By request - Raising the Moon · 6:13pm Nov 24th, 2013

<Author's Note> The following section was not and will never be canon for Twilight's Plan. But it could have been. The section has not been proofread or edited.</Author's Note>

It had taken three days to ascend Mount Canterlot. It would have taken a lot longer without Twilight's magic and Rainbow Dash's stalwart assistance. When they had breached the cloud layer and finally seen the night sky unobscured by the atmosphere, it had taken Twilight's breath away and reinfused Twilight's soul with determination. The Night would be hers!

Li'l Twi, standing with all four hooves on the very tip of the mountain, shouted "Hey, everypony! I'm the queen of the castle!". Pinkie Pie quickly averted a game of 'knock every pony off the mountain' by strategic use of one of Applejack's fritters. Li'l Twi turned out to be very susceptible to bribery and relinquished her throne with alacrity. Queen Li'l Twi's reign barely lasted seconds. Since it had garnered an apple fritter all for herself, ex-Queen Li'l Twi decided to not make a fuss about the coup.

"Will you look at that view?" said Applejack in admiration, taking in the night sky and the wonder of Equestria spread out below them.

"Simply magnificent!" said Rarity, pulling her scarf a little tighter against the cold.

"Boorrrring!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow Dash!" exclaimed Twilight, feeling that she should defend the night and her love.

"I'm sorry, Twi. I just see this stuff all the time. It's old hat. I get why you like it though. It's kinda nice-"

Rainbow had offended somepony other than Twilight though. She didn't see the glint in Princess Luna's eye. She did see the way that the eyes of everypony that was looking at her lit up, and the look of awe on their faces. She span around to see a magnificent meteor shower of many colours. She saw the colours blend into the colours of her mane. She saw the night sky briefly take on the form of a certain colourful pegasus. She saw the star-pegasus crash into the horizon. She heard her friends laughing. She turned to glare at Princess Luna, who was whistling innocently.

"Um. Sorry, your highness."

Princess Luna smiled forgivingly.

"All right, enough horseplay, ponies! Let's get this started! Amulet!"

"Twilight, I've already said that you don't need to do this-" said a concerned Princess Luna.

"Nope. I drew up this plan and I always follow through. I'm going to do this. I'm going to win you back, even if I have already won you back. The winning-ness will be doubled! Amulet!"

Zecora shook her head and handed over the amulet. She was glaring at Twilight, ready to throw some noxious potion at her at the first sign of evilness (glowing green eyes would be a good hint).

"Right, everypony stand back!"

Twilight channelled her incredible power, amplified by the amulet around her neck. Multiple power cones formed around her horn, the glare of reddish-purple light blazing as bright as a star. More and more power flooded into Twilight and a spectral plank slowly took form, balanced precariously on the top of the mountain.

"Nnngh!" said Twilight, eyes clenched shut, focusing all her attention in attempting to create the plank.

"You can do it!" shouted Pinkie Pie, "If you don't lose your concentration or get distracted by anypony, but what could distract you up here? There aren't any distractions and you can focus no matter what happens, even if I sing and dance like this-"

Applejack clamped a hoof over Pinkie Pie's mouth.

"You can do it," shouted Li'l Twi, urging her on as the incidental power from Twilight's horn increased, encompassing the party and making their fur stand on end.

The plank was nearly solid, nearly real, and Twilight groaned from the effort.

Luna looked at her marefriend's trembling with concern, and discretely added her own power to the flux.

The plank apparated with a 'pop'.

Everypony cheered as Twilight sagged with exhaustion.

"Phew, thanks girls. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Amulet. Give me it," said a stern Zecora. Twilight sighed and handed ultimate power back to the zebra.

"Thank you for letting me borrow it, Zecora."

"Hmph"

It took some careful positioning to orientate the plank under the moon, but they were up for the task.

"Right, this needs to be just me. I need to do this alone, to prove my love to Luna."

"I'm coming too!" said Li'l Twi.

"Well, okay. It's not as if you weigh anything."

"Wait, wait wait" said Pinkie Pie, holding a telescope to her eye.

"What is it?"

"It looks like Princess Celestia is talking to a guard. I don't think she's going to lower the sun for a few more seconds."

Twilight waited impatiently.

"Okay, she's done now. You can go impress Luna."

Twilight walked the plank. It was a long walk. The sun had already set by the time she reached the end. The moon rose a little, and then stopped.

"Oh no! It's stuck! I must have miscalculated the length!"

"Oh yeah, oops," said Li'l Twi, awkwardly rubbing a hoof against a leg, refusing to look at Twilight.

"Oops? Oops?!"

"I, uh, kinda forgot to mention that you were using the pre-classical weight for the moon in your calculations, not the post-modern, which you said was more accurate."

"Li'l Twi! How could you forget that sort of thing?! You literally remember everything!"

"Uh, yeah. Funny story. Turns out I remember everything you remember. I'm, uh, not so good at remembering everything I'm supposed to remember. Um, sorry. Maybe you could cast a memory spell for me..."

Twilight sighed.

"It's okay. There isn't much difference between the two. I just need to put some extra force on this end of the plank."

Twilight jumped up and down. The moon stayed where it was. Twilight jumped a little higher. The moon sat stubbornly below the horizon.

"Higher! Higher!" shouted Li'l Twi encouragingly.

"I'm trying!" shouted Twilight, starting to get some real altitude with her bounces. The moon was almost moving, Twilight could feel it, but it wasn't enough.

"HIGHER!" shouted Li'l Twi, putting so much energy into her shout that she started flickering.

"I'm jumping as high as I can!" With a great bound, Twilight took high in the air and came crashing down on the plank, which juddered in response. The moon didn't budge.

"Arrgh!" said Twilight in frustration.

"Oh, I know," said Li'l Twi, "I'll help"

"How? You don't weigh anything."

"I don't, but that apple fritter I just ate does. Jump with me."

Twilight dubiously braced herself and then leapt as high as she possibly could into the air.

Li'l Twi leapt with her, achieving Pinkie Pie heights, rising high above Equestria as a little purple star.

Twilight came crashing down on the great lever. She could feel the moon shift, just a little, but then it felt as though it was moving back-

Li'l Twi slammed into the lever with all four hooves and as much of a look of grim determination as a four-year old filly could muster. The universe held its breath. The weight of the apple fritter carried across the plank. The moon stopped sliding back. Li'l Twi did a little hop of encouragement.

The moon rose.

-------------------------

"And that, gentleponies," said Applejack to the stunned patrons of her market stall, "is how an Apple family apple fritter rose the moon. Who here wants one? Two bits a piece!"

Business was good.

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