Spring Tide
My dear friend Twilight,
I treasure our friendship and the many enjoyable outings we have had together since Nightmare Night. Tonight, a rare lunar conjunction shall take place. I would be honored if you would join me to observe it. Enclosed, please find a spell which will be necessary if you wish to join me, as well as a map. Please be at the indicated location at sundown. I look forward to your company,
Sincerely, Luna.
The letter had been delivered by Spike that morning, wrapped in a blue ribbon and sealed with silver wax. It had indeed included a map and a spell. The map showed a spot on the eastern coast, just north of Baltimare, but the spell had been a strange one. Twilight had dutifully learned it--it was fairly simple—but she had no idea what it did. It was quite similar to the cloud-walking spell she already knew, but the ‘water’ terms in the first circle had been switched out for references to light. The idea of walking on light was absurd, though. Clouds were less substantial than solid ground, but they were as dense as lead when compared to light. Still, the spell had done something when she'd practiced casting it.
Now she stood on a sandy beach, with the sun just touching the hills to the west, and scanned the shoreline for her fellow princess. She soon spotted a distant, dark speck standing far out on the beach. Twilight took to the air and soared across the stretch of barren sand to where Luna stood with the waves washing around her fetlocks. Her horn was glowing, and ahead of her the moon had just edged above the horizon, even as the last of the sun vanished behind her.
The sky above was clear and cloudless, tinted every shade of pink and purple and indigo. They were Twilight's colors, and she felt again the tiny little tickle of delight that she felt every time she noticed those colors in the sky—ever since the day her mother had first explained what "twilight" was. The air was still, with the barest hint of a breeze coming from the ocean. The water was nearly still, the waves that lapped at the shore small, their sound a quiet shushing.
Twilight landed next to Luna, her hooves digging into the damp sand. A wave came up, the water cold and shocking as it washed around her feet. Luna nodded a silent greeting, but said nothing, her horn still glowing as she eased the moon up above the horizon. The silence was peaceful. Even when Luna had finished, Twilight didn't say anything, she just stood and looked out over the water at the newly-risen moon. It hung, pale and full, a ghostly shape against the pink and purple sky.
Luna, too, stared at the moon. Her coat was dark in the dimming light, a blue so deep it was nearly black. Her colors deepened and faded as her power waxed and waned with the moon, Twilight knew. Her height also changed, ranging from barely taller than Twilight to nearly as tall as Celestia. Even her mane was sometimes almost that of a mortal pony, pale silver-blue specked with a hint of starlight. Now, though, it flowed in a shimmering nimbus from her head, and the stars that flecked it looked nearly real. She was at the height of her powers, a creature of inequine grace and beauty.
As a wave ebbed, Luna took a step forward onto the newly revealed wet sand. She stood again while the next wave washed about her hooves. Twilight stood beside her, curious but willing to remain silent and enjoy the peace of the moment for now.
Every few waves, Luna moved forward just a hoof's length, never stepping into the foaming surf, but always onto just-revealed wet sand. The tide was going out, and the princess was going out with it, it seemed. Twilight followed, her curiosity growing, but after being silent for so long, she was reluctant to break the stillness with speech.
Soon Luna halted, and said, "It turns now." Even as she spoke a wave foamed higher over her hooves, the water reaching well above her ankles.
It clicked in Twilight's mind, and she knew. "The spring tide," she murmured.
"Yes," said Luna gently, solemnly. "Not merely a spring tide, but a king tide."
Twilight nodded, understanding. The moon and the tides were tied together, so of course the tide would be important to Luna. But tonight's would not be just any tide. The moon was full, so this was a spring tide—a tide when the low water would fall lower than normal, and the high water reach higher. When the moon was at perigee—its closest approach—as it was now, that would also drive the high tide higher, and the low tide lower. Together, they made the king tide. It was at its lowest point now. It would rise until midnight, when it would be the highest tide possible, save for a storm surge.
The stars were beginning to come out now, as the last of the sunset light faded. The stars in Luna's mane, too, were glimmering more strongly. Silence returned, save for the faint hiss of the waves. The moon seemed to glow more brightly, now that the sunlight had retreated, and it laid a silver path along the ocean from the horizon to their hooves.
