Chapter 15
Sharing the Night: Chapter 15
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Princess Celestia awoke shortly before sunrise as had been her custom for well over a thousand years. Even before Luna had been banished to the moon, it had been thus. While she could have trusted Luna to begin the process and let Celestia follow along instinctually, they were sisters, and no sister would ever leave themselves at the mercy to be woken by their sibling.
Resisting the urge to wallow in hindsight, Celestia took a deep breath and rolled over to swing herself out of bed, only to run out of bed almost immediately and smash her muzzle on the solid marble floor. Suddenly, she found herself wide awake, curled up in a ball with her forehooves wrapped over her nose and cursing silently. Massaging her muzzle, she waited for the pain to die down before full understanding of the situation finally returned to her.
She had not, as she had thought, run out of bed. She had run out of couch—one upholstered in blue velvet and appropriated from her sister’s room, where it was unlikely to be missed even on the best of days. If she didn’t know better, she would think them to be breeding, as each and every visit she made seemed to present her with a new one she didn’t recognize, even with Luna’s absence.
Dismissing the matter of the couch with a shake of her head, Celestia looked over to the bed she would normally have been sleeping in. It was entirely on the other side of the room and held in it an alicorn seemingly crafted of light and gold. Unable to find any of her staff to prepare a guest room, Celestia had brought the creature here after its collapse.
A quick check the night before had confirmed that the Elements of Harmony had indeed been missing from the vault, and she could only continue under the assumption that this alicorn was them—presuming that it even was an alicorn. Celestia heaved herself up onto her hooves and wobbled over to the bed with a wide yawn, glancing out the window as she did so to check that she still had time. She had a minute or two, but on arriving at the side of the bed, she wasn’t sure she needed them. The creature lay there exactly as it had the night before, neither rousing or stirring, only the barest sound of flexing metal as its chest rose and fell to indicate that it was alive at all.
She spent her minute just standing there, watching it sleep and wondering if there was anything she could or should be doing for it. Was it just sleeping, exhausted from its genesis and subsequent escape from the vault it had been trapped in, or was it dying, starving for something that the ruler of Equestria could easily provide if only she knew what it was? Celestia feared that there was no doctor or wizard in the world that knew any more than she did what kept this creature alive.
Alicorns were, at their basest, celestial systems which produced magic much like a normal pony body would take in oxygen and fuel to ultimately fire neurons to produce thought and mechanical motion. What did alicorns take in, though? Well, it depended on the alicorn, as each such system was different, but the short answer was… magic. As far as Celestia knew, they both consumed magic and produced it. Perhaps there was some difference in the magic, like a plant that takes in carbon dioxide and produces oxygen, but if so, the specifics were lost to her.
Harmony seemed healthy. Its magical flow was, as far as Celestia could tell, stable and constant, producing at least as much as it consumed. The amount was small on a celestial scale, but surely it was enough for one pony? No, it had to be, as it was more magic than any of the rest of them kept on the surface of Equestria. Even Twilight, who was most alike Harmony for possessing stars within her equine body, could not compare to the raw magic emanating from the creature that lay in Celestia’s bed.
Perhaps that was the problem, then. Harmony’s magic was raw and uncontained. Perhaps it was even too concentrated for a body of flesh and blood to hold. It seemed as good an explanation as any, and perhaps… perhaps it was something that she could actually do something about. She could try, anyway.
As Celestia paused a moment to raise the sun, Harmony reacted for the first time since its collapse. It stirred and turned its featureless head as if to look at her. It said nothing and lacked even eyes to communicate with, but still something passed between them, and her heart went out to it.
She would try. Whatever it took, she would help this creature.
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight awoke nuzzled deeply into the crook of Luna’s neck and wrapped in a tangle of legs. For all that the two of them had been sleeping in the same bed thus far, the position was far more intimate than what she’d grown used to, and now she could say confidently that she knew how Fluttershy had felt the night after her return to Ponyville.
And you know what?
It was pretty damn nice.
Right now, in this perfect moment with the haze of sleep still clinging to her, the wonderful smell of cloud and satin and the special magical hum of an alicorn against her, there were no questions and no uncertainties. There was no trepidation over things gone unsaid or guilt that she might be taking advantage of Luna’s innocence. There was only a warm feeling of contented bliss.
As the heavy weight of sleep slowly left her and she came to realize more clearly the situation she was in, she began to anticipate some issue or interruption that would bring it all crashing down. She buried herself deeper in Luna’s coat, desperate to eke out every last moment she had, but for the time being, no such disruption came, and she drifted in and out of awareness late into the morning.
What finally did it—what finally broke the spell of foggy felicity—was not nearly so jarring as she had dreaded. Awareness came with no panic, no shouting or alarms, just the gentle feeling of a hoof running through her starry mane. Curiously, having her stellar mane tended to felt no different from when her mother had brushed her mane as a filly. The fact that it was Luna doing it, though… that stirred in her a different set of emotions.
Doing her best not to disturb Luna’s ministrations, Twilight craned her neck around to give her a smile, eyes closed and grinning ear to ear. “Hey,” was all she said as she wiggled herself comfortable again.
“Hey, yourself,” Luna answered in much a similar manner. She glanced out the window with all the hurry necessary for the lazy spring day, which is to say, none whatsoever. “Quite the odd hour for us, isn’t it? I am surprised I did not awaken to find the bed empty and you off… somewhere.”
Twilight let her gaze drift from Luna up to the faceted crystal ceiling above. “Somewhere, huh?” she asked rhetorically. “Always somewhere, never here. I like it here, you know? It’s nice. Quiet. I’m still getting used to it—not having Equestria gnawing at my nerves in the night. Do you think… Could we keep these hours? A little more permanently, I mean?”
Luna looked again at the warm, blue skies outside the window and the hoof that had been brushing Twilight’s mane stalled. “We… could,” she said, rather reluctantly. “Why?”
“I think it would be good for us,” Twilight mused and took Luna’s wayward hoof to hold against her chest. “It’s actually how they did it in the past. Somni and Fati—they had to sleep at night so that they could dream for ponies. Ponies dream for themselves, now, but there might be some good we could do.”
“We?” Luna asked with a huff of doubt. “The dream world is made of your stars. I don’t think I would be involved.”
Twilight shook her head with the slightest of movements and gave a knowing smile, eyes closed and thinking back to the night they’d spent there. “You most of all, I think. I’m too… close to it. Too involved. Ponies dream using my stars, but it’s not me doing it. You, though… you’re almost unchanged from the time before. Two moons made one, but still a moon. I think you could step in where I can’t. Shepherd them.”
