Nocturnals

Castle of Friendship

Luna stood a moment in front of the throne room. The Elements were already gathered. She opened the door. The six looked at her, but remained seated. Luna asked, “Fluttershy told you everything already, right?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, “quite the night the three of you had.”

“Seeing Nightmare Moon again must have been terrible,” came from Rarity.

Luna sighed. “You have no idea… But I’m here to ask for your advice, and your help. So the most important question of all: Was it the right decision to give her a chance?”

Applejack said,“Ah recon it was. The map wouldn’t have called Fluttershy and Starlight back if it wasn’t.”

The other ponies nodded in agreement. Twilight said, “I also understand now why the map send Fluttershy and Starlight. We discussed this before you arrived, and everypony else here would have attacked immediately. Only Starlight and Fluttershy are cautious enough to eavesdrop and analyse the situation beforehoof.”

“Or too cowardly to act at all…” Fluttershy murmured.

“Oh, come on, Fluttershy,” Rainbow insisted, “Even I would have been scared!”

“Do you really mean that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Of course I would have attacked her anyway, but not everypony can be as awesome as I am...”

“Don’t you mean as reckless as you are, Dashie?” Rarity remarked.

“And who jumped between a group of dragons and Spike,” Rainbow countered, “ready to literally take fire for him?”

Spike grinned and blushed, while Rarity blushed and looked annoyed at Rainbow Dash.

Before things could escalate, Twilight took over the conversation again. “Regardless, the mission was counted as a success by the map. But this is your thing this time, Luna, not ours, so you should take the lead.”

That was… an odd thing for Twilight to say. How much did Fluttershy tell her, Luna wondered, I said they should leave out my outburst. But she only said, “You’re right. So, how much of the information she gave us can we trust?”

“I checked a few books,” Twilight said, “and found some vague hints towards the existence of werewolves, and of course the book I showed you before Nightmare Night mentioned nachtmares as some kind of creature, so that checks out.”

The door swung open, and Starlight joined the group. She carried Chrysalis’ crown with her magic, and Luna had seen enough overtired ponies to know that she didn’t get much sleep last night either, if any sleep at all. Starlight’s voice, however, was still clear. “Good morning, Luna, nice to see you.”

Starlight laid the crown on the table and said, “So, I analyzed the crown, since sleep wasn't an option after drinking my Sleep Killer anyway, and—"

"You didn't sleep," Twilight interrupted her, "at all?"

"No, Twilight, I didn't. I’ve been awake for 30 hours straight, and only stand because of the one cup I drank 11 hours and 30 minutes ago. Why do I remember so bucking exactly when I drank that cup, you ask? Because it lasts exactly 12 hours, so I really want to get this done and go to bed before my time is up, because the moment the effects wear off, I'll fall asleep." Starlight took a deep breath before continuing. "So, it definitely is the real thing. It has so many changeling cells on it, we could clone Chrysalis with them. And judging by what we know of Cheesegrater, she would never give up her crown, no matter what her plan was.”

“So they caught the bug-queen?” Pinkie asked.

“Or killed her, or stole it from her. But they met her, that’s for sure. But that's not the only thing I found out.”

Rarity, who took the crown and inspected it, said without looking at Starlight, “And what else did you find?”

Starlight grinned, “Oh, you will like that. The crown is made from bright gold and decorated with white pearls.”

“Starlight, darling, I know what gold looks like, and it doesn't look like that.”

Pinkie bounced to Rarity’s throne and added, “And the pearls are green, not white. You aren’t colorblind, are you, Starlight?”

“No, I can see colors, and I know that the crown doesn’t look like it anymore, but with a little time spell...” Starlight felt all Elements staring at her, so she added, “—one that a lot of historians use—I could see how it originally looked, before Chrysalis changed its color and shape. I believe it’s the lost crown of King Orion.”

“WHAT?” Rainbow shot out of her throne towards Starlight. “Are you sure?”

“As sure as I can be without risking to destroy it during further testing. Of course I’m not a historian, but I say it’s to… ninety-five percent certain that it’s Orion’s crown.”

