lunar guard members to handle him, Artemis had been thinking. Thus, at this first opportunity to leave his recovery room, he had decided to meet with Dusk Shine to discuss an idea he had formed in the past days. He had sent a message, and while Dusk and the hospital staff were wary to agree, he had insisted that he must meet with him somewhere private, away from all the prying eyes and ears of the attendants. After some haggling, they had reached an accord that they would meet just down the hall in the hospital's radiology center, where they had assured lead-lined walls, practically sound proof doors, and a dark environment. All of these appealed to Artemis, so he had accepted, secretly looking forward to a reprieve from the bright hospital lights that had tormented his eyes since his arrival.
“Thank you nurses, but I feel like it is time for you two to stay here.” Artemis said, using his most official and serious tone, leaving no room for question or counter. The two ponies only nodded solemnly in reply, moving out of the midnight blue alicorn's way as he carefully walked to the door and opened it with his magic. The magic therapy he had done had returned some of his use of magic, but the doctors had warned him that too much exertion would only slow the healing process.
Quickly checking over himself, he decided that his appearance was a bit too haggard and cast a simple illusion spell to hide the stitches and bandages that crisscrossed his body. Looking back at the nurses behind him, he managed to catch them both staring wide-eyed at his transformation before the two blinked and noticed his questioning look. At this, the two mares nodded vigorously, putting on smiles that told Artemis he looked alright, perhaps shockingly so.
The prince strolled as casually as his braces and crutches would allow into the hallway, glancing left to see the guard posted by his doorway spring to a surprised salute. Looking to his right, he saw the guard at the end of the hallway follow suit, and two idle nurses dip into low bows. Good , he thought, at least they still remember I am their leader. Not too much has been lost by the shenanigans of my brother, even if it may have damaged my image a bit.
Turning back to his left, he addressed the still-saluting guard. “Shadow Step, it is fortuitous that one of my co-captains is here by my door at this time. Find Captain Stardance and tell her that you two will be assembling my entire guard in the courtyard nearest to here this evening at eighteen hundred hours. I have a very special opportunity for a select few of them, so tell them to come dressed in full parade dress, and stress that they must look their best and most... dangerous .”
The pegasus stallion quirked an eyebrow slightly at this peculiar set of directions, but nonetheless gave a curt nod and began off swiftly down the hallway. The captain stopped at the other guard at the far end, and he spoke quietly to the other Lunar guard. After a brief salute, the two took off towards the castle proper, on their way to the night wing and the lunar barracks.
Artemis extended a hoof to take a step, but paused mid-motion as he realized that he had no idea where the radiology center was in the hospital. Looking around for a sign or some such marking that would lead his way, one of the nurses behind him piped up. “End of the hallway to your left, last door on the right.” Artemis nodded gratefully back to them, and could have sworn he heard a few suppressed giggles from the doorway as he went on his way.
~~~
Opening the doorway, a brief cry of alarm met the prince, startling him until he recognized the voice as Dusk Shine's, and proceeded to enter. Once in the room, his excellent night vision discovered why he had alarmed his friend. Dusk was situated in the far corner, lying on his back with his head and forelegs inside an open compartment of one of the radiology machines. The purple alicorn quickly teleported himself out and upright, already babbling excuses for his odd position. “I swear, it was like that when I found it! I thought there was something wrong with it, so I was fixing it! I thought it had a mouse stuck inside it!”
Artemis let out a laugh, and, upon realizing how good it felt and how long it had been, let out more. He broke out into a full set of guffaws and bent over double, tears pooling in his closed eyes. Dusk, for his part looking embarrassed and ashamed as a foal caught with his hoof in the cookie jar, let out a nervous chuckle and looked around for what was so funny.
Wiping his eyes and looking around, Artemis caught sight of several nurses and attendants, all with varying degrees of concern and amusement written out on their features. Waving a hoof dismissively to them, he closed the door, only to turn around and see Dusk hurriedly closing up the doors and panels of the machines he had been exploring. This caused another belt of laughter to escape the Lunar Alicorn, who had to lean himself against a nearby chair to keep himself from falling over.
“A...Are you alright, Artemis?” Dusk asked meekly, trying to change the focus off of himself, as well as gauging whether or not his friend had been driven mad by the recent events. Taking the lack of coherent response as a bad sign, he approached the alicorn, who was now gasping for breath between his remaining giggles, and rested a hoof on his shoulder.
“No... Do not worry thyself... Dusk...” Artemis gasped out. “I simply... haven't laughed in quite a while, and it felt good.” Dusk heaved a sigh of relief as his fellow prince righted himself and gained control of his breath.
“Yeah, Berry told me a long time ago that laughter was good for you, but he was wearing a lampshade on his head and hanging from a chandelier at the time, so it was a bit different. Laughter does feel pretty good, I guess... the dopamine levels that it releases can help numb pain and give you a feeling of general well-being and...” Dusk trailed off as he realized that what he was doing was probably not what Artemis had asked him here for.
Artemis cleared his throat lightly and decided to change the subject. “Well, I could probably learn a few things from your friends, since they haven't tried destroying Equestria recently...” He said, his expression darkening as he crutched to a nearby bench and gingerly sat upon it.
“Hey, don't say something like that! We all have our bad days, I mean, I certainly have felt like blowing up stuff when I have been mad before. You just happen to hold a... lot more power and ability to blow stuff up than most ponies. Bubble Berry totally has done his best to destroy the world when he is in one of his... moods, but the worst that comes of it is profanity spray painted in impossible to reach areas, and popped balloons at birthday parties...” Dusk let out an abashed chuckle, cringing at the memory, and the glaringly obvious fact that he wasn't helping much.
“That is precisely why I have invited you here today, Dusk.” The Lunar Aspect straightened upon the bench in the corner, and Dusk Shine relaxed slightly at the positive reaction. “I do hold far too much power for anypony to feel safe around me.”
“No, that isn't what I meant at all!” Dusk said, his grin replaced with a look of shock. “You just are so powerful that what would be a tiny reaction from a normal pony could be disastrous. It simply is scaling of power, the magnitude is the same by ratio, but you are on a completely different category of beings than ordinary ponies. The power you have is fine, you just need some help controlling it. You don't need to do anything... extreme.” Dusk said, fearing some grim order to siphon his friends power out of him, or maybe something even more macabre.
“No, no. I am blasted enough already, I am not about to do anything foalish that would limit my power, Equestria may need it. All I am saying is that my brother and I are, no matter how much we try to hide it, just like you ponies inside. We have feeling and fears, and, as I demonstrated, we can throw tantrums just as any other pony would. The significant difference is that our shows of bad temper end up with world shaking results.” Artemis grimaced.
“Wait, you mean Solaris has gone ballistic too?” Dusk asked, and at the look he received, quickly added, “No offense!”
“Yes, we have both gone 'ballistic', as you so eloquently put it. Draconia didn't always have those great mountain ranges, after all. A bitter betrayal by our dragon allies cost Solaris one of his most prized commanders.” Artemis leaned close to his friend and quirked a conspiratorial eyebrow. “...And lovers, if rumors are to be believed...” Seeing the look of dismay and confusion of Dusk's face, he decided to elaborate. “Goldwing was as beautiful as she was fierce, but no amount of earth pony strength will help against the likes of a dragon thousands of times her weight.”
“Wow.. I never knew he had ever had a special somepony... much less within the force! That is so against regulations! If my sister hadn't waited for her colt-friend to leave the service, she would have been kicked off the force before she could even dream of making captain.” Dusk laughed at the mental image of Gleaming Shield as a baker or farmer.
“Well, that was a millennium ago, and that regulation was set up after the incident. Still, though, fire-breathing dragons being melted by sunlight is a sight that nopony present was ever able to scrub out of their minds. The dragon population still has not recovered, that is why you so rarely see them.” Artemis shook his head, shivering at the terrible recollection.
“Jeez, but how? Dragonhide has a higher melting point than anything but, like, pure tungsten! It is a good thing he didn't melt through the polar icecap while he was at it...” At the look he received, Dusk cringed. “How long did it take for them to reform?”
“It only took a few years with the help of magic, but that amount of snowfall, not to mention the crags Solaris had torn from the ground, created the most inhospitable terrain on the planet. The new dragon king has never complained though, because, while he was but a baby at the time, he was there when my brother quite literally went supernova.”
“That explains... actually a lot.” Dusk said, nodding thoughtfully. “So, what did you have in mind for me? I could, um, track down my old friendship reports and get you guys into some support groups... I mean, friends helped me through some hard times, maybe that will work for you guys?”
“Not quite my idea, but I guess I could stand to make a few more friends around here...” Artemis grimaced at the thought of going to another party at the castle, which inevitably ended up with too much drinking and broken furniture for his taste. “What I was wanting your assistance with was more of a... contingency plan, so to speak.”
“Alright, I'm listening. Though whatever it is, you have to promise you will let me help you out with the friend thing.” Dusk replied, looking sternly at Artemis.
“That seems permissible to me. What I need your help with is assembling a task force to protect Equestria. I know that currently, it is our job, but this crack team will defend Equestria from us.” As Dusk tried to say something, Artemis waved a hoof to stop him. “My brother and I are as unpredictable as anypony, and we need something else in our same power category that is more level headed and can go hoof-to-hoof with us Aspects, so to speak.”
“That's why we have the elements of harmony. My friends and I are the most powerful force on the planet. Why assemble a different team? Or would this team be the six of us?” Dusk said, confusion playing out across his features.
Artemis shook his head. “While the Elements of Harmony have saved our flanks many a time in the past, it is not good policy to call on your friends. As great as you six are together, your friends are private individuals, several of whom run businesses or have usual employ, and we can't expect your friends to drop everything and run to save the world at a moments notice. While I am sure some of your friends may have read about the events in the newspapers, only one of the elements of harmony was aware of the crisis that occurred on the moon. To bring that great power to bear, we need to assemble all six of you, and that takes too long, as evidenced by you being the only bearer who attempted to stop me.”
“Well, we could set up some sort of... uh... hotline for emergencies, and I could teleport my friends or something. No, one of us could be away from our houses or simply not hear the call...” Dusk said, his snout crinkling in concentration as he puzzled out the problem. “We could wear some sort of alarm watch thing and... uh...”
“The task of bringing you all together at a moments notice is too much of a liability. Besides, it is ridiculous to rely totally on just one group of ponies, none of whom are still in the military, and say that is good enough.” Artemis said, shaking his head dismissively again. “What I need is a specially trained and equipped squad of ponies who can stay at our beck and call, not only to protect Equestria from royal hissy fits, but to also be a personal guard to us in times of crisis. For example, the changeling invasion would have been crushed much more expediently if I had not been ambushed in my bedroom by an imposter set of guards. When Eris broke free from her prison, we could have had a response team on site to help us subdue her.”
Dusk nodded his head. “I guess it would be helpful, and the gang could use a rest. So what help do you want from me? I don't know too many specialist ponies like you are talking about, though I might have some ideas for equipment.”
Artemis chuckled and looked over at him. “What I need your help for, Dusk Shine, is to lead it.”
~~~
With a little help from Dusk and Solaris, Artemis managed to raise the moon into its path across the heavens. Though he was unwilling to admit it to the other princes, just that small use of magic had worn him down, so he quietly slipped away from them as they went to the royal dining hall for dinner. Slowly, the dark alicorn walked along the back halls to his bedchambers. As he rounded the corner and caught sight of his doorway, he was shocked to see caution tape and maintenance cones set up in a perimeter around his room. Panic formed a small knot in the pit of his stomach as he brushed aside the tape and reached a hoof out to the door.
Artemis flinched as soon as right his hoof touched the door, which immediately slumped open, barely hanging on one hinge. His once-proud and intimidating black doors had been damaged beyond repair, and what lay beyond, or lack thereof, was sickening to the prince. Leaning through the damaged door frame, he grimaced at the massive hole that was currently occupying the space of his room. Stepping back as a wave of vertigo overtook him, he anxiously looked around for a guard, but was disturbed to find none present.
“Guards! Gua...” He began to call out, but stopped as he suddenly remembered that they were assembling at the parade ground. A rather alarmed-looking maid peeked her head around the corner of the corridor, and Artemis blushed. “Never thee mind, continue with your tasks.” He said in what he hoped was a comforting voice, and contorted his features into a pleasant grin. The earth pony mare looked at him curiously for a moment more, then turned away and returned to where she had come from.
Artemis breathed a sigh of relief, and then shook his head, trying to dispel the odd clouds that hung in his mind. He attempted to rub his left hoof against his temple, but nothing happened. He looked down and saw that it was bound in a brace that resisted his bending of the leg. Panic and confusion tore through him at the sight, suddenly noticing the sensation of many such bandages all across his body that he somehow had not noticed until then. Falling heavily on his plot, he sat in the hallway, right on the floor and started shaking in fear as the world danced around him.
What is going on!?! Why am I bandaged so? Am I dreaming? Is this some nightmare? No, I couldn't feel this if it were a dream. Then why can't I move my wings? Do I still have my wings!?! Artemis' mind swirled with panic as he attempted, in vain, to look at his own back, struggling against the neck brace he was wearing. He sighed in defeat, and slumped forwards, only to be greeted by a sharp pain in his chest and abdomen. Gasping in pain, he looked down, and saw a massive round gouge in his stomach, right below his ribs.
At the sight, his memory suddenly and violently returned to him, slamming into him like a brick wall. All of it, the fight on the moon, the hospital, the meeting with Dusk, rushed back to him, filling in holes in his recollection he did not even know were there. He reached his hooves out to steady himself, feeling like he had just walked out into a storm. Suddenly, the hole where his room should be, the bandages, the pain, the guards, all of it made sense to him. He realized that the reason the bandages had so suddenly surprised him was due to the fact that he had been casting a spell to hide them, and when he had forgotten, he had stopped casting the spell.
“Woah.” He managed to utter, finally regaining control of his senses. That was... not pleasant. I hope that does not happen again. I guess that is what head trauma does to you, even to immortal alicorns like myself...
Artemis hated the feeling of being powerless against such a thing, since he could not use his magic nor brute strength against an obstacle inside his own mind. He was able to move the stars above, he could lift the mountain he was sitting on, he had entered the dreams of untold millions of ponies throughout the ages, but he could not even maintain a hold over his own mind.
Before his dismal mood soured further, he heard the distant clanging of the clock tower, and counting the rings, discovered that it was time for him to meet Dusk and go to the courtyard to see his guard. I am glad I remembered before somepony had to come find me, that would have been truly embarrassing.
Sighing heavily, the Lunar Prince stood, stiffly adjusting to the limits that the bandages and braces gave him. Looking himself over, he decided to re-apply the illusion spell, hoping this time he would not forget about it. Closing his mind and envisioning the layout of the castle, he took off in a route that he hoped would avoid the attention of too many idle ponies as they got off their day shifts.
~~~
As soon as Dusk opened the balcony door, the cold mountain air blew in, causing Artemis and Dusk's manes to whip back and forth across their faces. Artemis flinched at the feeling, not used to having a mane made from actual hair, and suddenly felt a pang of self-consciousness. He gulped and pushed the thought from his mind, following his friend out onto the balcony that overlooked the courtyard.
A strong sense of pride filled his heart as he saw Dusk gawking at the assembled Lunar Guard. He reached the railing and too looked out across the legion of guards and soldiers. Every guard was in full parade dress, just as he ordered, and the illusion spell on each set of armour made all of their coats a uniform grey, all of the pegasi wings looked more like bat wings, and all of the unicorns' horns were sharpened to vicious points.
All in all, the several hundred ponies before them looked quite dangerous indeed. Arranged in the back were the half dozen squads of night guards for Canterlot Castle, clearly identifiable by their ceremonial and decorative halberds. While the cumbersome weapons would have little use on a real battle field, Artemis had decided that they looked sufficiently intimidating for the task. In front of them was the battle hardened platoon of regular Lunar soldiers, each with their battlefield armament buckled on and positively bristling with weapons as a group. At the head of the group was Artemis' pride and joy, his personal guard of specialists, the masters of stealth and reconnaissance who would accompany him on the most dangerous missions during a battle.
At the front of the block of ponies were two guards, wearing jet-black armour trimmed with silver leaf, that Artemis recognized as his two captains. Said ponies turned towards each other, locked eyes, and quickly began barking out orders to the guard in uncanny synchronization. All the ponies came to attention, including a caught off-guard Dusk Shine, who quickly relaxed and chuckled in embarrassment at Artemis' curious and amused look.
The two co-captains turned back forward, and looked expectantly up at their princes. Dusk Shine looked over at Artemis, and noticed a look of consternation playing out across his face. “What's up?” He asked quietly, too which the lunar prince shook his head. “I am trying to figure out how to get down there... I don't want to show them I can't fly, nor teleport, but at the same time, I think that going in and taking the stairs would show them that too... Hmm...”
Dusk surveyed the courtyard below and leaned over to Artemis. “I could teleport you down there with me. I could even make it look like you teleported yourself.” At this, a relieved grin played out across his companion's features, his eyes glimmering with gratitude as he gave a quick nod. “Alright, breath in, and out...” Dusk said, and the world contorted around Artemis.
Just as fast as it started, the tunnel closed, but he was now on the ground a few paces in front of his captains, Dusk right at his side. He donned his most regal and confident expression, giving a simple nod in reply to his two co-captains bowing deep before him, followed by the entire force.
“Prince Dusk Shine shall be inspecting the force tonight, to select from your numbers those who shall undergo trials of induction to a highly exclusive team. Answer his questions, do as he commands, and most importantly...” Artemis said in his royal Canterlot voice, loud enough for the entire force to hear him, trailing off at the end to let the guards answer. “Make the night proud! ” The large group of ponies shouted simultaneously, the thunderous response startling Dusk. Artemis cracked a small grin as he looked over at his friend, and nodded for him to proceed.
Dusk Shine quickly trotted to the front column, and slowed down to walk along the side of the block. He was surprised to find that the first few guards' sets of armour were bent and damaged, bearing grievous rends in the thick metal and holes through the mail. “Why are your dress uniforms so damaged, soldiers?”
The three guards he addressed looked at each other, the one on the end shrugged and nodded, and the middle one spoke. “Well, sir, we were on a 'diplomatic' mission in Griffonia...” He used his wings to make air quotes, to which his other companion chuckled, but Dusk quirked an eyebrow in confusion. “We were spying on the royal family, but dressed like normal royal guards for Lord Artemis. There were diplomatic conversations going on, but he had a feeling that it was a trap, so we would casually go look around while the king and diplomats were in negotiations. Sure enough, we found a large force of griffons equipped for battle lying in wait for an ambush. Dude, they had rebel emblems painted on their uniforms and everything, but were totally being briefed by the Kings men, remember that?” The guard laughed, as he elbowed the pony next to him.
“Yeah, so we formed up and locked down the diplomatic chambers where the negotiations were going on, and informed Lord Artemis.” Said the guard next to the first who had spoken. “Then we went in there and kicked pl... attacked the group of griffons, while the prince dealt with the royals and diplomats. We had a few injuries, but it was funny how fast their moral broke when old Ironhorn popped their leader like a feather pillow.” He laughed and nodded down the line to an obviously experienced unicorn with a metal plate attached to the side of his head, supporting a metal portion of his horn. Dusk grimaced at the sight, recognizing the plate as an old treatment for a unicorn when their horn had been split down the middle.
“How can he still do magic like that?” Dusk asked in horror, trying in vain to banish the thought of such a terrible thing happening to him. The group of battle-hardened ponies in front of him chuckled at the prince's weak stomach.
“It was split just to the left of the core, so it was just the hard horn bone to the side that was replaced. Still, he has a little trouble with accidentally killing whatever he is casting magic on.” Added in a unicorn soldier nearby, laughing darkly at what he had said.
Well, I guess he shouldn't be on the force, though I doubt he could kill either of the princes. But still... better safe than sorry . Dusk thought to himself, mentally making a list of the guards he would invite to the trials. He then walked further down, past the group of chuckling soldiers to the battle hardened regulars. As he approached, a particularly chilly breeze blew past, causing the alicorn to shiver. He looked at the ponies in front of him, all of whom were only in their light metal armour that must have been quite cold compared to the coat he was wearing.
“Aren't you cold? Jeez, it must be almost freezing out here!” He asked idly, more to himself than to the guard. Dusk then jumped as he was responded to. “No wind too cold,” The few guards in front of him shouted, who were then immediately joined by the rest of the guards. “No sun too hot! No cave too deep, no peak too high! Where we are needed, we go! For Equestria, For Glory, For The Night! ”
Dusk Shine almost fell backwards as the guards recited their mantra in aggressive bellows. He looked towards Artemis, who was laughing at him from next to his captains. He quickly teleported back to him, and slugged him in the shoulder. Artemis' laughter stopped immediately, and he hissed out “Ouch...” as he tried to keep the pain from his face.
“Oh, sorry!” Dusk said, remembering the condition of his friend, despite what showed. “But still, you have to tell me what not to ask them, that was crazy. I don't want another heart attack just because these guys are crazy. This is why we Solar Guards called you guys 'Lunatics'... jeez...”
“See! Told you!” Captain Stardance said to her fellow captain, who blushed and chuckled. “That makes two to one, I win the bet!” Captain Shadow Step sighed and rolled his eyes. “And you know what that means...” She chuckled and her horn lit up, a ballerina tutu appearing between them.
“Ugh, fine!” He said grudgingly, quickly grabbing the tutu and hiding it under a plate of his armour. At the strange looks the two were receiving from the princes, Stardance took the initiative to explain the situation. “When he had the guard recite the mantra after practice every day, I told him that ponies would just think we are crazy. He said it made them sound 'deficient and dangerous' or whatever.”
“That was 'efficient and dangerous'!” Shadow quipped, blushing harder in indignation. He glared menacingly at his fellow captain, who only laughed and grinned in returned. “Yeah, so I told him that if I could get more princes to agree with me than him, he would have to wear a tutu on duty for a week.”
Dusk laughed at this, and Artemis smiled at their antics. “What did you have to do if he won?” He asked, looking over at Stardance. It was her turn to blush at the question, and she looked away from the stallions. “I'd... uh... rather not say...”
“Oh, you don't get off that easy!” Shadow said, chuckling in revenge. “She would have had to clean Prince Solaris' bedchambers.” Dusk looked confused and cut in. “Doesn't he have staff to do that?”
Stardance sighed, drawing the attention of the other ponies, and replied to Dusk's question. “No, I would give them the day off, and I would do it while wearing... this.” She materialized a Prench maid outfit for them to see, though this one was much more revealing than any outfit the normal maids wore. Dusk blushed deeply and Artemis let out a loud guffaw, trying to imagine the well trained and deadly captain in the outfit, and trying not to think of the reaction she would get from his brother.
“Be glad you won, Captain Stardance, because that would be quite a day with my brother. You wouldn't be able to forget an experience like that no matter how hard you try...” Artemis said, chuckling apologetically as she blushed furiously at what he was implying.
Dusk Shine cleared his throat awkwardly, and teleported back to where he had left off to continue his inspection. Artemis looked back and forth between the co-captains, and quietly comforted them. “He is still young, even by your standards. What he lacks in experience he more than makes up for in knowledge and courage. He will do well leading his task force, though I hope one or both of you would be willing to assist him with it.” Both ponies saluted him, and he nodded gratefully.
~~~
Artemis' steps lead themselves towards the night wing of the castle, but as he saw a pair of construction ponies walking out of the hallway to his room, he remembered that no room waited for him that way. Sighing heavily, he turned and took a side hall leading to the annex that connected with the day wing. As blue and black banners were replaced with white and gold ones, Artemis yet again internally flinched at the gaudy and bright decorations lining the hallways. It was early in the night, yet still the braziers blazed with blinding intensity to illuminate the high vaulted corridors, shedding plenty of light to examine the ancient tapestries depicting the valiant exploits of Solaris.
Artemis grimaced as he noticed the distinct lack of a single mention in any image of him, as though Artemis didn't even exist in this end of the castle. While that had been the case for a millennium, he had been back for several years now. He appreciated the efforts to restore the night wing from how it was as a disused storage wing, but still Artemis noticed what a definite shadow he was still in, cast by his brother. Rather than being two sides of the same coin, as they had once been, now he was barely above the lowly nobles of Canterlot court. While he garnered bows wherever he went, it was only a nicety and courtesy of those who thought of him as “Prince Solaris' younger brother.” and nothing more.
Artemis growled in frustration, and looked ahead, grimacing further as he saw a brilliant tapestry depicting Solaris standing triumphantly atop the slain corpse of the mighty Trigon, the sun beaming down over his shoulders, and starkly without the figure of of his brother standing beside him, as he had been when the two had slain Trigon nearly three millennia ago. As he came closer, he recognized the weave of the fabric, and realized that this was an ancient tapestry that had been magically altered to omit the former presence of the Lunar Prince.
“Ugh!” Artemis grunted out loud, stomping a hoof. He winced and lifted his leg to reveal a splintered tile beneath. Sighing, he continued walking and began muttering to himself. “What's worse is that even if I were to change it back, nopony would believe me, and everypony would think I am simply changing history to make myself look better. The only pony alive to know differently is Solaris, and he is probably the one who changed it!”
The cobalt alicorn suddenly came to a stop, and his glowering ceased as he realized that he now knew another pony who might understand his plight. A slight grin tugged at the corners of his mouth as he set off at a much quicker pace, swiftly navigating through the map in his mind that lead to his temporary quarters that had been set up for him in the foreign dignitary suite down the hall from Solaris' chambers.