“I suppose I could try,” Luna said without much commitment. “And what about you? Are you ever going to tell me this tale of alicorns or just keep bringing up bits and pieces as they suit your needs, hrm?”
Twilight breathed deeply from the spring breeze blowing in through the window and let out a heavy sigh. “I will, just… not here. Not now. It’s a story that really deserves to be told at night.”
Luna let out her own sigh—though, hers was more amused than melancholy. “Very well. What are your plans for today, then?”
“It’s a nice day, don’t you think? Perfect for catching up with some friends.”
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Celestia’s seneschal finally showed up around mid-morning, and with him came some semblance of normalcy to Canterlot castle. This normalcy was, itself, rather conspicuous. She was quite certain that servants were now being periodically paraded past her. Though, it wasn’t quite clear if it was being done for her peace of mind or to re-acclimate the skittish to her presence. She supposed that it didn’t really make much difference, as both purposes would be served in the end.
Still, it was all rather onerous and an uncomfortable glimpse into the sorts of trials that Luna had faced both before and after her banishment. She supposed that it was only fair for her to bear the burden this time—to take her turn, as it were—and it only would have been worse for Twilight and Luna to be directly involved.
As it was, breakfast had been light and served directly to her room without the usual morning paper, so she made sure that she would have a chance at lunch to catch up with reactions outside of the castle before seeing to court at noon. The headline she found sitting next to her daffodil salad was not exactly the one she had been expecting, however.
ALICORNS CONFIRMED FOR GODS
In a historic moment of candidness during yesterday’s Night Court, Princess Archlibrarian Twilight Sparkle has come forward to correct long-standing assumptions about the Equestrian diarchy as well as her own position in the cosmological hierarchy.
After a short speech during which she demonstrated responsibility for all pony magic and raised numerous privacy concerns, Princess Archlibrarian Twilight Sparkle acknowledged that she, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia are, in fact, mere avatars of their respective celestial bodies.
Traditionally, the Equestrian diarchy has remained tight-lipped about the specific details pertaining to the nature of their immortal existence, claiming ignorance which, in retrospect, now seems rather disingenuous. Most of those present for the announcement agreed that this new stance is a refreshing change, with a noted exception of Star Glister, former head of the Astronomers’ Guild of Equestria, who participated in Princess Archlibrarian Twilight Sparkle’s demonstration. Star Glister refused to make an official statement, but had expressed during the announcement the dissenting sentiment that the diarchy’s previous modus operandi was likely for the best.
Princess Luna was conspicuously absent from the event, and Princess Celestia could not be reached for comment, leaving us all wondering if this announcement represents a schism in the ranks of our government—or indeed, our pantheon of gods. The two alicorns of the night were witnessed dining together in companionable company later last night, but an official response is still forthcoming and will likely remain so until midday today when Princess Celestia is expected to hold court.
Well, that was… Hrm. Celestia wasn’t quite sure how to respond to this. It was like that one time when the Gryphon army marched ten-thousand strong to declare peace on Equestria so that it wouldn’t be taken as a sign of weakness. It wasn’t precisely bad, per-se—nor even illogical—but it did come as a surprise, which was something she wasn’t used to in spite of the events of last few weeks doing their sincere best to change that.
Everything had changed so quickly. Twilight’s ascension alone had been enough to shake Celestia, but her student’s recent growth through difficulty and strife into an independent alicorn… Maybe it was just the melancholy of her recent rejection speaking, but it made her feel old.
Celestia looked at the newspaper and picked it up again. She took the time to read a few more of the articles; most were speculation about Twilight and Luna, but her display over the Everfree had its own share of the attention. It wasn’t hard to see where one had led to the other, which only begged the question of why she hadn’t anticipated something like this. That, too, did not take much to puzzle out. She had had other things on her mind. Come to think of it, she still had to finish that letter to Twilight.
Yes, she could see her own unwitting hoof in this, and she wouldn’t rebuke herself for it either. She had learned something about herself, and this turn of events wasn’t necessarily bad. It was just… different. A change.
Thoughtful, Celestia scanned the paper, reading between the lines for the overall tone of the response. Maybe she could use a change.
Maybe she could use this.
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“Yes, Cupcake Justice. Princess Archlibrarian Twilight Sparkle was correct in stating that the dragon from yesterday morning’s incident has been peacefully relocated,” Celestia announced. So far, most of court had been spent confirming and acknowledging things that Twilight had said last night—though, her knowledge of the specifics of Twilight’s own goddesshood was embarrassingly lacking. “And as to your request for the location—maps of Ghastly Gorge will require significant updating, as well as those including the Everfree Forest, of course.”
Cupcake Justice nodded intently as he wrote down Celestia’s response. “And when can we expect these maps to be made available?” he asked in rote, still looking at his notes.
“I have no idea,” Celestia said with a shrug.
Cupcake Justice had already transcribed the response, when he stopped to look at it and glanced back up at Celestia for clarification. “Pardon?”
A hint of a smile showed itself on Celestia’s face. “Yes, I am afraid you’ll have to ask Princess Archlibrarian Twilight Sparkle for the details. I can only presume that the Cartographer’s Guild will be working with the Libraropolean Librarocracy to arrange for dissemination of the updated materials.”
“Librarooroo… Librarica…” Cupcake Justice mumbled to himself before vigorously scratching out what he’d been writing and replacing it with something much shorter and huffier.
Sensing that Cupcake Justice was done with his questions for the time being, Celestia accepted the next question from an ash grey pegasus with a dour look on his face. “Stormy Horizon, with the Canterlot Conclusion,” he introduced himself in a flat, droning voice, like a train shuddering slowly to a stop. “You’ve already acknowledged Princess Sparkle’s claims of divinity on your behalf—what do you say in response to allegations that you conspired to keep this knowledge secret, promoting an element of ignorance in the common pony since the founding of Equestria?”
“I would say, Stormy Horizon, that they are true,” Celestia admitted, causing a great deal of mumbling all around the throne room. “I am an old mare. I don’t look it, but I am. Recently, I have watched the foal who I once taught elementary magic to step up to rule a nation of her own. The only way I could be prouder is if Twilight Sparkle was my own—indeed, I have forgotten that she is not, on occasion.
“The current situation has helped me realize that Equestria is much the same. It has grown into a proud and noble nation right beneath my nose, and yet I have continued to treat it as if it were my foal. Princess Archlibrarian Twilight Sparkle is correct in her belief that Equestria is ready to know this. It has been for some time.”
