How to Friendship a Comet

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Epilogue

Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle paced around the top floor of her castle, ears alert for any sound of Spike. The castle’s observatory with its high vantage point made for wonderful stargazing, but the physical distance from one room to the next was a steep downside.

Growing impatient, Twilight readied a teleport spell before hearing Spike’s wheezing from the staircase. She redirected the teleport to meet him.

Spike yelped when she appeared in front of him and wheeled his arms like a windmill. He teetered at the edge of the step before Twilight’s magic caught him.

“Spike! I’m so sorry. I should have just gone there myself to get the paper and quill. Did you send it off?”

For a few seconds, Spike continued to flap his claws as he floated in the shimmering purple glow. Eventually, he relaxed and answered her anxiousness with a smile. “Of course I did. I even got a response!” He reached behind his back, and with a bit of sleight-of-claw, produced a scroll. “Came pretty quick, actually.”

Twilight floated Spike over to a pillow while she unrolled the official royal stationary that she’d seen countless times:

Dearest Twilight,

Your calculations are correct. The object in the night sky is indeed headed for Equestria.

However, Luna and I do know of it even if most ponies don’t remember. It’s a comet with an orbital path of several centuries. Long ago it was on a course for impact, but we corrected its direction. It will pass very near, but not strike as you have feared.

I have modified your calculations with the missing variables. Your work was excellent, as always, but you couldn’t have known of some of the variances in our solar model.

Written below the text was a detailed mathematical proof, along with a diagram done in Celestia’s neat quillwork. It made Twilight reflect on how hard it was to perform hard science or write laws of gravitation in an area under the will of a living entity. It mildly surprised her that Celestia had given the math behind it. Her mentor usually preferred keeping that air of quiet mystery and self-discovery in her explanations.

Twilight looked up from the letter, feeling sheepish. “You were right, Spike. I was worrying over nothing. I guess I’m not the only pony with a telescope.”

Spike settled back in a nearby pillow, utterly failing in his effort to not to look smug. “At least she told you what it was this time. She could have told you to make even more friends.”

Twilight snorted, but there wasn’t any real annoyance behind it. Considering all the adventures she’d experienced, and the relationships made, it had definitely turned out for the better.

She still missed her old library, though.

“Oh, hey. Don’t forget to read the back.”

Twilight blinked and flipped the scroll over. Sure enough, there was more written there:

My apologies that I didn’t send you this information earlier. I had a bet with Luna on how long it would take you to write to us.

I am currently at my sister’s balcony. If you can make it tonight, I would enjoy your company.

Ever yours,

Celestia

“Umm, everything alright?” Spike said to Twilight’s suddenly flared wings.

“I’m... not sure.” Twilight mulled over the words. They had a different tone than the orderly front half.

Was it the signature at the bottom with the lack of an accompanying title? Of course, Celestia always insisted that they were equals, though Twilight still couldn’t help but feel young compared to the ageless immortal.

Plus a bet? Was she really that predictable?

“Are any trains still running to Canterlot?” Twilight asked as she rolled up the scroll.

“What? Like, right now? Yikes! I’ll go wake the others!” exclaimed Spike, sobering up and leaping to his feet.

Twilight smiled. As much as he teased her for worrying, Spike was ever dependable in an emergency.

A little push from her horn magic toppled Spike back onto the pillow and tickled him on the belly. “No, it’s nothing serious. She’s inviting me over to watch the comet with her. I can get to Canterlot on my own. Maybe even faster than the train, now that I think about it.”

Spike waggled claws and feet in the air as he spoke through ticklish laugher. “Ah Hah! Okay! Okay! Princess stuff, gotcha. Just send me a message if you need anything.”

Twilight stepped out onto the balcony of her castle and took to the air. While she’d had her wings for nearly three years now, it still excited her to feel the ground drop away.

It made all the bruises and aches from earlier crashes and Rainbow’s relentless tease-coaching worth it. When Discord wrangled her and Cadance to lug him to the ends of Equestria, she’d been secretly pleased that she could match her sister-in-law in endurance.

Banking into one of the invisible jet streams, she let it carry her to soaring speeds. Technically, she could stutter her teleports, but she preferred to be efficient. Preparing the spell while flying also gave her time to look skyward.

Twilight had observed the comet several nights ago through her telescope. At first it was simply a dot out of place in the familiar firmament, but as it grew she had turned from watching to making hasty calculations.

Now that she knew it was harmless, she could appreciate it a little better. A white dot with a misty trail in the sky. It looked pretty in retrospect.

She flew for a while in this quiet contemplation until the silhouette of Canterlot castle showed in the distance. She wouldn’t have minded flying the entire way there, but she did mind keeping Celestia waiting.

A moment of squinting allowed her to pick out the tower marked with the crescent moon. She let the readied teleport spell loose and the rush of immaterialism take her forward. The shock of the sudden stop at the other end sent her careening into an aerial tumble.

She swallowed her panic and righted herself with a bank and spiral like Rainbow had taught her, though her dinner made flipflops in her belly from the abrupt maneuver.

“What th—oh right.” She’d meant to appear at the castle, but the teleport instead dumped her at the city’s limits. The redirection magic had a certain familiarity about it. That was her brother’s work in action. She vaguely remembered getting a letter about it, though she’d buried it under her latest worry in-the-sky.

A pair of dark shapes flew from the courtyard and approached Twilight. Keeping on her flight, she tipped her body to show off her flanks. Smoothly, the thestrals adjusted their flight path from an interception course to an escort formation without so much as an inquisitive word.

The guards returned to their patrol when she descended to the balcony, coming to land just a few hoofsteps away from Celestia, who rested beside a table.

“I see you’ve been practicing your flying,” said Celestia. “That flip and spiral was very energetic.” Her tone kept placid, like she so often spoke with.

Twilight couldn’t help the embarrassed flush. “Oh, that... umm... I was testing the wards?”

“Mm hmm. I wondered why you hurled yourself here instead of answering the letter first. Otherwise, I’d turned them off for you.”

Twilight waffled between replies, then nose scrunched when she saw Celestia’s lip quirking and that eye twinkle. She was teasing her!

“Since you were in such a hurry to come to me, I think you ought not to stay away any longer. Come now.” Celestia patted the empty cushion beside her. “I have some tea and snacks for us, too.” Her tone now changed to a playful one with a musical lilt.

Twilight gratefully took the offered spot. Her stomach still felt restless from her aerial tumble, and tea sounded like a good remedy. She set about pouring herself a cup and discreetly began adding sugars. How much was too much? She dropped a few cubes, waited, dropped some more. Waited again. It wasn’t until she was tasting sugar with tea in it did she realize the quiet from Celestia.

A glance over showed Celestia lost in thought as she studied the sky. She was without her usual trappings of office: No tiara, necklace, or golden hoof shoes. Even the multicolored mane seemed dim and ordinary by moonlight.

Before Twilight could catch herself for staring, she spotted a glistening spot of wetness at the corner of Celestia’s eye not hidden by her mane.

A tear? Twilight was suddenly seized by the memory of the only other time she ever saw Celestia crying: It was when seeing Luna as a filly after being harmonized by the elements.

She couldn’t help herself and blurted out, “Princess? Is there is something wrong? Is it Luna? Is she okay? Has something happened?”

Celestia did a double take—another rarity—but soon it was Twilight’s turn to be surprised at the strength of the hug Celestia gave her.

“Not at all, Twilight. Not in the slightest. Relax. You deserve a night off from being a heroine.” Twilight felt Celestia’s nose push through her bangs to give a doting kiss beside her horn. “Forgive an old mare for growing sentimental. I was crying for you, my sparkle star. A happy tear.”

“For me?” asked Twilight while she wrestled with the feelings that bubbled up within her. Velvet would always be her mother, but Celestia nearly matched as a parental figure. A literal godmother. The punny thought tickled Twilight into giggling as she replied, “Also, old mare? You don’t look a day over two hundred.”

Some of that giddiness was the tension bleeding out. Relief and the warm thump of that powerful heart under her cheek made Twilight feel cozy.

“Flatterer,” said Celestia evenly, “and yes, for you.” A bare hoof stroked along Twilight’s neck as she continued, “You’ve done so much for me, Twilight. For my sister and for Equestria. You’ve come such a long, long way— “ She paused then before laughing at her own realization. “Ah! Wait, you’ve heard that song before.”

Twilight nuzzled against Celestia’s chest. “I don’t mind hearing it again. It’s a nice song.” Seeing Celestia with a tiny blush of her own brought another giggle out of Twilight. They didn’t get many moments like this, without worries and able to be free and silly.

Celestia playfully bopped Twilight’s nose with a hoof. “What I mean to say: Is that you have grown into becoming a princess and have done splendidly with your duties. I am so proud of you, Twilight, for how much you have attained. However, there’s still one thing that you have yet to do.” She looked back up again towards the comet.

Twilight followed her gaze. Though her thoughts were already a slight mix of excitement and trepidation. This sounded like a test. She sat up. “What do you want me to do, princess?”

Tests were always a source of an anxiety for Twilight, but their numbers gave her a concrete way to show progress. She missed them as she hadn’t had a pen and paper exam since becoming a princess.

Having that score always be perfect helped.

“We wish for you to move the comet into orbit.” The voice startled Twilight as Luna’s approach had been silent.

While not as imposing of a presence physically as her solar sister, Luna stepping out from the shadows to the shine of the moonlight made that starfield mane have dizzying depths.

So surprised by the appearance that the weight of Luna’s words didn’t sink in until a moment later. “Wait... what?” Twilight asked.

Luna looked over to Celestia with a brow arched. Celestia rustled her wings and shifted in place before answering, “I am trying to ease her into the idea.”

“You want me to move something that’s probably dozens of miles long from hundreds of thousands of miles away?” Twilight tried to keep her voice level while ignoring the growing pit in her stomach.

Luna inclined her head. “‘Tis something you are more than capable of. The sun and moon are magnitudes larger than a comet. Surely you must remember when you did that very deed in our place...” she paused again and looked over at Celestia.

Celestia picked up the conversational thread on the other side of Twilight. “There are practical reasons. Mariners have needed a guiding star and better predictability of the tides for ages. Making the comet be that predictable part also makes it safer.” She then added with a nudge to Twilight’s shoulder. “That said, it’s mainly recognition for you and all your efforts. Something more substantial than another stained glass window?” She winked.

Twilight slouched her head into her forehooves. The praise from the two made her dizzy. “I’m honored, but shouldn’t Cadance receive this before me? She’s been an alicorn for much longer.”

Luna cleared her throat. “Your sister’s talents are better in other areas—”

“—and Cadance has her hooves full with a natural born alicorn,” continued Celestia. “Unless you’d like to trade her?”

Twilight thought about her explosion prone niece for a long moment before replying, “The comet might be easier to take care of.” She put on a more certain smile for Celestia. The humor helped.

Luna nodded and spoke up. “Worry not, Twilight. Should your attempt at controlling the comet fail, you will have several centuries of preparation to try again.”

Twilight’s smile faltered. That didn’t sound like a joke.

Living in Twilight’s castle was a lot like being at a university, with each day structured with a lesson plan from Twilight or assignment with Spike. This morning for Starlight Glimmer started differently. No outlined classes or coursework, just a scribbled note that said ‘Bring Coffee’. Spike filled her in on the rough details.

Starlight found Twilight in the observatory with her mane unkempt and a blackboard filled with diagrams.

“I brought you your coff—” Starlight began before the magic holding the coffee pot swiftly changed to deep purple and zoomed the pot over to the cups on the table.

Twilight took a long drink, eyes closing in reverence.

Starlight fidgeted in place. “Soooo... they want you to move something how big from how far away?”

A couple minutes and a few long gulps passed before Twilight took proper notice of Starlight or the question. “Dozens of miles and hundreds of thousands of miles.”

Starlight considered. “Okay, you’ve moved the sun and moon before, right? Going to do that again, huh?” She flinched at Twilight’s poisonous look.

“Once. I did it once. And that was with the power of three princesses. You might remember how that went. Everypony does,” Twilight grumbled.

Starlight rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. The day the sun and moon took a careening figure-eight path through the sky did have a certain lingering, country-wide infamy.

“You’d think they would remember you beating the bad guy more,” said Starlight after a pause.

Twilight stuck out her tongue. “Something I have learned as a princess is that ponies only remember your heroism when a monster first shows up. Every other time you get plastered across tabloids for enjoying a hayburger or doing a little dancing. Why can’t they ever forget the bad parts?”

“Must be terrible. Being remembered for all that, and not like… enslaving a town of ponies.”

Twilight blinked and looked sheepish. “Sorry. I know others have worse reputations.” She shook her head. “Just this problem has me tied up in knots. They’re expecting me to do something incredible, and unless I can figure it out, it’s going to be incredible alright! An incredible crater in the ground!” She dropped her head against the desk in a slump, unsettling a few of the scrolls and rattling the cups.

Starlight caught the objects with her magic before any could fall, and approached Twilight. Hesitantly, she reached with a hoof and placed it on the Twilight’s shoulder. “I’m pretty sure the princesses wouldn’t let that happen. But why not ask for help?” Comforting ponies was still a new thing for Starlight, but this was a situation she could sympathize with.

“If you’d only heard them. They went on and on about how proud they were of me and how great I am.” Twilight put on an imitation of Celestia’s signature tones. “‘Oh worry not, Luna. Twilight is ready for any challenge put to her’ Ugh! Easy for them to say! They do it every day and night.”

“Yeah. Almost like... trying to learn something that everypony else sees as natural... kinda leaves you feeling frustrated and alone,” Starlight agreed.

Twilight lifted her head and looked at the hoof on her shoulder. She made a wane smile. “Expressive Sympathy. That’s an A plus for you, Starlight. If there are any ponies left after I crash the comet, we can go for ice cream.”

Starlight bumped her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Oh, come off it! Save the melodrama for those of us who can make villainous speeches. Besides, you still need to learn how to move the comet before you can crash it.”

Twilight snorted. “Okay. Maybe the hole will be in my pride instead of Equestria. I still don’t want to disappoint them. The answer has to be around here somewhere. I just have to find it.”

“I’ll help you!” said Starlight with a growing grin. “If any ponies can figure this out, it’s us. It’s magic, after all! We can actually put our horns together for this one.”

The spirited start was promising. Starlight’s talent at self-levitation proved to have potential. It was a trick she had come up with by blending telekinesis with density alteration. “So you aren’t really lifting yourself up as much as pushing yourself off the air.” Starlight had explained.

Twilight thought it was a useful weave of magic. Flying with wings was still superior, but it could soften a hard landing.

Next came a field trip to the nearby hillside where they experimented with changing the density of different sized stones and rocks. Early results were promising and had several stones in the quarry floating and bobbing along like party balloons. Twilight barely needed to nudge them along with her telekinesis and with the self-propelling nature she could have one orbit another.

However, when they tried to apply it to the larger boulders, there seemed to be a hard limit of how much they could twiddle with the spell before they crumbled and cracked.

Afterwards, they took a break over at Sugar Cube Corner while trying to come up with an explanation over dessert.

“Well, of course they broke up!”

“Huh?” Twilight and Starlight said together. Evidently Pinkie had been listening in.

“All the rocks around here are sedimentary, silly mares! That means they’re layers and layers of all sorts of different stuff put together! Doing all your magical whoozitwatzit puts stress all along where they’re joined making them spread apart. Like blam!” She gleefully struck one of the pies on the table, sending up a shower of crust and filling every which way.

Through the cream and fruit facial she wore, Pinkie went on. “The only thing these rocks around here are good for are rock candy, really.”

Starlight blinked away some frosting. “Wait... your rock candy is made of actual rocks?” she asked with sudden alarm.

Twilight had a different concern. “What if it wasn’t sedimentary, Pinkie? We were using the rocks around here for practice.”

Pinkie Pie waggled a hoof decorated with filling as she explained, “Nope! Wouldn’t work on a comet either! They’re big bundles of water and ice with a core of stone. If anything, it’ll even be worse! Changing the water will make it crack right open like a big egg. We call that fracking back on the farm.”

Twilight stared for a good minute before sharing a glance with Starlight. “I... that makes sense. I guess I should have asked you... sooner?” Her mouth made the words, but her rational half screamed at her internally, as was so often the case around Pinkie.

Pinkie Pie gigglesnorted at Twilight’s expression. “Doncha know some of the best rocks on the farm fall from the sky? Maud could give you the whole history of why we Pies picked that quarry in particular—”

She then gasped and put her hooves on either side of Twilight’s cheeks. “We. Could. Have. A. HISTORY. PARTY!” She squeezed in time with her words for emphasis.

Eventually, Twilight and Starlight disentangled themselves with a vague promise at some future date to have a party. Twilight would have liked to talk further about the rock parts, but once Pinkie got a party on the mind all conversation with her became party planning. It was only after having them both mime putting cupcakes in their eyes would she let them go at all.

Neither Starlight nor Twilight were feeling too festive after the day’s revelations. They might have categorically improved telekinesis but it was only incidental to the actual problem. The pile of coffee cups in Twilight’s study grew taller while the sky outside grew darker.

Starlight Glimmer rubbed her temples before exhaling. “Well, it has to be more than reaching out with your horn and lifting it. It’s just too massive. You’re more likely to fling yourself at it than the other way around. Are you sure that was what you did before?”

“I’ve thought back to that moment a dozen times already. Maybe Celestia gave me a spell when she lent me her power, but it wasn’t something I consciously did. I knew I had to move the sun and moon so it just... happened,” replied Twilight with a sigh, “and before you ask, yes, I’ve tried pointing my horn at the comet and wishing really really hard.”

“Could be worse. That could have worked, and you’d still have no idea how you did it.” Starlight pointed out before glancing out the window. “Hey speaking of the comet, there it is now. Has it really been an entire day?” After taking a fresh look around the observatory and the piles of work around them, Starlight yawned. “Maybe we should sleep on this. You did say you had a whole week before it went by.”

Twilight raised the coffee carafe and gave it a shake. “Not anymore. I only have six days now and then something like seven hundred years after.” She tried lifting some of her books from the table, but her concentration flickered and a few of them fell.

Starlight nabbed the tumbling tomes with her magic before they could hit the floor and floated them back to the table. It wasn’t the first time she’d had to play catch around the shaky princess. “Speaking of which. Have you slept like at all?”

Twilight shot her a sullen look. “I can afford to sleep once I figure this problem out. Eighty-six hundred and forty minutes is all I have left!”

Starlight knew how pointless it was to reason with a mare when she was being stubborn about magic. “Well, I’m going to go to bed. I’ll come back in the morning and see if we can make any headway.” She softened her tone. “Don’t keep pushing yourself, or else we’ll have to worry about a princess crashing instead of a comet.”

Twilight made an exasperated noise before replying, “Alright, sure. I’ll get to bed soon. Let me organize my notes first so I don’t waste time tomorrow trying to get to the same spot.” When Starlight was nearly at the door, Twilight called out, “Thank you for your help, Starlight. I appreciate it even if we didn’t get anywhere.”

Starlight blinked uncertainly before smiling back to her. “I owe you a lot for the friendship lessons. Before that, being good at magic was the only thing I had going for me. I’m glad I can give something back and help you when you need it.” She paused as a realization struck her and then laughed. “I bet that’s a friendship lesson too, isn’t it?”

“Number twenty-seven. That’s another A plus for you, Starlight,” said Twilight with a grin.

In the observatory’s quiet, Twilight felt the silence grow oppressive. Being in the highest room of the castle, she didn’t even have the nighttime crickets. Everything was the rustle of paper, the creek of the blackboard and the light whick-whack of chalk scribbling across it.