At a curt nod, the two saluting day guards opened the elaborate doorway to Artemis' new room and closed it quickly after he had entered. Artemis used a simple spell to light the lamps, but flinched as the use of magic stung at the base of his horn. The doctors said that would happen, and that it is normal for magic users after a blow to the head. Artemis told himself, trying to quell the surge of panic in the pit of his stomach. Though I am still not comfortable with the fact that I can not defend myself... In case something does happen...
Artemis gulped, and decided a little precaution couldn't hurt. He turned and opened the door halfway, slightly startling the guards outside. “Soldier, might I borrow your sword for tonight? I need it for...” He searched for a believable reason, but could not think of one. Then, noticing that neither of the guards were unicorns, chose a tactic he had learned from his brother. “I need it for a focal constant in my divination. Don't worry, it will not be damaged, and I shall be very careful with it.”
At the look of confusion and slight awe that played across the guards faces, he decided that his use of “tactical- bovine excrement” or whatever it was that Solaris had called it, had been completely successful.
“Uh... Sure thing...” Began the stallion to his left, but was interrupted as his fellow guard jabbed him in the ribs. The guard to Artemis' right then spoke up. “Of course, My Lord.” He said formally, bowing deep and using his wings to offer forward his sword.
The scabbard was ornately gilded with small lines of gold leaf depicting a sun motif on a brilliantly polished silver background. The hilt of the sword was similarly gaudy, with a large red gem mounted in the gold-plated pommel. Yet another needlessly ornate feature of this hall... though I shouldn't complain, I did have every halberd custom made for my guards...
“Thank you.” Artemis said quickly to the guard, retreating into the room and shutting the door. Walking across the large room, he set the sword on the edge of the writing desk, and moved the few items on the desk to put them away. But as he opened the drawer, he found a neat stack of writing paper, rich and formal enough for the visiting royalty to write royal messages and decrees on, if necessary.
“Hmm... I guess I could write a letter to her, and I can get Dusk to send it for me in the morning. But how would he get it to her... Well, he could get it to her the same way I got to her. My mirror is still intact, and I see no reason hers would not be. From there it would be a simple scrying modification of the spell I used, and the scroll would fall out of the surface of the mirror in her world just as easily as sending a message to my own room.”
With this in mind, Artemis pulled the paper out, and leafed through to get a rough estimate of the number of sheets. Finding there to be plenty enough, since he doubted he would write more than one page, he set the stack to his right and laid out the rest of his materials. Unstoppering the ink, he set the bottle next to the dabbing cloth, and adjusted the desk lamp to cast a bit more light. Laying a sheet in front of him, he dipped and dabbed his quill and brought it over to the page.
Then he stopped. Artemis had no idea how to address his double, and had never written a personal letter to a mare without having some objective or purpose, like a favor from some noblemare, or perhaps an invitation to a banquet. He pondered what this letter's purpose was, and could not decide. He simply knew he needed to talk to her, but he knew not why.
Do I need to get her to convince anypony to support a new bill? No. Is she a crucial member of a committee that I need to have vote a certain way? No. Why am I writing this letter? Do I... want to ask her out on a date? He blushed at the thought. The idea of the beautiful mare he had met on the moon eating dinner with him caused his heartbeat to quicken and his mind to spin. No... I have just met her... that would be far too forward. Perhaps invite her to have a simple chat? That seems reasonable.
Artemis nodded and put the quill to paper, his magic causing a twinge of pain in his mind, which he ignored. In flowing script he began to write.
Dear Princess Luna,
Artemis frowned, and crumpled up the page, brushing it into the bin beside the desk. Too casual. Remember, she is a foreign dignitary in her own right, and I have only met her once. This has to be a formal entreaty, not some foal's hearts and hooves card.
Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria, Aspect of the moon,
It would be most opportune if
Again, the page was crumpled and discarded. No way am I going to use the word “opportune” to describe meeting with her! She needs to know that this means something to me... But I don't want to seem clingy and gushy. Who would want to talk with a bleeding-heart wimp of a stallion? Ugh... What would Solaris do? He got that other mare...who is her sister, I guess. Well, if it worked once...
Hey baby,
You and me, a couple of bottles of my finest champagne, and nopony around to hear us
Artemis grunted and quickly disposed of that one, shuddering at the memory of how he had caught his brother and Luna's sister... going at it. Not that I would mind that with Luna, though...Ugh, no! I will not be some single-minded fiend, driven solely for the goal of bedding any mare in my sights. I just want to talk to her about how this feels, and see if she knows what I am talking about. I just hope she feels the same... I don't want to dump on her and drive her away... Hmm...
~~~
Several now-crumpled attempts later, Artemis looked over his latest try. It was succinct and simple, but still genuine, he felt. Nodding after reading it over a third time, he stored his supplies, and left the letter out to dry on the desk. He stood and stretched, hearing a disconcerting amount of popping and clicking from his body, and decided to turn in for the night, extinguishing the lamps around the room. Glancing back once more before he turned out the desk lamp, he noticed that the sword had been brushed off the desk and was partially hidden behind the desk where it sat. He started to move towards it, but shrugged, not feeling any particular need to retrieve it now, and snuffed out the last lamp. Settling into bed, he gently tossed and turned, tiredly attempting to find a comfortable position, but continually finding himself lying on an injured area, and having to adjust. After a little while, he gave up, and tried to cast a spell to make him weightless. A sharp pain ran down his forehead and he saw stars, reminding him that he was not supposed to be using magic.
I wish she could be here... perhaps that would help me sleep. Hmm... I wonder if I could get her to let me stay with her if I complain enough about how much I hurt... Artemis chuckled, imagining the gentle caress of her silken fur against him, her soft wings wrapped around him. He sighed, and with a smile on his lips, drifted off to sleep.
“I understand that you don't like me using our parents' artifacts, but that is just because you had a bad experience with them. I haven't run into any ill-effects since I started using them a couple weeks ago.” Celestia said defensively, raising her nose in indignation as Luna visibly seethed at her words.
“I had a bad experience !?! Try having your entire being corrupted by an extra-dimensional monstrosity that can feed upon your very emotions and turn them and their power against you! What if the spirit of anger happened upon you when you were having a fight with your hairy-faced buffoon of a coltfriend and decided to ride you back into our realm with the fury of a supernova!?! Scorched doesn't even begin to cover it!” Luna stomped her hoof, and the potted plants around the room burst into flames. “You will not risk our world and theirs just so you can play hoofsies with Solaris in MY dreamworld! You shall return the relics to the vault, and we will devise a new locking system that henceforth requires both of us to open it.”
Celestia rolled her eyes, summoning miniature rain clouds from Cloudsdale above each fire in the room. “You always were a party pooper...” She said, letting out a sigh and teleporting in Father's Amulet, letting it clank heavily against the desk between the two princesses.
“And the mirror?” Luna asked as she stared her sister down. Celestia's horn flashed, and she said, “It is in the annex of the vault, ready to be stored again when you feel up to dragging it back there.” Luna sighed, remembering the tedious chore that posed, but shook her head and smiled cautiously at her sister.
“Thank you sister. Was that all that hard?” Luna asked condescendingly, laughing as a charred sunflower was tossed at her. Quickly ducking into the hallway, she barely had time to dodge a second potted plant hurled by her ruefully grinning sister.
“You owe me another arrangement! It won't be all that hard to take a trip to the botanical gardens in Griffonia!” She called out, laughing maniacally when Luna shrieked, signaling that a potted projectile had found it's mark. Celestia turned the corner to see her sister splayed out on the floor, dirt matted in her mane and coat. Seizing the opportunity, she leapt upon her prone form, white hooves tickling ultramarine fur, and the two princesses tumbled into the wall on the other side of the corridor.
Several giggle-filled minutes later, Luna managed to right herself, standing up and brushing off some of the dirt from her coat. She looked at her sister and sighed, smiling as the impromptu tickle war brought back many memories of their childhood and the many playful confrontations since. The train thought stirred her earlier musings and she grew curious. “Tia? Have you ever met Solaris' brother?”
Celestia froze briefly as she was getting up, her brow knitting as she slowly rose the rest of the way. “No, though Solaris mentioned him once or twice... Have you?” She replied carefully, trying to gauge her younger sister's reaction to the question to see where she was heading with this.
“In a sense...” Luna said cryptically, flashing a cryptic smile as she bolted around the corner. “Oh no you don't!” Shouted Celestia as she gave chase. “You don't get off that easily! What happened?”
~~~
After losing her sister with a quick series of teleport spells, Luna found herself catching her breath in the relative safety of her closet, nestled between her hanging outfits and coats. After waiting for a few minutes in the cover, she decided she was free of any further questioning and extracted herself from the cage of fabrics. As she stepped free, she felt something crumple under her hoof. Casting an illumination spell, she blinked and squinted her eyes as the bright light of her horn reflected off the surface of her mirror, directly in front of her. Looking down, her eyes adjusted and she lifted her hoof to reveal a neatly folded sheet of paper, though it was now creased where her hoof had stepped on it. Picking it up, she noticed that the sheet was of fine quality paper, and immediately grew concerned. She tried to remember if she had somehow left a royal decree or some such in one of her outfits, and the important notice had been missing since she had returned it to her closet.
Unfolding the note, her brow furrowed, confused at the lack of seals or stamps that would normally decorate such a document. She looked closer, and her eyebrows raised as she saw her name on the addressing line, written in an unknown yet strangely familiar hoofwriting. She used her magic to open the closet door, and slowly walked to her desk, sitting on the other side of her bedroom. She carefully read the note, a smile spreading across her muzzle as she understood what it was.
Dear Princess Luna,
Greetings, it is I, Prince Artemis. I write to you to convey my deepest and most humble gratitude for your intervention on the moon. Through your quick wit and action, you saved us all, and I could never thank you enough. I am sure you know that if you had not interceded when you did, the consequences are far too horrible to imagine, even for great beings such as ourselves.
While it is my great pleasure to have made your acquaintance in our short time together, our meeting brought forth many questions for me. The brevity of our encounter, as well as my condition for its duration, made it difficult to accrue any semblance of understanding between the two of us. I therefore believed that I should attempt to contact you, and perhaps in doing so, arrange a way of meeting again; albeit in less extreme conditions. Though I know it is little recompense for your great deed for me, it would also please me to no end if I could thank you face to face.
If you would be inclined to such a course of action, do not hesitate to write back to me. I have no doubt you will be able to duplicate the spell used to get this message to you, it is a symmetrical interlacing of the portal spell with a traditional scrying spell.
I eagerly await your response,
Prince Artemis
Princess Luna giggled to herself, giddy that she had been contacted, and immediately pulled out her own sheet of fine paper. Ink unstoppered, her quill quickly danced across the paper as she formulated her response.
A few short minutes later, Luna capped her ink bottle and looked over her work, sighing in content. A flash from her horn, and her mirror came floating out from her closet, it's surface already blazing a deep indigo. She carefully folded the note and sent it through the portal, feeling her heartbeat race in excitement.
The portal flashed and went dark, and as soon as she knew the note was sent, she began to worry. Should I have waited to respond? Well, the note could have been sitting in my closet for some time now, so it probably wasn't too fast. Oh no! What if he sent it days ago, and has since given up hope of my response! Oh, I should have checked my mirror before. No, I should have left it out in my room rather than putting it back away in my closet after I got here!
As her mind whirred, she caught herself and took a deep breath. Don't worry, it will all be alright. If he is anything like me, he really won't care how fast I reply as long as I do, and I did. He will probably be checking for a few days after sending it, anyways, since even intra-dimensional note sending like that is unreliable at best. If I were him, I would be surprised that it even made it here, especially since a jump like that could easily transfer the ink an inch away from the paper, and all that would come through would be a blank page. But if it worked for him, it will work for me, I hope...
“I understand that you don't like me using our parents' artifacts, but that is just because you had a bad experience with them. I haven't run into any ill-effects since I started using them a couple weeks ago.” Solaris said defensively, raising his nose in indignation as Artemis visibly seethed at his words.
“I had a bad experience !?!” Artemis shouted, teetering as he shook a hoof angrily, and had to quickly grabbed hold of the edge of Solaris' desk. “Woah... Uh...” His head swam, and he sat down hard on the floor of Solaris' office. Solaris jumped up, and rushed around to help his falling little brother. As he stooped to help Artemis back up, his cheek was met with a solid blow, and he went careening over his desk and into the wall behind. Solaris blinked, and carefully removed his horn from the hole it had made in the wall. He turned to look at his cackling little brother, who was still struggling to stand back up.
“Wow, that was a good right hook. Glad to see you are recovering, Arty.” Solaris deadpanned, and Artemis finally managed to stop laughing and get back up again. “You know there are other ways to solve your problems that don't resort to violence.” Artemis rolled his eyes and Solaris pushed his desk out from between them with a short flash of his horn.
The two brothers stared each other down, adjusting their stances to sparring position. “Yeah, well I think you are just getting soft, too much cake with that old cream-colored consort you managed to find in MY dreamworld.” Artemis snarled, beginning their time-honored tradition of insults before their occasional tussle.
“She is not old!” Solaris said defensively, stopping suddenly at the realization that Celestia was probably just as old as him. “Huh... I guess I never thought of that...” Artemis raised an eyebrow, a grin threatening to crack his serious and threatening composure. “Whatever the case, she is no consort!” Solaris said, snapping back to reality. “Though, with how she can move, you wouldn't know it.” He chuckled, raising an eyebrow at his bawdy quip.
Artemis blanched, trying desperately to clear the mental image from his mind. “Oh gross dude! Too much information! Keep your nighttime exploits to yourself, you pervert. Ugh, now I am going to have to go bleach the dreamscape just to keep me from thinking of that every night.” Artemis reared up on his hind legs, his wings spreading wide as he went to charge. “Come on, you don't want to go because you've gotten rusty!”
Solaris sighed, lit his horn, and a clicking noise filled the air. Suddenly Artemis' wings crumpled, his legs gave way, and he fell limp as a ragdoll to the ground. He looked up, and saw his older brother looking down at him, levitating several metal pins in front of him, his face a mixture of stern disapproval and freak hilarity. “Seems you are the only one who can get rusty, tin-pony.”
“Put those back in!” Artemis shouted from the ground, unable to move much of his body with the pins removed. “The doctors say I need those to recover! Do you want my bones to heal facing the wrong way?” Solaris just shook his head, obviously trying not to laugh, and took a shuddering deep breath to calm himself.
“Not until you apologize for insulting Celestia. She is the most vibrant and beautiful creation in the cosmos!” He said, trying to feign the petulant offense and self-righteousness of an insulted foal. Artemis huffed in frustration, rolled his eyes and offered a quick “Sorry”.
“See, that wasn't all that hard.” Solaris said as he re-installed the pins in Artemis' body. “We are made of sterner stuff, you don't need those to recover since you are an Alicorn.” The younger prince rubbed his shoulder as the bones clicked back in place, and experimentally flapped his wings a couple times.
“Yeah, but that doesn't mean they don't help. Plus, while the transformation into night-terror is painful enough, the change back is so much worse. I am surprised any of my bones were unbroken after that, especially since I was unconscious during it and fell so far. I guess I can thank the lower gravity of the moon for that.”
Solaris' stomach turned at the memory, and he felt a pang of remorse for his hoof in the matter. He closed his eyes, and teleported in Mother's Amulet and set it on the desk. He locked eyes with his brother, and gave a small grin. “I guess I have to drag the mirror back into the vault now... maybe I can get a few guards to help this time.”
Artemis raised his eyebrows and grinned in appreciation, putting a hoof over his brother's shoulder and pulling him into a brief embrace. “We should set up a new locking system on the vault that requires both of us to open it. Just in case, you know. Maybe Dusk could help us out, since he now knows about the vault, and since he is a prince too.”
Solaris smiled fondly at the mention of his former pupil, and nodded in assent to the idea. “I will go ask him, and have him start on that right away.” He said, regaining his usual bravado. “Umm, I don't think that would be a good idea right now... he... umm... is working on a little project for me.” Artemis said, glancing away from his brother in embarrassment.
“A project, eh? What is it this time, a new telescope or something?” The Solar Aspect asked, smiling internally that his student and brother were becoming such close friends. “Well... uh...” Artemis responded weakly, anxiously tapping his hoof. “You remember meeting Celestia's sister, right...?”
“Oh ho ho! My little bro finally shows he has an eye for the ladies! I knew you had it in you, it would just take the right mare.” Solaris burst out in almost paternal pride, patting his brother on the shoulder roughly. “So did you ask her to dinner? A moonlit walk? What?”
Artemis let out an umbrageous huff, glaring at his brother. “I said nothing of the sort, what makes you think I was even talking about... that?” Artemis said indignantly. “ I merely wrote her a letter, and asked to have a simple chat. Nothing romantic about it!”
“You always were a party pooper...” Solaris sighed, rolling his eyes. “Well, when you are done getting Captain Science to help plan your completely platonic play-date, could you send him to me so we can work on that lock?” Artemis rolled his eyes and nodded, walking out of the room. “Jeez, it seems like anything will set him off these days.” He glanced over to his desk, and his eyes alighted on the dark amulet lying on it. “While I am waiting, I guess I will visit the vault.” He picked up the necklace and teleported away.
~~~
Artemis walked into the study lounge near the guest quarters he and Dusk had commandeered, and looked around in amazement. Prince Dusk Shine had not only managed to fill the chalkboards on three of the room's four walls, but he had summoned his own free-standing boards to continue his computations and designs. Said prince was presently busy squeezing in another line of dimensional analysis at the bottom of his current board, wearing a concentrated expression and an odd looking band around his head. The band was some sort of black metal, etched with sygaldry and runes that would glow in alternating patterns in response to flashes of Dusk's horn.
“I can come back, if you are having too much fun or...” Artemis said jokingly to his friend, causing the purple alicorn to jump and drop eight separate pieces of chalk that Artemis had not noticed were writing around the room. “Oh! You scared me!” Dusk laughed as he stood up and turned to his friend.
“What were you doing?” Artemis asked, trying to decipher the neat but mind-bending labyrinth of writing around him. “Oh, I was just testing out a new design, fresh from the artificer's, while working out that spell you wanted for inter-dimensional scrying. Turns out you just have to have two identical mirrors. The bad news is that it can't be the magical mirrors you already have, because they are needed for the portal, and they have to be atomically identical, as in the same atoms in each dimension.” Artemis blanched “That won't be easy... is there any wiggle room?” he asked, not looking forward to the prospects of such a restraint.
“Well, yeah, with some occasional interference. If you are okay with it being an imperfect sympathetic link, I had a few ideas. Do you know if she has bought any mass-produced mirrors recently? Because I know for a fact that mirror-makers have high standards for their materials, even when made in groups. If she has a mirror like that, find the batch number, or even better, serial number, and you buy the one made in this dimension, it will be 90% the same atoms, or even more. With mirrors that similar, the only ill effects will be occasional breaks in connection, but not that often. Maybe 5 minutes every hour? Something like that.”
Artemis nodded thoughtfully. “That will have to do, all I need to do is wait for her to respond.” Dusk's eyes widened at that, and smiled sheepishly. His horn flashed, and a sheet of paper floated in front of the lunar prince. “What is this?” He asked, looking at his young friend questioningly. He opened it and began reading. “Oh, Princess Luna says that she is up for meeting, but has no idea of how to do so. If she is stumped too, that doesn't bode well. When did this come in?”
Dusk looked away and muttered “About an hour ago... or two? You know how time gets away from you when you are doing quantum sympathy...” He flashed the sheepish smile again as Artemis glared at him. “I know, I should have brought it to you as soon as it came in, but I was testing this thing out!” He explained, pulling the band off his head and levitating it between them.
“What is it?” Artemis asked, his frustration still present in his voice, to which Dusk flinched. “It is a magical spell-bearer. It was forged with some ground up crystal from the solid magic you brought to us in the Artificery. The sygaldry uses the magic of the band to power whatever spell is inscribed on it. I put three magical duplication runes on it, so I could write with one piece of chalk, and the runes would duplicate it to two, then four, then eight. I just had eight places where I wanted to put the same calculations for atomic similarity, since I was going to edit it differently in each case.” He explained, trying to distract his older friend from forgetting the note from Luna.
“So you are saying this band can hold a spell and be activated with a unicorn's magic? To what end?” Artemis said as he inspected the band, noting how the runes could be wiped off and replaced with a different spell if needed.
“No, it is activated by touch, I was just using it to augment my spell and casting Mage Hoof to touch it. I didn't need it, I was just experimenting with alternatives to tapping it each time I wanted to write. It is for non-unicorns on my team to use spells, like invisibility or teleportation, strength, anything like that. They would wear one under their armour, maybe behind a hoof or under a wing for pegasi. Then an earth pony guard could buck down a door and blind everypony in the room with a tap of the hoof.”
“Would it ever give out?” Artemis asked, intrigued by the possibilities, but mostly on an idea he was forming. Dusk shook his head and said, “Depending on how powerful the spell is, it could last years of constant use, or millions of repeated activations. Solid magic doesn't mess around you know.”
Artemis looked incredulously at him, and deadpanned, “Oh, I know. ” then meaningfully glanced down at the scars adorning his body. Dusk facehoofed and chuckled, giving him and abashed smile.
Artemis chuckled to himself and smiled back at his friend to show he meant no harm, and Dusk visibly relaxed. His earlier thought sprung to mind, and the older prince inquired, “Dusk, do you have another of those bands? I could use one, actually for a small... errand I must run.”
Dusk looked down at the magical artifact and frowned slightly. “Sorry, this prototype is the only one I got, and I still have some testing to do on it. When I finish with modifying the designs, I will have another one crafted for you, though it will be a lot better than this old thing.” He chuckled sheepishly as he slid the band back onto his hoof.
“No! I need...!” Artemis shouted out suddenly, stomping his front hooves. Dusk stumbled back, his eyes wide in shock. “I need that...! GIVE IT TO...!” A vein stood out on the older pony's neck and his eyes opened and shut erratically. His wings spread out, and he stomped again, hard enough to shake the room. Dusk quickly tried to step away from his shouting friend, pulling the band away and protecting it. “YOU CAN'T STOP ME!!! ” Artemis bellowed, his horn lighting up and his pupils narrowed menacingly to slits.
And just as sudden as it started, it stopped. Artemis' horn stopped glowing, his eyes changed back, and he fell limp to the floor. “Are... are you okay?” Dusk said tentatively, still crouching defensively. When he got no response, he quickly rushed over to check on the twitching and shivering prince on the floor. “Dude, I think you are having, like, a seizure or something. That's a thing that happens to ponies like you, right? You know, with the head trauma and stuff?” He blabbered, trying desperately to get a response as his friend blinked rapidly and shuddered in stuttering breaths.
A hiss filled the air, much like a balloon deflating, and Dusk looked around to find what was making the sound. He then looked down, and saw that the band around his hoof had faded to a metallic grey, much lighter than it had been before. In fact, he realized, this was the color the band should have been, since it was the color of the metal used to make it, sans the black of the crystal. He looked up to see Artemis had stopped blinking and hyperventilating, and was barely clinging to consciousness.
A few nudges to the prone prince caused him to stir, and he jerked his head up with his eyes wild and staring. His jaw worked wordlessly as he stared wide-eyed around him, making the eons-old ruler seem like nothing more than an over-sized foal's toy.
“Artemis!!! Artemis? What is going on!?!” Dusk asked his friend, trying desperately for some sort of response. To this, he was quickly successful, albeit in a less than favorable way than intended. His response came in the form of Artemis suddenly flailing in an attempt to stand, which sent him reeling away in shock and pain. Rubbing his cheek where a wayward limb had firmly connected, the younger alicorn looked back to see a determined, if a bit manic, look on his friend's face.
“It is not enough to lock it away. We must destroy it.” Artemis stated, bitter resolve and remorseful certainty lacing his tone. “Even beings as great as us are not worthy nor capable of wielding such power.” He turned, locking eyes with Dusk at the declaration. His gaze softened, and slight worry crept to the corners of his eyes. “Are you alright? I... I have done so much wrong. It is not my place to blame my actions on outside forces, nor discard my own guilt, so I apologize. Deeply and with every fibre of my being, I am sorry. Never have I felt so foolish as I do now, and I do not like it; I must make amends. But first, to the Vault!”
Dusk blinked slowly as the previously incapacitated alicorn charged past him wildly, his braced legs and casts making him wobble erratically. He shook his head and chased after him a moment later, following him out the door and down the hall. The two ponies wound their way through the corridors of the castle to the library, then down the secret stairs into the cavernous entrance of the Vault. As they arrived, Prince Solaris, along with a pair of solar guards, were replacing the bulky plates of their armour.
“Ah, Brother! I have done as I promised, and I even took time to think up a few ideas about a new locking system.” The white alicorn said, quirking an eyebrow at the panting duo, curious about their sudden appearance. Rather than responding, Artemis set straight to loudly chanting in Old Equestrian, causing the assembled ponies to cringe and cover their ears. “What are you doing!?!” Solaris shouted over the guttural and simultaneously screeching words of the ancient incantation his brother was uttering. Artemis squeezed his eyes shut as he grimaced in pain, faint greenish-purple tendrils coiled around his horn as he attempted the dark magic, feeling a sick agony as his broken body could barely handle the strain of the spell. When Solaris was ignored by the still reciting prince, he trotted over and shouted again. “You don't have to open it right now! Everything is sealed, and we will work on the lock elsewhere! Why are you trying to get in there?”
