//------------------------------// // 4 Shifting Stars - Interlude the First // Story: Starlight's Shifting Sands // by Voldine //------------------------------// Luna had woken up with a throbbing headache the night before, one which had refused to completely fade the entire night during her duties. Some of the soothing lavender arrangements she’d placed at the start of the evening were already losing pieces on the floor due to how distracted she’d been when placing them. “Why tonight? Why am I remembering that long night endlessly...and why am I unable to fully focus on the bearer of Loyalty, of all ponies, in these memories?” Rising out of bed, Luna lit her horn and started a cup of tea. Unlike her sister, Luna preferred to keep her basic necessities in her room; tea included. Preparing such a beverage towards the end of the night, however, was something she rarely did. She felt that she would need the boost in alertness to properly phrase the growing questions when speaking with Celestia about her confusion, plus she didn’t feel like accidentally eating the peel of a banana today. Glancing at her collection of tea bags, she grabbed an old favorite: zebrican red. The bitter taste always helped gather her wits when they were starting to fray. While not quite as adept at fire-based magic as her sister, bringing the water to the perfect brewing and steeping temperature was an effort she could sustain in her sleep. A few minutes later, she was rewarded with a nice hot cup of tea. When the dark amber liquid touched her tongue, she cringed from both the heat and the bitter bite. Still, she downed it in record time, feeling the warmth settle in her belly. The magic of caffeine, something about the chemical that made it effective even before it could possibly be fully absorbed, eased both her headache and the bags under her eyes that resulted from the non-restful sleep of patrolling the dreams of their subjects. The few minutes it took to walk to the breakfast dining room spoke volumes to Luna’s re-invigorated senses. Staff were rushing around; snippets of conversations reached her ears here and there, each one talking about rescheduling various things anywhere from two days up to two weeks from now. She even heard one mention of a yak having broken a door when he was told his diplomatic meeting was rescheduled for tomorrow. That showed how much the yaks had progressed and mellowed over the centuries; once they would have declared war over such a thing. “What a world we live in...” she muttered to herself, taking her seat at the table. Celestia would still be a few more minutes, which meant she had that much time to gather her thoughts. She plucked a few grapes from the centerpiece fruit arrangement to dull the edge of her appetite, which had spiked as a result of drinking that tea so late in her normal routine. She found herself actually looking forward to the idea of eating the breakfast Celestia would offer her for once. The time came and passed, and five minutes later Luna stood back up and exited the room with worry etched on her features as she sought out one of Celestia’s many staff members. “Where is my sister? Has she decided to fake being sick in order to take a day off like she used to do, or has she actually managed to become ill for once? My sister never skips breakfast.” The staff member in question, a blue mare in a maid uniform, responded curtly. “Princess Celestia left for Ponyville. Something about a crazy former student returning, and some kind of monster Princess Starlight saw. After making sure everything’s okay there she’s heading straight to her school to fill in for a professor who died last night, so you’re more likely to run into her at the school at this point.” Luna frowned, studying the mare closely. “And which student was this? Sunset Shimmer?” “Oh, no, Princess, not a personal student. Twilight Sparkle was expelled from Princess Celestia’s school for illegal and unethical magical experimentation years ago. She was talented, but never seemed to care about how what she was doing might hurt other ponies in her pursuit of knowledge. It was in all the papers back when they kicked her out for blinding a pegasus making a delivery in an attempt to fix her lazy eye.” “Thank you, you may go.” Luna watched as the mare bowed and trotted off to complete her work. Twilight Sparkle. She had no face to go with the name, and yet she felt as if she should. Just hearing it had resulted in a momentary blur of purple in her mind. “Yet another thing to discuss with Tia,” she grumped, sighing heavily. A few minutes, two teleports, and three short conversations later, Luna was following a set of directions to Celestia’s office at the school while her magic also held a thermos full of tea and something called a ‘breakfast burrito’ that smelled delicious and she’d been assured had a decent amount of healthy protein from the various beans filling it. “Turn left after passing the Noble Dawn memorial auditorium... Ah, here we are.” Not bothering to knock, Luna walked in. “Sister? Are you here?” Celestia looked up quickly from a thick tome with tiny print, her expression clearly somewhat strained as her own quill and notepad continue writing for a moment. “Oh, Luna. I didn’t think you’d still be awake. You’re so quick to retire for the day most of the time. Is something wrong at the castle now, too? With how many things have gone wrong today, being told that somepony showed up in an airship to try and take over wouldn’t really surprise me much.” “You skipping breakfast counts as wrong in my eyes. Even when I am so tired I can barely walk you’re in that room with a smile on your face. Other than that I wanted to ask you a few things about the Elements, because I can’t seem to remember them clearly despite knowing exactly who they were just yesterday.” The burrito was carefully halved with magic, preventing any of the fillings from sliding