Chapter 4
Sharing the Night: Chapter 4
✶ ✶ ✶
“That’s no moon," Twilight thought through a haze of sleepiness. It was a pony; it was in fact, Fluttershy. Unlike Twilight, she seemed to be happily wide awake as attested to by the great big teal eyes that blinked calmly not more than six inches from Twilight’s face. “...Fluttershy,” she stated flatly.
“Um—yes, Twilight?” came the butter-yellow pegasus’ immediate chipper response.
“...why are you in my bed?” she asked, –and why was I expecting somepony else? she added to herself.
“Oh. Umm... You came home late last night acting delirious,” the pegasus mare explained. “Rainbow thought you were drunk, but I’m pretty sure it was just sleep deprivation. I brought you up to bed and—umm—you were very forceful. It’s okay though; you were so into it, I just couldn’t bring myself to stop you.”
Twilight stared at Fluttershy for a moment. “–by which you mean that I used freaky alicorn-earth-pony strength to wrestle you into bed and cuddle you like a teddy bear. A platonic teddy bear.”
Fluttershy blinked. “Yes, that’s what I said.”
Twilight let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Celestia was right, a good night’s sleep did wonders for panic attacks.
“But—umm—Twilight?” Fluttershy asked sheepishly.
“Hmm?” the sleepy mare responded vaguely.
“The stars in your mane are very nice to watch, but can we get out of bed now? It’s four in the afternoon.”
“–wha?” Twilight blinked, realizing she was still holding the yellow pegasus in a vice-grip. She jerked her hooves away with a start and reflexively shoved Fluttershy out of bed in panic; the confused pegasus made a warbling, thumping squeak as she rolled across the floor and slammed into the bedroom door.
“Ohmygosh! Fluttershy!” Twilight gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves. “I’m so sorry!” she apologized as she jumped out of bed to help her yellow friend—but the maltreated mare was already stumbling to her feet no worse for wear beyond a passing resemblance to a certain mailmare. Apparently pegasi really were light and fluffy enough to fall off mountains—or out of beds—and be fine. She wondered why she’d never thought about it before.
As Fluttershy stabilized herself on the door her stomach rumbled, much to her embarrassment. “Oh—umm—I’m sorry. It’s just that I haven’t had breakfast,” she explained. “–or lunch, or—um—anything at all, actually. Since last night, I mean.”
Twilight facehooved, glancing out the bedroom window to see that it was indeed late in the afternoon. “Augh, Fluttershy, you could have just woken me up,” she shook her head. “Come on, let’s get something to eat; I’m starving too.”
“Oh no, Twilight; I couldn’t have done that,” Fluttershy insisted sweetly as she stopped leaning up against the door for support and opened it.
Twilight sighed as she followed the pegasus out into the stairway. “You really should have; I thought you learned to stand up for yourself even without being mean about it?”
“Oh, no, Twilight," Fluttershy repeated apologetically. “I mean I really couldn’t have. That is to say—umm—I tried. –and Spike tried. –and Rainbow Dash tried too. Your eyes were all black and it was like you weren’t even there; we were really worried, but a doctor would have seen your wings and—um—Spike said it was probably some alicorn thing.”
Twilight’s face flushed a bit in embarrassment. “Oh... yeah, uhh, sorry. That was...” she started to explain, but hesitated. Nopony knew that the royal sisters effectively were the sun and moon. She hadn’t been asked to keep it a secret or anything, but... well, it was one thing to just grow wings and a princesshood one day—ponies knew how they were supposed to respond to princesses—but it was something else entirely to point up at the stars in the sky and say ‘See that? That’s me. Go ahead and wave, because I can see you.’
“...some alicorn thing, yeah,” she finished lamely. “It’s how I control the stars,” she continued as truthfully as possible; she wasn’t trying to keep anyone in the dark, after all. Another glance outside confirmed that the stars had been put away properly. “I guess I managed to do it in my sleep,” she noted as way of explanation, vaguely remembering the feeling she’d had of the moon trying to pull itself out of her... embrace? “–with some prompting,” she added cryptically.
✶ ✶ ✶
“So,” Fluttershy prompted as they entered the main room of the library where Spike was visible shelving books and the sound of turning pages came from one of the couches. “You worked everything out with the princesses?”
Twilight sighed. “Yes, everything is...” she started to say everything was fine, but it wasn’t, really. Luna was most definitely not fine. “...in the open,” she finished.
“See? I told you she’d be fine,” Spike noted with barely disguised pride in his judgement as he spotted her and set down the book he was carrying.
“Yeah yeah,” came a rough voice that was unmistakably Rainbow Dash from the couch. “So, how long?” she asked mercilessly.
Twilight blinked. “What?”
There was a paffing sound as a Daring Do book snapped shut and she poked her head over the back of the couch to look at Twilight seriously. “How long after you saw Celestia did it take you to fess up.”
“Umm...” the lavender mare delayed, looking away. “W–why?”
Dash leapt over the couch and flopped a sack of bits on the table.
“You... you were betting on me?” Twilight balked. “Dash!”
“What? Come on, how long?” she repeated as more bits found their way to the table.
“Um... specifically Celestia?” the alicorn asked evasively.
“Yeah,” Dash confirmed.
Twilight’s head drooped until her mane hid her eyes from view. “O–oh... Umm...” she counted in her head. “T-two or three...”
“Hours?” Dash suggested dubiously.
“Minutes?” Spike chimed in hopefully.
“...seconds,” Twilight admitted.
Dash facehooved audibly. “Augh! You... you...” the rainbow-maned mare grimaced. “Damnit, Twilight! Couldn’t you have held off for five measly minutes?”
“Five minutes? You bet on five minutes, Dash?” Indignation quickly replaced embarrassment. “Thanks for the vote of confidence!”
“Hey!” Dash shouted. “I’ll have you know that was the longest bet, Twilight! I believed in you!”
Twilight blinked as she processed that, “wait, then who–” she started as she turned to see Fluttershy scooping three bags of bits into her saddlebag with one wing.
Caught in the act, the butter-yellow pegasus gave a shy, innocent smile that almost seemed to squeak as she made it. “A–anyway,” she stuttered, then hurriedly spat out “I really should go check on my animals thanks so much bye!” in one long pileup of words before disappearing out the door in a puff of wind that would have made Dash proud... when she was five.
The lavender mare facehooved, then something suddenly crossed her mind and her head perked up. “Wait, there were three bags of bits. Where did Spike get–” suddenly, she noticed the baby dragon was no longer shelving books. Indeed, he seemed to have gone missing entirely. “Spike?” she called. “SPIKE! SPI—KE!” she shouted, but he had apparently got while the getting was good. “I won’t forget about this, Spike!” she informed the library in general. “I know where you live!”
✶ ✶ ✶
The lavender librarian sighed and flopped down at the dining table, cradling her head in her hooves in exasperation. Actually she was kind of glad Fluttershy and Spike had skipped out on her, she needed a little bit of peace and quiet.
“So, uhh...” came an awkward voice.
Right, Rainbow Dash was still here, she reminded herself. So much for peace and quiet, she thought, but Dash actually looked kind of serious as she sat down at the table next to Twilight. “What is it, Dash?” she asked tiredly. “Got any more bets I should know about?”
“Well I was really wondering about your mane...” Dash suggested at first, but hurried on after a look from Twilight. “–but, uhh, I really just wanted to ask... you’re not just here to pack up and move back to Canterlot, are you? ...‘cause that would be totally uncool.”
Twilight couldn’t help but let her lips curl a bit at the reminder that she had friends who really did care. “No Dash, I’m not moving to Canterlot. Celestia says I don’t even have to be a princess.”
“Oh, cool. So, everything’s good?” she asked.
“...not really, no.” Twilight sighed as she finally had a moment to review everything that had happened yesterday. “I screwed up, Dash. Luna and I got into a... not a fight, but...”
“Is that what that was?” Dash asked wonderingly.
“Huh?” Twilight asked, bewildered.
“Clop off’” Dash quoted, making the quotemarks with her hooves.
“...you heard that, huh?” Twilight asked rhetorically, sinking into her seat to hide her embarrassment..
“Twilight, they probably heard it in the Griffon Kingdom,” Dash asserted.
