Author's Note

More story. Yay? Well I hope some of you are still interested! Dropped in more call-backs to my previous stories here too. Clop (and more comedy) will be coming but I've decided there's some (semi-serious) plot to work into all this... we'll see how it goes.

The Memory Stone Part II

Twilight Sparkle woke with a start. She quickly realized there was no fresh hay, only soft sheets surrounding her. Was it all just another dream caused by Luna? the alicorn thought to herself, dismayed that it all was another dream from Luna to tease her. That was until she started to lift herself out of bed, only to find her limbs were sore and her belly was slightly swollen.

“Good morning, Twilight Sparkle.” a cool and gentle voice suddenly said from a corner of the room.

“Gahh!” Twilight fell on her face as she was caught by surprise while still ensnared in the silken sheets. It was then that Twilight realized two important things from her spot on the floor: she wasn’t in her room, and Princess Luna was standing in front of her.

Luna let out a gentle laugh as she used her blue magic to tug the unkempt alicorn out from her tangle of sheets before setting her on her hooves.

“Forgive me for shocking you Twilight, I wished to catch you when you first woke so you would not get lost in the halls of this tower.”

Twilight looked up at Luna with no lack of confusion. “Luna, but last night I was, Applejack and I-”

“Twilight.” Luna said firmly, placing a hoof against the younger alicorn’s cheek. “do not be troubled. You did very well last night; You quelled the deep-rooted fears of a good friend and brought comfort and joy to the both of you.”

Luna let out another small laugh, her eyes filled with mystery and mirth. “I will say however that the Element of Honesty is one very possessive pony. It took us many hours before w-err, I could convince the stubborn mare to let me take you from her hooves and bring you to your chambers here.”

Upon hearing that, Twilight’s ears perked up and her large purple eyes began to scan the unfamiliar room with unmasked curiosity. After a few moments she gave up and looked back to the Lunar Princess.

“Luna, I don’t recognize this place, the layout and architecture seems so different from anything I’ve seen before in Canterlot Castle. What room is this?”

Luna stood to her full height and spread out her wings before proclaiming, “You dwell not in the castle. Twilight, be welcomed to the Tower of the Moonlight Solace!”

A few moments later Luna floated over a small box inlaid with silver until it hovered between them.

“The appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony; Therefore Twilight Sparkle, we would present you with this.” she used her magic and opened the box, revealing the contents.

Twilight’s eyes sparkled as they reflected the jewelry within. Inside the box lay a finely crafted necklace. The centerpiece was a large purple jewel made to look like a window, behind it Twilight could see a representation of the moon made from a finely polished pearl. Stars, made of small, inlaid diamonds were placed around the moon, forming the image of a glittering, star-filled night beset by clouds made of blown silver strands. It was a beautiful work of jewelcraft.

“Twilight Sparkle, for completing your first task as an initiate of the Solace, and in recognizing your current titles and outstanding history of service to Equestria, I proudly award you the rank of ‘Canoness Dialogues’ of the Moonlight Solace. Please bow your head.”

Luna used her magic to gently remove the necklace from the box before placing it around Twilight’s offered neck. The purple alicorn quickly lifted her head and used a hoof to pull the piece back up so she could continue studying the intricate design. Her attention was stolen however when Luna began to speak again.

“As Cannoness Dialogues, you will be the voice of our order. Your words and deeds will carry great weight and will be backed by the full confidence of myself and all who choose to join us. Any resources you desire in the pursuit of expanding or benefiting the order will be granted to you without question.”

The Lunar Princess paused, stretching a hoof towards the door. “Now please follow me, there’s somepony I wish you to meet.”

Twilight, now entirely overwhelmed, simply nodded her head and followed.

Twilight’s head swiveled constantly as she took in every detail of the structure around them as she followed Luna down a long hallway. The entire building seemed as if it was made of opal, and every bounce of the light off the smooth walls played tricks on the eyes, making the surface seem to move and swirl, like the gasses of some star-filled nebula. Occasionally they would pass another door and even those Twilight realized were not made of wood, but instead some sort of massive, darkened crystal that had been carefully crafted into the shape of a door. Twilight was so entranced studying every detail around her that she didn’t even think to ask questions like when the place had been built, but given the timelessness of the materials used, the structure could have been thousands of years old.

