"This is abominable." Trixie Lulamoon stood in the throne room of Canterlot Castle and glared up at both sisters, though she focused most on Princess Luna. Her voice was raised above its usual level to ensure she would be heard—this was something important to her. "You made Trixie's friend a Shadowbolt to defend Equestria, but she had to do it almost single hoofed!"

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow and looked sideways at her sister. Luna, she noticed, looked like the cat that ate the canary. While Trixie continued—describing a great battle between a pony and a windigo—Celestia asked, "Sister, is there any truth to this?"

"She made her own uniform. It had smoke and everything." Despite her embarrassment at being caught by her sister, Luna still remembered when she'd first seen Rainbow Dash wearing her outfit. "I may have revived the Shado—"

"The Shadowbolts," Princess Celestia said—cutting in, "was something you came up with when you were ten. What do you mean 'revived'?"

One of Luna's ears still twitched toward Trixie, listing to the mare rant about the dangers of doing things alone, while she turned the other toward Celestia. "When I came back as Nightmare Moon, I may have manifested them."

"You used dark magic to recreate your imaginary friends?" Princess Celestia asked.

"I was in a dark time, alright? Apparently it gave Rainbow Dash the idea for her costume." Luna's thoughts trailed back to the first time she'd seen Trixie's show with the wild Shadowbolt in it—Luna had almost squealed like a filly. "It was really good…"

Princess Celestia wanted three things: a cup of tea, a slice of the best cake in Equestria, and a soft pillow to hide under—in that order. Instead, Celestia had to sort out a mess her sister had made. It was what big sisters did, after all. "What exactly did you do? Nothing that might open the way for the Nightmare to—"

"No!" In her haste, Luna had cut off both Celestia and Trixie. The former just smiled while the latter looked annoyed. "I'm sorry, Trixie Lulamoon. Please continue." When Trixie did, Luna sighed to her sister. "I just invested her with a sliver of my magic."

"You're immortal, Luna." Celestia intentionally, and through the diplomacy learned over a thousand years, kept her tone calm and even. "Investing a pony with power invests them with its history. You have over a millennia of history behind that little sliver. How much are we talking?"

"She needed to really look the part," Luna said.

"And?"

"And I may have given her something a little more. Being a Shadowbolt, my own representative, was bound to attract danger. I just gave her enough to put her on par with a young alicorn. No magic, of course, but she shares a little earth pony toughness, and more pegasus speed and agility." Luna waved a hoof dismissively. "Only a little more than she already had."

"You gave the fastest flier in all Equestria more pegasus magic, and boosted them with earth pony magic too?" Celestia's left forehoof found her forehead.

"And—" Luna said.

Celestia's hoof shot away from her face and she looked at her sister. "And? What do you mean and? There's more?"

Frowning at her sister, Luna nodded sharply. "Well, Shadowbolts need to be masters of shadows. I couldn't call her a Shadowbolt and not give her a little more control over mist and smoke, as well as being able to bend moonlight a little."

"I'm going to translate that. If I get anything wrong, please correct me." Princess Celestia cleared her throat, though it didn't seem to distract Trixie (who was still making her case). "She can create illusions with smoke or mist—quite solid ones I assume—project images at night, or even make herself invisible. Did I miss anything?"

"When you put it like that, it sounds a little crazy. She hasn't worked out how to do much more than make smoke," Luna said in her defense.

Trixie was in full rant mode, and nothing would stop her. "… and she had to go to hospital for two days. Rainbow punched a windigo in the face, and it—" Except for a princess clearing her throat loud enough to shake the room.

"My sister will be handling this. Good luck, Trixie Lulamoon," Princess Celestia said, and teleported out.

Luna sat up straighter on her throne. "Ahem. Well. I can assure you, Trixie, that Rainbow Dash will recover from whatever malaise affects her."

"How do you know that? It isn't right you put her unsupported into this situation. If it weren't for the entire team of the Wonderbolts being there, she might not have defeated the windigo!" Trixie was building up steam again now she had a captive audience. "Furthermore, you—"

"Very well!" Luna could feel a headache coming on. "Who do you propose to be her allies?" The best solution she could come up with was so simple it would be over and done before her sister could even find out about it.

"W-W-Wait." Trixie Lulamoon could feel alicorn power boiling from Princess Luna like she were a font of power—which she was. It tumbled and flowed down from the dais, pooling around the floor like mist. "Sh-Shouldn't Rainbow decide who should—"

"Absolutely correct." Liking the suggestion (mostly because it meant being bothered less), Luna added a hint of propagation to the magic gift she was forming. It was a trickier package, since she had to build templates for the propagating effect so that it could be used on anypony, but she already had pegasus, and now was creating a unicorn one—earth pony and alicorn were not much more effort.

Trixie looked around and saw the mist was flowing toward her. "Trixie didn't mean herself! She meant—well—one of Rainbow's friends. Hold on."

"Of all her friends, Trixie Lulamoon, I can think of nopony more deserving of this." With the entirety of the package assembled, Princess Luna let it pour into Trixie.

"Hey."

Trixie started to shake her head to clear it of the fuzz that seemed to be everywhere—which was a bad idea. Holding still, she slowly opened her eyes to see Rainbow Dash laying down on the bed beside her. The hospital bed. "What happened?"

