The Course of the Moon

Moon Dancer slept long and deep, and between hazy awakenings and slumberings she thought of plodding through Gleamstreet. Maybe it was that instead she had carried herself to her bed or travelled to the toilet, but she fashioned herself in Gleamstreet alongside Minuette and Lemon Hearts.

All lights blinked, indicating the main attraction. It was a peculiar thing, for they loomed over the claw machine and their faces were leery with an anticipation that could not possibly be satisfied. Their hooves were grubby and the machine itself grimy and stained with muddy hoofprints. Strangest of all was that she had never before slept so soundly.

It was a lull of a week, and she required little magic to sleep: instead she bent her incantations to resurrecting her concentration. It did not work nearly as well as it should have.

"...I exist perfectly well, thanks to you."

Her magic must have been drained by the strange being, drawn from her in some way. Indeed she was sure it knew her thoughts. These implications were so frightening that she could not examine them. She sent a message by owl, it not being the fastest method but at least reliable. In addition to that she did not wish to presume on Twilight, and she considered that perhaps if she were to message her in some other, more practical manner, she would think her pushy and anti-social. This way she knew that Twilight would read the message on her own time and respond when - and if - it pleased her.

In the days that followed much of her thoughts processed again and again what had happened. These recollections appeared without prompting or consent, and she could not cease their recurrence. Maddeningly, she could not do much to bring herself closer to breaking the Cosmic Constant. Instead she collected separate tangents that built only on further tangents and inevitably became so far removed from the Tendence that Moon Dancer was compelled to at last drop yet another fruitless pursuit, only scarcely believing she had even eliminated any prospected angle.

Once again Minuette had found herself on her doorstep, and Moon Dancer was startled and agitated at the sound of the bell. Minuette did not comment on her odd behaviour, yet Moon Dancer could not rule out that she knew some of her feelings; knew that she was unable to spend energy on speaking with her. Maybe she was even under suspicion of being in some form of heat or sexual entanglement.

Despite these fears, however, Minuette brought her muffins and doughnuts and was content to drink some tea in the kitchen by herself. Moon Dancer soon forgot about her presence entirely, and she saw herself out no more than thirty minutes after her arrival.

If I am to die, Moon Dancer thought an evening not so many days later, brushing aside several pointless calculations, I will need somepony powerful to help me enact my principle while I still can. Twilight would be the only pony both able and, hopefully, willing.

But she remembered Twilight not as the type to just drop whatever she would be doing and study with her for a full week. No, she'd insist on friendship assignments or 'hanging out' with Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine. Maybe she'd bring Spike as well, and he would have demands of his own. Ice cream, museums, who knew?

It had sometimes bothered her that nopony treated her pursuits with due courtesy. Sure, ponies the likes of Minuette respected her wishes - for the most part - but had she declared herself to be organising stamps or preparing elaborate domino tracks she would have behaved exactly in the same manner she did now: she, like everypony else, did not truly understand the potential that lay in her research. It was as though she existed in a world where she alone saw its meaning; she alone was privy to the importance of such true magic.

Bell Point, she recalled, had mentioned off-hoof to have been invited into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, but his "calling" lay in helping some distant relative with her bed and breakfast. His interest in magic was short-sighted and selfish: like most ponies he asked only the question why, and upon discovering the magic he would ask what could he accomplish with this magic to realise his practical pursuits. To her, magic itself was the pursuit, and there could not possibly be one higher.

At last Moon Dancer had received word by owl courier that Twilight would be taking the train to see her. It would be two days from now. In those two days she prepared her calculations, knowing that Twilight would require a well-organised - redundantly organised - layout of notes and theorems, source books and so forth, particularly if she brought along her dragon assistant or another such distraction. This was a delicate task, but knowing her breakthrough to be at hoof, she was calmed greatly by the work.

But it was not only her quest that she busied herself with, taking care in readying candles in the upper library floor so that they could work under the glow of such natural light and reserve all magic for their research. She cleaned the kitchen: a task she did not savour in the least, but nonetheless powered through. On the final day before Twilight's arrival, she showered and put on her hoof-cleaned blouse and fresh underclothes. She even went on a trip through town to buy food and snacks and other such luxuries, even thinking to buy some comic books to occupy Spike, should he be with her.

Just before evening the moment had finally arrived, and Moon Dancer's mind urged her to go over all her preparations one more time - but there was no time. Upon hearing the doorbell, she had rushed down the staircase immediately, briefly fidgeting with her freshly-combed mane before opening the door. She had not realised truly how much she dreaded Spike's presence until she saw Twilight standing at her doorstep alone. She sighed in such relief that Twilight had to ask, 'What is it?' before hugging her.