“Oh Celestia I hope not,” Twilight balked. “That would be... unfortunate.” The Griffins always were easily offended. “–anyway,” she bore on, “it’s not just that. You might not have noticed, but the stars are all messed up for some reason—I’m sure Luna’s ecstatic about that too—and we still don’t even know anything about why this even happened.”
“Yeah, but who cares about any of that?” Dash dismissed in a carefree tone.
“Uhh—I do?” the alicorn pointed out affrontedly.
“Yeah, well, stop," Dash insisted. “Those are Canterlot problems. What does it matter right now if you pissed off Luna or if Luna pissed off the birdies?”
Twilight was unconvinced and unamused. “–and the stars?”
Dash shrugged and leaned back, “eh, everypony was probably getting bored with the old ones anyway—and if they do complain, you should tell them to stuff it. You might not have noticed, but from where I’m sitting it looks like the stars are yours now, Twilight. All the astronomology nerds in the world exist just to tell you how cool they are, not what to do with them.”
Briefly, Twilight wished she lived in the same world as Rainbow Dash. “It’s not that simple,” she moped. “Sailor ponies use the stars for navigation, Dash! I can’t just take that away!”
“Yeah, Twilight, you can. Come on—really—those sailor ponies still have the sun and moon, they’ll figure something new out in like, a day. It never mattered that some stars looked like a filly’s drawing of a spoon, just where it was in the sky.”
“A filly’s—Dash!” Twilight balked, appalled. “How can you call Luna’s constellations–”
“–Twi!” Dash interrupted. “Luna’s been gone for a thousand years; do you really think she made all that stuff up? If they had ponies like you that liked that stuff back then, Nightmare Moon might not have happened!”
Twilight stopped, started to say something, then stopped again.
“Hay, maybe you should ask her sometime,” the sky-blue pegasus suggested. “–but not right now!”
“Look—fine, Dash. If you don’t think that’s important, what is?” the irate alicorn fumed.
“All you should be thinking about right now is what’s on the other side of that door,” the pegasus gestured with one hoof. Twilight just stared in confusion at the door outside. “Ponyville and three friends you’re still lying to.”
Twilight’s eyes widened a bit in fear, then she simply headdesked. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash—because I needed more to worry about.”
“Hey—I don’t care what you tell Ponyville, but Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity need to find out about this from you and nopony else. Look, you had your little panic attack and everything’s fine now; the longer you leave them out of this and the longer you make Fluttershy and me cover for you, the worse it’s going to get.”
“I know,” the lavender alicorn groused as she pushed her chair away and stood up to stretch. “At least Ponyville won’t be a problem. I came up with a spell last night to make me look like a regular unicorn,” she explained as her horn glowed for a moment and the wings disappeared. “It’s just an illusion, but as long as I don’t pomf anyone in the face on the street, I shouldn’t have anything to worry about,” she smiled proudly.
Dash just stared at her. “Yeeeeah—that’s not going to work.”
Twilight cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?” she asked, twisting to make sure her wings were invisible—they were, but something else wasn’t. “Aw, ponyfeathers!,” she swore. Her mane and tail remained as they had been since her first manifestation last night—solid magic cut from the night sky itself. Briefly, she wondered if the rest of her was no longer flesh and blood either, but she didn’t have time to continue that line of thought.
“No—no wait—I can still make this work!” she declared with a twinge of mania. “I... I just need a hat!”
“Two hats,” Rainbow Dash noted sarcastically. “One for your head and one for your dock.”
“I... I...” Twilight stammered, trying to figure something out.
“Face it Twi—even if you did that, Rare would murder you the second you walked into her shop—and then she’d feel bad. –and then I’d feel bad for not saving your life by putting a stop to your wacky hijinks.”
Twilight grumbled defeatedly, dispelled the unicorn illusion for the moment—and at the exact same moment, her stomach grumbled angrily as well. “Spike!” she shouted, turning to look into the kitchen. “What’s holding up breakf–” she started to ask, but was stopped in her tracks by the sight of a completely empty room. “Right, no Spike, no breakfast,” she remembered, thumping her head against the doorjamb.
Suddenly Rainbow Dash’s face lit up with a grin. “Oh hey, don’t worry about breakfast—I’ve got that covered,” she said as she motioned Twilight over to the couch. “There’s food from Sugar Cube Corner.”
“Oh thank Celestia!” Twilight beamed happily as she followed Dash out to the center of the library. “You have no idea how hungry I—wait, I don’t see any–”
The next thing Twilight knew, she was being flung at Rainbow Dash speeds out of the library, tumbling head over hooves in the fresh white snow. Just as she rolled to a stop wearing a fresh coat of powder, the library door slammed shut.
Merely dazed and confused from being flung out of the library, Twilight stumbled back to the library door, shaking herself off along the way. For some reason, the door was locked. “Dash!” she yelled, banging on the door. “What in Equestria–”
“There is food from Sugar Cube Corner,” Dash’s rough voice yelled from the other side of the door. “You just have to go get it!”
“What—DASH! You–!”
“I’m saving your life!” the voice behind the door insisted. “Say ‘hi’ to Pinkie Pie for me!”
Twilight thumped her head on the door and sighed, sinking down into a sitting position on the library’s doorstep as she tried to figure out what she was going to do. Unfortunately, it was hard to think with the din of late-afternoon traffic all mumbling and clopping—actually she didn’t hear any clopping. She lifted her gaze to see why, and suddenly realized everypony in sight had stopped where they stood.
–and they were all looking at her.
–and her mane.
–and her wings.
“...oh, horseapples.”
☼ ☼ ☼
Celestia found Luna in their private dining area miserably poking at a pair of waffles with dark blueberry syrup matching the younger sister’s coat—and mood. “A little late even for your breakfast, isn’t it?” she observed as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
“I didst not sleep well,” Luna mumbled.
“Something on your mind?” Celestia prodded knowingly.
“Taxes,” the weary alicorn deflected.
The princess of the sun shook her head. “Lulu, I know there’s a lot to learn about how Equestria and the language have changed—and that much of it is your stubborn pride—but that is not how you pronounce ‘Twilight Sparkle’ and you know it.”
Luna poked her waffles unproductively with a small silver breakfast fork. “She is excessively clingy when she sleeps,” the princess of the moon explained. “–so much so that it made setting the moon difficult.”
Celestia was inappropriately amused at the image of a sleepy Twilight hanging onto her younger sister like a narcoleptic ball and chain; she did her best not to let it show. “Is that really such a bad thing?”
“Yes!” Luna threw her fork down on the plate and leaned back in her chair with a groan. “Shall we give away... give away your rainbows to Rainbow Dash and see how that works out for you, Tia? Keep her in the same sky with you while she prances about shows them off like shiny new ribbons?” the midnight blue alicorn demanded flippantly, then flopped forward with a sigh. “This is not how I expected it to be.”
“Oh?” Celestia asked indifferently as she blatantly helped herself to Luna’s waffles from across the table and failed to mention that Rainbow Dash would probably be insulted at the accusation of prancing. “Not how you expected what to be, exactly?”
“Twilight Sparkle!” Luna shouted frustratedly. “She just—I just–”
“What did you expect, Lulu?” Celestia asked, arching one eyebrow as she sipped her coffee to wash down a bite of waffle. “You’ve read her reports, you know how she is. She makes mistakes; everypony does. Sometimes those mistakes hurt; it’s part of growing up.”
“I know, Tia, I just...” she didn’t have the words.
“You just didn’t expect her to hurt you,” the elder alicorn suggested.
“...yes. That,” Luna admitted with a reluctant grumble.
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight stared in shock at the crowd.
The crowd stared back in silence.
Hesitantly, she found her way to her hooves and took a tentative step forward.
The crowd parted and bowed.
The sight of prostrated ponies disturbed her more than it ever had before when it was her they were bowing to; she tried to draw herself up to shout at them. She was going to yell at them and explain that she wasn’t a princess—that she just wanted to be treated normally—but she just... didn’t have the energy to deal with it right now so she just... she let them do it.
To her everlasting shame, she let them bow and gape at her for now if it would just keep them quiet and let her pretend everything was normal.
Dejected and disappointed with herself, she turned and started walking down the street towards Sugar Cube Corner.
Nopony said anything the entire way.
✶ ✶ ✶
The bell on the door cheerfully broke the utter silence as Twilight entered the bakery.