"I got better quick. Doctors don't know why, and when Princess Luna brought you in, she seemed really quiet. Like, more quiet than usual." Stretching her wings, Rainbow Dash had to fight her urge to jump up and lick Trixie on the nose. "What actually happened?"

"Trixie was—she was telling Princess Luna off."

"What?!" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It was wrong to do this to you alone. Trixie was too convincing." Lifting a hoof, Trixie rubbed the side of her head. "The Princess might have been a little hasty."

Since her fight with the windigo, Rainbow Dash had been experiencing the world through a new lens. Movements seemed to catch her eye a lot more, but she also could sense magic in strange ways. Right now, Rainbow could smell the same kind of awesome darkness that permeated herself—but she smelled it on Trixie. "You don't mean…?"

Holding her forehooves up, Trixie positioned them barely a hoof-width apart. "I'm almost afraid to do this."

"Princess Luna wouldn't do anything to hurt you. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?" Rainbow Dash realized what she'd said the moment she said it. Her eyes widened, and now she felt worried.

Biting her lip, Trixie brought her hooves together.

"Whoa!" Rainbow watched as dark smoke bubbled and boiled from Trixie's mane and from under the covers. A pair of glowing yellow goggles appeared over Trixie's eyes, and the dark pattern of a Shadowbolt uniform formed around her.

Atop Trixie's brow, her horn glowed with soft silver light that reflected in Rainbow Dash's eyes. Illusion magic was the usual extent of Trixie's power, but she felt her presence grow and spread. Power rolled through her in waves she'd never felt before. "It worked?"

"Yeah. Gosh did it work. Take a look." Rainbow gestured to a mirror on the far side of the hospital room.

Climbing from the bed, Trixie felt lighter than usual, but her magic felt much more dense. Deliberately not looking into the mirror until she was right in front of it, Trixie Lulamoon opened her eyes and gasped. Two golden lenses looked back at her from the smokey figure in the mirror. Light seemed to avoid her, leaving it looking slightly darker everywhere but her horn.

Trixie turned her head at the sound of a pair of hooves clopping. She looked at Rainbow Dash—no, Shade. Turning back to look in the mirror again, Trixie felt her fellow Shadowbolt press against her side. The two suits complimented each other perfectly. "The Great and Powerful Trixie could definitely get used to this.

Shade nuzzled and rubbed against her mistress' side. When a purple-and-black-clad hoof reached to her head and began rubbing one ear, Shade leaned into the attention with happiness burning up inside.

"Come, Shade, Trixie—No, we both need special code names. Shade, and Moonglow. Without any hesitation, Moonglow leaned down and kissed Shade's cheek, her horn flashing bright as she did.

When the smoke cleared in the hospital room, both Shadowbolts were gone.

Moonglow laughed when she and Shade appeared beside her wagon. When she realized they weren't alone, however, she was a little taken aback. "Princess Luna!"

"I didn't grant you this so that you could frivolously use it." Luna couldn't help her direct tone, it stemmed from the shocked look her sister had given her after Luna had told Celestia what she'd done. "However, it is well that you are training with your power. How do you feel, Trixie Lulamoon?"

For nearly fifteen seconds Moonglow just stared at Luna, then she took a deep breath. "Moonglow did not mean to put herself forward. She thought Princess Luna would pick Twilight Sparkle, or Fluttershy."

"'Moonglow'?" Luna asked.

"Secret identity. And it sounds more moon-ey." Moonglow waved a hoof dismissively, then realized that might have been part of what got her into this. "But, now that Moonglow has this—this power, what can it do?"

"My sister has—" Clearing her throat, Luna started over. "I have decided to teach you how to use it, and how to responsibly pass it on to others." Looking up, Luna judged it to be mid-afternoon. "To learn properly, we must wait for nightfall."

Just mention of nightfall made Moonglow's blood sing. The night was coming. Holding up her forehooves, Trixie clopped them together and gasped as the magic rushed back inside her. She still buzzed with it, her horn humming with suppressed power, but it wasn't a blatant need anymore. Another clop sounded, and when she looked she saw Rainbow Dash.

Both Rainbow and Trixie caught each other's eyes at the same time. Two egos had never been so swollen or so close before. It should have been a critical mass, but as they stepped together, the only thing that exploded was their feelings. Leaning together, Trixie and Rainbow kissed.

Luna tried not to stare for nearly ten seconds before finally managing it. Looking away, she took a few steps before coming up with a great excuse. "I'll—uh—just go visit Twilight until nightfall. Okay?"

Trixie cracked a laugh a moment before Rainbow. The kiss had felt good simply because it was an expression of their friendship having grown one extra step. She gestured expansively to her wagon. "Errant princesses will not spy on us within."

"Trixie? Are you inviting me into your wagon to snuggle?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Because that sounds like a pretty awesome thing to do."

Biting her lip, Trixie used her magic to smack Rainbow's rump. "Trixie will negotiate snuggling, kissing, and maybe even cuddling within. Move it, Rainbow."

Trotting up and into the wagon, Rainbow Dash was reminded just how small it was. She started the complicated maneuver of turning around when Trixie rushed in behind her and pulled the door closed.

Author's Note

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