Twilight knew she should have taken Starlight’s advice, but she couldn’t bear to waste any time. She paid for her stubbornness though, having to redo over one formula and fix incorrect variables. In some ways, it was depressing to work on orbital math before actually knowing how she would get the bucking thing in orbit in the first place. At least she could make some headway on a future problem.

This equation gave her extra trouble, and after the third erasure, she groaned, “Ugh. Where are my notes?” Twilight hoofed clumsily through a paper stack.

A loose piece of parchment fluttered out, did a pirouette in the air, and presented itself to her. The paper outlined in shimmering blue. Twilight let out a happy whinny and clapped it between forehooves before her sluggish brain reminded her that her magic was a violet shade.

Luna stood not five hoofsteps away.

“Yuugah!” Twilight cried out and fell on her flanks with wings splayed out in surprise. “P-Princess?!”

“Hello, Twilight.” Luna took a curious glance about. “Is this your observatory? Ah, it must be,” she answered herself after spotting the giant telescope.

While harboring thoughts of investing in an anti-teleporting spell of her own, Twilight collected herself and asked, “What are you doing here?”

Luna’s expression remained perfectly neutral.

Twilight flinched under the look and gave the obvious answer. “You’re here to check up on me.”

The stony features of that dark muzzle softened, Luna’s voice thawing with it. “You have not been sleeping well. I am concerned about your welfare.”

“No, I’m okay! Really. All I need—” Twilight turned towards her monument of coffee-cups only to watch them float away in a blue shimmering bubble.

“Nay, Twilight! That elixir is tempting, but ‘tis no replacement for rest. It will corrupt you as sure as any dark magic.” Luna stepped up beside Twilight to nudge her on the shoulder. “Have you felt overburdened? The comet ‘twas meant to be an honor, not a trial.”

Twilight’s willpower was already frayed, and Luna’s question made it give out completely. She slumped against Luna’s side with an exhausted groan, “I... I don’t know how to do it.” Voicing the thought came easily, but hearing it made her cringe. She buried her face in Luna’s wing, unable to feel anything other than failure at the admission.

Luna stayed steady, and after a while, put her nose over Twilight’s ear. “You are no longer a student, Twilight. You have more than earned our respect and reverence. It will not fade should you ask for help. Nor ‘tis weakness to need help.”

Twilight chuckled. With her stubbornness draining away, all the other emotions were rushing to the surface. “I know I could ask.” She shifted in place before murmuring, “But I would disappoint myself most of all. This is a challenge, and I would hate to beg for the answer. Like some kind of cheater who looks at the back of the book. I’m the bucking Element of Magic for Celestia’s sake!”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and her hooves covered her muzzle. Where had that come from? She shook with shock at what she’d said and who she said it to. Just how tired was she?

Luna looked at her in surprised silence before filling it with a hearty laugh. “I cannot fault you for your spirit. You have ever been a mare to face something head on, mmm?” Luna circled around Twilight and when she returned to the fore she loomed in the shape of Nightmare Moon. She lunged at Twilight, mouth gleaming with fangs.

Twilight having seen this trick enough times during Nightmare Night only giggled as the muzzle chomped the air inches from her nose. “Shining would tell you it’s because I’m a pain in the flank.”

Luna showed a toothy smile before it softened into a genuine one as her features returned to normal. “For a mare who would rather read stories than star in them, you remain one of the bravest.” A flick of midnight mane gave Twilight a light stroke on the cheek. “So much to admire. Very well, I will not take a challenge from you if I can help it.” There was a thoughtful pause before she said, “View my help as akin to giving you pieces to a puzzle. The discovery will remain your own.”

Twilight brightened at the thought of that. “That sits better with me. Let me get my notebook and we can—”

Luna shushed her with a raised hoof to her lips. “Only once you have had a rest and a day to recover. You have been too hard on your body these past few hours. If I am to guide you, you will require stamina.”

Twilight snorted around the hoof and mumbled, “A whole day? But what am I supposed to do until then?”

Luna’s odd expression returned before being edged out by a smile. “Spend the day with your friends. They worry as much as I do when you shut yourself away like this. As for sleeping… certainly you know why I am here?”

“You mean to tell me—” started Twilight before she looked around the room again. There was a quality of fuzziness at the edges of her vision, with objects only coming to detail when she focused on them. “—this entire time?”

“I expect you to be a little sore depending on what position you collapsed in. I will wake you for a short while. Long enough for you to get to a proper bed,” said Luna, “and to have a peaceful rest after.”

Twilight perked when an idea struck her and excitedly asked, “Actually, why can’t we work on things here? I mean, if I’m already asleep, then I don’t need to go to bed at all! I could just be as producti—mhmmf!”

Luna stymied Twilight’s rambling thoughts with a sudden lean forward and a full on kiss. The world became obscured by starry midnight as the Luna’s mane swirled about them and—

Twilight woke abruptly, hooves flailing as she fell back from the desk. I’m blind! Came her first panicked thought until she pulled off the piece of paper stuck to her face. The ink on the parchment smeared by a big blob of of drool. “Eyck! So much for that equation,” she mumbled.

With a hoof, she rubbed at her muzzle still tingly with pins and needles. She must have been resting on her face this entire time. Or Luna was a better kisser than she let on.

“A princess waking a princess with a kiss. Real funny, Luna!” said Twilight to nopony in particular.

Despite how little progress she’d made, Twilight felt a sense of calm. She could always rely on her friends before. Things would be better on the morrow.

Chapter 2

“Here we go. A fresh pot to start the... day?” Starlight announced before looking over the observatory’s study. The mugs were gone, the notes tidied in neat piles, and the astrology texts lined back on the bookshelf.

Everything looked picture perfect, including Twilight, who was finishing up by dusting erasers and setting the materials into their drawers. The princess’ mane looked brushed, and she was steady on her hooves. Seeing Starlight, she smiled. “Good morning!”

“You actually followed my advice?” asked Starlight, blinking at this change.

Twilight laughed at her expression. “Well, not at first. I collapsed and knocked over a bunch of papers and then I went to bed. I must have been pretty out of it yesterday.”

“Kinda! I brought you coffee. Though it doesn’t look like you need it,” mused Starlight.

Twilight stared at the carafe for a long moment before shaking her head vehemently. “I think I’m going to take a break from that for a while. Actually, I’m going to try to spend time with the others. I feel like I haven’t seen them in days! I hope you don’t mind, Starlight.”

Starlight shrugged. “That’s fine with me.” She then brightened. “I can hop on the train and catch one of Trixie’s shows and be back by tonight! Erm... assuming you still want help? You don’t sound too worried about the comet anymore.”

Twilight grumped at the mention of Trixie. Did Cherilee ever feel this way when she saw her students bolt for the door the minute the bell rang?

“Let’s just say I had a friendship epiphany last night and—oh quit rolling your eyes!” Twilight huffed at the smirking Starlight before she continued, “I realized I’m not going to get much done just staring at textbooks that I’ve already read or spells I’ve already tried. Maybe the others can inspire me like you did yesterday.”

When Twilight thought she might find inspiration, she didn’t think it would be a lesson on the subject of chafing.

“Rainbow, do I really have to wear this? It’s... tight.”

Rainbow Dash hoofed up her goggles and peered at her. “That’s the point! Didn’t you read about why we wear these in the first place, egghead?”

Twilight sighed. “Yes, I know. But it’s tight!” She attempted to wiggle her hindleg and the material of the flightsuit creaked. The tightness on her limbs did make each step feel springy, but the press around her body was like being constantly hugged.

Plus, it felt particularly snug at the seat.

“Okay, maybe it’s a little tight,” Rainbow admitted. “But I don’t think it’s because it shrunk in the wash either.”

Twilight shot her a glare. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Rainbow crossed her forehooves as she flapped in place. “Nothin’. Only that’s the same flight suit we had Rarity dress you up in when you were first learning how to fly. You know, back when you were doing your daily wing ups and eating Wonderbolt energy bars for lunch.”

Rainbow leaned in then, matching Twilight’s glare with her own trainer’s fierceness. “You still do your morning thirty? What about your evening fifty? If we head over to Hayburger are they gonna tell me ‘Princess Twilight, who?’”

Twilight mumbled something under her breath, eyes not quite meeting Rainbow’s own.

Rainbow put a hoof up to her ear. “What was that? Can’t hear you!”

Twilight forced a smile before she replied through gritted teeth, “I said, when Spitfire hangs up her whistle, they won’t have to look far for her replacement.”

Rainbow looked satisfied and put her hooves behind her head. “Better. Oh, hey. Where’s the last thing? You know, for your horn?”

“What? The sock?” Twilight asked with a scowl. “I’m not putting that on my head, Rainbow. No matter how much you yell at me.”

Rainbow hoofed down her goggles. “Suit yourself. I’ve never had to fly a pony with a horn this far up. It gets pretty prickly.” With a few strong wingbeats she flew ahead.

Twilight thought darkly about showing Rainbow how prickly a horn could be, but settled on practicing Cadance’s counting exercise: Breathe in. Breathe out.

For a couple of hours, they had been using the thermals to gain altitude. From her non-pegasus perspective, Twilight thought it was like mountain climbing with the rhythm of short bursts of hard flying while clouds served as ledges for breaks.

Rainbow kept in the lead and usually reached the next cloud shouting down encouragement, coaching or both. So it surprised Twilight to find Dash unusually silent on the next approach.

Twilight looked about on the cloud they were on. There weren’t any more clouds now, just unending blueness. A glance over the edge made Twilight’s stomach lurch. The ground was so very far away.

Rainbow kept quiet for a few more beats, simply staring off into the air. Finally, her ear twitched, and she made a ‘Hmmm’ sound.

“Something the matter?” asked Twilight while trying to see what Rainbow could see.

Rainbow’s ear twitched again, and she looked to be listening. “Naw... I think the air currents are in a calm right now. We could take a shortcut.” A grin spread over Dash’s face as the idea caught fire. “Yeah! We can totally pull it off. Get over here. I’m gonna carry us.”

Twilight trusted Rainbow enough that it wasn’t until the hooves were around her and their chests pressed tightly together before she thought to ask, “Just how fast are we going to—eep!” She stiffened when Rainbow’s hooves clopped over her rear. Twilight blushed, and she laid a fresh glare.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. She’d been in enough locker rooms to have an athlete’s sense of modesty. “I need a good grip. You get me around the neck.”

Twilight did so, and she felt Rainbow tense as tight as a cable before beating her wings and soaring upward.

As they gathered speed, Twilight tried to help with some sluggish flaps, but a swift smack to her backside kept her still and huddled against Rainbow. That Rainbow could launch straight up from a near standstill while carrying put into perspective just how much Dash had been holding back with their cloud hopping.

Soon the air rippled and Twilight felt her stomach dip downward. A prism haze surrounded them, and the deafening rush of air became suddenly quiet as color streamed off the building bubble.

Twilight had given up trying to understand her friend’s quirks and abilities after her disastrous study of Pinkie’s pinkie sense. Being inside a rainboom made her curious again on just how did Rainbow do her miraculous flying. Though her attention was soon taken by the change in the surrounding backdrop.

The sky darkened, and a horizon formed between the blue of day below and the star-studded blackness above.

It was breathtaking. Literally, in fact, as when Dash stopped their ascent and the rainbow bubble dissipated, Twilight started wheezing at the rarefied atmosphere.

Rainbow rubbed at Twilight’s shoulder. “Air is pretty thin up here. Stay calm and try to relax. You don’t need to flap as much to stay in one place.”

Twilight nodded went back to counting breaths while she watched Rainbow zip around in a wide circle. Eventually, a disk of cloud formed in the center. It was small and when Twilight set down; it felt paper thin under her hooves. Still, it was something solid to rest on.

The gathered air was also easier to breathe. When she could finally speak, Twilight got the words out in measured pants, “You... seem… fine...?”

Rainbow nodded. “I fly up high all the time. Being at ground level is the trickier for me. Sometimes I hold my breath just to stop from getting dizzy.” She smiled and with some encouragement added, “but hey, you’re up here now! That’s great for a first timer. How’s the horn?”

With very little air to shield them, the difference of one side being warmed by the sun and the other side in the shade made Twilight paradoxically sweat and shiver at the same time. She had a newfound appreciation for the flightsuit’s insulated tightness. The mention of her horn drew her attention upward.

Twilight’s horn had frosted over and resembled an icicle stuck on her forehead. She lit her magic and gradually melted the ice with a few shakes of her head. “Not too bad, but maybe you were right. I should have worn the sock.”

“Yep. I know I’m amazing,” said Rainbow with her typical humility before reclining back on the cloudstuff and making it bow out underneath like a hammock. “Try not to look at the sun. It hurts pretty bad when you do up here. That’s the comet over there?”

Twilight shaded her eyes with a hoof and panned the sky. It felt strange being able to see both the stars and moon with the sun still at a high angle. That pronounced sunshine warmth tingled all over as she turned in place to find the troublesome celestial snowball.

The comet was still smaller than the moon, but inched along at an almost visible rate. In a cosmic sense, that meant it was moving quickly. With some squinting, she thought she could see details in the tail now: little chunks of ice breaking off the main thing before turning into a misty trail.

Rainbow mused the distance alongside her. “Looks like you got a clear shot if you’re going to try. Now or never, princess.”

“Give me a minute,” muttered Twilight. Though by the tone, she knew Rainbow was playing coach again. Some of yesterday’s anxiety returned, but she swallowed and reached out with her magic.

Spells to try came to mind as Twilight considered the distances involved. Mentally, she observed just how much magic theory was written from a ground perspective. A fact that was hard to appreciate until one climbed to the very top of creation and stared out into the void.

She never had to think before if a spell’s range could be more than the distance of Equestria. Or if she had to lead her magical sense when there were light-seconds of difference between two points. She could have spent years writing papers about it. Here she had to do it practically and on the fly.

Twilight wished she could have brought along the half dozen scientific tools in her observatory. There were spell equivalents, but the trouble with magical measurements was the reliance on mental perception instead of hard numbers.

Let’s start with composition. That can work on light reflected even if it can’t reach.

This was a warm up spell. The composition of the comet hadn’t been a mystery. Much like Pinkie had said, it was a ball of ice around stone. Twilight could feel it now in sequence: a sting of chill for the ice, a dip of moistness for the water, rough pebbly texture for stone and… a musical chiming note. What was that? Some exotic metal? Gemstone?

With a shake of her head, she cleared the magical charge and made a mental note to see if she could find a match for the sound later.

Twilight had used the earlier half of the flight to go over mental checklists of what spells to try, and she had about twenty to work through. Funny how some ponies marveled at her memorization, even if Twilight told them it was like how they memorized song albums or hoofball statistics.

The issue with her spells returned to the problem of anchors and distance. She simply couldn’t stretch a spell that far along without breaking the connection from herself. While any magic that she bundled up and flung out weakened significantly before it could even get close.

Of course, if the comet had been close enough to touch, she would have a whole new set of problems.

At least she could know if she was having an effect. Reciting spell formulae and throwing the occasional bolt of magic didn’t give her any feedback at all. Partway through the second pass of her list, she sighed and flopped backwards onto the cloud.

“No luck?” asked Rainbow while peeking an eye open. With her part of the job done, she’d been napping in-between her circular sprints to refresh their cloud platform.

“It’s just too far!” cried Twilight. She punched the side of the cloud with a hoof in her frustration. “It’s closer to us now than the moon is and it’s even smaller than that. Luna does this every night. It can’t be impossible!”

“Sorry, I can’t tell you much about magic that you don’t already know,” replied Rainbow, shrugging. She scratched at an ear before asking, “I don’t suppose there’s like... a kind of training you could do with magic to make it stronger?”

Twilight chuckled. “If there was, I’m sure you’d have me juggling planets while hoofpressing weights and running a race at the same time.”

Rainbow’s concerned expression changed to a smile. “I just wanna see you be the best you can be, yeah?”

The thought cheered Twilight some, even if the task remained a figurative and literal huge lift. Well gotta at least try it once up here.

“Can I borrow your goggles?” asked Twilight.

Rainbow frowned. “What happened to yours?”

“I might have left it on the table next to the sock.”

“You know I’d flunk you if you were in my class. This is like ten laps around Ponyville, at least.” Despite her ribbing, Rainbow hoofed her goggles over to Twilight.

Twilight lifted the pair up and began casting a spell to darken the lenses. “If I get this moving, I’ll put on all the socks, goggles, bells, lights and play the part of the next Hearth’s Warming tree.”

With her shaded goggles Twilight faced the comet head-on, taking the brunt of sunshine on her peripheral. She would need to focus on the comet without it leaving her sight and she didn’t want to go blind from the sun's glare. With a steadying breath, she lit her horn and tried once more to recapture the feeling she had when all the alicorn powers were within her. It had been so simple, to just reach out and grasp it.

On the ground, one could always feel out with their telekinetic sense thanks to the air. Here there was nothing and Twilight sweated from the effort. It was like trying to grope out for something in utter darkness with a numb hoof.

C’mon... C’mon... Pleaaase?

Twilight kept the comet in the center of her vision until her eyes blurred under the goggles. When the comet wiggled in place, Twilight gasped, only to feel herself pitch forward. She had been leaning so much that she perched at the edge of the cloud. Instead of black space, Equestria itself lay out below her in a colorful, captivating sprawl. Her horn winked out as she lost her wits and felt herself teetering forward.

Rainbow hauled her back from the edge a moment later. “Whoa! Careful Twi!”

Twilight gasped and shook her head, squirming in Rainbow Dash’s grasp. The near fall winded her all over again and her words came out in pants, “I... am okay... I... Let me try... again.”

“Nuh-uh! We’re going back down. You look more red than purple!” Rainbow’s hooves tightened around Twilight’s middle.

Twilight looked at the comet, still on its course. Had she moved it? She couldn’t tell. “I... need... to... I am... a... princess.” She tried to explain through shortened breaths.

“And I’m a Wonderbolt. I gotta protect you first, even when you got Princess stuff to do! Don’t think I won’t carry you the whole way down. We’ve been up here long enough. You’re getting loopy.”

Twilight sighed and slumped in Rainbow’s embrace.

Rarity shrieked.

“What have you done?!” She forcefully pulled Twilight’s hoof forward to stare at the tattered sleeve of the flight suit.

“Hi Rari—urk!” Twilight began before needing to deal with a faceful of marshmallow hoof.

Rarity pushed Twilight’s head to the side and looked scandalized at the ragged scorch mark in the fabric.

“How did this happen? Who did this? Was it Rainbow? It was!” Rarity declared and glared daggers at the similarly disheveled Rainbow. “You and your stunts and shenanigans!”

“Me?! I didn’t do anything! It was the storm that did it!” Rainbow shot back. “You try dodging a storm front while carrying a pony from a zillion miles up.”

“You can’t treat a princess like... like some sort of daredevil, taking her through storms and ruining her fine wardrobe! She’s royalty! She. Requires. A. Gentle. Touch!” Rarity bonked Twilight’s nose on each word for emphasis until Twilight sneezed.

Rarity made a face and gingerly lifted her hoof off Twilight’s nose. She looked at Twilight reproachfully, only to gasp as she saw her directly for the first time. “Twilight! Your mane! Why is it like that?”

Twilight rubbed her nose. “Why is it like what?” She asked nasally. Rarity’s perfume laden hoof gave her the sniffles. After turning towards one of the standing mirrors, she gasped as well.

As mares went, Twilight never really experimented with manestyles. She rarely went to Ponyville’s salon and usually did the pragmatic method of putting a bowl over her head and snipping along the bangs just like her mother taught her. Frankly, anything other than occasional shampooing felt like a waste of time.