Finally they came to a large open entrance, made of what appeared to be a giant sapphire that had been expertly carved into a portalway. As they walked through the center Twilight noted the lack of imperfections or tool marks in the cut that formed the hole; the craftspony must have used magic carefully over many days to cut and shape the gemstone.

After they had stepped inside Twilight stopped, awestruck at the sheer size of the room. The space was cavernous and seemed to be in a similar layout to a storage room like those used in the Canterlot archives. Thousands of pull out drawers made of what appeared to be some silvery polished metal lined the walls and each drawer was adorned with a pull-knob carved from a ruby or similar gem.

Twilight approached the closest drawer to the entrance and noticed each appeared to have a small plaque with a notation written in Equish on it. The one she was near simply read: “Memory Stone: Silver Sky, 208 B.B.”

Memory stone? Twilight couldn’t remember reading anything about those in the history books, in fact until now she’d known next to nothing about the Moonlight Solace outside of the fact that Luna had founded the order a few centuries before her banishment.

Twilight turned to ask Luna about it, but before she could open her muzzle the larger alicorn simply raised a hoof.

“I know you have many questions about this place. I pray you have patience. There is a pony here who’s very duty is to welcome you and share some of our history; I would be remiss if I didn’t let her perform said duties." Luna lifted a hoof, pointing it back toward the entryway. "Twilight Sparkle, please meet River Sparkle, Prioress of the Moonlight Solace. As you are the voice of the Solace, River is its memory and mind."

Twilight suddenly noticed the pony entering the room. River Sparkle was a shapely unicorn mare with a mane of flowing silver-grey hair. Her blueish-grey fur was mostly covered by an elaborate see-through silk robe that had crystals weaved throughout the strands, giving her body the appearance of twinkling stars set against a dark blue sky. Around her neck was the symbol of her station, a collar much like the one Luna wore, except made from what appeared to be polished onyx that was studded with diamonds. As the unicorn approached, Twilight watched as the mare’s intelligent green eyes studied her closely.

After a moment of shared silence the newcomer finally spoke. “Be welcomed. Whenever you walk these halls may you be blessed by the memories and love we have all shared. May your hoofsteps find purchase as they carry you forward to bring comfort and companionship to all those who seek it and in return may you always sleep soundly knowing the Guardian of the Night watches over us all.”

Her welcome completed, River Sparkle leaned towards the Lunar Princess and then stage-whispered, “Did I get that right, Luna?”

Luna quickly covered her muzzle with a hoof to keep from laughing. “Indeed, well done, Prioress.” she lowered her hoof and studied the two mares for a moment, still smiling. “Twilight has completed her first assignment as a member of the Moonlight Solace, please see to it that you answer any questions she may have, and then bring me a memory stone so we may prepare it for her.”

The silver-haired unicorn nodded enthusiastically before turning her head back towards Twilight, only to find the purple alicorn was practically muzzle to muzzle with her. “whaa!” River gasped, nearly falling backwards before steadying herself.

Twilight didn’t seem to notice. “Oh my gosh! I have so many questions! When was this place built? How many members did the Solace used to have? What’s a memory stone? How was all of this so intricately constructed? How many drawers are in this room? Who made my necklace? How Come-”

River was amazed the alicorn was still going and hadn’t taken a single breath so far. She tried to interrupt.

“Canoness?”

“-Star-swirl never mentioned this tower in his compendium. What’s the rank above Prioress?”

“Twilight Sparkle?”

“What do I do if I want to recruit new members? How many years did the Solace operate after Luna’s ba-”

Realizing she couldn’t stop the mare with words, River Sparkle quickly wrapped her forehooves around Twilight’s neck and pulled her into a deep kiss. Twilight’s thoughts melted into the soft lips pressed into hers, causing her to let out a moan.

After a few more seconds, River released Twilight from the kiss and stepped back. “Better?” she asked, giving the alicorn a bemused look.

Twilight nodded slowly. “Mhmmm.” it was all she could muster in response.

River Sparkle’s face lit up with a smile. “Excellent! So first let’s go get your memory stone, Luna will enchant it for you and show you how to use one, in the meantime I’ll do my best to answer a few of your questions.” she put extra emphasis on “few”.

The grey-haired unicorn quickly held up a hoof when she noticed Twilight start to open her muzzle again.

“So let me tell you some of the basic history. The rules and makeup of this order are pretty straightforward; Luna founded the order about 1,300 years ago with the goal of expanding her efforts to bring comfort to those whom she felt were forced to endure the night alone.” she paused for a moment, gesturing with a hoof for Twilight to follow her towards one of the shelf-lined walls on the far-end of the room.