Stormy Horizon stopped only briefly to register Celestia’s lack of denial. “This is something you have done often, then?”
“There are, of course, a variety of things that are considered classified information within the Equestrian government,” Celestia reminded everypony present. Even Equestria had its secrets. “Most of these are relevant to Equestria’s ongoing security interests, but the Canterlot Archives contain some restricted materials of a more historic nature, similar to what has been recently revealed. These materials are in the process of being fully transferred to Libraropolean control, and I am sure that Princess Archlibrarian Twilight Sparkle will be reviewing them for possible public release.”
Celestia didn’t even have a chance to choose the next question as a honeydew unicorn spoke out of turn. “Is giving these restricted books to a foreign power really a good idea?” he shouted, eager to get his question in and following it with several more. “Weren’t the Canterlot Archives the target of a hostile invasion by Libraropolean forces? And wasn’t that the first time Equestria has ceded land to a hostile force in over five hundred years?”
“Please, one question at a time,” Celestia chided, shaking her head. “I have already spoken on the misinterpretation of events surrounding the War of Books, and disciplinary measures have been taken to address the escalation the incident received during filing. You may rest assured that the Libraropolean incursion was a peaceful one, undertaken only for the sake of expedience during an important investigation. There is no reason to believe that Equestria and Libraropolis will ever come into real conflict.”
The unnamed unicorn didn’t look too convinced. “It seems as if you’re avoiding responsibility for a lot of things by dumping them on Princess Archlibrarian Twilight Sparkle. Is this how you plan on running Equestria in the future?”
“To some extent, yes,” Celestia said. “Though, I believe I have already mentioned everything that Princess Archlibrarian Twilight Sparkle will be taking on. Equestria is entering a time of change, however, and while my guidance has brought the nation unrivaled stability, I believe that the time has come for me to take a step back for a time.”
“You can’t mean that you’re stepping down from your position as princess, surely?” somepony else asked.
Celestia shook her head and let out a light chuckle. “No, of course not, but I will be allowing those in a position to do so to handle more of the day-to-day duties that I have traditionally kept a closer eye on.”
“And is there anything in particular that you’re going to be devoting your time to?”
“Yes.”
✶ ✶ ✶
The Rainbow Dash that answered the door was a far cry from the energetic pegasus that everypony knew and tolerated. “Oh. Hey guys,” she said, a nasally whine hanging onto the back of her words. “Are you… rolling around on my doorstep, Sparkles?”
Twilight blinked at Rainbow Dash from her position upside-down and half buried in clouds. In an instant, her form shifted in a cloud of stars to a perfectly upright and composed alicorn. “Ahem. You, uhh, were taking your time,” she said and then frowned. “You don’t look so good. Are you alright?”
Rainbow Dash let out a yawn and scratched the underside of her chin. “Yeah—I mean kinda, I dunno. I’m alright, but please don’t tell me you need us to hit something with friendship rainbows. You know I’d do anything you need me to, but I just don’t think I have it in me.”
“Oh, well,” Twilight said, sorry to hear her friend was feeling off. Thankfully, it didn’t sound too bad. Actually, a little time out and about might be just what she needed. “Would you like to?”
Rainbow Dash looked confused. “Would I like to what?” she asked.
“Have it in you!” Twilight clarified with the most friendly, affable smile she could muster.
Understanding quickly dawned on Rainbow Dash, and her eyes widened. “Woah-woah-woah!” she remarked, taking a step back. “Not that I’m not flattered, but shouldn’t you, like, buy me dinner first or something?”
Twilight cocked her head to the side, sharing a confused look of her own with Luna. “We were thinking lunch, actually.”
Now, Rainbow Dash looked affronted for some reason. “What, am I not good enough for dinner?” she asked.
“Wh—no! Of course not!” Twilight insisted emphatically, still somewhat lost, but getting defensive. “It’s just that it’s about lunchtime right now, and we didn’t see any reason to wait.”
Rainbow Dash blanched, swallowing nervously. “Isn’t that kind of… I mean—um—no problem! Fast is… what I do…”
For a moment, Twilight just stared at Rainbow Dash as gears churned away in her head. Then, suddenly, it clicked and a tiny smirk wormed its way onto her lips. “Right. Well, since you look like you just got up, why don’t you shower and meet us at the Haybale Café? Oh, and bring anything you think you’ll need; we might be taking things straight to Pinkie Pie’s, depending on how things go.”
“Um, sure,” Rainbow Dash said, glancing back to the open doorway behind her. “Anything you say… Princess.”
Twilight almost snickered. “Great!” she said, beaming at Rainbow Dash in response. “We’ll see you at about noon-ish, then. It’ll be fun!”
The two alicorns left Rainbow Dash to get ready, and a short flight later, Twilight collapsed into a fit of giggles on the edge of town.
“Twilight?” Luna prompted once she had quieted down.
She let out a happy sigh as she looked up at her from the ground. “Yes, Luna?”
Luna shuffled uncomfortably, glancing about at the attention they were gathering. “I feel as if we have just participated in a grand misunderstanding,” she stated.
“We did!” Twilight exclaimed, pointing a hoof at Luna with a wide grin on her face. Eventually, she, too took notice of the watchful eyes of the public, and, satisfied that she had expressed her merriment sufficiently, picked herself up and dusted herself off with a subtle ripple of re-manifestation.
Luna frowned. “I see,” she said. “What, pray tell, does Rainbow Dash think we have invited her to?”
Twilight gave Luna a fiendish smirk. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
✶ ✶ ✶
Inviting Applejack out to lunch went about the same as inviting Rainbow Dash had, though thankfully without the unfortunate injection of innuendo that the pegasus had provided. It was eerily similar, actually, how both of them had expressed relief that this was only a social call. Sure, Rainbow Dash wasn’t shy about her lackadaisical attitude towards work, but Applejack?
Still, Twilight considered it a curious coincidence at best. It wasn’t until Fluttershy failed to answer the door that Twilight began to suspect that there was actually something wrong.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight knocked again, but there was no answer. She glanced back at Luna but received a shake of the head and no comment. After one final, heavy knock elicited the same lack of response as the rest, Twilight considered her options.
Hmm.
“Twilight?” Luna prompted, sensing that there was something going unsaid beyond the obvious.
“It’s just…” Twilight said, scratching the underside of her neck as she regarded the door. “I’ve never used my abilities as an alicorn to do something that’s actually illegal.”