Embracing her old friend, Moon Dancer murmured, 'Nothing much, just the inescapable assault of some magical consciousness.'

'You should have told me something like that was up,' Twilight said frankly, 'I would have prepared and brought...'

'No need, Twilight, I have everything we need right here.' Promptly she pushed Twilight through the hallway. 'There's food in the kitchen and you can freshen up downstairs if you want; I have prepared a guest quarter in the wing you of course know well enough and if you'll come with me to the main study here I will show you the calculations I have found but also the toilet has been cleaned and I didn't do that for you specifically. That's just because I like to live here, you know, clean, and I removed my glasses not because I broke them but because I have found this spell, and--'

'Moon Dancer! Calm down!'

She realised suddenly that she had been vying for her attention for a while now, and then Twilight repeated, 'Calm down. Now, what are you saying about calculations? I thought you said there was a magical consciousness? You did seem a little off in your letter.'

'Of course, but there's also...'

'Wait. Are you okay? You're unusually nervous. More than that even: you look... frenetic, if that's the right word.' Slowly Twilight approached her friend and studied her.

Moon Dancer hoped nothing showed on her face. 'Oh, it's nothing,' she assured her, 'it's probably just the enchantments I've got going in order to busy myself with both of these things at once. I'm not going to do the dishes and nothing else at the same time! I mean, I can't...'

'Moon Dancer, don't you realise that using so many spells to study causes unexpected side-effects? Before you know it, you get so lost in these things...'

'A-ha! But I know perfectly well where I am, Twilight. Now step right this way...'

Though the afternoon had begun to slip away, the ground floor's main study was brilliantly illuminated by the drawn curtains. Moon Dancer pointed to the stack of books on the side table. 'This is what I've gathered about the intelligence, but upstairs...'

Twilight sighed and sat down, only faintly analysing the parchment. When at last Moon Dancer looked towards her uncertainly, fidgeting her hooves, Twilight said, 'One thing at a time, Moon Dancer. Maybe you should start by saying what happened with this magical consciousness.'

Immediately the feeling came back to her and it was almost as though it was happening right then and there. She could not believe the pressure that built in her body and it hastened her breath. If only, she thought to herself desperately, it doesn't make me sweat or wet my underwear. Bowing her head she covertly cast a Respiratory Relaxation spell, hoping Twilight would not notice. It did not seem to have any effect, or else her breathing increased to cancel out its effects.

Watching her friend pace around the study, Twilight chuckled. 'Did you have too much green tea? When I get like that, usually Spike tells me I'm panicking too much, heh.' But when Moon Dancer did not hear her, she at once became serious again. 'Just start from the beginning,' she suggested.

'The beginning,' Moon Dancer agreed. She thought of the beginning; thought of the rapping on her door. Or was it already longer ago, when some tremor in the atmosphere - or indeed her very being - became known to her. She decided to be to the point. 'Well, something has threatened to, well, take me over.'

The words felt odd and unwieldy to her, as though somepony else had decided to say them for her. She did not like hiding things: it made her seem somehow in the wrong. She looked up at Twilight, her eyes looking back imploringly, and her friend said, 'Control your mind, you mean?'

She considered this but now it was not just her heart that throbbed and her lungs that rushed to what would undoubtedly come next. She could barely say anything: she had to be quick and concise. 'Not exactly,' she managed at last.

'I don't follow. What exactly?'

Seeing Twilight in this way did not make her feel less odd. If anything, from the moment Twilight had arrived everything came to her in a rush - it was as though the magic she had used in her studies suddenly came in effect, where before they were but a whimper. Twilight became a wise pony in her presence, and she wanted badly to talk about the curious things that had happened to her; the very cosmos soon to be revealed to her. Words did not suffice; could not suffice.

She excused herself with a quick gesture, and indeed Twilight considered that suddenly she had to go to the toilet. Soon, however, Moon Dancer returned from the kitchen with a big box of doughnuts. 'They are Donut Joe's,' she said weakly, carefully dropping the box in Twilight's lap. They smelled of sugar and cream.

Ignoring for now the baked goods dropped on her lap, Twilight said, 'I've been thinking about what you said before, and I'm terribly interested in what you've been working on. Could it be--'

'I'm not crazy,' Moon Dancer broke in, 'it's quite possible I've been at this for a while, but I've been eating. And sleeping, too. Come! I'll show you!'

