Chapters Oldnew Luna
Prologue:
"Twilight?" The purple baby dragon asked the mare standing in front of him. The pony in question was staring out into space; her many thoughts were almost tangible. The dragon waved his hand slowly in front of the mare’s face, before sighing and resorting to clicking his fingers to gain her attention.
"Huh?" The purple mare said, snapping back to reality and looking about herself, confused for a short moment before taking in the scene. "Sorry, Spike, I was spacing out again, what were you saying?"
She lowered her gaze to the dragon as he cleared his throat before continuing, "I said that you just received a letter from Princess Celestia," Spike reminded her, holding out the letter in question to Princess Celestia’s prized pupil. Her eyes widened in response as she magicked the letter out of Spike’s hand, unfurling the scroll in the process. She started reading aloud:
‘My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,
A matter of grave importance has occurred at Canterlot Castle that requires your immediate attention. You may be staying for a number of days so pack accordingly, anything you forget can be provided for you at the castle, so do not worry too much about it. A chariot will be sent to collect you exactly fifteen minutes after this message has been received. I await your arrival.
Yours Sincerely,
Princess Celestia ’
Twilight was silent for a few moments as she re-read the scroll, turning it over to see whether there was anything on the back. She seemed deeply perturbed by the letter.
"You okay?" Spike asked her, obviously worried.
"Yes... It’s just that she doesn’t even explain what the matter is, or what is needed of me!" Twilight exclaimed, giving off a short sigh before continuing, "How am I supposed to prepare, if I don’t know what to prepare for?!" The lavender unicorn questioned, the frustration evident in her voice. Spike sighed in relief, fears instantly assuaged, even if he was still a bit jumpy from being yelled at.
'She’s simply stressed out by not knowing how to get ready; she’s not even scared, ' Spike thought to himself. However, he remembered something that should be of greater importance to Twilight than what she had to do once she got there.
"Umm... Twilight? You know you've only got like, fifteen minutes before the chariot arrives, right?" Spike asked her. Almost instantly, the mare half-jumped into the air and rushed off to pack her bags, muttering a quick 'thanks' to her assistant. Within the first thirty seconds or so, she had pulled her saddlebags from the wardrobe and began piling in clothes, not really caring what colour they were, or whether she actually planned to wear any of them -- miraculously, however, she managed to perfectly fold each and every one without missing a beat.
She next turned to her personal bookshelf next to her bed, where she kept her special books; the ones that she was either currently reading, or were her favourites. She briefly debated which volumes to bring, then realised that the Royal Canterlot Library would likely have multiple copies of any book she desired. Mentally shrugging that dead-end off, she instead chose a single slender, velvet-bound book. It was her diary, where she wrote about her deepest thoughts and feelings, and kept sealed shut from any eyes but her own, by an enchantment.
It was her most personal possession, and for all of the sixteen years she had it she had placed several different and complex spells upon it—one of the hardest spells she had enchanted it with was when she was twelve, and had run out of pages. At the time, she was Princess Celestia’s protégée, much like the present, but was nowhere near the level of magical skill she had today.
Twilight had told Celestia she wasn’t feeling well and was going to stay in her room for a few days. Even though she felt admittedly guilty about lying to her mentor, she still persevered. She’d spent the first day finding the necessary spell from the spell books she had snuck out of the library. She then spent two days straight without food, or water, performing the spell on her diary.
The spell would mean it kept its original size, but never ran out of pages. Infinity spells, as they are called, remain one of the hardest spells to do, as they require a constant, if almost imperceptible, amount of magic to keep active. This meant that she had to always make sure she never used up all of her magic or the infinity spell would fail, shutting off all other spells on the book too, due to the way that they were linked. Twilight primarily wanted the security spell she had enchanted it with to remain active, especially after she caught Spike attempting to open it.
Even though she had placed a proximity spell upon it that would make it jump to the bookshelf closest to her, she also knew that it might exhaust her magic too much if it had to jump all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot, so she decided it best to just bring it along. Twilight placed the book beneath everything else in her bag, flung it on to her back and trotted to the library’s main room. She then proceeded to look for Spike; she had something to tell him.
"I’m really sorry, Spike, but you’ll have to housesit for me while I’m gone. There just isn’t enough time to find anyone else; is that alright?" Twilight asked him, biting her lip at the necessity of the question. But she took solace when she remember what little number of ponies actually came into the library on weekdays.
Spike nodded and turned back to the box he was sorting through. Twilight knew that Spike had already known this as he hadn’t packed anything, but she still felt as if she needed to confirm it. A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and she glanced over at the door, before turning back to Spike.
"Well, goodbye, I guess," she said to her assistant, never sure how to say goodbye to somepony without it sounding awkward.
"See you, sometime," he replied absentmindedly, still focused on the box between his claws. Twilight knew that Spike was just trying to show he could handle himself, but the way Spike’s hand shook slightly belied his true feelings on the matter. Twilight smiled reassuringly at him and moved over to the door, opening it with her magic. There were two Royal Guards standing on either side of the doorway, ready to escort her.
"Ms. Twilight Sparkle, we are here to escort you to Canterlot Castle, upon the orders of Princess Celestia," The guard ponies stated in unison, their voices monotone and strict from years of training. She sighed, then nodded at each of them, while walking towards the chariot and upon reaching it hopping in, quickly settling into the lavish interior.
The guards turned back to the chariot themselves and jumped into the front, one taking the reins and the other sitting stationary in his seat. Even though the carriage only needed a single pony to pilot it, the Royal Guards always worked in pairs. Twilight placed her bag beside her and sat back in the seat, attempting to get comfortable. It was going to take a while before they reached Canterlot.
The carriage was a simple oak frame, it looked almost exactly like the one she had ridden in on her first trip to Ponyville, except it was a lot simpler and more worn. However, this chariot seemed to be infused with some sort of magic, making it fly a lot faster. Twilight could instinctively sense this to be Celestia's own, it had that sort of ever-maternal feeling to it, which Twilight remembered from her youth. She missed Celestia, and some guilty part of her was looking forward to what was ahead, just because it would be an opportunity to spend time with her beloved teacher. Twilight’s mood was tempered somewhat though with the unknown problems she faced at the castle.
She thought about how rushed everything was, she barely had time to pack, and she didn’t even have time to say goodbye to her friends. The events at the castle must be an emergency for there to be such short notice; usually ponies were given a minimum of twenty-four hours notice prior to being summoned to the castle. Twilight looked back at Ponyville, which was gradually getting smaller in the distance. She hoped that Spike would inform everypony of where she had gone, but even though she had forgotten to ask him, she trusted him and did not worry. On the horizon, Twilight could see Canterlot getting closer by the minute.
Twilight was surprised when the flight took less than two hours, of course she knew that this was directly linked to Celestia's magic, 'the Princess wasn't kidding when she said I was needed immediately ' Twilight thought to herself as the chariot began turning to face the length of the castle courtyard.
The second the carriage came to a halt, Twilight jumped out to stretch her legs. She left the bag behind; somepony would bring it to her room later. She looked around the gardens, nostalgia building up as she remembered her days as a filly, when she would sit in the courtyard for hours, just reading. Her memories were interrupted, however, by a bright, golden glow suddenly winking at her from one end of the courtyard, that heralded the arrival of the Sun Princess.
She walked gracefully towards Twilight, mane billowing out behind her, despite there being no noticeable breeze. All of the guard ponies bowed to the Princess, but Twilight ran straight up like an excited filly and leapt forward, clamping her forelegs around Celestia's neck like there was no tomorrow, with a wide grin plastered across her face. The Princess, obviously taken aback by this, stared on for a moment, but quickly pulled her protégée further into a heartfelt embrace, all the while smiling herself. Twilight could tell, however, that she was worried about something.
Standing there, it dawned on Twilight what she had just done, and she blushed profusely as she pulled away. It took a moment for the Princess to compose herself after this, rather intimate, moment with her mentee before she started talking, "My faithful student, how nice to see you again," Princess Celestia smiled, "if only it were under better circumstances," she added wryly, smile fading slightly. Twilight’s grin also lessened somewhat as they both acknowledged the seriousness of the situation.
"So, what is the emergency, Princess?" Twilight asked her mentor, who sighed deeply and turned around, so she was facing the way she had entered.
"Follow me, I will explain on the way," Celestia said, and started walking down the corridor, through a great set of double doors, Twilight quickly in tow.
"Before I explain what is going on, you probably would like to know why I didn't tell you the problem in the letter I sent," she added once Twilight had caught up. Twilight gave a nod in affirmation and Celestia continued, "You see, as your teacher, I am familiar with your habits and I knew that if I had told you what was going on, you would have likely overworked yourself trying to prepare for it, and I need you in peak condition for the task ahead."
Twilight nodded guiltily, knowing the Princess' words to be true. "So, what do I have to do?" Twilight asked.
"First, you must understand the problem, and I think the best way is simply to show you," Celestia replied, stopping in front of another pair of doors; Twilight had seen this door before, she’d explored much of the castle when she lived here, but it was a bedroom that no one ever used the last time she had checked. The two guards, who were standing at attention in front of the doors, stepped aside and bowed, whilst simultaneously opening the way to the grand bedroom they were guarding.
"What’s in here?" Twilight asked.
"This is my sister, Luna’s, room," Celestia replied, waiting for Twilight to walk in first. Twilight wondered why she had never seen Luna in her there before, but she then realised the reason and blushed. Luna was still on the moon when Twilight had lived here, and yet her room was still kept in top condition. The bed was always made; not a speck of dust was to be seen anywhere; and fresh flowers lay on the bedside. That sentiment hit Twilight as amazingly sweet, and she had to quickly walk into the room in front of Celestia to hide her now deeply crimson cheeks.
The sight that awaited her inside the room though, knocked all sentimentality from her mind, and replaced it with confusion, awe, and not a little fear. For hovering over Princess Luna’s bed was a sphere, constructed entirely out of magic. The deep blue colour made it instantly recognizable as Luna's own. It was so thick, however, that seeing clearly what was inside was next to impossible. Though barely visible, there was a silhouette of a pony thrashing around within it.
"Two days ago, Luna didn't show up to raise the moon, at first I believed that she was just late, and decided to sleep. An hour later though, the moon had still not risen, So my Personal Guard and I searched her out, fearing the worst; we found this,” Celestia pointed to the bubble, “My sister and I have a link as the two celestial alicorns, and also as sisters so I could tell that Luna was distressed inside there.
Normally, I would have been able to sense this from anywhere, but the bubble must have been muffling our link somehow, and I only felt it once I got close. Naturally, I attempted to break the bubble multiple times but to no avail. This is why I had to call upon you; I knew that you would be able to think of something," She whispered. Twilight nodded and turned away from Celestia to face the bubble. She stared at it for a good minute, deep in concentration while Celestia held her breath, hoping her student could think of a solution.
"Okay, I’m going to run a few tests, and it might take a while; I’m sure you have duties to attend to, I’ll be fine here," Twilight replied, already trawling through various possible solutions in her mind. Celestia nodded in reply.
"I will leave you to it then, good luck, my faithful student," The Princess of the sun said as she turned and walked out the door, closing it behind her and instructing the guards outside not to interfere.
Twilight sat down and looked up at the magical sphere, as her horn began to glow with a purple aura, tendrils crawled from the tip and probed the surface of the bubble; she could feel the magic and its owner. It appeared to be in some sort of self-defence state, whilst Luna seemed to be extremely distressed. She probed further, searching for a way to break the spell and free Luna from her own magic.
As the tendrils enveloped the bubble she could hear a faint voice in the back of her head, "Twilight Sparkle! " It seemed far away, yet very close, "It is I, Luna!"
Distress was obvious in her voice.
"Luna? " Twilight thought.
"Please, help me! " The voice replied, thick with worry.
"I’m working on it! " Twilight responded, pushing the tendrils further into the barrier and sinking them deeper into the surface, desperately trying to think of a solution. Hours later, or maybe it was just a few moments, they hit something solid, and Twilight understood.
The magic’s construction unravelled in Twilight’s brain, she knew what she would have to do to disable the magic, but at what cost? Each unicorn has a different frequency for their magic; this frequency gives them their unique magic colour and stops other ponies’ magic from mixing it up with their own. However, it is possible to change your frequency, but it is impossible to change it back .
Twilight thought about the consequences of tuning her magic to Luna’s. While it meant she could disable the bubble, it would mean that she and Luna would have their magic forever linked together. Every spell cast by one could be felt by the other, and while their magic levels would be combined, depleting the magic of one would deplete the magic of the other. Twilight sighed and considered whether to go ahead with this plan. She didn’t have to think long though, her sense of duty telling her which decision would be the one to make, for the sake of the princess, she would change her frequency.
The process for changing one's magical frequency is hard to complete for those with lesser magical abilities. Luckily for Twilight, she most certainly did not have lesser magical power. She thought back to Starswirl the Bearded’s scrolls on magic and remembered the steps for altering your magical frequency. First she would have to touch the magic of the frequency she wished to change to, this involved touching the magical bubble, and this is why you wouldn't be able to change back - your original magic doesn't exist anymore so you can't touch it. She hesitantly moved up to the bubble and touched it with a wince, expecting it to throw her back violently. She let out a breath of relief when nothing untoward occurred and went onto step 2; envisioning the colour of the magic of the frequency you wish to change to. She closed her eyes and thought about the dark blue colour of Luna’s magic. And then the third and final step. She touched her horn to the bubble and sent out a spark of her magic, at the same time keeping Luna’s magical colour in her mind. Suddenly the bubble spread out, enveloping Twilight and drawing her inside Luna’s nightmare.
