~ 2 ~
In Where There Is Fear and Some Name-Changes
“Twilight, while I am fine with you performing experiments on your own, and with my… ‘sister’, no less, why did you not come to me when you found Starswirl’s Sphere?” Celestia wore a disappointed frown as she circled the now seated Twilight, who held her head low, and Luna, who continued to silently watch the exchange.
“We didn’t think we needed to, or I didn’t, at least.” Twilight raised her head so that she may finish her thought while looking into her teacher’s eyes. An action that stopped as soon as her eyes fell upon Celestia’s tall, staring form, causing Twilight to lower her head once more. “I didn't think that you'd want us to do anything.”
Luna saw above Twilight’s dejected form the split second of sadness that crossed Celestia’s face, before it faded away with a small sigh.
Twilight could feel herself tremble as the all-powerful sun princess towered above her, making her feel small and inadequate, the guilt of her mistakes seemingly magnified. Her eyes tensed up when she saw the princess lowering down to her.
In the coin slot that was Twilight’s vision, the ruler of all of Equestria no longer glared at her, but in fact had a mischevious glint in her eyes. “Twilight, you know that as long as you have good reasons, I always allow you to work on your projects. While you aren’t my student anymore, as your once teacher I still would like to see how you are continuing your studies, especially now that you have a student of your own.”
Twilight let go a of a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She took a few moments to compose herself before smiling at Celestia, thankful for her mentor’s understanding mentality.
Celestia looked back at Luna, still expecting a short muzzle and a smaller body than the stallion sitting in front of the sun princess. “Let’s focus now on the problem. Luna, which sphere was it?”
Luna let his eyes wander around while he mentally scratched his head for an answer. He payed a little too much attention on the details in his room being blue, dark, and a little too sparky for his tastes. In fact he had a thought that his room was a little too… ‘filly-like’.
A short “ahem” from Celestia brought his mind back to the sphere. “Twas a blue sphere, not unlike a painted pearl, and it came with a manuscript in his writing for a new spell that we had not even heard of when he was alive, much less now.”
“Blue sphere, new spell… oh dear,” Celestia suddenly realized. She stood and paced around the chamber, mumbling to herself, and the only word the duo could hear was “Starswirl”.
Celestia finally stopped and looked at Luna. “That must have been an incomplete project, I believe. There were several he did not tell us, remember?”
“So Twilight casted a spell that wasn’t even fully finished? Then what counterspell can be made?!”
“Calm down, Luna,” Celestia ordered, the lunar prince looking with worried eyes at Twilight and his sister. “I’m sure that Twilight, in time, can figure out a counterspell based on how she casted the original spell. She is the brightest mind in magic save us, if she worked on Starswirl’s spells once in order to ascend, she can develop a counterspell for another of Starswirl’s designs.”
“Actually…” Twilight began with a sheepish smile, “the spell is in old Equiish, it might take me months to translate it from its source to work out the counterspell.”
The three alicorns sat in silence as Twilight’s words rang incessantly within their imaginative minds, stirring images of Luna wearing outfits ranging from a knight to a rogue for Twilight, and for Celestia, a scene of Luna entering her chambers wearing tight fitting butler clothes played.
Luna witness himself upon a stage with ponies looking up him with the moon glowing behind his back, like how he had always dreamed when his sister had stolen the spotlight in their youth. Only, he was stepping backwards with tears welling in his eyes as his stallion subjects laughed about checking under the sheets before asking for coffee, and the mares whistling at the tush that just fell off the stage.
“We would be stuck in this form for… months?” Luna’s voice cracked at the end of his sentence that revealed fear that had broken it in the first place.
“Um, yes…. Don’t worry, I will work with Starlight Glimmer to make sure we can make the counterspell as soon as possible!” Twilight tried to calm down an increasingly panicky Luna.
“We do not want to be a stallion! What would our citizens think of us now as we aren’t the embodiment of night!” Luna whined.