Following her into the upstairs library, candles flickered to life and soon Twilight began to rummage through Moon Dancer's calculations. There was only worry on her face, and everything she read further furrowed her brow.

'Just like you left it, huh?' Moon Dancer said, vaguely watching the sun set through the window. Then she laughed to herself sudden and loud, and she said, 'That might be my most important research yet! Thank Celestia for those spells you've taught me so I could get to these equations so easily - but of course I also took care not to overdo them! I mean, of course I did.'

'Moon Dancer,' Twilight began, but already Moon Dancer had drawn near, peering over her shoulder as though this allowed her to see her work through her friend's eyes.

'See? The principle isn't truly more than another law of nature! Like life and death and air and the earth, which is really just particles and dust, which is really just molecules and bone, which--'

Twilight promptly embraced her, unable to think of another way to halt this train of thought. Moon Dancer was sure she could smell her, though she had no idea what scents she identified - she decided simply she smelled warm and cosy, like hot chocolate. A rush of emotion came to her and she held her close, whimpering, 'I'm so glad you're here... that you've come!'

Breaking the hug, Twilight noticed again the vast array of candles prepared. Suddenly her worry tilted so that there was a new kind of sadness that painted her face. She said, 'Oh, of course, I guess that's...'

Moon Dancer did not interrupt her with further torrents of words and to Twilight this proved her sudden realisation; it told her that at last she began to address what she truly wanted from her. It explained her neurotic behaviour as well as everything else. Apologetically, she said, 'I'm flattered. I'm just not sure I - well, I'm really flattered.'

'It's okay, Twilight, I know what you... need? Something like that.'

She cursed her rash, clumsy words, not knowing where they came from, and she looked away. Had the sky turned a dark violet so soon? 'Not sure I said that right. Pretty sure I ruined the mood...'

Moon Dancer did not hear Twilight's response: a cleft had opened up to them, she was sure, and there was that sound again. It quivered as the candles did too, rising up and shrinking again to its tone. 'Do... you hear that?'

Smoke rushed in, but it was not smoke. The stars fell, but they were already below the stratosphere. Before her very eyes the window seemed to disappear. She turned and night had usurped the room, sparkling and whispering its inscrutable breath.

She gasped as she felt its presence; the magic was almost inside her. She could not believe the delirium of emotions, anger and frustration, desire and pleasure. Embarrassment. She did not believe these things even as she felt them and had indeed experienced them before, if but once.

'Your friend knows about me, doesn't she?' the mysterious presence boomed. 'I know you know you do.'

Twilight stared wide-eyed and exclaimed, 'Fascinating!' A multitude of conclusions came to her, one following the next well before she could articulate them. At last she said, 'You must have emerged as Moon Dancer's magic was released, unspent, when she was asleep, and...'

'...crawled out of her dreams, like an unknown friend.'

Moon Dancer was on the verge of tears, yet she also panted erratic, hot breaths. 'No, don't you say anything! This - this is rude. I'm standing right here!'

'You are right here,' the magic agreed, 'and so is your friend. Have you looked at her?'

And she did, and as though she was infected by it, Twilight grew confused. Now her estimations had failed her. 'So, you're an embodiment of her dreams,' Twilight thought aloud. 'Perhaps even subconscious dreams: dreams at the perimeter of her mind, as all this frenetic energy materialised into form. It builds there until the dream - the energy - concludes.'

'Elementary conjecture, but that's close enough.'

'Elementary conjecture?' Moon Dancer said, offended, 'but that doesn't sound like me at all! How can you be my dream if you don't even sound like me! You're more like a Maizebridge student.'

A playful twist entered the magic, and even this subtle change made her cheeks flush. 'Ah, but it's what you would like to sound like. I'm not you; I'm simply what you wanted me to be - no, what you dreamed me to be! And as your sweet book-nerd ally just alluded to, the only way for this magical energy to be reversed is to fulfil your dream. Nothing more, nothing less.'

Gripped by guilt, Moon Dancer felt responsible for bringing this danger onto her friend, but there was another guilt too, pressing into her even more demanding: she could not but think of them both suffering sex by its power. After all she has done for me, she thought, I am a disgrace! Her whisper was guarded, unsure: 'But this is not my dream. Is it?'

Twilight stepped closer, her head swivelling to and fro as the dark magic surrounded them. 'What is?'

'I think it's suggesting we... uh... make love - that's how we'd call it, right?'