Everything started out dark, not the dark of an unlit room, but the blackness a blind man has, so dark you feel like you’ll never see again. Twilight couldn’t hear anything besides her own breathing, it was ragged and unsteady. She was afraid to call out, hesitant of what would answer her call. She blinked a couple of times to assure herself that there really wasn’t any light, there wasn’t. She inched forward a few steps and hit her hoof on something soft, she pulled away quickly, protection spells running through her mind, ready to be released at moment’s notice. After what felt like days she calmed down a bit and once more edged forward, this time feeling out with her front hoof until it once more touched the soft, warm object. She felt along its length and found the texture changing from hair to feathers, was it a pegasus? She continued along the object until she built up a mental image of its dimensions, once she reached the top though she felt something hard and cold protruding out of the object, as soon as she touched it a glow built up, originating from under her hoof. Twilight jumped back about two feet, more scared of the glow then she was of the darkness. However, as the glow illuminated the object she stopped backing away, it was a familiar form. Princess Luna lay completely still, stretched out on the floor.
"Princess Luna?" Twilight asked hesitantly, in response the figure’s head raised up until it was facing Twilight, eyes still closed. Twilight’s breathing rate skyrocketed, Luna didn’t seem to be breathing or moving at all apart from the head, which was now facing Twilight. She held her breath, slowly backing further from the mare. As soon as Twilight moved back, a voice boomed out, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"STOP!" That single syllable was enough to freeze Twilight in her tracks, at the same time Luna’s eyes flew open. These were not her eyes however; they were the elliptical pupils of Nightmare Moon. Instantly Twilight sprang into action, now that she knew her enemy she was not afraid.
"Nightmare Moon! What are you doing here?"
"Twilight Sparkle, is that you? What pray tell, are you doing here?" The figure said, in Luna’s voice, half between the old Canterlot speech and the modern dialect, “This is our Nightmare." Twilight was confused, torn between believing that her friend, Princess Luna, stood in front of her and that her old nemesis, Nightmare Moon, had returned.
"You see, the Nightmare is all of our, sorry, my bad emotions amplified," She stopped with the half-modern-half-old style of speech and switched to plain old modern speech, "They can consume me if I’m not careful. One thousand years ago, when I first felt the Nightmare start to overcome me I brought myself here to fight against the Nightmare without endangering others. However, as you know, I failed and Nightmare Moon overtook me and attempted eternal night." Luna/Nightmare Moon gave a shudder in remembrance of the horrid event. "During my banishment it was greatly weakened and I managed to once more be in control of my body, however it has been in control for so long that tendrils of its existence still hold sway occasionally. When I felt the Nightmare return inside me I sent myself here and I created an impenetrable bubble that could only be broken with my magic. You see, the Nightmare has its own magic and cannot use mine so even if I did fail against it, the Nightmare would be trapped here.
Unfortunately I failed; the Nightmare is controlling my body, thrashing it about in the bubble. I am trapped here until we can overcome it." Twilight listened to her story quietly, unconsciously deciding that this mare was actually Luna. She continued to sit in silence after the tale had finished. The minutes were dragging on in silence while Twilight thought about what to do. Eventually, Twilight spoke, her voice full of hope.
"Princess Luna, if I combined my magic with yours, would we be able to overcome the Nightmare together?" Twilight asked. Luna’s brow creased as she thought up an answer.
"Umm... Princess?" Twilight interrupted Luna’s thoughts.
"Yes." She replied, unable to look Luna in the face "I’m sorry princess! It was the only way to get past the bubble!" Luna’s eyes shot wide open.
"That’s understandable, magic ties closely with your brain; ponies with identical frequencies usually have their dreams linked, as well as their emotions." Luna looked straight into Twilight’s purple eyes, "I sure hope you understand the implications of what you have done, there is no way to change your frequency back and you will be forever tied to me." Twilight nodded, already aware of what it meant.
Luna sat silently for a while.me ." Luna said, her calm demeanour cracking slightly, showing some of the emotions lying underneath. Twilight felt these emotions as if they were her own. She had feelings of sadness, of hope, and of something else. Twilight decided that prying into Luna’s emotions wasn’t what either of them wanted right now. Twilight stood up, feeling confident.
The shadows congealed into a point beside them, and they stopped their magic to see what was happening. The shadows rose up and formed into the familiar shape of Nightmare Moon.me ?" The Nightmare shouted in her over-confident tone that the citizens of Equestria knew and feared. Twilight and Luna stood their ground, knowing that together they could overcome the darkness.
"You won’t control me anymore Nightmare, with our magic we can, and will, defeat you." Luna was staring straight into the Nightmare’s eyes, they flashed with something akin to fear, but it was quickly replaced by the confident gaze of someone who knows they will win.
"Those are fighting words." The Nightmare uttered, charging up her magic, Luna took a step forward so she and Twilight were standing side by side.
"Oof!" Twilight grunted out as she crashed to the floor, she tried to rise but couldn’t move her body. Hoping she hadn’t broken anything, she contented herself with looking around the room. She saw the bubble had disappeared, and Luna was sprawled out on the bed, seemingly unconscious. Twilight could see her chest rise and fall regularly, and gave a sigh of relief, but there was something different about Luna. She heard footsteps from behind her; however, blackness was eating away at the edge of her vision. As she succumbed to unconsciousness she heard a soft voice speak.
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Interlude: Extract from Starswirl the Bearded's book
Author's note: A couple of people asked me about the magical frequency theory I had, I thought about a couple of stuff and people came up with some ideas. This is an extract from Starswirl the Bearded's "A Beginner's guide to Magical Theory" written completely by Hay Hooves, I take no credit for this piece.
Greetings young unicorn! You are about to embark on an exciting journey of self-discovery. By the time you have begun reading this book you have most certainly experienced more than your share of magical mishaps. You may have snuck a cookie from the top shelf, or you may have blown up a neighbourhood vegetable stand to keep your mother from buying broccoli for supper. Whatever the case, now is the time to learn how your magic works and how to control it. In this first chapter we will cover the basics of how unicorn magic works and a couple exercises to help you learn more about your own magical talents. Well, let's not waste any more time, let's begin!
You may have noticed that when seeing other unicorns use magic, they give off a colored light, usually emanating from the horn. This is commonly referred to as a magical aura. Each unicorn has their own unique aura which is related to the colour that is emitted when a spell is performed. I have theorized that the reason for each unicorn having an individual frequency is to ease the transfer of power from the magical plane to our own, and our natural portal is built strong to keep that connection as stable as possible. Should you continue your studies into advanced magical theory you are likely to spend a great deal of time studying the relationship between the qualities of light emitted and the resulting magical endeavour. While my editors insist that young unicorns are not interested in the technical aspects of magic I hope you will indulge me in at least introducing some of the basic terminology to you, at the very least you can impress your parents with it.
In everyday conversation regarding magic it is common to describe a unicorn's aura in terms of colour or brightness. When distinguishing between the auras of two unicorns you may also hear ponies refer to the magical frequency or wavelength. None of these are entirely accurate, but none are technically incorrect; rather, all of these are a part of what makes up a unicorn's magical aura. At the time of this book's writing the most complete measurement we have for describing the individual unicorn's "frequency" is it's spectral irradiance. I hope that one of you reading this book will someday surpass this method as I have never found it entirely satisfactory, if you are interested feel free to find my book, "Third dimension of the spectral power distribution: Experimental theories on magical auras". Anyway, I hope you didn't find that too boring. Now that you have learned more than you may have wanted to know about auras, let’s discuss how they affect you.
One question I often get from young pupils, particularly those lacking raw magical power, is, "Why can't two unicorns make one big powerful spell?" Well, my dear fillies and colts that is where each of your different auras come in. It is an unfortunate reality that two magical auras cannot combine into a single spell. While it is rarely dangerous to attempt this, it has been known for the frequencies of two unicorn's auras to cause either interference or resonance that can have unpredictable results.
The next question is often, "Can I match their frequency?" The short answer to most is no, but for a select few, this is technically possible. I say technically because there is a method by which a unicorn can change the frequency of their aura, however this method is exceedingly complicated, requires a massive amount of power, and is incredibly dangerous. In order to explain the danger involved it would be easiest to compare your link to your magical skills to a bridge, a very solid bridge that connects directly from your mind to the magical source. As far as we can tell, there is no other way to access magic aside from our natural connections; therefore, in order to change your frequency, you need to destroy your own bridge, while simultaneously constructing a new bridge where another bridge already stands.
Failing in any part of this process could result in anything from complete loss of magic to death of yourself or the pony you are trying to match. Oh my, but this is getting grave for a children's study book, my apologies to any I may have frightened. It is unlikely you will ever need to concern yourself with this in any case, I am certain my editors will want to remove this segment but if I can help any of you by including this information, then I think it is worth the extra ink.
Oh, and just in case any of you were wondering, I have never met anypony who successfully altered their own frequency. In studying this phenomenon I learned that both princesses, Celestia and Luna, have seen it accomplished, but warned me against ever attempting it, apparently the cases which they witnessed led to some tragic tales. Should they allow me to chronicle and print those stories I shall add a cross reference in this book to further warn you youngsters against trying this yourself.
Twilight opened her eyes, groaned at the intense light and splitting headache she had woken up with, and almost immediately closed them again. The nurse standing at the other end of the room noticed the groan and came over.
The main thing she noticed was the white, everything was a sterilised, clean white that burned her eyes. She looked out for Luna, hoping that she was okay. She wasn’t visible and Twilight gave a sigh of relief, settling back. She soon realised though that as a princess, Luna would likely have her own personal bedside doctor, and wouldn’t be brought to the infirmary if there was anything wrong with her. Twilight sat up again in worry, thinking paranoid thoughts. What if Luna was hurt? What if it was because of her? What if it was to do with her changing her magical frequency to Luna’s? This last thought stopped Twilight’s paranoid thoughts before they got out of control as it had in the past, her rational side once more taking command. If they had merged frequencies then technically Twilight should be able to feel whether Princess Luna was okay. Twilight closed her eyes and envisioned Luna, the dark blue alicorn with a flowing mane made out of the night itself. And nothing happened. What was going on? Why wasn’t it working? And then her questions were answered.
The Princess walked in, and went straight to Twilight.
The nurse moved out of the way of the more experienced and skilled doctor and stood anxiously beside him, ready to oblige any orders. The doctor sat and looked down at the princess, who was breathing heavily, he too took her pulse. As he began to take more tests and note things down on a pad he kept beside him, the nurse moved in front of Twilight’s field of vision and Twilight sighed, too tired to ask her to move, the herbal drink must have been taking effect. She lay facing the ceiling as the doctor and the nurse conferred, they must have decided that the best thing to do was to move her to her own room and let her recuperate and sleep in comfort. As they loaded the princess onto a stretcher and wheeled her away, Twilight gave a huge yawn and closed her eyes, letting sleep heal her. She thought in her sleep and worked out why visualizing Princess Luna didn’t work, it was because she was thinking about old Luna, this was the new Luna. Or since she had been in the form before, she was the oldnew Luna. As she slept dreamlessly she heard a voice in the back of her head call her.
When she awoke it was in the afternoon, the setting sun giving of a gentle glow that rebounded around the polished room. Twilight smiled at the simple beauty of it and tried to remember what it was that she was meant to be doing. Oh, that’s right, she thought to herself, she was meant to join Luna. Twilight looked over at the nurse, certain that she wouldn’t let Twilight leave until she was feeling better. Luckily the nurse was occupied with a patient at the far end of the infirmary and had her back to Twilight. The purple mare quietly slid out her sheets and landed as softly as she could on the floor, she swayed slightly at having to stand up after about three days in bed. When she got her balance back, she slowly made her way towards the door, all the time looking over at the nurse, hoping she wouldn’t turn around. The Royal Guards at the door did nothing to stop her, not knowing that she probably shouldn’t be leaving the infirmary. As Twilight walked, more quickly than usual for her, over to Luna’s bedroom, she gave a sigh of relief at having gotten out of the infirmary without confrontation. The walk took about three minutes, and the whole time Twilight glanced each way to look out for anyone that would challenge her presence here. She was met with none, and made it to Luna’s bedroom where two more Royal Guards were posted outside. She gulped and desperately tried to think up a reason as to why she was here, she didn’t need to though as, upon spotting the mare, the guards stood to one side and opened the doors for her.
Twilight stood for a few moments longer, just staring at the pony and wondering what she was supposed to do that she had joined Luna, sighing as her brain came up with nothing she trotted over to Luna’s well stocked bookcase and pulled out a long, slender leather-bound book. You see, one of the many spells that Twilight had placed on her book over the years, her personal favourite and one of the most useful was a difficult modification to a simple teleportation spell. It would search out the nearest bookcase or bookshelf to Twilight, make sure there was room for the book and teleport the book there. However, anything that the book held inside it that wasn’t on the book’s papers wouldn’t appear with it unless the book was in Twilight’s personal bookcase. This made it equally useful as a place to hide pictures she drew that she didn’t want people to see when she was away from home. Twilight set the book down on Luna’s desk, grabbed the nearest quill with her magic and began the spell to unlock the book. She held her breath, hoping her new magic would still work, she sighed in relief as the soft click heralded the unlocking of the book, along with the soft violet glow of her new magic. ‘The infinity spell I had on must have converted the magic on the book to my new magic as I changed’ She reasoned aloud, she then realised however that Luna had the same magic as her and so would be able to disable the books spells too. She blushed at the thought, thinking about the page she wrote about Luna and Nightmare Night. Calming herself down, she wrote about the feelings she had when she and Luna had fought Nightmare Moon together the other day.
