Luna knocked on her bedroom door and waited, when she got no answer she sighed in relieve. She had feared Twilight was still awake. Luna transformed herself into a puffy purple cloud and slipped through the doors. In the room she was welcomed by the darkness. It was unsettling to have her room so dark, for the night princess total darkness wasn’t a welcome atmosphere. All the curtains were closed even when it was the mid of the day and no candles burned to provide light.
Luna lighted up her horn, just enough to see without a risk of waking Twilight. She looked around to discover some rolls of papyrus lying on her desk. Twilight must’ve tried against her words to send a letter to Celestia, trying to contact her in vain. Luna had said her that it was possible that dragonfire wouldn’t reach Celestia. To be honest, she knew it wasn’t possible but if she said it with that kind of certainty twilight would’ve suspected something.
Luna hated keeping secrets from her adopted little sister. When she just returned from the nightmare, Twilight was the first to actually try and get to know her. She didn’t only see a princess but also a pony that needed someone, a pony that was lonely. Luna hated to do this to her after all the purple mare had done for her.
The night princess yawned, her hoof covering her mouth as the tiredness suddenly catches up after the whole day. She lazily took out her garments and regalia to lay them aside. Her hair fell down her neck when the magic inside of it went out. It was a total mess but Luna didn’t care for it as she crawled in the bed and lied down besides Twilight. She reached out with her hoof, taking the little form into her embrace. Twilight snuggled closer into it silently and kept snoring away in her dreamland. Luna gave her a kiss on the back of her head and let her head sink in the pillows hoping to catch some sleep, tomorrow was going to be a long day.
A clock ticked away the hours as Luna tried to sleep but it didn’t come. She had been awake all day, which wasn’t a habit of hers but it didn’t matter how tired she was, sleep was not about to come this close to the night. It was unnatural for Luna, her body was fighting the irregular sleeping pattern. After half an hour she gave up and sat back up when a voice spoke up
‘Luna?’
To Luna surprise spike was lying at the end of the bed, curled up in the covers. Even when he was as big as pony now she still had missed him lying there. She expected she must have woken him when she entered the room. She sat up and looked at the dragon; she blew away a straying lock of hair that waved in her face before speaking to the dragon.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. She positioned herself so she could look straight him. She noticed when looking at him that he was nervous as he was fumbling with his claws. The dragon was trying to find the right words to say something what he probably was not allowed to. She knew spike, he was still young and couldn’t always completely hide his emotions. She was patient and waited for him to find the words he wanted to say.
“Twilight asked me to send a letter…” As Luna had expected, she nodded for him to go on. “And, well, it didn’t work just as you said. But I heard her.” Luna blinked at what Spike had said, the words slowly seeping in her mind. It took a while to process what he had actually said. It didn’t make sense.
“What do you mean?” she asked confused, the little dragon sat up and started to scratch his head.
“Exactly what I said, when I send the letter I felt hot, like really flaring hot, and Celestia asked me ‘to forgive her’. I think it was meant for twilight, but she didn’t hear it and I’m afraid to tell her.”
Luna rustled her wings, unease in her body. This meant her sister was not only somewhere alive but she was also aware of the situation. This was good news Luna thought, but the content of the message meant that Celestia would probably not return. She feared that if twilight knew this she would keep trying to communicate with her, to beg her to come back. Luna knew the mare too well, wouldn’t give up before reaching her goal. But this one was as unreachable as the sun itself.
“It’s better not to tell her spike. Now go back to sleep, it was a long and tiresome day for the three of us” Spike just nodded and curled back in the blankets. He was quickly asleep, snoring away. Luna turned back to twilight; with her horn she touched her head and a faint grey glow emitted from it. The mare was still fast asleep. With a relieved sigh she lay down again to sleep. She wouldn’t be able to face it if twilight would’ve heard this little conversation.
The hours had past as Luna finally was able to get to sleep. The three were snoring away in their dreamlands. There was no sound in the room except the little tapping of the rain against the windows. Not enough to hold them from their sleep. But the new evening was being disturbed by a slight louder and regular tapping right outside the room.