“AWESOME! His crown was lost over 1000 years ago, and now we have it!” Rainbow began her infamous celebration dance.

Rarity asked surprised, “My, Dashie, I would have never thought you would ever react that enthusiastically to jewelry.”

“But it’s about King Orion! One of the most famous, most important Pegasi in history! No pegasus ever had a bigger kingdom. His kingdom was the centre of trade between the three tribes before the windigos showed up! But one day, he…”

“Got his backside kicked by Chrysalis and left his kingdom alone,” Luna said, “Makes sense that Chrysalis took his crown for herself.”

Rainbow looked a little bit sheepish. “Yeah, the end of his rule wasn’t that awesome… but how do you know that? Did you know him?”

Luna chuckled. “I’m not that old. But It still was recent history back when I was a filly, compared to now at least. And his kingdom was the one that came the closest to Equestria in regards of mutual understanding between the three tribes, so he became rather interesting to Tia and me when we founded Equestria.

“But I’m not here to talk about my school days. I already got the spell from Night... Shaded Moon, so I should be able to send her a message… if it’s not a trap, that is…”

Pinkie said, “Then why don’t you tell her to show us a werewolf? We need to know if she said the truth about them anyway.”

“That’s… not a bad idea, actually.” Luna turned to Spike. “Could you bring me ink and…”

The dragon placed ink, quill and a scroll on the table before Luna could end her request. In reaction to her surprised face, he said, “I work for Twilight. How often do you think I get asked for quill and paper?”

Luna took everything without commenting on Spike’s remarks and wrote a single sentence on the scroll. Where can I find a werewolf?

She sealed the scroll and hold it in front of her with her magic. She asked the elements to get ready in case the spell backfired or put her back under Shaded Moon’s control.

Then she concentrated on who should receive the scroll. It light up with black flames, which then left the room through an open window.

Five minutes later, they got an answer. The seal on the scroll looked like three crescent moons in a circle. Luna broke the seal and began to read.

The closest werewolf that agreed to meet with you and anypony you want to bring along is named Dagny and currently located in Manehatten.

She’s the new manager of Countess Coloratura, but considering that the Element of Honesty and ‘Rara’ are old childhood friends, you should be able to arrange the meeting yourself. If not, just send another message and I’ll arrange it instead.

“Not really a formal letter…” Twilight said.

“But it tells us everything we need to know,” Luna replied, “So I’m not going to complain. Applejack, would you come with me to Manehatten?"

“Of course, Luna. I wanted to talk to Rara anyway.”

“Thank you. The rest of you should just do what you always do. I want to keep a low profile on this process for now.”

Rainbow Dash asked, “And how do you want to go to Manehatten without catching a lot of attention? You’re the Princess of the Night!”

Luna thought about that, then used a spell. She felt herself shrink, her mane became very light azure and less… flowy and her face younger. She now looked just like anypony else in the room. “That might work, wouldn’t you say?”

“That was an ageing spell!” Twilight exclaimed, “But how is that possible? Only the highest level unicorns can do something like that!”

Luna faced Twilight and said, “You witnessed something like that already, didn’t you?”

“Yes, when Trixie had the… Alicorn… Amulet…”

Luna opened her wings and turned her head to the side to showcase her horn. “And I am?”

“An Alicorn… Shoot, I should have gotten that myself… wait, does that mean I could cast that spell as well?”

“It takes decades of practice to use it in a meaningful way, but in theory, yes.”

“But your cutie mark is still visible,” Rainbow said, “And ponies could recognize that.”

“Right, I overlooked that…” Luna closed her wings and thought about the problem for a few moments, then she said, “Rarity, would you mind providing a disguise for me?”

Manehatten

Luna and Applejack were on their way to a big concert hall in the middle of town. According to the notes enclosed with the letter from Shaded Moon, Dagny was arriving there today together with Coloratura.