‘My common sense told me to fear, I felt this fear but was not consumed by it. For beside me stood resolution and determination, and not a little hope. Together they overcame the fear, replacing it with the acceptance I felt, and the relief that was shared between me and Luna. I felt other feelings too, these feelings confused me, I wasn’t used to feelings like this. Feelings of being together, not of friends but of something... more.’ As Twilight pondered what to write next, she heard Luna roll over behind her and slammed the book shut, simultaneously locking it. She swivelled her head around and saw Luna still firmly asleep, but her head now poked out, looking as peaceful and as serene as the night sky itself. Twilight sighed, confused with what she felt within her, was it a side effect of the magic resonance? Twilight thought back to Starswirl the Bearded’s scroll entitled ‘A Beginner’s guide to Magical Theory’ and remembered how he had never seen a pony change their magical frequency first hand but had found out from the princesses that it often led to problems later on. Unfortunately it they didn’t expand on that and Twilight frowned, still unsure despite what the scroll told her. To clear her head she went and put her book away in the bookshelf and sat on the floor, pondering what to do next, after a few moments of silence, save for the steady breathing from both mares, she metaphorically slapped herself.
Of course Luna meant to join her in her dreams, not in her bedroom, after collapsing like that she would obviously still be sleeping. Mentally reprimanding herself for the mistake, she opened her mind wide to Luna and almost instantly got sucked into the dream realm they both shared. It was a strange experience, one moment you’re sitting quietly and the next you’re thrown into a world where the rules of real life don’t mean a thing. The weirdest thing is that while Twilight knew it to be a dream, it felt as real as the floor her body was on back in the waking world. Her dream self on the other hand was on a stone path that led to the Canterlot town square. While Twilight didn’t really know what Canterlot looked like very well, she could tell that this dream rendition was near-perfect, if not an exact replica of the real one. What struck her as strange was that it was night time, yet there were several ponies out and about, acting like this was the normal thing to do, even all of the shops were open. She walked into the town square, looking around and trying to find out where Luna was. As she looked closer at the ponies in the square she noticed how they all looked at the ground, even when greeting each other, they would never raise their heads. She wondered if it had something to do with the sky, she looked up and was instantly mesmerised. It was filled with all manner of stellar formations, the nebulae and quasars spinning across the universe in a spectacular intergalactic dance of god-like proportions. Her mind went blank with pure amazement at the sky, she wondered why no one was looking up, how could they not want to see something as breathtaking as this?
A soft voice pulled Twilight from her thoughts.
The two mares looked up at the sky, enjoying the tranquillity and chaos of the night sky as it stretched across their field of vision. The other ponies in the square seemed to pay no heed to the two mares sitting together staring at the sky, they just continued about their business with their heads facing the ground. Some time later, Twilight realised she still had her front leg around Luna and slowly removed it, Luna looked over to Twilight and tilted her head. Twilight gave a slight blush, masking this action with a question.
She zoomed in, through the stars, and arrived at a galaxy in the shape of a ring, an intense glow originating from the center.
The two mares woke up simultaneously, and Luna yawned and turned to the side. When she saw Twilight her eyes opened wide.
Chapter 4:
Princess Celestia pulled the sofa at the side of the room with her magic and placed it carefully behind her before sitting down on it. Luna and Twilight stayed where they were, Twilight sitting on the floor and Luna sitting on her bed. Celestia looked at both of them in turn before speaking.
Celestia put up her hoof for Luna to stop, she obliged and Celestia looked now at Twilight.
"Twilight Sparkle, while you are correct in saying that your two magics will be merged, you must remember that it will also connect your emotions and feelings, as well as your dreams. This means that you will have a stronger link with my sister than even I have." Twilight nodded, but didn't mention how she and Luna had already shared a dream, thinking that it would be best to move away from this subject. Luna also blushed slightly, but Celestia didn't seem to notice. Celestia took a breath and continued.
"I didn’t realise my eyes were those of the Nightmare, that’s why I was confused why Twilight thought I might be the Nightmare. After I proved to her that I was indeed Princess Luna, I explained to her what had happened, Twilight asked me how we might overcome the Nightmare together. I told her that it could be possible, but it would mean merging frequencies, I didn’t want her to do something that would change her life forever, and was surprised to find out that she had already done so. I had, of course, felt different when I woke up but put it down to having just been beaten by the Nightmare. I asked whether she understood the consequences of her actions, much like you just have. After being convinced she did we poured our magic together to draw the Nightmare out to fight. She arrived and I told her that together Twilight and I would defeat her. She scorned me, saying how she could never truly be removed from my psyche and Twilight stepped forward, ready to defend me." Celestia nodded approvingly and Twilight smiled, "Together we powered a magical beam at the Nightmare, defeating her, disabling my bubble and throwing us out of my mind all at once. I was unconscious before I landed." Luna finished and Celestia nodded once more, now looking at both of them.
"And now it is time for you to find out what happened whilst you were busy." Celestia began. "I was performing my regular duties around the castle when there was a massive explosion, everyone stopped and looked at each other, I immediately knew what was going on and rushed towards this room, I found Twilight lying on the floor, about to black out and you, Luna on your bed, safe, apart from you being in your current condition. I had Twilight moved to the infirmary to recover and I brought your personal doctor here to tend to you. Thankfully, I was told that neither of you had suffered from anything serious." Celestia finished, but Twilight still seemed slightly confused. Celestia noticed this and looked down to her student.
Once they were outside and the doors were closed Celestia continued with their talk,
Three doors down from Luna’s room Celestia opened the door to reveal a smaller, but still huge, bedroom. Celestia took position on one side of the bed, Twilight took the other,
The dream was different from before, they were no longer in Ponyville, they were in Luna’s bedroom, yet there were no furnishing aside from a dark blue sofa which Luna was situated on.
When Twilight woke up it was mid-morning. She gave a huge yawn and rubbed her eyes, she was momentarily confused, not recognising her unfamiliar surroundings. However, Twilight looked to her left and saw a blue mare, still sleeping peacefully under her covers and remembered everything from the night before. Luna was going to live with her for more than three years as soon as she was well enough to move about. This thought still blew Twilight away, never in a million years would she think that a princess would live with her. She also remembered the dream meeting they shared last night, where Luna had got her to talk about Ponyville. Something didn’t add up though, why was she in Luna’s bed? She looked around the room and spotted her bed in the opposite corner, it looked like someone had just gotten up from it. Twilight used to sleepwalk back when she was a filly, but hadn’t done so in over a decade so it probably wasn’t that. Did she even get into her bed last night? She distinctly remembered doing so, so she must have gotten up at some point in the night and gone over to Luna’s bed, perhaps when she had entered their shared dream realm and sat on the bench next to her? Maybe her dreams were affecting her more than just mentally. Twilight thought through several more reasons as to why she was next to Luna before mentally slapping herself. 'You’re forgetting the point here', she thought to herself, 'you’re still in the bed'. Twilight blushed deeply and made to slide carefully off the bed without disturbing the other mare. Luna, on the other hand, turned over with a small groan, at the same time putting a front leg over Twilight’s shoulder and pulling her in tight.
Twilight’s blush reddened further but she didn’t resist, not wanting to disturb Luna, who now had her face buried in Twilight’s mane. Twilight tried levering Luna’s arm away from her and slip out but Luna held on tight and there was no way to get her to let go without waking her. Eventually Twilight gave up on trying to get away and settled back with a small sigh, knowing she would have to wait for Luna to wake up to move, and that an awkward conversation would likely follow. Twilight thought up excuses as to why she was in Luna’s bed but could only come up with saying that she must have sleepwalked, a feeble excuse and she knew it but she could think of nothing else. Twilight wasn’t sure how long she lay there for with Luna wrapped around her but as the time went on she began to realise that she didn’t really mind, it was quite comforting. No one had held her like this since she lived with her parents. As time wore on, nothing disturbed the silence apart from the soft, rhythmic breathing of the two mares and then Twilight came up with an idea.
If Luna could call Twilight to her dreams, would it work the other way round? Twilight gave it a go, opening her mind wide and calling out,
Luna shook with the effort of standing up and threatened to fall, and would have had Twilight not darted forward to support Luna with her body.
The two must have sat there for over half an hour before Luna’s stomach grumbled audibly, making them both burst into laughter. As if on cue, Twilight’s stomach joined with the grumbling making them laugh all the more. After their laughter subsided, they wiped their eyes and stood, supporting each other as they rose.
Twilight once more opened the door ahead with her, or really, their magic since the frequencies were the same. Once they had maneuvered inside, having to squeeze through the door slightly, they were met with the gaze of a dozen servants who had looked up to find out who had entered the door. When the realisation that Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia’s prized student were the ones who entered, everypony sprung into action, cleaning surfaces and polishing floors, getting everything fit for a princess. This is exactly what Luna wanted to avoid though. She cleared her throat and spoke in a voice that was halfway between the Royal Canterlot speech and modern Equestrian.
"May I ask what the Princess and Her Guest would like for breakfast?" He asked in a timid voice, obviously not used to dealing with royalty directly. Twilight and Luna looked at each other briefly, both of them sitting next to each other on the chairs, and tried to decide what they wanted.
"Here, I’ll get it for you." Twilight said, leaning over and going to wipe the butter off, however, Luna started uncontrollably laughing over Twilight’s concentrating face, making Twilight smear the butter even more than it already was. Twilight burst into laughter and the smear spread to the other side of Luna’s face, they sat there laughing for over half a minute, Twilight continuing to smear the butter, unable to stop due to her laughter. Every single servant pony in the room had stopped what they were doing and stood there staring at the two playing like little fillies. The laughter was interrupted however by the sudden opening of the kitchen door and the entrance of one princess.
Twilight felt like Luna didn't really need to be leaning on her but she didn’t say anything, she didn't mind. It was pretty fun trying to walk along like that anyway. Once Celestia had reached a corner of the corridor with a bench she sat Twilight and Luna down on it and stood in front of them, multicolour mane flowing impressively despite the complete lack of a noticeable breeze.
"Now then, Twilight Sparkle, there is something I need you to do." Celestia said to her student, Twilight raised her gaze to meet her mentor’s.
"I know, it’s just... even though I know you’re doing this for my own good, it feels like you’re abandoning me..." Celestia nodded, understanding her student’s pain.not abandoning you, think of this as your graduation to higher education." Celestia said the best thing she could think of, and it worked. Twilight perked up at the mention of graduation, and raised her head to the Sun Princess.
"Come on, let’s go for a walk, it’ll help clear your head, it always does for me." Luna said, standing up, more steady than she was that morning.
The night was dreamless, both shared and private. Twilight arose from her bed, actually her bed this time, and stood, drawing out a massive yawn. The curtains were still open from when Twilight had opened them last morning, and judging by the height of the sun in the sky, it must have been about midday. She looked over to Luna’s bed in the opposite corner of the room, only to find it empty. Luna wasn’t lying when she said she would be moving about tomorrow. Twilight could hear the sound of running water coming from the ensuite bathroom, and could smell the faint scent of lavender in the air. Twilight decided to let Luna shower in peace, and instead went over to her bookcase, and pulled out the familiar slender, leather-bound book. She set it down on Luna’s writing desk, and sat herself down on the accompanying chair. She looked at the book, wondering if Luna would notice she was using their magic, or if the shower would distract her. Taking a risk, she produced the necessary spell for unlocking the tome, and sent it onto the book. There was a slight click as the security spell was disabled and the book opened to a new page. Twilight pulled a quill out, and dipped it in the black ink pot using her hoof, not wanting to risk using more magic. It had been a while since she had last had to use her hoof to write, 15 years in fact, back then she couldn’t even do a simple levitation spell, ever since she learned how she had been using it for writing, perfecting her control and writing style.
This hoof written paragraph that she hastily wrote out however, looked like it had been written by a filly, Twilight gave a slight sigh, knowing that this would have to do, and re-read her work to see if it made sense, not that her rambling usually did.
Twilight pretended to look at Luna’s books whilst she waited for Luna to emerge, which she did. She had a towel wrapped around her mane, and was still slightly damp, and that smell of lavender still permeated the air.The Life of an Eccedentesiast which was an autobiography, by the second Gryphon Prince.
"So... I guess we should get packing then." Twilight said after the silence started to lengthen. Luna nodded and pulled out a small suitcase from her wardrobe with her mouth.
After their packing was complete, they still had over a quarter of an hour left until it was time to leave for Ponyville. Neither could think of anything to do, so they just sat together, leaning on each other's shoulders, and stared out of the floor to ceiling windows opposite them. The sun was high in the sky and shone brightly over the forest, seeming both still and yet bustling with life. As they sat, Luna tried to read Twilight’s feelings, and saw that Twilight’s feelings were too confusing to read, perhaps she was trying to hide them?