Presently in the mirror, Twilight’s mane looked bleached with the violet streaks a few shades lighter than normal. It made for a vibrant contrast between the purple bands. The changed look wasn’t uniform, however, and the tones were uneven and muddled.

Rainbow hovered near and muttered, “I dunno. It looks fine to me.” This statement earned her another weapon-filled glare from Rarity.

“Darling, did you have a bit of trouble with the amounts? You ought to have let somepony with an eye for this teach you over this blue ruffian.” Rarity had a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, idly fussing with Twilight’s mane even as she expressed her sympathy.

“Augh! No! Rarity...” Twilight shooed her off her with a flailing of forehooves. “It became this way when Dash and I were flying... I guess?”

“Just happened? While flying? Is this something to do with your... you know—” asked Rarity before making a vague gesture at Twilight’s wings, “—princessness?”

Twilight considered that notion. What could have done it? Another glance at the mirror showed the discoloration and shading one sided along half of her head and neck.

“The sun? Rainbow, was it when the sun shined on me?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Don’t ask me, I was too busy catching you... then carrying you down while trying not to get roasted by lightning bolts.” That last part Rainbow said overloud and directed at Rarity.

Rarity harrumphed to Rainbow but kept on. “Well, you must get yourself up there again, Twilight. Or at least sprawl yourself out on a beach for a while. It certainly won’t do to remain a patchwork mess.”

Suddenly, with her horn alight, Rarity’s magic gripped both Rainbow and Twilight by the necks of their flightsuits. A surprising show of magical muscle that pulled Rainbow out of the air and had Twilight backpedalling. “For now, out of those at once! I will not let another minute go by with a wonderbolt and a princess looking like vagrants!” declared Rarity. “Nopony will ever say that I didn’t do my duty to Equestria!”

“Since when are you such a patriot?” Rainbow complained as she stripped alongside Twilight. The lightning scarred flight suits didn’t even touch the ground before being carried away behind Rarity as she went out to her workshop.

Towels flew in the reverse direction, one gently setting itself across Twilight’s back while the other bundled up into a ball and struck Rainbow on the nose. Rarity leaned her head around the corner. “I want both of you in the bath and running your heads under the shower. This disaster will need all my skills to mend.”

Rainbow lifted the towel between her hooves. “Why are you giving one to me? My mane isn’t messy or mixed up!”

Rarity’s expression softened while her tone became soothing, as if she were talking to a filly. “Trust me, darling, you want me to look after you just as much as Twilight does.”

Twilight didn’t quite remember voicing that particular concern or even agreeing to the manewash in the first place, but her wings ached and a relaxing shower was something she probably was going to do anyway after the day she’d had.

Twilight took her time under the running water, using the opportunity to theorize. Were the changes to her mane really specific to alicorns? Celestia and Luna had unique wavering manes, but Cadance and Flurry Heart didn’t. Was it something that happened to high altitude flying ponies? Rainbow’s mane was somewhat unique and Spitfire’s was arguably just as bright. She needed more data, though the mystery was relatively minor compared to the comet itself.

After leaving the shower, Twilight found Rainbow asleep under the hair dryer, her snores nearly matching the industrial whine of the motor itself. Rarity stayed nearby, her mane kit open in front of her and the styling tools arranged like a surgeon’s instruments.

With Rarity’s attention focused elsewhere, it seemed like a good time to ask about something that had been pushed to the backburner of Twilight’s thoughts. “Rarity, do you have a collection of gemstones I can look at?”

“Mm? Of course. Are you looking for something for spring or fall?” answered Rarity with a beaming smile. She had been trying to get Twilight interested in jewelry for ages.

“Actually… I haven’t decided on that yet. I want to look at the entire collection. Err… say to get an idea. I’m trying to find a gem that I heard about before.” Twilight skipped the more detailed magical explanation that would probably put Rarity to sleep alongside Rainbow.

“Well, if anything stands out, you’re more than welcome to it. The collection is down the hall second door to the left. I’d go with, but I know the instant I step away, this one will be out the window in an eye blink.”

Leaving Rarity to her guard duty, Twilight soon found the mentioned room. Once inside, she carefully closed the door behind her. She would need quiet for the spell she had in mind.

The room itself was arranged to a level that even Twilight could respect. Gems sat in orderly velvet boxes organized categorically by type, facet cut and carat. Each came complete with little placards to help identity each gem by name and class. Rarity could be over dramatic and silly sometimes, but with gemstones, she was a true professional.

Twilight closed her eyes and lit her horn, preparing the spectrum spell she used before. A quiet chiming rang as her horn waved over the display stands. She never had much of an ear for music, but she figured she could at least pick up on a familiar sound.

It was meticulous work, but eventually she narrowed it down to two stones with similar tones. She tried not to look at them, fixating only on the sound they resonated in her horn. Upon reaching a verdict, she lifted something that looked like a geode from the display case. Compared to all the brilliant stones around, it looked on the plain side.

A second glance over to the contender had Twilight tempted to recheck her findings. A bright white faceted jewel that looked close to a diamond. Though as much as the diamond resonated favorably under her horn magic, the common geode was certainly the one she had heard up there on that cloud.

Twilight felt mildly disappointed. It made logical sense that a stone hurling through space would be composed up of rough commonplace materials. Though it’d have been neat if it were made out of sapphires or diamonds instead of what looked like colored quartz. Bah, it was supposed to be her comet after all! Couldn’t it at least been made of amethyst?

Idly, Twilight read the placard and chuckled at the location. The geode came from the Crystal Empire. She remembered how Rarity had initially fawned over every piece of faceted furniture and architecture, thrilled with the idea that her gemstone-enhanced dresses would be a hit.

Right until she found out that crystals to crystal ponies were as common as dirt. Rarity soon adapted when she found out that they were interested more in fine, softer cloth to compliment their hard forms.

When Twilight returned to Rarity, she asked if she could borrow the geode on the idea it might be helpful to have something to approximate the comet’s composition.

“That old thing? You can keep it.” Rarity peered at Twilight with a critical eye before venturing, “Darling, as a princess, you can afford to spoil yourself a little. You needn’t use costume jewelry.” Her eyes widened and then practically sparkled with a new idea. “Why could make you a matching set of gemstone hoof shoes to go with your tiara! Then you’ll have good enough reason to put it on more fanciful pieces.”

As if Twilight’s reluctance to brandish her regalia was because she didn’t have enough of it.

“Maybe next time. I promise I’ll make an appointment,” said Twilight with a small smile. “After all, I wouldn’t trust any other pony than you with dressing me up.”

Rarity made a series of happy fashionista noises, at that compliment.

Rainbow snores turned into snorts, and she rolled over with a sleepy groan.

“You are going to wake her up... right?” Twilight had visions of an over-dried Rainbow Dash frizzy like a multicolored ball.

“Yes, yes. Of course. When she is good and ready.” Rarity’s voice dipped ominously as she murmured, “Once she has no other choice. I have been trying before you even came to Ponyville to get a hoof on that mane. So much raw potential utterly wasted.”

“Well, thank you for tidying me up and for the geode. I’ll be at the castle if you need me,” said Twilight before heading out. She only managed a few steps out the front door when a multicolored streak zipped over head and Rarity’s wailings came from behind.

“Twiiiilight! Catch her! She didn’t even let me do her baaaaangs!” sobbed Rarity.

Rainbow stopped on an aerial dime on hearing that hoof-gauntlet thrown, turning in mid-air to grin at Twilight. “Hah! Catch me?! Think you can, egghead?”

Twilight’s first impulse was to teleport and tackle Rainbow, but that’d probably be cheating.

Or worse, Rainbow could still end up dodging. Twilight would never hear the end of it.

As hopeless as it was to beat Rainbow’s speed, the taunting smirk had Twilight spreading her wings. Maybe she could surprise Little Miss Wonderbolt with a strong opening sprint.

Twilight got a half step and two wingbeats before nearly falling on her face when a sudden pang in her left wing made her cry out in pain.

Rainbow quickly landed and Rarity trotted up from behind, their antics quickly put aside.

“Dear! Are you okay? What is it?” asked Rarity, more concerned now than her earlier dramatics.

“Looks like she’s got a cramped wing. It happens when you don’t do your wingups regularly!” said Rainbow with a certain viciousness only a coach could have.

“Thanks for the reminder,” Twilight mumbled before wincing as Rainbow swooped, caught her under her forehooves and hefted her up.

“What in Equestria are you doing?!” cried Rarity, aghast.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m carrying her!” Rainbow grunted.

Rarity shook her head. “You’re planning to drag her like that across town? Carrying our princess as if she were sack of potatoes? It’ll be the death of her!”

“What? I’ve been carrying her up and down all day!”

“I meant the social death! Besides, she has hours of work on her mane. She needs a lady’s touch!” Rarity lit her horn to grasp Twilight by the hindhooves, and pulled her out like a plank in between her and Rainbow.

Rainbow tightened her grip and yelled, “Hey! Let go! I told you I got this!” She started winging back while pulling on Twilight’s shoulders.

Rarity sounded out something rather mule-ish and dug in her hooves to pull even harder with her magic. “Unhoof her, you foalnapper!”

“ENOUGH!” shouted Twilight with exasperation. A bright purple flash later and both Rarity and Rainbow flew up into the air, surrounded in a purple glow as Twilight appeared back on her hooves. “My legs and horn are fine. I’ll MANAGE.”

Rainbow did a flipflop in her magical soapbubble and then pointed with a hoof out the side. “Hey! Fluttershy’s house is pretty close. She’s not half bad with backs and joints. Helped me get through plenty sprains and muscle pulls before. You should try going there.”

“Also darling, would you mind letting us down before you go?” asked Rarity sheepishly. “Pretty please?”

Chapter 3

Twilight had to admit that for all her meekness, Fluttershy’s hooves were skilled against her tense back.

“There, there my little alicorn. Momma will make you feel all better,” Fluttershy crooned.

That drew Twilight out of her relaxed stupor. “Huh?”

Fluttershy’s massage abruptly stopped, and she hid her face behind her wings. “Eep! I’m... am... sorry Twi-Twilight. I usually only do this to animals. Force of habit.”

“What about Rainbow?” Twilight sat up from the table and made an experimental flap.

Fluttershy snorted (or rather she emitted a very small sound that might be considered a snort). “Dashie gets herself hurt more than Mr. Bear and Mr. Bear is always bothering Mrs. Bee and her hive for honey. They never listen!” Her exclamation was only slightly louder than her speaking voice.

Twilight smiled patiently. “Well, I’m glad for the practice she gave you. My wing feels great now. You saved me a trip to Redheart and between you two, you have better bedside manners.”

Fluttershy beamed at the compliment. “It’s the least I could do to help you, Twilight. I’m just sorry that I can’t help you with your... umm... what was it again?”

“The comet.”

“Oh... is there one? I... don’t go out at nights much.”

Twilight thought about pointing out the comet and its once-in-a-millennium nature, but she didn’t want to make Fluttershy feel bad for her avoidant foibles. Instead, Twilight tried to keep a positive tone. “It’ll become a regular thing if I can manage to pull it into orbit. Maybe you could see it one night when you’re ready.”

Fluttershy nodded politely. A gesture that Twilight often recognized when a pony tried their best to accommodate her. It usually took an imminent threat to Equestria or one of her friends in danger to turn the Fluttershy into a bold defender.

Inwardly Twilight sighed, explaining the comet to most ponies had often brought this kind of response. That attitude of ‘Complicated magical feat? Let Twilight deal with it. It only got worse with the wings, turning into Princess stuff. Let a princess handle it.

A whistling noise sounded from the kitchen, and Fluttershy perked. “Oh! Would you like some tea?”

Twilight considered before asking, “Is it decaf?”

Fluttershy wrung her tail in-between her hooves. “I don’t buy any other kind…”

“Decaf is fine! I’m trying to cut back on the caffeine,” assured Twilight before putting her head back down into the pillows to wait. Her wing still felt a little stiff but improving. It was nice not having anything to worry ab—

“So, Princess Twilight is trying to join the big mare’s club.”

Twilight groaned and pushed her head further under the pillows. She had hoped her stay would have been short enough to avoid this possibility.

“Harmph! Is that any way to greet a friend? Which princess lesson is that?”

Twilight quietly counted to ten before lifting her head from the pillows. “Hello, Discord.”

The Draconequus looked as he often looked: a confused jumble of limbs and parts with a permanent smirk caused by his snaggletooth. He fingered a medallion hung around his neck. “Where’s yours?” He said in a hurt voice, as if he didn’t just conjure it out of thin air moments ago.

“What? That? I threw it ou— “ Twilight paused, then forced a smile “—on a shelf at the castle,” she amended.

Discord snapped his fingers and Twilight felt a heaviness around the neck as her half of the trinket flashed into existence.

“Can’t say that I thought it was a very princessy place to put your jewelry, but what do I know of princess things?” Discord said with a knowing grin.

Twilight tried to not let her nose crinkle up too much from the smell coming off the thing.

“I certainly wouldn’t give a friend a task and then not tell her a thing about it. That’s just cruel.” Discord continued with his lazy eye giving a wild circular swirl.

“You pretended to be sick to make me and Cadance fly halfway across Equestria,” muttered Twilight.

“Well, we weren’t quite friends then like we are now!” said Discord, winding himself over Twilight to press his cheek against hers. He reached for her medallion and put them together. “Besides, I knew you could do it, and so you did!”

Twilight snorted and hoofed him away. “And the princesses are confident that I can do it and I will do it.”

“Mmm hmm. Are you sure you wouldn’t want a bit of help?” asked Discord before snapping his clawfingers. With a flash, a hoofball sized model of the moon appeared, spinning above his pointed digit. “For us supremely magical beings it’s so easy and expected of us to do such hugely amazing things. It would be rather embarrassing if you couldn’t.”

Twilight blinked and looked towards the window. The sky outside had darkened noticeably when Discord made the moon appear on his finger. She squinted and tried to follow the line of his magic, but the chaotic nature of his spellcraft was a muddled mess. Still... It had to be an illusion.

Right?

Discord caught her expression and with a smug grin flicked his fingers. The moon disappeared and the night sky outside lit up once more. “I’d be a better mentor for you than cakebutt and moonbutt any day. I could make the learning oh so fun.”

“Why do you even care what I do with the comet? Isn’t it all the same to you?” Twilight pointed out. Discord’s general indifference seemed like a promising angle to bank on.

Discord reached with his own pawhand and drew out his nose until he resembled an elephant. “In the long long long scheme of things it helps to know the Who’s Who. Especially when somepony is out to make herself an even bigger who.” He waggled his trunk at her and trumpeted it.

Twilight tried to keep her expression stony. The best way to handle these bizarre, nonsensical asides was to just simply ignore them. “I can get by on my own.” Though even as she said it, she couldn’t help the bitterness in her voice. Visiting Luna tonight still felt like conceding that she couldn’t completely make it herself.

Discord smirked as he pulled on his nose and rubberbanded it back to its usual shape. “Remind me how keeping to yourself worked in the past, eh princess of friendship?”

Twilight’s teeth ached from the grinding, but made her drippingly cheerful. “Sorry! I wasn’t aware I was talking to an expert on friendship, long term or otherwise. I guess the castle just forgot to put your chair at the map table. You know how fickle castles are.”

“Oh, Twilight, you’re far too nice and adorable to be sarcastic. You should read up.” Discord snapped his fingers, and a book appeared. Twilight shuffled back to dodge getting bonked on the head by it.

Twilight looked down at the cover. It had a picture of a laughing Discord in front of a chalkboard drawing of Twilight with the title ‘Sarcasm for Incredibly Intelligent and Introverted Mares’. In the drawing, she wore a dummy cone and when she looked back at Discord, she felt one on her actual head. Her teeth ached again.

“Why here is something I can help you with: Have you even put a thought to what to call the thing once you catch it?”

Twilight brushed the cone off her head and grunted. She’d always thought of it as ‘The Comet’ aside from when her frustrations put other, less polite labels to that chunk of ice and rock. “No.”

Discord curled a claw through his beard, taking her non-answer in stride. “Mmm! How about... Twilight’s Tinkle? Seeing how it’s all wet and a falling star.”

“For a being thousands of years old, you’re pretty foalish,” Twilight replied, rolling her eyes.

Discord grinned and took it as a compliment. “As they say, you’re only as young as you feel. Take Celly! She’s pulled some terrrrific pranks.”

With a flash, he disappeared and reappeared next to Twilight in a jester’s outfit and began juggling. “Why, there was this time where she sent six ordinary ponies to mop up a millennium old feud… twice!” As he spoke, he added a random item from the room to the circling motion.

“But then that got a little boring. So, get this, for the third time she sends only one pony all the way to the frozen north when another ole problem poofed back into existence. That poor little mare! Fluttershy told me how lucky she was to have brought her pet dragon along.” His claw squeezed one of the clown horns he juggled for a comical honk.

Discord went on with a broad smile. “And she even went and brought chaotic vines to tie her and her sister… oh wait, that was one of mine, wasn’t it?” He tugged on his own beard thoughtfully while the items continued juggling without the help of his claw and paw.

“You forgot the one where she put some faith in a draconequus to do the right thing, only to have him let her and the rest of the ponies down!” Twilight retorted hotly. She knocked away the juggling distraction away with her magic. “I know what you’re trying to imply, but Celestia is not you. She wouldn’t put Equestria at risk just to entertain herself. She’s better than that and something I really wish you were better at, too. We’ve all given you plenty of friendship and forgiveness including Celestia. Think on it the next time you prank our goodwill!”

Discord recoiled more from Twilight’s words than her magical swatting of his props. For once the draconequus was quiet, face set with a small frown. Twilight rarely saw guilt on that face and it brought a twinge of guilt herself for maybe being too harsh.

Almost.

Straightening in place, Discord flicked his claw, and the objects returned to their proper positions around the room while he himself re-appeared without the costume on.

“Well… you certainly have the burning royal stare down!” Discord fanned himself under the heat of Twilight’s ire. Fanning by turning his paw and claw into actual fans. “Sheesh, I’m trying to help. I thought a curious mare like yourself might have wondered why, after all this time, Equestria has been getting more interesting by the year. Been keeping your Saturdays free lately?”

The baiting was all the more irritating for its truthfulness. Twilight had considered that same question herself often enough. Since the time she left Canterlot as a unicorn life had gotten exponentially complicated. No pony had heard of changelings or wrote about them in anything other than storybooks. Cheerilee had used Discord’s statue as a prop for parables on harmony. Nightmare Moon was a local legend associated with a silly holiday about candy and dressing up.

Yet all of those things had become serious threats to Equestria, each event a potential apocalypse if the cutie map’s alternate timelines could be believed. Twilight’s nose scrunched at the thought.

Discord grinned at her expression. “But as you say, I’m sure ol’ Sun rump has shared every one of her plans for the comet. Like why she gave it a little bump here and there... oooh starting around three years ago.” He reached out with a clawhand to snag the edge of Twilight’s wing and gave it a pointed tug. “What a difference just three years makes, hmm?”

Twilight sent a spark of magic to slap his claw away and readied a fresh glare when his statement finally registered. “What... She did? What do you—”

“Is everypony alright in here? I heard a crash and shouting,” asked Fluttershy as she winged in from the kitchen, holding a tray in her hooves.

Discord immediately appeared beside her, dressed in a valet’s outfit. “Fluttershy, my dear! Let me get that for you.”

“Oh! Hello Discord!” Fluttershy glanced to Twilight then back to Discord with a sidelong glance. Twilight’s flustered appearance and Discord’s nonchalant smugness were an easy tip off.

Fluttershy’s voice took on a matronly sternness. “Now, Discord. You weren’t teasing her about flying again, were you? Twilight tries very hard.” The statement made Twilight even more flustered. Defended on flying by Fluttershy.