A few tears welled up in Artemis' eyes, and he turned from the guards and blinked them away, stopping his spell, letting out a heavy breath as his horn stopped searing with pain. “Mother's amulet must be destroyed. It is not only unsafe to use, but its very existence puts us all at risk. Puts... you all at risk.” He stated guiltily, avoiding eye contact with any of the ponies around him.
“What do you mean?” Solaris said, his voice concerned and fatherly as he approached his younger brother, placing a hoof comfortingly on his shoulder. Dusk, too, stepped closer, remaining a pace away from Artemis on his other side. The two guards looked at each other questioningly, but were cut short when they suddenly glowed gold and disappeared at a flash of Solaris' horn. Dusk stared at him with wide eyes until he mouthed “Upstairs” to his astonished student.
“Just a minute ago, you closed the Vault, yes?” Artemis asked shakily. Solaris nodded, sharing a concerned look with his former student. “Well, about a minute ago, the Daemon figured out it was about to be locked away... and...” He trailed off, looking to Dusk with an apologetic grimace.
“Oh... OH!” The purple alicorn said, suddenly connecting the dots of strange behavior and a certain magical artifact. “You mean to say that... even though you weren't Nightmare Knight, it could still... control you?”
“More like whispering to me, silently in the back of my mind. It wasn't him who made me shout, it was I... or what He made me think I was. While He couldn't use His powers through the amulet, He still could psychically connect with me, since I was His host in this realm, and that amulet is the gateway between realms. He exploited my emotions against me, turned my magic against me, used my life against me!” He began to weep, heavy tears falling to the cave floor beneath them. “He found all my anger, my contempt, my rage... and He made them his weapons. When I was annoyed by our niece the other day, rather than attempting to placate her child-like temper, He... no, I lashed out at her. When I saw that old painting of the defeat of Trigon, brother... I was not irritated or confused. No, without me even noticing, His whisper sharpened my response into anger, rage even. When I made it to the moon, only to find myself alone... all the negativity was enough for Him to crack His cage and slither out.”
Artemis' shaking legs gave out beneath him as he let out wrenching sobs. His wings flexed and he retched, his body physically attempting to purge itself. “I feel raw and chafed where His tendrils of malice snaked through my mind. His poisonous clutches corrupted my actions... but more than that, my thoughts, my mind... Me.” A few more heaves and he resumed his shuddering laments.
Solaris knelt beside him, gently patting his prone brother on the back, a look of stricken and disturbed understanding etched across his features.“I... am so sorry, little brother. I didn't know it could do that. Ugh! I am more to blame than even that monster!” Solaris said, realizing the depth of his mistake for the first time.
“No, all that... evil came from within me. All the Daemon had to do was point it in the right direction, and blind the rest of me.” Artemis said, half embracing his brother with a foreleg and outstretched wing. "I didn't even notice that I was overreacting, I didn't even see how angry I was, it didn't even register that the stones had turned black when I was purging. Usually they were clear, but with His taint... He managed to turn them all black, and corrupted their magic for His use. Looking back, it is like a different pony's memories.”
“Oh! That answers that.” Dusk said suddenly, causing the others to look curiously at him. “The band I made... it was black from the gem I used to make it, but when you closed the vault, it turned grey again, like the gem lost its color. I mean, it wasn't that important compared to you having a seizure or whatever, but it still, you know... bothered me.”
“So I guess that means my gems are now... daemon-free. That is... something, but the number I managed to amass while He was whispering to me is still entirely too many for safety's sake. I had started the practice with only a few gems at a time, just enough to maintain my Tantabus and keep it locked within my mind... as well as enough to power my lab and workout equipment.” Artemis said, chuckling lightly and sniffling pitifully at the mention of his private affairs that he had felt self-conscious about in the past.
“I didn't realize that you had so much built up anger, little brother. I know that I am likely to blame for no small share of that, but you have to understand that I thought you had a healthier way of letting it out. For me, a good drink at the officers' lounge will always quell the churning of my mind.” Solaris admitted, half grinning at his weak offer of advice.
“I always go for a night on the town with the guys when I get upset, that usually works for me.” offered Dusk hopefully, smiling at his friend. “That or some good hard studying in my library, though I am still trying to replace some books I lost in the old Library...”
“Yes, but I lack the crucial element to both of your plans. I have no lounge nor a rowdy group of officers to drink with. And as far as guys to bring for said night on the town, you two are my only candidates.” Artemis said bitterly, never having so bluntly said or even thought about his lack of real friends. “I have been on a long journey trying to adapt to this new world, and making friends is pretty far down the list, after things like 'update vocabulary' and 'catch up on current events'. A thousand years is a lot more than just great wars and changing empires. When I was banished, the great Griffon Kingdom were still little more than savage hunting packs. Never did I think I would bow in respect to one, but here we are allying with them!”
“I get it, there is a lot to do, but I can help you! I am not the Prince of Friendship for nothing, you know.” Dusk said, patting his friend's shoulder.
“You do not 'get it'. Nopony does, that is what I am saying!” Artemis cried out, shaking his head in dismay. “I will take your help, but even my brother, companion for the Eons, does not know what it is like. We may know each other well enough to never play chess for fear of stalemate, but I still hold resentment towards him, enough to make me turn from him in my hour of need.” He couldn't bare to look at Solaris, but he knew the look of offended concern that was on it.
“That is just what the Daemon made you do. That is why you have been acting so off recently!” The white alicorn asserted, moving so he could look his brother in the eyes. His heart fell at the despondent way his brother shook his head.
“No, that was my resentment, burning even back when the amulet was in the vault. All He had to do was turn that against you, drive you away, and He had more control. The less I controlled, the more He did, and when I lost my last spark of hope on the moon, He had enough to take my form. And with His fanning my issues' flames and encouragement to purge the pain, He had all the power He could ever want when He manifested. When I was freed, with the elements of harmony or otherwise, it cut Him off, yes, but He still remained, the pure construct of terror, in His realm. Just as the moon and the sun remain even without us, He too will still be there. That is why we must destroy the Amulet, for it is His only means of reaching me.”
The three princes looked at one another solemnly, thinking through the predicament they were in and finding no easy solution. “Not that I don't agree, but perhaps, just maybe could we wait on that? It is safe in the vault. We will get a new stronger lock. And we will be around for plenty of time, so what is the hurry?” Solaris said. When he saw his brother about to speak up, a look of angered confusion on his face, he added “Let us at least wait for you to be well. Then, when we have had a bit more time to think, we can go about the task of destroying one of the only things on this entire planet we have to remember our parents by.” With a gentle clearing of his throat and a hard swallow, he fought back tears, not wanting to show vulnerability in front of his little brother or student.
Artemis looked sadly at his brother for a time, then sighed. “I miss them too.” He shook his head, and locked eyes with his brother before continuing. “I want it destroyed, but I concede that we are not going to be... making a gift from Mother any time soon, so we shouldn't rush to destroy one.”
“Come on, let's go back up.” Dusk said gently, sensing an ease in the emotional tension. Solaris and Dusk helped Artemis up from the floor, and averted their eyes and made a show of adjusted their armor or otherwise busying themselves as he wiped his tears and sniffed. Artemis silently thanked them for at least attempting to respect his masculinity, though they all knew his true suffering was nothing that superficial. The three princes turned and walked somberly up the stairs in silence. As they reached the top, the pair of Solar guards jumped to attention, saluting the trio as if nothing had happened.
“At ease.” Solaris issued lightly, glad that his guards had remained respectful and professional. Remembering the manner in which they had parted, he added a quick “Sorry” and a rueful grin as the soldiers relaxed.
“Not a problem sir,” One of the stallions spoke out. “Though it was a bit startling, we are used to it by now.” The other stated confidently. Solaris smiled and mentally made note of their names for some sort of favor in the future. Good guards are hard to come by these days... not enough wars to weed out the weak ones, perhaps.
The princes began walking towards the sun wing of the castle, wordlessly agreeing to continue their conversation in the privacy of Solaris' quarters. “Well, it was a good thing that Solaris put those artifacts back, because if you had been doing it, who knows what would have happened.” Dusk said conversationally, trying to crack the iceberg of silence floating between them. “I will contact the medical wing to see if your seiz...” he trailed off as he noticed that Artemis had stopped dead in his tracks. What he had said clicked in Artemis' mind, and the blue pony abruptly turned and began hobbling off to the study lounge they had been using.
Sharing a confused and slightly irritated look of 'here we go again' the two remaining princes chased after him. When they arrived, they found the door hanging open, and Artemis inside, desperately scribbling on a sheet of notepaper. “What is wrong, Arty?” Solaris asked with a concerned yet condescending tone, almost like a parent talking to their foal.
“The only reason you were the one to put those artifacts in the vault was the fact that I was injured. If I hadn't been, but we were in the same situation, I would have been the one to return them, and then there would have been problems.” His fellow princes nodded along as Artemis worked through his train of thought, though he could tell they were wondering where this was going. “Well, there is a place where this situation is the same, minus injuries. Or should I say dimension...” He trailed off meaningfully, focusing back on his hasty letter.
Understanding hit the two confused stallions like a ton of bricks, and they quickly looked over at the mirror in the corner. “Now how to make sure it gets to her... or anypony, for that matter. If she is going to the vault, then this will just fall out of her mirror and sit on the floor of her room until who knows when.”
“You would put explosive runes on the page, coupled with a phantom observer. Everypony will be alerted to your message by that.” Solaris added, chuckling in an all too nostalgic way. “Though that would destroy the page and note...”
“We could send a page like that first, then send the note a little afterwards?” Dusk added helpfully, laughing at the idea of such a wanton abuse of dangerous magics. “But if there is anything flammable nearby, it could start a fire and burn the note anyways. Oh! A fireproofing spell on the note!”
“No fireproofing needed, because NO EXPLOSIVE RUNES!” Artemis shouted, making the other two princes laugh. “The last thing I want to do is destroy her room as well... and maybe even the mirror, which would break the link and...” He rambled furiously, his companions' humor irritating him further. “All this needs is a psychic wail spell on it, and that ought to get everypony to come running.”
“Still not as fun as explosive runes...” Muttered Solaris, a little crestfallen by the blatantly better plan that he regretted not using in his own experience. Artemis rolled his eyes and dropped some hot sealing wax onto the sheet. “Could you... umm...” he asked his older brother, a pang of bitterness in his voice. “I still can't do that much magic, so could you put the seal it with the spell?”
Solaris quickly nodded and pressed his telekinetically-formed stamp of the wail spell into the wax, sealing the letter. Dusk went to the mirror, and after a few moments of thinking, cast a spell that lit up the mirror with a brilliant lavender fire. Artemis looked enviously as his brother watched proudly, both amazed that the young prince could just figure out the spell with a few moments of thought. Dusk nodded back to his mentor, who added the final line to the rune and sent it through the mirror. Even in that short time it took to float the letter to the mirror, though, the three princes flinched at the shrill ringing at the back of their minds from the note.
A few moments later, a pair of guards busted into the room, looking around wildly until Solaris waved them off. “That is probably going to happen over there right about now. That should be loud enough to attract a lot of attention, at least until the seal is broken, and by extension the rune. Then the pony that reads the note will bring the note to whichever princess is closest, as per the directions, and hopefully the situation shall be solved.” Artemis said confidently, proud that he had overcome that obstacle.
While the three princes enjoyed peace and quiet for the first time in weeks, the same could not be said for those on the other side of the mirror.
~~~
The walls shook. The air crackled. The pair of Lunar guards that had accompanied Princess Luna to the library looked around in confusion, shouting silence at each other as the very air around them seemed to shudder.
A bright flash heralded the arrival of Princess Celestia, concern just showing through her stern and concentrated demeanor. She attempted to shout a command to the two dumbstruck guards, but found that she too was incapable of creating noise. She quickly evaluated her options and switched to a psychic command.
Her calming and motherly voice began speaking in the pair's minds. "Stop panicking and co..." But before she could finish the sentence, a shriek belted out in their minds , causing them all to cover their ears in a futile attempt to muffle the klaxon.
Confusion rolled over Celestia, and her perplexed expression undid any comfort she bestowed upon the two guards, who promptly lost it. One curled up in a ball on the ground, and the other ran around in circles flailing his wings wildly. Celestia would normally have laughed at the undisciplined show of panic, but their confusion caused it to actually affect her, making her heart beat quicken, her breath catch, and her concentration wane.
As suddenly as the screaming in their minds started, it stopped, though this did little to release tension from the air. Celestia shook her head in exasperation and ran down the secret stair, heading for the vault, and more importantly, her sister.
Nothing was making sense to the eons-old alicorn, and that was not a comfortable sensation. She knew something was happening with the Daemon, because she recognized the power rocking the castle to its foundation, but that was all. She didn't have a clue as to the reason the Daemon was manifesting, how it could do such a thing, and what that noise was.
Once she made it to the door of the vault, a few more things suddenly made sense, but they raised more questions than they answered.
There, with hoof raised and attempting to roll back the door, was Princess Luna, though she looked much more like Nightmare Moon at this point. Her coat was still midnight blue, but seemed to be flickering black at odd intervals, her pained expression showed one eye was hers, the other a menacingly familiar slit, even some of her teeth were crooked. This partway-transformed Luna was quite the spectacle by itself, but the pendant she bore was something else entirely.
While she had previously carried the amulet in her magic, it now was around her neck, and was hanging directly backwards, as if the wall opposite the doorway was the ground. From the depressions in the lunar alicorn's neck, it was clear that the amulet was actually pulling against her with great force. Then there was the amulet itself, which glowed blue from Luna's aura, apparently trying to remove it, while a thick and oily black magical aura also flowed from her horn that was counteracting her own efforts. Dark mana clung thickly to her horn, like a thick ink winding up its flutes, and Luna screamed in anguish.
Celestia sprung into action, her magic joining her sister's in battle against the tainted force. Her stomach turned as she felt the sickly embrace of the Daemon, and she recoiled violently. She shuddered in disgust, but immediately tried again when she saw the pure look of terror and agony carved into her sister's expression.
Steeling herself, she took on as much of the vile pressure as she could stand, and was relieved to see Luna relax slightly, and locked eyes with her. The two came to an agreement, and Celestia lurched forward, bodily pressing against the massive door along with her sister.
The Solar Aspect's strength should have made short work of moving the half ton of iron and stone, but a sickly volition held back against her, like bands of sludge strong as steel. The immense disk was not hard to move normally, but the black strings of magic coming from the amulet kept the door from moving, despite the two sisters' efforts.
Just as she was about to give up hope, she was surprised to see the pair of guards from upstairs run down to join them, jumping to their rulers' side and slamming into the door with all their might. That was all it took to get a rather shocked Luna to tumble over the threshold.
Dead silence bellowed, and stillness violently shook the four ponies assembled. "Huh." Was all Celestia could manage to get out, dumbstruck by the sudden change. "That was... I... thanks?" Luna replied a moment later, looking up with a dazed expression from the ground where she had landed.
The two lunar guards smiled at their liege on the floor, obviously glad they could help and overcome with relief that she was safe. When they looked over to the other princess, though, their smiles turned into abashed grins and sheepish grimaces.
Celestia rolled her eyes at them and rushed over to her fallen sister, who was struggling to sit up. "Are you alright, sister?" She inquired with a concerned voice reminiscent of a parent. Luna's mood soured slightly at that, but was surprised when she didn't get angry at the patronizing attention of her sister. She vividly remembered how interaction like this drove her to shouting matches with her sister before, but now she felt... light.
Looking down at the now-dormant medallion laying on the stone floor, a sick sense of realization set in. She looked up, wide eyed and sniffling slightly, to meet her sister's gaze. When their eyes met, she burst out crying, bitter, angry tears and heavy sorrowful ones streaming down her cheeks.
The guards immediately tensed up, looked at each other, and went back to the base of the stairs quietly. Celestia gasped at the sudden change of her sister's mood, and cradled her head in her hooves. Gently trying to comfort her bawling sister, her mind raced with possible reasons that her sister was crying. "What is wrong, Lulu? You are safe. No one is hurt. Everything is okay." She softly murmured.
"This... that thing... I never thought of... I didn't even notice..." Luna choked out between heavy sobs. She pathetically flailed a hoof at the amulet laying next to her, kicking it against the far wall of the vault annex. Catching her breath, she managed to form coherent thought again and shakily explained to her sister what had happened.
~~~
Artemis stalked back and forth between his brother and his friend, anxiously glancing to the mirror every once in awhile. Solaris had grown bored and was slightly fixing his beard in the mirrored surface of his removed helmet, while Dusk Shine was taking a demented interest in the mechanical symphony that issued from Artemis' body as he paced in the silent room.
"I am sure nothing is wrong, they just don't have time to send a letter back because they are... uhh... styling their manes..? Maybe one of them had a fashion emergency and they are waiting to reply till their dress gets mended."
Solaris almost choked and accidentally punched himself in the face at this, while Artemis stopped and looked at him with a withering glare. "Wow, and you are still single. I have no idea why." He said in complete deadpan, causing Dusk to blush indignantly.
"Hey, I mean, I know that is not all the issues that mares have, but they were the least serious I could think of. Sheesh, this is what I get for trying to calm you down."
Solaris chuckled, rubbing his snout as he looked over to his former student. “You really have to work on the whole latent sexism thing if we are going to be in contact with mares who could easily dye the oceans red with your blood."
Dusk scratched the back of his head and grimaced. "I guess it is just kind of weird to think about powerful mares like that. It seems to me that even though females make up such a small percentage of our population, a disproportionate majority of them are bizarrely unimportant. I don't think I can name many powerful mares other than Starburst the Braided, just because it seems that only stallions get important jobs or play pivotal roles, or even show promise in magical power."
The three stallions stood there pondering that peculiarity for a moment. "As far as I have learned from princess Celestia, the exact opposite is true for their realm. That includes her student, or former student I guess, Twilight Sparkle."
A twitch went through the young alicorn's expression as he faced the fact that there was a female counterpart for him as well in the parallel dimensions. He never doubted such a pony existed, he simply had never thought of it up until that point.
"Her name is Twilight Sparkle... huh. That sounds more like a villain name, or now reformed villain name at least." He quirked an eyebrow at this, and shook his head. "Must have been a popular naming convention back when I was born."
Solaris and Artemis looked at each other, Artemis raising his eyebrows and Solaris chuckling nervously. The two cosmic beings did not handle such a coincidence well, and Dusk could have sworn he heard a certain draconequus laughing hysterically somewhere far off.
~~~
Princess Luna let out a heavy sigh as she walked back into her room, feeling better than she had in a long time, partly from the weight of the Daemon leaving, but also from how good it felt to open up to her sister and cry a little bit. There is nothing wrong with a little weakness... She told herself, trying not to think about what kind of impression she had left on her personal guards, but deep down she was willing to admit that they knew her well enough to not care.
As she went to close her door, she smiled at said guards, and the pair bowed and gave a friendly smile in return. When she turned around, though, her smile vanished at the sight of her room. The desk was a mess; somepony obviously had searched it in a hurry, leaving papers and quills strewn about. She walked further in and saw the bathroom and closet doors were sitting wide open, and there was further evidence of an intruder.
She went back to the hall door and opened it, preparing to tell her guards to raise the alarm, but was met by not only her personal guards, but a pair from the castle patrol as well, breathing heavily as if they had just been running. “Your majesty! We have been looking all over for you!”
“I am here now. What is going on? My room has been ransacked, and I need you to stop whoever was so foalish as to attempt to burgle the Princess of the Night!” She said angrily, causing the guards to flinch and look sheepishly at each other.
“Look no further, we are the ones who did this. There was an alarm of some sort, and we had to search until we found this note.” One of the breathless guards said, shying away from the Lunar Aspect's wrath. “ I opened it to see what was causing the dreadful noise, and it stopped, but I have never heard anything like that before. Oh, and we didn't read it, so... uh... don't worry about that.” The second guard added, offering forth the page of parchment with a broken seal adorning its face.
“Thank you.” Luna said distractedly after a moment, glancing over the letter and recognizing the hoofwriting on it. The assembled guards blinked and looked at each other, surprised at how easy that went over with her. “Return to your...” Luna said as she slowly walked back into her room, reading the note from Artemis carefully. “Um... the, uh... posts.” She muttered as she closed the door again, leaving four confused stallions standing in the hall.
Luna couldn't believe how strange it was to read a warning of what just went on, in almost exactly her writing style. It was like she had written a note to herself from the future, and the idea was as bizarre as it was comforting.
After tidying up her room, she reorganized her desk and began to write a letter in reply to Artemis. After a few attempts, she settled on a polite enough response that also carried a good amount of gratitude and relief. She didn't want to get invasive, so she didn't ask about what happened on his side, though her mind was burning with curiosity as she sealed the letter.
Summoning her mirror, Luna then opened the portal again and sent the letter, taking a moment to gaze into the burning blue abyss thoughtfully. The way that Celestia and Solaris had used the amulet to meet gave her an idea of how to meet with Artemis, but she was not at all wanting to pull that cursed artifact back from the vault.
Once the mirror went dark, Luna strolled back to her desk and pulled out some parchment, dipping her quill and dabbing it absentmindedly. Hmm… if only there was a way to reproduce the enchantment… but those magics are far beyond anypony alive today… Father had been so attuned to the cosmic flow of power, that amulet was likely fused with pure energy…
If anypony were to wander in the study lounge that was occupied by the three princes, they would have thought they were stewing in boredom. Silence reigned, Artemis was lying on couch near a chalkboard doing some idle calculations at the end of a rather impressive mathematical model. Solaris had an odd pair of spectacles perched on his snout, looking akin to those of a jeweler, and was studying a magic band that had been recently forged. Dusk, on the other hoof, was in a meditative state by the mirror, calmly balanced on top of his wings as he did unassisted push-ups with the feathery appendages.
“Brother, come look at this!” Solaris said softly across the room, to which the lunar alicorn perked up and looked over. Trying to roll over, he grimaced and opted to magically slide the couch over. When the two were close enough, Solaris floated his glasses over to his brother and held the band for him to see.
“I changed this sigil to allow for continuous spells, like you were wondering about, and now it should be able to do something like invisibility for hours at a time, if not longer. I think that might be a poor use of it, because a ring of invisibility would be much easier, but this one can be toggled without removing it.” Artemis nodded along to what his brother was saying, carefully analyzing the fine marks in the wrought magically-infused metal.
“So you said this one is much better than your first attempt, right Dusk?” He asked, rousing the pony from his stupor to respond. “Well, yeah. I would say that it can handle much more complex arcane usage, as well as the protection from wear on the inscription by a small constant shield spell around the surface. When a pony is wearing that, it is the strongest part of their body, even if they had armor on.”
“Will that impede the touch activation of the spell?” Solaris inquired, taking the band back and rotating it to look for the inscription. His former student rotated it for him to show it on the inside surface, spiraling around the curvature of the metal, before replying. “No, that is more of a proximity thing, which can also be tuned if this is worn in a not as easy to reach area or underneath clothing or something.”
“Good work, it seems you thought of everything.” Artemis praised, nodding his head thoughtfully. “Since this one seems to be complete, can I borrow it to use that… ah… mirror spell we discussed?” he looked over at his brother, not wanting him to know what he was planning because he knew that the teasing would never end.
Dusk quirked an eyebrow, and Artemis gave a slight glance over to his brother, who was still inspecting the artifact. The former student’s eyes widened slightly, before rolling them at the cosmic brothers’ antics. “I hardly think that will be necessary, it wouldn’t be too complicated, I could probably cast it…” He trailed off as he realized that Artemis couldn’t use nearly the level of magic that would be required, at least not until he further healed.
“Sure thing, was that what you were calculating over there?” Dusk changed the subject quickly. “Actually, I was trying to weave the spell with another. I think I could use a little help to inscribe it, but otherwise I will be fine.” Artemis waved a hoof dismissively.
Suddenly, the portal blazed, and out popped a scroll. All eyes in the room suddenly jerked over to the letter, and it quickly came floating over in Artemis’ magical grasp. He shot a glare at his fellow alicorns as they tried to read the letter over his shoulders, and he shooed them away with a flip of his working wing. Solaris chuckled and backed off, while Dusk sighed in exasperation and went over to study the board Artemis had been working on.
Dear Prince Artemis,
Thank you so much for your letter of warning, though it did come a little late. It is not your fault, because I didn’t think to go check my mirror before attempting to archive the amulet. It put forth quite the resistance, but my sister and I managed to get the artifact into the magically nullified vault where it was powerless. Still, your concern is comforting to hear, as it is nice to have somepony looking out for me with such a unique perspective.
In regard to your earlier question, yes I do have a mass produced mirror, which was a gift I received in a white elephant gift exchange last Hearth’s Warming from my niece, Cadance. Since it was just between us four princesses, she picked a rather... pink make-up mirror, which almost was a gag gift in how gaudy it was. Regardless, I still have it in it’s packaging, so here is the item number and batch number.
ITEM ID: 21848563201 BATCH #: 365821
It was made by Mare Image mirror productions in Fillydelphia. It is a rather high quality mirror, and they likely would have sold it by now, but it is worth looking for. I did some calculation, and as long as it is in the same batch, and the company is not considerably different in your dimension, any mirror from that batch should work well for the spell.