“Hey Twilight!” Pinkie Pie beamed from behind the counter. “Wow! You look tired! I bet you’re hungry too! What can I get you?”
“Hey Pinkie,” she greeted unenergetically. “What have you got for somepony wishing she could to do grievous harm unto a friend who doesn’t know the meaning of moderation?” she asked sarcastically.
The pink party pony brightened up and disappeared behind the counter for a moment before popping back up. “Bear claws! Raaawr!” she faux-roared as she waved one about threateningly with each hoof before packaging up the glazed pastries. “Bear claws are super great for nonlethal pony-to-pony combat! Even though they’re called claws, you can actually throw them too which is really really useful against Pegasi! Anything else?”
Twilight couldn’t help but smile at her antics. “Just some orange juice,” she said before taking a bite of bear claw. “I’d like to at least pretend this is breakfast as normal.”
“Sure thing!” the earth pony chirped before dashing off into the back room only to return seconds later walking on her hind legs juggling oranges and singing nonsense to herself as she sliced them in half and tossed them into a juice press with the kind of hoof control only a practiced earth pony could manage. It made Twilight feel a little bit better about being an alicorn as she noted that no matter what magical traits she shared with the three pony races, there were still things she’d probably never be able to do.
Pinkie Pie passed the cup of orange juice to Twilight, who hoofed over some bits and glanced over her shoulder at the crowds outside. Then, the lavender librarian did something she never thought she’d do; she sat down at a table in Sugar Cube Corner to eat during Pinkie’s shift... because it would be quieter and less stressful than the alternative.
A minute or so passed as the freshly awoken mare ate and Pinkie Pie just... hovered expectantly. Eventually the pregnant silence became too much, and Twilight searched her mood for something to talk about.
“Pinkie,” the sullen alicorn sighed. “What do you do when apologizing only makes things worse?”
“Well that’s easy, silly! Stop apologizing!” the party pony beamed in response.
Twilight perked up in expectation “–and...?”
“–and what, Twilight?” Pinkie Pie inquired with a cock of her head, as if the lavender mare had suddenly changed the subject.
“You don’t apologize... but what do you do?” she clarified insistently.
Pinkie Pie blinked. “Do? How should I know?”
“Pinkie, you’re friends with everypony in Ponyville,” Twilight pointed out. “You’re like... The drunken master of friendship! You ought to have some idea.”
“Ooooh,” the pink party pony said with sudden understanding. “Silly Twilight! I’m not friends with everypony in Ponyville.”
That wasn’t the answer she was expecting. “You aren’t?” she wondered in surprise.
“Nope!” she beamed. “I’m friends with every pony in Ponyville! That’s every–” she paused, marking a distance in the air with her hooves. “–space–” she continued seriously, moving her hooves along to the side in starts. “–pony! –and also, every space-pony!”
“...space-pony,” Twilight said with no inflection through a bite of pastry.
“Yeah! I mean, ponies are all different, you know? –so being somepony’s friend is always different too! That’s why I’m every pony’s friend! It’d be really boring if they were all the same! Ooh, ooh! You know what? I know every pony in Ponyville so maybe I can help you! Who are you after?”
Who was she ‘after’? That was a funny way of putting it, she thought. “I just want Luna to... I don’t want her to hate me.”
“Ooh, ooh, you mean the princess?” Pinkie beamed. “That’s easy! Stop making all the kids scared of her on Nightmare Night!”
Twilight paused for a moment with her mouth open, then very nearly caught the last of her breakfast between hoof and face as the two sought each other out like magnets. “Pinkie, I never did that. You did that. I was the one helping her out!”
“Oh, well then aren’t you already her friend?” Pinkie suggested as she took Twilight’s garbage and cleaned up the table.
Twilight leaned back in her chair, searching the ceiling for an answer. “I dunno... I guess?”
“–then she can’t hate you!” the pink party pony grinned as she suddenly pulled Twilight to her hooves. “So cheer up!” Pinkie shook her. “We can’t have you all down for the—uhh—” Pinkie suddenly stopped in mid sentence and let go of the lavender alicorn to look around for something to substitute for what she was going to say. She didn’t find it under the cashbox or inside the donut display.
Twilight just gave a little chuckle and smiled. “Look, Pinkie,” she said, changing the subject for her pink friend. “Thanks for not pestering me about the elephant in the room, really. I appreciate it.”
Pinkie Pie pulled her head out of the cupboard, covered in powdered sugar. “Elephant? There was an elephant in the room?” she asked with a mixture of confusion and concern. “Oh no—did he want something? Mrs. Cake is always telling me to pay more attention!”
Twilight shook her head. “I mean... me,” she said, gesturing to herself; mane, wings and all.
Pinkie Pie was confused for a moment, then gave a short snorting laugh. “Don’t be silly, Twilight! You’re not an elephant! Elephants don’t have wings!”
Twilight just smiled. “Like I said... thanks,” she said, as she made to leave. “Oh,” she paused halfway out the door. “–and what time can I expect the ’–uhh–’”
“Eight o’clock!” Pinkie beamed happily.
“Right,” the alicorn nodded, and shut the door behind her.
She wished she hadn’t.
The crowd was still there.
✶ ✶ ✶
The door of the Carousel Boutique made a polite pa-tump despite the haste with which it was shut. The mare who had shut it, however, was in a slightly less polite state and somewhat resented the door’s quiet composure. She’d started out walking in simple awkward silence outside of Sugar Cube Corner, making her way towards Rarity’s shop with dozens, if not hundreds of eyes watching her every step in complete silence.
Unconsciously, she’d stiffly started to walk faster; the crowd didn’t follow, but there were always more of them everywhere she went, watching her. Eventually, her stiff walk had turned into a skittish canter as she passed more and more silent faces. When the boutique had finally come into view, her skittish canter had finally blossomed into a full-out nervous gallop until she burst through the door—which is how she’d ended up where she was now; leaning on the inside of said door, gasping for breath and slightly perturbed that it didn’t even have the decency to slam properly.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have a chance to catch her breath before an icy voice came from the doorway that led to the back room.
“You!” Rarity hissed in the third most hostile voice Twilight had ever heard from the element of generosity (the second and first were of course reserved for ex-suitors she had gotten over—Blueblood and Tom, in that order.)
“I am not talking to you until you apologize!” Rarity shrieked in a hurt-sounding voice, staying where she was at the edge of the room.
The lavender alicorn looked back over her shoulder at the door, beyond which a whole crowd of ponies loomed. Of course the news would have outrun her, she reasoned. She wondered if perhaps she should have come to Rarity first, but her stomach hadn’t given her a choice in the matter.
“Well?” Rarity prompted impatiently. “Let’s have it then,” the fashionista demanded, taking a tentative step forward.
Twilight dropped her head down in resignation. “I’m sorry for not telling you about my wings, Rarity. I was being silly and paranoid.”
Rarity blinked. “What? No—let’s have that horrible sweater!” she cried. “Out with it! I want to see it burn.”
“The... sweater? Really, Rarity? I don’t have the sweater with me,” the librarian stated in a flat monotone. “I have alicorn wings,” she paused. “You don’t even care, do you.”
“Oh—err—yes... I’m sorry Twilight—they’re very nice—but you have to understand, a mare has certain needs.” Needs that involved fire, apparently.
Twilight made a noise that was somewhere between an exasperated sigh and a grunt of frustration. “Look, fine. Pinkie Pie is arranging a thing at eight for obvious reasons. If it means that much to you, you can have the sweater then. You can make a whole event of it. You can have all my sweaters.”
Rarity’s eyes widened as she gasped in utter horror. “You mean—there are more of them?!” she cried in revulsion and fell into a convenient fainting couch. “Twilight!” she shouted as she twisted dramatically on the couch, “You cad! You criminal! You depraved madmare! How could you?”
If Twilight wore a watch, she would have checked it. “Are you done now?”
Rarity hesitated a moment to think, one hoof on her forehead. “...yes, I think so,” she confirmed as she swept her legs out off the couch and leaned one elbow on the headrest to actually look at the alicorn of the stars. “You do look rather fetching—perhaps a little ruffled I suppose. Do you sparkle or is that just snow...?”
“You don’t seem surprised about the, uh...” Twilight fanned out her wings and wiggled them; she was getting a little better at the fine motor controls.