Discord smiled and waved his pawhand. The nearby tea kettle animated and poured itself. “Not at all,” murmured Discord while throwing a wink at Twilight. “Our princess has been flying so high, I thought she could use a reminder about getting too close to the sun.”

With no hope of getting any more answers from Discord with Fluttershy around, Twilight eventually excused herself and headed home. She ended up walking the way there. She needed the time to mull over her thoughts.

It tempted her to write off Discord as a prankster who would tell any fib for his jollies, but Twilight couldn’t deny that the suggestions he’d made had some insidious truth to it. Was Twilight’s life planned from the moment Celestia laid eyes on her?

Twilight found that implausible. Celestia couldn’t have engineered every crisis she and her friends gone through. The logistics alone made it simply impossible to plan for all the coincidences involved.

Could it be some kind of time magic? Twilight was capable of such spells as a unicorn, and so was Starlight. What would that be to an alicorn? Although, Twilight’s own meeting with her future self proved time travel had a certain futility behind it. Meanwhile, the aberrations with the Cutie Map were of the repeating loop variety and not much good for predicting.

“No, that’s not it,” mumbled Twilight as she stepped past the doors of her crystalline home. Lost in thought, she walked on autopilot towards her study. When she reached the familiar desk, she drew out a scroll and a quill. She needed to get to the bottom of this problem.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Tell me why you moved the comet—

Twilight paused. That was way too direct and accusatory sounding. She used an ink removing spell to cleanly erase without spoiling the parchment and put the quill to it again:

Please, let me know if moving the comet was actually a test for me—

Twilight considered that sentence. If Celestia answered that the comet was a test and she moved it for that very reason, what actual difference would it make? Twilight had already been acting as if it were a test, despite every assurance from Luna and Celestia that it wasn’t.

Don’t you trust me? Tell me the truth.

That thought expressed her feelings, but she couldn’t send that. She sighed and stared at the page, frustrated.

It took Spike a second prod at her shoulder to get her full attention.

“Hellooooo, Twilight. Geez, what’s gotten into you?”

Twilight sat straight as she jolted out of her fugue. “Oh! Sorry Spike, I had something on my mind.” She blinked at Spike standing on her table. Evidently, he had to climb up for her to even notice him.

Spike scratched his neck. “Well, you do have the whole giant snowball in the sky thing, I guess. Hey… what’s this about?” He gave the letter by his foot a glance.

Twilight set the quill down and sighed. “I’m not sure if Celestia has been completely honest with me about the comet.”

No denying the small emotional sting she felt at that. If Celestia couldn’t share the entire story now, then when? What else might the solar alicorn be keeping back? How much of the motherly attention is just a form of manipulation? Twilight found herself afraid of that more than anything else.

Spike frowned. “Who gave you that idea?”

Twilight had a brief coughing fit as she began studying the crystal ceiling.

Spike’s frown deepened. “Sorry, what’s that? It almost sounded like you said ‘Discord’ in the middle of all that coughing.”

Twilight pursed her lips.

It was the dragon’s turn to sigh, his voice taking on a patient tone, honed over years of Twilight’s freakouts. “Are you seriously going to believe a Chaos Spirit over Celestia?”

Twilight sighed again. “Okay. Yes, it sounds bad. But remember, she was the one who told me I was worrying over nothing when she knew about Nightmare Moon's return.”

“Technically, she told you to make friends,” Spike answered pragmatically. “If she told you: ‘Hey Twilight, Nightmare Moon is real, and she’s coming back tonight. Also, make friends because it’s the only way of defeating her.’ How would that have turned out?”

Twilight thought on that and her first encounter with Ponyville’s roster of colorful personalities. “I’d probably have fallen over with anxiety and stress.”

Spike scratched his chin. “Maybe this is the same? She thought you’d do better if you weren’t stressed out over it?” He gave a little snap with his claw as he said, “She’s never really doubted you. Like ever. Believe me, in all these letters, she’s never put you down. Even when you’re being all fritzy maned.”

Lighting her horn, Twilight lifted Spike up and brought him close for a hug. “Maybe you’re right. Though, after all we’ve been through, a little faith would be nice. I mean. I don’t freak out that much anymore, right?”

Spike hugged her back before immediately looking away at her question. “Ummm...”

“Really! Still?”

Spike opened his mouth and let the question linger overlong before it reminded him. “Oh! Speaking of letters, I almost forgot! You got one from the princess.” With a deft sleight of claw, he produced a scroll.

Twilight nearly dropped him. ”What? Celestia wrote me?” she said with all the trepidation about planned coincidences coming back to her, though when she lifted the scroll up she saw a silver moon with a blue ribbon.

“No no. The other princess.” Spike corrected.

Dear Princess Twilight,

For our meeting, I will lower the wards to allow you to teleport once the moon has reached its zenith. I may have some information that is of use to you.

Yours,

Princess Luna

Twilight yelped as she remembered. “That’s right! I said I would meet her tonight. Ooh! How could I have forgotten?!” She silently cursed Discord a second time for filling her head full of worry.

Spike looked more confused than ever. “Is it trouble?”

“Yes! Well... no. I just can’t be tardy!”

With a purple flash, Twilight teleported away, leaving Spike to sigh and make his way to the broom closet and begin sweeping up the scattered papers.

Without the impeding barrier of the wards Twilight’s teleport went smoothly. Hard to believe that it’d been just a day and a half since that night with Celestia. Fretting and worry were among the most powerful variants of time magic.

Instead of Celestia and cookies, Luna’s room with its inky interior stood before Twilight like the mouth of a cave.

Twilight took a moment to get her bearings, feeling some of the night’s chill ruffle her wings. A glance up showed the moon a few degrees past its peak. The wards were still down, so she couldn’t be too late.

She waffled at the entrance a little longer before squaring her shoulders and taking a step forward. She tried to tell herself how she’d literally gone to the den of dragons before. Luna didn’t even breathe fire! How bad could it be?

The dark bedroom brought a kind of otherworldly quality. From what moonlight snuck in from the balcony, she saw the decor was a prominent blue on blue theme with the occasional crescent moon and star iconography.

“Welcome, Twilight.”

Twilight startled when a blue shimmer lit, and Luna’s face glowed in the dark cast in magical light. The night princess had been sitting in the near pitch blackness at the study’s table.

“Oh! Princess... I um… didn’t see you there.” Twilight heard the waver in her voice and felt foalish. Since when did she become like a filly on nightmare night to be so afraid of Luna?

“Our apologies. I do not need as much light as others.” The curtains over the windows twitched open underneath Luna’s horn magic and the room brightened with enough moonshine to see by.

With light, the room looked ordinary and Luna simply a mare, not that much bigger than Cadance. Her smile was warm and welcoming.

“So... your letter mentioned you had some extra information?” Twilight asked and took a cushion-seat opposite of Luna.

Luna’s smile turned wane at the edges. “‘Twas a discovery of mine after me and my sister asked you about the comet. Have you made any progress?”

“Plenty of attempts, results on the other hoof…”

A knock at the door paused their conversation. Some of Luna’s night maids bringing them a service. Twilight looked curiously at the elusive and quiet bat-ponies as they worked to bring tea and moon-themed snacks. Twilight reasoned that even past midnight, it was likely Luna’s brunch time.

After the brief intermission, Luna dipped her head to the side and took a sip from her cup. “I have been writing monthly updates for some time now to the Canterlot Astronomical Society. ‘Twas one of my duties before my banishment.”

Twilight sat upright, ears perked. “There is an astronomical society?! Here? In Canterlot?” she blurted, incredulous that she could have missed such a thing.

Luna cleared her throat and continued past the interruption. “My correspondence with them had been mainly one sided. I thought it strange that I did not hear from them when the comet appeared in the sky. ‘Tis usually something they would note.”

“I went in pony to speak my mind to the current director. Imagine my annoyance at finding the ‘current’ director dead these last four hundred years.”

Twilight crammed a moon shaped cookie in her maw to choke off her sudden laughter. She mumbled, “W-Who was getting the letters?”

“A pair of very confused scribes at the ministry of public zoning,” said Luna with absolute deadpan before sipping again from her cup.

“For the last—” Twilight mentally counted, “—fifty moons? Why didn’t anypony tell you?”

Luna gazed on with another one of those steady looks. “Recall my initial arrival to Ponyville.”

Twilight remembered a lot of shouting and ponies bowing. Mainly out of fright out of the thousand-year legend made flesh. “So... they just got these letters—”

“—and likely thought their princess left her wits behind on the moon, yes.” Luna finished before shaking her head. “I do not place blame on my sister for letting some of these departments fall to ruin. To manage Equestria alone was a severe burden she has had to live with until only recently. You know well enough that even alicorns can only do so much in the hours afforded us.”

Twilight nodded with a thoughtful expression. Since Discord’s prodding, Celestia’s treatment of her had been something she’d reflected on. She had seen and spoke with Celestia nearly every day since she was a foal. The sun princess always at hoof, seemingly never too busy to answer a question or a letter. Twilight might have occasionally resented some of the more oblique answers given, but Celestia did answer.

How many ponies in Equestria had a direct line to their ruler along with her immediate attention? Did every time Twilight tugged on Celestia’s hoof mean some other thing went without her focus? The idea had a way of making Twilight feel very special and guilty at the same time.

“I had not realized how much knowledge of the stars had dwindled. I never thought there would be a time where lessons ponies learned in elementary classes would be forgotten knowledge.” Luna shook her head. “You have my sincerest apologies if I made your task seem inconsequential or matter-of-course.”

Twilight considered the idea of hidden knowledge and asked, “I remember Celestia mentioning something about variables in her letter? Is there something basic I’m missing?” Mentally, Twilight kicked herself for taking Celestia’s corrected math at face value. The magic seemed more important at the time.

Luna glanced towards the balcony and with a practiced eye, measured the inclination of the moon. “‘Tis not something easily spoken of,” said Luna after a pause. “It would have to be something I show you. But the task would require more hours of the night than we have now. Perhaps we can return tomorrow at an earlier time?”

Twilight shifted her posture some, hesitant to lose yet another day. Once again, frustrated at being late. This is what tardy ponies deserve!, she thought to herself viciously.

Luna picked up on that fidget. “Mmm.” A smile touched on her features as she said, “Hungry for a little homework?”

“N-No! I mean... If you had something that you think would help... I wouldn’t mind,” Twilight said, blushing. Recalling too clearly her youth where she got plenty of venomous stares from her classmates for asking such a thing. She never really did understand why someponies got so upset. Wasn’t it normal to want to learn a topic as quickly as possible?

Luna laughed. “Oh Twilight, I jest. This is quite an experience for me, too. I never did have students like my sister and I am afraid I have nothing quite like a proper lesson plan made.” She moved from the table over to the bookshelf, murmuring, “I did consider a few titles to help you along, however.” Luna’s horn lit and a pair of books slid out to float on over to the table. “These should do for now. A stopgap until I can research how to be a better instructor.”

Twilight marshalled herself to not snatch the books out of the air with her own magic. Already she could tell by their bindings and the subtle preservation enchantments that they must be very old indeed. The first book she gave a cursory glance at. A reference text on genealogy? Okay. Could be interesting.

The second brought much more excitement. Thick, heavy and with that aged paper smell about it. Twilight could nearly envision the ancient oak it came from.

Opening a new book was often an adventure in itself. She felt herself grinning as she lifted the tome and looked at the cover, puzzling out the fanciful script on it.

Twilight’s mood immediately plummeted when she did. “Principa Magicka? You’re giving me Principa Magicka?” she said, wounded.

Luna’s smile grew to smirking levels before she replied, “Never discount the fundamentals. It would do well to brush up on it.”

“B... but...” Twilight despaired. Principa Magicka was the one magic textbook that every unicorn (and even some pegasai and earth ponies) were made to read. The kind of standby book that every instructor in every grade of schooling liked to assign, either out of a misplaced idealism of trying to find deeper meaning in a centuries old text or more often, as a punishment to the class. Twilight must have written at least ten term papers on this book. She had even considered using it for her final thesis, if only because she could recite the damn thing backwards and blindfolded.

“Tis an earlier edition than you are used to. Why… ‘tis the same copy I used when under the tutelage of Star Swirl,” said Luna while standing up from the cushion. “I will not expect a report on it, but perhaps you might find it enlightening for a day.”

The thought of Star Swirl mitigated some of Twilight’s earlier disappointment. As Luna rose, Twilight hesitated and attempted a bow, unsure of just how to treat Luna now that she was in the role of her teacher.

Luna caught Twilight’s muzzle with a wingtip before she lowered it too far. “None of that, Twilight. Know that ‘tis my pleasure to help you. Of all ponies, you are the one I would consider my best friend. Please, let there be no formality between us.”

“Really? Me? Your best?” A small twinge of guilt welled up in Twilight as she hadn’t exactly gone out of her way to write to Luna as much as she did to Celestia.

Luna stepped around and moved towards the balcony, looking upwards towards the moon. She eventually turned her head to look back at Twilight. Her smile still showed warmth, but now mixed with hints of sadness.

“After a thousand years of exile, anypony I have known has long since passed. Had you not chosen to help me on Nightmare Night, things may have become far worse than they were before,” explained Luna before returning her gaze to the moon.

Twilight hadn’t even considered that. At the time, it seemed like a simple mis-understanding that she felt like she needed to clear up. But what if Luna had gone back still believing ponies feared and hated her? Twilight aching with sympathy as she herself wasn’t a stranger from being excluded. “It doesn’t have to be like that anymore. All of Ponyville came to help you when you needed it.”

“Oh yes, do not mistake me. I am eternally grateful to your friends and every pony in Ponyville. But to whom I have to thank for making such Bond in the first place? You were the first to give me a chance.” Luna’s smirk returned, and she announced, “You will not escape thy title ‘o best of friends!”

The teasing and the dramatics brought a giggle out of Twilight. How hard it was to remember that famous ponies were still ponies with needs and desires of their own. Perhaps she ought to have expected it with how she’d already had to fend off plenty of grandiose assumptions about herself and her friends. What must it be like for somepony so legendary that they had storybooks written after them? That olden speech felt as much of a front as the Royal Canterlot voice to meet expectations.

When Twilight looked up, she noticed the barest bit of movement, betrayed by Luna’s mane’s endless eddies. ‘She was looking at you. She’s also been at the balcony for quite a while’ .

An irony that Luna could be more genuine in the dreamworld than society allowed her in the real one.

Luna had called Twilight on her bravery, but it still took an effort to tamp down that instinct. Oh, to be Pinkie Pie, just for once and not have to worry over appearances! Despite it, Twilight crossed over to where Luna stood and slipped in beside her. Twilight leaned her shoulder close and used her wing to give a hug on the taller mare. “I am happy and honored to be your bestie, Luna. That’s a better reward than some silly comet.”

Luna stiffened with surprise at the touch before melting against her. With her cheek against Twilight’s, the smile she made was felt more than seen. “Thank you. For this and more,” murmured Luna, “But you ought to go now... before it gets too late and... any rain... starts...”

Twilight felt a trickle of wetness on the cheek to go with the smile.

Chapter 4

The following morning, Twilight set herself in her study and brought the books Luna had given her in tow.

Going to bed with new books for Twilight often meant going to bed with said books while reading them under the covers with a lit horn. But she had promised Luna that she’d take better care of her sleep schedule.

Twilight started with the smaller book. First was the cursory sniff and tasting on one of the book’s corners. Good binding. Cherrywood fiber stock for paper. As for reading, the book proved to be more visual than actual literature. Most pages had drawings of pony likenesses and cutie marks. It relieved Twilight as getting through all the thees and thous of olden works was often tedious.

Curiously, she went to her own family and saw an array of familiar cuties. Twilight saw the branch of her brother connected with a crystal heart, which lead to a placeholder. Flurry Heart hadn’t gotten her mark yet, though it suggested that the book was still being updated despite its age.

The relative length of Cadance’s line surprised Twilight. While Cadance was an alicorn in Twilight’s youth, she never seemed that much older. In retrospect, Twilight reasoned the fact of becoming an alicorn must have meant Cadance had plenty of experience before.

Cadance always acted like a big sister, even before she became Twilight’s actual big sister. It was a little disconcerting to think that Cadance was closer to Velvet’s age. How much had their foalsitting adventures been just an adult humoring a child? What about Shining?

Twilight shook her head. She couldn’t start down this path of doubting every alicorn. Especially Cadance! Her sister was genuine, of this Twilight was certain. So, what if Cadance was ten, fifty, or a hundred years older? She will always be the pony that Twilight had fun mischievous adventures with in her youth.

Besides, now that she had wings of her own, Twilight could appreciate yearning for simpler times. It won’t be too long before she’d be seeing Flurry in much the same way. One of Twilight’s hopes was when Flurry came of age, Twilight could be as fun of an auntie. She’d already picked out a whole curriculum of bedtime stories!

Twilight paged backwards in the book and found more curiosity than outright surprises for her friends. It amused her to find a long-limbed branch of the Apple family cross with Rarity’s several generations ago. Rarity, for all her fanciful aspirations in present, had more connections with Applejack than say... Blueblood.

For Blueblood, she felt relieved to see he had no crossings anywhere near the alicorns. How in Equestria did he even get that title?

Twilight paused and began flipping the book backward until she found the sun and moon symbols. Celestia and Luna were indeed sisters, though for all the gossip ponies had for their rulers, they were a lonely sibling linked pair with nothing in front. No blood children, brothers, cousins, or later relatives. She supposed that was reasonable, though not nearly as exciting.

Then again, if it were Luna who was keeping this book updated, there might be a thousand-year gap in accuracy.

Twilight rubbed that blank spot in front of Celestia and Luna’s marks and thought on it. After seeing the lively connections before of her own family, seeing the void here made her sad. There were plenty of expressions of Celestia being mother to Equestria, but it seemed so impersonal. No family or connections for a thousand years.

Something caught Twilight’s eye then, and she blinked. There was a family line for the alicorn sisters… just in the other direction. Twilight flipped the page back to reveal a cutie with a quill and ink pot. Twilight stared at it. She had never considered the thought that Celestia and Luna could have a mother. On reflection, it was a silly thing to be astonished over. The princesses had to have come from some place after the tribes united at hearth’s warming.

Would ponies marvel at Twilight Velvet the same way, generations from now? A unicorn with a princess alicorn daughter, prince for a son, princess alicorn daughter-in-law and a princess alicorn granddaughter. Twilight suddenly burst into giggles at the thought of her mom, who did ordinary mom things like baking cookies and reading bedtime stories, being regarded as some mythical figure.

Twilight started flipping back even further. The bloodlines became much sparser, and the branches narrowed into three bristling trunks of unicorn, pegasus and earth pony. Sure enough, King Bullion and Princess Platinum were there, as well as Commander Hurricane, Puddinghead, Clover, Smart Cookie, and Pansy. She might have to tease Starlight for thinking it was all folklore and stories for foals.

The book was fun from a trivia standpoint, though Twilight wondered just what she was supposed to glean from it regarding the comet. Did Luna just give her something to keep her busy? What was it that Luna had said? That these were her books when she studied under Star Swirl?

That thought got Twilight to move forward a little more slowly until she spotted a cutie mark with spiraling stars arranged behind the alicorns’ own marks. Twilight felt some gratifying smugness for her childhood hero, older than Celestia herself!

Something about the placement drew her attention, and she spent some time comparing before and after. It seemed that Star Swirl, Celestia, and Luna were at the focal point of when unicorn naming conventions swung from being mostly precious metals and jewelry over to stellar and starry names. She wondered if that was Starswirl’s doing or the alicorn’s? It was hard not to notice the less-than chaste lines that seem to sprawl from the old wizard. She felt tempted to see if she could trace a path through the pages to the present day Sparkles. Granted, if there was, she probably had as much Starswirl in her as any other unicorn with how prodigious the family branches were.