“It seems like my disguise is working,” Luna said to Applejack, “or else there would already be an army of photographers here…”

“I wouldn’t recognise you myself if I wouldn’t know who you are. I’m just glad it was so urgent that Rarity decided to use one of Inky Rose’s designs, or it would have taken days.”

“Trust me, I know. I asked her to make me a costume five years ago on Nightmare Night… Didn’t end well. Pink simply isn’t my color.”

They continued to chat until they arrived at their destination. The whole place was plastered with advertisements for ‘Countess Coloratura’s Concert’. Ponies in suits with earpieces guarded the entries, and workers rushed in and out of the building. Luna approached one of the guards and asked if they could meet Dagny, but she was turned down.

Applejack, however, was let in. Rara had set her on a list of people who were always allowed backstage at her concerts, and she was allowed to bring friends with her, as long as it was a reasonable amount. They were told to search for Dagny in the main hall, which they found with the help of a friendly worker to navigate them through the maze-like architecture of the concert hall.

Dagny, a brown coated mare in a black suit and without any type of mane, talked with, what Luna and Applejack could only assume was, the organizer of the concert. She was waving something around with her hoof, and yelled at the organizer, “It was clearly stated that all green straws should be removed from the backstage food area, yet what did I find?”

The organizer replied, “A green straw?”

“Damn right! Now go and fix this, before I see myself forced to cancel the concert!”

The organizer hastily hurried away. Dagny took a deep breath, turned around, noticed Applejack and Luna and asked, “And who are you?”

“The name’s Applejack, and you’re Svengallops replacement, am I right?”

“Applejack! It’s a pleasure to meet you. Coloratura told me only good things about you. And yes, I’m her new manager, as you are probably aware thanks to our… mutual friend in the background.”

“Don’t you know that Svengallop was kicked out for abusing his influence, or do you try to be like him?” Applejack asked harshly.

“What? No! I’m not like that asshole!” Dagny protested.

Surprised about her rather informal choice of words, Luna said, “And then what was that all about? What’s the problem with green straws?”

“What do you… Oh, you saw,” she gesticulated towards the direction the organizer left, “Now that makes sense! That’s a trick. A way to find out if they read the contract rider.”

“And how,” Applejack asked, “are these two things connected?”

Dagny explained, “You see, we have a rather complex setup, so the rider is really big. The part with the straws is in the middle of it, but written in letters double the size of the rest. With red ink. It really stands out. ‘No green straws in the backstage area!’ So, if I go back there and find one, I know that they either haven’t read the whole thing or that they were so lazy that they didn’t take the two minutes it would have taken them to sort the green ones out.

“Which means I need to call our own technicians ahead of schedule to double check every single cable, wire, bolt, lamp—” She waved her hoof around “—everything in here, to make sure no accidents happen. Which means a lot of extra work. Work we don’t have to do if they read the instructions and follow through, including removing all green straws.”

“That’s an elegant solution, actually,” Luna said with approval.

Dagny nodded. “I rather make a lazy organizer wet himself by shouting at him than risk Coloratura, or any other member of the crew, being killed by falling lighting equipment.”

“I’m sorry,” Applejack admitted, “I was too rash with judging you.”

“Not necessary, I’ve been called worse things. But you two aren’t here to chat about my job, right, Princess Luna?”

“Don’t say who I am out loud,” Luna hissed, “I’m not disguising myself just so you can blow my cover!”

“Alright then, Lulu. How about we discuss this somewhere private, then?”

The three went to Dagny’s suite in a hotel nearby, where the whole crew was living for the time being. The elevator brought them directly into it, and since the floor was only accessible with a special key, they didn’t run the risk of being interrupted. Dagny explained all this when they left the elevator and then proceeded to close all curtains. While she was doing that, Luna asked, “Is it a werewolf thing to not have a mane?”

“No, I just shaved mine off because it kept bothering me. Always having to take care with styling and everything costs too much time. Besides, I get into fights rather regularly, so nopony can pull on my mane.” She closed the final curtain.