Luna pursed her lips. “Really?” she asked after a moment of consideration. “I mean, you have reasonable cause for concern for your friend in this case, so I do not believe entering is illegal regardless, but still—really?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight said, turning to look at her with what she hoped was a most offended look. “I’m an honest, law-abiding pony!”
Luna rolled her eyes. “Were you not just last night regaling me with the tale of how you stole the magic of that uppity stallion who dared to insult you, not once, but twice?”
“Technically,” Twilight said, raising her hoof. “It’s my magic to begin with, and even if it weren’t, he specifically relinquished all claim to it. Besides, it’s not stealing just to hold it for a moment and then give it back without any objection being raised.”
“You have a point, I suppose,” Luna said, shaking her head. “What about that time you invaded the Canterlot Archives? Surely enacting war upon a country is illegal in the country being invaded.”
Twilight was quick to correct her. “Ah, but I didn’t use any of my godly powers in that case. Actually, I didn’t really do anything. By the time I set foot in the archives, they were sovereign Libraropolean soil—er, carpet, I suppose. Marble. They were mine, is the point. I wasn’t part of the invasion force.”
“I am not certain that a war tribunal would agree, but, Twilight?” Luna said, stepping closer.
Startled by the sudden closeness, even as commonplace as it was becoming, Twilight was thoroughly distracted. “Yes?” she asked automatically.
There was a click, and Luna strode past her, into the cottage. “I believe the door is unlocked.” Twilight stared for a moment and then hurried in after her.
To Twilight’s relief, there were no panicked animals nipping at their hooves as they made their way through the house, which she took to be a good sign. Eventually, their search ended when they found Fluttershy in the kitchen, hanging over the edge of the sink with her hooves knee-deep in soapy water. She looked to all the world as if she had just stopped to rest for a moment and never got back up. Twilight remained stock-still at the kitchen door while Luna strode immediately forward to inspect the pallid pegasus.
Quickly realizing her lapse, Twilight followed in after Luna, who was tilting Fluttershy’s head with her hooves. “Is she…?”
“Sleeping,” Luna informed her, much to her relief. “Or unconscious, in any case. She seems restful, but I am not a doctor.”
Twilight gave her a curious look. “Really? All eternity at your disposal, and you never earned a doctorate?”
Luna turned her head away with a huff. “They did not have doctorates as you are thinking of them in my time, and besides—as you say, I have all eternity to do it; I shall get around to it eventually. Tell me, though, if it is a skillset to be expected of one such as we, does your friend Fluttershy suffer from any known maladies, Doctor Princess Archlibrarian Twilight Sparkle? She isn’t, perhaps, insomniac, somnambulic or suffering from chronic narcolepsy?”
Twilight could only shake her head, both in response to Luna’s chiding and her question, as she took a closer look at Fluttershy. “No, I don’t think so. Not that I know of, anyway. Can we move her? She can’t be comfortable, and this water is cold, which probably isn’t good regardless of whatever it is that’s wrong with her.”
“Comfortable enough to sleep,” Luna remarked. “I can spy no injuries upon her person and therefore no reason she should not be moved. Does the element of kindness own a chaise lounge or fainting couch that we might set her in? I believe I passed by one such furnishing on the way in, but it was sized for a dormouse.”
“She must,” Twilight reasoned, looking back over her shoulder at the door to the living room. “I’m not sure where she keeps it, but I know I’ve seen Harry lounging out back in one that she’d fit in.”
Luna perked up, distracted from her inspection of Fluttershy. “Harry? I was not aware that Fluttershy had a suitor. I am not sure if I approve, if the first I hear of him are his lounging habits, but I suppose it is not my place to judge.”
At this, Twilight, too, paused to give Luna her attention; though, she wasn’t quite certain what to say. “He’s a bear,” she finally explained after a moment of hesitation.
“Truly?” Luna asked, seemingly filled with wonder at the workings of the modern age. “How does that work, then?”
Twilight lit her horn with a gentle glow and gently lifted Fluttershy’s hooves out of the sink. “Work?” she asked as she procured a nearby dish towel to dry Fluttershy off. “I’m not sure I follow. I mean, I was surprised when I first found out, sure, but I’d guess it works like it does with any of her other animal friends, I suppose.”
“Yes, I understand that,” Luna said, striding quickly ahead of Twilight to look for a place to set Fluttershy down. “I have read up on all the sorts of modern relationships—herding, interracial and, um, bestiality, I think it is? I have done my best not to judge modern ponies and their practices, but… a bear? As I said, I simply do not see how it… works.”
Twilight had to stop for a moment… to check that she was holding Fluttershy properly in her magic and for no other reason. She took a deep breath and followed after Luna. “It… doesn’t,” she said, as she entered the living room, which a glance told her was indeed missing any pony-sized furnishings at the moment. “Work, that is. They’re not… together.”
Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. “At least, I don’t think they are,” she appended with a distressed whine. Twilight missed the days when she could just dismiss love as something foreign and unknowable. It was then that her train of thought caught up with Luna’s. “Also, those are not normal,” she added. “Not one of those things is normal.”
“Well, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with ponies and gryphons,” she continued, no longer really paying attention to the search for a cushy bastion to hold Fluttershy. “Or ponies and zebras, or ponies and any thinking, talking creatures. And herding is… I mean, it’s a thing, I guess. Okay, what I should say is—those things are all several different, varying levels of not normal, and Fluttershy is not engaging in coitus with a bear.”
“Oh,” was all Luna said, sounding both rather disappointed and absent-minded as she searched a cupboard for a couch, finding it instead to house several blue jays.
“Or any of her other animals, for that matter,” Twilight asserted to no particular opposition except for, perhaps, her own worming doubt.
“I see,” Luna said. “That is indeed a relief.”
Twilight shuffled her hooves in place. “I mean, probably.”
“Twilight?” Luna interjected.
She blinked. “Err, yes?”
“I do not see anything that will be of use,” Luna said, surrounded by a dozen open cupboards and drawers with angry animals in them. “And unless she keeps such things in the kitchen with the silver, I believe we must extend our search to other chambers of the abode. What do you suggest?”
Twilight took a moment to bring herself back to the present. “Er, right,” she said, shaking her head. “Well, all there is down here is a pantry, another pantry for the animals supplies, and a bathroom. The second floor is taken up by the bedroom.”
“There is nothing for it, then,” Luna said with a sigh. “Come, Twilight, let us take her to bed.”
As Luna disappeared upstairs, Twilight wondered aloud, “Is it national innuendo day, today? It’s not just me, right? It’s not that this is just another Tuesday and I’ve always been that blind to it, right?”