“Well—I’m not, am I? I mean, I’m not stupid, Twilight. You aren’t a filly anymore to just suddenly be having growth spurts for no good reason—and then there were the stars, and you came out of the bath with just a towel over your wings. You weren’t really hiding it, were you now?”
“A towel over my...” she repeated distantly, suddenly remembering.
Heck, I bet Rarity would have seen through you too if she could have brought herself to look at that horrible thing you were wearing, Rainbow Dash had said. Well, she hadn’t been wearing ‘that horrible thing’ the whole time, had she? Twilight would have facehooved again right then and there but for concerns that she was beginning to wear a permanent rut into her face by now. “You could have said something.”
Rarity scoffed. “What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t let you think you had secrets?” the white unicorn asked rhetorically.
“A good one?” the young alicorn joked sarcastically in answer.
“Anyway, forget about that. Princess," Rarity stated, enunciating the word like it was the shiniest jewel in a crown. “What’s that going to be like?”
“Oh, no, I’m not going to be a princess,” Twilight explained matter-of-factly. “Princess Celestia offered, but I said ‘no.’ I couldn’t just leave Ponyville.”
“You what,” Rarity asked flatly, one eye twitching.
“Well... yeah!” she declared proudly. “Being a princess just isn’t what I—”
“OUT!” Rarity cried, throwing Twilight back out into the street and slamming the door.
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight only remembered her flight from the Carousel Boutique in the vaguest of terms—just enough to wish she’d thought to utilize actual flight, or better, teleportation since her flight was not quite up to snuff yet. As it was she had found herself on her back, surrounded by all those eyes and she’d just... stumbled to her hooves and ran. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that this was becoming a problem, but right now she was just happy to find herself out on the road to Sweet Apple Acres, blissfully alone.
There was a time when just the walk to Applejack’s farm would have tired her out. As spread out as Canterlot Castle and Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns were, Canterlot was still a city and Twilight had still been little more than a bookworm. She hadn’t exactly been unfit when she came to Ponyville, but the key word of Sweet Apple Acres was, after all, acres. There was, quite unapologetically, a lot of it.
Fast forward a couple years, and now exhaustion was the furthest thing from her mind; physical exhaustion, anyhow. Her mental state was perhaps a little more frazzled than she’d have liked to admit, though she thought she was hiding it rather well. Physically on the other hand, though the librarian had certainly been breathing hard from her flightless flight out of Ponyville, that had subsided and now she just felt... refreshed. Energized, even. Not only that, but for the first time since this had all started, she even felt optimistic despite her frazzled nature.
Her friends understood; neither Pinkie Pie nor Rarity had made a big deal about it at all—not really, if she understood Rarity like she thought she did—and now all she had left to do was to tell Applejack. Applejack was one of the most grounded and practical ponies Twilight knew. This would be simple, easy and quick, she told herself.
In fact, she was almost disappointed when she looked up and realized she was already at the Apple family homestead. She was actually disappointed when she found the Apple family homestead empty, save for a single napping Granny Smith whom Twilight did her best not to disturb.
It wasn’t hard to conclude that the Apples were still out doing... whatever it was apple farmers do over the winter. The Apples weren’t known for being slackers; if there was anything they could do now to make life easier during apple-bucking season, they’d be out doing it. Twilight wouldn’t be surprised to find them down in the cellar making apple preserves, out in the barn getting fresh hay or even managing some sort of secret magical underground apple farm.
Disappointingly, she didn’t find them down in the cellar or out in the barn, and as far as she could tell there was no magical underground apple farm—secret or not. The only things left she could do were to either sit and wait, wake Granny Smith or search the fields herself. She was surprised to find that the last idea didn’t immediately fill her with dread and imagined exhaustion. Actually it sounded like a great idea to her; the whole orchard felt subtly alive to her, and the expectation of having a good run was building into a feeling of—no, wait. Suddenly she had a much better idea.
She looked out over the wide open fields of Sweet Apple Acres and rustled her wings in anticipation. Despite earlier thoughts about the caliber of her flying ability, surely here—she thought—the third time would be the charm.
Stretching her wings out to their full extension sent shivers of relief down her spine. The snow she’d been thrown into twice today had melted off into a simple dewy shine that caught the late afternoon sunset beautifully. Being flung out of buildings had also begun to take its toll on Twilight’s wings, though; they were a bit ruffled. Regrettably, she had only been an alicorn for two days and hadn’t yet had any lessons in wing care. Worse, she hadn’t yet been told why—other than comfort—such care was necessary.
She was about to find out.
Starting with a gulp and a gallop, she pointed herself at the south orchard and launched into the air. Despite a rocky start involving quite a bit of asynchronous flapping to try and level herself off, she quickly found herself airborne, though in no less rocky a state.
It wasn’t that her maltreated wings weren’t capable of providing enough lift; they just weren’t quite capable of providing the same lift—or glide with quite the same resistance. The awkward uneven flapping felt like she was galloping down a hill, never quite able to get her balance but still barely managing not to crash in any spectacular manner. She did come very close to crashing several times, however, only managing to swoop back up into the sky at the last moment. She was so occupied simply staying airborne that the idea of searching for Applejack had left her mind completely. Sadly, Applejack was not handicapped in any such way.
“Get outta here ya thievin’ pegasus!” came a thickly accented voice somewhere in the field below, immediately followed by a whomp and a splat of apple-scented pain in Twilight’s barrel and head. At that moment, nopony could have contested the practicality and effectiveness of apples and apple products as ordnance rated for buffalo, dragons and evidently alicorns. Not only that, but the small sweet fruit seemed to be doubly effective when aided by the stealthiest of stationary combatants, malus domestica.
That is to say, Twilight never saw the apple tree.
Whump.
“Uhh—sis? Ah think ya just shot down Princess Luna.”
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight didn’t actually lose consciousness, but there was a distinct period where said consciousness was most certainly misplaced and possibly sent on to Manehattan by mistake, where it had to be sent back by carriage over Equestria’s rockiest roads. When Twilight became Princess, she’d make sure the main thoroughfares got—and then her head cleared.
She felt a bit like a newborn foal as she dizzily propped her legs up under herself and wobbled to a stand. She found it necessary to keep her eyes on her hooves just in case they decided to give up the fight without her, which is how she noticed four more hooves stretched out in front of her; two orange and two yellow.
Then, the ringing in her head died down, and her hearing came back only to be filled immediately by a run-on string of apologies already in progress from one of the prostrated ponies.
“–ah’m mighty sorry, yer highness, ya see I just–”
“–Applejack,” Twilight tried to interrupt.
“–thought you was a friend of mine who’s always–”
“Applejack!” she interjected again futilely.
“–stealin’ mah apples on account of the sunset muddying up yer colors and–”
“Applejack!” the lavender alicorn shouted one last time and was finally successful at halting the torrent of apologies from the bowing earth pony—though not with the expected result.
“Hsst! Quiet down Twilight!” the orange mare hissed to the side sotto voce with her eyes still downcast. “Cain’t ya see ahm trying t’ apologize t’ the Princess?”
Twilight’s hoof only barely twitched. She was getting a handle on her facehoof-reflex.
“Uhm, sis...” Apple Bloom pitched in hesitantly; she’d peeked up at the ‘princess’ like any little filly would have and now she was rising to her hooves, her eyes shocked wide and awestruck.
“You too, Apple Bloom! Quiet!”
“–but sis—that weren’t no Princess Luna ya shot down...” the filly noted with uncertainty in her voice.
Applejack’s downcast face went from worry to outright fear. “Don’t tell me it’s–” She exploded into motion, grabbing Apple Bloom and leaping back from the night-colored alicorn, ready to buck if she attacked. “Nightmare M—Twilight?” she stuttered, blinking in surprise.
Twilight’s face was unreadable, “Yep. Nightmare Twilight. That’s me,” she said intending exasperation and sarcasm; it just came out flat.
Applejack shrank back subtly, worry and confusion clear on her face as she pushed Apple Bloom up on her back protectively. She was... afraid of Twilight? She thought she was serious?
A twinge of guilt tightened in her Twilight’s chest... and a little hurt too; actually, maybe more than a little hurt. “–and by that I mean just regular old Twilight,” the alicorn of the stars clarified meekly.