"Well, I guess it’s time to go." Luna said, standing up with a small groan. She grabbed Twilight’s hoof with her own, and hauled her up.
The two were so absorbed in their thoughts that they didn’t even realise they were in the courtyard until Princess Celestia was right in front of them.
Twilight let the wind rushing past clear her mind as she leant against the mare beside her, feeling the warmth of being this close warm her up and cheer her up slightly.
The chariot seemed to be going slower than it was when it was bringing Twilight to the castle, so it was at least another five minutes before Twilight could see Ponyville approaching in the distance.
As they touched down the both of them stood simultaneously, picked up their suitcases and departed from the chariot. The two Royal Guards that had sat stationary in the front of the chariot now looked at their previous passengers and saluted smartly before taking off back to the castle. Luna glanced over at Twilight and let her lead. Twilight smiled reassuringly at her before moving forward and opening the door with her magic.
"Come on, let me show you where you will be sleeping." Twilight said, leading her over to the spare bed she had used during the sleepover with Rarity and Applejack. Spike walked out of the front door of the library, presumably to go to the market or some other shop.
It was indeed a journal, but was set out weirdly, it seemed like a diary but it didn’t record events, but feelings. She read the most recent entry,
So what now? Luna asked herself, the question repeating itself over in her mind and remained unanswered. Eventually Luna came to her senses and relocked the book, placing it back where she had found it and making it look like she had never even looked at it. Just as she had finished and had gotten back to her unpacking, Twilight came through the kitchen doors holding a daffodil sandwich on a plate with her magic, and walked back to Luna. She looked at the bookcase, surveying how Luna was doing with her unpacking.
“You read it...” Twilight repeated, still blushing. Luna looked guiltily at the other mare.
“Are you angry Twilight? I would completely understand if you were, what I did was not good by any means.” Luna asked after the awkward silence got too much for her, Twilight shook her head.
They were interrupted however by the library door opening suddenly, the two pulled away and saw Spike walk in, thankfully looking behind him at the five ponies that followed him in. A smile broke out on Twilight’s face as she saw her friends enter her house, she went over to them, trying to stop her blush with some success. Luna stayed back in the bedroom, still thinking over what had just happened.
“Ok, lemme get this straight sugarcube, Princess Luna’s here?” Applejack asked, looking around for any sign of the night princess after Twilight had finished with her explanation. As if on cue, Luna stepped out of Twilight’s bedroom into the main living area.
“Oh my gosh Luna! You know what this means? A Party!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her seat, immediately Twilight shook her head.
Luna went back into Twilight’s room to continue sorting out her stuff and after the go-ahead from Twilight, continue reading Twilight’s diary.
Luna was sitting on Twilight’s bed, staring at Twilight’s bookcase, looking through the books that Twilight deemed most important at the time. There were several books that were re-prints of important books by famous ponies from history. Twilight took a seat and Luna turned to her.
The violet glow that enveloped her assistant reminded her of Luna and she found herself thinking about what her lessons would include, which she presumed would be starting tomorrow. She thought about the different subjects of magic that she knew about whilst she worked, tossing salad and chopping vegetables. ‘Perhaps she’s going to teach me about celestial magic, it’s supposed to be drastically different to normal magic.’ Twilight thought to herself as she carried her now completed salad back to the bedroom. Luna was lying on her bed, book suspended above her head with magic, occasionally turning the page. Twilight spooned some of the salad into a separate bowl and set it beside Luna who picked it up with her hooves.
“Thanks.” Luna said, still focussed on the book, she appeared to have finished reading Twilight’s notes on Discord and was now avidly reading about her notes on dragons, complied from Spike, the dragon migration and her own encounter with the dragon that was snoring smoke over Ponyville.
She was asleep almost instantly, the blackness stretching out across her vision as she fell into the dream realm. She didn’t even have to call for Luna or vice-versa, she just appeared into their shared realm. The realm looked as different as each time before, she appeared to be atop a tree that was so tall it overlooked the entirety of Ponyville, she recognised the view as the exact one she had during the chariot ride over here, presumably that was where Luna got the landscape from. The tree had a flat top, lined with leaves, it must be some form of Redwood judging by the height and the shape of the leaves, however she was unable to categorise it, her knowledge in dendrology was sorely lacking. She saw Luna sitting on a wide horizontal branch that stuck out over the edge of the ‘floor’ and was wide enough that it made a sort of platform. Twilight walked over and sat beside her.
“I have a question.” Twilight said and Luna turned to her.
She was going to talk about what had happened earlier that day, but thought better of it, thinking that she would let it sit a bit more before bringing it up once more. Noticing her yawn, Luna stood and turned to Twilight.
As she slept dreamlessly she heard a voice in the back of her mind, now recognisable as Luna.
When Twilight awoke, Luna was already awake and about. She climbed out of bed and stretched, accompanied by a massive yawn. Luna was in the kitchen having just made some toast for the three of them, Luna and Spike were already about halfway through theirs. Twilight sat down at the spare seat and started eating.
Luna turned to her new pupil and began the lesson.
“There are two more types though, the first is alicorn magic, as a sort of amalgam between the three main types of pony we alicorns have magic from all three types, though to a lesser extent than one who is just a pegasus, unicorn or earth pony. However, alicorns have a separate type of magic that is unique to each and no one is really sure where it is focussed. Wherever your power is centred around though, is usually the domain you control, even though alicorns can control other domains to a lesser extent. For instance, my domain is the night sky, and my sister’s is the daytime sky, yet she can still raise the moon if she tries though it is much harder. And then there is the fifth and final type of magic, elemental magic. Any pony can use elemental magic, though the secret has long since been forgotten, it gives the user complete control over the elements, that’s fire, water, wind and earth. While each type of magic can give some sort of rudimentary control over the elements, not to be confused with the elements of harmony, which are completely different and I’ll likely have a lesson on them later. Unfortunately, no one has been able to control the elements in this way since before the reign of Discord, it is the only type of magic that is focussed outside of the body, which is why anypony can do it, all I know is that it requires the pony to tap into nature itself.” Silence followed Luna’s words, save for the quick scratch of Twilight’s quill.
Once she finished Twilight sat back, Luna looked at her expectantly.
Chapter 9:
Twilight went to prepare for her outing with Luna, that meant writing a list of what to do whilst she was out. Prepping her quill and paper, she began to write out what she needed, essentials like milk and bread but some other more obscure items; lens polish, lubrication grease and a blank business ledger, all needed for the aspiring astronomer, which Twilight was. Lens polish to clean the intricate array of lenses compiled to allow Twilight to view distant stars, lubrication grease to keep it sliding smoothly and the blank ledger to note down anything, along with its coordinates in the sky. List complete, Twilight walked back to the main living area to find Luna sitting patiently on the chair, waiting for Twilight.
The walk to the town centre took under five minutes, the two mares walking in silence for the entire time, neither knowing what to say. Once they arrived at the market, Twilight removed the list from her saddlebag, even though she had it memorised, and read the first item on the list.
The two mares were the only customers in the shop, Twilight wondered where Pinkie was, and Mr Cake, as Luna sat down, Twilight turned back to Mrs Cake and voiced her question.
As their giggles subsided, the two mares breathed heavily for a few seconds, out of breath from the intense laughter. Once she had regained her breath, Luna decided that they should have a talk whilst they were alone.
“So, when did you find out your... feelings for me?” Luna asked, struggling to meet the other mare’s eyes without blushing in a way most unbecoming of a princess. Twilight frowned slightly, thinking back to when she first found out her feelings were more than just those of a friend.
“So, what should we do now?” Twilight asked after an indeterminable amount of time later.
After they had finished and paid for their meals, the two left to buy the equipment Twilight needed. They walked in silence once more, but a slight smile played on both their faces, revealing their true emotions. They bought the essentials first in the market, going from stall to stall to purchase the food to sustain them. As they passed one stall Twilight looked past it to the other row of stalls of produce, and saw her assistant, walking with Applebloom. It was just for the briefest of moments, and when Twilight looked again they were gone.
“This is an astronomy shop, I need to get a couple of things here.” Twilight replied, opening the door with a hoof and entering. Luna nodded, not knowing what astronomy was, but not wanting to speak until she saw who was in the shop. As it turned out, there was no-one in the shop, just a note on the counter saying ‘Gone for the day, if you need anything just take it and leave the money on the counter.’ This was written in a long, flowing script that would be almost unreadable, had Twilight not read it aloud. Luna thought about how everyone was so trusting here in Ponyville, or maybe that whoever ran this store was crazy. She started to lean towards the ‘crazy’ idea as she looked around the shop to see the range of apparatus dotted around the shop, a myriad of brass and glass blended together, refracting the light from a small candle on the counter, aside from the candle it was pitch black and the faint scent of incense permeated the shop. As Twilight wandered around the shop, intent on looking for certain items, Luna sidled up to her.
Twilight shook her head and sat down in front of the mare before beginning her explanation.
Twilight and Luna searched around the shop for a further ten minutes before finding the items needed to keep Twilight’s astronomy equipment in check. They left the coins on the counter and left the store, Twilight’s saddlebags now full, the walk back to the library riddled with giggles as the two mares shared stories from their past.
“I don’t suppose we could start our astronomy lesson? I’m eager to view the sky from your perspective, I’m so used to seeing my own reasons behind every star.” Luna asked.
It was an old book, dust caked on in a thick layer, dusting it off she found it was entitled ‘On the History of Magic’ there was no author’s name written on the front or anywhere that Twilight could see, so she had no idea from what age it was from or whether it was trustworthy, she decided to give it a try though. She sat herself beside Luna and began reading, the two mares sitting in silence. As it grew colder Twilight magicked a blanket around their bodies, leaving their forelegs out so as to hold their books. The night wore on, sky gradually tinting the red of sunrise and the two mares slept, heads resting on each other, wrapped in a blanket. The books lay on the floor, dropped after sleep claimed them.
Twilight awoke and took in her surroundings, she saw the bookcases and realised she had once more fallen asleep on her sofa, it wasn’t her first time and likely wasn’t her last. The thing that was different about this time was the blue mare resting on her shoulder, mane tickling her neck. Twilight smiled at the sleeping princess and stifled a sneeze that Luna’s mane had caused as it snaked up to Twilight’s face. Twilight pulled a hoof out from under the blanket, and wiped Luna’s light blue mane out of her eyes to look out the window. Judging by the light levels Twilight guessed that it almost mid-morning, her regular waking time after sleeping late. She gently eased herself out from under Luna’s head, laying her down gently so as not to wake her. Repositioning the blanket to cover Luna’s body in full, Twilight walked to the kitchen to prepare something to eat. Spike was nowhere to be found, after searching around the library she decided that he must have gone out for some reason. She was about to do a spell that would show her where he was when she remembered Luna’s words from the previous day, about how she shouldn’t pry into Spike’s personal life too much, he was growing up, and needed his space and privacy.
Twilight gave a sigh and went back to the kitchen, returning to her previous task. She fried two eggs in a pan, placing them onto two plates and bringing them out into the main living area. The smell of Twilight's cooking woke Luna, she initially struggled, unsure of her whereabouts but soon realised that she was in Twilight’s library and calmed down, removing the blanket from around her body she saw the cause of the smell in front of her on the table. Twilight was sitting opposite her on a chair and was already digging into her egg. Luna rubbed her eyes.
“So, I was thinking about starting our lesson now, what would you like to learn?” Luna said as Twilight sat down opposite her once more. Twilight perked up, remembering the book she was reading the night before.
“Have you worked out what each text pertains to?” Luna asked after re-reading each section.
“I see...” Luna said, processing the backstory that she hadn’t expected. When Twilight once more sat beside her she began.
The two spent the entirety of the morning working out more specific places for the cave to be on a map of the Everfree Forest that Twilight had got from the top shelf of one of the bookcases. They had managed to pinpoint three different locations where the first of the four locations could be.
The walk to Rarity’s shop took slightly longer than if Twilight were alone as the two spent the entire walk talking in hushed tones, about what they hoped to find there and what sort of protections there may be. They almost walked straight by the door, distracted as they were in their conversation. It was obvious to Twilight by now, that Luna definitely knew her stuff when it came to magic, able to tell her how to disable every spell she could come up with, as well as telling her a few she had never even heard of. Twilight stopped abruptly, having realised they were at the shop, Luna took a few steps past the door before realising her companion had ceased movement and turned back to face the door.
“The reason we came here was about a sort of expedition Luna and I have planned, to help with my tutelage.” Twilight asked. Rarity nodded, knowing immediately what it was that Twilight was asking for.
“Ok, well we best be off now, we need to get a few more things before we leave and then we’ll be gone. I don’t suppose you could tell the others where we’ve gone?” Twilight asked.
Twilight opened the door with her hoof, nowadays she was averse to using her magic for more mundane uses and relied mostly on her hooves. She put this down to the unconscious feeling that she needed to conserve her magic to help Luna. The two walked into the library and Luna immediately headed for the kitchen to pack some food and drink into her saddlebags, Twilight walked over to Spike, who was sitting down on the sofa. His face had a slight red tinge to it and the book he was holding was upside down, Twilight noticed all of this but decided to let Spike have his secrets.
With Twilight’s help, Luna quickly packed in the necessary sustenance for their journey and closed their saddlebags back up.
“Phew, that was darn close, glad ya heard ‘em coming when you did, or that would have been mighty awkward.” Applebloom said, stretching her limbs out from having been cramped away behind a bookcase.