Twilight stretched and shut the book. She would have to give it another look later on lest she waste the whole day on her curiosity. She sighed. That meant addressing the other title. She steeled herself against ennui and started on the second book.

Starlight floated a tray in front of her as she entered the study, already explaining herself as she did, “Okay so… at first I was going to get you coffee like before, but then I remembered you weren’t going for that anymore. Spike suggested hot chocolate, but that seemed more like something to send you back to bed than perk you up. So, we figured breakfast was the safest bet since you were up here for so long. I said how about waffles, but Spike said pancakes.”

“We got into an argument about it and I umm... maybe... used a little magic... and well... haha! You got wafflecakes. Enjoy!” said Starlight somewhat hastily as she set the covered tray beside Twilight.

Twilight had only been half paying attention, so engrossed in her transcription. She startled at the tray landing on the desk next to her. “Oh! You didn’t have to do that, Starlight. I don’t expect you to be room service.” Remembering Luna’s words, Twilight echoed the same message. “I might be your teacher, but I’m your friend first and—” she stalled as her brain caught up with the rest of the sentence, “—waffle what?”

Starlight put herself in between Twilight, and the tray as she leaned over the desk. “H-Hey are you working on some new magic?”

“Be my guest,” said Twilight nonchalantly while floating the book over.

Starlight flipped to the first page and began reading. “In this tome we shall expl’re the useth of magicka and the f’rm it doth take focus’d by...” she stuck out her tongue. “Ugh, dense, isn’t it? Though why does that sound so fami—” Starlight’s ears perked and she turned the book over to squint at the cover. “Principa Magicka? You’re reading Principa Magicka?”

Twilight’s lip quirked. “This is Luna’s copy. As you can see, it’s an early edition.”

“Is she mad at you?” asked Starlight with some amusement.

Twilight chuckled. “She hinted that there might be something in this that the later revisions don’t have, so I’m comparing a modern copy with this one.” She threw Starlight a hopeful glance before asking, “You don’t happen to be fluent in olden Equestrian, are you?”

Starlight coughed. “Would you be surprised if I said that I dropped out of school after blowing up one of my teachers?”

“You mean blowing up at,” corrected Twilight.

“Yeah… let’s go with that.”

Twilight opened her mouth before closing it. There would be time to work on that particular knot later.

Starlight made a nervous smile and started for the door. “I guess I’ll just leave you to it. Just call if you need lunch or something—”

Twilight drew Starlight back with a powerful pull of magic. “Oh Starlight, I may be busy with something, but I haven’t forgotten your lessons. What kind of teacher or friend would I be if I left you without one for a day?” She floated a pair of saddlebags laden with scrolls and books onto Starlight’s back. “I even packed for you!” she announced, positively beaming.

Starlight whimpered.

After chaperoning Starlight through her daily lesson, Twilight lingered on the outside. Re-writing Principa Magicka was a mind numbing task that even she needed breaks from.

Maybe she missed something physical rather than magical about the comet. It may have been grasping at straws, but it was worth trying to practice like Rainbow had suggested.

Currently the straws in question involved Applejack’s hay pile when a boulder impact had one going up in a ‘foosh’ high enough to give the hovering Twilight a sneeze.

“Ya gonna go for three, princess?” asked Applejack as she reloaded the catapult they used for festival events.

“Yeah. Let’s try the biggest one you got!” said Twilight after sniffing some, she hovered above Applejack’s field where they had set up a large bullseye on a sheet. With some placement of hay and targets Twilight had come up with the rudimentary physics challenge to adjust the launched boulder in flight.

The key was to push it during the arc of its course, short corrective bursts of magic to get it to change its arch and strike the target. It landed with a dust up. Not quite a bullseye.

Twilight headed down for a break and landed beside Applejack.

“This might sound a little dumb, but why can’t ya just lift it wholesale? Heck ya lifted the whole gang once,” Applejack inquired before adding further. “A pony like Starlight can strip half the trees in the orchard bare if they put their horn to it.” Applejack peered at Twilight’s own horn. “Just what stops yah? If you don’t mind me askin’.“

While Applejack wouldn’t voice the sentiment, Twilight imagined an earth pony must find it unfair that a unicorn can seemingly do all that work without lifting a hoof.

After a moment of thought on how to explain, Twilight said, “It’s a matter of leverage.” She pointed towards the catapult for a prop. “Not so different from that actually. There is a beam and fulcrum. Only with telekinetics, they are invisible to the naked eye.” She started to demonstrate by lifting a pebble and moving it at right angles, pointing with a hoof where she pivoted the pebble from. “It’s not bound to one direction, as I can change the length and bend point.”

Twilight paused and peeked sidelong to Applejack. Usually this was the part of a lecture when most ponies decided they had other things to do.

Applejack surprised her by looking at the pebble in the air with a critical eye. She waved her own hoof in between Twilight and the pebble. “I don’t feel anything between yer horn and the stone...”

Excited to be offering this impromptu lesson, Twilight continued. “Magic in Equestria is… well everywhere. Most of what we do is focusing it as well as putting it out. Think a magnifying glass and sunshine. You might see it and feel it, but it’s not until it’s all gathered in one spot does it do something like make a fire.” For Applejack’s sake, Twilight left out the esoterics of particle physics and radiation wavelengths. Keeping to foal steps.

“Hmm, I can git where ya comin’ from. If ya put a blindfold on me, I could tell you whose farm I was on just by the feelin’ in my hooves. Granny can always tell where the best apples will grow from a sniff on the air.” Applejack tipped her hat back to rub at her brow before she said, “Though that’s magic in the ground. Why do ya get all a sweaty and a puffin’ when ya move stuff around?”

Twilight smiled at the questions. Teaching always required a pony to have interest. She was quick to answer, “Because I’m the other end of the lever. If I lift something, I’m usually shouldering the weight and having to push off the ground. If I’m moving, sometimes I can get away with throwing an object forward and ‘catching’ it with my magic at the other end. For the really heavy stuff, I have to use more magic to lighten it temporarily. But using two spells in tandem is its own challenge.”

“So, when y’all up in the air you have to flap against it? Okay, but this comet yer goin’ for... It’s way out there,” said Applejack with a furrowed brow. “Say ya manage to erm... lever it up. Wuddint be like us tryin’ to pry up a rock with a really long stick from over the field? Ya’ll be flattened out like one of Granny’s pancakes.”

Twilight had to choke back her excitement. A very rare pleasure of seeing understanding in a pony’s eyes. “I think you’ve spotted my trouble more than any pony I’ve tried to explain this to.”

“Shuck’s nothin’ to it. You unicorns always make it sound so mystical.” Applejack lifted the round stone and eyed it. “Heh. If ya could just spin Equestria ‘round that’ll make yer big snowball look like it’s goin’ up and down too you know.”

Twilight snorted at the idea before she replied, “Now you’re just teasing me. Even if I could, spinning the planet would mess up Celestia’s and Luna’s schedules for the sun and moon. That’s way too much trouble.”

“Just a thought!” Applejack placed the pebbly representation on the ground and stared at it some before suddenly asking, “What if ya had a counter weight?” Like with the catapult. Somethin’ that could yank on the comet on the other end of yer lever thing. Instead of it bein’ yerself.”

Twilight thought on that. “That... could work. But I would still need something at least as big as the comet. Or at least as heavy as it.”

Applejack shrugged and tipped her hat back into place. “Sorry if I sound a little dumb about it. I don’t pretend to know as much about this kinda thing as other ponies do. Wish I had somethin’ to help ya with.”

Twilight reached to give the boulder beside her a small tap with a hoof. “You’ve helped me already. My aim has gotten better today at the very least.”

Applejack grinned and sniffed at the air when a slight breeze brought with it the smell of baking apple. “Mmmhmm! I think Granny’s got us both a little pick me up goin’ in the oven if ya wanna have a break for some pie.”

Full of baked goods, Twilight was in a cheerful mood on the way back to the castle. Though she found a surprise waiting for her in the main room.

“Spike... what’s going on here?” Bottles and buckets were scattered everywhere. Twilight lifted one and tried to read a label. It was written in Prench Fancy lettering.

“Spikey Wikey has been a very good dear for me and help set the room for our session.”

“Rarity! You’re looking… prepared,” said Twilight after spinning to face the mare standing in the doorway.

Prepared in a way that only Rarity could be: Her salon smock had accents along the edge and studded jewels on the collar like rank pins. There was even an embroidery of her name on the chest and a three diamond logo. Twilight doubted Rarity would ever use this same smock ever again, though it didn’t stop the boutique owner from going all out in sewing it together.

Rarity in all her fashionista regalia bowed theatrically. “Indeed! Now just step right to your chair and we can begin.”

Twilight looked over her cutie-iconed chair and observed the array of mane-tending gear in front of it. All neatly polished and very professional looking. “Rarity, you already did my mane yesterday. How about we just book a time with Aloe and Lotus next week?”

“Uph uph uph! That was only a temporary measure! A way to help you survive the night. One does not keep a bandage on when surgery is needed!” declared Rarity with a clop of her hoof on the table for emphasis. “Aloe and Lotus are wonderful, but they have very busy schedules and could only afford an hour.”

Inwardly, Twilight had been hoping for that very thing.

“We, however, have the afternoon to us! I checked with Spike and you didn’t have a thing to do.” Rarity looked smug. “Pinkie can’t be the only mare to do surprises. Though this is a surprise of Fashion!” She made a fanciful puff of magical sparkles appear into the air as she spoke. “La la la lah!” Soon after, in a more matter-of-fact voice she said, “Besides, you need the rest, and this is my way of making you stay in a chair.”

Twilight would have to have a talk with Spike about all this easygoing appointment making.

“Now just be still and let a mare work her magic!” Rarity proudly stated before clarifying, “Well, that is... fashion magic, not magic magic. Oh you know.”

“I’ll try to avoid using magic magic if I can help it,” answered Twilight wryly before tensing at Rarity’s hoof touch. She felt the press followed up by the sudden snuffle of hot breath on her.

“Rarity!”

“Oh Twilight, I’m so sorry, but how often do I get a chance?”

“Plenty of times before.” Twilight puffed.

“Yes, but that was before you were a princess! Just look how it feels under a hoof now.” Rarity made a circular rub with her hoof. “That’s princessness right there, to be sure!”

“You can’t look at how something feels, Rarity,” argued Twilight.

It was Rarity’s turn to puff. “You’re a clever enough pony. You get my meaning.”

Twilight shifted from the new tickle of that breath. “Do you ever wonder... that you might be... too much into appearances?” she asked carefully.

Rarity leaned over to bump her cheek against Twilight’s in a companionable press. “Why I don’t know! Do you think you’re too much into your books? Something more floral scented would suit you better than mmm… stationery store.”

Twilight didn’t so much relax as much as slump in defeat, sighing, “Fine. You win. Just don’t go crazy, okay?”

“Sweetie! It won’t even hurt,” assured Rarity as an ostentatiously jeweled comb floated up on blue magic, the gems glinting ominously.

Twilight let Rarity go through her routine of fussing, obediently following her directions to dunk, soak and dunk again. She deferred to Rarity’s expertise and ultimately; she found that she at least could get back to work on her transcription. The occasional dunks of water kept her mind from wandering too far.

Eventually, she found a paragraph that had her brow furrowing. With no analogue in the modern edition, she had to rely on her notes to translate the old language.

“Some ancient magic, darling?” said Rarity as a way of conversation, peering at Twilight’s efforts from over her shoulder. Her mouth was full of mane-pins as she used hooves and horn to work on Twilight.

Twilight let her head get tugged towards Rarity’s brush. “Something like that. It’s umm... Principa Magicka,” she said patiently.

Rarity’s squeak nearly had her swallow a mane-pin. “OH! That book? What in Equestria are you reading that dreadful thing for?”

Twilight smirked. If she could count on something, it was the camaraderie of fellow sufferers. “This is an older version. I think I’ve found a passage that isn’t in the newer texts, but I can hardly make mane or tails out of this language.” She sighed.

Rarity inclined her head and leaned in to peek at the page. “That word, dearest? It means ‘flow’. Celestia knows why they spelled it in a way to twist your tongue in knots, but those old ponies were su—“

“You can read middle era Equestrian?!” exclaimed Twilight. She immediately straightened up and tried to look over her shoulder. Rarity, used to Twilight’s fidgeting by now, deftly avoided a scissor mishap.

“Of course. I make nearly every costume for the renaissance fairs in both Ponyville and Canterlot nowadays.” Rarity frowned as she brought a comb out. “I thought you of all ponies would appreciate the historical accuracy. One can hardly expect to make period accurate fashion without being able to delve into that setting, swim about and arise dripping with ideas and culture.” She gave the sigh of a put-upon auteur, lonely and misunderstood.

Twilight smiled. “Right now, I can forgive every one of your foibles. Oh Rarity, I could just about kiss you!”

Rarity flounced her mane with a hoof. “Only after getting a lady dinner first, dear.”

“The flow of aether between celestial bodies follows set paths written into the darkness of the firmament. Usage of the eighth metamagic form has shown to have an effect on aether and its pathways…” Twilight read carefully from the translated passage.

“Are there eight? I always thought there were seven,” commented Rarity before making a muffled noise of delight when she took the bite from a spoonful. “Gracious this is delicious. What did you say it was again?”

“Wafflecakes. And you only remember seven forms because there are only seven forms,” said Twilight with her brow furrowing as she re-read the passage. With Rarity’s knowledge and Twilight’s rosetta notes, the quillwork was going smoothly. Yet Twilight didn’t feel quite as enlightened as she thought she would be.

“If you say so. I could only do the first three myself.” Rarity’s expression darkened with concern as she cut into another slice. “Do you think this has double the calories?”

“Would it stop you if it did?” Twilight muttered, still flipping pages and trying to find any previous mention of this missing form. Twilight felt herself perturbed by the idea of not knowing about this eighth magical building block. It was comparable to being an artist who, midway through their career, discovered that they had been working without the color blue. Frustration put her in an unkind mood.

Over a mouthful of confectionery, Rarity mumbled, “Mmhmmhph! You could at least save me and have a bite of it yourself. Isn’t self-sacrifice part of being a princess? Though maybe it’s asking too much, it’s not like your flank has room to grow...” Rarity added the last part sotto voce.

That got Twilight to look up and frown. Though Rarity waggled the spoon at her. “Uph uph uph! If you still want that kiss you’ll have to be a little sweeter to me, darling.”

Twilight paused then and reconsidered. She shook her head. “Sorry. I shouldn’t let this irritate me. You’ve been a lot of help, and I know you took a big chunk of your day to help me with this.”

Rarity smiled around the next dainty mouthful and this time Twilight joined in with a bite of her own.

“Hrm! It’s actually not that bad. I’ll have to tell Starlight she might be onto something,” Twilight remarked, “Though I’m going to be careful about how often I eat this. I swear between you, Rainbow, and the tabloids, it’s like everypony has this fascination with my—”

“Back!” called Spike while carrying a double armful of stacked bags and boxes.

Twilight nearly choked on a lump of syrupy cake, sputtering, “What’s all this now?”

Rarity tutted, “Now Twilight, remember you were still in the middle of being appreciative. I had Spikey fetch me ten of my best hats and some additional treatments for you to keep the maintenance up.”

Twilight silently mouthed the word maintenance. Manes needed maintenance?

Spike set the boxes down and gaped when he finally got a good look at Twilight. “W-Whoa!”

Twilight had gotten so involved with the bookwork that she forgot the other reason Rarity was here. She sighed. This was becoming a routine. She looked towards the nearest polished surface.

Despite herself, Twilight ended up gasping anyway. “Rarity! What did you do?”

“What needed to be done!” Rarity answered with fierce certainty. She looked pointedly unapologetic with her hooves crossed in front of her.

Where before Rarity had dyed Twilight’s mane back into some kind of normalcy, this time around she had gone the other way, accentuating the shades to nearly day-glow brightness. With a few turns of her head, Twilight thought she could see spots of glitter and the occasional sequin woven in.

“Rarity, you made me look like... like a...”

“Like a… ?” Rarity dared Twilight to complete the sentence.

Of course, ‘like a princess’ was a silly answer for Twilight to say. She had the wings, a castle, and had met with foreign ambassadors. She might not have an entire city-state like Cadance, but she was a princess.

Seeing victory in Twilight’s silence, Rarity softened her gloating. “I only want you to look your best, dear. Treat yourself once in a while to the things you more than deserve.”

When Twilight first became an alicorn, she had worried that it would set her apart from her friends. After all, they couldn’t all be princesses like her. Still, with that separation of office and physical differences, they remained her friends.

That Rarity and Rainbow, two mares who stood at opposites yet echoed the same thought, threatened to have Twilight get a little misty eyed from the sentiment.

“Thank you,” Twilight said with a warming smile.

Rarity grinned and gave her hair a small toss. “It’s all a plot, you know. Since that disastrous affair with Blueblood, courting a Sparkle is my best bet to get into royalty.”

Twilight giggled. “I think you’ll have better luck breaking into the Royal Canterlot treasury than prying Cadance’s hooves off my brother.”

Rarity lidded her eyes at Twilight, complete with a flutter of her long lashes. “Oh sweetie, your brother’s a catch, but I wasn’t thinking of him.”

Twilight rolled her own eyes, but kept her smile. She had her magic and books, but Rarity always beat her in verbal sparring. “I need to get going. I promised Luna I’ll be there early tonight. Spike, I have a very important task for you.”

Spike was still trying to work out who Rarity meant and if he should feel glum over it. “What is it?” he asked with a sigh before waggling as Twilight lifted him in a purple bubble. He flew over to Rarity, who caught him in her hooves.

“Giving Rarity something I promised her, in my place,” replied Twilight.

“Wha—” Spike managed before turning a deep extra purple from the kiss Rarity dotted on his nose. The mares and eventually dragon shared a laugh.

Twilight appeared on Luna’s balcony a little while later. She was in good spirits, but she felt a lingering apprehension. What would be expected of her tonight?

Luna’s room had the curtains already drawn open and the Princess herself was not in her study. Instead, she was by her dresser. Hearing Twilight approach, she turned to look. “Welcome Twilig—“ she stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening as she caught sight of Twilight’s mane.

“Yes, yes, I know. Rarity fixed me up before I came here. I hope you don’t mind. I’m not trying to imitate you or make it seem like—” Twilight rambled before quieting when Luna raised a hoof.

“Worry not, I know you are a humble mare, but—” Luna tipped her head with her horn lit and Twilight felt a magical tingle dance along her nape, “—‘Tis more than just coloring in your mane.” Luna confirmed.

“I went up high with Rainbow the day before to try to see if I could use direct magic,” admitted Twilight while feeling like she was caught with a hoof in the cookie jar. Though Luna seemed more interested by the fact than accusatory.

“A dangerous endeavor if not prepared. I hope you kept your eyes and horn covered.”

Twilight fidgeted at that, but pressed on. “Why did it change color? I thought maybe the sunshine?”

Luna smiled then and turned back towards the dresser. “We will take a trip ourselves and see if we cannot find the answer to such.”

Twilight gave a sigh, “Now you’re sounding like Celestia.”

“Should I take that as a compliment? I remember you did say you preferred this method.” Luna peered at her from over her shoulder.

Twilight shook her head. “Sorry. I guess I’ve gotten a little flustered lately about the things I have been missing. I read Principa Magicka and found out about the eighth form. I feel like I’m more inadequate than ever, especially when I have to move that comet in the next two days.”