Applejack was still wary. “–but... y’all got the stars in yer mane and everything...”
“Yeah, umm...” she hesitated, worrying her hoof into the dirt nervously. She didn’t want to make it sound like she was any different. “Luna... won’t be handling them any more.” Twilight blinked as she heard the words at the same time as Applejack. No wait, that didn’t come out right either!
“W-what’d you do to her?” the earth pony accused aggressively, suddenly actively hostile. “If you’ve hurt the princesses...”
“Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed in affront and a little bit insulted. Is that what Applejack thought of her? “I didn’t hurt anypony! Well I mean, I did, but I didn’t hurt her hurt her! If anything she’s the one that bucked me off a mountain!”
“–and that made it right to... to whatever, did it?” the earth pony countered vehemently; her mind apparently made up now that Twilight had—what? Turned villain? This was getting ridiculous.
“Wha—I didn’t whatever anypony!” Twilight shouted, automatically responding to her friend’s hostility without even vetting the words for sense. Why was Applejack responding like this? Didn’t she trust Twilight?
“Oh yeah? Is that what the princesses will say?” Applejack demanded. “Then how come yer here and not in Canterlot gettin’ it fixed?”
“The princesses don’t even know what happened!” she fumed in anger and frustration—at least, that’s what she thought it was. For some reason, her eyes were starting to burn. Applejack. Why didn’t Applejack understand? She was so bewildered that the next accusation came out of nowhere and she wasn’t ready for it.
“So y’all think yeh got away with it, huh?”
“Wh–” For some reason, that poleaxed her. “What? Just—what?” She didn’t have an answer for that. “There isn’t anything to...” there isn’t anything to get away with, she started to simply deny, but there was, wasn’t there? No—it wasn’t the same at all! she told herself.
“No, no! I... This isn’t...” This isn’t my fault, she tried instead, but she knew better. “I... I never...” I never asked for this. Another lie, as Celestia herself had pointed out. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go at all—and why were her eyes burning? “I just... I...”
Oh.
She was crying.
How awkward.
Strange, she thought. Why was she crying? It was awful sudden and she didn’t even seem to be a part of the process, she just wanted... she just felt... actually, she was having trouble putting thoughts together just this moment. For a moment she just... stopped. Tears continued to build up until she could barely make out the antagonistic orange blob that was supposed to be her friend. Eventually, she took a breath, and it came out as a gasp and a sob. Oh—there—now she was starting to feel it.
It felt like she’d done all the math right and come up with the wrong answer.
For a while, Applejack was as stunned and inarticulate as Twilight until Apple Bloom clopped her on the ear from behind. “A-aw shucks, Twi, ah didn’t mean to...” the elder apple farmer apologized awkwardly and emptily.
“Just... stop... please," Twilight pleaded as weak knees buckled under her and she buried her face in her hooves and the snow. “Just let me... I can’t...”
“Twi...” Applejack emoted, hesitantly stepping forward at the sobbing alicorn.
She couldn’t handle this right now. “Just... please leave, Applejack.”
Twilight didn’t know if it was because Applejack’s felt guilty or if the earth pony was just similarly unable to process what was happening—but nevertheless, the apple farmer’s head sank sadly, she turned away and did as she was told; a silent Apple Bloom watching from her back as she crunched away through the snow.
Twilight immediately wished she hadn’t left.
Applejack probably did too.
Neither of them had any idea what had just happened.
☾ ☾ ☾
“Not that I am complaining, but why didst thou send thy student away?” Luna asked her sister as they sat in the Canterlot Castle throne room between visitants. “She has much to learn still about being an alicorn.”
“That is exactly why," Celestia said cryptically. She motioned at the opulent room where citizens of Equestia would come to voice their grievances and make requests. “To a pony like her, this all seems so... silly. She would hate it.”
“Thou thinkest she wilt find another path?” Luna arched one eyebrow.
Celestia sighed. “Probably not... but this way she’ll understand it. She has to make her own mistakes.”
“...yes because that has worked so well up till now,” the younger alicorn said bitterly.
“You really need to lighten up, Lulu,” Celestia chided, making a show of looking at something behind the younger alicorn “All this grumpiness is turning you gray.”
“Hrmph,” Luna turned her head away stubbornly as she grumped sourly, then did a double at what her sister had said. “Wait—what?”
✶ ✶ ✶
The crowd was waiting for Twilight when she stumbled hollowly back to Ponyville; she knew they probably weren’t actually waiting for her, but to Twilight they had become just a single annoying entity whose sole purpose was to dog her every step. Okay, maybe she was being unfair; she was upset, after all; she was allowed to be unfair. It was almost sunset and all she wanted to do was to go home, dutifully bring out the stars like a good little alicorn and figure out how she was going to deal with whatever Pinkie Pie was planning in a couple of hours.
If only it were so easy.
Suddenly, without rhyme or reason, the corridor through the mass of ponies she’d been taking for granted did something unexpected; where before it had simply opened in front of her, it had now left one small filly standing in the path.
In her mouth she held a book, a quill and the biggest grin Twilight had ever seen on anypony save Pinkie Pie. The book was a copy of Twilight.
Somehow Twilight knew—she just knew—that there was no potential future that did not involve autographing that book—but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try. She was not in the mood.
“Look,” she sighed. “Listen!” she shouted angrily at the crowd, but it wasn’t quite enough over all the mumbling. She was going to have to—no! she told herself, absolutely not! There wasn’t really another option, though.
“Everypony listen to me!” she shouted in the... not the Royal Canterlot Voice, no, that would be too ironic for what she was going to say. This was the... Ponyville Librarian Voice. Yes. That. The traditional Ponyville Librarian Voice. She was starting the tradition right now.
“I am not—I repeat—I am not, nor will I ever be in the expected future a princess or any kind of royalty!” she shouted and a wave of mumbling echoed throughout the crowd... but their attitude didn’t change at all.
“So, please! You can all just go about your business!” she explained quite clearly. There was another bustle of approving mumbles, but it was as if she was speaking another language and everypony was too polite to tell her; they didn’t move an inch. The filly with the book was grinning madly as ever.
Conscious that she was quickly running out of time and just wanting to get on with it, Twilight gave in, yanked the book and quill from the filly and signed it with a plastered on smile and as much faked cheerfulness as she could muster. As the filly cantered happily off back to her mother, Twilight saw the spine of the book and realized it was a library copy. There were not enough facehooves in the world.
If Twilight had expected the book signing to satisfy the crowd and send them on their way, she didn’t know crowds—which she had, and which she didn’t. Suddenly the whole crowd sprang to life and her little corridor of respectful noninterference vanished in a sea of ponies who all of a sudden had questions and requests and... and Twilight didn’t even know what. It was all she could do to avoid getting trampled and reflexively shout whatever came to mind in the traditional Ponyville Librarian Voice, all the while the sun sank below the horizon and disappeared.
“Princess! Why doesn’t your mane billow without wind like the other princesses’?”
“I—it what?”
“Princess! What happened to Princess Luna? Is she dead?”
“No! She’s fine! ...ish”
“Princess! Why aren’t you a princess, princess?”
“Can you even hear yourself?!”
With every question, the sky darkened and Luna’s... Luna peeked up over the horizon. Suddenly she felt like she was being watched, which was rather strange seeing as she was drowning in ponies already, but completely normal for Twilight who had what amounted to extra-sensory perception in situations where she was in danger of being tardy.
Nopony else had noticed the sunset, however, and the crowd continued to press in, raining her with questions like rice at a wedding; some were even asking her about a wedding, though she wasn’t quite sure why. The sky grew darker and darker. She had no choice.
“Will everypony please be QUIET!” she roared in the traditional Ponyville Librarian Voice. “Can I just have FIVE MINUTES to RAISE THE BUCKING STARS PLEASE?”
Silence.
Beautiful awkward worshipful silence.
If there was any time she needed Princess Celestia’s calming spell, this was it. Her horn glowed and she closed her eyes. The crowd disappeared behind a vast expanse of blackness and stars. Being that this was still only her second time bringing out the stars, the process was rough; almost violent. She was sure Luna had a better way to do it—something more gradual that brought them out slowly like Equestria was used to—but all Twilight had figured out and all she had the patience for right now was to turn her celestial self upside down and inside out and flood the whole sky with brilliant lights all at once in a great tumultuous splash. As she crashed back down into her pony self, she kind of wished she could see it sometime; it was apparently rather spectacular.