‘I guess that explains what Spike was doing in secret. ’ Luna thought to herself, ‘How cute; I can’t tell Twilight though, Spike should tell her in his own time. ’ Luna continued in her head, the thought of the young pair made her think of her own secret relationship with the very mare she was standing beside. There was no doubting that she wanted to be with her, but to keep it a secret seemed like a bad idea to her, as it meant that when others found out, and they would find out, they wouldn’t have found out in a way where Twilight and herself could explain everything to them, and they would likely jump to the worst conclusions. Luna’s thoughts were interrupted, however, by Twilight standing up suddenly, saddlebags once more packed and ready, the checks complete.
“So according to our map, it should take us a minimum of two days to reach the first possible location, so we’ll need to find a place to set up camp at some point.” Twilight said about an hour into the Everfree forest, both of them were on high alert, especially Twilight, who had had many bad experiences in the forest. So far, however, their walk had been mostly uneventful, they had walked in silence mostly, apart from the occasional question whether the other was okay, and every time the reply had been the same, ‘Yeah’ or, ‘Yep’ or just a grunt in confirmation.
Luna, on the other hand, was still pondering whether or not she should tell Twilight about Spike and that young filly, sure it may put Twilight’s mind to rest, but then it could compromise Spike, and she didn’t want to ruin someone’s relationship when her own was still so fragile. However, if she didn’t tell Twilight, then she may find out in a most awkward way that could just make things worse. Luna was surprised by how much of Spike’s relationship she could apply to her own with Twilight. She contented with telling herself that she would inform Spike that she knew of his relationship, and that he should tell Twilight before she found out in a less favourable way. Luna mulled that decision over as they continued walking, ‘Does this mean that me and Twilight should come out with the truth as soon as possible? ' She searched for an answer for an indeterminable amount of time, the walk becoming monotonous, one hoof after another, she was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice the forest fall dark, previously the foliage meant the forest was in a state of perpetual twilight, but it was well and truly dark now. Twilight stopped and put a hoof on Luna’s back to tell her to cease, Luna complied without thought and turned back to Twilight.
The floor was littered with pine needles that would make the perfect layer, in which to set their tent down, it would help keep their important heat in during the night, and the dead leaves meant they would be able to hear any approaching creatures.
Luna leant against Twilight in return, supporting the other mare and vice versa.
It had been a few nights since they had shared their last dream, and Twilight felt a slight rush of excitement as she looked around and saw she was in their shared dream. This night it had taken the form of Ponyville, but something was wrong... It was night-time yet there seemed to be a yellowy glow coming from the distance, as she made her way towards it she remembered the route as the way to get back home, confused she sped up slightly and trotted towards her house, once she saw it she realised what the glow was coming from. Her house, her beautiful tree-house was on fire, the flames licking up from the building and black smoke, almost invisible against the night sky, billowing from every orifice of the tree. The worst part was not the house though, it was the ponies around it, they held lit torches aloft and cheered for the burning building in front of them. Twilight gasped and backed away, fearful for her life even though she knew it was a dream, she bumped into something and span, muffling a scream with a hoof, once she saw that she it was Luna she relaxed slightly and hugged her, scared and confused.
Twilight broke away and turned back to their house.
“So what do you think this means?” Luna asked Twilight even though she knew the answer.
They both unconsciously decided they were going to stay in the sleeping bag for a while, enjoying the warmth of each other a little longer, before having to face the harsh, cold world outside of their tent. Twilight thought back to the nightmare she had the night before, remembering the crazed angry look in the villagers eyes, in her friends' eyes, as they burned her house to the ground. She shuddered slightly, remembering the fear she had felt, and Luna pulled her in tight.
The campfire they had made the night before was just glowing embers now, a faint orange glow against the harsh white of the morning sun. Twilight lightly kicked the last few embers out, and she and Luna began to pack up their campsite. After the necessary checks have been performed and the ash had been dispersed, Luna deemed the area close enough from what it was like when they arrived to continue on. Twilight pulled the map out of her saddlebag with her magic, the familiar feel of power returning to her.
Twilight put the map away, and they set off in silence without looking back. Luna took an early lead, her hooves able to pick up on the most stable places with ease, Twilight lagged behind slightly, less physically fit and more susceptible to tripping. As the gap between them grew, Twilight had to call out, quietly of course, so as not to attract unwanted attention.
The laughter slowed down after a while, Twilight breathing heavily. Surveying the scene, Luna saw that she somehow was more wet than Twilight. She gave a half-sigh-half-laugh and pulled one of the spare blankets that had been packed and offered it to Twilight. Twilight stepped out of the water, and graciously took the makeshift towel from Luna, she was about to ask why she didn’t just use magic, but just before she opened her mouth she remembered the spell they had cast earlier. It wasn’t even that hard a spell, but Luna seemed exhausted by it. Stopping herself from worrying too much, Twilight finished drying, and moved onto Luna, rubbing the blanket over Luna’s body. Just as Twilight began drying her face, Luna tried speaking, the result being an indistinguishable muffled speech.
Luna didn’t seem all that happy that Twilight was drying her, at least not on the surface, but she didn’t complain further, and allowed Twilight to finish her task before putting the blanket back into her saddlebag. Luna sat herself down on the driest bit of ground she could find, Twilight quickly joining her.
After walking for some time, Twilight noticed the trees appeared to be more sparse and thinner, foliage letting through odd splotches of light from the sun high above. Luna quickened her pace, eager to get out the forest, and Twilight followed suit. The trek got easier, roots no longer threatening to trip them up at every step. Eventually the trees turned into bushes and the ground started to rise. Luna stepped out into the sun, shielding her eyes with a hoof, whilst they became accustomed to the sudden onslaught of brightness. Twilight trotted up beside her and copied her motions. Luna raised her glance to the structure in front of them, it seemed easy enough to climb, not really getting very steep until near the top, and they wouldn’t need to climb that far anyway. She turned to her student.
The path up the mountain was a cinch compared to the forest walk, the ground was worn smooth by millennia of erosion, yet remained rough enough that they had a firm grip. They made steady progress, pacing themselves now that they knew their destination was close. Eventually, the bushes became odd patches of grass, and the air got thinner. Then, after hours of walking, they reached the cloud barrier. There in the Everfree Forest the clouds floated past them, condensation wetting their fur as they continued their trek. Twilight feared they would get lost or disorientated in the cloud, but Luna stayed steady, leading them both along their path. A temporary reprieve came, when the cloud they were in floated past, allowing the sunlight back in. Luna stopped to reassess the situation, Twilight stopped beside her, and wiped some water from her face.
Twilight spotted something a little ways along their path and pointed it out to Luna.
It was now truly dark, the sun long since past the horizon, and the moon lazed high in the sky, Twilight and Luna had spent the last few hours since they had sent up the tent and eaten, enjoying the rest and the spectacular view the mountain offered. In front of them lay the Everfree Forest, endless waves of green stretched out to the horizon, it was breathtaking to see how far they had travelled. It reminded Twilight of the dream she had shared with Luna, where they were high up on the tree, overlooking Ponyville. However, the memory snapped her back to the dream she had the previous night, the nightmare. Twilight shivered unconsciously, and Luna drew her in tight, Twilight could tell that Luna knew what Twilight was worried about without any need for any explanation.
Ponyville faded in from black, the colours taking form around Twilight into their familiar shapes. It seemed to be exactly the time that Twilight and Luna had left the nightmare the previous night. Twilight looked around her and reasserted herself with her position, she found herself behind some bushes, behind the crowd that was still shouting at the flames burning the library down. Luna faded in beside her, calm and ready, which was more than could be said for Twilight. If there was a problem she could usually have overcome it with some study and practice, but when the problem was in your own mind, and you’re so far from the library, how can you overcome it?
She marched out to the crowd, head held high, tremble barely noticeable. Twilight pushed through the crowd, and stood in front of her burning house, before turning to them. She hesitated as the glares hit her head on, her best friends hatred burning into her, but she dispelled it, there was no turning back now.
Chapter 12: Dark Side of the Moon
They continued to lay there, as Twilight got her breath back, and for once Luna had no logical, calm words to comfort her. It was all she could do just to stop herself from shuddering at the memories of her imprisonment within her own mind, brought about by the reappearance of the Nightmare resurfaced. Luna decided she needed something to distract her from her thoughts, and wriggled out of the sleeping bag. Twilight looked concernedly at Luna as she left the tent. She had always been the calm voice to Twilight, able to console her even through her own fears. After a minute or so, Twilight decided that it would be best to leave Luna to her thoughts, and give her some time to think things through before she would try and help. Twilight too wriggled out of the sleeping bag, and left the tent. Luna was sitting on the ground, a breakfast of sorts laid out. There were two cupcakes and a leather flask of water set down, Luna nodded in greeting to Twilight before digging into her cupcake. Twilight nodded in reply and joined her.
Breakfast was a silent affair, as was putting away the tent with both of them absorbed in their thoughts. It wasn’t until everything was cleared away, and their saddlebags went through the various checks, that Luna finally broke the silence that had fallen.
The book wasn’t very specific about how close the cave was to the stone face, but the pair were hoping that it was pretty close by; they wanted to be in and out of the cave in time to get moving away from the location. They decided to move through the bushes first, the cave would be most likely hidden from view. Twilight grabbed a stick from nearby with her hoof, checking to see whether it was thick and sturdy enough to help. Satisfied, Twilight and Luna carried on away from the face, occasionally knocking back the stray branch threatening to block their path or trip them up. Eventually, Twilight made a swing at a thick branch in front of them, only for their stick to carry on through the bushes, instead of being knocked back by the mountain. Twilight and Luna shared a quick glance, before moving forwards with renewed vigour. They cleared out the majority of bush in the way, revealing a black hole in the mountain. A smile broke out on Twilight’s face, this whole journey seemed sort of rushed, and she had no idea what her friends would think, but it would all be worth it to discover some ancient magic that was lost for years.
Luna noticed the emotions on Twilight’s face, and she too let out a small smile, for the enthusiasm Twilight had. Unfortunately, she knew that this could all be a false lead.
No sooner had they stepped in, when a pulse of magic spread out from the water beneath them. Surprised, the pair jumped out of the water, just as the water set alight, burning down until there was just the stone floor beneath. There was no heat from the flames though, Twilight and Luna feeling no change in temperature, despite their close proximity to the fire. They stood, stunned, once the fire had burnt out. It was only when Twilight realised that her magical light had gone out, that she began to slowly back away from the darkness of the cave, to the relative safety of the outside world. But the cave opening had disappeared, they were trapped in the complete darkness. No matter how much Twilight tried, she could not relight her magic, every time her horn failed to respond. Luna too tried to ignite her magic and was equally unsuccessful. The pair backed up against the stone wall, neither giving anything an opportunity to sneak up behind them, not that they could see something, even if it was standing right in front of them.
There was silence in the cave whilst Twilight tried to build her magic for one huge burst, but Luna broke the silence.
Twilight turned around, object still held aloft with a hoof, and she put it into her saddlebag in an outside pocket. She walked back over to Luna, who was sitting at the entrance, looking quizzically at Twilight as she approached.
Luna powered ahead, back through the forest, taking the route they had walked just yesterday. Twilight managed to keep up with Luna the entire time, even though her mind was full of thoughts on the object in her saddlebag. With that one object, it had not only proved that the elemental magic did exist, but also made the entire trek worthwhile. The walk back took a lot less time than their initial one out to the cave, and Luna’s predictions were correct. Just as the moon reached its pinnacle in the sky, the Everfree Forest suddenly stopped, leaving them with the view of Ponyville in front of them. A small grin appeared on both mares' faces as they moved silently through town, back to Twilight’s library. Twilight’s good mood dimmed slightly as she remembered the nightmares she had faced, and the one she would almost certainly have tonight. And with this memory came a remembrance of Nightmare Moon herself.
Eventually the two arrived at their destination, the tree housing their library. Twilight opened the door and let Luna into the threshold first, before walking in herself. They moved through the darkness to their room before turning on a small lamp beside Twilight’s bed. Twilight pulled out the small metal object almost reverently, and placed it down on the table between their two beds.
Twilight mentally prepared herself, ready for the view of her friends burning down her house, but it never came. Instead, she found herself in a grand hall, like none she had ever seen before. It wasn’t lavishly decorated in bright royal colours with candles burning from hundreds of chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Instead, dark grey and navy blue banners hung down from the gothic style stone walls, complete with stained glass. The entire hall was illuminated by some unseen source of light that muted all colours. And there, at the front of the hall, where Celestia and Luna would sit in their thrones, was an onyx throne, twisted into violent shapes, and upon that throne sat Nightmare Moon. She sat regally, darkness seeming to billow out from behind her as she stared out across the hall, and straight at Twilight. Luna slowly faded in behind Twilight, she took in her surroundings and Nightmare Moon at the front of the hall.
Nightmare Moon reached them and stopped to guffaw, “Eternal night? That’s what you think this is about? No. This isn’t about that any more, this is about revenge.” Her eyes seared with suppressed rage, “I wish for you to suffer as I have.” She paused and her eyes narrowed, “If I can’t have the night, I’ll make you fear it instead.” Nightmare Moon continued in a quiet voice that packed more venom than all of her rage and anger combined. The castle around them vanished, leaving them in darkness, the only thing visible was Nightmare Moon herself, standing haughtily above them. Then, she too faded from view, her laugh ringing out from all directions and lasting far longer than it should have. The pair moved closer to be side by side. Luna unfurled her right wing and wrapped it around Twilight, more a comfort for herself than for Twilight’s benefit. Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated, but it was like the cave, her magic would not flow. She pushed harder and was only rewarded with a pain in her horn.