“Huzzah! I have found a place to lay dear Fluttershy!” Luna’s voice echoed from above.
“Oh stars, it is. It is exactly that.”
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight was glad to finally place Fluttershy in bed. No sooner had the sleeping mare been set down than she curled up into the warm, dry sheets like it was any other lazy morning—or afternoon now, as the case may be. The sight of it took her mind off of her previous distractions and reminded her of something else.
“Hey, Luna, do you remember what we talked about this morning?” Twilight asked, still leaning over Fluttershy. “That you might be able to influence dreams?”
“I remember,” Luna offered from where she sat near the window. “You suggested that it would involve my moon, though, and it is barely midday. If she is still sleeping then, I believe we should take her to a professional, not peer inside her dream.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” Twilight said. Though, she couldn’t help but glance at a particular part of Luna’s anatomy.
Luna shook her head with a chuckle. “No, Twilight. You should know that the moon in my mane is just the moonlight I use to manifest my body. Only the stars get to actually be on the surface of Equestria.”
“I don’t know if ‘get to’ is how I’d describe it,” Twilight said with a hint of bitterness weighing her down.
Luna stopped and cocked her head in confusion then her eyes widened. “Oh, Twilight.” She quickly got to her hooves and took a hesitant step forward. Two steps. “I am sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“No, no, don’t be,” Twilight said, waving her off and rubbing her face with her hoof. “I’m okay with it, really. I wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t happened. You wouldn’t be here. It’s just… sad.” The room was quiet for a moment, the only sound the slight wheezing of Fluttershy snoring, which somehow managed to be cute. “It happened thousands of years ago, though. We should focus on the here and now.”
Luna cautiously allowed herself to sit back down. She glanced back out the window she had been gazing out of before. “Indeed. We have seen to Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but we should probably check on your other friends as well. Those of weaker constitution may have fallen victim to this torpor as well.”
Twilight sighed, giving Fluttershy’s sleeping figure a serious look. “I hope not. It looked like she collapsed in the middle of her morning chores. If I had to guess, she was just as lethargic as the rest, and she forced herself to work anyway, exacerbating the issue. Rarity works hard when she needs to, but she knows how to pamper herself, especially when she’s feeling down, and Pinkie Pie… I can’t imagine anything stopping her. You’re right, though, we should check. Actually, we should get everyone together and compare notes.”
Luna considered this for a moment. “Indeed. In fact, come to think of it, were we not already doing that?”
All of a sudden, an intrinsic part of Twilight Sparkle was core to her being ground to a screeching halt. “The lunch!” she cried out in panic. Her eyes shot to the window that Luna was next to, knowing the answer, but checking anyway. “Luna! We’re late!”
☁ ☁ ☁
Sitting at a large table at the Haybale Café in Ponyville were two very uncomfortable ponies. They were both very tired—and therefore grumpy—and neither had found what they had expected to when they had arrived.
“I can’t believe that Sparkles set us up!” Rainbow Dash was moaning to herself. “As a joke!”
Applejack raised one eyebrow at her. “You think this was a joke? By Twilight? Ah hate t’say it, sugarcube, but she just ain’t the type.”
“What, you think she actually thought that you and me could—I mean, come on, you?” she stated, incredulous. “And me?”
“Hey now, what’s wrong with me?” Applejack asked, clearly offended regardless of the message her offense sent. “And what about you? You ain’t exactly a pile of roses yourself,” she groused, though her sour disposition was interrupted by a period of analytic sniffing. “Actually, you do smell like a pile of roses. You gonna explain why you smell like Rarity’s bathroom, or do I have t’guess? Seriously, Dash, is that perfume?”
“Oh, shut your face,” Rainbow Dash bit back, her cheeks burning.
Applejack just rolled her eyes. “That don’t answer the question, now does it?”
Rainbow Dash puckered her lips, refusing to admit to anything as her face got redder and redder under Applejack’s cheeky stare. Eventually, Rainbow Dash decided to just get it over with, though she barely managed to mumble her response.
“It’s cologne.”
✶ ✶ ✶
The milky white light of Luna’s magic prevented Twilight from diving out the window just long enough for the larger alicorn to tackle her to the ground. “Becalm thyself, Twilight,” Luna chided. “Your friends will no doubt understand our absence once they have been apprised of the situation.”
Twilight, with the weight of the princess on top of her pressing her muzzle into an itchy throw rug, was not in a position to argue. “Mrflm.”
Realizing the position Twilight was in, Luna managed to roll her over onto her back, bringing her muzzle-to-muzzle with the noticeably larger alicorn. Somehow, this didn’t improve her ability to articulate sentences one bit. “Mrrrhn,” she mewled unintelligibly.
Luna cocked her head in question then lifted herself up slightly to look between them. “I am sorry. Am I standing on something?”
“Only my pride,” Twilight whimpered, swallowing her nervousness and forcing herself to stay focused. “Which is to say, I pride myself on being able to keep schedules and—!” Suddenly that focus was obliterated by a hoof pressing against her belly where no hoof should be, and no amount of swallowing could keep her calm. Slowly, Luna’s hoof started to move. “What are you—hee—s-stop! You’re doing that on purpose! I’m trying to talk, hehehe-here!”
As luck would have it, Luna had remembered where Twilight was ticklish.
Luna held a hoof over her mouth and snickered, looking rather pleased with herself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she teased. “If I let you up, will you stay put?”
Twilight puffed her cheeks in a childish pout, which Luna took as assent and stood up, allowing her to scoot out from underneath her, and even going so far as to help Twilight up with her magic—an act which sent a shiver up Twilight’s spine and did nothing to help her calm down.
Twilight had been thinking of Luna as innocent, but she wasn’t made of stone. She wanted to make Twilight happy, and she was slowly learning the things that worked. If Twilight didn’t say something soon, there was a good chance that she’d learn a little too much, go a little too far, and nature would end up taking its course, and Twilight wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop it—or that she would want to.
Was there anything wrong with that?
Tonight, she told herself. Tonight, she would tell Luna about the previous alicorns, and things would follow naturally from there. She only hoped that the current situation would allow it. If it turned out that she had missed her window of peace and quiet by drinking the night away instead of actually addressing things… well, on the bright side, she supposed it would be a prime opportunity to see what it was actually like to get drunk.
No, Twilight, that’s how alcoholics happen.
Twilight took a deep breath and let it out in one go. She would deal with that sooner rather than later, but first things first. “Right. Just because they’ll understand isn’t any reason to keep them waiting any longer than necessary. Shall we go?”