Faces. Wide, adoring faces. Astonished, reverent faces all around her. Suddenly it hit her; why did she think being a princess or not mattered...? She was the stars. She was an aspect of the night sky. Being a princess was irrelevant; to these ponies... she was a goddess.
Why hadn’t that occurred to her?
There was an expectant pause before the crowd exploded even louder than before with even more crushing enthusiasm—but this time when the impromptu mosh-pit-slash-public-interview crashed together where the lavender alicorn had been standing, it found nothing but stardust.
✶ ✶ ✶
The early hour made manifesting back at the library difficult; a lot of Celestia’s sunlight was still refracting throughout the sky even after the sun had fallen beyond the horizon, so she had to fight for it. The sunlight seemed to be far more flexible than starlight in that regard; now that she knew what it was, Twilight knew she had actually seen the princess manifest in Ponyville after sunset before.
Regardless, the point was that she ended up manifesting somewhere six or seven shelves off the library floor, came crashing down with a limp flop and just... stayed there. Staring at the ceiling was all the action and excitement she wanted right now. Somehow it seemed the only alicorn magic she was making use of today was pegasi fluffiness.
Speaking of fluffy pegasi, Rainbow Dash was standing over Twilight with a look on her face like she wasn’t sure if she should toss the alicorn in the shower or the rubbish.
“Hey Dash," Twilight greeted numbly without prompting. “I did it. Everypony knows now. Everypony,” she paused a short while to examine a peculiar impulse. “–and every space-pony, I suppose,” she added.
“Space-ponies?” Dash asked; and Twilight was briefly amused at not being the straight pony for once, but it didn’t last. She felt awful and hollow. Crying herself out after Applejack had left hadn’t solved anything, and then what had happened outside... she needed to sort things out. She needed a chance to think.
“Are you... okay, Twi?” Dash asked concernedly.
“No. Look—thanks for watching the library, Dash, really,” she said in almost a monotone voice.
“Hey, no probl—” the proud pegasus began to say, but it was not to be.
“–now, I don’t have a checklist,” Twilight interrupted casually, as if she wasn’t even talking to Dash but writing a note. “–but I’m just about ninety-five percent sure I’m going to lay here for ten minutes, then go up to my room and... I don’t know. Lock up if you’re anxious to leave; I don’t want anypony wandering in off the street and turning my fridge into an altar to the star goddess or whatever. There’s a Pinkie Pie thing at eight. Applejack... might not be coming; I don’t know. I might not be coming.”
Dash was a bit weirded out. “Umm... yeah... okay. I did all my weather patrol stuff this morning, but you know... I haven’t been home since last night. I should really, uhh, check on the... clouds. At my house. –because my house is made of clouds. –and they might float away.”
Dash was lying to Twilight. Badly. Was that how she sounded when she lied? Right now, she didn’t even care. “You do that,” she replied, eyes on the ceiling, unfocused.
Rainbow Dash slowly made her way to the door in awkward silence peppered by several pauses as she stopped to look back at Twilight. “You’re really just gonna...”
“For at least ten minutes, Dash, yes.”
“You’re... sure?”
“Ninety-five percent. Ninety-six. Point five. Two. The other three point four eight percent is I just lay here for the rest of the night. Goodbye, Dash.”
“All...righty then!” she replied, scratching her neck with one hoof before opening the Library door and making as if to leave. Something stopped her at the last moment.
“Oh, Twi! It was a slow afternoon, but I still sold fifty bits worth of books!” she beamed proudly. “The bits are in the kitchen; I couldn’t find your register or whatever,” the cyan pegasus explained before shutting the door behind her.
“Dash,” Twilight addressed the empty room. “This is a library.”
✶ ✶ ✶
True to her word, Twilight shambled up the stairs to her room a short while later. She was sorely tempted by that three point four eight percent, but she had an odd feeling like she wasn’t alone in the library. It wasn’t Spike; she was used to the various grunts and scratches the young dragon made—and besides, there weren’t any sounds, it was just... a feeling of somepony being there with her.
She’d all but dismissed the idea as she opened the door to her room, but then she took one step into the room and stopped; there really was somepony there.
Actually, there wasn’t, but she could see the moon out her bedroom window and somehow it just felt like she’d walked in on the princess. She hesitated apprehensively for a brief moment, but instead she was surprised to realize that... she was actually sort of okay with this. The door clicked quietly as she shut it behind her and stepped into the room.
She desperately wanted to just flop over in bed and think, but her eyes caught sight of a quill on her desk and stuck there. It took her a moment to realize why, but it came to her quickly enough. Right, she had a letter to write and two last ponies to tell. The weary alicorn pulled out the heavy old wooden chair and folded herself into it with a sigh. First, she took a moment to dread what she was about to do, and then she started writing almost without pause.
Dear Mom and Dad, It has been a while since I updated you on what’s going on in my life here in Ponyville, she wrote easily; she was often better with letters than she was actually talking to ponies in person, and the number of reports she’d sent the princess on deeply personal matters of friendship had helped her open up.
Briefly, she stopped and glanced out the window at the mare keeping her company to consider how those reports had been misused by Princess Celestia, but that embarrassment was a quaint anecdote now. Sitting with her like this—sharing the night as it were, because she was certain now she was actually feeling the moon next to her in the sky—she could almost pretend things weren’t so bad.
No one was screaming, no one was crying, the stars were still wrong but she’d done some calculations downstairs and realized that if she fixed one star every five seconds it would still take her most of a thousand years to make it right. The idea was rather unexpectedly calming, actually. It was something she could do; there was no question, no conflict, and yet it would take so long that it had lost its urgency.
Also she had no idea how to move stars and reference a book at the same time. There was that.
Twilight’s eyes drifted back to her letter with a languid sigh and she set to it, detailing recent events with practiced hornwriting. She was surprised to realize just how much she had to say, and how comforting it was to work with Luna watching over her shoulder. Before she knew it, she had several pages pouring her heart out to her parents, explaining absolutely everything except for anything actually important like the events of the last few days.
She tapped the quill on the paper impatiently a few times at the end of her signature.
Postscript, the librarian added; she liked spelling it out like that, it was classy. I’m an alicorn now. You can stop bugging me about finding a stallion. Not gonna happen. See: Shelf, Dusty. (961). Observations on the Lives of Alicorns (pp. 131-167, Re: immortality and relationships). Canterlot Publishing Commission.
Postpostscript: The rest of the book is somewhat relevant as well.
Twilight sighed with satisfaction and carefully placed the quill down on the desk next to the letter. Then, she picked it back up.
Postpostpostscript: I really mean it this time. I am seriously an alicorn who does not need your significant matchmaking prowess. I am sorry about last time.
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight had opted to sit on the balcony instead of lay in her bed after writing her letter. She couldn’t deny what she was; even though she completely intended to put them back the way they were, the stars were still beautiful to look at and the company of the moon next to her was really helping her sort out her mind.
More than an hour had passed since she’d come out when a thumping knock sounded on her door like someone was trying to knock delicately with a life-size pony statue. Clearly it was Applejack.
Twilight didn’t answer.
The orange earth pony came in anyway.
“Twi?” she asked meekly. “Dash explained about... well, she explained some things, anyway. Ah am awfully sorry fer puttin’ ya on the spot like that.”
Twlight sighed without protest. “I know, Applejack.”
There was a short awkward silence before Applejack stepped out onto the balcony, then another before she sat down next to the lavender mare. “So... do ya wanna explain what happened? Like ah said, Dash explained some things an’ ah’m mighty sorry fer bein’ such a lousy friend when ya came t’ see me, but ah still don’t really get it. It just seemed awfully sudden—the cryin’, ah mean.”
Twilight searched the balcony floorboards for an answer. “It’s just... I don’t really get it either, Applejack. That’s the problem. I can’t seem to deal with it emotionally at all because it doesn’t make sense. I’ve been up here trying to understand it but I can’t figure out where it went wrong or if it was all bad from the start.
“Ah don’t follow.”