Luna's horn glowed once more, a deep, lambent blue. She cast a spell that settled around her hooves. She lifted first one, then another out of the water, and stepped onto the silvered path.
Wordlessly, Twilight did the same, understanding now exactly what the spell she'd learned was for. She followed Luna towards the moon as the night deepened from indigo to velvet black and the last of the stars emerged overhead.
Slowly the sound of the waves on the beach faded behind them. The surface of the silvery path was not as slick as Twilight would have thought; her hooves had no trouble finding purchase on it. At first it moved and swelled beneath her hooves as they walked out over the waves, but eventually they reached deeper water, where the waves were so long and gentle that they could hardly be felt.
The pair walked on in silence while the moon rose higher in the sky. The silver path shrank slowly as the moon rose, no longer stretching to the horizon. When it was nearly midnight, Luna halted. The silver path was no longer really a path, but a shattered reflection of the moon itself beneath their hooves. They had long since left land behind entirely; only ocean lay around them. Above, the moon presided over a star-strewn sky. Below, the ocean swelled so gently it was nearly flat, stirred to faint ripples by a whisper of a breeze.
The breeze faded. The moon slipped higher. It was midnight, and the ocean lay as smooth as glass, perfect and still all around them, the stars reflected in its sublime mirror. The moon lay beneath Twilight's hooves, a perfect silver disk, brighter than she had ever seen it.
She looked over at Luna, and inhaled softly in shock.
Luna was tall now, as tall as Celestia, and her coat was jet black, almost vanishing into the blackness of sea and sky behind her. Her mane and tail were haloed in a shimmering indigo aurora, but were also black, and strewn with stars as real as those that shone down above, as though they were a window to the night itself. She looked back at Twilight, her aqua eyes a startling splash of color in the black and silver interplay of moon and night, of sea and stars.
She was the most beautiful thing that Twilight had ever seen.
"The moon is full, and the tide is about to turn again," she said, her words falling into the perfect stillness of the night like crystal beads into a well. "My power is as great now as it ever can be. The king tide was high the first time I gave in to hate and madness and became Nightmare Moon, long ago." She looked through Twilight, her eyes focused on some distant memory.
"I never knew that you had power from the sea," said Twilight. It felt a little strange to speak after being silent for so long.
"It was not always so." Luna heaved a great sigh. "The sea once belonged to another alicorn. Her name was Salacia. She was the color of waves by sunlight, with wings of palest seafoam. Her mane was every shade of the ocean's blue. She was beautiful, and I loved her."
Twilight tried to think of something to say, but could not. Luna looked away from Twilight, up to the stars above, and continued. "She loved me too. We were happy together for centuries. Then Discord came. Celestia and I were the only alicorns to survive his reign."
She fell silent again, while Twilight scuffed a hoof against the ocean, watching the tiny ripples it sent out. "Salacia somehow passed her power to me when she died. I still do not know how. No other alicorn has managed it, before or since. Perhaps it was only possible because the sea and the moon are so tied together. It was that which first drew us to each other, so long ago." Another pause, and Luna looked down from the stars above to stare past their reflections, looking into the black depths beneath her. "I used that power to attempt to bring eternal night. She would never have helped me, had she lived. I abused her gift to gain power, and failed even at that. I still cannot understand how I have been so easily forgiven by my sister and her subjects."
A tear dropped from her eye and fell into the sea, the single drop mingling with the infinite ocean, leaving nothing behind but a ripple.
Twilight could stand by no more, she moved to embrace Luna, standing on her hind legs and wrapping her forelegs around the princess's shoulders. "Of course we forgive you," she said. "You made a mistake, but all ponies make mistakes. I've made plenty! And you're a wonderful, smart, amazing, beautiful pony. Ponies like you. Nopony has any reason to hold a grudge against you."
"Ah, Twilight... Some of them do, I know. And even should they not, I know they still love and admire my sister more than I. I am not so blind that I cannot see how all ponies—even you—venerate her."