To Twilight’s surprise, Luna looked rather sheepish in response to the suggestion. “Actually,” she said, eyes downcast. “You ought to stay here, Twilight.”
“What?” Twilight said. “Why?”
Luna turned back to the bed. “Someone should look after the element of kindness and be here in case she awakens.”
“But—” Twilight started, but Luna held up a hoof and shook her head.
“Nay, Twilight,” she said, nipping the objection in the bud. “If I am to greet your friends on my own, I would rather do it knocking on their door than hovering beside their bed.
Well, she had a point.
“Fine,” Twilight said, giving in to logic and good sense with a sigh. “Will you be able to find them?”
“I have spent a good deal of time recently looking at maps of the city. I am certain that I shall manage somehow.”
✶ ✶ ✶
“Well, that was awkward,” Twilight said aloud to herself as she walked back over to the bed that held Fluttershy and sat on the edge of it.
She wanted to believe that she would have at least felt better about it if it had been awkward for the both of them. Realistically, it likely would have been even more awkward, but this one-sided infatuation felt wrong.
“I need a break,” she said, massaging her cheeks with her hooves. It was funny; yesterday, Luna couldn’t get back soon enough for her, but now that she had decided to actually go for it, a moment away from her was a godsend. Once an introvert, always an introvert, she supposed. The appreciation that she had gained for friendship since coming to Ponyville didn’t mean she was with them all day every day.
Luna, though… shouldn’t Twilight want to be with her?
No, the whole thing was silly. Love didn’t mean you had to be with someone all the time, and Twilight needed a break because being with Luna was almost like lying to her by omission. The two were completely unrelated.
As Twilight was sorting her thoughts, she watched Fluttershy sleep, which sounded creepy at first, but contained none of the awkward attraction that Twilight felt for Luna—and, well, it shouldn’t. Twilight had spent years of her life coming to the conclusion that ponies were not for her, and now it made sense. They were, as Celestia liked to call them, her little ponies. In fact, what divinity they did have had come from her. They were, in a way, her children and herself.
And there was something wrong with this one. Not in a vague, “it could be something she ate” sort of way. Something was wrong with Fluttershy. Twilight could see it—not with her eyes, but in the way she saw the world through her starlight from every angle and every perspective at once. Fluttershy’s being unfolded underneath her gaze, and around the star within stretched a chasm.
It was like the day before, when she had taken Star Glister’s star from him and left a hole in its place—except Fluttershy’s star was there, and it was as big as any other she’d seen. Was there something else missing, and if there was, could Twilight… just maybe… fill that gap?
She might have tried if it had been night and had something else not caught her attention, something that filled the pit of her stomach with dread.
No, it couldn’t be.
She located a small tuft of hair on Fluttershy’s side and poked it. WHAP! Twilight received a buttery-yellow wing to the face. “Fluttershy!” she cried out at the top of her lungs.
“Oh my gosh!” Fluttershy chirped in response, bolting upright in bed. “I’m so sorry! Are you alright?”
Twilight spat feathers out of her mouth and pushed the wing away so it could move past her. “How long have you been awake?” she yelled.
Fluttershy reddened in response, which said enough. “Oh, n-not all that long,” she claimed, recovering control of her wings so that she could hide behind them. “Only since about when you and Luna were making out on the floor, um, if that’s what you were doing.”
“We were not!” Twilight insisted, feeling her own face grow hot.
Fluttershy cringed at the volume of Twilight’s assertion and retreated further behind her wings. “I believe you,” she squeaked in a way that was not at all convincing.
Twilight groaned and settled back down onto the bed next to Fluttershy. “Really, Fluttershy. It’s not what you think,” she said, her eyes pleading to be believed.
“Oh, um, well,” Fluttershy said, mincing her words. “That’s good, I guess. I mean, this is a bedroom, but it is my bedroom, and all of my little animal friends know that that’s what the bushes out back are for.”
Twilight paused for a second, speechless, then laid a reassuring hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “I am glad that you believe me, but I did not need to know that.” Fluttershy was about to say something when Twilight added in a serious tone, “I mean it. I’ve hidden in those bushes. I would really rather not have known that.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy said, bringing a hoof to her mouth. “Yes, Mister Ferret and Miss Squirrel mentioned that. I didn’t realize it was you. You should apologize.”
“Apologize,” Twilight repeated.
Fluttershy nodded. “It would only be polite. It ruined their entire evening.”
“The evening of Mister Ferret,” Twilight stated, making sure that she was getting this correct. “And Miss Squirrel?”
“Oh, yes,” Fluttershy said, beaming. “They’re a very cute couple.”
Twilight was reminded of Luna’s earlier comment—though, she wished she hadn’t been. “How does that… work?” she said, twisting her face in confusion.
“Very well,” Fluttershy answered with honest joy. “The wedding is in June.”
Twilight stared at her friend for a moment, trying to detect any hint that she was teasing her, and found none. “Fair enough,” she declared.
Fluttershy was in the process of getting out of bed when she stopped. “Twilight? Oh, I shouldn’t ask, but… why not?”
“You can ask me anything,” Twilight said.
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, um, that was the question. Why not? Why… weren’t you?”
“Why wasn’t I…?” Twilight had meant it as a question, but her mind quickly filled in the blanks. “You mean, with Luna?”
Fluttershy made tiny yet insistent nods.
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” she explained. “It’s just that things are… kind of weird right now. We’re not—umm—together, or anything. Somehow it’s fallen to me to give her ‘the talk.’”
“The talk?” Fluttershy asked, cocking her head to the side.
Twilight mimicked the gesture. “About the birds and the bees?” she prompted.
“There’s a talk involved?” Fluttershy said, the picture of innocence. “I could get some birds and bees to attend the presentation, if that would help.”
Twilight blanched. “N-no, I don’t think that will be necessary.” Immortal or not, bees were bees, and she hadn’t had very many good experiences with them, real or metaphorical. Also, she wasn’t quite sure that Fluttershy had any idea what she was talking about.
“Really?” Fluttershy said, honestly looking rather put out. “I’m sure that they could demonstrate—”
Twilight nearly choked on her tongue. “Yes, that is really not necessary, thank you, Fluttershy.”
“Um, you’re welcome…” Fluttershy responded automatically and then lapsed into cringing silence.
Well, now she’d done it. Twilight let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose with her pastern. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice. I… please don’t be scared of me.”