“Well…” Celestia suggested, “we can make your look work as a master of the night rather than a mistress.” She raised her horn and lit it blue for a few seconds, before it dissipated.
Immediately, a unicorn with a blue mane and an expertly curled grey wig walked into the room with other ponies behind him, including another unicorn that held a red case with a white cross on it.
“What in the...? Celestia, what have you-” Luna reeled back at the sudden onslaught of ponies suddenly descending around him.
“Twilight, Luna, meet our royal fashion designer for events, so to speak,” Celestia elaborated. The black royal garb around Luna’s neck slid off harshly, Luna realizing it was chaffing on him. In the brief second he gaped, he felt a stick of wood reach into his mouth, the pony with the white cross suitcase using a tongue depressor to inspect his throat. “And he is our new royal physician, as our old physician has just retired a couple days ago.”
“Argh ag ur?” Luna eloquently placed his question. Once the tongue depressor was out, he said again, “Why the physician now, sister?”
“Tch, you’ve been through a magical body change. Who knows what else the change could have done to your body!” the physician scolded him. “Now stay still, you’re more skittish than a colt on his first check-up.”
Luna obeyed, letting the designer take his measurements while the physician performed a check-up on the new prince. Then a rather unpleasant moment happened.
One of the aspects of the check-up involved inspecting the undersides of the patient. Luna, however, was not expecting this.
“WHAT IN BLAZES ARE THOU DOING!?” He yelped when he felt a hoof touching a very particular part of his body.
“It’s standard procedure to check genitalia, your highness,” the physician bluntly stated. “You are not a mare anymore, but it seems you have an amply shaped pair for a stallion.”
Luna looked down and indeed saw the “pair” the physician was talking about. He blushed heavily, making slight gagging sounds as if he couldn’t believe what he had seen.
“Hmm…” the designer hummed while inspecting the measurements and taking notes. “Luna would not suit you as a name anymore, now that I think about it. What would be a colt’s name for a creature of the Night?”
“A… name?” Luna finally spoke after his little episode, although his face was still beet red. “But tis only a temporary change!”
“No matter, your highness. If you wish to still be seen as a ruler to be respected, you must choose a male name while you are seen in this form.” Now the designer had grabbed a sheet of paper and started quickly scribbling.
“Oh, um…” Luna was at a loss for what name he wished to pick. He looked to Celestia for assistance.
“Hmm… How about ‘Artemis’? I seem to recall a legend about another creature of the night with that name,” Celestia suggested.
“Artemis… I suppose it is a sufficient name until we find the counterspell,” the newly-named Artemis accepted.
“Well, Prince Artemis, I would like your opinion on this design for your new royal garb,” the designer said, before flipping the piece of paper in his grasp to show the prince his first sketches.
Instead of a dark harness, the new garb featured a dark coat, with slight extensions on the wings, and the moon insignia was on the front of the coat, in generally the same area where it was on the harness before. Artemis briefly mentally pictured the coat on him, and he thought it would look rather nice on him as a more approachable royal then a royal to be feared.
Perhaps they will appreciate a lunar stallion more than a lunar mare. Perhaps they may love Artemis more than Luna. Luna was Nightmare Moon, Artemis was… Luna who is now past her mistakes.
“Well? Do you like it?” the designer asked.
“Yes, but imaginations can be so attractive. Let us see what the coat may look like in reality before we dare to show our face to the citizens,” Artemis agreed, trying carefully not to sound too excited at the prospect of practically new clothes.
“Then let us come to my quarters, where you can choose the exact color for the coat and the moon insignia,” the designer walked out of the room, with Artemis following behind him.
“I’ll go with you Lu-, uh, Artemis. I can help with some of the measurements,” Twilight followed behind the prince of the night.
Soon, all the ponies left the chamber, leaving only Celestia to stare in their direction.
While she felt a little disheartened that Twilight didn’t think about her when she performed her experiment, she felt a little rush of excitement at the results. A prince of the land might be more welcomed in Equestria, especially by the mares.