“This tower was constructed early on in the Moonlight Solace’s founding by a hundred hoof-picked unicorn artisans. The order itself operated continuously with hundreds of members up until a few years after Luna’s banishment but sadly collapsed not long after.”

The unicorn turned her head back while placing a hoof to her own chest. “My rank is the second highest in the order, under only the Abbess Sanctorum, which is the rank held by Princess Luna. Your rank of Canoness places you directly under me, though the hierarchy of the Moonlight Solace is not very rigid.” River nodded happily, seeming to remember something pleasant. “so yeah, fraternizing and intimate relationships, even with Luna herself are very much encouraged.” She raised a hoof skyward and waggled her eyebrows. “I’m told the orgies were quite a sight to behold.”

Twilight blushed and her ears twitched madly as unbidden thoughts of the expansive halls turning into a steamy cacophony of mating noises filled her mind.

Eventually they reached one of the shelf-lined walls and the unicorn studied it for a bit looking for a particular drawer. She kept talking as she searched. “You’d asked about recruiting. Well joining the Moonlight Solace has no specific requirements. If you nominate someone we will likely accept them.The order has no preference on gender or species, only that they be willing to use their talents to help others and follow the rules given to them.”

Spotting the unmarked drawer she wanted, River reached up with a hoof and pulled it open. Using her magic, she plucked a smooth, almost metallic looking blue stone from the drawer and began floating it across the room towards Luna.

Twilight watched the stone sail lazily through the air, a million more questions darting through her mind. Despite wanting to voice them, she did her best to remain silent and politely followed the pretty unicorn mare as she made her way back toward Luna.

As they reached the Princess of the Night, River Sparkle gestured towards the stone now floating in the blue alicorn’s magic. “These are perhaps the most important tools of the Moonlight Solace, the memory stones.”

Luna nodded. “Indeed, River Sparkle, and thank you for answering some of our wonderful Twilight’s many burning questions.”

Luna’s horn glowed an even brighter blue as magic began to flow from it and pour into the stone in her grasp. The smaller alicorn’s purple eyes reflected the stone as it began to glow an almost bluish-orange.

After a few seconds of channeling, the spell was complete, and Luna floated the energized stone over to the order’s newest member. Twilight took the stone in her purple magic feeling the energy pulsing through it. She observed the shiny surface and noticed it was so glassy-smooth she could even see her own reflection in it.

While Twilight continued to study the stone, Luna spoke again, “These memory stones are vital for our order. They allow us to collect the very thoughts and memories of those who use them. This allows us to create a complete record of our efforts to bring comfort and companionship to others. The record also serves as a learning tool for other members, and ensures our own honesty as well as the safety of our charges." Luna coughed sharply, making sure Twilight was looking at her.

Twilight’s head suddenly snapped up, her cheeks blushing in embarrassment.

“Whenever you carry out your duties, it is imperative that you come here soon after and add the memory to this stone. Since you have recently brought Applejack comfort and solace, your memories of that shall make a fine addition to our collection.”

Twilight seemed ready to object before Luna cut her off. “Do not worry; I spoke with Applejack at length while trying to bring you back. She approved of having the memory recorded, in her words, ‘As long as it helps everypony then ah guess it’d be fine.’” Luna’s impersonation of the farm mare was eerily on point.

Luna took on a serious appearance and made a gesture with her hoof, lifting it and touching it to her forehead. “Now please, lift the stone like this and touch it to your head, then think or say ‘BEGIN’ to activate the enchantment. Every interaction within the spell can be completed with just your thoughts." Luna lowered her hoof. "since I cast the enchantment, I will be able to view the interaction as well, but be warned: there is no privacy or omission of truth here. Everything will be kept honest, so no secrets are hidden.” Luna dropped her serious look and smiled gently. “how fitting then that your first memory added will be of the Element of Honesty herself.”

Twilight nodded, touched the stone to her head like Luna had shown her and said, “BEGIN!”

***
A bright flash of light consumed her vision, and then suddenly all was darkness. Slowly, out the darkness, words and images seemed to materialize before her.

[ This memory stone was recorded by: So do I just think my name now? Right! Ok, uh- Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle! ]

Is… it working? I’ve tried tapping it but I’m not sure if it's recording or not.

Yes Twilight, I can see and hear your thoughts. Just relax and remain focused.