//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Luna's Lacunae // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Trying to be quiet and respectful, Twilight Sparkle crept up on a very frazzled looking Princess Celestia. She made a little noise with her hooves, wanting to make certain that Princess Celestia knew that there was a pony present, but not too much noise, too much noise might disturb the distraught alicorn, and Twilight Sparkle did not want that. Coming to a full stop, Twilight Sparkle waited in a patient manner as Princess Celestia signed some piece of paper and then sent the unicorn attendant upon their way. Twilight heard Princess Celestia sigh. She waited and watched as Princess Celestia inhaled, preparing to greet her, and that was when Twilight Sparkle acted upon her master plan to make Princess Celestia feel better. “A wand, Princess Celestia, Sorceress Maeve needs a wand. I got to thinking about how we know she can cast magic with that sword of hers, and I think I have figured out part of it, and with the recent injury to her finger, it occurred to me that Sorceress Maeve does not have a point of magical focus upon her body like we unicorns do, which is to say our horns—” “Twilight… Sparkle… what?” Princess Celestia’s eyes squeezed shut and the noble alicorn shook her head. “A wand!” Twilight repeated in a manner most helpful. “Trixie Lulamoon has a wand as part of her cutie mark. Unicorns use wands when we wish to focus dangerous magics as far away from our bodies as possible if we do not have the means to protect ourselves from them. Maeve, being a human, lacks a proper terminus point for preternatural projections—” “Twilight, slow down, I am utterly lost,” Princess Celestia said in a low voice as she opened her eyes to look upon her former student. “How did you arrive at this conclusion? Who told you to research this problem? I am greatly confused.” “Nopony told me to research it, I did it on my own. Maeve is kinda stubborn. As bad as this is, I know she’ll continue to try and learn magic. Since I couldn’t do anything else to help her, I put all of that nervous energy to work trying to solve the problem she was facing, which I first had to figure out the cause of said problem, then the nature of the problem, the best approach to the problem, then I launched a multi-staged investigation into magical projections, and after a long night of studying the mating habits of giant firebreathing salamanders, I came to the conclusion that Maeve needed a wand—” “Giant firebreathing salamanders?” Princess Celestia shook her head once more. “Princess, do try and keep up. I did the investigation, and then to make certain I could think about the issue, I studied the excessively boring mating habits of giant firebreathing salamanders, thus assuring that I thought about everything but the subject matter I was studying. It was during my study of said salamanders that I arrived at the needed conclusion that Maeve needed a wand—” “Okay, okay, I do not need to know the intricacies of how your fantastic mind works.” Princess Celestia sighed and then gave Twilight Sparkle a gentle smile. “Thank you, thank you very much for your efforts.” “You’re welcome!” Twilight Sparkle beamed, her eyes squeezed shut, and her whole body trembled as she absorbed Celestia’s praise, looking very much like a blooming flower absorbing the golden love of the sun. Twilight ‘s eyes opened. “I’m going to visit Princess Luna now and try to cheer her up. Try not to work too hard, Princess Celestia!” It was the edge of evening, the time of day that was Twilight Sparkle’s namesake. She made her way through the large double doors that exited out into a small private courtyard, a courtyard with the charming name of the Lunar Closet. It was a place that existed between two sections of adjoined wall, between the old part of the castle and the new part of the castle, and the small parallelogram shaped space had been turned into a garden at Princess Celestia’s request. Tall shrubs grew along each of the stone walls. Gardenias bloomed everywhere. In the middle of the small, intimate space, there was a small fountain with three ponies, one from each tribe, each of them a stallion, and all three of them standing on their hind legs, peeing into the fountain. It was said to be Princess Celestia’s favourite fountain sculpture and the penalty for attempting to remove it was rumoured to be banishment. Growing up, Twilight Sparkle had often snuck into the Lunar Closet to have a peek at the three peeing stallions, which made her feel funny to look at. A lone figure was sitting in the grass, staring into the waters of the fountain. All around her were the picked apart petals of gardenias. Seeing her made Twilight Sparkle feel odd. For almost a year now, after helping Princess Luna to reach Maeve, Twilight Sparkle’s relationship with Princess Luna had changed, but she could not say how. It had started in Princess Twilight Sparkle’s crystal castle, when Twilight had taken Luna in as a guest, looking after all of Luna’s needs. Sitting at Luna’s bedside. Working through the difficult task of determining the truth together. The feeling of closeness… and then the feeling of almost soul crushing worry as Luna had gone through the mirror… and had not returned. For almost a year, Luna had been gone, for almost a year, Twilight had waited, and each day was agony. There were days when Twilight had camped out near the mirror, hoping beyond hope that Luna would step through. Twilight had tried looking for Luna, trying to latch on to Luna’s magical signature. There had been nothing. Seeing Luna by the fountain, Twilight felt her breathing quicken. Parts of Luna were covered in bandages. Important parts. Without even realising that she had reached this conclusion, Twilight Sparkle concluded that all of Luna was catagorised under ‘important parts.’ “Hello Princess Luna…” “There is no need for titles in such intimate confines,” Luna replied. “Gardenias are everywhere. It almost looks as though somepony was pulling petals off, wondering if somepony loved them,” Twilight Sparkle said in a low voice. She inhaled, breathing deep of the scent of the many gardenias and their intoxicating perfume. “You are not far from the truth.” Princess Luna did not look up from the waters of the fountain. “I had a visitor, a young curious colt, who is very worried right now. He asked me some very difficult questions and we had a long talk.” “Where is he now?” Twilight asked, feeling curious. “His mother came and collected him so that she might lavish affection upon him before it is his time to go to bed,” Luna replied. Twilight Sparkle took a step forwards. “Questions?” “I do not wish to violate his privacy. Perhaps I have already said too much.” Luna shook her head and then turned to look at Twilight Sparkle. “Sometimes, it takes tragedy for us to realise what is important to us in life. Take me for example. I have been trying to be Maeve’s friend this entire time, when apparently, I am nursing some deep seated need to be her mother and my growing mental unease is because of my avoidance of the issue. If I would just address my maternal concerns, I would feel better and cease being such a moody worrywart.” The doctors told you this?” Twilight Sparkle took another step forwards, the scent of gardenias strong in her nose, and the sound of the running water was hypnotic. This was a relaxing place. “No, my sister, the master psychiatrist of our age, arrived at this conclusion and lectured me,” Princess Luna replied, making a sour expression as she spoke. “Sometimes, my sister is a veritable symphony of tactile stimulation in the semitendinosus muscle.” Her ears pinning back in surprise, Twilight Sparkle gasped in shock and surprise. “Did you… did… you… did you just call your sister a pain in the… plot?” “A pain like no other.” Luna turned her gaze back into the water to resume her staring contest with Nightmare Moon. “I’m certain that Celestia means well… I guess she reached this conclusion after you talked with her?” Cautious, Twilight Sparkle crept forward, edging closer to Luna. “No. My sister reached this conclusion on her own, with no input from me.” Luna let out an annoyed sniffle and her brows furrowed. “If you don’t talk to your sister, all she can do is guess. You’re not giving her much to work with. She loves you, she worries about you, and she just wants to help you,” Twilight said, still creeping forward. Having reached Luna’s side, she sat down. “Would it just be so awful to tell her what is going on?” “Yes!” Luna snapped. She whipped her head around to look at Twilight. “I shall spill my guts forthwith! I do so love being lectured about letting go my past and being told how weak I am for continuing to punish myself for my previous transgressions!” “I am certain she doesn’t mean for it to sound or feel like that,” Twilight whispered. Scowling, Luna turned away from Twilight Sparkle. In the water below her, she saw Nightmare Moon’s smug smirk and hateful eyes staring up at her. Of course Twilight would take Celestia’s side in this, how could she not, being Celestia’s student? “How is Maeve doing?” Twilight Sparkle leaned forwards and looked at Luna’s reflection in the water. The alicorn looked sad and Twilight could see that her eyes were red. “The poor girl is losing her left hand once piece at a time. First, what she calls her ring finger is burned clean off by that sword of hers, and now the tip of her index finger. The doctors are worried that they might have to cut away the second knuckle. They are experimenting with various types of ointments and salves meant for healing different sorts of creatures with the vain hope that something will work better for her.” Aware that Twilight was now sitting beside her, Luna gave the smaller alicorn a cool stare. “She’s a tough little girl.” Twilight looked up from the water and saw something squirting water in her direction at eye level. She felt a hot blush bloom in her cheeks. Did they have to be so gifted? she thought to herself. The pegasus was winking one eye and he had a forehoof hooked under his rather meaty— “Twilight, are you okay?” Luna asked. She watched Twilight Sparkle tense and shake her head. She could see the fiery glow in Twilight Sparkle’s cheeks. Turning her head, Luna examined whatever it was that had startled Twilight. Ah, Luna thought to herself as she saw the perverted little pegasus. “You know, my sister once told me a funny story.” “She did?” Twilight Sparkle felt herself start sweating. Celestia would never… “I was still little… it was not too long after my return,” Luna continued. Oh no… Twilight cringed, realising that Celestia had in fact told the story. “My sister told me this gut busting story of how she went looking for her most devoted student and found her, in this very garden—” “Um, Luna, you know, there is a million other things we could be talking about. Like you, for example. We could be trying to help you… I could be trying to help you!” “—and she found you, bent over the edge of this fountain, all stretched out, trying to get a drink from one of the ponies—” “Noooo! Luna, enough! Please, this is so embarrassing!” Twilight Sparkle squeezed her eyes shut. “I was a filly… I didn’t know what I was doing!” Twilight Sparkle covered her eyes with her wings, mortified that such a private detail was being discussed in such a frank fashion. “Which one was it?” Luna asked. “No!” Twilight replied from behind her wings. “Twilight Sparkle, I see your dreams, this is not the most embarrassing thing I could talk about,” Luna said in a low voice that was full of promised playful menace. “Now tell me. Confession is good for the soul.” “I can’t!” Twilight Sparkle shook her head. “Perhaps Rainbow Dash would like to hear this story, what little bit of it I know…” “You wouldn’t!” Twilight jerked her wings away and looked at Luna with wide eyed horror. “You wouldn’t! That would be horrible!” “Rainbow Dash would find it interesting.” “Fine.” Twilight Sparkle bit her lip and closed her eyes. “It was the earth pony. He has that smile. He looks very kind and friendly. He was approachable.” “I see.” Luna cleared her throat. “Do not worry… your secret is safe with with me.”