In fact, when I showed Twilight Sparkle, the youngest princess in our realm (and the female counterpart to your Prince Dusk Shine), she made the same comment about the ill effects of not using atomically identical mirrors, saying that it would be about 5 minutes per hour of use. I was thinking of sending the mirror to the artificery for inscripting with the scrying spell modification, but since I have no blood or hair of yours that won’t make it veiw me instead, nor do I know if you have the mirror yet, I can’t give them a full set of sigils. Since my artificers are quite efficient, and no doubt yours are as well, I will wait for you to reply with a description of your mirror and location and any other information that could make this any easier.
Write once you are ready, I look forward to seeing you again through this interesting scientific venture. My sister sends her regards to your brother, though I omit her exact phrasing for the sake of maintaining civility and propriety.
Till then,
Princess Luna
Artemis let out a long slow breath, smiling to himself as he read the last few lines. After tracing Luna’s signature with his eyes for the third time, he shook himself and spoke. “Princess Luna says her sister says hi.” He turned to see his brother smile at this, then turned to Dusk who still looked to be a little on edge about the whole Princesses thing. Thinking back to the letter, he summoned a small mirror Dusk had been experimenting on from across the room. He quickly pictured Luna in his mind, concentrated hard on her, then carefully cast the simple scrying spell taught to most unicorns in school. Almost instantly the surface changed from mirrored silver to an image, though it was not what he wanted. All he saw was himself, sitting on the couch in the study lounge, looking into a mirror. He sensed the psychic presence of the observation, and stopped the spell. His horn stung and throbbed slightly from the effort, but he was pleased that he had managed to pull even such a simple spell in its entirety.
“Dusk, can you scry Luna?” He asked his friend, who looked over with a little confusion. “Umm…” “Just try to scry her normally with this mirror.” He floated the small desk mirror over to the confused lavender alicorn.
“You remember how she looked, right?” “You kidding? How could anypony forg… I mean… Yes I do.” He quickly grabbed the mirror at the stern look from Artemis, blushing slightly. He closed his eyes and his horn blazed and the mirror changed to an image, but when he turned it for his friend to look at it, the surface showed the same view of the study lounge with Artemis laying in the middle. “You see? This is why I had to alter the spell. There is no real way to distinguish between the two of you with such a low level spell, and easier than that would just have a mirror scry the surface of itself, but then change it to look only outwards. That way, it couldn’t find its own surface and had to look for a mirror that was doing the same spell, and then it could show the surface of the other copy of the mirror. The mirror is filling all the requirements, as it is showing it’s own surface, not looking at itself, and the spell connects itself.”
“That makes sense, and here I thought you were just trying to show off your admirable prowess with magic.” Artemis said brightly to Dusk, smiling in a genuine way that took even Solaris by surprise. It was refreshing to see how lifted the normally brooding alicorn’s spirits were, and the two other princes looked at each other knowingly with a smile.
“I am just glad your little filly-friend is alright…” Solaris teased, laughing as his little brother rolled his eyes dramatically and kicked a hoof at him. Clearing his throat, Artemis rolled the note up and glanced over at Dusk. “By any chance, do you happen to know if there is a mirror company named Mare Image in Fillydelphia? They have a mirror I would like to purchase.”
Dusk scratched his head, scanning through as many memories as he could bring forth before sighing. “I am not that into doing my hair and fixing my make-up, so I don’t exactly keep up with the beauty care companies in Equestria. You should really be asking Elusive, he might even sell some of their mirrors in his boutique for all I know.”
Solaris summoned a thick folder of official documents, leafing through a few while with a concentrated look on his face. “I think I remember a name like that… I have been going through a lot of the backlog of economic bureaucracy that built up with the new corporate taxes imposed by parliament… Ah! Here we are.” He pulled a sheet out and set the folder down on a desk. “Hmm… That’s odd.”
Artemis got up and looked at the official paper, then huffed in frustration. It was the report of Mare Image mirror production filing for bankruptcy. “Well… That is unfortunate…” was all he could say, his heart sinking as his plan fell apart.
“Wait, hold on! This was last week! They couldn’t maintain profits with the new taxes, and had to increase their prices to the point that they weren’t selling any more! Their sales have been down for months, since before Hearth’s Warming shopping season, even. That could mean that they still have a lot of the mirrors from that batch in stock!” Solaris said in excitement, elbowing his downtrodden brother and smiling at him. “I will have my financial minister alert the local chamber of commerce, and see if the facility and store would allow a royal visit, even after it is closed.”
Artemis widened his eyes at the news, and smiled again as he felt a sense of hope return to him. “No, take me there now. There is no way they would turn us away, and I need to… I want to get back to Princess Luna as soon as possible.”
“Umm, hold on there, Arty. I don’t think surprise visits are all that welcome at closed businesses, even from us. Plus, and I hate to say this, but you look more fit to be touring a hospital room than a factory.” Solaris grimaced in concern, not wanting to offend his brother but also not wanting the public to see so much medical equipment strapped onto their invincible protectors.
Artemis narrowed his eyes, looked himself over, and turned to a nearby chalkboard. He hastily sketched a set of sigils, and picked up the new magical band. “Do you think you could do this?” He asked Dusk, offering the magical band to him with a pleading look. The student recognized the disguise self spell, and quickly erased a couple of the sigils and replaced them with more appropriate ones for this usage.
“This should make you look like your old self again, though you will have to really work hard not to walk funny or bump any metal parts of you into anything or anypony. And the clicking…” He scratched his chin, then added a few more sigils to the end of the string. “A silence spell with an emanation radius of half a meter from your center. That way you can still speak with it is cast, but your torso will make absolutely no noise.”
“That seems perfect. How long will the artificers need?” Artemis asked, only to stop and watch as his friend carefully imprinted the sigils into the material, casting the spell into the marks and sealing the magic in.
“I have spent a little while teaching myself the basics, since I was spending so much time with them. Try it out!” Dusk replied with enthusiasm. Artemis dutifully slid the band up his left hoof, to midway up his leg, below the knee. He reached over and tapped the artifact, and everypony gasped as he shimmered briefly before settling into the exact likeness of his uninjured self. His mane billowed, and though the stars in it didn’t twinkle, it looked quite convincing. His coat was flawless, no scar or bandage visible, his braces and splints were invisible and didn’t click as he turned and twisted to look at himself in his full length mirror. He lifted a hoof and looked under it, only to feel a sharp pain run along his back and he fell into a heap on the floor.
“Yeah. Still injured, just don’t look it.” He said through clenched teeth, trying to get his pinned wing out from under him without flexing the torn muscles in it. He tapped a hoof against his leg, then quirked an eyebrow and tried again. After a few tries, he managed to hit the right part of the band and ended the spell, chuckling to himself. “It is hard to turn this thing off when it is invisible too…”
“Oh, I can fix that!” Dusk said helpfully, before removing the artifact and fine tuning a few sigils. “There, now it is easier to activate and deactivate. Just tap on it or right next to it to toggle your disguise.”
The Lunar Prince did this a few times, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the stark contrast of his mutilated form and the perfect appearance from the spell. In fact, all three ponies felt a little uneasy with the strange transformation that the band caused.
“Alright, in that case, I see no reason not to head out now.” Solaris stated, eager to focus on anything else at that moment. Artemis stood up and the three princes gathered close, a bright light surrounding them as they teleported to Fillydelphia.
When they got their bearings, they found themselves near the river behind a sandwich shop that the brothers had discovered the last time they visited together. Artemis glanced at his reflection in the glass of the shop’s window, and took a deep breath. “Alright, this is the only place I knew well enough to teleport to. I don’t know if we can just ask somepony where the store is or…”
“Penrose and 26th, if they were referring to the store address on the document.” Dusk interrupted, looking at the street signs nearby. His fellow princes looked questioningly at him, and he just shrugged. “I can read fast and remember things like that. It seemed important at the time. Since we are on 20th, and that way is 19th, lets go the opposite direction till we hit 26th. Then we just ask which way to Penrose. Simple.”
The three headed out, causing quite a few double-takes and wide-eyed stares from the ponies they passed. Thankfully, it was not crowded out, and there was little commotion that impeded their progress, until they stood outside the Mare Image store.
“I guess this store is just too girly for most colts to go in, so I can see why their limited clientele wouldn’t want to pay a premium.” Dusk observed as they approached the gaudy facade and knocked on the door. A sweaty, middle aged, and balding colt walked up to the window, his sour expression suggesting he was tired of turning away ponies who couldn't read the closed sign, before he almost jumped in surprise at the sight of three princes standing outside the glass door. He bowed, then opened the door and bowed again, blubbering something about how honored he was to host the royal visitors and apologies for the inconvenience and such, before Solaris stopped him with a hoof.
“We need a particular mirror from your stores, there has been a strange matter come up at the castle, and there is no time to explain.” Solaris said, his steely confidence and commanding presence snapping the colt to attention. “I… uh… so sorry, your highness, but… uh… I was just hired to clean up the place before they sold the property. I moved all the inventory to the store rooms in the back, right next to the entrance to the factory. I can’t sell you anything, and I don’t know anything about the mirrors, so umm…”
The Solar Prince produced a sack from his side and dropped it between them. The colt jumped at the clinking sound it made, and picked it up. When he looked inside, his eyes widened with awe. “Pay the company full market price for it, and keep the rest.”
“But, my lord, this is hundreds of bits! A mirror here won’t cost more than fifty, not even the full length ones!” He stepped reverently out of the way as he was passed by the three princes, Artemis turned around and smiled at him. “Seems like your lucky day, then.” After receiving a clumsy salute, he saluted in kind, carefully using his right hoof so he could reach his brow. “Your assistance of the crowns is appreciated. Continue your work, and don’t let us bother you.”
~~~
After a dozen boxes full of mirrors, Dusk called out to his fellow princes. “Look, here are twenty nine mirrors from batch 365821.” They split up the pile to look through for serial numbers. Artemis blanched at the horrendously gaudy and effeminate mirrors they held. Pink plastic frames twisted in the shapes of flowers on the corners, and the surface had a brushed heart motif.
Solaris was snickering to himself as he read the numbers on the base of each mirror, unable to shake the image of his younger brother carrying one of these around from his mind. Dusk had begun chuckling too as he looked over at how uncomfortable Artemis was with the make-up mirrors. “Oh! Here we go... no wait, off by one.” Solaris said, showing them mirror number 21848563202.
Dusk shrugged, figuring that a mirror that was the next mirror made would be close enough, until Artemis laughed in delight and showed them mirror number 21848563201. “Perfect!” The purple alicorn replied, placing the rest of the mirrors in the box and storing the correct mirror in his saddlebags. “I guess that they are more popular over in their dimension, because they have a higher proportion of females to males. Huh, that must be weird.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. Didn’t you get an issue of playcolt in the white elephant a few months back?” Solaris said, chuckling as Artemis’ cheeks tinted red. He had never been able to live that down after his nephew found out that he was having a child before his uncle had even had a mare-friend.
“Hey, I would have been just as embarrassed if I had gotten it.” Dusk said comfortingly to the blushing prince. “Yeah, well it makes sense for you to still be a virgin, you haven’t had millennia to dip your hoofs in those waters!” Solaris laughed heartily.
“Well, I saw what it did to you last time, and I think I will continue steering clear of melting any ice caps, thank you very much.” Artemis jeered back. His brother sighed dramatically and put a hoof to his forehead. “Brother, you missed out on this one, but there is a rather famous quote that came about in the last millennium. ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’”
~~~
Luna set her book down on her bedspread, adjusting her prone position before summoning forth her mug of hot chocolate. Her eyes scanned through the page as she blew gently on the steaming beverage, before taking a gentle sip. She needed a little break after her trials earlier, and nothing beat sinking her intellectual teeth into a good book. The journal was the accounting of the famous, or rather, infamous trans-dimensional teleportation test at Celestia’s School for gifted unicorns. Several graduate students were granted access to the magical test lab in Canterlot, and were trying to open a portal into another realm. Long story short, the experiment went ary, a crack in space-time was created which sucked in some of the lab equipment before Celestia sealed the fissure with her magic and a strange artifact, which she knew to be one of Father’s heirlooms.
What she was interested in was how the unicorns had went about their set up, and the lengthy calculations that they made. Years of work from a brilliant and hardworking team would most certainly be helpful, and Luna studied the work carefully.
After a few hours of her diligence, her attention was stolen from the book by a flash from her mirror, and another note. She smiled, and jumped out of bed excitedly, setting the book on her nightstand. She trotted over to the note and picked it up, then carefully unrolled it and read. As she took in the update from Artemis, she smiled and clapped her hooves together, giggling in anticipation.
She looked over to her desk, and magically grasped the pink mirror and marker sitting on it. She turned the mirror over, and deftly copied the last few details from the letter onto the back of the mirror with the permanent marker. Checking the template sigils to make sure that the smiths would be able to read and inscribe them, she teleported the mirror with a page of directions to the artificiery.
Calculating her time, she figured that the mirror would be back in an hour or less, so she had to get ready. She gathered several quick reference history books, a few paintings of ponies of interest, such as her sister and the elements of harmony. When she was looking around, she noticed her reflection in her mirror, and immediately went to take a shower. Nothing wrong with looking my best…
~~~
“Apparently, though they followed your directions, the artificers were… heh… a little confused and curious about your request.” Solaris read, looking over the note returned with the mirror. Said mirror was being scrutinized by Artemis, who was checking every line and dot.
“I don’t care for what they say, this is important!” He responded quickly, his heartbeat accelerating as the tension built. “The time doesn’t seem to be off by any considerable margin between our realms, so I will set a time for us to try casting the spell.”
As he said this, the portal glowed and a sheet of paper fell out, causing Dusk to go over and inspect it. “It says that she will begin casting the spell at a quarter past four this afternoon in her time, and continue casting for fifteen minutes. if the mirrors do no connect in that time, she will write again.”
Glancing at a clock, Artemis’ eyes widened. He had only three minutes to get ready, and he hadn’t even had a chance to shower since getting back from Fillydelphia. “I need to get ready! I can’t possibly let her see me like this! I… I…” He frantically looked around the room, and the other two princes simply looked at him. Feeling a bit self-conscious, he looked down at himself, only to see his pristine coat looking cleaner than ever. Confused, he looked over himself with awe as it appeared that he had already showered. “Well, I guess I thought ahead and already did, though I can’t seem to remember showering since our return to save my life… Hmm…”
Now his companions looked to each other with worry in their eyes, and Dusk carefully broached the subject. “You… umm… actually are wearing that magical band… remember? The one I have been working on?” A concerningly long moment stretched in silence, before realization etched on the Lunar Princes face.
“O-Oh…” Artemis absentmindedly tapped his hoof to the opposing foreleg and watched his image peel away. It was actually rather shocking to Solaris and Dusk to see the alarming transformation, and the latter had to hold in a gasp. It was so much easier to look at him in his complete state, that for a moment, looking at the rent remains seemed to be the illusion, and he had just cast the spell rather than cancel it.
“A… a shower might take a little too long… I mean, she won’t be able to smell you from the other side of the mirror, right? Just… uhh… make yourself look presentable real quick and brush your mane out a little, and you will be ready to go.” Solaris quickly changed the subject, trying to interject some fatherly advice to get everypony’s mind off the dilapidated state of his brother.
Artemis shook his head, and tapped the band again. “I would prefer her to see me like this. I look less weak in this condition, and I honestly need all the help I can get for strength.” Shaking out his mane, he flexed his shoulders and felt a snap in his wing, though he didn’t hear the clicking noise that normally would have accompanied it. Good thing the spell works. He thought as he kept a grimace from his features, so his companions wouldn’t know the disconcerting pain running down his back.
“She has already seen you in your state, even worse really! She was there when it happened on the moon, remember?” Dusk pleaded, not pleased with the attitude his friend was demonstrating towards his injuries. Being a little bit self-concious was one thing, this sort of avoidance was unhealthy.
“Well, I needn’t remind her of that. Best to leave that to the past, and put my best hoof forward now that we have such a wonderful opportunity… for science, of course.” Artemis was already sliding on his formal regalia, agitation evident in his demeanor.
Solaris and Dusk watched as He lifted a hoof and twisted to get his chestplate on, but froze mid-action. His face contorted and air hissed from his nose, his concentration breaking and dropping the heavy metal armor to the floor. Solaris rolled his eyes and quickly floated all of the remaining armor into place, waiting patiently for his brother to recover enough to snap the buckles and clasps of his armor on.
“Thank you, now if you will excuse me…” He meaningfully looked at the door of the study room, and opening it for the two stallions to leave. Dusk looked unsure, but Solaris promptly grabbed him and walked out, closing the door behind him.
“But… I don’t… he!” Dusk exclaimed as his former mentor walked him out. “Don’t worry about him, he is just too stubborn to listen to reason right now. Give it a little time, and if this Princess Luna is anything like my Celestia, she will bring him around, and maybe even talk some sense into him.” Solaris smirked, and the two trotted off down the hall.
Glancing at the clock, he prepared his mind to activate the spell. Lighting his horn, he pressed a hoof to the small pink mirror’s inscription and let the arcane process flow. The surface went black as the spell scanned outwards, and after a few minutes, Artemis started to lose hope. He checked the clock, and it was only twenty minutes past, so he had time. As he turned to look back, the mirror blazed to life, and quite an interesting reflection stared back at him.
~~~
“Greetings!” Princess Luna said, smiling that she had succeeded in the magical equivalent of a bull’s-eye on her first shot. “Greetings to you as well!” Artemis replied, his face bearing a matching smile. “What an astounding success!” They both said in chorus.
They both raised matching eyebrows at this, and then began laughing. It was a nice easy laugh, and Luna felt it lighten her mood considerably. The nervousness she had felt while waiting for the spell to connect started to dissipate, and noticed Artemis’ shoulders relax.
“So…”
“So… How do you do, Princess Luna?” Artemis bowed his head, then returned his eyes to meet hers. As Luna was about to reply, Artemis’ expression changed to puzzlement. “Wait, have we been formally introduced? I know we have met before and we have been writing to each other, but I don’t remember properly getting to know you.”
Luna thought about it for a second, before looking at him again. “Does it matter? You know my name, I know yours, and it is not as if we don’t know each other, in a way.” Artemis glanced away at this, embarrassment burning across his face. “Then again, I think I remember doing that back on the moon when… when we last met.” She quickly added, trying to defuse the situation, which had turned awkward faster than she had expected.
“Oh? I don’t really remember that much, so I will take your word for it.” Artemis said, smiling a little for how considerate she was being. Something clicked in Luna’s mind, and she cleared her throat to change the subject.
“Speaking of which, how are you? It seems as if you have recovered quite well since I last saw you!” The stallion’s eyes widened, and there was a bit of a pause before he responded. Scratching the back of his head, he chuckled a little, desperately trying to think of an explanation.
“Yeah, uhh… I was under the care of some of the finest doctors in Equestria here, so… Quick recovery and all.” The prince tried to blow off the matter by nonchalantly waving a hoof as if to dismiss the notion, but found his brace wouldn’t quite allow for that. He glanced at his hoof, which looked like it was pointing at something on the other side of the room, and quickly set it back on the floor.
“Yes, quite…” Luna looked around, and realized she didn’t recognize the room Artemis was standing in. “Where are you? I thought you would be in your room, as I am.”
“Oh, I would, but during the whole… fiasco, Prince Dusk Shine saw it fit to remove my room from the castle. While I know why he acted the way he did, I still can’t help but think that he could have been a little less… enthusiastic.” He chuckled ruefully, thinking of his friend’s antics.
“Well, he certainly could have. In my world, Princess Twilight Sparkle simply put up a magic barrier to contain the room. That is actually the protocol here, and is taught in school to most unicorn students. Is that not the case in your world?”
“No, it is, Dusk just…” Artemis paused as he remembered the story Solaris has told him. “He has a different reaction based on his experience. He can attribute that to his time serving in the force, though that was... before my time.”
“Now that you mention it, why was he in the army? While I was gone, Celestia didn’t even need an army, nor would the gentle soul Twilight ever join it. I would have thought our versions of them to be more similar.”
Artemis sighed, and picked up the mirror. “Let me show you.”
~~~
“And this is where new recruits get their armor measurements. We have an entirely voluntary return policy on armor once they leave the service, but most ponies will donate theirs to be resized for the next draft” Artemis turned the mirror so that Luna could see the bustling line of ponies, almost all stallions, waiting for a small group of ponies with measuring tapes. “Some decide to keep their armor as a keepsake, so we are constantly forging new sets. This demand for iron is why there was a… rather heated conflict with the dragons, no pun intended, when we sent exploration teams into the mountains just this side of Draconia.” Luna giggled at this, fascinated in the tour of the familiar but strangely different Canterlot Castle. “The geological surveys came back with signs of rich ore deposits, but, of course, also thick jewel veins and striated layers of gem formation. These, the dragons defended jealously, and we fought for a few years before coming to peace terms on a seventy percent gem cut. We got the metal, which was useless to them, and they got most of the gems, which we could use, but weren’t terribly necessary.”
“I remember that we just tried to set up negotiations, and after a couple months, we were getting mine permits from the dragons in the very same mountains…” Luna interjected, remembering the incident a vastly different way in her history. “They were aggressive, but we didn’t need to go to war.”
“Well, our first survey team was slaughtered without warning, and they quickly took our dig sites on their mountains as an act of war. We simply returned with force and met them.” Artemis was confused as to how their team had fared so poorly compared to Luna’s. “This is another slight deviation in our timelines that shows our side to be a bit more… violent? Dangerous? I can’t quite put my hoof on it.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully, before quickly blocking Lunas view with his side.
“Artemis? What is going on?” Luna called, before she heard Artemis clear his throat and greet some ponies. “As you were, men. Keep doing Equestria proud!” Loud, booted hoofsteps could be heard as a small troop of infantry marched by the prince. After the noise died down, he brought the mirror back in front of him, his cheeks slightly red.
“Sorry about that, I… didn’t quite know how to explain their prince talking to a pink makeup mirror in the hallway. The new troops don’t need that confusion getting in the way of their training.” Artemis trotted out of the main hallway into a more secluded side passage to continue their conversation.
“Oh, you don’t have to be embarrassed! I think the mirror really compliments your coat… because that is what it does for mine.” Luna giggled again, reveling in the discomfort she was causing her male self. She went up to a mirror and turned the mirror so he could see her pose and show off the pink compact.
After a few moments, Artemis found his tongue and replied. “Your right, you really do look good with that mirror.” It was Luna’s turn to blush, not expecting the compliment from her tongue tied contact. “I mean… the colors work well on you… I just don’t try for that, uhh, girly chic normally.” He chuckled awkwardly, posing himself with the mirror in the same way, and doing quite a good impression of Luna at the same time.
Luna laughed at the spectacle she saw, enjoying the aesthetic dissonance between the well built and tough looking prince, and the effeminate mirror and pose he was attempting. After a few moments, both ponies were at a loss for words. “Anyways…” They both said in sync, grinning as the bizarre coincidence occurred again for the tenth or fifteenth time.
“Hmm, I have an idea. rather than see what is different about our worlds, why don’t we see how similar we are.” Luna suggested. “I mean, they are.” Artemis nodded thoughtfully for a moment, before smiling. “No, actually, let’s see how similar we are. That could highlight some of the key differences and similarities between our worlds, since we are integral parts of each. Perhaps a word reaction, like saying the first word that comes to your head when I say a word.”
“Alright, should we write this down? I have a feeling that we may influence each other slightly when we say our words. Perhaps bring up a memory that we both have, but for you a different memory would have a bigger impact if I hadn’t said mine. Do you know what I mean?” Luna ran through several scenarios in her head.
“I know exactly what you mean. Let me get back to my room and grab a quill and some paper.” Artemis said as he quickly trotted off towards the night wing of the castle. After a few steps in silence, Luna piped up, a little worry evident in her tone.
“Your room? You mean the study room?” She could tell where he was heading from the hallways he took, and his destination was certainly his private chambers, but she asked anyways to see what he was thinking. He immediately stopped, looking around as if he was lost. This was not what Luna wanted to see.
“Oh… uh… force of habit, I guess. Right, to the study room.” Artemis said belatedly, doing a quick about face and heading off in the opposite direction. Neither pony spoke as he made his way down hallway after hallway, navigating the maze that was Canterlot Castle proper.
“Wouldn’t it be quicker to just teleport?” “No… I, umm… Don’t want to lose the mirror in the process, that could sever the link.” Then how about you fly across the courtyard, that is a quicker path.” “I think they are being used for drill right now, I don’t want to interrupt them.”
Luna grew more and more concerned as Artemis avoided each question, twisted his answers, seemingly trying to avoid speaking about something. While he trotted the rest of the way, she pulled out paper and mulled over some words to use in their exercise that might help her identify what was bothering him so much.
“Here we are. I am sure I will be able to find some paper around here somewhere.” Artemis glanced around the room before his eyes alit on the chalkboards in the room, detailing the designs for the band he was wearing. “Actually, the room I am staying in has a nice writing desk. I will go there instead.” He trotted back out and down the hall to the guest quarters he was using, and lit the lamps inside. He was relieved when he saw that his bed was made and covers were clean, his writing desk was tidy and the trash was taken out. Have to remember to thank the maids, they were early today.
“This is one of Celes… I guess Solaris’ guest chambers. That was… nice of him to let you use it?” Luna commented, ending her statement as a question to see if Artemis saw it that way. To be confined to anything less than royal quarters was completely below him, and she knew it, but this was just an intermittent arrangement.
“I appreciate what my brother has done for me in this… time of trouble. His hospitality and support really has been welcome after so many… less than optimal things occurred.” Artemis had a tightness in his voice that Luna recognized to be the same strain she had when talking about her sister’s… well, sisterliness.