Luna withdrew her wing from around Twilight in order to spin around, Twilight copying her motions. Up above them was the moon, much larger and darker than normal, but still instantly recognizable as the moon. The moon sat in the blackness unmoving, the light illuminating the land around them. This light did not bring comfort though, instead it felt like an omen of ill things to come. Luna suppressed a shudder once more.
Twilight stood, frozen, as she mentally devised a plan to wake them up, before any harm could befall them. Luna too was trying to come up with a solution, but she was constantly looking around, wary of their environment. The ground was smooth cobblestone stretched out indefinitely and with no landmarks. The only source of illumination was the Moon, which cast an eerie glow over the land that managed to mute all colour, Luna’s normally pale blue mane looked almost gray. In her mind, Twilight went through everything that would normally wake somepony up from a dream, however there was nowhere to jump off in order to wake up from falling, or any source of water to make them wake up that way.
“Once she found it out, she realised it was actually surprisingly simple, it revolves around tricking your brain into exiting the dream. It’s a two stage process, the first part being to keep telling yourself over and over again that you are in a dream. A lot of the time, this step alone would be enough to wake you, but I doubt that will be the case here. The next step is deceptively simple, you must blink.” Luna explained.
“You may wish to hurry Twilight.” Luna said quietly, pointing skywards, Twilight stopped trying to blink momentarily, to take a look at the sky. In the time they were standing there the moon had doubled in size, and it was rapidly growing.
Luna sat up with a gasp, and Twilight quickly followed suit, the two took a few moments to regain their breath before reviewing just how close they had come.
Twilight knocked on Rarity’s Boutique with her hoof, the sound echoing slightly inside the building.
“You’ve probably noticed this, you’re perceptive when it comes to things like this, but me and Luna sort of... like each other, and we thought that we should tell ponies before it became too out of hand.” Twilight hesitantly explained to Rarity. Rarity nodded slowly, before breaking out into an elegant grin.
They found Spike in the kitchen when they returned, preparing a quick sandwich.
“So, who next?” Luna asked, Twilight pondered the question, who should they ask next? She reckoned Fluttershy and Applejack would be alright with it, Rainbow Dash would probably laugh and not really care, but Pinkie Pie would almost certainly try to get them to celebrate, something she really didn’t want to do right now. On the other hand, if she didn’t tell Pinkie she would definitely find out on her own, and the version she finds out about may not be entirely truthful, or she may host a surprise party and tell everypony...
Twilight opened the door with a hoof and the pair entered. Mrs. Cake was stationed behind the counter whilst Mr. Cake was baking something in the kitchen.
Twilight knocked on the door, hoping that Pinkie was still there, they hadn’t seen her on the way over here, so she assumed that Pinkie should still be around, but knowing Pinkie Pie anything was possible. The door opened, and they were greeted by the sight of a certain pink mare who then let out a gasp.
“You know what this means?” Pinkie began, Twilight tried to stop her,
All through the conversation Fluttershy stood silent, content for others to talk without her but now Twilight turned to her.
“Well, four down, two to go.” Luna said with a smile, this was going better than expected. She had to respect Twilight’s friends on taking it all in their stride. Twilight on the other hand was thinking about their relationship on a different level, ‘Does this make it official then? If we’re telling ponies then I guess this is official.’ Twilight frowned unconsciously as the next question came to her mind. ‘What is Celestia going to think?’ She pondered that as they walked along, Twilight leading them towards Sweet Apple Acres. Before they could get there though, they were cut off by Rainbow Dash zipping down and landing in front of them.
They set off again on their original path and arrived at the barn quickly. Twilight, for the third time that day, knocked on the door and waited for a reply.
As they walked back to the library, the sun set, casting a reddish hue over the sky, before disappearing, the Moon rising from the opposite side of the world. They walked in silence, Twilight happy with her confessions today, glad that she had told ponies before things got too out of hand. Luna was still stuck on the thought of Rainbow Dash, ‘Why did she seem sad with their relationship, even though everyone else was so happy?’ Her thoughts were dispelled, however, by the arrival at the tree. They discussed what to do as they entered. They talked in whispers, for Spike was already asleep, curled up in his bed.
They weren’t sure how long they stood there for, locked together like that, it could have been just a few seconds, or it could have been years. They pulled away simultaneously.
The astronomy lesson was brief, both feeling tired after an entire day of walking around town. That wasn’t to say it was bad though, Luna thoroughly enjoying learning about something that she knew so well, yet knew so little about, and Twilight was enjoying her role as teacher, glad that somepony was taking an interest in her knowledge. Halfway through their discussion into the change of course from Sirius, in conjunction with Betelgeuse’s movements, Twilight let out a massive yawn, cutting the conversation short. Luna couldn’t help but giggle at Twilight as she stood with her mouth open for several seconds. However, Twilight’s yawn had elicited a duplicate from Luna, which finished at the same time as Twilight’s, allowing them both to burst out laughing together. They struggled to keep their voices down as the sight of the other attempting to stifle their giggles made them laugh harder.
Eventually, after they had calmed down, they both decided it was time to get some sleep. As they walked back to Twilight’s bedroom Luna let out an involuntary shudder, memories of the previous night’s nightmare haunting her, even in her awake state. Once they entered the room, they unconsciously agreed that they should probably sleep in the same bed, not that it would do anything for them in the dream realm, but it would provide some small comfort. Twilight clambered into the bed and lay down facing her bookcase before curling up. Luna smiled and got in behind her, neatly wrapping herself around Twilight, so close that she could smell her hair; it was a familiar scent. ‘She uses the same shampoo as me.’ Luna mused with another smile, before leaning in close to Twilight’s ear and whispering, “Goodnight Twilight, and remember: Blink.” Twilight gave a nod in return and closed her eyes, Luna quickly following suit. In time they hesitantly surrendered themselves to the realm of sleep.
Instantly, Twilight knew something was wrong, the dream was not the ultra-vivid scenes of before, but instead it felt as though she was disconnected from the sights, like she was looking through the eyes of another pony. It was like the dreams she had had prior to changing her frequency, the ones you can’t control. Experimentally, Twilight tried to swivel her head to the side and failed, not even able to move her eyes. The only thing she still had control over was her thoughts. Slowly, Nightmare Moon faded into view, shadows clinging to her as she stepped from the darkness, and looked her straight in the eyes before looking at something to the right of Twilight.Princess Luna.” Nightmare Moon stated with venom, making the word ‘Princess’ sound like an insult. Twilight’s dream self’s head moved of its own accord, turning to the right to show her Luna, who seemed to be in a similar state of inactivity.
“Congratulations on that little blinking trick of yours, I had forgotten about that one.” Nightmare Moon continued, “However, you both know as well as I that it only works if you have control over your body, something I fully intend to keep from you!” Another laugh. ‘Twilight!’ A voice called out, from the back of Twilight’s mind, ‘Luna!’ She called back. ‘I don’t think she knows about our mental link, but there is no way I know of to escape this dream, we must wait for it to run its course, but unless Nightmare Moon elicits pain, we have no way to shock ourselves out from this realm. We’ll have to endure.’ Luna explained. ‘That’s what I was afraid of...’ Twilight said. Whilst they had been conferring the scene in front of them had changed from pitch-black to the barren land from the previous dream, sans the moon.revenge .” Nightmare Moon said, relishing the moment before fading away with a laugh.
Throughout the dream, Nightmare Moon exposed their deepest fears, and twisted them in ways no sane pony could have imagined, before forcing them upon the pair. All they way through, Luna kept up a constant stream of comforting, encouraging words through their mental link, despite them both being in a state of near pure terror. Nightmare Moon obviously had the intention of keeping them in their mental torture for as long as possible, and never once resorted to using violence of any kind. Finally dawn came, and both Twilight and Luna could feel the world tugging at them to awake. Nightmare Moon scowled and whispered, the words coming clear into their heads and resounding longer than normal.
They awoke as if from a normal dream, shaking off the shackles of sleep, and stretching various limbs with their accompanying groans. However, the nightmare could not be held at bay for long, and soon the memories of the dream reinstated themselves with a vengeance, paralysing them for an indeterminable amount of time. Once they were released from its grasp, Twilight wiped her head, wiping off the cold sweat and the tears she hadn’t known she had cried, Luna following a similar routine. Twilight grabbed Luna, and pulled her in tight for a hug, as she tried to stop the tears with some success. The warmth of their embrace slowly got them out of their terror-stricken state enough so that they could leave the bedroom. Though they no longer were holding each other, the two mares still walked side by side, close enough that their sides rubbed against the other’s comfortingly.
The answer was an obvious one, the elemental artefact. Twilight collected the metal shard from the table between the two beds, and brought it with her as the pair made their way to the main living area. Luna sat down and picked up the artefact, inspecting the surface, the rough edges and the inscription, whilst Twilight busied herself collecting various magical apparatus. When all the necessary (and a few unnecessary) pieces of equipment were together on the table, they began. As they performed various tests, checking the age, testing the strength of the magic etc. Luna thought about the nightmare. She knew that they needed to find out how to stop Nightmare Moon and her nightmares, and that examining the artefact was just procrastination, but a look at Twilight’s face and inside her emotions told her that she should leave it for a while, and let Twilight relax in their study of the ancient magic.
Spike awoke about an hour later and saw Twilight and Luna in full science mode. He gave a sigh, knowing after years of working with Twilight, that when she got like this is was best to keep out of her way, so he went to go prepare them some breakfast. It seemed to him like Luna shared this work ethic with Twilight as she too was working away on various tests, and neither even noticed him waking. He fried a couple of eggs and set them on a small table next to their workspace, making sure he made a clink sound so that they would actually take notice of the food. Twilight glanced towards the eggs, and lifted them with a spare hoof before placing it down on a small space at the edge of their impromptu work table, at the same time giving Spike a small, distracted nod of thanks and greeting. Luna also gave a slight nod, and they gradually ate the eggs, all the while absorbed in their work. And eventually, at around 2pm, they finished the tests and collected the data they wanted. Results seemed positive.
Luna sat with the pages of notes in front of her, the apparatus now sitting unused on the makeshift work bench and Twilight sat beside her. The princess flicked through the pages, skimming over the rough, hastily scribbled results, until she reached the neatly laid out tables of data with conclusions written underneath. This was the third time she had read through, but she wanted to make sure that there was as few errors as possible, especially when dealing with a magical artefact so old. Satisfied that all was in order, Luna placed the notebook down on the table, and finally they allowed themselves to relax, letting out matching sighs of relief that the work was over.
The thought must have shown on her face, or she was just very predictable, because Luna immediately knew what was wrong.
‘Dear Princess Celestia,
Princess Luna and I have made an important discovery and wish to be granted an audience with you in order to discuss it, as well as other matters which we wish to talk to you about.
~~Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle~~’
“Horsefeathers...” Twilight muttered in a low voice to herself as she crossed out that last line. Considering the letter in front of her, she crumpled up the entire scroll and re-wrote it, this time with the words ‘Yours faithfully, Twilight Sparkle’ at the bottom. Luna pretended not to take notice. When Twilight was finished she handed the paper to Luna, she watched as the familiar, yet unfamiliar, violet aura engulfed the paper and sent it on its way. Even this small teleportation spell which she must have used hundreds of times seemed to exhaust her, though she tried to hide it.
The reply came whilst they were just finishing packing away equipment, appearing in front of Twilight in a burst of light that almost caused her to drop the microscope she was carrying, but luckily she held on tight. Twilight put the microscope into its box and carried the scroll back to the main library area, where Luna was wiping down the table. Luna turned and saw Twilight walking towards her with the scroll in her mouth, and put the cloth she was holding down, turning fully to face her.
‘My Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I would be delighted to meet with you. I have cleared some time for tomorrow around noon and I will send a chariot for you to come and meet me at the Castle. I would offer to come down to meet you in Ponyville, but I suspect having both princesses there will cause quite a stir. I look forward to our meeting.
Your friend, Celestia.
Initially, Twilight was surprised by the informal tone of the letter, but it was quickly replaced with pride when she read ‘Your friend,’. Luna gave a smile at her sister’s last line.
Twilight and Luna had spent the afternoon working on the report, it would have taken less time, but as they were writing by hoof, they had to be especially careful in their movements or the words would be nigh on illegible. As the sun gradually set, the two read through the report for the third time, eliminating the majority of the errors with a swift strikethrough and a careful rewrite of the erroneous word above it. Once their need for a check was sated, they set the report down and stared at it, the accumulation of their work, their journey and their research all down on paper with a hardback cover and a neat title on the front, ‘The Rediscovery of the Ancient Elemental Magic Part 1’ and then below it, ‘A report by Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna’. The title left it open for a continuation for when, or if, they found the other parts. Twilight let out a smile, now that the report was finished, the main part of their work was complete and ready for presentation. This would be the first time, however, that Twilight had presented anything this major to the princess, on the other hand it was the first time she would ever present it alongside another princess.
Princess Luna put her hoof around Twilight’s neck and pulled her in close.