With a sigh of relief, she began to change. Her hooves turned into paws, her coat became fluffier and her face formed a snout. “Do you believe that I’m a werewolf already or do I have to completely turn into a canine?”

“No, that should be enough,” Luna said, “You can turn back into a pony, I believe you.”

“That would be appreciated,” added Applejack.

“If you insist…” Dagny trotted to a nearby counter, took a pill that was lying there and turned back.

“Why the pill?” Applejack asked.

“It’s medicine. Helps my kind to stay in pony form, and to endure being in the sun. It’s quite pricey.”

Now Luna was interested, so she said, “We know already how the sun affects vampires, but what does it do to your kind?”

“It’s… hard to describe, you know? Vampires can just say it burns them, but to us… You have to understand that this form, the pony form, feels unnatural to most of us. We prefer the mixed form I just showed you. But in the sun, we can’t keep that form. It’s simply not possible. So it feels to us as if we were trapped in a body that isn’t ours. That’s too small, too weak… And this stuff”—she pointed at a bottle of pills—“helps with that feeling. It would allow us to take on our true forms, even in daylight.

“And since we have the option to, it’s easier to be a pony. Kinda like it’s ok for most ponies to stay in a rather small room on their own merit, but being locked into one would bother them.”

Applejack wanted to ask a question, but was interupted by a ‘bing’ sound, signalizing the arrival of the elevator. “I thought nopony else can come in.” she said instead.

“The only ponies with a key are me and Coloratura,” Dagny explained, “So it’s probably her.”

“Dagny, are you here?” Coloratura asked through the opening elevator doors.

“Rara?” Applejack replied.

“AJ?” Coloratura said before coming in and hugging her old friend. “You could have told me that you come to visit. Now I have almost no time.”

“Sorry about that, it was a spontaneous idea.”

“I see. Since you are here, you probably already met my new manager.”

“We did, yes,” Applejack said.

Coloratura spotted Luna and asked, “And you are another friend of AJ?”

“My name is Lulu, pleased to meet you."

“Lulu… wait, that face, dark blue coat… Princess Luna?”

Luna chuckled, “Impressive, you are the first pony to see through my disguise.”

“Well, Dagny told me somepony important wanted to meet her, but would have never imagined it to be a princess,” Coloratura responded, “Is it about her being a… special kind of pony?”

Applejack asked surprised, “You know that she’s a werewolf?”

“Of course I do,” Coloratura answered, “Why do you think she gets a private suite only she and I can enter?”

Dagny said jokingly, “If the gossipers would find out, they would probably say we were having an affair.”

Luna asked casually, “Well, are you?”

Both Coloratura and Dagny laughed at the idea. Dagny recovered first and said, “No, we’re not. We are friends, and nothing more.”

Coloratura added, “The real reason is that it’s easier for Dagny to keep her secret this way. And she’s doing such a good job that I think she deserves it anyway.”

“Her green straw trick is really clever,” Applejack said.

Coloratura sighed. “They failed, didn’t they?”

Applejack answered, “Eyup.”

“I already sent a message to the tech-team,” Dagny said, “They should arrive in a few hours. Let’s hope it turns out better than it did in Dodge City.” Coloratura hmphed.

Confused, Luna asked, “And what happened there?”

“Oh, nothing,” Dagny said, “Just that their stage wasn’t able to support her grand piano, which they didn’t check in advance because they just assumed that, since it was able to hold their way smaller upright piano, it would be able to hold her’s. So when we arrived to rehearse, the whole thing crashed through the stage-floor.”

Coloratura added, “Good thing the stage was so weak it broke immediately, instead of during rehearsal or, even worse, live in concert.”

Dagny continued, “Replacing the piano cost thirty-thousand bits, and the stage and everything another twelve-thousand bits.”

Luna and Applejack looked utterly shocked.

Dagny smiled. “I know that expression.”

“And what expression do we have?” Applejack asked.

“The ‘Fuck, that’s a lot of bits’-face.”

“I can’t say you’re wrong,” Applejack said, “But I would probably use other words.”