“You have to understand, I wanted this, Applejack. You have no idea. The magic, the wings, the stars, the duty, the immortality, I wanted all of it! When ponies always tried to make immortality sound like a bad thing, I laughed! I laughed because I wouldn’t have that problem with Celestia. She was my world before I came to Ponyville, and it’s only gotten worse—better—whatever. Spike was going to outlive me too, and now there’s even Luna.
“Luna,” she laughed bitterly. “She’s like the sister I never got to know, and I thought I had gotten the chance. When I thought Luna knew what was going on. When I thought she wanted me to take over the stars for her and stand beside her, I was just... I saw something wonderful. A wonderful, beautiful future—but it wasn’t real.
“I just want... I don’t even know what I want. I hurt her so much but I still want this; I really really do. I understand that now—but I don’t understand it at all! I’m not a selfish mare, Applejack; I’m not! –but... I don’t know, apparently I actually am! I am selfish and greedy and a horrible horrible pony who hurts the ponies she loves and I can’t apologize and I can’t say I wish it hadn’t happened and it’s killing me inside because I just cannot accept that deep down I am actually so bucking happy about it!
“–and now she’s going to hate me for all of eternity because even if I could give the stars back I’d probably d-d-die and even if I didn’t, I still don’t know if I could go through with it. I thought I was a good pony but I’ve never felt like this before; I’ve never been so afraid to lose something before. I was joking about the ‘Nightmare Twilight’ thing but when I look at myself now I realize the idea actually scares the hay out of me because I can see it happening and I don’t want that. I don’t.
“So yeah. That’s why I break down when you bring it up. Oh look, I’m crying again. Surprise.”
This time Applejack didn’t hesitate; Twilight felt a warm arm wrap around her shoulder, “Ya are a good pony, Twilight. Nothin’ you want is gonna change that; it’s what ya do—and what yer gonna do is go back t’ Canterlot an’ talk t’ Princess Luna.”
“I’m the last pony she wants to see right now, Applejack," Twilight dismissed bitterly as best she could through her sobs.
“That don’t matter,” Applejack insisted powerfully, “‘cause it sounds like she’s the pony you need to see.”
☾ ☾ ☾
Luna sat in the throne room at Canterlot all alone. Celestia had taken to retreating to her chambers at dusk in order to give Luna some space at the busiest time of her court—that is to say, when ponies were still awake to call on her. It was supposed to encourage independence and empower her in the ponies’ eyes to be seen dealing with business without her big sister watching over her, but the fact that they all gathered around her doors while the sky was still orange soured the experience for her.
This particular day was worse than usual—and not because of Twilight Sparkle, for once; at least, not directly. She’d had to spend the first hours of her night apologizing to some Griffon dignitary for telling their nation to clop off—which was apparently double the insult to them due to their lack of any kind of proper hooves to clop with. The griffon was so intractable and annoying that she was sorely tempted after only a half an hour of telling him the comment was not in fact directed at his nation to tell him that she would be happy to rectify the matter of that little detail immediately.
Eventually though, she was rid of him. Surely her next visitor would be less vexing, she had told herself. She immediately cursed herself for tempting fate when he saw the stallion’s cutie mark; a trio of stars. The stallion took his place in front of the throne and began to speak, “—” but the princess cut him off harshly before he’d even started.
“—May we assume thou art here in regards to the matter of the stars, supplicant?” she boomed.
“Y-yes, your majesty, I–” the stallion tried to reply weakly only to be cut off again just as harshly.
“Silence!” the princess instructed the citizen as she motioned the steward on duty to come closer to receive instructions; why this was necessary nopony could say, because her instructions could be heard clear out the door. “Gather all the supplicants who have arrived to discuss this issue, steward. We shall address them all at once.”
The steward nodded vigorously, then delegated the task and clocked out for the night until he could hear again, as was standard procedure for the night court.
Quickly, the throne room was filled with a gaggle of ponies whose sole unifying feature seemed to be that not a single one of them appeared to be getting enough sunlight. The sight of so many who appreciated her nights would have gladdened her heart any other night, but now bile rose in her throat as she was reminded these ponies were all lost to her.
“We require your attention!” the princess shouted to the assemblage of ponies. “It has come under our regard that thou all seekst explanation of the changes evident in our beloved night sky.”
The ponies all nodded meekly.
“You!” she boomed at the first stallion who had come before her, who immediately cringed. “Dost thou espy stars evident in our celestial mane, supplicant?”
“N-no, your majesty!” the stallion offered rhetorically.
“What dost thou espy, then?” she demanded.
“Um, it appears to be the moon, your majesty.”
“Correct!” her voice thundered. “Thou espies only our glorious moon! We no longer hold dominion over the stars as we once did, and as our duty has altered, so has our appearance and so must thine laments and grievances be taken elsewhere, for they are tiresome and meaningless to us.”
If the whole assemblage of ponies could have blinked in unison, they would have. Instead, they simply didn’t blink at all until someone nudged the initial stallion who had become their spokesperson by right of royal decree. “W-well—umm—princess. Where... elsewhere... would that be?” he managed.
“The alicorn you are looking for resides in the tiny village of Ponyville,” echoed Luna’s voice throughout the hall. “Her name is Twilight Sparkle.”
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Author's Notes
– Well that was, um, sudden.
I really really hope this one doesn't come off as forced. It's really hard to judge your own emotional scenes, but hey, we're moving forward.
– Hey look, new cover art. I was feeling bad about the lack of effort I put in the old one, so this is made of actual art. By me. So now you know what moon-hair Luna looks like.
static.fimfiction.net/images/story_images/16375.png?1334594232
– Also: 11,000 words, how the hell did that happen?
Edit: Oh, a couple other things.
– Postscript is actually all one word, who knew?
– When Twilight talks about having "always wanted" immortality—she means as a filly. When it actually happened, she wasn't so sure any more. I tried to put that in but it just threw the whole scene off, so I cut it
460920
Ninja'd on my own post! The shame!
460928
Here you go.
fuckyeah.jpeg
"As the filly cantered happily off back to her mother, Twilight saw the spine of the book and realized it was a library copy. There were not enough facehooves in the world."
LOL
I enjoy this. that is all.
Capital show. Jolly good I say.
Luna...
NOT HELPING
That was really good. I hope that Twilight will be okay. Luna is not happy with her right now. I hope that they canjavascript:smilie('
'); work things out eventually. Thanks.
Ponies first, then school >:D
Great chapter, the writing flowed beautifully and the action was excellent. So much improvement from the first chapters.
I can't wait for more!
"I know every pony in ponyville so maybe I can help you!"
Poor Twilight, she won't be getting rest anytime soon.
461104
I was kind of concerned because I didn't have as much time to polish this one. 
Thanks!
Really?
461119
Fixed! 
Whoops, that's a problem I seem to have
i know it takes time to create chapters, especially if we want them to be as awesome as the rest of this story so far but...
MOAR!!!
Wow. Funniest chapter yet. Lots of great Fluttershy too! "That's no moon," it is Flutterdeathstar.
The fact that Fluttershy bet on Twilight's lying ability as MOST PATHETIC was also hilarious, but 
Yes! And it was a library copy? Twilight's fit was also great, even better was that she had it while Luna was probably watching.
LOL!
“Oh. Umm... You came home late last night acting delirious,” the pegasus mare explained. “Rainbow thought you were drunk, but I’m pretty sure it was just sleep deprivation. I brought you up to bed and—umm—you were very forceful. It’s okay though; you were so into it, I just couldn’t bring myself stop you.”
Twilight stared at Fluttershy for a moment. “–by which you mean that I used freaky alicorn-earth-pony strength to wrestle you into bed and cuddle you like a teddy bear. A platonic teddy bear.”
(couldn't bring myself to stop you)
Note, when RAINBOW DASH is curtailing your wacky hijinks as you attempt to avoid the truth... Yeah, you've gone too far.
Also... Somehow the sweater thing with Rarity was UTTERLY PREDICTABLE, but still funny. I didn't get the 'Not going to be princess' issue ahead of time somehow and yet it was pretty funny in contrast.
Applejack... Yeah, wasn't expecting that. But it's actually pretty in character for her to run her mouth like that without getting a handle on the whole situation and you had to figure she'd be the hardest: either burning the sweater or the hair would appease Rarity, and Pinkie probably knew all along.
Celestia tricking Luna into thinking her flanks or tail are going gray? Gold. At least I THINK it's a trick.
