Lessons in The Arcane

by Paleblood Pony

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Mystery
Length: 1686

Twilight and Luna have nightly lessons about magic and creatures of the night.

Due to an accident, Luna has become Twilight’s adoptive mother. She tries to pay back for what has happened with lessons about magic and creatures that go bump in the night.

Published 2017-11-23 07:40:07 UTC
Last updated 2017-11-25 05:51:34 UTC

The First Lesson

Luna sighed. It had been a long day and it was late at night, but she didn’t have time for sleep. For tonight, she started her private lessons with her daughter. “She should be here soon. Today, I’ll just teach her about some creatures.” As Luna thought to herself, a quiet knock came from her bedroom door. “Come in.”

The door slowly opened to reveal a small purple alicorn. “Good evening, mom.” Twilight walked into the room, sitting next to Luna on the bed.

“Good evening, sweetheart.” Luna kissed Twilight on the forehead. “Is Shining home yet?”

“No. He and Cadence are out on another date.” Twilight used her magic to open her saddle bag, pulling out a note pad, an ink well, and a quill. “So, what are we learning about tonight? Body swapping spells, summoning spells, and I wouldn’t mind getting my hooves on a gender switching spell.”

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing.” Twilight’s face turned a bright pink as she realized her slip up. She looked down to avoid Luna’s gaze.

“Don’t worry, dear. I’m sure we’ll get to that at some point or another.” Luna was trying not to burst into laughter. “We’re actually not going to be learning any magic tonight. We’re going out to study some of the creatures that call Equestria home.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun.” Twilight packed away her notepad and writing materials. “What kind of things are we going to learn about? Dragons, Lynels, ancient Lovecraftien horrors that stalk through the night and feast on the dreams of those they encounter?!”

“Ummmm... sure. Let’s go with that.” Luna had no idea of how to respond to her daughter’s sudden burst of excitement. “Let’s just get to the forest and see what’s around tonight and we’ll learn about that.”

“Alright! Exploring the forest and finding creatures with Mom! This is going to be so fun!” Twilight jumped off the bed and practically ran out onto the balcony. Luna giggled and stood up before joining Twilight.

“We’re coming back if things get too dangerous, alright?” Luna and Twilight hopped over the railing, spreading their wings and taking flight towards a nearby forest.

“Of course mom!” The excitement in Twilight’s voice was obvious, as it had been since they had left the castle. “I hope we come across some cool insects.”

“Oh, I’m sure there will be plenty of moths and butterflies out tonight. Remember, we also can’t be out too long because I have to do my job.” Luna glanced over to Twilight, who had the largest grin the princess of the night had seen on the mare’s face since the two first met.

“It’s so good to see Twilight like this. She hasn’t been even close to this excited about something since she went off to college.” Luna smiled as she thought to herself. The two soon landed at the edge of And old forest. “Here we are.” Luna walked through the thick bushes and into a clearing with a small pond. Twilight followed her mother, setting her writing equipment up on an old moss covered rock.

As Twilight was setting up, a large moth with a white body and beautiful red and orange wings landed on Twilight’s horn. “Oh. Hello there little guy, what species are you?” Twilight lifted her quill to her horn, and the moth passed over to it. “You’re quite the cute little thing.” Twilight ran the tip of her hoof down the moth’s furry back.

“He’s a sunset moth. So named for their gorgeous wings. They have a lifecycle different from most moths. While their main goal in life is to find a mate and reproduce, they live much longer than most moths, having a lifespan around three years.” Twilight began to jot down notes, being careful not to disturb the moth as she sketched it out. “Now Twilight, I want to talk to you about something before we continue. I know it’s summer and that you likely don’t want to talk about college, but I do and I want to ask you about something.”

“Oh, of course Mom, what is it?” Twilight turned to face Luna, cocking her head in curiosity.

“Well Twily, I’ve been in contact with some of your professors and they have been telling me that your grades are starting to slip and your turning in work that either isn’t to the best of your ability, incomplete, or just flat out not turning anything in at all. What’s happening, sweetheart?”

Twilight looked at Luna, her eyes starting to tear up. “I’ve been thinking about my parents again. I just can’t forget about what happened that night. I was only four yet I remember it so well.”