A gentle knock on the door announced a guest. The sound awoke Luna from her sleep. She yawned as she called for the guest to wait. She needed time to make herself presentable. It wasn’t something a princess would normally say, but she was very much aware who was on the other side of the door. The night princess looked at herself in the mirror, trying to figure out how she would tame the dark mess that was supposed to be her mane. She washed her face and started to comb her hair that slumped down all around her face. Behind her twilight stirred and yawned, it was only a matter of time before she would wake up from the noise.
“What time is it?” The pony asked. Her mane mirrored Luna’s and she couldn’t help but giggle at it.
“It’s still too soon; I have an appointment at the moment. You better rest some more, we have a long day tomorrow.”
Luna watched her from the mirror, and for a moment their eyes met. In this moment, she could see the pain in the ponies’ eyes, and Luna felt guilt for her coming actions. She had to lie to her. She quickly finished her hair and walked towards the door. She looked back a last time to Twilight who had followed her with her gaze. Luna wanted to say she was sorry, but it was impossible. So she turned and closed the door.
...
The next morning Twilight awoke to the rays of the sun touching her skin, she felt warm and for a moment she felt bliss lying in the rays of the sun. The warmth felt nice on her body, she basked in it like it was a bath of light, warm and cleansing. But the rays of the sun meant it was the beginning of a new day.
She quickly got out of bed and ran to the vanity mirror to get ready. She fought with her mane and quickly washed her face. The sun was already high; it must be around noon Twilight guessed meaning she overslept, this had never happened before. She would miss her lesson with the princess!
The moment that word passed through her mind she calmed down, the grasp on her brush weakened and the thing fell to the ground. The memories of yesterday came back, what had happened, and she couldn’t help but let the tears fall silently. She stopped doing what she was doing; her mane still a mess when she left the bedroom.
She walked around the castle aimlessly until a rumble in her stomach warned her for upcoming hunger. She went to the kitchen for a quick snack and went on. The very next moment she had the chance the hay sandwich was thrown out of a window with only one bite out of it. Eating made her feel sicker then she already was.
Trying to find a distraction she went on to the great mages hall, where she will have a lesson with Luna this night.
The mages hall was huge, a dome made out of pure white stone, lined with blue lines all over it, like wires of an electrical system. Off course this was magic, but it served the same purpose, power a device. The floors was of marble and all around it stuff was scattered, books and quills, paper for notes and a very wide variety of magical tools. They were all unique and expensive, yet they were often thrown on the ground.
She sighed at the mess and started to clean up the place, organizing was one of her favorite distractions. After an hour of cleaning, organizing and a lot of swearing at ‘disrespectful ponies’ she was interrupted by the grand door opening. She turned round to see Luna entering the room. The night princess didn’t wear any of her royal regalia.
“Good morning twilight” She stifled a yawn as she went on. “I’m sorry for leaving so abruptly yesterday but I had important business that needed to be attended too.” Twilight only nodded as she was dusting an old magical tool, it was a globe of copper with a grid and a various array of symbols scratched into its surface. Somewhere on it she could distinct a crude pencil drawing of a door with the word ‘dumble’ in it.
“I’m afraid tonight will be the same, as the princess of the night I have to attend nightcourt and now things are getting busier then ever I have no time for our lessons. But perhaps we can do it now?” Luna showed her a half smile. Twilight could easily guess why Luna was busy, the other mare. Twilight studied the tool; its copper surface seemed a thousand times more interesting than a moment ago.
“I guess we can.” Luna set all the objects aside, undoing all of twilights tidying but she wasn’t as annoyed by that as she expected. She watched as Luna summoned some books with a whisk of her shadow magic. A big tome fell on the ground in front of her, a large cloud of dusk escaped from between the old pages. Twilight looked with mild interest as Luna picked it back up again and dusted it off with a grin even if it was a useless effort.
The lessons so far were all theoretically and mostly consisted of Luna reading from the book. Sometimes she would give an example with her magic but twilight’s concentration kept fleeting away, to nearby windows or doors where she looked to the sunbeams. Not a word was penetrating her skull; it was just a mindless buzzing in the background. This wasn’t going to work she decided.