Twilight shook her head, still hugging Luna. "She's my teacher. Even now that I'm technically her equal, she's still my teacher. I'll always look up to her. But she's not you. You are..." Twilight's heart beat a bit faster at the thought of saying what she thought—what she felt—about the princess of the stars and seas. She swallowed and said some of it anyway. "You are special. You are so creative, and so wise and so beautiful. I love the way you change with the moon. I love the way you remember books that every other pony has forgotten. I love the way you can write poetry at the drop of a hat. I can't write poetry at all." The rest of the words that Twilight wanted to say trembled on her lips, filling her mouth with an imagined bitterness at the way she lacked the courage to utter them. If I could write poems, I would write them to you...
Luna embraced Twilight suddenly, sitting on her haunches and wrapping her forelegs around her tightly. She folded her wings around her as well, encasing her in a cocoon of shadows. Perhaps it should have felt restrictive or alarming. Luna currently looked almost exactly like Nightmare Moon. Yet instead, it felt warm and welcoming. It felt right.
It also made her heart race, which pounding only increased when Luna bent her head and nuzzled at Twilight. For one electrifying instant their horns touched, sliding gently against each other in a way that sent a shudder through Twilight's entire body.
"Twilight," whispered Luna, slipping into the archaic and intimate form of address she seldom used any more, "thou art my dearest friend and mine only true confidant. I invited thee here to tell thee a fragment of my past, yet also to share my present and perhaps... perhaps if thou art willing, to ask thee to share my future as well."
Twilight's thudding heart skipped a beat. She lifted her head, looking into Luna's eyes, her muzzle hovering just inches from Luna's. She struggled for the words, wanting to say just the perfect thing, but nothing came. Finally all she could do was blurt out, "I love you."
She could feel Luna's breath catch, the other mare's body trembling against hers. "Oh Twilight... I love thee," said Luna, and then their muzzles met in a soft yet fervent kiss.
Above them the silver moon looked on, and the diamond stars scattered around it bore witness, while below their reflections shimmered in the serene sea and danced around the reflection of the alicorn pair--entwined in love's first kiss amid silver and shadow on the night of the spring tide.
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So creative and touching. Not to mention vivdly descriptive. I absolutely love your work.
As usual with short one-shots featuring the tag, the romantic elements feel rushed as all heck. But very good otherwise in terms of the prose selling a relaxing, tranquil setting. I felt every moment, heard the waves and Luna's voice, and by the end of things, my mood was completely mellowed.
In other words, two out of three ain't bad.
5488414 Aww, thank you very much!
5488409 Hee. Thank you too!
*sigh*
by the maker, you're good at this.
Your Luna is gorgeous and your idea of linking her appearance to the phases of the moon is pure brilliance.
The piece of history you provide makes for a great mood builder.
The best thing about this story though is probably just how much you fit into the low word count, making it an intense and engaging read.
Like and fav, thank you for sharing this.
5488460 Thank you very much! (Comments like this so make my day.) Though I can't claim full credit for the phases of the moon idea, I've seen it in a couple of other fics, way back when.
5488475 I thought as much (the moon phases thing) but the way you describe and use it is great; thus my comment still stands :) And anyway, all great authors use versions of ideas they once read somewhere else alongside their own.
Oh and about that possible sequel you talk about in that blog post: why, yes please. Would be interesting to see what would come about if you were to develop this small scene into something bigger.
Now, if this was just any story, I'd say this is done perfectly. Considering, that you said, that it is an exercise in mood, I hope you don't mind a little bit of constructive criticism. What I'm talking about is the ending. Everything you wrote, from introduction to dialogue is extremely well executed. Compared to that the end felt a bit fast.
You went from "pretty close, but still kind of platonic" to "they declare their undying love and kiss" in just two paragraphs.
I wouldn't call it rushed and it might even happen that way, but I wouldn't have minded one or two paragraphs where Twilight struggles a bit to analyse meaning into what Luna just said, before blurting out with her confession.
Anyway, you have earned my fave.
Much more than a simple exercise.
A well done Story if a bit short.
I like the fresh new Element for Princess Luna to have another Domain apart from the Night Sky and Dreams. The Tides are very fitting considering their connection to the Moon. Whole Story was also an adorable TwiLuna setting.
Well done.
5489073 I fully agree that the swiftness of the romance is probably the weakest part of this story. However, I felt it would be wrong for Twilight to feel reluctant, and then change her mind and say she loves Luna without a specific reason to do so. Giving her a reason to change her mind, though, would mean I'd have to write a story where a great deal more happened, and it wouldn't have been this story anymore.