'Us?' Twilight covered her face, and Moon Dancer respectfully turned away again. Already she imagined the stardust entity refer to the ordeal in a far more vulgar tongue.

'This... isn't what I expected,' Twilight concluded glumly.

Despite the alluring cloud of magic still Moon Dancer collapsed to her knees, crying. In essence, she collapsed inside herself. 'It's not going to happen, is it?' she asked nopony in particular. 'The work will be ruined, wasted as I die and all shall be consumed by this powerful magic.' She sobbed and muttered of her perilous fate, the cloud of magic swirling against her. She both loved and hated the feeling, but not nearly as much as she hated herself.

At last she became aware of Twilight bowing over her, and she carried precisely the look of pity that she was so afraid of. She could hardly speak and her voice was little more than a weak croak. 'No, Twilight, stay back,' she warned, 'I don't want you to do whatever you're going to do! I've been lying all this time, you see, I have been abusing magic! I wanted more from the world, for the world... more from life! But I have nothing! I have accomplished nothing! I'm - I'm a--'

She could say no more, as her mouth was grasped violently. Twilight had stooped down and kissed her on her lips, and she did not understand how she so easily surrendered to her: it was as though she had relinquished the authority over her face in that same instant. Twilight drew back, yet the taste remained, her mouth waiting. Inexplicably, she kissed her again, and her tongue danced with hers' in her mouth and somewhere between them nestled a powerful force; a force of nature that surely could not be contained, burning through their clothes as its vibraphonic tone accelerated such that they could feel it against their skin. As a concerto, their hearts beat as one. The sweet taste of their warm breath and saliva. This kiss they held unaware of how long they were locked. Moon Dancer knew that this too must have been impossible - indeed, she did not even realise consciousness slipped away from her.

Boatless in space some way I float. Stars' homes hoard symbols near and far; patterns I can't but promise to tend. Made of glass it is a test, I guess; it is a test where each star so connects can break or bend. And in this test a tempest blinks and thinks things I spin yet can't comprehend, but when it rests my eyes are trained to the shape of what's tried and what is yet to try. Vases and rivers, rings and kings made vessels; ancient script of Phoenix alphabet which sings. Queue the grand reveal, a dream ere cornis uni and ali cantered, used, tallied, and mused. Telling the planets they moved well past the galaxy's fabric and behold! they caress the reveal in answer. Touched before by the stardust form, I mistrust not what's thought my own. Afloat in cosmos as nought but finite dot tiny, blind, and dumb, still I know.

I know I am no longer alone.

On the floor they awoke without any trace of the entity, but they did not truly open their eyes for very long. They did however feel each other's proximity, though they no longer touched. It must have been their breaths, erratic and harsh, that told them the other was near. Perhaps this had also been what made them awake almost simultaneously.

'Try picturing rolling waves,' Moon Dancer muttered dreamily, 'and each wave is an effortless breath.'

Twilight did as instructed, finding no reason to speak. For a while they lay there together, breathing steadily, giving way only to their own recovering bodies.

Her body may have been a tumultuous beast, tamed only slowly by her will, but Moon Dancer no longer felt this tension in her that she did before. It must have been released, somehow, around the time that the magic dissipated.

Slowly Twilight rose to her hooves. Moonlight shone into the study, and the candles had burned up. Had they truly been up there for so long? She yawned and rubbed her eyes, automatically casting them on whichever book she found. 'One day,' she decided, her mouth dry, 'you will break the Cosmic Constant, or somepony will.' She swallowed and looked at the woozy pony in her ruffled blouse and her mane atousle like a wild experiment. 'But until then, there's still enough to explore here, in Equestria.'

Moon Dancer got up, nearly stumbling as she had somehow assumed a pillow to meet her. She looked at Twilight in wonder, wishing she had her glasses on her. 'That kiss,' she managed at last to say, 'did you do that just to contain the entity?'

'I figured it would calm you down,' she answered with a soft laugh, and she did not think this evasive or vague.

And Twilight returned her eyes to Moon Dancer's research. The Transmutative Tendence was so clear, and yet much of its surrounding figures bore all manner of diversion and mania. 'Actually,' she decided quietly, 'I very much think it will be you.'

They leaned against each other lazily, and Moon Dancer thought, She doesn't smell like chocolate at all. She's more of a flower, or a fruit.

Remembering the plans she made before, she told herself to breathe easy and let the mysterious energy fade away. There was no rush for Twilight to go home just yet, and there was nothing more that had to be done right now.