out before it was offered to Celestia while speaking. Celestia’s golden aura faded from the quill and notebook to encircle half of the portable meal, and she offered her sister a strained smile. “While I appreciate your concern and the time it took for you to bring this to me, I don't have time for questions right now. Go talk to the elements if you can’t remember them clearly. I have to both prepare a eulogy and fill in teaching for Stellar Hawkwing today because I’m the only pony in Canterlot with teaching credentials that fully understands the subject he teaches. I need to familiarize myself with his lesson plan so that I know what he already covered before his class period, and I have to somehow fit interviewing a replacement into my ongoing schedule so that it doesn’t inconvenience any other diplomats like the sudden change today will certainly have done." “There is also this... Twilight Sparkle,” Luna spoke, glancing around the office. “I know I have never seen or even heard her name before but... I... I know I know her. I cannot say how but, I just do.” Celestia’s expression became a frown quicker than Luna could blink, followed by a shake of her head. “I do not wish to speak of that mare. What she did, even as only a young adult, was completely inexcusable. I cannot understand why Starlight believes she deserves a third chance, but I will not interfere if there is a chance for her to become something more than a criminal. If Starlight can pull this off, we could even see about trying to reform Discord.” “Sister, surely you jest. No pony could possibly do worse things than he did in his time.” “I said I’m not going to speak about her, Luna. Go dig through the preserved archives of the Canterlot Press from three years ago if you want to know what she did. Go talk to the elements if you need a refresher on who they are. I have too many things to do today as it is without you…” Celestia stopped herself as the burrito half burst into flame, quickly solidifying her magic to push all the oxygen away from it in an attempt to salvage the meal. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “I’m sorry, that was unnecessary and I was letting my emotions run rampant. Nevertheless, I must insist that you leave so that I can do what I need to do.” “Very well, sister.” Luna couldn’t quite keep the hurt tone out of her voice, but she made a valiant effort to stifle the yawn that wanted to accompany it. “I do have one last question, though; what class could possibly be so difficult for others to teach?” “Applied theory of arcane astrophysics. How magic helps us learn about things we cannot see using special spell arrays that amplify the range and breadth of divination spells. He managed to prove the old hypothesis you wrote about dead stars under the name ‘Moonbeam’ before your exile by using one of these arrays to determine that some parts of the night sky where no stars are visible were, in fact, the homes of something invisible that emits a special magic resonance while other, similarly empty-looking, areas do not. Please, go. I have less than an hour to prepare now, Luna.” “Then I shall see you at dinner.” Turning on her hooves, Luna left Celestia be. “That answered nothing...” she muttered, her expression falling. “I suppose the best place to start would indeed be the archives...” Another yawn interrupted her thought, and she quickly opened the thermos to take another drink of her tea. “I should ask somepony to gather them for me and stay at the palace, though. If something does go wrong it would be best to have at least one of us available to deal with it. One day without sleeping won’t kill me.” Starlight woke up in an uncomfortable position, her legs and wings so tense and stiff that they refused to move. Her head pounded as she tried to focus past the lingering effects of her memories being rewritten yesterday, only to find that her horn wouldn’t even begin to channel enough energy to remove her sleeping mask. She opened her mouth to call for Spike, only for no sound to escape her throat either. Did I put myself under a sensory deprivation spell last night just to get to sleep? Why can I remember three different timelines, but not what I did just before bed? “Oh, good, you’re awake. I was hoping you’d come around before I got started.” Twilight’s voice cut deep into her mind, making her ears twist to try and orient on the source of the only sounds she could hear. “I suppose it’s only fair that you get to see me before judgement is rendered, ‘face your accuser’ and all that legal garbage.” An irritating sound accompanied the intelligent mare’s voice, one that was both familiar and impossible for Starlight to name at the same time. The sound was not helping her lingering headache at all. Soft clops heralded the approach of a pony, one that Starlight could only assume was Twilight, and that irritating sound stopped just before cold metal was pressed against her face and slid up between her skin and the sleeping mask. Her lungs and throat tensed in a scream of fear, one that left her panting for breath despite no sound whatsoever escaping from her mouth. She tried to kick and thrash once again, only for both sets of legs to utterly refuse to budge. Her wings flapped momentarily, but were soon caught in the grip of impossibly strong telekinesis and guided into a set of what felt like surgical restraints. “There we go. Exactly what I wanted to happen. I didn’t want to risk damaging the bones or tendons in your wings by pulling them open myself, but holding them after they’ve opened and putting them where I need them is far less risky.” The knife was pulled away from Starlight’s head, cutting through the strap of her mask and flooding her eyes with blinding light after the utter darkness of a moment ago. She could feel it as her pupils contracted in a desperate effort to limit the amount of light coming in, and could only clench her