5489129 Thank you very much!
Sweet! I love your imagining of Luna's changing with the moon and the hint at an old, dark history. Sequel? Yes, please!
Not bad at all. Short, but sweet.
Your description of the path made me think of the Staircase to the Moon.
5489872 I am very glad people are wanting a sequel! I have SUCH ideas. I might even do two and make it a trilogy, since I have two different Twiluna ideas I want to explore, neither of which is incompatible with the other.
5489886 That's pretty much the kind of thing I had in mind.
5488416 Oh hey, I missed this comment somehow.
As I mentioned elsewhere, I do fully agree that the swiftness of the romance is the weakest part of this. I just didn't want to turn it into a long, multi-encounter story, which is what it takes to properly unfold a blossoming relationship. It would have lost all the poetry if it had been longer, I feel.
5490137 I have yet to read this, but with romance one-shots it's really a matter of being able to show the readers where the two are in their relationship without overstepping your bounds, oneshots are tough, but I've seen entire stories that feel incomplete just because the author doesn't keep a stable pace.
I'll read this tomorrow, but from the looks of it I'll probably enjoy it as well as give my two cents if you'd like me to.
This is a great story 10 out of 10 you always know how to write a great twiLuna story I hope there are more coming soon
This quite a fistful of d'aww
Beautiful!
Sequels please
Beautiful, knowing a bit more about Luna and Twilight and their relationship before their moonlight stroll on the ocean would perhaps help it hit harder. But for a romantic oneshot of a declaration of love, it's perfect.
As always, I absolutely adore your Luna-- this headcanon, both the sea and the moon-power, are quite interesting.
Seuel? Yes, please.
5490516
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5495761
Thank you all very much!
Bravo my friend bravo
5498803
Thanks!
5498804 Welcome. I hope to throw something up by the end of the month but with school, the infinite loops and the snips I've done, and what have you, I've yet to really sit down for my own personal work.
5498826 Yeah, I haven't written much in ages, actually. Spring Tide was written a couple of months ago, and went up now just because Jordanis finally had some time to edit it for me last week.
5498870 I see. I did some majorish stuff in the Infinite Loops, with two main story ideas going out. I honestly cannot wait to see people's reactions that. Here's hoping that I can get Two Moons up and running like last year!
Mmm, exquisite!
5499655
Thank you!
Welp. There go my feels. Very nice work, SParks.
A very good story. Thank you. The description said this was an exercise in mood and atmosphere. Well done. Very well done.
5505543
Thank you.
5505594 I'm glad you liked it.
5506175 Anytime. Also went ahead and added it to a readers' rec group I'm part of called You Might Like This (exactly what it says on the tin!). Truly a wonderful piece. Hoping to see more from you in the future
Short and sweet.
If anyone I know is hesitant about reading TwiLuna, this would be one of my top recommendations. Fabulous job, well-written, the words were wove together so intricately and it was nicely paced. You get my Royal Stamp of Approval.
(I love that term so much more than fave.)5542159 Ha ha ha. Thanks!
There were many sentences of this caliber, but man, this was my absolute favorite line. You really have a way with imagery--or just words in general, for that matter!
Congratulations, you earned a spot in my oh-so-prestigious favorites shelf.
5615603 Aww, thank you!
Very sweet :D
5672060
Thank you!
This was lovely, intimate and poetic. If I ever get around to writing anything romantic, I'll try to keep your work in mind. Even if it don't, I'm still putting this in my romantic folder.
5689789 Aww, thank you!
It got everything I need... for now.
All the feels, all the world-building, all the Luna, all the Twilight, and most importantly... all the TwiLuna I could've asked for.
I should probably be bothered by how much this ship has grown on me, could be serious competition for AppleDash... nah... probably is, already. Damn.
Anyway - beautiful little thing!
Thank you.
6111727
I'm very glad you enjoyed it so much.
6112849
I thought about that little world-building-part you included. The fight against Discord and the death of other alicorns. It was sad, yes. But... it got horribly heart-wrecking once I added this.
I've known several Discord-origins. Some of those were sad already. But this? In combination with your part?