Luna turned to face Twilight again. “The eighth form has been overlooked by many despite its underpinning nature.” She looked thoughtful. “‘Tis important to remember, Twilight. While we build upon the knowledge of others before us, it also builds boundaries in our thinking of what is possible. Had you been a contemporary of Starswirl when magic was new and raw, I am sure you would have discovered all eight forms yourself or even come up with new ways of categorizing them completely.”

Luna smiled warmly before continuing. “I have been doing some studying of my own. I asked my sister for her notes on you and ‘tis quite clear that you have great potential. In the years to come, you will certainly surpass the two of us in magic.”

Twilight blushed at hearing that, but her ears perked at the mention of personal notes. “She kept notes?” Twilight blurted in surprise. Of course, on her end of things, she had kept every scrap of paper ever given to her by Celestia organized by topic and date. But those were words of the princess. Those were special. A curiosity struck her now. “I suppose it would be a real long shot to ask if I could see them?”

“Forgive me, but they were written in her personal journals. She bade me not to remove them from her room or reveal too much of her personal musings,” said Luna with her tone turning apologetic. “‘Twas her condition before allowing me to read, but rest assured that my sister cares for you and has every confidence in you.”

Luna inclined her head then and her expression became more pensive. “Although something occurred to me when I read and it becomes important to answer as this comet approaches. Did you ask Celestia to become an alicorn? Was this an aspiration of yours?”

The question startled twilight, and it provoked a new fidget from her. There was only one truly honest answer to that. “No,” she whispered, breaking eye contact. Her mind swirled with speculation at those notes.

“I was afraid of that. All of Celestia’s planning seemed to be… singular.” Luna sighed. “I would not have managed it that way, not with something like this.”

The air hung heavy with the statement and Luna looked towards the moon while Twilight wrestled with what to say or even feel. Right back at square one and with the vision of Discord’s laughing face occupied her thoughts.

Several moments passed before Luna spoke again, quietly murmuring, “I have found with my sister, things I do not understand from my perspective makes sense from her own.”

Twilight tensed at hearing that. She had to know now more than ever and said, “Luna, when I talked with you and Celestia on the balcony, Celestia made it sound like this comet just happened to be on its way here…” Twilight left the thought hanging, unable to finish with ‘Was she lying?’

Luna held Twilight’s gaze for a long beat before finally responding, “We did move this comet long ago. But for it to come this close? She must have corrected it even further. Recently, as well, by several months if not weeks.”

“So... not an accident,” said Twilight quietly, feeling numb. Was Discord right? She slumped in place, feeling lost. “Why wouldn’t she tell me? Is this all a setup?”

Luna stepped close and reached with a wing to gently lift Twilight’s downcast muzzle. “I see your fear. But... consider my sister. Know that for most of the past thousand years she has had to act with no confidant or any pony who could share her burden.” Luna shook her head. “We both suffered an exile. Mine was on the moon, her own was in a palace.”

Twilight thought of the genealogy book and its endless blanks in front of the sun symbol. She heard the echo of something Celestia once told her: “For many, the summer sun festival was a celebration of my defeat of nightmare moon, but for me it was always a terrible reminder.”

Luna watched Twilight’s thoughtful expression. “I can understand her judgement behind her methods, but ‘tis not her whom this matters most. I ask before we begin. Do you regret becoming an alicorn? Would it be a path you would have chosen, if had given a choice?”

Twilight spread her wings, suddenly self-conscious of them. It had taken awhile to get used to the physical changes, but those were minor over the fears of separation from her friends. After the crisis with Discord’s vines, that fear never did really come to pass. Her friends accepted her and so did other ponies. Not to mention, Shining becoming a Prince before her made it even easier for her family to accept her new status. Twilight Velvet and Nightlight were probably the proudest pair of parents in Equestria.

“Maybe not at first. But I think I would now. Though I can’t pretend that I don’t miss the simple life of being a librarian and student. But… I guess a filly has to grow up sometime,” Twilight finally answered.

Luna relaxed visibly. “Often said that those who ought to have power are those who come into it, not those who seek it. ‘Tis a lesson I myself had to learn.” She gestured with her head. “Come here, Twilight. I have something for you.”

Chapter 5

Twilight stepped beside Luna and followed the gaze over to the dresser. So caught up with her worries that she didn’t give much thought to what Luna was doing before she entered. On the dresser was one of Luna’s necklaces or rather what she thought was one of them. The tingle in Twilight’s horn had her squint and focus her attention on the item. Magic radiated off the dark metal even before Luna’s horn magic settled over it and lifted the collar from the dresser.

The necklace floated on over and after a moment of hesitation Twilight leaned her head forward to allow the metal loop to open and close around her neck. Unlike a normal necklace the metal seemed to part seamlessly then mend itself once it fell into place on Twilight’s shoulders.

Luna studied her. “I could only guess at your measurements. Is it comfortable?”

Twilight gave a few turns of her head and bounced in place. Once the accessory was on her, she almost couldn’t feel it. Despite the trinket’s metal construction, it was light and nearly weightless. “It feels very nice. Comfy even.“ She looked at herself in the mirror. Twilight wasn’t any more for jewelry than having her mane being done, but she could appreciate the glittery nature of the midnight material on her purple coat.

“Mmm, it does look good on you,” commented Luna while looking in the mirror.

With Luna standing beside Twilight, it was hard not to notice how prominent the moon sigil was on both necklaces and just now well they matched. Twilight blushed at the implication.

“Let us see if we cannot make it more appropriate,” mused Luna before touching the collar with her horn. The metal changed, lightening to a deep violet and the moon was replaced with a symbol of Twilight’s own starburst cutie.

The transformation made Twilight’s ears and wings perk. “Oh!” she had read of materials that could be sensitive to spells, but never in a refined form like jewelry. She forgot her embarrassment as she began probing at the necklace with her magical senses.

“Already ahead I see! But look inward near the symbol. There is a spell woven there that you should be able to trigger,” instructed Luna while taking a step back.

Twilight found the magic bundled behind the gem-like starburst. With a nudge of her will, the jeweled center began to glow and glitter. Immediately, the air around Twilight warmed and freshened. The small hairs on her hooves and body tingled as she felt the ripple of an air current run over her. Experimentally, she took a step and felt the layer of air move with her like an invisible outline.

“This is amaz—” Twilight began, but paused when she heard her own voice sound distorted and muffled.

Luna lit her horn and dipped her head slightly. Twilight soon heard Luna’s voice resonate from the necklace. “You will have to turn off the spell to speak in atmosphere, or fixate your attention on the collar of others.”

With a little practice Twilight learned how to change the shape of the air bubble and to communicate through the necklaces. While it did require proportional magic, she could already see the benefits of being able to communicate at a large distance. It operated on line of sight with the aid of magic, seemingly with little delay as long as she could see the other collar.

Luna also had Twilight memorize the air spell inlaid in the metal. “ ‘Tis reliable and has lasted over a thousand years, but one cannot be too careful.”

“Where are we going that we’ll need these?” asked Twilight, though she could already guess. “If we are going to fly high again, it took me half a day to get there and that was with Rainbow’s help.”

This amused Luna and she smirked when replying, “Fly high? Yes I suppose that is one way of putting it.” She stepped towards the balcony then and looked upward with her horn lighting once more. The Moon began moving along the sky.

After getting over her initial shock, Twilight hastily tried to read Luna’s magic. As far as her senses could tell her, the night alicorn was using ordinary telekinesis. Typical. Never an easy answer Twilight pouted internally.

Switching to eyes instead, Twilight watched the moon move by degrees. A realization had her turn to Luna with some worry. “You’re moving the moon backwards?”

Luna had her own eyes closed, but heard the concern in Twilight’s voice. “‘Tis not a rebellion. My sister is well aware of what I planned to do. I daresay she sounded thankful that she would have a few extra hours of rest tonight.”

“It's so far away,” Twilight bit her lip before asking, “How will we get there?”

Luna finished her adjustments and faced Twilight. “I will show you. Put your horn close to mine.”

With their horntips touching, Twilight felt the slight reverberation of magic thrum down that conductive bone and her perception widened like when she used the spectrum spell. Her senses were drawn to the moon itself and along its surface. There was a kind of uniform pebbly texture and in it a tiny bump of irregularity. It was like finding a cavity on a hard to reach molar. She caught it once, then twice.

Luna moved her head even closer, nudging with her horn to align Twilight’s. “Do you feel it? Take care not to miss it. We will be traveling there.”

Twilight furrowed her brow as she juggled talking with concentration. “I think I have it. Though I haven’t ever teleported from this distance…”

Luna smiled and locked gazes with Twilight. “Everything we do has an element of danger. But I swear to you, Twilight, that I would give my own life before seeing any harm come to you.”

Twilight flustered both from the sentiment and the awareness of how close Luna was to her. “T-Thank you,” she replied distractedly, eyes fixated on Luna’s lips. Is she going to try to kiss me again? Should I—

Luna’s eyes didn’t waver and she leaned in suddenly. Twilight raised her muzzle in reflex only to have her nose scrunchy up when Luna stopped just short with a knowing grin.

The perfect moment of distraction for the spell to fire and send them to the stars.

Teleportation in Equestria always brought a certain kind of discontinuity, though even the long stretch between Ponyville and Canterlot the feeling was still momentary. With this distance, Twilight was aware of of muffled senses and a vague sensation of being whisked away on an immaterial path. When reality appeared again, Twilight stumbled in place, bruising herself against stone foundation.

After rubbing her knocked head with a hoof she looked up to see the visage of Nightmare Moon, tall and imposing. It gave Twilight a startle, until she realized it was just a statue. A look around showed her to be standing in the hall of a palace. The architecture was familiar enough to send a minor chill down Twilight’s spine; it wasn’t too far off from the vision of Nightmare Moon’s castle when she traveled through alternate timelines.

“I trust you are well? My apologies if there were any roughness.” Luna spoke up as she approached from one of the side passages. Evidently, they had gotten split in the teleport.

“I'm fine, I was just surprised. Are we on the moon?”

Luna gestured towards one of the archways that led towards a balcony. “Have a look for yourself.”

Twilight stepped cautiously towards the exit, feeling the necklace’s spell switch on when she approached the boundary between inside and outside. Unlike the castle’s look-a-like in Equestria, there wasn’t any Everfree forest beyond the balcony. Instead there was an expanse of what looked like snow until Twilight made out the irregularities of rock and powder. They were in the center of a open field, decorated only by the occasional outcropping and crater with an extremely clear black sky showing stars.

The awe of being where she was sunk in and Twilight backpedaled a few steps from that sense of sheer openness. The palace suddenly felt like a lifeboat in the middle of a vast ocean and Twilight couldn’t help her shiver.

After a moment to shake the feeling Twilight looked over to Luna. “Was this... did you make this palace?” she asked.

Luna nodded once to Twilight with a wane smile. “I spent a great deal of time here. I come here yet on occasion. I find it helps me reflect and gain perspective.”

Twilight mulled that over. Even without magic, a thousand years with bare hooves could have a pony hammer out a castle for themselves. A thousand years. Twilight could barely imagine the gulf of time to be trapped. “You still visit, even if you are free now?”

Luna was quiet for a time before murmuring, “ ‘Twas my prison, yes, but by necessity I grew to see it as an extension of myself. I could tell you a tale in any herd of rocks or interesting landmark out there. Though wild stone does make for a terrible dance partner,” explained Luna, matter-of-fact.

Twilight blinked at that last part, unsure if Luna was teasing her again.

The statue of Nightmare Moon drew Twilight’s eye and she hesitated but was unable to quiet her curiosity. “What did Celestia do to make you be so... drastic? To want to bring night forever?” Twilight asked before wincing at herself. She was still being driven by her own doubts of Celestia and now she was digging up old painful feuds with Luna. When did she lose her sense of tact?

Luna shook her head while replying, “I am thankful that you should know Celestia as she is today. For my sister's charity, her warmth and her love. Although ‘twas not always so... or perhaps I was not as aware of her hardships then.”

“I do say this: time has changed both of us for the better even if the path has not been an easy one,” finished Luna with a genuine smile. “Knowing friendship in this era has made those past conflicts small and bygone.”

Twilight’s exacting sensibilities wished for a more direct answer and she sighed, “I guess.” She blinked before hurriedly adding, “I mean, I’m happy to be your friend.”

Luna studied Twilight’s expression and after some consideration said, “Twilight, do you know why I made this statue?”

“Oh!... um... was it for practice on how to shape rock with magic?” answered Twilight pragmatically.

Luna laughed. “Well...yes. I am proud of the craftponyship even if ‘tis from a darker time. But I made this because after I was struck with the elements… well you have seen first hoof on what happens. They stripped me from mane to tail and left me powerless.”

In Twilight's imagination and in the written story of Nightmare Moon it had always been framed as a ‘Celestia-slaying-a-monster’ story. The idea of sending a threat to another world or back down to Tartarus was common in hero fiction. The reality of Nightmare Moon being turned into a battered filly version of Luna in the middle of a desolate moonscape made it sound much less heroic and all the more sad.

“How could you survive?” whispered Twilight as she remembered how small looking out the balcony made her feel.

Luna’s expression was calm, but Twilight thought she could spot a tremble in the princess’ body. “I thought I would perish. Harmony severed my magic and my bond to the moon. Celestia had taken control of it from me almost immediately after my banishment. In my irrational rage I thought ‘twas proof that she had planned to rid herself of me.” Luna raised a hoof when Twilight opened her mouth. “And I am well aware of the irony, yes. This is what a younger, foolish version of me thought. This statue embodies that, a vanity, as well as a reminder of my supposed 'greatness' that I was to reclaim.”

After a moment to clear her throat from the interjection, Luna went on, “However, I could still dreamwalk. The following night of my exile I planned to make Celestia feel no comfort that this banishment was anything other than a delayed execution by starvation.”

Twilight reached with a hoof to place it on Luna’s shoulder, but she shifted away to sit on her flanks, determined to continue.

“She was there to meet me in the dream ready for my arrival. ‘Twas not much a contest... then again neither was our first clash.” Luna’s voice started to break and for once Twilight was not startled by the sight of tears. “In my futility, I threatened to break the mind of anypony I could reach in the dream as my final act instead.”

Twilight own eyes widened, suddenly that vision of a lost and broken filly was not so innocent. Twilight had only seen Luna as actual Nightmare Moon for barely an hour before meeting the socially awkward princess.

Screams of delight your princess desires, not screams of terror!

Twilight thought on how easy that sentence could be reversed. “Luna...”

“In the end, my sister bargained. She would send me supplies, foodstuffs and the like if I vowed to keep myself away from the dream realm.” Luna gave a humorless laugh then as she murmured, “Without my soothing, ponies would have nightmares once again. Something I found they blamed me for giving anyway. ‘Tis a judgement I deserve, however if inaccurate. I tremble to think the ruin I would have caused.”

“Luna, I don’t think you could have done it,” said Twilight .

Luna’s expression turned wane. “Perhaps so. Perhaps my sister had some contingency there as well—”

Twilight stomped her hoof. “No! I mean... even at your worst. I don’t think you would have destroyed Equestria, even if you took over as Nightmare Moon. In fact, I know so. You’re not a bad pony. Not at heart.”

Luna started to smile. “Oh dear. Is this an impending lecture?”

Twilight mirrored her smile. “We could skip to the comforting hug of friendship part if you prefer.”

After a short rest in Luna’s castle outpost they set out to the Lunar surface itself. Twilight marveled at how light she felt. Each trotting step leading to a gallop’s worth of distance.

Experimentally, Twilight tried leaping straight up and soon felt herself zooming. She tried to break with her wings but they flapped uselessly. Suddenly finding herself out of control Twilight went down her roster of spells including Starlight’s self-levitation.

The lack of practice only made her out-of-control spin all the more wild and tumbling. Blue radiance saved her from losing her lunch as a bubble of magic stopped her and slowly reeled her down.

The necklaces were adaptable and Twilight felt the envelope of air merge with the one surrounding Luna who spoke. “Careful Twilight! We have no air here but what we bring with us. Our wings will not work as they do in Equestria.”

“Will teleportation still work?” asked Twilight, shaking her head to get her bearings. She had not wanted to risk it in an unknown area.

“Aye. As will reaching the ground with telekinetics should you need to tether yourself. Without atmosphere, spells have much longer ranges,” Luna advised.

They spent some time around the rim of a crater and soon, with practice, Twilight became comfortable with the movement. Even finding it a little fun, though she regretted that she wouldn’t be able to show off to Rainbow who always accused her of being a slowpoke.

Then again everypony was a slowpoke compared to Rainbow.

Luna landed at a distance from Twilight in the crater. Twilight saw her lips move and Luna’s voice emanated from the necklace around Twilight’s neck, “This seems to be a well enough place to practice magic. Mmm, my sister told me you are a quick study.”

“But I have yet to take your measure,” said Luna before a grin spread her muzzle then, enough to show teeth. “Would you object to friendly sparring?”

Twilight’s wings flared at that suggestion. “Sparring? Oh! Um… are you sure? I mean, if you think it would be the best way I won’t say no.”

Luna bobbed her head sagely. “Magic is a product of invention and ability. Combat, while not often desired, often pushes us to the limit. Are you ready?”

Twilight tensed and lit her horn. “I am.”

Luna did likewise, squaring shoulders and lighting her own horn.

In the setting of the pale moonscape the shadows stood out in contrast as they began stretching along the ground darkening the crater-arena.

Luna vanished.

Twilight relaxed and used a nearby rock for reference. Counting ten hoof paces to the right before firing a purple bolt.

The shadows veiling Luna disappiated and she stumbled mid-leap in her shock. With a twist to land on her hooves, she recovered and this time disappeared with a blue flash.

Twilight was already holding back her own teleport and triggered the spell once Luna did. She appeared several dozen paces up over the crater behind the princess. Luna was searching below with her horn lit and eyes hunting for a target. Twilight opted to lean in and to nip her on the ear instead of blasting her in the back.

Luna’s eyes went wide and she bicycled with her forehooves as she flipped over. The blue bolt of magic shot wide. A moment later she teleported again and Twilight followed her back to the crater.

On the ground, Luna was quickly building a spell instead of a bolt. Twilight waited a half-second longer to confirm the magic forms were what she expected and struck the spell with a precise counter.

Colorful sparks of the unravelled spell burst from Luna’s horn and she staggered. Immediately, she fell into a very un-princess like sprawl on her belly. She shook her head and looked to Twilight with her mouth agape. “Twilight! Y-You couldn’t possibly,” she sputtered.

Twilight tried not to giggle. It was the first time she’d ever heard Luna use a contraction.

“How?!” Luna demanded, shattering a nearby moon rock with a hoofstrike that left behind cracks. “Did my sister train you on how to fight me?” Luna’s blue muzzle looked nearly purple with her wounded pride.

For a few brief moments Twilight thought she could get used to the feeling of being the mysterious one. Karma payback after a life of enigmatic replies from those over her. “I umm… I card count,” answered Twilight sheepishly.

Luna’s glare softened as her anger defused with her confusion. “I do not understand.”

Twilight gestured with a forehoof. “You have somewhere between thirty-eight to forty spells you like to use in combat. Though you really only use one of five to start with. After that you follow a set pattern and I can force which spell you’ll likely use if I do something to surprise you.”

“You really get spooked by rear attacks. That’s why if I tried shooting you in the back with magic your spell trigger shield would have gone off, right?” Twilight added.

Luna mouth worked. “Y-Yes. But how could you know of all that? Are you a mind reader?” The idea turned Luna’s blush from anger to one of sudden embarrassment.