And, Celestia had to admit, the coat would look kinda cute on Artemis.
xD. Love it!! Silly Artemis
Ninja edited something in the first few paragraphs.
While I love Google docs for all the editing tools it can have, I wish there were some way it can tell you what were old lines and new lines, after you made the edits.
Also,
I wonder what a Greek god would do in Equestria? Go all Zeus or go all Zeus?
Something tells me artemis is in for a bumpy ride.
Umm, okay then?
I'll admit I don't really get the reason for this name change, and I personally think it's a little out of character for Luna to go through with it. For one, names in Equestria don't really seem to have distinct male and female forms-they're usually following formed of an adjective and a noun, and I'm having a hard time remembering one distinctly feminine or distinctly masculine names outside of Celestia and Luna, which are named more to our own naming conventions-in pony society, that wouldn't really make a difference. Secondly, Luna's been shown to be a little stubborn and she-now a he-just went with Celestia's suggestion without much of any argument.
7627907 Considering how the rainbow laser of doom has so far failed...never, I suspect any Greek God who goes wrathful or too disruptive will be zapped and a new statue placed in the Royal Gardens.
My only gripe with this (and I guess gender swapped Luna as a whole) is that Artemis was a greek goddess, therefore not the most apt name for a male. Other than that I'm loving it so please continue.
7627856 lets say that this story is a person
Me: SENPAIIII NOTICE ME
7627926 Artemis Fowl: Boy Genius and Master Criminal would disagree with you.
7627936 37.media.tumblr.com/d6f94b6b43b45a7f475fc80b741c2693/tumblr_n40mv0rgp21smcbm7o1_500.gif
I forgot about that
Artemis seems like an odd name choice. Since its strongly associated with the goddess of old. I myself would have gone with something like Orion, to stick with a moon and stars theme. Or perhaps Luan or even Luain, which means Moon in old Irish. Just my two cents.
Naming preferences aside, I liked this chapter. Looking forward to the next one.
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Artemis is typically the name used for r63 Luna. Blame the guy that made the names, not me. I am only a hapless uncreative fool. Who writes a lot of stories.
However, I am considering changing the name if people want me to.
In all honesty they could ask Discord to help but I know that would kill the story of they did
7627995 there is in fact a book the third one were some one comment about that
later the one who pointed that out was arrested and shoved in to a mental hospital
7628006 not blaming, just venting my thoughts. besides, you're the author of this tale, so its your choice in the end. If you like Artemis then stick with it. Don't change something because a few voices disagree with your choice
Well I for one can't wait to see where this goes
Woo
Luna caved way to easily on the name thing.
I would have been "I don't care if it's a girl or a boy name, it's MINE, it STAYS." or words to that effect.
Great chapter this story is getting very interesting to read. Artemis should watch out mares are going to love you a lot in can't wait to see what happens next keep up the good work update more soon
7627907 GDocs has a feature called Suggest Mode where one can see the change the other wishes to do and then you accept or deny it. Also there's a another feature where you can see the history of the changes done by suggest mode. Hope that may help you with your wish
-Techy
Urrrf... this story and that cover art is making me question... things about myself.
*slaps knee*
Hot damn!
Nice update! Love the name, r63 Luna right?
Ballin'
Moooooaaaarrrrrr
Stop, Celestia. Stop imagining your sister in a butler outfit. I don't care how hot he is or how tight it sticks to his plot. He is your sister, and that is wrong.
7628243 When I used to have people edit my stuff, I always saved a copy of what I had before anyone else touched it so that I could see if they made any undesirable changes. Sometimes doing that paid off.
"casted" isn't a word. Past tense form of cast is still cast. And that sentence is actually two sentences. Replace the comma with a period/full stop and capitalize the "i".
7627998
Orion would have been excellent.
You went with Artemis, huh? Never understood that choice, but it's recognisable enough. The problem with choosing male Moon God names is that many aren't European in origin.