Artemis floated the mirror over to the desk and set it there, gathering his writing supplies as Luna looked on. He gingerly focused on one item at a time, demonstrating an attentive and careful demeanor that struck Luna as odd.
After a few studious moments, they faced each other, quills floating and ready, and began thinking of questions to ask.
“Do you know the speed of light?” Luna asked, tapping her quill to her chin thoughtfully, and in the process leaving a small dark spot of ink. Not noticing this, Artemis mimicked the action, tapping his quill as he pondered the question.
“If I told you, would I have to explain the frame of measurement? I am pretty sure that we won't be able to distinguish with arbitrary units I invited in the dawning of the scientific era.” Artemis looked back at Luna, and grinned at the ink spot. Then, his eyes widened, and he touched his own chin, causing his female reflection to giggle.
“I guess you are right, and I doubt that fundamental concepts like the rate at which causality functions will be different. I mean, we speak the same language, and our spells were compatible, which means our dimensions must be compatible to a very extensive degree.” Luna was still grinning as she said this, and Artemis smiled back at her impeccable deduction.
“Well then… I guess that just leaves politics and society. I believe you have already seen some differences between our worlds, as your questions and insights have demonstrated. In fact, the very nature of our previous meeting was due to a slight misalignment between the realms. Since we did not meet at the same time on the moon, things went downhill and…” Artemis lifted his left wing, attempting to let his injuries make his point for him. Luna's curious expression prompted him to look back and take in the sight of his side, looking as good as new and free of any blemish.
He felt as if the cogs in his mind were missing a few teeth as the discomfort he felt was not reflected in the body he saw. After a few moments of starting, Luna cleared her throat nervously. “Are you alright?”
Then it clicked, he recognized the cold press of the band on his coat, and realization flooded uncomfortably back to him. These lapses were taking their toll as panic and fear wrestled with anger just below his skin, making it that much more difficult to turn calmly back to Luna and shrug nonchalantly. “I am fine. I just… it didn’t end well.”
Luna nodded gravely, her earlier concern growing in the back of her mind. There was something wrong with her male half, and he was trying to hide it in a way that she knew all too well.
“No. Are you alright? ” She asked, emphasizing the word with a serious look. Artemis looked startled at the sudden question, not really thinking he was all that bad of a liar. After a few moments of silence, he sighed and shook his head.
“I have lived a thousand years with the burden of the Daemon, but no matter how terrible he was, I would always fight to contain him. Even when he controlled me, I would fight. But I didn't even know he was there this time, and he was able to control me without contest, use me almost as if he was manifest…” Artemis trembled slightly, matched by Luna's shudder at the memory.
“I know just what you mean. I guess we just have to be glad that we didn't do anything irreversible while we were… influenced. I do have to apologize to prince Blueblood, I didn't know he was so scared of spiders.” Artemis gave her a puzzled look, easily recognizing the name as the male equivalent of his niece.
“You did that too? In my world, my niece Bluebelle came to me, complaining as usual, and I gave her the psychic image of spiders.” He chuckled sheepishly, grimacing at how mean the act was in hindsight.
“Yes, I did the very same thing! That is almost beyond probability… unless there is some sort of cosmic force keeping our worlds parallel. I am not too superstitious, knowing all that I do, but there are too many coincidences to attribute to anything but… fate?” Luna and Artemis looked thoughtfully at each other.
“I have no better explanation. That would make sense, maybe that there are some points of dimensional convergence that reunite our worlds, and who knows, maybe others. The frequency of these points would dictate the similarity of two worlds, and in our case we hit them often. I can imagine no other scenario in which we would both pick something as arbitrary as spiders, and what, have the same outcome in the war with dragons.” Artemis nodded to himself as his theory formed.
On the exact same train of thought, Luna nodded in time with him, until she realized that he had just changed the subject on her. “That is fascinating, and something to discuss further, but not now. I am concerned about your well being, since your fight with the daemon was much more violent than mine.”
“Yours? You battled Him? You said the amulet gave you trouble, but I didn't think much of it. What happened?” Artemis had a concerned look at this, and Luna had conflicting feelings on how much she should worry him.
“When I took the artifact to the vault, it acted as if it had a mind of its own, struggling against me, and almost allowing for Nightmare Moon to manifest. My sister was there and I had a couple guards around, so I was assisted and we banished the Daemon before She could do anything.” She tried to keep a nonchalant and even tone while describing it, just so that her male half wouldn't be bothered by the story.
“That sounds terrible! I thought that it wasn't serious! I should have been there to… hmm. That brings up a different problem, that I can't reach you in any way except this and letters.” Artemis frowned, running into the same issue they already were having trouble with.
“Do not blame yourself pointlessly, it is in the past and I wasn't hurt or anything. All we can do now is think of the future. You had a much more serious encounter, and I can recognize when you are hurting because it is the same way I would hide it. You may have wanted to meet me because of how similar we are, but you will have to deal with the fact that I think the same way you do, and I am going to help you whether you want me to or not.” Luna tried to channel the most nurturing and motherly side of Celestia, and it had its desired effect. Artemis bowed his head, solemnly nodding like a scolded child. I guess she does know what she is doing, some of the time, at least.
Artemis’ stomach turned, the spell hiding his injuries feeling more like a lie under her scrutiny. He felt comforted that she cared, but was still unwilling to look as weak as he felt, at least not in front of her. “Sorry, Luna. I should have known that you would take as little nonsense as I. Perhaps I would feel more comfortable discussing this in person…” He left the end of his statement as almost a question, butterflies fleeting slightly in his stomach the prospect.
A similar effect was caused in Luna, who hid a shy smile behind a cough. I could probably get through to him better that way… how hard could it be?
“If you feel that way, I suppose we should work towards a method of meeting.” Artemis grinned unabashedly at this, an almost foal-like excitement painting across his features. He quickly pulled out writing supplies and looked through the mirror. Luna couldn’t help but flash a smile back as she summoned a chalkboard to her room and stood up.
Science! The two lunar alicorns thought in unison, chalk meeting board as quill met parchment.
“It is not a date! We are just… meeting to discuss the new scientific phenomenon that was created by our meeting.” Luna glared indignantly at Twilight, a variety of dresses swirling around the duo.
“You said that already, but why else would you ask for my help in picking out your dress?” Twilight smirked as she stroked one of the fine gowns appreciatively. The Lunar Aspect wasn't making a very convincing case for herself, and her nervous energy was quite entertaining for the younger princess.
“I just… always… it is proper to look one’s best when meeting with foreign dignitaries. This is no exception, no matter how unprecedented this interaction of nations might be.” Luna huffed and busied herself inspecting her choices of garments.
“Well, I can't seem to imagine Artemis showing up in a dress, so you…” “You know what, fine! I will forgo the dress, just so you and sister will let me hear the end of all this nonsense.” Luna snapped at her, making Twilight recoil slightly at the reaction.
“Sorry, I was just picking on you.” Twilight said gently, earning a remorseful grimace from Luna. “No, it's alright, a lot has been going on, and I think I need a break.” The two princesses shared a supportive smile and Twilight hugged Luna with a wing.
~~~
“It is not a date! We are just… meeting to discuss the new scientific phenomenon that was created by our meeting.” Artemis glared indignantly at Dusk, examining the sets of armor on the stands in the armory.
“Mmmhmm… Still sounds like a date to me.” Dusk muttered sarcastically, earning a sideways glare from Artemis. “Whatever the case, I guess you will still be dressed in your formal wear, so why are we here?” He glanced over the stands in front of them, each holding a different set of Lunar Prince-sized armour.
“Well, I was actually going to ask you about that. Wouldn’t it… send the wrong message to dress like I was going to the Gala when I am just meeting up for these strictly scientific purposes? I mean, I don’t want to presume too much, and on our first da… encounter, I don’t want to come off as if I had something more on my… Oh stop it!” Artemis swatted the younger prince who was snickering behind a hoof.
“Hey, it is pretty funny watching you and your brother get flustered. It makes me feel better about my overreactions when you can’t even get dressed for a date without breaking out in a nervous sweat.” He laughed as Artemis busied himself in an obvious attempt to get him to stop talking. “I mean, it’s not like she will care, right? She kinda is you, so you could show up in a dress and she wouldn’t mind.”
He continued to laugh at this mental image, until he had to quickly leap forward to support his fellow prince, a heavy piece of armour hanging awkwardly on his side. “I guess I can’t quite use my magic like I would want… Stop laughing!” Artemis shrugged the plate off of himself and glared incredulously at Dusk, who was still chuckling uncontrollably.
“I got the giggles, sorry!” Dusk tried to assist, but he kept wiping tears from his eyes as he laughed, overcome by the ridiculousness of the situation. Artemis’ glare mellowed at his friend’s joviality, and soon he was laughing too.
“But I am not wearing a dress. That is right out.”
~~~
Luna watched as her reflection shifted from hoof to hoof nervously, not quite wanting to cast the portal spell to activate her mirror yet. She had forgone a dress, but had opted instead for her regalia and a layer of makeup that wasn’t as subtle as she would normally go for, but was encouraged by Twilight to try.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and lit her horn. When she reopened her eyes, the blazing portal was opened,and she stepped through. Her hoof then met the lunar regolith, and the perfectly black sky seemed to almost spin around her, the tiny dots of her stars wildly denying her any frame of reference. The travel was always this jarring, but that didn’t bother Luna. She actually took a slight comfort in the familiar sensation.
She then looked around, and as far as she could tell on the vast white horizon, she was alone. Hmm, I always thought that I would be more punctual than this as a stallion. Dusting off a flat stretch of ground, she sat to wait.
~~~
Artemis adjusted the now-grey band he was wearing, and nodded appreciatively to Dusk, as he cast the portal spell for him. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tapped the band. He felt the magic crawl across his skin, and when he opened his eyes, he caught a quick glimpse of his reflection before the mirror burst into magical flames. He stepped through, but was washed with panic as his hoof failed to stabilize him on the lunar regolith. The sky spun, and Artemis’ eyes fleeted about wildly in the star speckled void overhead. He fell forward, landing dizzily in a cloud of white dust.
After a few deep breaths, the Lunar Prince peeked around himself, relieved when he saw nopony else was there. Good thing she isn’t as punctual as I am, that would have been most embarrassing.
Standing up with a little difficulty, he dusted himself off and began scouring the flat white expanse for any sign of his female counterpart. Not immediately seeing her, Artemis started walking, slightly curving to the left, as he knew the most efficient way to search a sphere (or oblate spheroid) would be on a spiraling path. Given that he could hear a bit better to his right recently, he decided to put his good side outwards, and keeping his left side towards the inner side of the loop, in the direction of already searched ground.
~~~
Luna twitched slightly as she tried to figure out which direction that burst of magic had come from. Good thing she had been focused and attentive, otherwise she would have missed the subtle signs of magic use. Now the only problem was that she couldn't tell what direction the pulse had come from.
It almost seems to have come from all directions equally… but I don't see how that could… suddenly, she understood what was going on and charged a teleportation spell.
It shouldn't have taken me that long to remember that “everything is south of the north pole”, though in this case, it applies to any point on a globe and its antipode.
In a brilliant flash of white light, Luna departed, teleporting to the exact opposite side of the moon.
~~~
Artemis’ head jerked quickly over his shoulder at the magic he felt off to his left side. Right where he had first arrived, a flash of magic heralded the arrival of Princess Luna. Looking truly divine as she set hoof on the surface, Artemis felt an unfamiliar sensation overcome him, and he bowed in respect. The action was old and practiced, but since his parent’s departure, he hadn’t truly encountered a being that demanded his reverence such as Luna clearly did. She looked beyond beautiful and emanated a gentle grace that would doubtlessly be the envy of any mortal mare in her presence.
There was something about her that comforted Artemis, but still his heart raced in excitement and even fear. Straightening up, he strode forward as confidently and evenly as he could manage, trying to ignore the clicking and popping he felt and assured himself that they would not be heard.
Luna’s eyes cast about until they alighted upon Artemis and she couldn’t help but smile. Actually meeting face to face cleared some of her concern, as he was recovering quite well in her eyes, showing no sign of injury or lasting effects of their last encounter. Through the mirror, she couldn’t quite tell the condition of her male version, but in person he didn’t at all resemble the twisted form she had seen last time she had been on the moon.
Her pleasant mood tinted slightly as she noticed that he looked almost too recovered. Is the magic in his world much more advanced than mine? He doesn’t even have a scar from the crystal… She noticed that he was walking in a stiff manner that set off warnings in her head. Taking a deep breath, her heart rate slowed from its frantic pace, and she stepped forward to greet him, with slight trepidation in the back of her mind.
“It is wonderful to see you again, Princess Luna of Equestria. I am… you know who I am.” Artemis said, trailing off a bit from his formal greeting as he ran out of familiar territory. “I guess I don’t need to go through introductions, So, um… Hello.” He smiled a bit and extended a hoof towards her.
Luna, for her part, had a slight urge to hug him, but decided to stay to the safe path and just shake his hoof. “Hi there, it is great seeing you again. You are looking wonderful. I mean, um, your recovery is working wonderfully. Or I, uh, is it?” She cleared her throat and started again. “How is your recovery going? That is what I meant.”
Artemis let out an awkward chuckle, very purposefully holding his limbs still so they wouldn’t give away his ruse. “The medical ponies at Canterlot castle are without peer, and their methods are magical wonders of science. I have also enlisted the help of my brother and his former pupil, because their alicorn magic is strong enough to overcome just about anything. A few scratches here, a bruise or two there, easy pickings for the highly trained.” A lie is easier to tell if it holds some truth.
Luna narrowed her eyes slightly. “Your injuries were more than just scratches and bruises, and you know it. I was there, remember?” She added a brief laugh to the end of her statement to try and make it sound less harsh, but her counterpart's behavior was rubbing her the wrong way. He mumbled something vaguely defensive, chuckling after the words “alicorn resilience” and he turned a bit to his left.
An awkward silence reigned, and the two ponies looked up to the beautiful shadowed face of Equestria below them. Artemis shifted a little, but froze when he saw Luna glance at him suspiciously. She is on to me… I have to change the subject, get her thinking about something else. He knew deep down that he couldn’t keep this up, but still a frantic and confused voice persisted, urging him to maintain the illusion for some reason.
“I still can't figure out what is happening with my- our moon.” Artemis stated, breaking the silence. Luna raised an eyebrow, and he continued, “Dusk, Solaris, and I have spent all this time almost constantly trying to understand how we can meet here, and why this moon is over both of our Equestrias. All we have found so far has pointed to a merging of both moons, but...” He shook his head, his thoughts wrestling with the confusion and embarrassment at not solving this riddle already.
“Twilight, Celestia, and I have been coming to similar conclusions, and all three of our group have been able to coherently think for more than just the past few days.” Luna said, smirking as Artemis opened his mouth to respond, and pressed a hoof to his lips to halt him. “So that means you are likely correct.” He smiled and dipped his head, and Luna removed her hoof, trying to make the brushing of her hoof against his cheek and down the side of his neck seem accidental.
“I guess with all that magic and the mirrors, we just made them...” Artemis started, nodding to himself. Luna locked eyes with him and nodded at the same time, joining him and finishing his thought in unison. “...One Moon.” The two alicorns blushed and looked away from each other, and both felt their heart rate quicken.
“Why don’t we take a seat? I am sure there is much we can discuss.” He used a hoof to begin idly dusting off an area. Luna internally shrugged and summoned forth a small chair from her room back in Equestria. The Lunar Prince’s eyes widened slightly, just enough for Luna to notice. “Well, I don’t plan on sitting on the ground this entire time, do you?” She asked, hiding her suspicion under a light laugh.
Artemis was at a loss. He couldn’t very well explain that he didn’t posses the ability to use advanced magic like that yet. At the same time, though, he was not going to sit on the ground and look up for their entire conversation.
“I… well, I don’t exactly have any furniture left. You see, my room was relocated, and I couldn’t even guess where my version of that exact chair would have ended up. You wouldn’t happen to have its mate sitting across the desk from it?” Artemis quickly covered for himself, recalling the former layout of his room.
“I actually do, now that you mention it. I am amazed at how similar our worlds are, even the chairs in my room reflect yours.” Luna felt conflicted at this. She was concerned about Artemis, finally understanding the motherly drive that Celestia always showed over her throughout the eons, but also realized this and wanted to leave him alone. And of course, she had to overcome her body's natural curiosity about such a strikingly attractive stallion being in such close proximity.
Clearing her throat, she decided to drop it, like she wished her sister would do sometimes, and summoned the matching chair from her room. If he feels like it, he will tell me.
“Thank you, I am still not fond of standing for all that long.” Artemis smiled, and Luna nodded graciously. Taking a seat, the prince found himself at a loss for words yet again. Luna quirked an eyebrow at him, and he looked back to realize that his left wing hadn’t folded quite right, and was sticking out at a bizarre angle. He chuckled nervously as he used a hoof to engage the hinges in his unseen braces, but he could tell that his female counterpart was beginning to see through his deception.
Should I just tell her? I know she is at least as clever as I am, but this spell should be to hide my broken form perfectly. Dusk gave it the all clear, and he is better versed in interpersonal relationships than I, and it could be argued magic as well. I just have to trust him.
Luna cleared her throat after the silence had stretched, and Artemis bolted back to attention. “Lovely view, eh? What do you think we would see if we could view the ground from here? Or whom, rather; your subjects or mine?” He posed the question quickly, and though Luna was getting concerned, she also found this to be an intriguing question.
“Well, I can see the Canterlot mountain range, which I personally… umm.. I guess your world has that as well, doesn’t it?” Artemis nodded thoughtfully in response, and the princess tapped a slippered hoof to her chin. “I could fetch my telescope, though I know that isn’t very good for detail. I don’t suppose that we will see our own world in turn, like when we use the mirror portal… I mean, there is a certain amount of light hitting your eyes, and I can see the reflection of an image that matches what I see.” She leaned closer to him, and the prince suddenly realized that the chairs they were sitting in were quite close indeed. She gave him a soul searching look, which Artemis tried to play off as her examining the reflection of Equestrian, but there was something about her piercing gaze that struck a chord in him. He leaned in without thinking, until a hoof couldn’t fit between their snouts, and the two near-mirror images grappled with the truly intense experience. Logical puzzles petered to a halt in the background of both their minds, and they were lost in eyes they had seen daily before, but this time looked new.
Both jolted back to awareness at the same time, and quickly turned to hide matching blushes. The two were falling back into mirroring each other's’ actions, and both wondered what could be the cause. In order to break the cycle, Luna summoned her telescope and quickly stood up, her suspicion that Artemis wouldn’t follow suit confirmed as he grunted slightly but did not rise with her. Pretending not to notice, she stepped forward and peered down the looking glass at the broad face of Equestria below them.
“I can’t see anypony, but I do… no, there is no reason you wouldn’t have the castle in the Everfree as well… And Canterlot castle looks… hold on, what is that?” Without removing her eye from the tube, she gestured for Artemis to approach. “That is where the research wing would be, but the barracks look to be overtaking the entire west wing. This is definitely your world, which means that it takes from the most recent transit. You made it here after me, and so your portal...connected your world to the moon… Unless… no, there are not two Equestrias in the sky...right?”
Artemis grinned to himself as his companion teleported away excitedly, giddy as a first year attendant of Solaris’ school for gifted unicorns. He was excited by this new discovery as well, but couldn’t manage to bring up the will to get up from the rather comfortable seat, and decided to stay put in favor of relative comfort instead of pain.
A bright flash, and Luna trotted up to the seated stallion. “No, the other pole does not face towards my Equestria… though it is difficult to get a sense of direction when teleporting around of the uniform and pretty unremarkable stretches out here. How about we both scry each other again, and fly in opposite directions until we can’t see each other. I know it won’t be that reliable, since I can’t fly in a straight line up here to save my life.”
“I can’t either, but that would make coming back here that much more difficult, and meeting twice, no, exponentially more difficult. Let’s just stick together for now, why don’t you have a seat?” He indicated the seat next to him hopefully, but the princess was too energetic to sit around.
“No way! Come on, let’s go explore! I have never had anypony to do this with!” She reached down to him and grabbed his left foreleg to pull him up. Her hoof clicked when she tried to clutch him midway past his hoof, and Artemis’ eyes shot wide. Luna gasped,and stepped back in horror as the image of the prince peeled away. Her first instinct was that her male counterpart was just a changeling, but the magic slid slowly, not bursting like flames, and beneath was something arguably worse than a black insectoid body.
His coat was matted with blood, as was his non-ethereal mane. Raw cuts ran along the side of his head, and stitches glistened in his flesh in far too many places. His stiff movements earlier made sense now, with the large mechanical frames on half his limbs, and the large white bandage on his abdomen was a dark red-brown in the center. Luna’s skin crawled at the irregular bumps and ridges of splintered bones under his skin, and shuddered at the metal pins stuck completely through parts of his injured frame.
“It’s not what it looks like! Well, it is, and it isn’t what it used to look like, but… uh… I can explain.” Artemis stumbled forward to comfort Luna, but she recoiled at the sight of his joints rolling, stitches straining, coat snagging. This was much more similar to the state he was in the last time she had seen him, and even though this appearance made more sense, the sudden reveal shocked her.
“I am healing as well as the doctors could hope, and there was no reason to go around looking like… this…” Luna heard the self-consciousness she was so used to feeling, but in his quavering voice. “So I had Dusk help me whip up a little… image protection for the head of state that should never be seen as anything less than invulnerable. I knew that my subjects wouldn’t feel safe as long as I looked like this.” He tapped the band now visible on his scraped leg, and shivered as his visage corrected.
“No! I knew you were hiding something, but I didn’t know… You don’t have to hide anything from me.” Luna touched the band again, stopping the spell, all the while locking eyes with Artemis. She stepped in and extended a wing comfortingly over his back, gingerly avoiding his injuries as best she could. “I am not like other ponies, and I am most certainly not your subject. Do not think the burden of maintaining an image solely rests on you, I too know the embarrassment of the public’s ever scrutinizing eye. When you are with me, you needn’t be prince nor lord. Just Artemis.” She flashed him a smile with all the comfort and warmth she could muster.
Artemis’ heart raced at her touch, her proximity giving him jitters, her perfume tickling his nose. The ages past alone suddenly felt empty compared to this level of companionship, this feeling, this warmth. He swallowed hard to force back a tear, and nuzzled into Luna’s neck with an unrestrained need.
Luna blushed and returned the affection, feeling her heart rate pick up as she was overcome by a sense of connection with the stallion. While he wasn’t nearly as easy on the eyes as when he had his magic working, the scars barely took away from his handsome looks, almost giving them a rugged edge that pumped her blood a little harder.
After a few moments, a previously unheard clicking noise filled the air, and Artemis groaned in pain. Thinking quickly, Luna summoned cushions and pillows from her room, and guided her injured counterpart to a prone position that better supported his various mechanically bound appendages. He smiled at her gratefully, and the two began speaking softly as tears spilled forth from both.
~~~
“No, no, really he said that! And I tell you, the look on Dusk's face was priceless. I mean, he was a prince now, but since he had spent so long serving under my brother's command, he took it as an order. The colts down in Ponyville didn't know how to stop him, and by the time they put the fires out, Spines’ birthday was ruined, poor girl.” Artemis let out a great laugh, accompanied by the much higher pitched but equally fervent giggle of Luna. Neither had a clue how long it had been, but they were equally oblivious to any other care in the world. Such strong and fast had the two alicorns bonded that they were now laughing at old stories like long time friends.
Artemis looked to his companion, and felt a burst of gratitude and affection for the beautiful mare next to him. Rising stiffly to his hooves and clearing his throat, Luna quickly rose to match him. In a rather impressive show of flexibility and effort, the stallion offered a deep and humble bow to the now blushing mare. “I cannot express in words how much fun I have had, and I wish I could thank you properly for the wonderful time you have treated me to.” A chaste kiss was planted on Luna's crystal slipper, and her blush deepened. A roguelike grin played across the prince’s face as he straightened, and even Luna could feel the tension in the air. “Perhaps… I do know a great place in Canterlot that still serves pancakes at this hour. Doubtless you know of the Greasy Griddle? It may be a little… humble for our likes, but nopony told me a dive like that could cook better than the royal kitchens.”
“You don’t need to introduce me there, they have seen me many a time, and will give free pancakes at our request. My favorite is probably yours as well. The dark chocolate ones?” Both alicorns smiled in revere, until Luna quirked her head. “Won’t that cause a bit of a scene, though? It is cause for some commotion when even one royal visits the backstreets of the capital, I couldn’t imagine the commotion the two of us would make.”
At this, Artemis flashed a smile and tapped his magical band, then again. “Why go as us, then?” Luna smiled mischievously in response, and huddles close for a conspiratorial whisper. “Go incognito? I don’t have a band like that one, but I could probably cast a spell like it.”
“This spell in the band is formulated for maximum accuracy, down to the mane. You would have to hide the magic in that too, for you at least, but I think a simple disguise spell will have to work for both of us, despite how much I love your mane.” He offered a coy smile and flipped a hoof at her billowing ethereal hair, earning a barking laugh from the mare.
“I guess that could be taken as just stroking your own ego, but I chose to take it as a compliment.” She stuck out her tongue at him and they both laughed. Luna opened her magical portal, and stepped through, offering a hoof back to help her injured companion. However, when she looked back, she saw that his leg ended abruptly at the surface of the portal, and Artemis’ face was screwed into an uncomfortable grimace. He had watched her step through into the scene he saw on the other side of the portal, but the portion of the princess that was beyond the portal was completely gone from view.