“Okay,” she squeaked in her smallest voice, making Twilight wince. To Twilight’s surprise, though, Fluttershy spoke up again after only a moment’s pause. “We have missed you, you know,” she offered tentatively. “Maybe Rarity not so much, since she’s always in and out of the palace, but the rest of us have.”
Twilight wilted a little, not quite sure that the change of subject was an improvement. “Yeah…” she said noncommittally. “I know. I missed you guys too. I had… reasons… though. I’m not sure they were reasonable reasons, but they were compelling ones.”
Fluttershy didn’t seem very happy with her vague excuse, but she seemed willing to listen. “You, um, had something you needed to do?” she suggested.
“Would you believe I was afraid that Equestria wanted to eat me?”
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight took some time with Fluttershy to explain a few of the things that had been going on since… well, since the beginning of this whole thing. It wasn’t exactly a surprise to anyone that she hadn’t been doing a very good job of keeping her friends informed, but she had forgotten just how much there was to explain and how long it had been since she had actually confided in them.
She was glad that she had gotten the chance to talk to Fluttershy about it alone—even if she’d probably have to repeat herself with the rest of the girls later. One-on-one, there was no room for mumbled assent or vague understanding; though, that didn’t prevent Fluttershy from trying. She was a good listener, but it wasn’t long before Twilight was mostly talking to herself. It wasn’t a bad thing, exactly, but she didn’t tease or interject her own experiences as Luna would have, which, Twilight supposed, was why she was in love with Luna and not her.
Aside from the whole species barrier thing, of course, but it was a nice reminder that there was more to her feelings than the preservation of the species. Actually, come to think of it, the species didn’t need preserving at all.
Huh.
That was a thought for another time, though, and the conversation eventually progressed to more pressing matters. She explained Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s symptoms and finally got Fluttershy to re-enter the conversation with her own story, which closely matched Twilight’s suspicions, yet offered little explanation for what had actually caused it.
Over the course of the conversation, the two of them relocated first back downstairs and then to the kitchen for some tea before eventually ending up sitting in a patio set out back which Rarity had provided some time in the past. This is where Luna found them, a newspaper under her wing and four ponies in tow behind her. She also wore a slight scowl on her face, which lessened when she spotted Fluttershy.
“Ah, good,” she said, somewhat stiffly. “The element of… that is to say, Fluttershy is awake.”
Twilight’s brow creased slightly at Luna’s odd behavior then rose again as she forgot the matter for something else entirely. She quickly got to her hooves and strode past Luna, offering her only a hoof to the withers in greeting as she got a better look at the rest of her friends.
She took a deep breath and steadied herself, but there was no mistaking it. “They are. They’re all like Fluttershy,” she said to Luna without taking her eyes off of them.
“You can sense it?” Luna asked, approval in her voice even as it lacked all joviality.
Twilight finally turned to look at her. “Sense it? I… can, yes. There’s a kind of hole in them surrounding their stars. You know what it is? Is anypony else like this? Is everypony else like this?”
Luna placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Be still,” she said reassuringly. “Yes, I do believe I know what has happened, and no, there are no others.”
“They’ll be alright, then?” she said, giving her friends a glance. Most of them were leaning on each other. Rarity was yawning, and Rainbow Dash was actually on the ground. “They’ll recover?”
The severe look on Luna’s face tightened slightly at the question. “They will be… sound, eventually,” Luna said, choosing her words carefully. “But it would not be correct to say that they shall recover what they had.”
Twilight’s heart sank. “It’s permanent?” she asked. “There’s nothing we can do?”
Luna closed her eyes and shook her head. “If it is as I suspect, then the last time this happened, it went a thousand years without ever mending.”
“A thousand years?” Twilight said, her eyes widening. “You don’t mean—”
Luna nodded. “Yes. Though I know not why, I fear that like my sister and I before you, your connection to the elements of harmony has been broken.”
Twilight looked back to her friends in distress—though, from the look of it, they had already been told. Fluttershy, the only exception, was as hard to read as ever. “Is there any way to be sure?”
Luna nodded. “As none of your guard are pegasi, I have taken the liberty of arranging passage for the seven of us on the next train to Canterlot. We shall see firsthoof if this is indeed what has come to pass. I believe a talk with my sister is also in order.”
Twilight paused to think for a moment. “You realize that vaporizing her in return isn’t going to help anything, right?”
“It will make me feel better,” Luna mumbled under her breath, though she was quick to correct herself. “It is not that,” she said, taking the newspaper from under her wing with her magic and passing it to Twilight.
Celestia to retire? Princess draws heavily on the treasury.
Twilight blinked.
“What in Equestria does Celestia need her own weight in gold and jewels for?”
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What happened to your April Fool's chapter? The one titled "Epilogue" that showcased your Drunken-Alicorn-Adventures.
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As noted in the Author's Notes, it's hidden for the moment and will soon be moved to a separate story for non-canon snippets.
That was good. Better than, "I like it!" not quite, "I love it!" but pretty damn good.
Haha, this is just plain good. Dear lord, I keep loving the talk, the way it goes, and everything.
Harmony shall sup deeply, it seems.
Lovely chapter. good to see Twilight recovering from Gemini's hunger/anger/pain....
I caught that quip about Celestia's weight. :| Shame!
Well that was certainly not what I was expecting. A light and fluffy chapter to offset some of the heavier ones and I wasn't actually expecting that at all. It was certainly amusing though in some ways it's an odd tonal swerve. While there's nothing I'd actually object to here the contrast with the rest of the work is a little odd.
And normally I try to write long reviews for your chapters but this one is mostly character-character interaction that is all perfectly well-executed, other than being fairly flippant. The only thing may be it's perhaps too flippant. I'm not certain. Anyhow, you seem to be moving the relationship stuff on apace, so I think you're squared away there. On the other hand, Celestia's plot arc seems a little bit muddled. It seems to be sort of coasting in this installment, even despite the introduction of Harmony. I rather feel that should have been hammered harder, and all together at the end or the middle of this chapter, depending on pacing.
Did you know that this is one of my very favorite stories? To the point where I actually made a group for stories about Twilight and the stars. I'll be once again eagerly awaiting the next chapter of this story when it eventually comes out.
Woot!
Yay update!! Still a lot of questions but great to see this move forward.
6034149
You don't know how much these sorts of comments help. Well, as a writer yourself, maybe you do. I just realized that I never responded to the one for the previous chapter, but please, your insight is great to have.
I think, perhaps, that if this chapter was half again as long it would have been more what you were expecting. We would have had a little more serious talk with the ex-elements on the train, and I could have had a much stronger finish with Celestia and her project.
i love it. war of books! lol this story never fails to leave me with a smile. ^_^ thank you very much!