I could only find two of European origin:
Mani: Norse Moon God
Meness Latvian Moon God
I'd go gay for that.
I am not bashing your editors since lord knows we all mess up every once in a while and even I have to pre-read my work after it has gone through two of them...
But "casted" is not a word. Cast is the preoperative noun for past tense.
"I cast a spell at Chrysalis"
"I am going to cast a spell now"
7627998
I've thought about how to reconcile the fact that 'Artemis' was the name of a goddess, and I've come up with a couple of justifications. First, it has a bit of a history of use in naming male children, so though it's most popular use was for a woman it is unisex by practice. Second, though I like some of your alternatives or the oft-suggested Orion, none of them are so phonetically pleasant or generally accepted. As to Orion specifically, the name comes from a figure who was no more significant than being Artemis's hunter boyfriend; it's really not grand enough for the prince, nor does it suit the character. Artemis, on the other hand, was not only the goddess of the moon but a protector of children as well. To me, I think it's too good of a fit to pass up, female origins notwithstanding.
Honestly though, I'm impressed you could name two different male deities of the moon; when I tried, I couldn't find even one because it's a common tradition that the sun is male while the moon is female.
While an interesting topic, the chapters are woefully short. you may want to consider writing fewer total chapters and instead having more content within them.
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It is a masculine name too.
7628672
Don't forget Tilion.
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/lotr/images/8/8b/Tilion-The_Maia_Hunter-Steerer_of_the_Moon.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160318010110
7628811 A bit of my writing process is that I go short, and I update more. I joke that I don't update a lot these days, but, well, with shorter chapters, I am updatng more.
It's a personal preference at this point.
Artemis was a goddess -_-
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THERE IS A WAY!
There's a button to the right of this text that says 'Click Here' Click Here.
7621573 No, that would be a horse-bando.
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topbali.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Crazy-Horse-Bali-Music-Band.jpg
?
7628747 There are very few indeed. And most have very strange names because of their origins, such as Tecciztecatl a male moon diety from Aztec mytholigy. Or the god Tsukuyomi from Japan. Neither sound very fitting for a male Luna. besides, I cant even pronounce the first
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See 7628815
It's fallen out of popularity, but it is also a masculine name. These days you're more likely to hear the familiar version "Artie," but it's also the shortened version of Arthur.
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Thoth is another one. Also Máni. of Norse myth. There are actually quite a few. Funny fact: the idea that moon goddesses are the general rule is actually almost entirely for linguistic reasons. In Latin, the moon is grammatically female. Because of that, it's the same in all Romance languages - that is, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, etc., all of them treat the moon as grammatically female and the sun as male, so that's how people think of them. In German and most other Germanic languages, though, the moon is referred to as male and the sun is female. As such, you've got an entire group of related cultures with moon gods that are nearly universally male.
7629123 Thoth was the god of knowledge. Khonsu was the primary moon god.
7629187
Thoth was also a moon god. Egyptian beliefs about their gods often changed pretty massively over the 3000+ years the religion existed. There's often some overlap in domains. Set was consdered the patron deity and protector of the kingdom of Lower Egypt at one point, for example.
Another great story so far! Keep going man! Love the work you make.
the dark, tall, handsome and mysterious tipe, lets add that he is a Prince on the package, and I can already see mares fight for him like a piece of meat.
7629087 (Whistles a tune while firing a firework)
I approve. Please, continue
Why did Luna come up with Artemis? That is the name for every Alicorn OC ever. All hail Prince Artemis, god of virginity, and child birth. Also the god of the hunt, the animals, and I forgot what else.
(Artemis is still a girl's name, as she is a Greek goddess.)
7629248 Ah shit! That is going to be magnificent!
Artemis... *Groans*
Poor luna, a mare in a stallions body with everyone insisting on calling her him, arbitrarily renamed to get rid of the last bit of herself she has.
7630356 Things are gonna be complicated for her as she tries to understand both parts of her life now.