Luna stepped back through, trying to shake the memory of the sharp edge of flesh she felt from his leg at the portals surface. It was wrong in a way that was hard to quantify, but she chalked that up to the fact that there are no perfectly flat surfaces or sharp corners on a pony’s body normally, and such an abnormality wasn’t natural. The two locked eyes, a dip in their spirits palpable as they remembered this new obstacle.
“I guess I forgot that we still can't do that…” Luna said with a sigh. She kicked at the ground with a hoof, frustration playing out across her face as she yet again tried to come up with a solution. Artemis stepped away from the portal and sat down in contemplation.
“Well, technically, I probably won't die if I tried the same spell I used to send you letters. It isn't quite quantum teleportation, since even though I will get sent through two diverging paths, all of my original atoms will end up back together on the other side. It is more like a stream forking into two and rejoining. Same stream out as came in.” Artemis gave a strained smile to try and make the possibility seem more palatable.
“I would not take that chance unless I could be certain you will be alright afterwards.” Luna looked concerned, but both alicorns wanted some way, any way, to get past the ever-growing obstacle.
Artemis mumbled something along the lines of “Can't come out alright if you don't go in alright...” but stopped short at the look he received. After a mutual sigh, the pair settled into a thoughtful silence, puzzling through the conundrum.
“What if I send a lab rat through and see if he survives?” Artemis asked. Luna nodded, then added “He could survive but not function the same. The brain could get all rearranged.”
The two began thinking aloud,answering their own and each other's questions as they both thought of them.“Maybe a mind reading spell before and after?” “Ehh, what does a rat think about, and how could we check for consistency?” “Well, the only way around this would be using a sentient test subject, so why not me?”
Luna was at a loss at this, she knew he was right, because they were not going to find a more willing pony than Artemis, and neither could ask such a risk of anypony they knew. Still, though, something held her back.
“Maybe we use a lab rat first, then try with you. Just to be safe.” Artemis looked into her eyes, and saw the same worry he felt.
“Alright, I'll get one from the castle, my brother and Dusk are waiting at the mirror and can fetch one.” He turned and lit his horn, before a fizzling sound reminded him of his current ability with magic. Smiling sheepishly, he turned to look at Luna, who at the point was already summoning a portal for him. She giggled and shook her head as he thanked her and went through the swirling opening.
~~~
Artemis stood in front of his mirror staring at the strange sight that had awaited his return. Solaris and Dusk were both still in the room, but they were now standing on their forehooves, wings extended behind them. Straining their hindlegs, a heavy block was being held above their vertical form. This was not a usual stance for a pony, and from the red colouration and sweat of the two princes’ faces, it was apparently not a comfortable one either.
“Okay, honestly, this isn't even close to the weirdest thing you've caught me doing.” Was the immediate response from Solaris, as Dusk settled for just a forced smile. Both alicorns were fidgeting their wings in an almost frantic attempt of staying balanced, and their horns were lit and cast an aura around the large brick they were holding.
“That looks rather strenuous, why don't you take a break? Wouldn't want one of you to get hurt…” Artemis said with a sarcastic roll of his eyes.
“We are doing this on purpose, and you interrupted a very interesting story that Dusk was telling. Go ahead and keep going.” His brother responded in an offended tone and nodded to his former pupil.
“I… uhh… if it's alright with you, Artemis…” The youngest prince trailed off, not wanting to get between the two brothers.
Artemis sighed and nodded. “Now you have gotten me curious. Go on.”
“So Applejack was leaning against a wall with a full bale of hay on his hooves like this, claiming that a pushup, like… this…” Dusk grunted and lowered himself to the ground with his forelegs, wings flapping slightly to account for the movement. “... would be the perfect full body workout with load and pressure on every major muscle group. Then Blitz said the wouldn't work for him, since it wouldn't work out wings. I think he just said that because he knew that he could never lift a hay bale over his head normally, and going into a pose like this would highlight the fact that he can't stack up in brute strength with AJ.”
“This is a pretty good extension of the workout for us winged types, though I am hardly putting pressure on them, mainly just flexing them.” Solaris flapped his wings slightly to prove his point.
“No, this isn't what I was talking about, Rainbow actually thought of this one when AJ challenged him. I will admit, this could have been a great exercise to use when I first got my wings, it really works on dexterity and subtle movements that are critical to flying. That is of course why Blitz would think of it, he is all about nimble and quick motion. I proposed an alternative,” Dusk grunted as he leaned backwards slightly, falling a bit before he caught himself on the tips of his wings. Mirroring his motion, Solaris’ face went slightly more red with exertion as well.
“This position is for strength. The hay bales replaced with a block of something heavy, and magic can adjust the force down on it while dipping into these.” The youngest prince strained as he lowered his body down with a bend at the knee and wing, and Artemis got an appreciation for the actual validity of this form. Truly, a strenuous motion would be quite… wait, I am forgetting something…
Artemis shook his head and glanced around a bit before his eyes lit up with realization. “Dusk, while I can appreciate a good form as well as the next colt, I need some help rather urgently.” At the sudden call of his name, the young stallion lost his concentration, and wobbled slightly. Solaris’ eyes widened as a heavy brick perched on his former student’s hooves began to fall, and caught it quickly with his magic.
“Sorry about that, but it is rude to leave a lady in waiting…” Artemis began walking towards his friends as they righted themselves. “Alright, I need a lab rat and both of your help. I am going through this portal to her world tonight!” His announcement had a level of gravity that couldn't be undercut by his goofy grin, and the other two princes raised their eyebrows at this sudden proclamation.
“I'm actually kinda surprised you found a solution to this problem, not to say I'm not happy for you, of course. You mean a pony willing to be experimented upon, or an actual rat?” Dusk asked, smiling slightly at the high spirits of his friend.
“I will answer that for him, since this whole mirror experience reeks danger.” Solaris’ magic flared, and a large white mouse appeared in a cage on the floor next to the mirror. “Just try to get this back to the academy once you are done; they don't grow on trees, you know.”
Artemis summoned his small pink mirror and activated its sigils. After a few moments, the three princes could see three princesses in the mirror, all looking with mixtures of excitement and curiosity. This immediately got six different reactions (or perhaps three, if grouped): Solaris and Celestia smiled at each other, their gazes making their younger siblings nervous. Then, Artemis and Luna shyly glanced at each other, which caused Dusk and Twilight to smile to themselves.
Then the two youngest saw each other. Directly. Looked each other in the eyes. For the first time.
~~~
“I guess they just couldn't take it.” Solaris said as he gently prodded the unconscious prince lying next to him.
“Poor thing fainted just from seeing her male self. I admit it almost happened to me the first time…” Celestia said as she stroked Twilight's mane gently, and gave a completely unsubtle wink to Solaris. At this the younger siblings groaned and shook their heads in unison.
“So… shall we continue without them? I know Twilight would want to see this, but I doubt the two of them will be any help with each other around.” Luna nudged the prone princess with a hoof, who responded with only a groan.
“I would say so; given their reaction, I doubt they will want to cross to the other side any time soon. I find it strange, though, that Dusk would have this reaction. He is friends with plenty of mares his age, like… well, now that I say that, I can't call any to mind.” Solaris chuckled lightly as he tapped his chin with a hoof.
Artemis flicked his brother with his wing and cleared his throat. “It is time.” to make his point, he levitated the lab rat out of its cage and over to the large mirror standing in the room. “If you please, that last version I wrote on the board should do the trick.”
Solaris studied the block of magical equations and formulas Artemis indicated, and lit his horn. Across the mirror, Celestia looked around until she found similar writings from Luna, and her horn glowed with a matching brilliance.
The air around the standing mirror began to sizzle and snap with energy, and the portal to the moon opened in a blazing flash. Checking each other through the small pink hand mirror, the two Solar Aspects nodded to each other in perfect sync. Both extended their wings as their eyes glowed white.
Wind began to pour out of the portal as it blurred away from the moon's still surface. Artemis and Luna looked at each other with excitement and a small amount of fear, while the lab rat squeaked with no excitement at all, just fear. Keeping their eyes locked through the pink mirror’s surface, both let out a startled gasp and the image of the other disappeared and was replaced by black, before the spell stopped and the surface returned to mirror finish.
This would have been a problem, except as soon as the blue alicorns looked up, they saw each other in the standing mirror’s face. Artemis had to restrain his urge to run through the portal right then, and glanced down to his small white companion, watching as terror played out on its tiny face. “Believe me, I want this to work more than you.” Artemis said, setting aside the smaller mirror and opting to try to calm the rodent with a gentle pat.
On the floor, Dusk and Twilight began to stir, just in time to see each other again through the portal, and faint once more. Solaris, looking more like a burning star than a pony at this point, just shrugged to his brother and nodded to the portal. Luna and Artemis glanced at each other and took a deep breath.
The rat was not happy getting any closer to the mirror, and as Artemis floated it's tiny body closer the surface, he felt bad for the flailing creature in his grasp. I wrote this spell. I know it works.
Three of the awake ponies let out some sort of surprised yelp as Artemis stepped forward and extended his hoof. Before anypony could stop him, he breached the surface, and with an intense tingling, saw the end of his leg on the other side of the portal.
Withdrawing a bit and noticing the dumbfounded stares, he smirked slightly. “What kind of scientist would I be to not completely be sure of a spell before risking another testing it.” The racing of his heart slowed slightly, and he looked at the rat he was still holding up to the mirror. “That being said, I will still pass you this little guy on principle of rigorous testing procedure.”
Pushing the rodent through the portal slowly, he raised his eyebrows as he felt his magical grasp shave down at the portal’s edge. Luna saw the front part of the rat come through the mirror unsupported, and quickly picked up the hanging portion with her magic. It was still squeaking and looking around wildly, but it didn't seem to have changed much at all, other than all of its fur was standing on end.
As the very end of its tail transferred into Luna's grip, she smiled widely at Artemis. Turning to set the rat down, she realized she didn't have a cage ready, and started to summon one before another idea occurred to her. “Send me that cage, if you would. Another test won't hurt, and I imagine a magical cage from the academy would be an interesting subject. Well, that and a rat. And you, too.” Artemis nodded with a smile and slid the cage across the floor to the mirror before sending it through.
With a small clatter, the sigiled cage landed in front of Luna, who opened it and inserted the rat. Touching the symbol next to the small door of the cage, the lines inscribed on the metal lit, and the door snapped close tight. As the glow traced the writing along the miniature bars, the rat stopped squeaking and fidgeting as it had been since it's journey.
“Looks like the docility enchantment still works, and the ray responded normally. That in and of itself counts as two major checks for the portal spell.” Luna said, making Artemis smile at their success. “That tells me, at least to a small degree, that this will be safe for living creatures and magic artifacts. I would count that as sufficient proof of concept.”
“Alright, I know that you two were really looking forward to traversing the interdimensional today, but could we call that good for now? I am quickly getting burnt out on this spell.” Solaris strained to say, then groaned as his little brother gave him a pleading look.
“I want this to be safe for you Luna, so I agree with him. Tomorrow we can try again, and do more testing to ensure the safety of both of you.” Celestia tried to put on a comforting smile, but immediately dropped it as Luna took her turn surprising everypony. As the last of her tail billowed out of the portal into Artemis’ world, Luna quickly turned to stick her tongue out at her glaring sister.
“I guess that settles that, doesn't it?” Artemis smiled at his female self, taking a moment to admire the subtle differences and not so subtle similarities they shared. “Dear sister, we will send a letter through the mirror when I am ready to come back, so have a guard check my room tomorrow morning every so often.” Luna strode up next to her male self, and matched his smile.
With a last roll of the blazing white eyes, Celestia released her magic, an act that Solaris matched without even looking. The portal closed, and the loose papers and other small objects in the room settled as the wind stopped.
Solaris cleared his throat, looking at the mirror idly. “I think you forgot the rat over there...” He mused, before looking at his younger brother and his female doppelganger. “That is not really a problem, though. I will wait here with Dusk until he decides to stop being so dramatic, you go have fun you crazy kids.”
From his smirk, Luna and Artemis felt slightly uncomfortable, and Artemis replied “We will have fun, thank you very much. And we are not kids, you know. You are barely older than me, anyways.” Luna giggled quietly at how familiar this felt, despite being in a completely new world with two ponies she had seen less than a dozen times combined.
“Do you really know how much older than you I am? ‘Barely older’, ha!” Solaris stepped closer to his brother and they stared each other down.
“Of course I don't know how much older you are. Neither do you!” Artemis replied, raising his voice slightly.
“That's not the point! I am older by the fact that I came first. Whether time had been created yet is hardly relevant.”
“But we don't even know that either. Seriously, we could just be different sizes by design, due to the relative size of our charges. It's not like we ever asked Mother or Father.”
That old argument… Luna shook her head and tugged on Artemis’ wing to draw him away from another pointless fight. “I was promised dark chocolate pancakes. Or are you more intent on bickering all night?” Both princes snapped their head to her, and upon stopping for a moment, flushed with equally deep embarrassment. The two mumbled something of an apology, until they were interrupted by the sound of Dusk groaning.
With one last look at his brother, Solaris went over to help his former student up. Artemis took this opportunity to nod to the door and follow Luna out.
~~~
“No really, I love your wings. They look beautiful. I am just saying that having a horn gives us the freedom to use our magic and do everything normally. Plus I can't really even fly with my wings like this.”
“Oh, come on, haven't you ever heard the saying ‘pegasi have more fun’? I bet we could have a lovely night on the town and easily pass off as a couple of slightly large pegasi.”
Luna and Artemis stood next to each other, looking at their reflections in yet another mirror, this one installed in Artemis’ temporary chambers. Luna winked and her form flashed into the shape of a light pink pegasus with a long blonde mane pulled up in a ponytail. Artemis looked at her incredulously, though it was difficult to keep from staring, as she seemed to have put a little more effort into this disguise, and it showed in key… areas.
Clearing his throat and making himself drag his eyes off her outfit that exaggerated her proportions and rather lewd cutie mark, Artemis quickly cast a disguise for himself, opting for a much more realistic unicorn stallion. He shook out his medium length mane of silver hair, and flexed his invisible wings, staring intensely at the point on his cyan back where they were secretly connected. No matter which way he moved his wings, the fur on his shoulders and the muscles underneath didn't move, which proved to be slightly more disconcerting than he counted on.
“Oh come on, don't sell yourself short. I will be a unicorn too if yours looks a bit more like you.” Luna prodded Artemis’ shoulder, and nodded to how her hoof rested on his real coat almost an inch from where the illusion showed he should be. “All of the muscle will be hard to account for if you can't get an accurate feel from where you actually fit into the room. Knocking things over with your wings will need to be avoided, but that will be easier than trying to pass off a really wide berth around yourself.”
Artemis chuckled and nodded, enjoying the symmetry of their minds as they continued to complete each other's thought processes. “Well, you will have to use quite a disguise if you don't want every stallion we meet to stare. Probably even some mares, too.”
Luna's cheeks heated as Artemis touched a single invisible feather to the tight outfit she still had on. Her invisible horn quickly lit, and she shifted to a purple unicorn with a striped mane.
“Very original. Look, even your cutie mark is stars.” Artemis deadpanned, raising his eyes at her in the mirror.
“What, Twilight doesn't exist here, no one would even notice.”
“Yeah, but even when Dusk was a librarian, I always remembered his color scheme. It is relatively unique, given the massive number of ponies I have known in my life. Also, I am so telling your Twilight that the first thing you change to is her, like she is the most unsexy pony you can come up with. I am sure she will be offended.”
“Come on, I didn't mean it like that! I'm not a changeling, and I am not about to try casting polymorph just for grins. I just thought of librarian, and that is what happened. I wasn't going for ‘unsexy’ just a little more chaste than… you thought my disguise as Sugar Plum looked sexy? I should tell Celestia that one of the teachers at her school has a Prince looking for her…”
“Okay, first, that is not what I said at all. Second, even if I believe you, and that was based on a teacher at your sister's school, there is no way she has your proportions, so changing your coat and mane colors doesn't count as a compliment for her. If anything, you should take it as a compliment… Stop looking at me like that, you are just trying to get me distracted.”
Artemis felt his cheeks burning as he tried out a few more disguises in quick succession. After Luna got past her own blush and coy grin, she too started switching forms. Eventually, they got to the point where they were discussing their choices again, quickly critiquing their choices.
“No, these look similar enough that somepony is going to ask if we are brother and sister.”
“I mean, I like the glasses and all, but why in the world would we both have the same pair?”
“Alright, these two look different enough from each other… umm. I hate to say it, but I just don't like the yellow mane color.”
“Alright, now you are just getting silly. I actually went to that play, and while it was a female back in my world, I know who you are trying to do.”
“That looks really good, keep that one. The scarf is a great addition. This is fun.” said Artemis, smiling as he inspected Luna, who now had a grey coat and a wavy purple mane with bangs that hung just over her face. A telescope and stars made up her cutie mark, which Artemis guessed she would pass off as an astronomer, which was clever. Her horn, in proportion to her body, was a bit long, but her disguise was otherwise reasonable for a mare on the taller end of the spectrum.
“This is why mares take longer to get dressed, except most don't put on full magical disguises each day. I don't normally fuss too much about outfits if it isn't the Gala or something official, but I am having fun…” She trailed off as Artemis tried a new form. He had a white coat and a light blue mane that was short enough to not get in the way of his eyes. “Hold on with that one. With a bit darker of a mane, you could almost pass off for Shining Armor, back in my world. You're a bit taller though, and the horn is still long. I would keep that, except change your cutie mark, we can't both be astronomers.”
“Alright, so I was thinking about that, one of the largest astronomical societies in Equestria is right here in Canterlot, so we could easily pass off as some ponies from out of town for a stargaze or something. Also, it would make sense that we stay up all night in that case, and our unparalleled knowledge of the night sky is practically part of the package.”
“Okay, okay… That was my idea just taken a step further. I really shouldn't be surprised that you spend so much thought on the details like I do. Have you started thinking of a name? We really can't both have names with star in them.” Luna grinned as she looked at the two ponies in the mirror. They looked just like normal ponies, within a very small margin of error, and Artemis had chosen to keep his well toned muscular build. A little odd for an stargazer to be built like a bodybuilder, but I am not complaining.
“I could be something like North Star, and maybe for you, something Gaze? Midnight Gaze maybe?” Artemis shrugged and looked over to see that Luna's disguise was changing slightly in the face, and after a moment, he realized she was just changing the disguise to include a light application of makeup. I am still going to have to fight the other colts off anywhere we go, but nopony is going to tell me that models can't also be astronomers.
“What about Star Gazer? A little too on the nose?” Luna blinked a few times to clear up her mascara before realizing that there was no need, since it was all just magic on magic covered in more magic. As her mind went down this trail of thought, something occurred to her. She looked over at Artemis magically fixing his hair and positioning a newly summoned cap onto his head. Wrinkling his nose, the cap was replaced by a toque, making him look more like a snowboarder than an astronomer. He shook his head slightly and replaced it with a pair of earmuffs that matched his colors exactly.
He wasn't just bringing those objects from somewhere nearby, he is creating them. This disguise spell by itself is a pretty intense magical task, but he is also adding items by crafting rather than summoning? That is quite a task for a powerful magician, much less a nearly crippled one, yet he looks to not even be trying too hard, just idly channeling.
“What do you think?” Artemis asked, breaking Luna's train of thought as he showed off his new outfit. “I think I should wear a light coat and nothing on my head, just enough to keep warm, and it will also hide my real shape a bit better. Also has the added benefit of keeping my wings in check and warm while we are out there.”
“You look about as unremarkable as you can, I think.” Luna said absentmindedly as she thought back to recent behavior of the injured prince.
“Perfect!” Artemis smiled and trotted over to his desk, where he began scribbling out name ideas for the two of them.
Last week he would have been limping across the room, not prancing around like a school foal. Could it be psychosomatic? Are his injuries impeding him less than he thinks they should? I saw how deep those wounds were, his body was physically broken, so that should offer him more trouble than this, even now. Regardless, he still had trouble when he forgot that he was even injured, he was even surprised by it. That could mean something, but I certainly don't know enough psychology to puzzle that one out.
Luna sighed and vowed to herself to check with the castle hospital when she returned, but it was pointless to ruin their evening with serious matters that didn't seem to be a problem. She walked over beside Artemis, and looked down at his sheet. Orderly columns of names were paired next to each other, all slightly different variations on his original ideas. When she asked for her own sheet, he nodded to the top desk drawer on her side, before flipping his sheet over and continuing his list down the back of his page.
Luna opened the drawer, and was confused to find a neat writing set, but the paper stack had a crinkled look to the sheets, and there was writing on them. As she pulled out the sheets and floated them in front of her to read, it dawned on her that these were discarded drafts of a letter, addressed to her, and in the same hoof writing that she saw on Artemis’ sheet off to her left where he was working. She was about to ask him about these, but she read across a few that started deviating from the traditional opening she found on the previous ones. Some were silly, some quite emotional and actually a little worrying, and a few that were rather suggestive, going so far as to one being almost explicit.
Her body was heating up a little bit as she glanced over at her male self, and tried desperately to not visualize some of the situations he described. Failing that, she decided to quietly stack them back where she found them, close the drawer quietly, and step a few paces away to clear her head. Her cheeks were the same exact color grey as they had been before, and she realized that her reflection showed a very viable facade that could hide her involuntary reactions, or at least the bodily ones. She glanced back to make sure Artemis wasn't watching, and quickly reached up to force down her stiff wings so they would fold invisibly to her sides.
“I keep trying to change it, but basic and on the nose seems the most… normal. What do you think?” Artemis turned as he posed the question, hoping to get some insight from his companion. At his questioning look, Luna realized she hadn't been listening for his last few sentences, and opted to just stand there awkwardly.
“So… Star Gazer and North Star? You said not to have star in both names, but…” Artemis absentmindedly scratched the back of his head, shrugging an unstated question.
“I was being facetious, don't worry. Those sound like ordinary ponies to me, I can’t think of why not. Plus, we are taking a while on this, I would rather be enjoying the evening out after all the time I've spent in the castle recently.” Luna smirked as she shook out her mane a little and posed in the mirror.
“You think you have had enough of this place? I haven't even gone outside but a couple of times. I've been needing to stretch my wings, so to speak.” Artemis chuckled as he looked back to his invisible wings, and gave them a flap. He received a twinge from his left wing as an unseen metal brace protested against the flexing appendage. He summoned a coat and slipped it on quickly, allowing Luna the time to adjust her scarf and put on a warm pair of winter boots.
“Lead the way, it's your castle.” Luna opened the door, and smiled as Artemis excitedly trotted out the doors.
Other than a few curious glances from castle staff on their way out, the two disguised alicorns made it out into Canterlot proper without issue. Their conversation, frequently interrupted by laughter from one or both of them, blended in easily with the background hubbub of other ponies enjoying a night on the town. Masked in the anonymity they shared, the Lunar Aspects smoothly navigated the streets, enjoying one of the few times they were not packed with boisterous crowds awaiting their arrival.
“... and that is why Dusk never made it any higher up the ranks of the guard. A pity, too, he would have easily eclipsed even his sister’s record, given how much he has done for Equestria over the past few years.” Artemis concluded, nodding wistfully to himself.
“Well, you say that, but wouldn’t that have stopped him from achieving his princehood? I am personally glad that Twilight went to Ponyville when she did, otherwise, well...” Artemis’ smile faltered slightly at that, but then he chuckled. “Things wouldn't have been quite so interesting as of late… or perhaps more interesting?”
The pair laughed at that, slowing their walk as they approached the familiar restaurant they had each unconsciously headed towards. Once past the threshold, Artemis removed his coat and cast a cursory glance around the sparsely populated room. He then attempted to flag down a waiter with a wing. After a few seconds of this, Luna gave him a confused look, and then abruptly widened her eyes. Prodding his side with a hoof, the disguised prince suddenly remembered that his wings were invisible. After an awkward chuckle, he cleared his throat and waved a hoof at a nearby waiter. The neatly dressed earth pony looked over from the table he was serving and nodded, saying a quick few words to his guests before swiftly trotting over to the waiting pair.
“Good evening, how many will it be?”
~~~
“They are just so good, I want to lick the plate!” Luna exclaimed, giggling as she gave her fork a quick lick before setting it down.
“You can, if you want to. I won't judge.” Artemis laughed along with her, enjoying the last of his pancakes. She looked over at him and raised her eyebrows slightly, before grinning mischievously. She then picked up her plate with her hooves and gave the surface a long, drawn out lick, all the while locking his eyes with a lidded gaze.
“I didn't mean it like… uhh…” Artemis' eyes continued to widen as he found his mouth too dry to speak. Narrowly dragging his eyes off to the side, he swallowed thickly before standing quickly, looking about in desperation. “... my, how sticky my hooves have gotten, I simply must go wash them!” He abruptly left the table towards the washroom at the back of the restaurant, his cheeks still burning as he heard Luna's unabashed laughter across the room.
Using his wings to fan his face, the Lunar Aspect stared himself down in the mirror above the sink. Taking a few deep breaths, he splashed himself in the face with some cold water. Even though he could feel his face burning, no tint appeared on his magically cloaked cheeks, in fact, the fur on his face didn't even get wet. This curiosity served to distract Artemis enough for his heart to stop racing, and after a few controlled breaths, he reentered the seating area.