6034187 One of the consequences of chopping things into deliverable chapters is getting the pacing right is sometimes tricky. There's a reason why I generally don't release chapter-by-chapter, and that's because I have to let the story flow to its own proper breakpoints or it drives me up the wall. I have a suspicion you aren't entirely satisfied with the pacing between the end of the under-Equestria scene and here so far as chapter-by-chapter goes - taking it as a whole, it could have been chopped up differently, but that's something that's really hard to manage when you're doing it as you go rather than something you can see when you're done with the whole thing and are going back to groom it for release.
Aww... I liked drunk Twi shoving the royal accoutrements off on Sunset and drunkenly trying to find the mirror portal. Then again, I can understand why you wrote it as a joke chapter.
Always a pleasure to see more of this. It looks like the tone has shifted back towards that of the earlier chapters for a bit, coincidentally around the same time Twilight's friends return to the narrative, as if they harbor the inclusion of a higher concentration of humor within themselves. Well, it's good humor so I'm not going to complain. We just had a fight with an ancient ghost alicorn and a dragon, a break is fine.
Huh, I could have sworn this had been marked complete.
6034285
There was an april fools epilogue, but I specifically did not mark it complete, in order to avoid confusion.
They aren't the elements anymore because harmony is it's own being now. THough to be honest I'm surprise you haven't tried to fit Cadance in.
and Fluttershy and the wild life.
Hereafter shall the 30th of May be known as National Innuendo Day.
The innuendo is strong with this one.
Hmmm... I do not like the new alicorn appearing. I feel it's a threat to the Twilight x Luna.
Well, at least it isn't cake that she wanted.
Do you mean Somni here, or am I remembering incorrectly? It has been a while, to be sure, but I thought Somni was the dream one.
6034628
Fixed
I know my own goddamn OCs, really I do.
Do you know how excited I get when I get an email with this fic's title in it? It's dangerous, I tell you.
It had somehow not occurred to me, or at least I don't remember it occurring to me, that Harmony becoming a questionably-person would likely mean the Mane 6 aren't the EoH anymore. It's cool to get to see the aftermath, if it can be called that for how jovial this chapter was. Which isn't at all a bad thing! I liked this quiet little chapter quite a lot. Though, am I the only one getting tired of them treating the Librarowhatever as if it were a separate country? It didn't detract from how much I enjoyed this chapter, but it's at the point where I'm rolling my eyes instead of chuckling at that joke now, lol. It shouldn't be that hard to fix it; Twilight just needs to "allow" Equestria to "annex" her Librarowhatever so that it's all legally one country again, on paper. She can even make a show of it being peaceful only on the condition of her getting to retain her current rights to all the libraries etc — which should be fine, since as an Equestrian royal, they're all kind'a hers either way.
6034666 If it makes you feel any better, the cat we brought in off the street gave birth to a litter of four. One orange, one yellow, one black, and one gray. I thought Vita, Luma, Fati, and Somni would have been perfect, and the only reason we didn't name them those is because not a single one was female.
Edit: I also feel like not naming the mother Caryatid was a wasted opportunity, in retrospect.
And so it shall have a body. A new body. A better body. A golden body.
It keeps getting more and more interesting.
6034547 I think the new alicorn, Harmony, will be shipped with Celestia
Yay! A shift back to some of the more light-hearted stuff we had at the beginning!
This was a nice change-up from the heavy mythology and adventure arc we just got done with. And all the innuendo-y stuff was fun and nice continuity for Luna.
...oh, crap. Harmony. I guess that would have a bit of an impact on our five favorite non-alicorns, now wouldn't it...
So yeah, I liked this chapter a lot. It was a breath of fresh air that I think this story really needed right now. Heck, I think even Twi would even agree that a bit more down time like this would be a good thing. But it just isn't to be, is it? Alright, the lot of 'em to Canterlot, then.
6034913 while it is getting more interesting it leaves me wondering if its starting to lose just a bit of focus not a lot but just enough
Commence read.
Hm.
Celestia getting to just roll with it all.
The Elements getting strange.
Congrats to Mr.Ferret and Miss Squirrel.
Soon, Tia will have a nice princess of her own to cuddle!
And my god, the Twiluna UST is starting to go into overdrive. I like it.
This continuing and evolving TwiLuna relationship is one of the best developmental arcs I've seen. Everything between them flows so well and they play so well against each other. I'm expecting that when Twilight finally does spell out that she wants to go full on eros romantic love, that Luna is going to think they'd been in a relationship like that for weeks.
dear lord Luna and Twilight in this fic are adorable.
Before reading...
Noticed the cover art bears the title now; small change but looks nice
Now i'm curious what the exact connection between the bearers and Harmony is.
Also, yay National Innuendo Day.
People mention innuendo all the time, but here's a prime example of taking things out of context in a TwiLuna story.
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sadly, that story DOES exist.
I hope you realise what you've done; this means any further chapters posted on May 29th will need to be filled with innuendo.
6034149
Nothing light an airy about making the bearers ex-bearers. They will never fill that hole in themselves. This strikes at their very identity.
6035871 Be asserted that these who want to know know everything there is about THAT.
These who don't know would rather like to stay that way. So please, let us refrain from delving deeper into that particular pile of... Species.
Aw man. Fluttershy.
6037131 Intrinsically, no, as conveyed by the way the story was constructed, it wasn't so heavy.
Awesome as always. I don't know if you try (lack of such a tag doesn't mean you don't try though), but i've found this story very comical ever since some point i can't remember.
i just found this story and i am loving it
Having just read through the entirety of this story in a day, I can honestly say I'm FUCKING LOVING IT! But not in that way, dammit National Innuendo Day.
I believe the mare doth protest too much.
Go on, Dash, give it a try~
Hm. . . Things might start getting weird from this point onwards. I can feel it. And yes weirder than it already is. . .
6034960 Yes, something like that could happen.
So, the Elements just became ambulatory and walked out of their vault, and down in Ponyville the mane six minus Twilight all became ill. This seems bad, possibly really bad.
Yeah, I bet that's his opinion.
Bwhahahahaha! I love the implications of that.
My god(dess), it really is innuendo day.
Oh, so the girls simply lost their connection to the Elements? Not as bad as I was thinking then. They do now have Harmony on hand herself in case anything requiring the Elements comes up.
Speaking of Harmony, looks like a member of the press managed to get wind of her.
Celestia's weight in gold? That's... not much, actually. Gold is very heavy.