“Honey, it’s okay to think about them. Just don’t let it get in front of your school life. I’m sure they’d be happy to see you and your brother now, one a princess and in college, the other dating a princess and captain of the Crystal Empire’s royal guard.”

Twilight smiled and looked back down at her notebook, her tears slowing down. “Thanks mom.” Twilight looked up to see a large wolf staring at the two. “Mom, we should go.” Twilight started to get up as Luna started walking over to the wolf, which was about her size. “What are you doing? It’s going to hurt you!”

Luna giggled and began to pet the large animal. “Not he won’t. These are Grand Wolf. Though they are quite large and look rather fierce, they’re actually quite docile and love attention.” The wolf rolled over onto its back as Luna stroked its chest and stomach. “Who’s a good boy? You are, yes you are.” The wolf licked Luna on the face, pulling another laugh from the princess.

Twilight began to sketch the animal as well as write down notes. “Wow! So they’re like big puppies! That’s so cute.”

“Well I guess that’s one way you could look at it.” Luna stood up and walked back towards Twilight, the wolf following her.

“Hey mom, I think he loves you. Could we keep him? I can take care of him. I have like three other pets at college.”

“Sorry honey. I don’t think my sister would deal to well with him. We can come visit him out here sometimes, though.”

“Alright.” Twilight packed her things again before taking flight with her mother.

To Be Continued In Chapter 2

Author's Note

There will be an explination about why Shining and Cadence aren’t married in a later chapter.

Dream Eaters

Twilight slowly walked up the stairs towards Luna’s room. “What is going on? I thought I’d be happy to be home, but I’ve only had nightmares since I got back. Maybe mom knows something about that.” Twilight stopped in front of the large double doors. She raised one hoof and knocked on one of the pieces of wood.

“Come in.” Twilight pushed the door open and walked inside. She walked over to the bed and payed next to her mother. “Good evening sweetheart. You seem down, is something up?”

“Yeah, actually. Ever since I’ve come home from college, I’ve only had nightmares and no pleasent dreams. Do you know anything about that or how to help?” Twilight looked up at Luna, who’s face had become a bit paler.

“If course Twilight. I’ll do whatever I can to help you deal with this problem of yours. Now, did you bring your quill and note pad?”

“Yep. I have to considering that we’re going to be doing these lessons until I go back to college.” Twilight used her magic to pull open her saddle bags and pull out her writing equipment. “Now what?”

“Listen carefully.” Luna began to speak in a language Twilight had no knowledge of. Her horn began to glow a brilliant blue before sending out a wave of magic.

“What did you do just now?” Twilight looked around curiously, only to find nothing had changed in the room. “And what does the spell do?”

“It’s an old spell I learned around your age. The meaning behind it is Reveal to me those that are too cowardly to show themselves. What it does is reveal creatures or object hidden by magic or other similar means.”

“Hm? Like what? I didn’t see anything different.” The realization dawned on Twilight as she began to frantically look around her body, noticing small leech like creatures covering her. “Wh-what the hell are these things?!”

“Calm down, Twily. They’re called Dream Eaters. They feed off of the pleasant dreams of other creatures, leaving them only to have nightmares until these nasty little creatures are removed.” Luna used her magic to remove one of the Eaters from Twilight’s wing. “They aren’t really a threat to anything other than good dreams.”

Twilight quickly sketched down the creature, along with writing down the information being fed to her. “So, all they really do is stop you from having good dreams? I guess that isn’t too bad in the scope of all things.”

“True. And they’re also quite easy to deal with, as all you have to do is give them a quick tug and they’ll pop right off.” Twilight and Luna began to pull the creatures off of the small alicorn, putting them into a jar on the nearby desk. “Now for the spell.” Luna pulled an old book off of her shelf and flipped through the pages until she landed on the one she was looking for. “Here. Just copy this down and practice it. We’ll have to stop early tonight because I have to do my weekly night court and deal with questions from the public and accept their gifts.”

Twilight quickly jotted down the spell before putting her things in her saddle bag and hopping off of Luna’s bed. “Alright mom. I’ll be back tomorrow night.”

To Be Continued
Next Chapter: Labors of Love
Twilight’s old friend Pinkie Pie has come to visit her. The two notice that Shining Armor And Cadence’s relationship isn’t what it used to be and decide to figure out what’s wrong.