His first instinct was, unsurprisingly, not to rush back to his table, in case his no-longer-doppelganger still was up to her mischief. This actually yielded the prince an unexpected opportunity to see what she was up to; alone in another world as she was.
Luna, sitting by herself in an eerily familiar donut shop, was almost overwhelmed by the tiny differences in the world she could pick out, even here. Like the light brown earth pony mare standing behind the counter, and the illuminated "Donut Jane" sign behind her were expected, but little things like the prices for food being noticeably higher, 2 bits for a dozen donuts? They don't even have sprinkles! Or the slightly, but noticeably, wider doorway at the entrance. Some changes made immediate sense, like the names for special breakfast meals having a more… macho ring to them. I could count on my hooves the number of mares who would order the "lumberjack sunrise" … and two of them are Twilight's friends … hmm. But other differences were truly mysterious, like how the layout of the dining area had replaced several of the tables for more bar space with additional stools, or what the small note about something called a "Veteran's discount" was doing in the corner of the menu.
Unbeknownst to her majesty, but knownst to his highness, her inquisitive stares at everything around her was utterly adorable, and after a moment of seeing such a display, he was emboldened to return to his table, ready for any remaining torment she had thought up in his absence. Her eyes snapped to him as he rounded the corner, and Artemis couldn't help grinning and blushing when he saw the bemused look on his date's face. Just as he saw her plate lift off the table and her mouth open again, he cast a quick spell as he seated himself across from her. Her smile dropped as soon as she saw her plate magically clean itself before her eyes, and she playfully glared at Artemis’ toothy smile as he barely contained his laughter.
Before she could say anything, however, Luna noticed the waiter approaching them with the bill. After a moment of confusion, she realized that they had to actually pay for their meal . She rarely needed to carry a coin purse with her, especially in Canterlot, since she mostly ate at these restaurants for events or as part of her royal duties. Even the rare times she managed to get her sister to eat a meal alone, they were accompanied by the unavoidable parade of advisors and guards, and there was somepony else to get the bill, if they were even charged.
She looked over to Artemis, who was still caught up in his own humor, and pointedly nodded towards the waiter. He wiped a tear from his eye and glanced the direction she indicated, and his eyes widened. He quickly checked around himself and his face went pale at the realization he had no bits to pay with.
“You wouldn't happen to know where, ah, the treasury keeps spare bits lying around, do you? I mean, my treasury, but it should be pretty similar to yours, right?” Artemis nervously asked, watching the waiter stop in front of their table and placed the bill between the Lunar Aspects.
“Is there something wrong, sir?” The waiter asked, looking suspiciously around the saddlebag-less pair.
“Well, you see..” Artemis trailed off, earning a tired sigh and a knowing glare. “I can get you bits from the cas… my house. I just forgot them, I promise!” He weakly tried to get up, but the waiter raised a hoof dismissively.
“I am sorry, sir, but payment is due before you leave the restaurant. I mean, is this any way to act on a date with a lovely mare like this?” He turned to Luna and apologetically smiled. “Terribly sorry about this, madam. I don't want to give you trouble on an evening out like this, but…”
Luna giggled nervously, and shook her purple mane out of her eyes. “I don't have any bits either. I guess we just didn't think this far ahead.”
“Honestly, that doesn't help me. Look, I don't know what to tell you…” The waiter let the sentence hang in the air, and backed up as Artemis stood up in front of him. He visibly gulped as the disguised prince towered over him, still intimidating, despite his well defined muscles flexing invisibly. Artemis shifted and straightened to his full height, head and shoulders above the waiter or anypony in the restaurant, a series of pops and cracks accompanying the invisible hardware adjusting.
Artemis took a quick look around at the now deserted room, save for the wait staff cleaning up a few tables. He then looked down at the intimidated stallion carefully back peddling from him, he lowered his disguise spell. Fear turned to awe as the waiter stopped immediately, then dropped to the floor in a deep bow. The prince smirked at this, and saw the other staff drop prostrate around him. “I am sorry for the deception, but you have no idea how hard it is to get food while looking like this.” He gestured to his billowing mane, glimmering coat, and clashing white medical braces. He shook his head ruefully at the prone waiter before him, and recast his disguise. “Please, rise. I just wanted you to know that this meal can be be billed directly to the royal coffers. It was most excellent, as always, and I hope to continue my visits here.”
“For you, my lord, this is free!” The waiter said shakily, pulling out the bill to tear it apart.
“No, this is not a royal visit, only for pleasure. You didn't even get the publicity of having me here, since I was in disguise the entire time. Please, I will tell the treasury to dispense appropriately after I explain why I was here.” He looked over to Luna, who was hiding a giggle at the shaken waiter. She stood up next to him, and the two began to leave the building.
“And have a lovely night, all of you. We will know.” She said with a laugh, taking off onto the street at a gallop, looking over her shoulder and daring Artemis to chase her. After he shrugged apologetically to the staff, he grabbed his coat, turned, and bolted after his fleeing date. Even after the hoofsteps faded in the distance, the restaurant still remained in a stunned silence, before the ponies gathered and immediately began gossiping.
~~~
“No, I have never been down to this part of Canterlot, but that's not the point! I already know that the only kind a fun you can have in seedy places like this are either illegal, not very mare-friendly, or both!” Artemis said in a hushed tone as he glanced around at the dimly lit backstreet in the lower ring of Canterlot. A prince had no reason to go this deep into the undercarriage of a city, and every time the guards or Solaris had invited him to something this far from the castle, he refused.
“Oh, stop being such a spoilsport! That is just what I said until the Elements brought me here after a particularly abysmal Gala. I tried to resist, but even Sister was calling for me to be hogtied and carried here, so…” Luna noticed that this was not a very convincing argument. “Alright, fine. I give you my word this will be good, wholesome fun with no lawbreaking… on our parts.”
At that, Luna pushed the door to a dark two-story building open, and a low pounding of distant music spilled out. Artemis’ expression twisted a little, and looked anxiously at his companion. “Berry promise?” He said, hesitantly following the mare through the door.
“Umm… no.” She replied, a devilish smile on her face as she recognized the interior as an identical club to back in her Canterlot. Luna reached out and grabbed the hoof of her confused counterpart and pulled him towards the source of the music. Down the stairs to the basement, she quickly turned and dragged him through a dark narrow hallway with small flashing lights along the baseboards.
“I, uh, what is this place?” Artemis shouted, the music growing louder as they went. Not hearing over the deafening noise (or perhaps not choosing to answer) Luna continued to the door at the end of the hall and pushed it open. Brilliant flashes of light and pounding music assaulted his senses, and the prince threw a hoof up to shield himself. Rolling her eyes, Luna walked back to him and teleported the pair of Alicorns into the room.
Blinking and looking around, Artemis just barely saw the door they were previously standing at swing shut, across a large open room filled with a pulsating crowd of ponies. Thankfully, they were now on the opposite side of the room from the raised DJ stand near the entrance. They were surrounded by what looked like mismatched tables holding a variety of exotic drinks, though the only light that made it back to the tables was cast by the strobing lamps a good hundred paces away on the far wall.
“I am… a little out of touch with the new music and dancing, it is a lot less… refined than a thousand years ago. I should probably just… uh… sit back here and maybe have a drink.” Artemis started back peddling as Luna stalked toward him. When he felt a wall behind him, he continued babbling with increased urgency as her eyes took on a predatory gleam. I am not making a fool out of myself on the first night out. I am not making a fool of myself on our first night out. I am not making any more of a fool of myself on the first night out. I am not…
Artemis’ train of thought and excuses stopped when Luna pressed a hoof to his lips, locking eyes with him as she leaned close enough that the tips of their horns almost touched. “Shut up and dance with me.” She gave him a smile and lowered her hoof.
I am going to make a fool of myself on our first night out.
~~~
Empty drinks and a few broken tables stood as testament to the incognito alicorns’ revelry, and the much smaller crowd now either kept their distance from the two, or drunkenly danced about with them. Said alicorns flailed about in a slightly more violent version of the prevalent dance, their unusually strong bucks and twists being the cause of most of the destruction.
“I never thought *hic* I could have this much fun dancing!” Artemis shouted to Luna, who promptly started laughing at his hiccups before falling off of the chair upon which she had been standing (and possibly attempting to dance). A burly bouncer yet again attempted to step in, barely squeezing through the close knit group of fans and morbidly curious onlookers the two had amassed.
“Miss! Please…” He shouldered into a particularly rowdy patron and glared at them. “Sir, take your date outside! You two have had enough to drink for tonight!”
Artemis wheeled around and almost fell down himself, before his eyes finally focused on the buff earth pony. “NO PONY COMMANDS THE LORD OF THE NIGHT!” He bellowed in the royal Canterlot voice, making even the DJ recoil and pull off his headphones. With wide eyes, the bouncer stepped back and looked around for support, not feeling too keen on approaching the much larger and more muscular unicorn by himself. Before he had a chance to call for backup, though, a brilliant flash of azure light joined the dizzying array of lamps as Artemis dismissed his disguise.
Luna was still laughing, lying on the floor in a puddle of what she hoped was somepony’s drink, when her partner changed form. The white unicorn quickly changed into the dark blue prince, mane billowing its uncountable stars, his coat glowing with moonlight. All but the most intoxicated dancers in the room immediately dropped into low bows as they recognized their ruler, and those that didn't were quickly pulled down by the ponies around them. The music immediately stopped with a electronic buzz as components were disconnected by the now prone DJ. The bouncer snapped into a rigid salute for an instant, before s look of panic washed over his features, and he, too, dropped prostrate before the looming alicorn.
“I had no idea my night was so enjoyed by the youth of this generation! I must inform my brother of this new life at night in the city of Canterlot! I will… *hic* I will invite all of you to the Grand Galloping Gala!” A spray of golden Gala tickets sprayed from the tip of Artemis’ horn, much to the surprise and confusion of all the terrified ponies around him.
A few staff members of the club had entered the door to the room, and there was a low buzz of conversation as some of the ponies stood back up to look at the fluttering cloud of gold-embossed tickets. The bouncer who had just tried to kick the prince out was visibly shaken, his face covered in sweat as he made a beeline for the door.
“Are these real? I thought you had to be, like, a stuck up… I mean Canterlot elite... to go!”
“Don't they have sold gold toilets in the castle?”
“Holy horseapples, I was hitting on the Prince's marefriend… I gotta go!”
Artemis barely contained laughter as he helped a panting Luna to her hooves, the two sharing a nod before heading towards the exit. Looking over her shoulder, the still disguised princess lit her horn and commanded the smashed furniture to reassemble itself, much to the shock of those in the area.
“Bill the coffers for… whatever. Also get stronger furniture or something, I plan on returning.” Artemis stated with a chuckle as he passed by the bewildered bar staff. Looking to Luna, he shrugged and opened the door for her. With a similar flash, Luna also dismissed her disguise, this time with mixed reactions from those present.
“We will return.” She said with a wink, noting that everypony present was completely flabbergasted by the second Alicorn. She then promptly pulled the door shut behind them and chased after an already galloping Artemis. Something in her foggy mind was trying to alert her to the significance of what was going on, but she was too busy having fun.
That part of her mind grew more insistent as she caught up to him and saw that his bandages and braces were all but destroyed, ostensibly by the motions of the jubilant prince. Also, the coat under the bandages was glowing even more brilliant under the moonlight, highlighting the numerous scars running along his body. Luna was now fully aware of what was grabbing her attention: the angry red injuries she had seen at the beginning of the night had closed and lightened, to a degree more consistent with weeks of recovery, rather than hours. Also, unless he had drunkenly thought to cast a second disguise spell, his mane was almost as enchanted as the first time she had seen him, billowing and full of stars. This was not the battered patient she had saved from the moon, and if she watched close enough, Luna could swear she saw the deep wounds heal before her eyes.
“Artemis, wait for me!” She called as her fellow alicorn used his wings to jump the entire height of the stairs in one leap. Amazingly, rather than his injuries preventing him, the medical braces seemed to be the only thing holding him back from full flight, though they looked a lot worse for wear as the metal clasps strained against his powerful wing muscles.
"How about you hurry up and catch me?" Came a slightly slurred reply as Luna watched Artemis take off down the road towards the castle. The narrow roads of the lower ring giving way to the wide avenues of the upper ring of Canterlot, which would usually be bustling with ponies during the day, but the two lunar alicorns were quite happy to frolic by themselves, as Luna closed the distance between them at a dead sprint.
Goading and triumphant laughter caught in the prince's throat as he turned his head to see the lithe and sleek form of his partner edge past him, highlighting the earth pony magic alive and well in his fellow alicorn's physique. Now it was her turn for a few triumphant laughs, though as the two closed on the castle gates at full speed, they were both struggling to gulp in enough air to maintain their thunderous gallop.
Luna began to slow, looking back at her companion to announce their entry or command the gates opened, but was surprised to see him crumpled on the side of the road, several paces back. A jolt of alarm somewhat lethargically shot through her mind, but before she could speak, she was interrupted by a blue hoof extending from the pile of fur and feather (and metal) covered appendages.
"I'm ok!" Came a quick reply from Artemis, before a flash of magical light teleported the inebriated prince to his hooves next to Luna. “And before you ask, I am not sure if that was the injuries or the drink. I was up one moment, chasing after your shapely… uhh, after you, then the next I was sampling the local grass for an early breakfast.” He then spit out a few stray blades of grass to emphasize his point.
“I am more concerned about how you just did that.” Luna replied, tilting her head to the side to look at where her companion had just been. She felt her Alicorn physiology at work banishing the chemical clouding of her mind, and soon she began compiling the many unexpected leaps in Artemis’ condition over the night together.
“I… I am not sure either. I have been feeling pretty… Woah. I think the alcohol has run its course. Good thing I- we don’t get intoxicated like the mortals, I don’t think I could handle a hangover like this. But yeah, I am feeling so much more alive, and for the first time since you sent me to the hospital, I am feeling my connection with my- our moon.” The lunar prince looked up, and the entire night sky brightened in concert with his horn.
A beaming smile broke out across Luna’s face, and she stepped closer to extend a hoof near his head. “I would wager you haven’t even noticed this yet, right?” She brushed her hoof through the swirling nebula of mane extending from behind his horn, appreciating its return to the full glory she had seen before.
The prince guffawed in wonder and joy, reaching a hoof up to join in the gentle mussing of his fully ethereal mane. When he looked down, though, he found himself almost snout to snout with Luna, and saw the stars of his mane and sky reflected in her eyes. “You would be correct, and you are to thank for it. I have been marveling at how quickly my health, my strength, my life has been returning while I have been with you tonight. It is almost as if my injuries had cut me off from more than just my abilities, but my self. But with you, it is like the moon shines in my sky once more, if you will pardon the analogy.” He quickly turned his face and cleared his throat, desperately trying to will the tear back into his eye before the princess saw it.
“You are most welcome. Tonight has been wonderful for me as well, and I hope we can find a way to do this again, without the help from our siblings.” She gave a scathing glare at the low-hanging moon in the sky and briefly considered rewinding it back up a ways, just to give them more time together. “But for tonight, we must get back to the mirror chamber, so I can assist my sister with the coming dawn. Perhaps you, too, can try your hoof at it, given how far you have come.”
A warm wing settled around her shoulder as she said that, and she looked over to see Artemis right next to her, smiling serenely at the castle ahead of them. It was his time to be surprised by a sensation, as he felt her lean her head against his neck, bringing the two alicorns into a solitary hug in a silent city. Staying that way for minutes that felt like hours, the quiet hubbub of early risers shook the pair from their reverie, and they looked around with begrudging acceptance of their impending parting.
Withdrawing his wing, Artemis gave a sidelong glance to Luna, and murmured mischievously “You don’t suppose I can teleport all the way past the gates from here, do you?” The princess raised her eyebrows at this, with a twinkle in her eyes, and replied back “And from there all the way into the castle?” He replied with a roguish grin and said “You are on.”
He felt a tap on his opposite shoulder, and turned his head to see the retreating tip of her wing, before he was further surprised by a warm and wet sensation on his cheek. “For luck” said the princess with a wink, before she disappeared in a brilliant flash of magical light. Reaching a hoof up to where she had kissed him, Artemis grinned with fiery confidence as he lit his horn and teleported after her.
~~~
A simple note came fluttering down from the mirror in the vacant chamber, landing softly next to a rune-engraved cage that held a single sleeping mouse.
"I definitely felt that! It was just like your magic, but you were asleep!" Voices echoed down the hall, along with two sets of hoofbeats. Finally, the door to the room opened, waking the rodent and bathing the interior with magical rose-colored light.
"Yes, yes Twilight. I believe you. Just, talk a little quieter, I was up much later than normal. And if I remember correctly, most of that time was calming you down, my fledgling Princess of Freaking Out." Muttered a drowsy Princess Celestia, a large cup of tea floating in her magical grip. When presented with the slip of paper by her former student, she read the note's instructions quickly before taking a last sip of her favorite beverage.
Twilight, ever the dutiful disciple, took the teacup in her grip and set it down, before picking up the caged mouse and gritting her teeth in preparation. With a bright magical flash, the mirror's surface blazed with light, before eventually resolving into a window to an almost identical room. On the other side, facing the two princesses, were the princes of Day and Night, along with their familiar moon princess. Celestia rolled her eyes with a rueful smile as she saw the matching reluctant looks on the two Lunar Aspects' faces, and Solaris joined in with a light chuckle of his own. Twilight, lightly blushing, smiled at the happy pair's longing gazes before she tried to surreptitiously look around the room through the mirror.
"Umm… where is Prince Dusk? I figured he would want to be here for this too." Twilight's timid question broke the other four royals out of their corresponding revere, and Celestia paid a quick glance around the opposing chamber.
"Oh, I figured he would make a scene again, so I shoved him in a closet." Came a matter-of-fact reply from Solaris. This casual response earner him a questioning or incredulous glance from everyone else present, before a muffled banging could be heard, seemingly to prove his point. "Don't worry, we play tricks like this on each other all the time, especially since he ascended. Sometimes poison joke happens to get in my tea, sometimes Artemis gets black dye put in his soap to dye his entire coat black, you know. One time we perfectly recreated his chambers in the Castle of the Two Brothers, and Artemis helped me move him there during the night. Remember that?"
"Please leave me out of this. I don't want to remember some of the things that have happened during your so-called 'prank war'. And I think there are some questions better left unasked."
"What happened when you were dosed with poison joke, Prince Solaris?" Came a sudden question from through the portal. Twilight, now studying Solaris, somehow missed the mortified look that appeared on his face.
"Case in point. In any case, Princess Luna, it has been a pleasure to, um, it has been fascinating, no, thank you for the successful experiment on interdimensional transport and stability. I hope, in the near future, to further study you- this process. I hope to study this process of travel to and existence in a parallel world." Artemis decided to close his mouth there, as his cheeks felt as if they would catch on fire if he were to continue.
Luna, to her credit, kept her cool long enough to lean in for a quick hug over his shoulder before whispering "Me too" with a smile. She turned back to face Solaris, who harbored a very familiar knowing smile that made her skin crawl slightly, but she still managed a courtly and polite thank you before crossing the mirror back into her home world.
Twilight rushed up and hugged her fellow princess upon her arrival, and wasted no time to quickly pass the cage back through so the two exhausted Solar Aspects could cease the incredibly complex and demanding spell. As soon as Artemis had full control of the magical container, he waved to his counterpart, who barely had a chance to wave back before the portal closed as the spell ended.
Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Solaris sat down hard on the floor of the chamber and looked up at his brother. After a few frantic thumps though, his eyes widened and his horn relit, before an exasperated Dusk Shine flashed into the room. Finally having the room and freedom to move, he quickly flexed his hooves and broke the manacles binding them together, before reaching up and removing the anti-magic ring around his horn. He glared daggers at his former mentor, while rubbing the sore areas he had developed while compacted in such a confined space.
“That was really unnecessary, you know. I could have just resisted my curiosity and stood outside, if you were so certain I wouldn’t be able to handle another face to face with Twi- Princess T- Her. ” Dusk indignantly turned from his mentor, huffing as he saw both of his fellow princes roll their eyes.
“You? Resist your curiosity? I don’t know if that has ever happened before. Do you remember that ever happening, dear brother?” Artemis grinned when his brother asked him this, and replied with a similar level of sarcasm. “No, older brother, I do not seem to remember that happening for as long as I have known our young prince here. Perhaps he resisted it that time with the time traveling spell… Oh no, wait, He didn’t then. Hmm, what about the time with his friend Berry? I do recall something about… No, nevermind, he couldn’t resist his curiosity then either.”
“Har har, laugh it up, you guys. At least you two get to even meet your counterparts, I have only seen her once.” Crossing his hooves in front of him, the youngest prince sat down on the floor across from his former mentor, sulking. Seeing this, Artemis was once again reminded of how much of a help he had been over this whole process, and started thinking of ways he could make it up to him.
“Oh, I have an idea. Now, I can understand being a little… over excited when meeting with your female counterpart, at least face to face like we just did. Perhaps you would like to meet her in a different way.” Artemis walked over to his friend and set a hoof lightly on his shoulder.
“I am not open to entering your dreams, after how you and your new ‘Experiment Partner’ were looking at each other when you got back here, and for a similar reason I don’t want to let you into mine. Some of the things I have been dreaming about are rather… unusual for me. His dreams are right out.” He pointed a hoof across the room at Solaris, who only replied with a smile that further validated his point.
“No, this time has nothing to do with dreams, actually. I was thinking about asking Luna if we can give the two of you our mirrors for a few days. That way you can meet your counterpart in a much more familiar and comfortable way: as a pen pal.” At the suggestion, the young prince’s eyes lit up and he glanced over to where the small mirror was sitting on the table nearby.
“I can just, what, pass notes through the mirror and she will get them? I am not exactly a student back in my magic academy days. Don’t you think that she will find that a little, I don’t know, unbefitting of rulers like us?” As if to answer his question, the mirror in question lit up, and a carefully bound scroll pushed from its surface. When it fell to the table surface, all three princes could see that the seal it bore matched Dusk’s cutie mark perfectly.
“Well, there you go.” Solaris stood and started walking towards the door. “I need more tea if I am to set the moon and raise the sun after that whole debacle.” This statement resonated in Artemis’ mind, and he hurried to follow his brother as he turned towards the kitchens.
“Wait, brother, I have an idea about that, too!” When he caught up to the solar prince, he matched his stride slightly ahead of him. “Notice anything different about me?” The lunar prince shook his head and flexed his wings for his brother to see, but was underwhelmed by the response.
“What? You damaged your braces or something? It is still pretty dark in here, and you know your low light vision far exceeds mine.” Artemis quirked his brow in confusion, before stepping closer and asking “How about now?”
“Your, uh, injuries are healing nicely? And your wings look… well kempt? What, are you trying to brag you got preened on the first date or something?” Solaris shrugged in confusion, while Artemis sighed in exasperation.
“My mane! Look, it has returned to its ethereal state, meaning I have reconnected with my Aspect! The time I spent with Luna was lovely for many reasons, and not the least of which was that her presence seemed to help me heal and feel like my old self.” The lunar prince pressed a hoof against his chest at the warmth he felt, but was once again shot down by the reply he heard.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, dear brother, but your mane hasn’t changed. It is just hair, like it was yesterday.” The words struck the injured prince like a blow to the gut. He quickly turned to the grand windows lining the hall in which the two rulers walked. By lighting a small magical flame, he could see his reflection in the dark glass, and sure enough, his mane lay limp atop his head, like the mane of any common pony in the land.
“What? But how? I was getting better, I know it! I could-” He lit his horn, and attempted to teleport down the hall, but his horn fizzled and a spike of pain radiated down his forehead. Falling to a knee, he was quickly supported by his brother, before walking slowly to a bench at the end of the hall. “I don’t understand. I know I wasn’t dreaming, but, then, how did I do all those things? Are my injuries reopened?” He glanced down and started inspecting himself.
Meanwhile, Solaris looked on as his brother frantically tried to take inventory of his injuries, and casually inspected him as well. Indeed, with the light he was casting, it was apparent that the raw and angry red wounds had not only closed, but significantly shrunk. In some places, smaller injuries had fully healed to scars, barely breaking the fur of his coat. It is like he was able to benefit from his Alicorn Physique by proxy, sort of sharing in the powerful connection of his counterpart’s Aspect.
“We need to get her back over here. Or you over there.” Artemis was startled at the sudden and resolute statement from his older sibling. “I agree, but what made you-”
“Your injuries are so bad, and were caused in such a way, that I believe you will take a considerable time to heal fully. But in the short span of time you spent in the presence of your counterpart, you have made days, maybe weeks or recovery. And you claim you had better access to your magic and your mane regained its ethereal nature? If for no reason other than to have you pick back up your duties faster, we must get the two of you back together. Soon. But first, I need to get a refill of my personal tea leaf supply, somepony must have forgotten to check.”
~~~
“No, he replied, like, right away! You were so right about this being a good idea, he has such neat handwriting and perfect grammar. I think he may have even just wrote a joke, but he referenced something that I am struggling to tell if there is an equivalent version of it here, in our world, but I told him it was funny. Pinky always says that laughing at a pony’s jokes is a great way to make them feel more comfortable around you.”
Luna nodded and smiled to her fellow princess as the two walked towards the kitchens, following the trail of an increasingly impatient Celestia. Said Solar Aspect was currently alternating between glaring at her very empty teacup and at any member of the cooking staff who might have been responsible for forgetting to refill her personal tea leaf supply.