“No,” Twilight said before sighing. “When I said I knew you. I meant it. When I was trapped in Starlight’s time loop I fought you as Nightmare Moon countless times.”

“I had heard of your adventure, but now I see I overlooked some important details. Was I truly so predictable? Not a ounce of difference?”

Twilight raised a hoof to her chin and considered. “Well...” she dawdled, “I did have to adjust my shot just now since you take shorter hoofsteps than Moon.”

Luna stared and Twilight couldn’t help the giggle from escaping her now. Though she stopped when she saw some hurt in Luna’s eyes.

“Listen, Luna. The timelines where there were still ponies around and that wasn’t embroiled in conflict with Sombra or changelings were the ones with you in charge. You’re nowhere near the monster you think you are,” Twilight implored.

Luna slowly got back on her hooves from her sprawl. “‘Tis a strange thing to be relieved by. To know my apocalypse was the lesser of evils.” She noted with some humor returning. “Were the ponies... happy?”

Twilight smiled. “Rarity seemed to enjoy being a Major Domo and Rainbow was a Shadowbolt captain.” She tempered her smile with a shift in tone. “But the one pony in that alternate timeline who I was sure wasn’t happy was you. I know that you wanted ponies to look up to you, not fear you. I tried convincing your alternate self, but by then she was too hardened to see it any other way or be anything other than a terror.”

“Immunity to even a Twilight lecture?” asked Luna with a wondering tone, picking out the most shocking detail.

“It’s not as fun as you might think! You told me before how Celestia was just as lonely as you were here on the moon. In that timeline you both just switched places. Besides, Luna... I like talking with you. I'm only sorry I couldn't convince her.”

“I enjoy my time with you too, Twilight,” said Luna after shaking the lunar dust out of her wings. With a mind to add some humor she added, “How many times did you try my stubborn shade?”

Twilight shook her head and made a tired smile at the memory of her temporal marathon. “Every time. I never knew if a trip through the map was going to be the last, but you were always worth it."

Luna stopped in middle of a wing shake and looked to Twilight, startled though her expression soon softened. “You have a good heart, Twilight. Know that you are a wonderful mare, sweet and kind.” Luna stepped close then and drew Twilight to her with a wing and a hoof.

Twilight nosed at Luna’s chest, struck by the sincerity as well as the specter in her memory. How lucky she was to have Luna as she was now. Twilight buried her face in Luna’s shoulder to rub some sting out of her eyes. “I hope you don’t mind if it... rains here on the moon, too.”

After a brief rest for composure they returned to the arena of the crater.

“I think it is apparent now that your skill and experiences have made you my equal. My fault for underestimating you.” Luna conceded.

Twilight winced while rubbing the back of her own neck. “I hope I didn’t seem like I was out to embarrass you.”

Luna shook her head. “Oh Twilight! Do not mistake me. I may have a competitive spirit but ultimately ‘tis pleasing to know that little separates us.”

It was meant as a compliment, but it also prompted Twilight to look upward. Without air there was nothing but clear blackness and the starry night field. Finding the comet was no trouble, it hung prominently beside the cloudy blue orb of Equestria. “Still don’t know everything,” admitted Twilight.

Luna followed her gaze and chuckled. “The only question left is how to teach you. Perhaps we should simply count the forms.” Looking towards one of the moonrocks she lifted the stone and gave it a toss over. “Telekinesis.”

Twilight caught the stone in her magic and infused it until it began glowing, returning it to Luna like a glittery ball. “Light.” This was an old exercise amongst magic students. The idea was to chain all seven forms together. Twilight was interested in the one beyond the seven, but she would be patient for Luna’s sake.

Luna took the stone and had it orbit her head in a loop. The size of the stone changing as it expanded to the size of a hoofball. “Density.”

Twilight was gentle with catching the return toss of the now large, glowing stone. Density was tricky. It was intricately worked in spellwork for something like Starlight’s self levitation or more often used as a baseline in heavier telekinetic lifts by unicorns. If one was not careful, they were likely to shatter an object, like Twilight and Starlight found at the rock quarry.

With a few moments of adjustment, Twilight turned the rock hollow for the sake of a stronger shell. She then placed it on the ground and set it rolling towards Luna. “Motivation.” A favorite for lazy wizards to enchant self sweeping brooms with. At finer control, it was the same magical form used to heat an object or freeze it by tweaking with molecular motion.

Luna stopped the stone-turned-glowball with her hoof before lifting it up. With a brightening of her horn magic it vanished. “Time.”

Now they were getting into the good stuff. Twilight was a little disappointed that she couldn’t show off her expertise. Time was one of those skill heavy forms with a huge range. Teleportation and Time Travel both used it heavily as well as any timing component in spellcraft. She settled for predicting where the stone would appear to catch it with her magic.

Twilight considered which to use next, only two of the seven remained. The power scale tended to break down at the higher end with plenty of wizards arguing over which were the stronger forms. In truth, all of the forms had both simple and complicated use in intricate spells.

After a few moments she focused her thoughts onto the ball. It was still white all over which made it hard to look at. So she decided on changing the composition slightly, morphing the rock into a marble-type with veins of an alternating color running through it. “Transmogrification,” Twilight announced before swinging the ball back to Luna.

Luna caught the sparkling marble and laughed as she admired it. “Quite a pleasant choice is it not? I especially like how the blue and purple are mingled together.” She looked to Twilight expectantly.

Twilight found herself doing a familiar eyeroll at that. “You’re sounding just like Rarity now.”

Luna gave a dignified snort before looking towards the ball again. “You skipped over a form.”

Twilight eyes darted. “I umm... I really try not to dabble with it too much. I only really know ‘Need it, Want it’ and you can blame Cadance for that one.”

“Ah! You must be out of practice. Nopony now needs a charm to adore you,” remarked Luna, still smiling. Twilight blushed for a reply.

Luna’s horn lit and she added magic to the sphere. “Nothing too drastic. Just for the example.” She tossed it over to Twilight. “Mind.”

Twilight caught the orb and as she held it felt her heart slow and her muscles relax. The ball exuded a feeling of calmness from it. As mental magic went it was a pleasant feeling. It made her think on the serenity felt in her study or looking out a window after winter’s first nighttime snow.

Though the dreamy feeling was shaken off when she realized they were on number seven and she had nothing else to add. “So, here we are.” Twilight shook her head and sighed, “This is where you tell me about the most powerful magic ever that I have stupidly ignored for my entire life.” She meant it as a joke but even to her own ears she sounded bitter.

Luna shook her head and said softly, “Twilight, you are neither stupid nor ignorant. I will ask you, however: What is the most powerful force in Equestria?”

“Magic,” said Twilight automatically before immediately scrunching her nose. She fell for that rhetorical trap again, she should know by now that type of question never had the obvious answer.

“It does enable many great things, but I would not call it the most powerful. There is a reason this exercise has always been done with two ponies. That ball already has the eight form in it.”

Twilight’s ears perked and her mind started to race, though even before getting her facts sorted, Luna was stepping up and lighting her horn.

“I will depart for now. If you can solve this you will be able to follow me. We have a couple of hours left and if you still have trouble then I will return. Though I do not think you will fail,” Luna’s expression turned gamely, “and if you can track this without the eighth then I will hoof you my crown now and resign as princess.”

Twilight was already trying to read Luna’s magic on reflex, but encountered a dizzying weave of chaotic energy obscuring the spell. She hardly had time to formulate how that was done before Luna vanished in a prismatic flash.

Left suddenly to herself Twilight first impulse was to say, “Well... Sh—” She paused and gave a pointed look around to be very certain that Luna was away, “—oot.” She finished to nopony in particular.

Twilight paced a small trench in the soft moondust around the glowing blue and purple ball. She was somewhat thankful for the calming spell. Though while it suppressed the physical jitters she still had a clear headed worry that she felt all too acutely. Without Spike, quill, or anything to make notation on, she had to be her own recorder.

“You can do this. You're the element of magic. Go over what she said. It’s a puzzle. You love puzzles. Especially really important world changing ones.” The laugh she made then sounded a little frayed and it prompted Twilight to swat herself with a hoof. Quietly, she went through the task of counting through the forms, touching each of their metamagic shapes.

Twilight did this several times, trying to see if Luna had slipped in the extra form somewhere, but couldn’t find any. Part of the exercise was to build a basic spellform and all the pieces held together like a jigsaw. There didn’t seem to be any gaps or obvious places for a eighth form to even go, much less hide.

That made her sigh and sprawl out on her back, looking space-ward towards the brilliant blue of Equestria. For awhile she let the calm spell settle her down. Without Luna’s talking there was a pristine silence with only the occasional ripple of the air spell from her necklace to break it.

Had Luna really endured a thousand years like this? Twilight tried to imagine what it would be like for herself to be so severed. Even before she met the girls in Ponyville she still had Shiny, Cadance, Spike, her parents and her Canterlot friends. She had to blink away a tear before giving a soft laugh. “Look at you. Crying at hypotheticals and thought experiments of being alone.” She rubbed the tear off and looked at the damp spot on her hoof.

Twilight’s ears perked.

What did Luna say? That there was a reason this exercise needed two ponies? Whenever she had done this game with her teachers or classmates she had always thought of it like doing multiplication tables. You needed two ponies... because... why? Mingling the forms like this didn’t make it easier to teach. Building a spell solo is how you studied them and their interactions. Sharing the back in form just made it—

“—easier to build with two ponies,” Twilight said outloud before her wings spread on their own. She scrambled back to the ball and lifted it again. The calmness spell inside struggled to push down her budding excitement. This time she didn’t look to the forms or what they represented, but instead to how they fit together. With some concentration she adjusted her senses to try and pick out which magic was hers and which was Luna’s.

The magic had started to run together and almost became impossible to separate without way more effort in chipping through it than creating it. If she tried to build this object herself, the spellforms would have been distinct and stitched together with leftover magical willpower. Doing a ball together had made them mold and hug each other.

Twilight focused then on this metamagic ‘glue’ and she started to feel her horn ache from the concentration. She winced and after a moment changed her approach. Instead of straining her magical eyes she’ll try her physical ones instead! Her spectrum synesthesia spell should do the trick!

The world went white and Twilight gasped, hugging the stone harder than ever to rid herself of that panic. Too bright!

She tried dimming the intensity of the spell in stages and eventually the moonscape returned, crisscrossed with arcs of sparkling color. She had to turn the spell down to its bare minimum and still she could barely see anything. She waved a hoof through the visual ribbons and they followed her body’s movements. The effect threw off her balance and she was thankful for the low gravity to cushion her fall. Twilight snorted, “If Luna is still watching she’d probably say go home, Twilight. You're drunk.”

Home.

Twilight looked up. While they radiated from her in erratic spirals, there was the undeniable path of those colored lights heading up towards Equestria. She couldn’t touch them physically, but now knowing what to look for she felt them as ironclad magically as the melded spell forms.

Twilight groaned as it dawned on her. The revelation was enough to have her smack her own forehead with a hoof. Of course!

Luna hadn’t really taken much effort to hide herself. She was back at the moon castle on the roof looking out towards the crater she and Twilight sparred in.

When Twilight appeared, she popped into place several paces behind her, though she hit the ground running, tossing the blue and purple marble over her shoulder and having it follow behind her with her magic. She galloped the remaining distance. “Luna!”

Luna was beaming. “Twilight! You have don—hmmpnhf!” Her eyes went wide as Twilight gave in to her inner Pinkie and forcefully pulled Luna towards her. This time she wasn’t shy about it, their mouths met for a full on untempered kiss.

Twilight broke into muffled giggles as she watched the colored band between them surge with brightness. She broke the kiss enough to gasp. “It’s friendship!”

Chapter 6

“We call it Bond. At least in the time when I learned of it.”

Luna and Twilight were resting side by side on the mooncastle roof. The location provided a good view of both the moonscape, Equestria and the comet soaring overhead. When the air necklaces mingled they also shared the warmth and presence of the other pony. Twilight thought it felt like being huddled under a blanket together.

“Why did they stop teaching if it’s so fundamental and important?” Twilight asked, she was still a little bouncy from her revelation, but now her rational self craved details.

Luna shook her head and replied, “That is a conundrum is it not? After I visited you in the dream I did not understand how you, of all ponies, could not know.”

Twilight grumbled, “Princess of Obliviousness, that’s me!” She wiggled then when Luna reached with a hoof to stroke her mane.

“‘Twas by my sister’s design and I think I now know why. Bond is powerful magic, but like any magic it can be misused,” said Luna as she looked over to Twilight. “Consider this: Tirek was a Bond user who forced connections to draw magic from ponykind. Whereas Changelings are an entire race that live on tricking others to create bonds with them so they can feed on that channel.”

Twilight shifted uncomfortably, thinking of Shining Armor and how Chrysalis sapped her brother’s wits and life. “Is that why it makes me feel... well giddy? When I found the Bond in the stone I… um. Is it dangerous?” She’d felt supernaturally happy enough to kiss Luna, what if she had did more than that in-the-moment slip?

“The magic often mirrors the relationships that create them. ‘Tis harmless if mutual, but if one side is malignant then there is a problem. There exists a pleasant happenstance in the fact that those who are unaware of Bond mechanically make use of its power through friendship and love. You, yourself Twilight are an accomplished Bond user.

Twilight’s eyes grew wide as something clicked. “You mean It’s harmony too?”

“Harmony is an expression of it. Remember Twilight, your power came not from gem trinkets but from the connections you have made with your friends. The Elements of Harmony simply help focus that force.”

Twilight turned that thought over. In her adventure through the dimension mirror she had only the element of magic with her in the form of the crown. Yet all her Canterlot High friends were able to do what their Equestrian counterparts could without the rest of the elements being physically present. Later on, Sunset mentioned that their world’s Twilight built a device that could combine magic in much the same way.

“Wouldn’t it be better if ponies knew? Tirek and changelings were awful. But if they know this by their nature, if ponies knew maybe we could come up with defenses or wards?” Twilight’s sensibilities railed against keeping knowledge away and secret. It felt wrong to her.

Luna took the time to look upward once again, watching Equestria hang like a cloudy sapphire.

“There is one more aspect of Bond that you should know about,” Luna began before taking a breath, “No pony is an island and no pony is without magic. When united we bring order to the world when apart... well I am certain you hear of it every Hearth's Warming Eve. Unicorns may project magic, but every earth pony and pegasus is as magical in their own right. Any pony has the potential to become an alicorn and they do so through the Bonds they make with others.”

Twilight stared, hadn’t it been Celestia who had ascended her? She thought back to the time with Celestia in the dreamworld, but another memory became clearer: Before meeting Celestia, Twilight’s friends had gathered in the library to watch her finish Starswirl’s spell. They were wearing the elements and when the spell finished... it had focused the power of her friends onto her.

Now that Twilight thought about it. Celestia didn’t do any actual magic aside from being sweet and singing her that song. Did she simply buy time for the wings to sprout on their own?

Luna watched Twilight’s contemplation before adding more. “While Bond is not so easily manipulated without friendship and magic there are those who could have the skill but not the empathy. Starswirl was one on the cusp with his unfinished spell, but think of your predecessor or to a pony as brilliant as Starlight.”

That made the hairs on Twilight’s nape stand up. While Sunset was good now and the best friend a pony or human could ever have... she had corrupted herself into a demonic abomination of twisted harmony. While Starlight already could manipulate pony cutie marks and rewrite a Starswirl time spell. Twilight had been working hard to straighten her out, but it was dreadfully easy to imagine Starlight with alicorn wings on a throne flanked by equality banners.

The idea tested Twilight’s impulse to think of harmony or Bond as ‘good’ magic. Magic was mechanical and flowed like water in expected ways if you built the right pipe for it. It made Twilight a little sad.

Luna gently touched Twilight’s cheek with a hoof when she saw Twilight’s expression fall. “You are no less special for what you have done. I also did not intend to give only bad examples. Your sister, Cadance is one who mastered Bond magic as a pegasus through the power of her heart and what she inspired in others. I imagine without her help my own sister would have succumbed to stress.”

Twilight smiled with the thought of Cadance though something nibbled at her. “Cadance doesn’t know about Bond does she? Celestia moved the sun and moon all by herself for ages and Cadance never took over when Celestia couldn't move either of them.”

Luna shook her head. “I am sure she knows of it by instinct like a master craftspony telling the species of wood under hoof. I suspect by her nature and now with her experiences with the changelings she likely would shy away in any direct manipulation of it via magic.”

Twilight nodded, that solved another riddle of why the comet was given to her and not Cadance. Her foalsitter was Equestria’s cheerleader, often doing the pomp and circumstance society demanded of royalty. Twilight now knew that Celestia often hated the parties and worship. Cadance deflecting some of that must have helped keep the solar ruler sane over the years.

Twilight took a turn in prodding Luna with a hoof and teased, “Now that she’s in the Crystal Kingdom it must be a chore picking up where she left off, huh?”

“Waking up at any hour of the day to allow my sister her lunch and bath breaks? Presiding over the Hearts and Hooves day celebration with ponies trembling at the idea of getting their rewarding kiss from the former Nightmare?” Luna snorted, muzzle becoming wry as she said, “Not to mention how sister has been spoiled by that pink mare. Celestia has grown so insatiable that I have had to call upon Cadance several times to help. She is certainly your kin now, being just like a Sparkle with twelve new inventions a day on the art of buc—”

“L-LUNA!” Twilight interrupted desperately. She had giggled at the grousing up until where the conversation took a left turn and galloped off an unexpected cliff. She tried to scramble back up said cliff with some sense. “Cadance is married.”

Luna broke off her demonstration with her hoof’s circular air rubbings and waggling tongue mid-gesture. “And?”

“What do you mean ‘And’? She’s married to my brother!” Twilight didn’t have a mirror ready but was sure she was as red as Big Mac right now.

Luna gave her a playful tap on the shoulder. “Thou art so old fashioned! Did you think your brother would not consent?”

Twilight swore she felt something go pop somewhere behind an eye. If it was a vein at least the quick death would spare her any more embarrassment. “B...you...and...Celestia…and Cadance?”

Luna’s expression sobered from playful to serious. She reached over then to lay her hoof on Twilight’s.

“Twilight, you can sense Bond now. Realize that nopony will be able to hide their true feelings from you.” Luna nudged Twilight’s cheek for emphasis, “Including yourself and any fiction of self-rationalization you might have for your own. Connections in spirit take on many shapes and they do not always follow the forms one would expect. Such bonds may very well go against the rigid preconceptions of gender and society.”

Luna stood and beckoned Twilight to follow her back inside. They came to the base of the statue in the center hall which Luna looked towards. “You must not be judgmental, Twilight. For that knowledge comes with its own cost. I once struggled with such awareness: Of knowing acutely just how uneven the adoration my sister received compared to myself. How those might speak in lies professing false emotion or worse those with genuine feelings suffer in self-imposed silence.”

Luna shook her head. “But that was then. Things are better in this era and you have had the benefit of making friends for friendship before any reason of power. When you return now to Equestria you might be surprised at how deep those connections run.”

Twilight started to feel dizzy with the implications. Could she really be impartial? Being better at magic than other ponies was one thing, but having a look at their personal feelings? The thought scared her. What if somepony had feelings I couldn’t deal with, what if...what if—

Luna’s hoof steadied her then and lifted Twilight’s chin to match gazes. “I love you, Twilight Sparkle. So does Celestia, so does Cadance and I am sure if you looked to your friends truly, they love you too."

The memory of those lights, so many, so strong and now knowing the import behind them. Twilight felt her breath catch. Her mouth worked silently, unable to manage enough voice for words.

Luna smiled and answered her anyway. “I know.”

“So, how do I friendship a comet?”