teeth in pain as this caused her headache to surge in intensity again. “You see, Starlight, there is no version of events where you earn those wings,” Twilight spoke, levitating the knife in her magic. “Honestly, I feel more sympathy for all the mares you gave my friends lives; they didn’t have any choice in all of this.” The pony in front of her was Twilight, and yet not the Twilight that existed in any memories that Starlight had. This Twilight had unkempt hair, as if she’d never combed it in her life, and a horn that was curved slightly back rather than forming a normal cone. She was also wearing a labcoat covered in various stains, and with what looked like several minor self-inflicted wounds on her face and forelegs, as if she was rather careless with the knife she was currently levitating all-too-close to Starlight’s own eyes at the moment. “Like Moondancer. Every time Dash got closer to where she should be, Moondancer got closer and closer to being that shut-in she was not so long ago. All because you decided to play plagiarist.” Starlight shook her head, then let out another scream to be absorbed by whatever spell this Twilight had cast on her mouth as the point of that knife poked at the base of her horn, emitting the distinctly painful tone of an orichalcum blade connecting with a magic-suppression ring. The ring began to contract around the base of her horn in reaction. “Ah-ah, best if you don’t move. I wouldn’t want to accidentally poke an eye out, or sever your spine. I just want your horn for now.” How? How does she know? How is she even holding that knife in her magic when that metal destroys spells and enchantments on contact? Starlight couldn’t help trying to figure it out, and she also couldn’t stop her body from trembling as the edge of the blade was brought in against her horn just under the band of that awful ring. Every nerve in her body erupted in pain on contact as the knife passed through her horn as if both were less substantial than fog. The clatter of bone bouncing on stone and the sensation of blood rolling into her eyes from her forehead were the only evidence that the deed had been done, followed closely by the laughter of the insane purple pony in front of her. “If only I had done this sooner, we wouldn’t be in this situation now would we?” Twilight asked, patting Starlight’s head. “I’d be me, you’d be you, my friends wouldn’t be heartbreaking shadows of who they should be. Rainbow Dash especially wouldn’t have been so distraught over thinking she’d killed Fluttershy that she was three drinks and a slice of pizza, or two doses of lunar lightning, away from giving herself a heart attack because she lacked the energy to stand up, walk to the edge of Cloudsdale, and jump off.” Twilight’s voice rose from gentle scolding of a foal into full-on raging demon upon mentioning the cyan pegasus. Twilight scoffed, stamping her hoof. “But what do you care? You’re Starlight Glimmer; buck the consequences, right? Just take what you want, because you’re a bucking sociopath!” “ENOUGH!” A new voice boomed in the dimly-lit room, and Starlight saw the purple figure in front of her waver and dissolve into mist while the restraints preventing her from moving her body simply vanished. She ended up dropping to the floor, and landing in a painful heap as her instinctual effort to levitate herself failed utterly. “If taking in that degenerate has upset you this much in only two days, Starlight, I am forced to wonder if the results will be worth the stress it places upon you.” Princess Luna separated herself from the shadows of the dream, then frowned as little else about it changed despite her presence. “Odd. I don’t recall your dreamscapes being quite so resilient to change the last time I was in them. Regardless, this was merely a nightmare, Starlight Glimmer.” “Pah-” Starlight coughed, her voice sounding harsh to her own ears; as if she had actually been choked by some spell rather than silenced by a dark dream. “Princess Luna, it felt so real. I-I still can’t feel my horn…” “Did Twilight truly scar you this badly?” Luna asked, her frown deepening. “What exactly happened between you two? I know she blinded a mare years ago, but to cause a nightmare like this? Whatever happened recently must have been terrifying.” “Actually, she’s been shockingly calm the last couple days.” Starlight reached up with one hoof, sighing with relief as it contacted an intact horn on her forehead. “The worst thing she did was tell me off about wasting her time letting her try to fix the map before it seemingly repaired itself. I didn’t even know it could do that. Well, that and be an insulting jerk towards Spike the first day, but he gave as good as he got from her so…” “I see. Tell your friends that I will be coming to Ponyville for an informal visit in a couple days. I want to meet with them and talk for a time. It’s been months since you girls helped me with my…” Luna trailed off, looking away for a moment. “Maybe a fragment of the tantabus caused this? I will have to scour the minds of all Ponyville tomorrow night to be sure, but it didn’t feel like it. Two days, I want to meet the real Twilight Sparkle as well.” Starlight’s eyes opened, for real this time. She groaned softly as the dim lighting showed that dawn had not quite arrived, and yet here she was, as awake as if it were already past noon all of a sudden. Her horn flickered weakly for a moment before lifting the glass of water from her bedside table. The glass slipped through her grip, clattered off the edge, and shattered on the floor the second her attention shifted even slightly, despite the aura of her magic remaining in the air where the glass had been. “Oh buck, I hope I’m not coming down with something now too. Then again, being sick would help explain how different that dream Twilight was from how she’s been acting. My dreams have always gotten crazy when I’m not feeling well.”