Darkness came, and along with it came a new night of horrors. Nightmare Moon appeared to be pacing herself, letting the fear of each horror fully take its toll on the mares, before moving onto the next one. Luna attempted to keep up the comforting words to Twilight, but they ran dry, Luna choking up as fear enveloped her mind. The night passed, and the sun arose; and with it came awakening. They took longer to recover this time around, Nightmare Moon’s passing comment reverberating around their minds, promising horrors to come.
Luna spent the chariot ride leaning up against Twilight, pointing out various places in Ponyville that they flew over and asking about them. She had her head close enough to Twilight’s, that Twilight didn’t need to shout to be heard, but eventually they passed over Ponyville and their view below became swathes of trees, so their conversation turned to other things. She wasn’t sure how, but Twilight found herself stroking Luna’s mane as she rested her head against Twilight, staring up at the sky. Twilight looked down at Luna, who had a faint smile on her face, like that of somepony who was thinking of other things, and not of the world around her. They were nearing the castle, as it could now be seen in the distance, Twilight decided that it would be best to bring her back to reality. She leant down and planted a quick kiss on her forehead, Luna sat up in surprise before giving out a small blush and a quick glance at the stallions at the front of the chariot, luckily they were staring resolutely forward towards Canterlot castle. Luna looked back at Twilight, who had a mischievous smile on her face, seemingly very pleased with herself, Luna decided she would have to return the favour. She gathered Twilight up, and firmly pushed herself against the other mare, who in turn let out a small involuntary moan. They were almost at the castle, and the royal guard not driving turned back to check that their passengers were alright, he found the princess and the other princess’s prized student locked together in an embrace. He quickly span back around the face the front, a blush on his face, certain that he had caught them doing something they shouldn’t be.
Luna pulled away before anypony down below could see them, knowing that even though they planned to tell ponies, the best way to do so probably wasn’t to demonstrate. Their landing was smooth, and the two mares in the backseat quickly climbed out of the chariot. There was another royal guard to meet them in the courtyard. Presumably, Celestia was already at their meet up location.
The room was sparsely decorated with simplistic designs placed on the walls regular intervals, small sun symbols that glowed softly. There was a varnished oak table that sat in the centre of the room, it had room for no more than four, and it was obvious that it was not a royal hall in any sense of the word, it looked more like a normal citizen’s dining room. Princess Celestia was sitting calmly at the far side of the table, a pot of tea set in neatly before the mare with her cup levitating in front of her. She took a small, regal sip and set the cup down, taking a look at her visitors. Celestia broke into a warm smile and greeted them, it was just the three of them so Celestia was sitting a lot more informally than normal.
Celestia picked up the handmade report and flicked through it,
“Now then, did you just wish to talk to me about your findings, or was there something more?” Celestia asked, this was the moment that they were waiting for, how would Celestia react?
Twilight swallowed to clear the lump in her throat before continuing, Luna giving her an encouraging nod.
Together they spent the majority of the afternoon chatting about mundane things that were forgotten quickly, but at the time seemed hugely important. They told each other stories, and shared around rumours and laughed at jokes, but eventually it was time to get back home.
Twilight and Luna spent the chariot ride back in a companionable silence, sitting in the centre of the back seats and leaning on each other.is me.” Luna said, Twilight was taken aback.
“This may get a little complicated, and I apologise but it really is quite complex.” Luna forewarned Twilight who nodded in reply. Twilight had presumed, like many others had, that Nightmare Moon was a separate entity that was within Luna’s body.
“I had to... combine with her. Not in a magical sense that you and I have, but in a more existential way. You see, if I did that then Nightmare couldn’t just expel me from the body the way she did before, on the other hand it would also mean I couldn’t fully get rid of her either. That’s where the elements of harmony came in, they pushed Nightmare Moon out of the body, allowing me control once more, but due to our ‘connection’ she was not completely destroyed. It is in this way that I mean that Nightmare Moon is me, without her I would die, and vice versa.” Luna explained, Twilight was shocked to say the least, she had presumed they could just banish Nightmare Moon from Luna and she would be ok, but now she saw that wasn’t the case.
The chariot moved in to land and Luna and Twilight glanced at the incoming ground simultaneously, noticing the slowly growing shadow the chariot cast in the rising moon’s light. They shared a look.‘To Twilight, I will be sleeping round at Sweet Apple Acres, I have decided to tell Applejack about me and Applebloom. I hope your meeting was fun and I will see you tomorrow.
Signed, Spike the dragon.’ Under which there was some sort of squiggle which Twilight assumed was a signature. She smiled at the letter, glad that he was ready to tell ponies. Luna looked at Twilight quizzically.
“So, what do you think?” Luna asked, wishing to confirm that she and Twilight were on the same wavelength.
Their plan was simple in theory, but would likely prove extremely difficult, they were going to do an advanced form of dream projection that actually brought the dream into the real world for a short time, in that time they planned to best Nightmare Moon and banish her, not from Luna’s body, but into the dark recesses where it would take extreme effort and time to get out from, time they planned on using to form some sort of defence/attack method. There was only one visible problem about their plan, how to beat down Nightmare Moon? Even though she would be in the corporeal world in a temporary and weak body, she would still be strong, probably too strong for Twilight alone to face whilst she was concentrating on the other spells that had to be kept going to keep it in their world. They sat debating how they might go about overpowering Nightmare, each prospect put forward put down after they saw the several holes in the plan. That was until Twilight thought of something completely different.
“The elemental magic...” Twilight whispered, the though suddenly appearing in her mind.
Luna grabbed Twilight’s face and turned it towards her own, staring deeply into her eyes for emphasis.
Twilight quickly collected the shard of the elemental circle, the one with the fire inscription.
Inside the dream Nightmare Moon was unaware of the plan unfolding around her, thinking that she had control over the situation. Nightmare Moon stood ready, waiting for when Twilight appeared, but as time wore on and Twilight failed to show up she turned to Luna.
Nightmare Moon attempted to speak, presumably to ask what was happening and how they would fail against her, but she was in her weakened, temporary form and so any sound she made was not heard by any of them.
She felt something click in her mind, the previously unused branch of elemental magic now open to her, but only the fire elemental magic of course. She instinctively controlled the magic, making it bend to her will as she used it. A hollow fireball, hotter than the surface of the sun, burst forth from the shard, enveloping Nightmare Moon and completely sucking all of the oxygen from within. Twilight collapsed, her legs giving way under the heat and power of the elemental magic. She knew she had to turn it off quickly or it would completely destroy Nightmare Moon, and by extension, Luna herself. Twilight wrestled with the magic in her mind, and for a moment it seemed like she was losing, the power too strong and uncontrollable for her, but she regained her focus and the fire disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Nightmare Moon lying unconscious on the floor, her breath ragged and most of her fur singed from the flames that had licked around her.
Now came the most important part of the plan, the actual banishment of Nightmare Moon. Twilight got together the last dregs of her magic and formed the prison spell, aiming it straight at the unconscious Nightmare Moon and fired, the spell closing over her unmoving form and slowly fading her away, leaving their nightmare landscape in place until Twilight too blacked out, the conservation and projection spells failing as the darkness consumed her vision, slipping her into a welcome dreamless sleep.
Twilight awoke to the sound of crackling. She blearily opened her eyes, squinting against the orange light. Once she was properly adjusted to the brightness she cast a look around the library. A shiver ran up her spine, a familiar and unwelcome sight greeted her. Where she had banished Nightmare Moon the night before, and where she had utilized the fire elemental magic, there was a roaring fire, the flames swiftly consuming the surrounding furniture and literature. Twilight jumped to her hooves, backing away towards the relative safety of the corner. She was on the wrong side of the blaze though, the only exit to the library on the opposite of the obstacle in front of her and already it was too large to hope to get through without at least second degree burns.
Spells ran through Twilight’s mind like wildfire, none of them relevant or sticking around long enough to be of any use to her. She had flashbacks to the nightmares she had suffered before, the ones of her library burning down and the mob outside her doors, and now it was happening in real life! Twilight was asphyxiating as the flames licked towards her, burning up the oxygen around her and the smoke clogging her throat. ‘Twilight!’ a welcome voice called out from the back of Twilight’s mind, Twilight quickly responded hoping Luna was ok. ‘Luna! Where are you?’ she sent out, the reply came almost instantaneously. ‘Wake up.’ Luna’s voice was calm and commanding and stopped Twilight in her tracks. Wake up? What did she mean? Twilight couldn’t get a straight thought out so decided it was probably best to listen to the voice in her head. She blinked.
Twilight awoke to the sound of breathing. She blearily opened her eyes, squinting against the morning’s light. Once she had properly adjusted to the brightness she saw the pony in front of her. Twilight had fallen unconscious on her back, staring up at the ceiling, but her view was now obstructed by a certain blue mare looking down at her concernedly. Luna broke out into a smile once she saw Twilight awaken and quickly pulled her to her hooves.
“Then... what was that nightmare?” Twilight asked, Luna pondered her answer for a moment before replying.
Twilight didn’t like this, she hated not having a plan, she just felt so vulnerable . But if Luna wanted it then she guessed she would have to follow along with it. Luna seemed to be in charge of their relationship, she was almost always the one to start things off and the one who would comfort her when she needed it, she thought that made sense though, Twilight trusted Luna with this sort of stuff more than she did herself. Luna seemed to have the general layout of Ponyville town down despite only having been there a hoofful of times as she swiftly led the pair towards one of the restaurants dotted around the centre. It was still morning, but late enough that Luna guessed they could have a sort of brunch at the restaurant. When they entered they saw that there was only one other patron, an old stallion lazily dozing in his chair at the back end of the restaurant.
They sat themselves down next to each other in one of the booths and Luna picked up the menu, holding it between them so they could both see it.
The waiter quickly jotted down the order and read it back to them for confirmation, which they provided. He looked up for the first time.
“Well there’s no point in trying to hide it then.” Luna sighed, “Yes, I am Princess Luna, however it would be greatly appreciated if you could keep it a secret, I’m living here, uh, undercover as it were.” Luna quickly told him. At the mention of ‘secret’ and ‘undercover’ the waiter grinned, let out a huge theatrical ‘Oooh’ and tapped the side of his muzzle with a hoof conspiratorially, much the way Pinkie had done when Twilight and Luna had told her about their relationship. Luna returned the smile in a rather regal way, her old ways of acting around the citizens coming back to her.
Twilight was giggling softly to herself, obviously trying to hold back.
They chatted idly while they waited for their food to be ready, talking of various things, magic mainly though, Luna displaying her obviously great intellect. However, they never strayed to talk of the future nor of any plans, they wanted today to be a well deserved break from all that. Eventually their food arrived, the waiter setting down the food in front of them with a bow.
They ate their meals undisturbed, it was too early for the lunch rush, the staff were all located behind the closed doors of the kitchen and the stallion at the back stayed unconscious. They continued their small talk as they ate, occasionally stopping for a drink or whatnot. Eventually they finished and Luna sat back with a satisfied sigh, Twilight looked at her with a smile, glad she was enjoying their break as much as she was. Twilight noticed a small bit of egg on the side of Luna’s face and made to wipe it off with a napkin. Luna turned to Twilight just as she reached over, the tissue going straight into her mouth which she had just opened to say something. Luna spat it out and fell into uncontrollable laughter, Twilight grabbed another napkin and attempted to wipe off the egg once more but Luna’s laughter made it hard.
Luna wheezed to a stop, all out of breath and cheeks hurting from the laughter.
“Why did he look so surprised? Was I not meant to tip him?” Luna asked once they were outside and walking once more, Twilight snorted.had been a bit overboard with her tipping. They walked with their sides touching with a slight lean into the other pony, it was the moving equivalent of holding hooves and earned them a few odd looks as they walked by, but no one seemed outrightly angry or suspicious so they continued.
The walk to the park took a couple of minutes and the entire time they didn’t see any other ponies, they guessed that since it was a school day in the middle of the working season most ponies would be busy working and not have much time to be going to the park. This suited the both of them, neither one the sort of pony that liked crowded places. Twilight did feel a little guilty at having to close the library for another day, but she consoled herself in the fact that ponies barely ever came to the library anyway. They found a nice spot that was in the shade of a large oak that still let them have a view of the sky above. They lay themselves down on the grass, staring at the sky. They each held one foreleg above their eyes to block the sunlight. With the other hoof they grasped the spare hoof of the other. ‘This is what this sort of relationship is meant to be like.’ Twilight thought with a smile, trying not to think of the many books she had read on the subject and instead trying to do it as natural as possible. While they rested, unbeknownst to them there was another couple in the park, Lyra and Bon Bon sat together on a park bench away from them. Lyra pointed Twilight and Luna out to the other mare.
Twilight and Luna lay there for hours in the companionable silence, content with just holding each other’s hoof and staring at the great expanse of blue stretched out above their heads and each with a faint smile on their faces. Eventually Luna climbed to her feet with a small groan, releasing Twilight to stretch her limbs, an action which Twilight quickly joined in on, lying still on the floor for several hours can make anypony feel stiff.
When they entered the library they found Spike rearranging a couple of books which had been out of place on the bookshelf. He turned around to face them.did pull me out of the room and spoke to me in a scary voice. She was all like ‘Now you look after her, ya hear? I don’t want to hear anything about you hurting her or anything, do ah make mahself clear?’ but yeah.” Spike responded with a slight shudder.