“I took my moon only to the finest of establishments. She was an icy sort at first but in time I melted her heart,” replied Luna with so even a tone Twilight had to do a double take.

They both broke into giggles a moment later. After the emotional seesawing and the time spent together at the castle there was a lingering feeling of joy. Luna herself seemed much more playful while Twilight felt relaxed. The mood was just about right for a spontaneous song if they weren’t running short on time.

The night had progressed enough that the comet had started to fall out of view from the castle. Once again Twilight and Luna set across the moonscape for a better vantage point. Eventually they crested a rocky outcropping that had the comet high and center in the starry sky. The reflected light made it a shining mote of whiteness. Twilight stared at it, even with all that she learned of herself, bonds and magic the task felt huge.

Luna came to where Twilight looked upward and nuzzled her. Twilight gave one back and didn’t feel embarrassed about it. That little voice that always seemed to nag her or hold her back had gotten its own kind of exile.

“To be more serious. ‘Tis magic you project from yourself to create a bridge. Bond supersedes both distance and time. When anchored with the comet you will be able to feel it no matter where it be and control its flight.”

Twilight furrowed her brow as she remembered. “Principa Magicka mentioned something about aether? What is that?”

Luna smiled, “Think of it as invisible snow in the darkness between the stars. As bodies move through it they create a wave in the front and a trough behind. Course changes take more effort than keeping it in a loop already made. Imagine needing to dig a new path as it were. What we accomplish through bond is create an equivalency out of that starstuff that pulls on—”

“—on it like a counterweight in a catapult.” Twilight finished before smiling at Luna’s startled expression. “A very wise orange mare told me that one. But I think I get your meaning now.”

“There are more caveats to consider: The wave of aether can provide increases in magical ability and other effects.”

Twilight gasped as something clicked. “My mane! But... I didn’t even make any connection with the comet yet?”

“While you will benefit the most from the connection other ponies will be affected too in the shift in aether currents. Usually it is minor boost for magic users performing spells on the ground. Whereas I suspect your friend Rainbow Dash can do her remarkable feats because she has spent so long infused by her high flying. You are already sensitive to it from your role as a alicorn.”

Twilight out of habit began to pace as she thought, turning away from Luna to look upward again. “Is it dangerous?” Getting a sunburn was bad enough, what would be the celestial equivalent of that... a star burn? She didn’t want to be the one to forbade Rainbow Dash her hobbies.

“The aether itself? No, it behaves like any other magic once you understand its properties,” said Luna after a pause for consideration, “but Twilight, creating the connection with the comet is an investment. When connections between ponies are severed, we suffer heartbreak. At this scale, however... the loss is felt more pointedly.”

The shift in tone had Twilight stand straighter she turned to face Luna. “When you and Celestia gave me control of the sun and moon before?”

“‘Twas a temporary measure to enable you against Tirek. Like hoofing you the end of a dog’s leash. In time the connections would have gone back to us. I imagine had you chosen to avoid Tirek completely Celestia and I would have regained our powers and freed ourselves from Tartarus.”

Twilight laughed in relief, knowing some of her close calls had fail safes made the nick of time moments a lot less frightening. “She really does think of everything doesn’t she.” Though a thought itched when she said that. “Wait... this comet she moved recently and if she is giving it to me permanently... what does that mean for her?”

Luna wasn’t looking at Twilight any longer, her head turned away. “Sister.”

Twilight eyes widened. “Does it mean that she—”

“—it means that I will have to visit Rarity and ask for the treatment she gave you,” answered Celestia as she landed beside them.

Her mane was pink.

Twilight would normally feel sheepish at being caught talking about a pony by that very pony, but Celestia’s changed appearance had her galloping the short distance to her. “Princess! Your mane!” It wasn’t until Twilight was stopped in mid leap by golden aura did she realize she was about to do an all out tackle of an embrace. She felt some of that old blush returning as she hung there in the gold shimmer. Though her chagrin was mitigated when Celestia drew her in for a hug anyway, albeit a gentler one.

Celestia smiled in that serene way as she said, “There, there, Twilight. A little pink never threatened anypony. Aside from the occasional surprise party.”

Twilight looked at the mane worriedly. Three of the rainbow bands that had been so distinctive had shrunken with most of the color now being the pink shade. Though the mane still flowed with its ethereal nature in slow wavy ripples.

“Is this because you gave up the comet? I don’t want it if it hurt you! Take it back! Please,” cried Twilight, she didn’t care a damn about any honor or comet or magical power and certainly not at this cost.

Celestia shushed Twilight with a small kiss to her temple. “I have more than enough to my name. Giving up a little piece for you to live all the better for it? I call that a good trade. I’ll recover in time.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed and she turned to look to Luna. “Is she telling the truth? I don’t want her sacrificing herself for me.”

Celestia’s expression went from serene to nose scrunch with purple eyes wide to eyeliner.

Luna raised a hoof and laughed behind it. “Your softening of hard truths were bound to catch up to you someday, Tia. Twilight is more than a grown mare now. Perhaps she has had her fill of the candy you put around words.”

Celestia recovered from the surprise though Luna’s tease had her snorting, “I am more mindful to see if we still have stockades in Canterlot. That used to be the punishment for speaking against the crown.”

Twilight nudged Celestia’s chest with her horn tip to prod a reminder. “I’m still waiting for an answer. I’m not going to go knobby kneed over this. Not if we are talking about me being turned into some kind of changeling to slurp up your life force.”

Celestia gave Twilight a stronger embrace for a response to the spurring. “Oh Twilight! Not at all!” She took a breath and sighed, “When I had all three under my control both the ripples of aether and any adoration given to the heavenly object was passed on to me. It did make things easier. If Tirek had returned a decade ago then I would have been able to send him back to Tartarus before he laid a single corrupt hoof on any of my ponies. But now...”

Luna spoke up, helping Celestia with the explanation. “When I returned as the Nightmare re-taking my moon by force left my sister with a sudden power void. ‘Tis not a pleasant experience. I am sorry you had to go through it, Tia.”

Celestia shook her head and replied, “It was yours to begin with, never mine. It needed to be done and I have no regrets.” To Twilight she smiled and her tone softened. “And even if left me powerless for a time at least I had, and continue to have, faith in those outside myself to have strength to make right what went wrong.”

Twilight tried to work those mechanics out. “So... without the moon or comet?”

“I am only as strong as I was a thousand years ago when I had my sister and Starswirl and many others to unite Equestria with. Not quite as strong as the thousand years after when I had no pony but myself and some considered me a tyrant for my quick and absolute judgements.”

Twilight clenched her jaw and muttered, “Damn that Discord.” She felt foalish now for ever doubting.

Celestia blinked and looked puzzled. “Hmm? He was still stone then.”

“N-Nevermind. What about your mane?” asked Twilight, hastily moving on.

Celestia reached to stroke its end with a hoof. “You know, it has been pink for more of my life than it has been rainbow colored?”

“I’ve been without wings for most of mine, but if they fell off tomorrow plenty of ponies would make a fuss,” said Twilight defensively. Though Luna’s background smirk and Celestia’s shift to a playful tone had taken a lot of the heat out of Twilight’s arguments. It was hard not to play along.

“Didn’t they make a fuss when they were put on you? Sometimes there’s no pleasing someponies,” Celestia answered smoothly.

Twilight leaned to give a firm nip to Celestia’s chin, tugging on that metaphorical beard. “You're dodging my questions again.”

Luna let out an earnest laugh. “I think I will enjoy the years to come! Tia you have made your match in this one.”

“Hmph! Sometimes I like doing something other than giving exposition,” said Celestia before pouting at the flat looks that statement earned her from both Luna and Twilight.

After giving Twilight’s ear a nip for the chin tug, Celestia replied, “My mane will be fine. It’ll return to how it was in time. I can cast an illusion to stop ponies from needlessly worrying over it.”

Twilight gasped, “You better not! Rarity will never forgive me if I denied her a chance to do your mane.”

That had all three alicorns sharing a warm laugh together.

Luna turned to Celestia after the humor. “Twilight is not incorrect with her worry. You should be resting, sister. We did not go over time. I have made sure to check and keep an accurate count.”

“I know and you didn’t. But I felt Twilight testing her bonds for the first time and I knew she was just about ready,” said Celestia with a warming smile to Twilight. “Unless you wanted to wait until the last day, Twilight?”

Twilight thought about how much effort it took to get to this point and shook her head. “To be honest. I think I’d like to finish something instead of worrying over it for a change.”

Both Celestia and Luna took turns in showing how Twilight could take her sensing of Bond magic to the working of it as well as the more nuts and bolts aspect of melding aether into the necessary shapes. Though while they could teach her the mechanics the actual building would be up to her.

Twilight worked on the spell, weaving it like she would of any of the other forms. Though it was a stressful job. Like trying to knit with thread meant to stitch.

It made her own emotions go haywire bringing shifting oscillations between happiness and sadness. The magic she generated was drawing her out like a straw and she felt raw, as if she were scrubbed so hard that she was bare.

Twilight couldn’t imagine using this as practical magic on any pony and feared what would happen if she did. She never thought she’d be happy for the censorship in Principa Magicka. Better ponies think it some boring spellbook than some guide to be a life stealing monster.

Fatigue began to set in as she spent gallons of effort for droplets of return. But to break focus now would to lose it all, and… and why did she need to make more?

Didn't she have all the bonds she needed already?

Twilight began to tentatively reach out along those channels: She thought of Rarity’s over the top dramatics, of Applejack’s hokey countryisms. Of Rainbow’s playful ribbing and of Fluttershy’s gentle kindness. Pinkie’s humor, Spike’s helpfulness and all the other things she loved of her friends and family.

When she peeked an eye open she saw the spell had stabilized, becoming fuller and whole. She realized then she had been looking at it wrong. The bonds were not just extra power, they were a part of her as much as her own flesh and soul.

At first, she was worried about her aim, but as soon as she cast the magic from her she knew she need not have stressed. As the sparkling mote of herself sailed into the distance she could still feel it and control it. The sensation felt weird as if she had an impossibly long hoof that only grew with every mile the magic crossed.

There was a sudden stop and Twilight gasped. She had struck the comet. At first the feeling was indescribable. The draining feeling had been replaced with a sudden euphoria. A tingle she felt from horn to tail. It was like... It was like...

Like falling in love.

The thought had Twilight giggle and she swayed in a near faint but Luna and Celestia were there to catch her.

“Twilight you have done it!” Luna exclaimed.

“Almost there. Just a little bit more, my love. Move the comet just like how we practiced,” murmured Celestia.

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated.

When the comet moved, she didn’t need to open them to know.

Epilogue

It was still nighttime when Twilight appeared in her crystal observatory. The first few steps had her stumbling at the fresh pull of Equestrian gravity. She marveled at how it felt like she was gone for months when in reality it was only a couple of hours.

Strangely enough she didn’t feel tired at all. If anything, she never felt more awake in her life. She would get used to it, the princesses had said and sleep will return to her once she adapted to the aether surges every time her comet orbited overhead.

“Even if you do not dream for a while that does not forbade you from visiting me in the waking world instead.” Luna had pointedly clarified and Twilight kissed her for it.

Twilight floated the blue and purple marble onto her study’s table. With a bit of inventive spellwork she created a stand for the shimmering blue memento and smiled at her hoofcraft.

“I think I deserve some leftover wafflecake after what I did,” she said to nopony in particular and took the stairs down instead of teleporting. She had so much energy, she needed to burn it off in any little way she could.

Twilight only got a few hoofsteps into the map-room proper when there was an explosion of light and her vision filled with confetti

“SURPRISE!”

It wasn’t Pinkie’s canon that surprised her the most, but the sight of all six girls there to see her, “W-What? What is everyp— everyone doing here?” She corrected after seeing Spike too was there with a noisemaker.

They were crowding around her then. Dash was tugging on her wing and Rarity was fussing on her mane and the others were talking so quick and excited that she couldn’t make a single one out. Until finally Twilight lit her horn and teleported out from under the friendship pile to appear a few hoof paces away. She cried, “Please! One at a time!”

They looked at each other and Applejack tipped her hat back. “First ya better be tellin’ us should we be happy or worried for yeh?”

Rainbow was bubbling over with excitement. “It’s something awesome right? I mean just look at those wings! I wish I had wings like those!”

Rarity waggled a hoof and cut in with her own observation. “How could you all be ignoring her mane?! Gracious. I'm good, but not that good in styling!”

A few more comments of fawning before Spike was thoughtful enough to bring her a mirror.

Twilight didn’t even bother to gasp this time. Her mane had kept its enhanced colors but now the edge if it had become indistinct and ethereal. It was not yet at the level of Luna or Celestia, but there is no way she’d ever pass for anypony other than who she was now. When she angled the mirror she saw her wings had gotten the same kind of gradient effect Cadance’s own wingfeathers had as well as a size boost.

“Well. I uh... I moved the comet and this happened. It’s a good thing... I think.”

At least I hope.

“I can give you the long version of it later, but… just why is everyone here past midnight?” Twilight added after a small flinch at the silent thought.

That question prompted a bunch of shared looks. Surprisingly enough it was Fluttershy who first spoke.

“Umm. I'm usually in bed before nine... but I got woken up when I felt something.” She reached and rubbed her own neck with a hoof. “For some reason, it made me think about what you said about the comet. Dizzy was still sleeping so I went to put on some tea and then went outside to go see it. The night was real clear so it was easy to watch when I saw it moving all of a sudden. So I... I went to see Dash, but she... umm… already knew about it.” Fluttershy’s voice began to dwindle and she flushed.

Twilight thanked her for getting that much out. Though her eye twitched at that ‘Dizzy’ part. Celestia help her if that was a pet name for who she thought it was.

Rainbow hovered over to pick up the conversational thread. “Yeah I was up. I totally couldn’t sleep in the slightest so I spent a few minutes cloudbusting away then I saw the comet and thought about you Twi! Reminded me about doing my wingups. Managed to hit ninety before Flutters poked her head in my window.” Rainbow nodded and waited a half moment before realizing no-one was going to compliment her on her score. “Sigh, so me and Flutters headed over to Rarity since she read that book of yours and we thought she might know what was up.”

Rarity gracefully stepped into the conversation, waiting like a stage actress for her cue. “I told them the obvious, dearie. That you took my excellent help from that textbook and figured out this princess business. Though this beast of a mare took it to mean that we had to hurry and lifted me right up! You didn’t even let me out of my nightgown, Rainbow!”

Rainbow frowned at that, squinting at Rarity. “You weren’t even in bed though. Why were you working on a dress in your nightgown, anyway?”

Rarity scoffed and gestured with a hoof. “I bolted right out of bed with the idea of a truly splendid dress for Twilight and I didn’t have time to stop.”

“You didn’t even take off your sleeping mask!”

Applejack interrupted the arguing pair for the sake of brevity. “Anyway. Ah was already up on account of that same funny feeling everypony else was talkin’ about. Ah couldn’t plow the field at night and the animals were sleepin’ so ah took to brewing some cider fer a nightcap. Ah thought about sharing a drink with ya, Twi and was making a little extra to take over when ah saw these two. Plenty strange to see Rarity and Rainbow of all ponies sailing in the air together, though ah’d never thought she’d lift us both right after tellin’ me what all the hooplah was about!”

Rainbow looked smug under the fire of both Applejack and Rarity’s combined glares. “I was super pumped, okay? Besides I’ve been getting plenty of practice in carrying ponies lately.”

Twilight giggled at the banter, but inwardly started to feel a spring of worry. Did every pony she have a connection with feel her fiddling with Bond? How many across Equestria got woken up by her nighttime moon antics? “So you went to Pinkie’s next I figure?”

Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack shared a glance. “Well... we did. But she was already at the castle setting up decorations,” said Rarity.

Pinkie broke in with a merry bounce onto the nearby table. “Yep! I was right out of bed when my Twilight sense started making my mane and tail go craaaaazey!”

Twilight mouthed the words Twilight sense? As she thought on it, it made an odd kind of sense. If anypony was a natural Bond user it would be Pinkie.

A thought that soon had Twilight trembling slightly at the mental image of Pinkie as an alicorn.

“So I zipped over right away to your castle. You weren’t back yet so that was great! Starlight and Spike were up already arguing about making you a wafflecake and I told them I could make the bestest one ever if they started working their flanks off in getting the rest of the decorations over from sugarcube.”

Twilight noticed what she took at first to be a wooden countertop on one of the tables was in fact a giant wafflecake. Her belly betrayed an eager rumble.

Rainbow rounded on Twilight with a glint in her eye. “If you plan on eating that whole you know I'm gonna add a zero to your wingups, maaaybe two. You got the wings for it now.”

“Ah brought some of the cider I was makin’ ya can wash it down with,” Applejack helpfully offered.

“I won’t let you face this alone! We’ve been in the trenches before you and I,” declared Rarity valiantly before adding, “Even if they are square shaped.”

Somewhere in the back a soft set of squeaking noises told Twilight that Fluttershy was adding her encouragement too. Twilight made a theatrical sigh, but she couldn’t hide her smile. The mention of Starlight had her looking to her student.

“Helped with the decorations, huh?” Twilight asked wryly.

Starlight eyedarted as she put her hooves together. “Sorry, teach. Pinkie said we owed her a party, and that I made a Pinkie promise. Spike said I really shouldn’t break one. Is it really worse than Tartarus if I did?”

Twilight nodded soberly. “Even Celestia gives parole occasionally. I don’t think Pinkie ever has.”

Pinkie beamed her sunny smile with a voice as chipper as always confirmed. “FOReeeeever! Means FOREVER!”

Twilight dipped her head in a small bow to her friends. “I'm thankful you all came on such short notice, but really we can do all the celebrations tomo—”

She was interrupted by a sudden hiccup by Spike who spat out a scroll tied with a pink and blue ribbon.

Twilight blinked and floated it over. At the top was Crystal Kingdom stationary with elegant curly strokes that could only be Cadance.

Hey sister!

We can see the comet all the way up here in the crystal kingdom! I knew you had it in you! Flurry Heart knows it too. She’s been up all night going ‘Tweh’ ‘Tweh’ which means you and you know Flurry, once she’s on something I don’t think we are going to get her to bed. I hope you're not too tired! All of us sort of felt like we really had to see you. We should be over there as fast as the crystal express can take us. Neither of us are getting any sleep tonight anyway.

Below that the handwriting change to her brother’s familiar, if rougher quillwork.

Twily! It’s not just Flurry! I had the strangest feeling that I needed to see you too. Weird huh? Cadance said that it might be a good idea to get mom and dad on the way. Sorry for the short notice, but it looks like we're having a family gathering at your place this weekend.

Twilight groaned, there was no escaping it now. “On second thought, let’s keep the party going. We are going to get some guests soon.”

That had them all start talking amongst themselves and begin devising strategies on how to cut the wafflecake. Twilight lingered on the edge, simply watching her friends and how they interacted. They really all came this way for her. Twilight was touched and had no doubts to their feelings, but curiosity gnawed on her as she heard the echo of Luna’s words.

Maybe just this once, one peek to see.

Twilight lit her horn and cast the Bond-Sense spell and even at the lowest possible setting she was blinded by the intensity of the connections between her, her friends and between each other. So much friendship...no... not just friendship!

With a flex of that newfound magical might she impulsively snatched everyone in the room to her and used those hooves and larger wings to get as many in an embrace as she could. “I love all of you!” Her voice cracked, a few happy tears gathering in her eyes from the overwhelming emotions.

“Aw…well shucks!”

“Darling you... don’t... have to hug so tight...!”

“Eep!”

“Gah! You're like a super-sized easter-colored egghead now!"

Pinkie Pie giggled, “Love you too, Twilight!”

~Fin~