The Traditional Ponyville Librarian Voice.
And Dash subbing as librarian? “Oh, Twi! It was a slow afternoon, but I still sold fifty bits worth of books!”
On a less hilarious note, I was VERY pleased to see Twilight actually write to her parents about the whole alicorn deal. Plenty of authors conveniently overlook them, (easy to do given the show kinda does), but Twilight's a decent sort and I think she WOULD let them know herself even if in a roundabout fashion. Her parents being devoted matchmakers for her also gives a great explanation as to why she doesn't keep the closest contact in the first place pretty well... And of course sets us up for the possibility of some awesome scenes in the future.
Also, Luna is evil when ticked off. And this is a great story you're writing. That is all!
Oh, this'll be good
461167
"Twilight knew she had actually seen the princess manifest in ponyville after sunset before."
461211
Haha, thanks. I actually find it really interesting what parts people like to quote in the comments, so I really appreciate the feedback
Celestia actually wasn't joking
Before this chapter, Luna's mane was described as a blank magical blue—basically like it used to be, but missing the sparkling of the stars. Now it's got the moon in it! I think it works, visually? (See: New Cover Art)
Speaking of which, no one has commented on the new cover yet
I'm not a super-great artist, but I'm pretty happy with it. 
461239
Okay I searched for all references to Ponyville and fixed them
There was another in Rarity's scene.
Hmm... I was in such a rush to read the fic I didn't look at the cover art. I did get that Luna said she had the moon 'in her mane' now and there was a big change there, but I was thinking white moon rather than grey and hadn't gotten the picture. It does look nice though! I do think that it's ironic: At this point Luna may be the only alicorn who can 'style' her own hair without it taking thousands of years to fix properly or doing what it feels like whenever a solar flare pops up.
461252
Finished the chapter now and it is nice. Like the new art.
Glad Luna did not stay a blank-mane, that would be boring.
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"Celestia actually wasn't joking
"
(Just, you know, with less sparkly hair...)
I wonder if she has a Cartographer's Cap?
Though Rarity's response seemed a bit odd, I can work with it... Applejack likewise.
But Twilight's? Twilight's was the stuff of legends, dreams, and nightmares. The 96.52% chance of laying on the floor for 10 minutes was beyond perfect. The letter to her parents? Likewise... and her motivations/desires and the reality of her situation? Wonderful! 5 Thumbs!
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96.52%
is it me or Twi is not interested in setting up a family?
finally
and Twi who finally WANT to be alicorn
yay new chapter!
If only Luna didn't go and mess it up for twilight, as she'll never get an rest now. Wonder if she did it to spite her or if she just wanted them to go away. Oh well, hopefully you update this again soon and keep up the good work.
awesome new chapter
can't wait for next chapter
take your time
abuse of yay
as for Cover Art beautiful
but the view of the moon's surface in Luna mane looks strange
The whole chapter was a best part
But the best best part for me was:
"The magic, the wings, the stars, the duty, the immortality, I wanted all of it! When people always tried to make immortality sound like a bad thing, I laughed!"
Thank you for your great work, i really really enjoy this story.
Luna is mean by sending every pony to Twilight xD
Anyway good chapter and for once Twilight can't hide or doesn't get the chance to hide her being an alicorn xD
Serioiusly loving this fic, the characters are great and i love Rainbows antics and Raritys reaction. Also loving the new picture and image for the story, and i just have to say... I really like her mane.... Sorry but the idea of star maned twi and moon mane luna is just absolutely awesome. Cant wait to see what happens next!
I actually squeed when i saw there was a new chapter for this fic. I then proceeded to groan that I couldn't read it right then.
So many LoLs and facehoofs in this chapter. I love it!
Also, I love the cover art, very well done!
As was said above, Luna, Not helping!
Jeez, how did I get through 11k words so quickly? It seems like I just started!
I think this was my favorite chapter. I love the little asides, like how the steward clocks out due to temporary deafness, and the reaction to the signed library copy.
It was funny, but solid, and I really liked Applejack in this chapter.
great chapter and love the new art
keep up the work but now want more..... if you dont mind that is 
Great chapter
I really hope that twilight will be ok now that everypony is coming to her for answers.
img.ponibooru.org/_images/704a65b5c8298201d5bf89dfa0d01005/130303%20-%20animated%20big_macintosh%20brace_yourselves%20macro%20reaction_image%20shitstorm.gif
"I brought you up to bed and—umm—you were very forceful. It’s okay though; you were so into it, I just couldn’t bring myself stop you.”
So much lol
please keep the chapters coming.
images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120208004637/mlp/es/images/e/e0/Twilight_sparkle_omg_happy.png
*also awesome new cover art*
I've read alot of stories on this site, but that had to be the funniest chapter of a story I've ever read. I stared reading this for TwiLuna, but seriously that was epic.
My only complaint is that my mouse had to stop scrolling and my screen ran out of words. Great chapter and as for the new cover art, I REALLY LIKE [THEIR] Mane(s)!
Luna, Twilight might have hurt your feelings, but nopony deserves what you just did. No pony.
Dash..... sold books? God she's an awesome librarian if she actually managed to sell something that was supposed to ONLY be borrowed....
I still wonder what Dash meant by saying that she was saving Twilight's life.
Hahaha, wonderful! I love it. The characterization of Twilight is exactly like I've always seen it in my head. Immortality isn't a bad thing, not when her mentor and her only friend for literally her entire life except for the last couple years are going to live anywhere from several thousand years to all eternity. I really like her grief over how she got it though, wondering if she's bad for completely understandable reasons. The idea that she once tried to convince her parents she was becoming an Alicorn as a way to get out of their matchmaking is hilarious too. As much as I like Twilestia (Or TwiLunEstia or however you say it) the Twiluna pairing is shaping up to be really interesting.
My favorite part that comes to mind is probably the fact that the Alicorns are actually their respective heavenly bodies. It fits so well and explains a lot about their odd perspectives.
The new cover art is spectacular. I'm super impressed.
Beautiful cover art!
Also I think Luna is out to spite Twilight just a teeny weeny bit, because "cut off your nose to spite your face" comes to mind.
Ahem:
"...but that is not how you pronounce ‘Twilight Sparke’ and you know it" - but that is not how you spell 'Twilight Sparkle'
"Nither of them had any idea what had just happened..." - perhaps 'Neither'?
-
ANYWAYS
Saw the new art, had to read the latest chapter immediately
All those facehoofs
Hilarious
Pinkie's reaction I expected.
)
Rarity's was awesome (There are MORE
Applejack's... That was quite extreme as far as I've seen. Not saying It's bad or whatever. It was nice to see such a drastic take on the reaction. Usually it's a mixture of straight fear or acceptance.
...
Also Twi is so fun to read in this story
Loving this. Eagerly waiting for next chapter.
Your metaphors and similies, good sir... And the comedy! Oh, its not cheap! Oh I love it so...
Also... Luna, that was a dirty shot and you know it.
461879 my guess, Rainbow doesn't realize that Twilight is immortal
Gonna try to reply to more of these comments later, but thanks for each and every one
462132
I knew my lack of polish on this chapter would come back to bite me 
Fixed
Aaah!
461879
She's referring to her own hyperbole that Rarity would "kill" Twilight if she were to walk into Rarity's shop wearing a hat on her rear to cover her tail
Man is Luna gonna feel crummy about that when Twilight shows up to apologize.
awesome chapter, time just flowed by as i read, all of a sudden; about an hour had passed along with most of the chapter. im getting that familiar 'i.want.MORE!' feeling again though...soooo, not to pressure you or anything but...next chapter please!
edit:
forgot to mention a few errors i found while reading, unfortunately i can only remember one right now:
*“Twi...” Applejack emoted, hesitantly stepping forward at the sobbing unicorn.*
not a unicorn anymore
I agree with everyone above on the gorgeous new cover art. And yeah, the chapter came out fine. More polish is always good, but some rough edges really didn't detract from how funny it was. I'm in love with your idea of the nature of alicorns. And Luna just totally threw poor Twilight under the bus. The traditional Ponyville Librarian Voice (hmm, we need something short and snappy like Canterlock - Bookslock?) is going to be getting a workout tomorrow, I'd say.
Oh, uh, correction: "seeing as she was drowning ponies already"
I really hope you meant drowning in.