They surrendered themselves to sleep quicker than normal, there was no hesitation to enter the realm of the dreams and with Luna wrapped around Twilight comfortably, they both slipped into unconsciousness swiftly. Twilight waited nervously, a small niggling sensation at the back of her head telling her that this wasn’t going to be good. But a familiar scene faded into view and dispelled those thoughts. She found herself atop the Redwood looking over Ponyville, the leaves tightly packed to form a ground of sorts. She felt the breeze blow against her skin and smiled the view of Ponyville at night putting her at ease. The lights from various windows down below creating a complex, indiscernible pattern of illumination through the entire town.
Twilight moved to stand beside Luna and looked out over the land. Luna turned to Twilight.
Chapter 18: Picnics and Planning
Since it was a dream, the moon stayed in position, having no reason to move from its place amongst the astronomically correct stars. They chatted to each other as the night wore on, Twilight teaching Luna of the various astronomy titbits she had on the vast expanse of stars, galaxies and other astral objects. At the same time, Luna told Twilight stories of the stars, painting her history across the night-time sky.
Twilight and Luna span around simultaneously, there atop the tree behind them was a mare. She stood against the night, the ethereal royal blue mane and tail blending in with the night and the polished armour glinting evilly in the moonlight. They jumped to their hooves, Luna taking stance a pace or so ahead of Twilight and slightly in front of her, as if acting as a shield for the other mare.dear counterpart did.” Nightmare Moon said.
Twilight was still frowning in puzzlement.
Luna stood resolute, she knew that they would have to change tactics, but she didn’t have any idea it would be for this reason.lovebirds to your dreams. Oh! And remember that my banishment won’t last forever. I’ll see you soon.” Nightmare Moon said, flashing them a smile that showed off her fangs before slipping out of the dream. Once she had disappeared, Luna flumped to her haunches with a harrumph.
Twilight awoke with the sunlight in her eyes and she instinctively raised a hoof to shield them. She let out a silent yawn and looked over at Luna. Usually they woke up at the same time or Luna would wake up before her, but today Luna was still sound asleep, a soft snoring sound emanating from under pillow Luna had atop her head. Twilight let out a smile at the sight and quietly slid out of the bed so as not to wake Luna up. Twilight pondered what to do, it was still too early to make a start on breakfast, so what else could she do? Her eyes slid around the room, looking for something to occupy her whilst she waited for Luna to wake up. Her gaze fell on upon her bookcase, in particular a slender, leather-bound book. It had been much too long since she had written in it but better late than never.
Twilight pulled the book out and set it down at her desk, moving onto getting together a quill and ink. She prepped herself up to writing paragraphs to make up for the time she had missed, but when it came to summarising all of the feelings that spanned across the week, she had no idea where to start describing them all. She stared at the blank page for several moments, pondering what she could possibly write. Eventually she contented with a simple, three word sentence that accurately summed everything up. ‘I feel conflicted.’ Twilight sighed at her rather inadequate writing but tiding everything away none the less. Just as she slipped the tome back into its regular resting place Luna gave a small groan that was mimicked in the pillow on her head. She rolled over, the pillow falling off, and she groggily opened her eyes.
“Morning Twilight, you’re awake early.” Luna stated with a yawn, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.are supposed to have duties whilst we’re here.” While Twilight referred to the both of them, she was directing the ‘duties’ part mainly at Luna, and they both knew it.did have something that I wanted to teach you.
Due to Twilight’s level of magical ability, teaching her wasn’t as simple as being like ‘Here’s a new spell, go practice it.’ At her level it was all about the theory. This may seem boring to most but was actually quite fun for those more academically minded, or those adverse to actually performing magic for some reason or another. Luckily Twilight was both of those and found Luna’s lesson very enjoyable. Luna was a keen teacher with an in-depth knowledge of the subject and was able to answer each of Twilight questions (of which there was a lot) with relative ease. It was also good for Luna that magical theory hadn’t changed all that much over the millennium she had been away. It was one of those subjects which didn’t really change, but just had more added onto it as time wore on, much like mathematics.
Luna finished her talk on defensive transmogrification, a magic Luna hoped Twilight wouldn’t have to use as it is nigh on impossible to change back. She looked out the window and gauged it be just before midday.
“Erm... I suppose so.” Twilight replied slowly, mulling over hypothetical situations in her mind, Luna nodded. “So... Are you ready?” Twilight asked, there wasn’t actually much she needed to do to prepare for the outing, it wasn’t her turn to bring the snacks. Luna nodded once more.
Luna on the other hoof, she was thinking of Twilight’s words, in particular the ones about her being here for years. It wasn’t that she was shocked by the news, she had already known it, it was that she didn’t know what would happen after those years. Even when Luna regained her powers of the night-time sky, she would still have that magical link with Twilight. She knew that she would have to take back her duties when that time came, but what of Twilight? It was possible for two linked ponies the live apart but it would greatly weaken them, much like being on the moon. Twilight would have to leave Ponyville if they were to stay together as the majority of Luna’s royal duties required her presence at the Castle. Twilight wouldn’t like it, it would mean leaving her friends and her life. But she must have known that she would have to go back to Canterlot at some point, after she had finished her study in friendship. This train of thought lead her to think of her sister’s ideas. If this entire situation didn’t happen and Twilight had finished her research into friendship, would Celestia still have given Twilight Luna as a new tutor? Would they have discovered their feelings? Or would they have stayed just friends? Luna’s introspective questioning was cut off though by their arrival at Ponyville Park. She realised she had been silent for the entire walk and glanced guiltily over at Twilight, but she seemed as caught up in her thoughts as Luna had been. Luna decided that she would need to have a discussion with Twilight, no matter how much they hated it, they needed to sort out the future. And then there was still the question of Nightmare Moon...
Twilight led Luna over to a section off the one side of the park with practised ease, they obviously always met in the same spot. Luna wondered if there was something special that had happened in that spot. There was so much of Twilight’s past that she didn’t know, and even more so the other way around. Twilight could already see her friends seated around the familiar tree, chatting to each other.
Luna observed each of them in turn as they continued their friendly chat. Applejack and Rarity were the main speakers in the group, heading the conversation and asking questions to keep it flowing. Twilight talked a fair bit too, though she rarely asked anything. Rainbow Dash was sitting back and relaxing, occasionally chipping in with the odd comment. Then there was Fluttershy, she sat silently, occasionally sipping her tea, though she didn’t seem to take part in the talking and was content just to sit and listen she was still smiling and seemed to be accepted as a valid member of the conversation.
They all sat silently as the tea was handed out, save for a few ‘Thanks’ and the return ‘Your Welcome’s.
“Phew, sounds kinda spooky that cave, and I don’t much trust that Everfree Forest neither.” Applejack told the congregated ponies after Luna had finished talking. Luna gave a nod in reply. Now that everypony knew the story behind their quest of sorts, they placated themselves with talking amongst themselves, Luna occasionally adding something to the conversation and the other ponies accepting it easily. For one of the first times in her long life, Luna felt among friends.that ?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“It’s stupid.” Rainbow Dash told them, but continued anyway, now that she started she didn’t want to stop, “It’s just that...” She turned to Twilight, “I’ve always had a crush on you Twilight!” Rainbow Dash blurted out, immediately clapping both hooves over her mouth. Twilight leaned back in the shock that was apparent on her face. She was the only one. Twilight noticed that and her visage turned to one of confusion.needed to let you know, ya know, get it off my chest.” Twilight nodded and gave Rainbow Dash a consoling hug.
“Right. Well, I best be off, farm’s a-waiting for me.” Applejack said finally, rising to her hoofs, tipping her Stetson in their direction and heading off without waiting for a reply. The rest of the ponies gave each other their farewells and left.
They spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening discussing the future. They sorted out things like what Twilight would do once Luna regained her astral powers, if they would go ahead with getting the other elemental magic pieces, when they would tell the people of Ponyville that they had a princess living among them, and what to do with Nightmare Moon. On that last note they decided that against all previous promises, they would have to involve somepony else, namely Princess Celestia.
For all of their talk of the future and things to come, neither of them made mention to their relationship, they didn’t know what would happen to it in the future, and they planned on keeping it that way.
They dreamt in the night, the realm becoming the mountain where they had found the first of the elemental magic pieces. As always, the moon was high in the sky and there were no clouds, allowing them a view over the Everfree Forest, the leaves on the trees fluttering gently in the night-time breeze. It was an uneventful night, they said nothing to each other and just enjoyed the companionable silence that fell between them as they sat side by side, surveying the trees stretched out before them. Eventually, sleep called to them in proper and they bade each other farewell, each caught up in their respective thoughts. Twilight thought of her future, namely what would happen when Luna regained her natural powers and would need to go back to Canterlot to resume her duties from her sister. Twilight knew that she would have to go along with Luna, there was no questioning that, she was just wrapped in thoughts of having to leave the friends she had found here in Ponyville, it was the first time in her life that she had felt socially accepted. Luna on the other hoof, was absorbed in thoughts of her sister, of their need to pressure her further with the news of Nightmare Moon. However, she truly believed that with Princess Celestia’s help they would be able to do something about her evil counterpart in a more permanent way.
They awoke earlier than usual, Luna rolling over and falling off the bed, taking Twilight with her. Twilight awoke to the sound of a grunt and a muffled ‘Ow’. She sleepily manoeuvred herself off of the uncomfortable object under her, only then finding the other mare on her back, rubbing her muzzle with a faintly irritated expression on her face.
“So,” Luna began, getting straight to the crux of the matter, “have you thought further about including my sister in all of this?” Twilight guiltily nodded, while she had thought about it, the majority of her thoughts went towards her own future.
They ignored breakfast, focussing completely on the wording of the letter, they had to make sure it conveyed that the matter was urgent without having Celestia worry too much. Once they were satisfied with the outcome, Luna sent it along the magical pathway that she and her sister shared for private messages to each other, it would make sure to get straight to Celestia herself, much like Spike’s link. The spell, which previously exhausted Luna last time she had used it, merely winded her slightly. ‘Maybe she’s regaining some of her magic.’ Twilight thought, which led her back to her imaginings of when Luna was back to her full power, but they were guiltily dispelled when a reply arrived. The well-known seal of Celestia was upon it and the familiar cursive writing adorned the inside of the letter.
Twilight wondered how Celestia had replied so quickly until she actually read the scroll. It was just a two word sentence that while reassuring was certainly not what they expected, or really hoped for:
“Come and sit.” Celestia told them in a way that managed to seem friendly and at the same time commanding, only a millennium of practice could have mastered that. Twilight and Luna took place opposite Celestia on the couch they had sat last night.
“Yes.” Twilight began with a small gulp, “It’s about Nightmare Moon.” Celestia face darkened.
When Luna finished talking, Celestia leant back, closing her eyes in thought. Twilight and Luna stayed silent, watching the sun princess’ face for any indication that she had a plan of action. Eventually she opened her eyes and let out a regal smirk.
“From what I understand of you and Nightmare Moon, you have separate consciousnesses that are connected to one body, right?” Celestia began, Luna gave another nod, “Well, I propose that we perform a bit of ‘advanced cognitive disjunction’ for the first bit.”
For the entirety of Celestia’s explanation Twilight was silent, willing just to sit and listen to her former mentor’s plan, however once Celestia listed the objects needed to help them with the execution of said plan, she jumped to her feet, searching around the library for the various things. Twilight arranged the apparatus in the set manner she had memorised from her studies, along with some help from the two princesses. Whilst she did this, Celestia talked to her sister about the ramifications of performing such a spell in a case like this, along with calculating chances of success. However, Luna was willing to go with the plan and sat still, the apparatus surrounding her and ready for the magical input.
Luna took a deep breath and steeled herself for the pain that was sure to follow. Twilight quickly leaned in and planted a kiss on Luna for reassurance, Luna looked up at her and drew her back in for a more passionate, long lasting one. Celestia stood awkwardly, not sure where to look.
Celestia initiated the casting by directing her magic into the first of the items, a crystal sphere placed in front of Luna. The beam spread from the ball, engulfing the blue mare on the coach and getting absorbed into the bits of apparatus around her, this gave the general shape of an orb to the magic. Now Twilight kicked in with the first of the spells, powering it through the orb and straight into Luna, this was shortly followed by an increase in magical flow from the both of them as the other two spells were cast together. Pained yelps came from inside the bubble but Celestia and Twilight forged ahead, the magic flowing quicker and quicker from their horns until it cumulated into a bright glowing ball. The ball imploded, the flash momentarily blinding them so that they did not see the magic get absorbed into Luna and her body duplicate to leave two Lunas laying unconscious on the sofa.
When the spells were complete Twilight fell to her rump and Celestia staggered slightly.
One of the Lunas on the sofa groggily sat up, rubbing her head with a wince. Twilight darted forward past Celestia and swiftly pecked her on the check. The Luna stopped rubbing her head and turned to Twilight with a smile.
Next to Twilight, a groan sounded. Twilight looked back and saw Luna sitting up, rubbing her head with a wince. Twilight darted forward and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Luna stopped rubbing her head and looked at Twilight with a smile, before pulling her over for a passionate embrace.
This is the end of Oldnew Luna. Please check out the sequel (Click the Image)
Author's Note
There are a few people that have done their bit to help me with this story, even if they didn't get through the whole thing, they were a massive help and thus should be listed below:
