Twilight settled on a cushion. The newest Daring Do was open before her. The lighting was just right. It was quiet. It was peaceful.
She let out a gentle sigh. "Perfect..."
But her eyes wouldn't focus entirely. She kept skipping words and her thoughts would careen right off the paper as if it were greased. But it wasn't the paper's fault. Her problem was internal.
She could remember the gentle and powerful presence of that larger alicorn. In some small way, Twilight was reminded of Celestia, though that being, Princess Luminace, had far more in common with herself than any princess of the sun.
She began counting on her hoof, which mostly ended with her clopping her hooves together as she went. "She loves books. She loves magic. She loves friendship." Was she her literal translation, like the human Twilight? If she was, why wasn't she also called Twilight?
Then again, Everglow was far from a 'translation' of Equestria. So... visceral. She shuddered at the memory of the foes she had to face there.
Then there was her. "Princess Luminace," she spoke to the air.
"You alright?" It was Spike, peeking in from the door. "You don't usually make so much noise during reading time."
Twilight smiled at her faithful assistant, who had stayed resolutely at her side through her harrowing adventures. "I'm fine, Spike. Thank you. I'll need some privacy though, so only come if I call you."
"Roger!" He snapped a sharp salute and marched off as if he were a soldier, likely to go hang out with his marefriend, the half-pony Soft Mane.
Twilight rose up and levitated the Daring Do book away while snatching others. The art of summoning was not a common one in Equestria, but it wasn't a complete unknown either. After the whole elemental invasion, interest in magic that dealt with the protection of Equestria from such attacks became more popular.
She had three such books orbiting her, flipping slowly as she searched for the relevant parts. "She said I could call her," she spoke to herself. "I'm not bothering her if she said I could." She was, in part, justifying the thing she was about to do to herself.
Soon she had the spell she wanted. Sure, she had to invert parts of it. Most ponies were interested in keeping things outside Equestria from getting in, she planned to call one in.
With one more cleansing breath, she began to fuel her horn, making it glow brightly as she wove the magic with the delicate internal dance required to make it work. "Princess Luminace, I call you. Please come and speak with me." Her eyes darted across her library. "I have a lot of books you've never seen before. I wouldn't mind sharing."
The tempting offer proved too much to resist. Space itself folded outwards, distorting a moment before it suddenly folded shut. Twilight tilted her head. Had she messed up? She turned to one of the books and began flipping through it, only to squeak in surprise and fall back as a pony's head came into view, jutting free just as she flipped to the right page.
It was Princess Luminace. Freed of her literary prison, she stepped from the book on large hooves, growing to be as large as Celestia herself. "You called. I had... thought you may never."
Twilight pulled up her slack jaw. "Princess Luminace?"
Luminace glanced back at herself, her magic subtly adjusting her monocle. "It would appear so. No need to be so formal, fellow student of the universes. It is with great pleasure that I am invited here." She did a slow turn, her eyes widening as she realized how many books. "So many... You truly are a mare after my own heart."
Twilight took a timid step forward. "As a princess of Equestria, I formally welcome you to Equestria."
Luminace dipped her head. "One Princess to the next, it is an honor to receive your welcome. Equestria. That is your home, is it not? We are not on Everglow." She paused a moment as if feeling for the unfeelable. "Yes, we are elsewhere. I have not been here before, but I feel the presence of my peers." An ear twitched up. "One I thought lost has found strength here, considerable and growing."
Thought lost? Twilight jumped as it struck her. "Lashtada?"
"Ah, yes, that was... is her name. Child of the Moon Princess, it was tragic what befell her and her children." She looked Twilight over slowly. "Would you care to hear the tale?"
Twilight sat on her haunches and bobbed her head quickly. "Yes! You must know so many things I'd love to hear, but, um, first, how long do we have?"
Princess Luminace shook her head. "This is not Everglow. I am not beholden to the same mandates that ensure harmony there. I only feel one goddess, and I do not fear the anger of Lashtada." She paused again. "No, there are others, hmm... I will not persist too long, lest I anger them. Do you know who your gods are?"
Twilight felt like she was back in school, and the teacher had asked a question she didn't know. The horror of it clutched at her chest. "I... No? Besides Lashtada, I thought we were empty on that front."
"Curious." Luminace settled down slowly, coming down on more of an even level with Twilight. "Let's put that aside a moment. This is about us."
That Twilight could agree with. "You said I could call you."
"And I meant it." Luminace nodded slowly. "How could I not offer? Fellow student of life, we both burn with the desire to learn." She raised a hoof to her own horn. "Though not required, we were both born to the tribe most innately bound to the tides of magic. I look at you and see a perverse reflection, and I would know her better, and I feel she would like to know me as well."