//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 // Story: Twin Twilight Tales // by MagnetBolt //------------------------------// "Princess, you don't have to watch me the whole time," Midnight said, trying to smile. Princess Celestia was perched on a pillow a few sizes too small for her, all four hooves curled under her like a cat. She smiled back at Midnight. "I had some free time, and I thought I would spend it with my student. Surely there's nothing strange about that?" Celestia's smile never faltered, even as she continued. "And I do want to make sure you don't accidentally break your promise to stay away from advanced spellbooks for another month." "O-of course I wouldn't break a promise," Midnight said, starting to sweat. "Well, that's excellent. I was also going to help you find research material on those reports." "Reports?" Midnight asked, confused. "Oh yes. The ones about why using untested spells is a bad idea. I believe you are supposed to write three of them." She paused. "Or perhaps it was four. In my old age, it's sometimes difficult to remember these things." "It was three!" Midnight said, jumping on the fireball like a trained soldier. She knew from experience that Celestia did not negotiate when she punished somepony. "Ah, yes. Three." Celestia smiled. "Due at the end of the month, after which we can discuss your library privileges again. I believe if the reports are exceptional enough, we could consider taking time off for good behavior. Assuming the rest of your behavior is similarly good." "Yes, Princess," Midnight said. "So where should I start?" "While the history section is the obvious choice for older examples, Equestria has a legal system that generates a considerable amount of paperwork. You might consider looking into the lawbooks, especially those dealing with reckless magical endangerment. They should include references to precedent that you can use." "I'll get right to work on that," Midnight said. Once she was out of sight of Celestia, her head lowered and her ears folded back. This was going to be a long day. No, a long month. She followed the shelves down to the section that held the thick, mostly faceless tomes of the law section. They stretched from where she stood, down a full ten bookcases, then around the corner, and she had a feeling she was looking at just the tip of the iceberg. "There should be a book here somewhere that will help me sort this out," Midnight muttered. "Probably at one of the ends of the section. If it's not here at the start like a table of contents, it'll be at the end like an index." She nodded, pleased with her reasoning. Midnight lit her horn to generate enough light to actually read the faded words on the spines of the books, and a glimmer from a high shelf caught her attention. There was a thick, black book there, with silver detailing on the spine. It was either the newest book there by a wide margin, or else it was preserved far more carefully than the rest. "Of course," Midnight snorted. "The index for all this would have to be constantly revised. Naturally it would be the newest book." She grabbed it, taking it down so she could get a look. Like the spine, beyond the abstract silver detailing, the cover didn't include a name. "That's strange," Midnight muttered. She set the book down and flipped it open. The pages were thick, the whole thing printed on expensive paper instead of the cheap pulp she'd expect from a continually-revised reference tome. "No title, no author listed..." She flipped past the first blank page and found a dedication just 'to her'. Midnight tuned to the next page, and her eyes went wide. The pages were filled with illustrations, and when she looked closer, she could see it wasn't printed. The illuminations were all hoof-drawn. "Oh wow," Midnight whispered. She looked around. Celestia wouldn't mind if she took a short break to read this, would she? It was probably a unique book, mis-shelved because of the lack of a title. She might not even be able to find it again. Smiling to herself, she started at the first page. "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, two sisters were given the throne after they restored peace and harmony to what had been a world of turmoil..." Celestia waved to the crowd. There had to be hundreds of them gathered here, more ponies than she'd ever seen in one place. Their great enemy had always gravitated towards larger groups to spread his chaos. Cities had been abandoned, towns were left in ruins, and ponies were scattered across the world. "I can't believe it's finally over," Celestia sighed. "Of course, sister," Luna smiled. "Now we can finally live in peace." "And learn to deal with some of these changes," Celestia laughed. "I wonder how long these wings will last." "Hopefully long enough that I can teach you to fly better than a lame duck," Luna quipped, quietly enough that the crowd couldn't overhear. "Says the pony who used her horn to pry open tin cans." "It worked," Luna said, sticking out her tongue. "I told you I could figure it out myself." "Who the heck is Luna?" Midnight asked, scratching her head. "Celestia doesn't have a sister." She put the picture book down and looked around. The legal books were some of the oldest ones in the library, aside from the manuscripts kept under lock and key - and she wasn't going to be able to look at anything that rare for at least a month. "Maybe there are some references here," Midnight considered, grabbing the oldest book she could see and flipping through it. "Ugh. Horse Latin." She sighed and summoned a scroll and quill, starting to translate some of the more likely passages. After a few hours and several more books, Midnight couldn't find a single reference to anypony named Luna. At least, not anypony who could have been a sister to Princess Celestia. There were plenty of ponies who had 'Luna' or 'Lunar' or 'Lune' in their name somewhere, especially in more recent history where there had been a fad in the mid-970s with moon names. That would have settled it, if Midnight felt like she had anywhere near a complete record. Princess Celestia had assumed the throne over a thousand years ago, and if the book was referencing times around that takeover, well, there were big gaps in the historical record around that period. Scholars said it wasn't really as though there were gaps or some sort of dark age, it was just that the printing press had yet to be invented, and the renaissance that took place later only took pains to preserve the 'classics', which at the time meant truly ancient works. Much had been lost simply because it was considered trivial and too new to be important. Frustrated, Midnight turned back to the illuminated book, hoping she could find some details that she could tie to known historical events. Luna breathed heavily as she stumbled into town. Most of the blood matting her coat wasn't hers. Most of it. It was the middle of the night, and almost every door was shut tightly against the dangers that still lurked in the darkness, the remaining beasts and monsters that still survived after the chaos lord had been overthrown. The dark princess trotted to the well in the center of the village, drawing up a bucket and pouring it over her head, washing some of the blood away, the ice-cold water helping to revive her. She shook out her mane and looked around. Nopony had come out to look. Luna hadn't been quiet, but neither would a monster. It was no surprise that they weren't quick to leave the safety of their homes, given what she'd found in the woods. "The displacer beast is defeated," Luna proclaimed. "It is safe here again, I promise you." She waited. A door creaked open behind her. She turned, smiling. "P-please go," a mare's voice said, from behind the door. "I'm sorry. We can't offer you a feast or tribute. We have nothing." "The only thing I want is-" Luna started. The door closed before she could finish. "-to see you smile," she whispered. She stood there for a few moments longer, her head bowed, before leaving, vanishing in a swirl of moonlight and sparkling dust. "Weird," Midnight muttered. "So they'd leave tribute to her, and there were monsters in the dark..." She folded her forelegs and looked at the books around her. "That reminds me of Nightmare Night." It was her favorite holiday of the year, except that one occasion when she and Twilight Sparkle had both worn the same costume. She was sure that hers was more accurate - Black Lotus had worn burgundy trim on his hat, not crimson trim, even if she had to admit that Twilight had been right about his staff having a twist to the right instead of the left. "That gives me an excellent angle of attack! I can just read up on the history of Nightmare Night and it should lead me right to the source I need!" Midnight groaned. A tower of books had collapsed on her. Maybe the librarian had been right when she said no living pony stacked books that way. It wouldn't have been bad if it hadn't been a tall tower of failure. "Every book about Nightmare Night was written in the past century and just says it's based on ancient lunar and harvest festivals!" Midnight huffed. "How does that help? There should be at least some kind of record!" She tossed the books burying her aside, not bothering to be careful. Mending spells existed for a reason, after all - to make sure she could fix things after she threw them across the room in frustration. "The closest thing I can find is on Nightmare cults, and they probably don't even exist." Midnight paced around the clearing she'd made. "I mean, who would want to worship somepony who lost a fight? The only ponies who even pretend to do that are stupid teenagers." She was, of course, excluding herself from that category. While she was a teenager, she wasn't stupid. She had plenty of certificates that proved she wasn't stupid. "This is just like how the papers said O&O was a tool for dark magic and Tirek worship," Midnight muttered. She picked up the illuminated book, making sure she hadn't accidentally damaged it. "I guess I'm going to have to ask a primary source after all." "Sister, please, this is serious," Luna said. "I need your help." Celestia sighed without breaking the placid smile on her face, looking out over the ball from where she and Luna were perched on a high balcony. "Luna, you're jumping at shadows. We're at peace." "It isn't peace I'm worried about," Luna said, more quietly. "The nobility shuns me, Celestia. There are barely enough ponies coming to night court to justify even opening the doors." "Well you can't blame them, Luna," Celestia sighed. "Most of them have to work during the day. Don't you see them anyway when you walk through their dreams?" "Yes, but..." Luna hesitated. "Dreams are private. I try not to make my presence known unless absolutely needed." "You should change that," Celestia suggested, turning away from the ball to give Luna her full attention. "The only thing more beautiful than your night are the dreams you create. You should remind them that you watch over them there." "I suppose, sister," Luna considered. "But there are some ponies that are actually hostile to me. I've heard rumors that they want to petition you to have my authority reduced." "They can make as many petitions as they want, Luna, but it will never change anything between us," Celestia assured her, nuzzling her little sister. "What if we had a combined court?" Luna asked. "Then they would see us rule side-by-side, as equals." "Let's try my idea first," Celestia said. "If we had a combined court, with only two of us, they would also see us disagreeing. Besides, you deserve to have total authority over your domain." "I suppose," Luna sighed. "Come," Celestia said, sounding excited. "I think I see just the thing to brighten your mood - pear tarts!" Midnight dropped the heavy black book in front of Celestia. The Princess tilted her head and looked at the tome curiously. "What's this, Midnight? It doesn't look like the books I advised you to find." Celestia flipped through the pages. Midnight watched her expression carefully. She was still learning to read through Celestia's constant masked expression of serenity, but she couldn't detect any trace of surprise or real curiosity. "It's something I found that was mis-shelved. It's a beautiful piece of art." Midnight kept watching her expression. Celestia wasn't really reading it, just glancing through the pages. Part of her was sure Celestia had seen the book before. "It certainly is," Celestia agreed. "It looks like this was done in watercolors as separate paintings, then bound together. The time and effort to make it must have been prohibitive." "Is the story true?" Midnight asked, bluntly. "What's the story about?" Celestia asked, closing the book and giving it back to Midnight. Midnight put it down carefully and opened a few pages in to where she'd left off. "It says here that you had a sister named Luna." She pointed to the dark alicorn standing next to Celestia in the painting, watching over Equestria from the clouds above with the sun and moon hanging between them, sharing the sky. "Does it?" Celestia smiled. "I can't find proof one way or the other," Midnight said, getting annoyed. "You can tell me. If it's some big secret, I'll promise not to tell anypony else about it." "It would be very difficult to keep a secret about something like that," Celestia said. "For me, I mean. If you want to find the truth, there's a whole library here that should help." "But you can just tell me!" Midnight huffed. "Just a simple yes or no!" "Well, Midnight..." Celestia leaned forward. "I think that impatience is what got you in trouble in the first place. If you want something, you have to work for it." "They're all so timid!" Luna snarled. She threw the mug she was holding across the room, the thick crystal shattering against the stone of the castle wall. "They won't even come out at night! When I appear in their dreams all they ever want is to sit in the sun!" A maid silently picked up the pieces of the broken mug before an aura of golden magic enveloped them and brought them together, repairing the ruined tankard perfectly, not even leaving a blemish on its surface. "Luna, calm down," Celestia said, harshly. "You're acting like a foal. And why are you drinking already? It's seven in the morning!" "In case you have forgotten, not all ponies wake with the sun and cower in their beds the moment it goes down!" Luna snapped. "It's still not polite," Celestia said. "Ponies will think poorly of you if they see you... like this, so early in the day." "I apologize that not all of us can be perfect and flawless like you are," Luna scoffed. "Is that why you decided not to even inform me that you were holding a ball this afternoon?" "You're normally asleep at the time," Celestia said. "I didn't want to trouble you." "No, so instead you shun me like everypony else!" Luna growled. "Our little ponies-" "Your little ponies!" Luna snapped. "They certainly don't consider themselves mine! So much blood and sweat and tears spilled, and I'm not even worthy of being invited to my own sister's little parties!" "Luna, calm down," Celestia said, standing up. "Oh, I'm sorry, am I making a scene?" Luna asked. "Are you embarrassed to be seen near me? I apologize so much, sister! You'll never have to deal with me again, if that's what you desire!" She stomped her hoof and teleported away in a burst of light, taking half of the table with her. Celestia watched as the remaining half teetered and fell, grabbing her breakfast at the last moment and saving it from making an even bigger mess on the floor. She made no effort to chase her sister. "How's the research going?" Sunset asked, surprising Midnight. She jumped a little and nearly ripped the page she was holding in the illustrated book. "What are you doing here? Aren't you still supposed to be in court?" Midnight put the book down carefully before she could damage it. "It's lunchtime," Sunset said. "Cadance was going to take me out to eat, and I wanted to check up on you." "It's noon already?" Midnight mumbled. "Ah, I see what this is," Sunset smiled. "You got so absorbed in your research you totally forgot what time it was. I remember when I studied so hard that I'd go days without food. Sometimes Celestia had to drag me out of my room and sit me down in front of a meal before my hunger caught up with me." "I've been looking over this book I found," Midnight said, showing it to Sunset. "Celestia won't tell me about it. She just keeps telling me I should do my own research instead of asking her for all the answers." "Let's see..." Sunset flipped through it quickly, her eyes glowing with the telltale glow of a speed reading spell. "It looks like a cautionary tale about how pride and jealousy can lead to your downfall. Pretty basic old mare's tale. Very nice production, though." "Oh, is that a picture book?" Cadance asked, turning the corner. "I haven't read one in ages." Sunset passed it over, and Cadance looked through it, taking more time than Sunset had. "What a sad story," Cadance said, after she'd finished. "Clearly it's about how ponies who are close to each other are the ones who most need to watch out for what's happening to the ones they love." "No, it's definitely about how pride comes before a fall," Sunset said. "It's about love," Cadance corrected. "You think everything is about love," Sunset said. "Well, if you agree with me..." Cadance leaned in and whispered in Sunset's ear. Sunset turned bright red. "It's about love," Sunset said, quickly. "Do I even want to know what she said?" Midnight asked, warily. "No. And tell Celestia you're staying in Twilight's room tonight," Sunset said, her tail twitching. "Come on, Cadance. I need lunch and maybe a cold shower." "Out!" Luna screamed, the petitioner running from her fury. "Celestia, I demand to know what this is about!" She threw a scroll at her sister, Celestia catching it in the air. "Court is canceled for the day," Celestia said, looking at the ponies around her. The nobility started moving at a slow, stately pace. "OUT!" Luna bellowed, thunder crashing down and shaking the windows. The nobility, now sufficiently motivated, fled the room in a stampede. Luna seethed, waiting for Celestia to respond to her demand. "It was a simple, harmless request," Celestia replied, once they were alone. "A farmer petitioned the court to increase the length of the day by an hour to help make up for the poor harvest last season." "And you agreed without even consulting me!" Luna yelled, stomping her hoof hard enough to crack the tile floor. "I tried," Celestia said. "For some reason, you decided to lock yourself in your chambers for a week instead of holding court." "What's the point when I am the only one who attends?" Luna hissed. "They'd all rather bend knee to you and pretend I don't exist! I protected them for generations! I made the night safe and beautiful!" "What is wrong with you, Luna?" Celestia asked, softly. "You weren't like this before. You used to want to make ponies happy." "That's all I've ever wanted!" Luna screamed, tears running down her cheeks. "But you took it away from me!" "Luna-" "I know what this is really about," Luna said, quietly. "You want to be the only ruler of Equestria. You wanted me out of power!" "That's not true!" "I won't become a new piece for your statue garden," Luna growled. "Please tell me?" Midnight asked, trying to make her eyes wider and more pathetic. "Pleeeease?" "I told you, sometimes you need to find things out for yourself," Celestia replied. "Do you know the most important thing about teaching a pony?" "Make sure you teach them the right things?" Midnight guessed. "Not quite. That's important too, certainly, but the most important thing is this - you have to teach a pony how to find answers." Celestia looked around the library. "Look at all these books. Do you know what they represent?" "Answers that I could find?" Midnight asked, sighing. "They're all answers that another pony had to find out for themselves," Celestia said. "If you only teach by giving a pony answers, they'll only know what they've been told. If you teach by giving a pony tools to find their own answers, they can learn things on their own, and find answers that nopony else in the world has ever had in their hooves." Midnight frowned. "But this isn't something I can find out on my own." "No?" Celestia tilted her head. "So you're giving up already?" "What else can I do? I can't find any answers here!" "Do you think Clover the Clever only needed an afternoon spent in a library to discover the theory of magic compression?" Celestia asked. "No, she spent a decade on it," Midnight muttered. "Then why would you give up on a thousand-year-old mystery when you've only spent a few hours and read some books?" Celestia winked. "Sometimes, Midnight, the most important thing is to keep looking and to never give up." "The night will last forever!" "So she never gave you a straight answer, huh?" Twilight asked, as she fed Spike another shard of sapphire, the baby dragon nibbling on it with his new, very sharp teeth. "When does Celestia give anypony a straight answer?" Midnight replied. She tugged a sheet over the cot. "Thank you for letting me sleep here on short notice." "Just remember, you have to cast the silence spell," Twilight said. "The last time this happened we didn't cast one and none of us got any sleep until Celestia threw a bucket of water at them." "Yeah," Midnight grimaced at the memory. "I won't forget." "What did you do with the book?" Twilight asked. "It wasn't marked as belonging in the library, so I took it with me." She pulled it out of her saddlebags from where she'd left them on the floor. "I was going to read it again tonight." "Why?" Twilight asked. "It's not really a proper reference guide. It's just a foal's storybook about some princess that may or may not have ever existed. We should be focused on our studies. If you fall too far behind Celestia will make me tutor you again because 'we're supposed to be a team'." She spat the last part with so much sarcasm that it was almost a physical force. "I'm not supposed to study magic for like a month," Midnight grumbled. "It's not like I have anything better to do unless you want to help me write those reports." "I would, but Celestia would know if I helped you too much," Twilight said. "For one thing, they'd get done on time instead of a day late." "I'm never late!" Midnight huffed. "I'm always on time. You just like being early and not giving yourself enough time to proofread and error-check." "You've never proofread a thing. You stay up all night and write everything the day before." "And I still get top marks," Midnight said. Celestia collapsed as the shadowy form appeared on the moon. Just for a moment, she could feel her sister fighting against the imprisonment, the feeling slowly fading until she was... Alone. A tear dripped down her cheek. How had it all come to this? She'd had to do what was best for Equestria, no matter the cost. She took off her crown and stared at it. "You were wrong, Luna. Maybe neither of us deserves to rule." She put it down in the center of the dull stones that had given her the power to defeat Nightmare Moon. To defeat Luna. She looked up at the moon. "I should have done something. I should have found a way to save you." She tried to stand, and couldn't find the strength in her legs. "What was I supposed to choose, Luna? Loyalty to Equestria, or to my sister? Duty to the ponies I serve or my own family?" She looked down. That unblinking gaze from the moon bore into her, like Luna was still there, silently judging. "I'm sorry." "Well maybe you'll become Nightmare Twinkle and try to plunge Equestria into eternal..." Twilight paused. "Midnight? Dusk? Something like that." "That's so lame," Midnight snorted, from her bed. "You're obviously way more likely to go crazy. Remember when I turned off your alarm clock and you had like ten panic attacks at once?" "That was you?!" Twilight gasped. "Of course it was!" Midnight rolled her eyes. "It was revenge for when you wrote a book report on the same book I did and you came to a completely opposite conclusion on the author's motivation." "It's subjective," Twilight huffed. "It's not subjective!" Midnight said. "They played naked volleyball!" "We're almost always naked!" Twilight rolled her eyes. "You just can't understand the pure love that a stallion can have for another stallion. Or are you going to tell me the shower scene was supposed to be chaste, too?" "The Wonderbolts aren't like that," Twilight said. "They're just a stunt team. They're not some weird herd with rotating membership." "Ugh. You'll understand when you're older." "We're the same age." "I grew up with Cadance around me all the time. I've seen things." Midnight shivered. "Please change the subject," Twilight said. "Now I'm thinking about - things I don't want Spike to know until he's an adult. In dragon years." "Well, there is something I wanted to run past you," Midnight said. "At the end of the book, it says that Nightmare Moon will return on the eve of the one thousandth Summer Sun celebration. That's only, like, five years away!" "So I'm going to have to put up with you jumping at old mare's tales for five years? Wonderful." "No, no," Midnight said. "I've got an idea on how we can make sure it doesn't come to that. All we have to do is blow up the moon!" "Blow up the-" Twilight frowned. "What?" "Blow up the moon," Midnight repeated, calmly. "You can't blow up the moon," Twilight said. "I'm pretty sure it's possible if we chain spells using a crystal array. I haven't done the math, but I know you're better at that, so-" "Millions will die," Twilight said. "And Celestia would be really disappointed." "But we'd save Equestria!" "Ugh. Go to sleep, Midnight," Twilight groaned. "Fine, but in a few years when Nightmare Moon comes to destroy Equestria, you're gonna say 'Darn, Midnight! I sure wish we'd blown up the moon like you'd wanted!'" Twilight mumbled something sarcastic. Locked away, somewhere quite distant from the castle, Nightmare Moon stirred in her sleep.