Can't do much more than... well... feel wrecked.
That was wonderful. There's a lot of little touches here and there--how many of us have bothered remembering the tides with Luna?--that left me delighted.
7239354 Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
This was beautiful... Only way it could've been better is if it was my OC there instead. As much as I like TwiLuna, I ship my OC with Luna more.
I've always liked the idea of a waxing and waning Luna. It's one of those ideas that fits what we've seen in the show, while being something that will remain compatible with canon unless one of the characters speaks directly against it. Linking it to the tides, and then linking the tides to a lost alicorn lover, brings those ideas to a new level.
Regarding the romance, I felt that it works here. Being a short story, what happened before is a matter of interpretation. My interpretation was that Luna and Twilight had a fairly close friendship before the start of the story, explaining why Luna's request that she join her on the edge of the continent with such short warning didn't seem unusual to Twilight. Seeing how many other comments said that their relationship felt rushed, I can see that others didn't share my interpretation, and to that end, I agree that some extra information would have been helpful to make their previous relationship clearer.
The only stumbling point I had in the story was when they were walking on the path of moonlight. I had to re-read that part to be sure what was supposed to be happening here.
My initial interpretation here was that Luna had somehow made a solid bridge out of the moonlight, above the surface of the ocean. My second interpretation, spawned by the following line, is that they're walking on the reflection of the moon along the water of the ocean.
The problem with the second interpretation, though I'm pretty sure it's the intended interpretation, is that it would've been impossible for them to stand on top of the reflection of the moon unless it were directly overhead, which is why I initially held the first interpretation. That, and it would've been hard to stand on top of cresting waves. So this is a spot where the imagery was a bit difficult for me to follow, and some clarification would have helped.
All that said, I did enjoy this story for what it was. I'd enjoy more stories written in this setting.
8169777 The bit earlier about the spell being for walking on light was supposed to be the additional clue to what was going on, but I can see how it could be confusing. They began walking at moonrise and walked until the moon was overhead, is the other piece that I suppose is implicit but not explicit.
8170509 I understood those parts of the story, it's just that because walking on light is something that doesn't happen at all in the real world, it's just hard to determine exactly what that entails in the fictional world. I could imagine that taking several different forms, so determining how exactly it's supposed to work is up for interpretation, unless the text is explicit with what's happening.
For instance, would a third observer see:
a) Them walking up into the air, on an invisible ramp that leads from the beach directly to the moon, getting steeper and steeper as the moon rises? (Is this ramp, perhaps a glowing beam of light, visible to Luna and Twilight? The observer? Both? Neither?)
b) Them walking on a beam of light just over the surface of the ocean, and though the beam gets shorter as the moon rises, it doesn't rise into the air?
c) Them walking on the surface of the water, the reflection of the moon always beneath them? So, not really walking on light, but walking on a reflection. (If they appear to be on the reflection from Luna's point of view, they shouldn't from a landlocked observer's point of view, but hey, magic.)
By going back and re-examining all of the clues in the text, I'm fairly sure it's 'c.' The problem is, I could only make that determination after reading the entire scene. I could easily have (and did) started reading the scene thinking that 'a' was happening, only to encounter a clue later in the scene that wasn't compatible with that interpretation. And because I was so far into the scene, I had to stop, re-examine the clues, and then change my perception of what had been happening, during which time I had been pulled completely out of the story!
This simple change, done at the beginning of this scene, would have prevented any confusion. Instead of saying that there was some sort of possibly magical, unusual-to-us path was laid out, it simply says that the reflection of the moon looks like a path, something that we're familiar with in real life. Then, in the next paragraph, when Luna steps onto this reflection, it's made clear that what would only appear to be a path to us, functions as an actual path to them. So really, they're walking on a reflection, not light itself. I wouldn't say that I chose the best words in the best order to make this change, just that something to this effect would have increased immersion.
I hope you see how I was confused by this part of the story, and understand how it could have been prevented. Thanks for taking the time to reply! (And sorry for rambling on so long...)
Truly beautiful. Not only is it a touchingly written love confession, it also uses one of my favorite little-used Luna headcanons for wondrous effect. Thank you for a romance worthy of magic and the night.