“But did you know, he decided to join the royal guards along with his sister and train instead of staying at the magic academy? I guess I always appreciated the guards while I lived here and went to school, and some of my first fillyhood crushes may have been the handsome, muscular guards in their shining armor. I mean, just armor. You know, if it was shiny or not, eh heh.”
Luna raised an eyebrow at this, and Twilight started sweating, but before any questions were asked, another scroll popped through the mirror. “Oh, I wasn’t expecting this. We have been pretty consistent on the standard ‘I send one, you send one’ paradigm for message sending. Perhaps he wanted to clarify what he was talking about earlier. Or maybe he wasn’t telling a joke, and instead that was something more serious. Oh no, what if I have just made fun of a very serious tragedy in his world by thinking he was telling a joke!”
It was Celestia this time who stepped in, though this time she merely pressed a hoof to the mouth of her worrying pupil, and picked up the scroll. Luna spied a solar seal on this note, and cocked her head as she tried to read over her sister’s shoulder. Before she could discern too much, Her older sister let out a bark of laughter, followed by a slightly annoyed sigh. “Good news and bad news.”
~~~
Artemis struggled to remember why he was standing here, in the middle of the market in Ponyville, but he was sure he was supposed to be getting something. Looking around the square, he nodded at some of the familiar sights and ponies he saw. Applejack at his apple stall, Rainbow Blitz walking around on his front hooves, like normal, talking to some faceless mare. Another stall, this one selling apples and run by Applejack, Butterscotch talking to a tree, a stall where Applejack was selling apples, Elusive sitting at a table with a well dressed ponnequin, sharing a romantic meal, an apple-selling stall with an apple-selling Applejack.
Wait. He thought to himself suddenly. Something I just saw doesn’t make sense. He turned his head back, and, sure enough, there he was. Blitz was now holding hooves with the mare and still managing to walk around on his front hooves. That’s what was wrong. The mare was replaced with a stallion, and Artemis nodded to himself. Had to set what is right in this world.
Suddenly, a point in space, just above the center of the town square, grew incredibly dark. Shadows were cast inwards, towards this spot, and everything distorted around it. Looking around, it seemed only Artemis had noticed this change, but before he could approach it to further investigate, a hoof stepped out. At first, it looked a lot like his own hoof, but he was proven wrong shortly thereafter by the long, slender leg that followed. A connection in his mind tried desperately to remind him of something, but he could not put his hoof on it. However, when a second hoof passed through, then more of a familiar princess appeared, he was washed with recollection.
“Luna! I mean, Princess Luna, how good it is to see you! I wasn’t expecting you quite so…” Artemis squinted his eyes, as he struggled to order his thoughts. Something was amiss, and he could not keep track of the timeline of events leading to now, no matter how he tried.
“It’s alright, Prince Artemis, you are dreaming.” She smiled at the dumbfounded look the prince responded with, and gazed about with a feeling of whimsy. “It has been a long time since I last had a chance to just dream like this. That being said, when I went dreamwalking, your dream stuck out like a beacon to me. Even now, you were able to manipulate your dream while in the midst of it, a feat rarely, if ever, done.”
“Oh, that makes sense. I just fell asleep when I returned, first chance I got. It turns out there is quite a difference between being able to stay up all night, and being up all night. I am guessing my brother’s letter reached you, then?” Luna’s smile faded slightly at this question, and she nodded.
“I can tell, even now, that your presence is diminished from when we parted last night. I also can tell, by the way our connection is limited here, that you are not healing the same way as you did when we were together.”
“That just means we have to spend more time together, right? I don’t know about you, but that sounds like much less of a curse than it is a blessing!” Artemis smiled at his companion, but faltered when he saw the look of consternation on her face.
“Oh, I agree, but as much as I would love to spend every night like last night, we have our subjects to think about. And also, I think that my sister grows envious of our time together, as her time with your brother has mostly been in service of us for the last several days.”
“I got a similar feeling, and I am sorry for them. I hardly asked to be so injured at such an exciting time, but we must deal with the circumstances as they are. It’s not like we can trade for the day or take turns, could we?” To this, Luna brought a hoof to her chin, tapping it thoughtfully.
“You know what, perhaps your idea isn’t so outlandish. I must think on this, and you must rest. Await word from me soon, though, I will broach this matter with my sister forthwith.”
“I believe Dusk once told me that ‘forthwith’ is no longer part of the common parlance, but I am more than happy to hear it from you. I shall await your correspondence with bated breath.”
~~~
“Are you really sure about this? Last time didn’t go so well, if you recall.” Celestia lightly goaded the youngest princess, only to have a quick eye roll as her reply. “Fine, then if you faint again, I will leave you where you fall, while the rest of us discuss the actual issue at hoof.” With a flash of her horn, the spell she had cast only a couple days prior illuminated the room, causing the standing mirror to glow. As the wind billowed outwards, the few remaining papers in the room merely rustled under their strategically placed paperweights, and the surface of the mirror shifted to clear. Now three pairs of alicorns stood, once again, facing each other.
A warm smile was exchanged between the glowing Solar Aspects, and a similarly fond smile by the Lunar Aspects. This time, however, when the two purple alicorns caught sight of each other, they stiffened a bit, but stayed standing. After a timid wave from Dusk, Twilight seemed to relax a little, and waved back.
“Aww, they're so precious!” Celestia loudly whispered to Luna, causing her eyes to widen as she restrained a laugh. She almost replied before she heard the equally loud but decidedly more vulgar whisper from Solaris, and her eyes bulged as her cheeks heated up. A surprised laugh sprung from Celestia’s mouth before she could stop herself, and Luna could see Artemis struggling to contain himself, while glaring indignantly at his brother.
“Aaaand they’re on the floor again. You really enjoy trying to break your former student, huh?” Artemis asked his brother.
“Yes.” came two replies.
~~~
“So we would just, what trade back and forth? Our days are both at the same time, so it’s not like we can both be together in two places at one. And while I think you are perfectly capable of running day court all by yourself, Luna, I think it would leave a lot of ponies confused.” Celestia stepped over the unconscious form of Twilight and seated herself in a chair, looking back at her sister.
“And what would I be doing while she is running day court? You expect me to go for walks or talk to certain teachers from her magic school?” At this, Luna gave a startled glare at Artemis, before mouthing “You told him?”
With an incredulous shrug, Artemis mouthed back “I didn’t think it would matter!”
All conversation ground to a halt, however, when a pair of groans marked the return of the two youngest royals. “What did we miss?” they said in unison, garnering a questioning glance from the rest.
“Well, that was spooky. Did you two actually plan that?” Solaris asked, before getting elbowed by his younger brother. “What we were talking about is how we could facilitate a trade. It would mean princess sunshine there would get to spend time with her beau during the day, and I get to spend the nights with Luna. Stop laughing, both of you. I didn’t mean it like that, and we are never going to finish this conversation if you keep this up.”
“Wouldn’t that leave one of our nations without a ruler half of the day, though? I don’t know, maybe we could both hold court and try to get two days’ duties done in one day, and then switch to the other world for the next day. Though that comes with the headache of introducing our counterparts to the whole of Equestria, and that would lead to so many questions, like immigration between worlds and how rulership is passed between alternate worlds' versions of the same pony. Also, it assumes no pressing matters spring up on the ‘off’ days, which we all know is unlikely.” Luna added, pacing back and forth behind her sister’s seat.
Solaris shook his head slightly, before remarking “I could probably handle more than just day court in a day, if I had help for the duration, but likely not two full days in one. And the switching from world to world might get too confusing. I have thought about bringing this up with you, brother, that perhaps we could take care of all our duties in one fell swoop.”
“Oh, like Luna and I started doing a while back. Why has it taken this long for you to make the same change as us?” Celestia glanced at her sister, who simply shrugged in reply.
“I believe we just have a higher priority on having a prince always in the throne room, day or night, in case of threats to Equestria. Though, it sounds like the concept is already working for you. Doesn’t really help us with this issue, unfortunately.”
“Oh, I know.” Said Dusk suddenly, lighting his horn. “You can use this.” Right in front of him, in view of those across the portal, appeared a grey magical band.
Solaris' face twisted slightly, and he let out a wry chuckle "Look, I enjoyed switching with him once, even if it was just our cutie marks, but that was enough." Artemis nodded along with the sentiment, but had a look of curiosity on his face.
"Not for you," the young prince added, "For her." Dusk pointed across the portal, to where Celestia was sitting. "I still have all the schematics for making this one, so you, Twi- Princess Twilight, can make one that mimics Princess Celestia, which Artemis will wear. Then it is a simple matter of taking each other’s places."
Artemis, mind now completely halted, slowly shifted his eyes to the mirror until he met the gaze of the solar princess. Her eyes were wide, and a pink blush marked her cheeks, but she said nothing, seemingly trying to process what this plan was working out to be.
"... I will try not to do anything you wouldn't…" Artemis said with a weak smile, before he was immediately rebuffed by both Solar Aspects' reply of "Oh, I highly doubt that."
~~~
The morning of the first test was upon them, and Luna and Solaris were watching an unusual spectacle take place before them. Celestia and Artemis, who had picked the Brother's world to meet in for convenience, were rapidly going over their schedules and notes with each other. Planners and handwritten notes were floating around them as reference material, and they were both meticulously converting each other’s style of schedule keeping into their own.
“So whenever it was that I told the group of Coltscouts that they could come tour of the barracks, they took that to mean the entire local troop could come along, so you will have a few dozen young ones, most without cutie marks, when you go for that. Do not promise them further events or tours. Do not offer to go on campouts. No not offer to hold additional fundraisers for them, we already do one once a year. Do pick them up in your magic and make sound effects while you play with them. Do not put them on your shoulders and run around, because the disguise won’t work for that.”
“... and after the yak delegation leaves, if you can get them to leave, you both have a nice private dinner scheduled with Prince Blueblood." Celestia couldn't hide her smirk as she saw Artemis' confusion wash over her face, which was a unique experience, to be sure. “Oh don’t worry, you have much more experience with princes than I do, so it should be easy. But don’t act too familiar with him, he does try to worm his way into getting some form of favor or boon. If he brings a mare, or several mares for that matter, with him, pretend they are talking floral arrangements, because that is almost exactly how he thinks of them.”
“This is just… weird. I guess getting used to the voice modulation enchantment and everything is important, but couldn’t they have waited to switch until afterwards?” Solaris rolled his shoulders as he passed by Luna, and they exchanged a nervous chuckle.
“I don’t know, I believe I prefer this version of my sister. Much more goal oriented and direct. I wonder if he- she will be up to the task of pretending to care about some socialite gossip for the half hour at the spa this afternoon.” Luna smiled to herself, as if picturing Artemis being swarmed by spa ponies and attempting to fend them off like a bear covered in honey.
“Wait, you get to go to the spa? We are doing sparring drills this afternoon.” Solaris seemed to deflate slightly at this news, before quietly adding “I want to go to the spa.”
“Alright, I think we are ready. We just need to get Twilight to open up her side of the portal, and you two can be off for a whirlwind day of as little on the schedule as we could muster .” Celestia, disguised as Artemis, walked over and stroked a hoof down Dusk’s sleeping form. “Hey there, big boy, need some help waking up?”
Dusk went from dozing to fully awake immediately, and was further jolted when everpony else in the room shouted “Stop that!” at the pony softly petting his side. Wiping his eyes, he blearily looked up at his longtime friend Artemis, and his mind frantically struggled to process. A moment later, Princess Celestia, the beautiful and radiant mare version of his mentor, came over and stopped Artemis, before pulling him to his hooves with a sour look.
“We don’t have time for this, raise Twilight and tell her we are ready. I do hope she hasn’t fallen asleep too.” The mare pressed a small mirror into his hooves, and he suddenly remembered what he was doing. When the first note yielded no response, he thought for a moment before summoning the alarm clock from his bedroom. Tinkering with the clock briefly, he pushed it through the mirror and waited.
Ten seconds later, the mirror burst to light, and on the other side a glowing Twilight was teetering back and forth in her own version of the chamber. She sheepishly passed the alarm clock back through the mirror, before Princess Luna and the disguised Prince Artemis walked though.
“Oh, and try to keep your hooves off her, older brother, at least until court has concluded." Artemis called out over his shoulder. Solaris laughed, before mischievously glancing at his companion and replying. "What, afraid of tomorrow's headlines if this happens?" Before reaching out and pulling the disguised Celestia close. "Younger brother, I never noticed how soft and inviting your lips look" Celestia, quickly picking up on the joke: "Older brother, how broad and strong your shoulders feel. Your every touch makes me quiver and-"
"Oh, sweet older sister, how soft your coat is, I could bury my face in your mane and sink into your luxurious form." Luna cut off her disguised sister by pulling close her companion who was disguised as her sister. "Especially with how round and plump your-"
"Luna!" Celestia, even disguised as Artemis, could not hide her brilliant blush, caused by a mixture of outrage and embarrassment. "I think we can all agree to hold off, right?" She asked, before turning to get Solaris' agreement. Instead of that, she caught her companion openly gawking at the sight in front of him. Celestia turned back to see what had transfixed him, before huffing in exasperation.
"Prince Artemis, I do believe I asked you not to… how are you doing that? I can’t even bend like that! Ugh, I will never understand how you stallions come up with such provocative poses. Unbelievable… and you, sir! I don't appreciate you looking so shamelessly at another mare, and right in front of me, no less!"
"Hey, she looks just like you! He. He does. I mean, exactly like you. I may as well be appreciating a picture of you! Really, you should, uh, take it as a compliment."
"I meant my sister, who is very much not me. I can tell you are sparing her some of your attention, too… though we do make a rather striking pair, don't we? With her dark coat and lithe frame, and my brilliant… wow, I hadn't realized quite how large-"
"This has awoken something in me."
"And that's our cue! Talk to you later, bye!"
~~~
The final group of petitioners happily trotted from the courtroom, surprised by the good moods and surprising demeanors of the princesses, but not questioning the favorable judgment they had received. Once the door to the throne room shut, Luna leaned across the side of her throne towards her ‘sister’.
“So, how do you think that went? I am a little perturbed that I was essentially passed over to be taking the lead here, but you have been doing a more than fair job seeking my opinions on issues and asking them to address me. I guess a little advocacy for lunar diarchs can go a long way, don’t you think?”
“I agree wholeheartedly, and even though we only did a few days of this kind of ‘double-diarch day court’ in preparation over in my home, I am filling this role more easily than I thought. You are right, though, about the masses mainly wanting to speak to me, but at least they have not been mean-spirited or petty when I direct them to you. I see that the ponies of your land are just as warm and friendly as mine, if not moreso.”
With the last of the ponies in line for today met, the two ‘princesses’ left the throne room and began the walk towards the spa .“Speaking of friendly, we arranged for the spa ponies to forgo any massages today in favor of the more hooves-off treatments, just so nopony tries to rub your back and discovers solid muscle a hooves width from where it appears.”
“What do you plan on us doing? I mean, I appreciate the time to relax, but this hardly seems to be essential royal duties.” Artemis smiled politely and nodded to a few passing ponies, just in case they happened to be important.
“Oh, you would be surprised, the spa can be a great place to improve the image of the crown, especially among the nobles. With castle staff and the Canterlot elite allowed limited access to the services, having our subjects see us ‘let down our manes’, so to speak, can really build appeal and rapport. Or so says my sister, I just go along with it because it means dedicated spa appointments every week. Thinking on it, that may also be part of her reasoning, too.”
“So it would probably be for the best that I stay disguised, even in the baths? I don’t know if the enchantment is complex enough to be able to simulate a wet mane, though.” The disguised prince looked up and idly waved a hoof through his illusory mane, billowing out from behind his illusory tiara.
“No, I worked with Twilight when she made this, and I can tell you that the illusion is very accurate. Not only will your mane get wet, you can even wash your coat, sort of, with magic. I wouldn’t try scrubbing with your hooves, because…” Luna glanced over at her counterpart, and her gaze lingered on how her sister’s form was replicated in all its glory, then envisioned Artemis scrubbing his hooves over his… her…
“On second thought, I don't think you should keep the disguise on. It would be too complicated to try to deal with, and you have so much more body to try to wash and…” At this last sentence, Artemis visibly stiffened, and Luna could have sworn she felt the heat of his blush from a pace away.
“Yes, it really would feel… improper washing somepony else’s body, at least without their permission, and she certainly isn't here to give that permission. Not- not that I would want permission. From her at least.” Now it was Luna’s turn to stiffen, except it was easy to see her blush, given she wasn’t wearing a magical disguise.
After a few minutes of awkwardly silent walking, they arrived at their destination, and parted ways with their honor guard before entering. “I will make the necessary arrangements. Since we asked to skip all massages for both of us, we can just tell everypony else to wait outside. It is one of the perks of having our own spa in the castle, after all.” Luna smiled, and nodded to the head masseuse as they entered an ornate door leading to the steam rooms.
After a few minutes of navigating the various rooms and passing along their wishes, the two Lunar Aspects were alone. Luna dipped a hoof in the water of the somewhat shallow pool that filled the chamber, while Artemis tapped his wrist. After the illusion had stripped away, he removed the band and set it on a shelf for safekeeping, before headlong jumping into the water, splashing his companion and earning a surprised laugh.
Almost as quickly as he had jumped in, the lunar prince sprang back out of the water, hissing as steam peeled from his coat. “You could have warned me they boil ponies alive in here! I thought that practice fell out of vogue millennia ago.”
Giggling more as she stepped deeper into the pool, Luna shook her head and relaxed, letting the heat melt away some of the stress she had been carrying with her. When she looked back, she saw Artemis watching her dumbfoundedly, as if she were wading into a pool of lava with some dragons. “You just have to go slow, and allow yourself to acclimate one step at a time. Don’t tell me they don’t have spa baths like this in your world?”
“No they- Well, if they do, they are not very popular, not compared to steam rooms or saunas. And I am not exactly in the habit of frequenting places like this, anyways, nor is my brother. Could you imagine? The two princes strolling into a spa and saying ‘Have your biggest, burliest spa ponies come try to massage muscle knots that are older than their grandparents’. I don’t know, spas just aren’t as popular, and more mares go to them anyway.”
“Really? Most spa ponies are mares, not stallions, in my world, but it is still more of a mare pastime. Maybe it is more of a comfort that mares have being exposed and vulnerable with other mares, but stallions are less comfortable having another stallion massaging them? This could really be a- Hey, I know what you are doing, you get me talking and you just stall and wait. You are getting in this pool, so get over here, or I will use my magic, and we both know how easily I can overpower you right now.”
After a cautious look at the water, and a more cautious look at Luna's now glowing horn, the prince finally stepped a hoof into the bath. Sucking air through his teeth, Artemis gave a pleading look to his counterpart.
"I am still in recovery, you would really use your magic to bully me in this state?" He asked, grinning as her horn dimmed.
"No, but I don't need my magic!" Luna suddenly cried out, before reaching over to Artemis' hoof still outside the water. With a tug, the prince stumbled forward, landing his second forehoof in the piping hot water, but also his chin on top of the princess’s head. With a sigh of relief, he carefully pulled his neck back around the fluted horn that had almost impaled him, before a startled yelp emanated from below. Quickly pulling back enough to see her face, Artemis realized that the two of them were now, once again, so close they almost touched, which seemed to be a trend in their time together.
“You really shouldn’t complain, this was your choice to pull me in here.” He turned his snout to the side, remembering that his blush was now visible without the aid of the magic disguise.
“But look at you, you are almost all the way in the pool! And I don’t mind being this close, I just, um, didn’t think about jabbing you with my horn. I usually only have to worry about that with Sister, but I guess even though we are almost the same size, I just thought… Not that we are almost the same size, I mean look at you, even after what you have been through you still look like an earthpony carved you from a mountain face… Is the water getting hotter? It definitely feels a lot hotter to me.” Luna’s babbling trailed off as Artemis leaned close and smiled peacefully at her.
“I appreciate this. I understand that my brother and your sister wanted some time together as well, but all the effort you put in, all of you, warms my heart. I must ask, though; Was this your idea or was it hers?”
Luna’s face twisted in a very subtle way, before she asked “What do you mean?” “This, the pool, the magic band, the ‘spa day’. I still have both eyes and I can read, you know. This spa may be somewhat regularly used by the two of you, but none of the notes in Celestia’s study mentioned spa day, even though the ones she brought to coach me with did. The spa roster has no slot for royal spa visits, and a solo appointment for Celestia in two days. I can’t help but feel like this was a setup.”
A moment passed as the two lunar diarchs gazed into each other’s eyes, before Luna let out a sigh of disappointment. “It was Twilight’s idea, actually, Celestia didn’t know anything besides the notes. Said she read it in one of her favorite trashy romance novels that she secretly reads when nopony else is around. And I didn't even think of the issue with the magic band until you mentioned it just now. I guess it felt like a good idea at the time, because a day in court with me, even if we are together, couldn’t be… how could you like it if I don’t like it? I have to keep things in check so nopony thinks… Boring is safe, and safe is good, right? A little expression, a little joking would be alright, but nothing too spontaneous. Only planned fun. Only what won’t make Sister worry…”
Tears fell heavy into the steaming water below. Luna felt hooves wrap her shoulders, and pull her into a soft embrace. She sniffled slightly when she felt tears hitting the back of her neck, and tried to pull away. Instead of being released, the pressure of the hug increased, and she found her face buried in between muscular limbs.
“I hear you. I am not upset you did this, and I could tell you displayed your true feelings. If I had not been so damnably curious, and just needed to figure out what was going on, I would have loved everything you set up. I guess I owe an apology to Dusk when I return, but that matters not. What does matter is we are here, together. I may be the only other pony out there who will ever get how terrifying it is, living perched on the edge of a knife. But that is why our bond is different. While every other creature we meet can, at most, cheer us on in our battles against the daemons that lurk below the conscious world, we two, alone, can join the fight together.”
Only after saying this, did Artemis release his hold, and Luna looked up at him with a gentle smile on her face and tears drying in her eyes. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you understand better. Sister, and even Twilight, for the best of their efforts, are little more than spectators when it comes down to it. But with your help, I will no longer be alone.”
“We could even hold longer shifts in each world, like a week here, a week there. Both of us holding court during the day, and then spend all night together in the dream world?” Artemis let out a wry chuckle. “That definitely sounds like a sustainable schedule, right?”
Luna, grinning mischievously, leaned in close until their snouts almost touched, before saying quietly “Maybe not all night~”
“What do you-” But Artemis was unable to complete his question, as Luna surged forward and trapped his lips in a deep kiss.
~~~
With the sun finally set, and the moon starting to rise, Solaris could be seen walking down an unassuming hallway with his younger brother, somewhat notably missing their honor guards. At an unremarkable door, the pair of princes quickly looked both ways down the hall before quickly shuffling inside. The younger prince reached down and tapped at his wrist, which slowly billowed and revealed the form of Princess Celestia, looking quite impressive and official, but actually completely unknown and positionless here in Equestria. This Equestria, at least.
“I thought that, when you said sparring, it would be a bit of light magic dueling, maybe some weapon drills. But full body wrestling? In the mud no less? It seems like an activity for young hoofball players, not veteran guards. And you claim that both princes must participate in order to show the proper form?”
“I know, I know. You must do things differently back in your world, but this is the way we do things around here every week, right Dusk?” Solaris grinned widely at the youngest prince, who was already standing in the chamber, holding a book behind his back nervously.
“Indeed it is, Princess Celestia. I assure you this type of thing happens all the time for us, you know, big rough-and-tumble guards. And the princes have always been the pinnacle of martial knowledge, spending untold millennia mastering hoof-to-hoof skills most of us would never otherwise see.” Dusk lifted a hoof to his mouth and coughed, averting his eyes from the two Solar Aspects.
A moment passed as Celestia scrutinized the serene grin of her counterpart, and the rapidly cracking poker face of his former pupil. As she took a breath to speak, though, a note popped out of the small mirror next to Dusk, drawing all their attention.
“It is time.” was all Dusk said before his horn lit, and the magical portal spell they were becoming accustomed to gradually manifested on the mirror in front of them. After a few moments, the surface cleared, showing a window into the matching chamber, with an almost matching set of three alicorns.
Now suddenly facing the reality of departing their counterparts, disappointment and even sorrow flashed across the faces of the two pairs of diarchs. Hearing a quiet conversation from across the mirror portal, Celestia looked at Solaris and whispered “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Solaris’ roguish grin split across his face. “Always.” He quickly swept his partner off her hooves, dipped her low, and dramatically kissed her, making sure to match the little noises she made for added effect.
“Oh, don’t look at- why must they always-” Artemis sighed at his brother’s antics, shaking his head as he noticed Luna’s matching blush and exasperation. However, when he looked back to her, their eyes locked, and they froze.
“You know what would stop them, right?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow conspiratorially. She reached a hoof up and pressed it into the side of Artemis’ neck, where she could feel his heartbeat was just as frantically fast as hers.
Artemis didn’t even verbally respond, as he, too, tilted his counterpart down, almost touching their horns to the floor. They, however, did not exaggerate the passion for anypony around, as there was no need. Celestia and Solaris, off in their own world both metaphorically and literally, stopped their kiss to stare, slack-jawed, at the sight of their younger siblings. Time seemed to slow down for all present, and if anypony was paying any attention, the manes of the two Lunar Aspects, like the night sky outside in both worlds, shone more brightly than ever before.
~~~ The End ~~~