Luna had just arrived the chapter of white giants when she was suddenly interrupted by twilight speaking.
‘I want to go home.” She simply said. Luna stopped reading and quizzically looked at her, the statement slowly sinking in. When she finally seemed to grasp what the unicorn said she closed the tome and made it vanish.
“Very well, I’ll arrange the transportation. But you’ll have to stay this night.” The purple mare nodded and made her way to the door while Luna was writing a letter.
“I’ll send notes to your friends so they know you’re coming back; I think they will be happy to see you again.” Luna gave her a small smile but twilight shook her head.
“No, I mean my real home. I want to go to my parents.”
Luna wanted to interject and tell her that being with her friends would do her good, but she trusted that twilight knew what was best for her. She sighed and dismissed the letter and quill.
“If that is what you think is best.”
...
That evening twilight didn’t show up for breakfast, and Luna was more than concerned about that. With a plate full of food she marched towards her room where she was sure to find twilight. She was just climbing the stairs to the royal suite level when she heard a screaming from above.
“Get out!”
Luna panicked and immediately dropped the plate when she turned herself in shadows. As a small cloud she rushed upstairs to the suite hall where the doors to the royal chamber were. When she arrived could see the mare that probably had screamed the entire castle awake. Twilight was standing in front of the grand white doors of Celestia’s room. The white alicorn Anor stood in front of her, giving the small unicorn a look of sympathy and concern.
It was easy to guess knew what was happening here and Luna felt a gut wrenching feeling in her stomach.
“Please Twilight; I just want to go to my bed.” The white mare said, but twilight violently shook her head gritting her teeth in anger and she stomped her hoof on the marble floor.
“No, this not your room, you are not her! I won’t let you sleep in her bed.” Twilight was angry, her emotions taking over and that was dangerous. In rage she flared her horn, letting the whole room light up a deep purple. She was just about to pounce when Luna decided to interfere.
“ENOUGH Twilight Sparkle!” Her royal Canterlot voice immediately silenced Twilight, she went from a loud rage to a quiet weeping and she started to cry.
“But she can’t, she isn’t her…” she sniffed, her sobbing and hiccupping made it hard for her to speak.
“She is an imposter.”
The purple mare started fully crying, Luna quickly went to her and took her in her arms. Twilight pressed herself in her body, crying on her coat.
“I’m sorry, I…” the white alicorn wanted to say something, but decided against it. She scrapped her hoof on the floor; her face showed she was struggling to find the right words to say.
“I’ll just sleep on a cloud for now.” The white mare eventually said. She exited the hall and left the two ponies alone. Luna shushed twilight and led her to her own room, where she laid her on the bed.
She wanted to tuck her in beneath the white blankets but the violet mare turned her back at the moon princess.
“I know you miss Celestia but you can’t go and yell in the castle at her. I won’t allow you behaving yourself like a foal!” Twilight didn’t respond, so Luna jumped on the bed and laid herself next to her. She embraced the unicorn and took her close.
“Twilight, it’s not fair to blame her.” Twilight snorted, she fought herself from the embrace and sat down at the edge of the bed looking away from Luna.
“I’m not blaming her.” Her voice betrayed that she was lying, anger dripped from her words. “And if I was, she deserves it. What does she think pretending to be her?”
Luna decided this is was enough; she grabbed Twilight by her shoulders and pulled her backwards onto the bed, pushing her against the mattress. She placed herself over so Twilight couldn’t escape and had to look in her eyes.
“Whatever is going on must involve my sister; she would never do something like this without a good reason. Have faith in her!”
Twilight finally calmed down at those words faster than Luna expected and looked up to her. Luna sighed and looked her in the eyes as tears to form in her own eyes.
“I will find out what is going on Twilight, I swear.”
Luna lowered her face and her lips met Twilight’s. She softly kissed her and the purple mare let herself drown in the affection as she answered it. They closed their eyes in the moment and for now the world around them faded away. But as Twilight drowned more in the bliss of a tender kiss she shared with her big sister, Luna damned herself for touching Twilight with the lips that had just spoken terrible lies.