//------------------------------// // To the Moon? // Story: Clockwork Dreams // by Dark0592 //------------------------------// In the few days past the attack the centurians posted in Ponyville began doing regular patrols around the area. Dash would occasionally catch up to one and chat when she was bored as Twilight continued to cover the walls and even ceiling in glyphwork. The others came around to keep her company regularly as well, Pinkie had even invited her to a party the same day she was going to be getting Luna back. More importantly, though, she had a plan. Dash and Philomena didn’t like this plan, but it was her best shot. At first she had intended to create simple teleportation arrays to help get her there, but she didn’t know the first thing about surviving out in space. Nobody did. She knew it was a vacuum, so she had air talismans installed in the ventilation, the new fire talismans would keep the workshop warm, and for the pressure she had installed atmospheric control arrays around the workshop. Oh yeah, she was teleporting the whole workshop. Fluttershy would take care of Philomena and Dash would crash with Applejack since she didn’t want to return home alone. Finally, it was the big day. Pinkie Pie and Applejack gave Twilight plenty of snacks and food to help her recover enough to return home quickly. They were saying their temporary goodbyes when a Centurion knocked on the door. “Miss Twilight, we’ve just received news that the Princess is returning. We understand you are performing a great feat of magic today, perhaps it is best to wait for her arrival?” The pegasus suggested. They all looked at each other. “Thanks for the heads up, let’s go meet her girls! We’ll bring her right here for you Twi!” Dash said happily, though by her expression and somewhat hidden gestures she was saying she’d stall. This was supposed to be a surprise for Celestia afterall. The centurion nodded with a smile and took off. “If she threatens you don’t challenge her. After these attacks she’d probably only hesitate to hurt you Dash, and even then I really don’t want any of you getting hurt for this. She won’t be able to stop it once it’s in place or the entire area is going to be a crater. If she does try to stop it I’m relying on you to explain that to her Rarity.” Twilight started quickly. They all nodded. “Darling you’ve nothing to worry about. Just get started already, I can see the entourage now.” Rarity said, looking through the open door. “Come back soon. It sucks without you here, no offense girls.” Dash said, giving a sheepish smile to the group. Applejack snorted. “No you’re right! We may have lived our entire lives without Twilight here, but now I’m already missing her!” Pinkie Pie said happily before her smile fell and she hugged Twilight. “Please come back?” She asked softly. Twilight smiled and kissed the pink mare on the forehead. “You know it.” The unicorn replied. That brought the smile right back and she bounced out of the workshop. “She’s headin’ right fer us sugarcube. Y’all get started now.” Applejack said as they all left the house. Twilight took a deep breath and lit her horn, standing in the center of the workshop. In the meantime, Philomena and Dash took to the sky to meet Celestia and her entourage of twenty pegasi guards. The Princess seemed overjoyed as the phoenix fell into formation with her on one side, and nodded respectfully as Dash took the other side. “Where is Twilight? I would have expected her to be out with you!” Celestia called as they angled down to glide into the clearing the workshop was ‘parked’ in. “Surprise!” Dash exclaimed. Celestia rolled her eyes at that, sensing nothing wrong with the admiral’s tone. They all landed and the group bowed. “Stand, my ponies. We meet as friends here, though as I hear I am to be surprised on this day.” Celestia said with a smile. “Somethin’ like that. It should be startin’ up any minute now.” Applejack replied. Curious, Celestia looked towards where she felt the familiar magic of her student building up in the workshop. She took one step towards the stairs, but raised a brow as Dash stepped in front of her. “Not to be like treasonous or anything, but don’t ruin the surprise.” The pegasus said with a smirk. Celestia rolled her eyes again but waited patiently. And then the workshop exploded. Not actually exploded mind you, but it was so much arcane power the aura was visible. Celestia practically flew around Dash, but was blocked by the rest of them before she could start up the steps. Rarity stepped forward as the princess opened her mouth to demand they move. “Dash would probably say something along the lines of ‘this is the surprise, relax!’, but this is what’s supposed to be happening. It’s a very delicate and powerful bit of magic that I will be happy to explain to the best of my knowledge. And before you tell me to stop wasting your time, please know that stopping this would result in a massive catastrophic cascade large enough to turn everything within a four mile radius into a crater.” Rarity explained without skipping a beat or batting an eye. Celestia held back her threats and looked up at the workshop. Genuine worry showed on her face. “I see… Tell me then, what is this… spell… designed to do?” Celestia asked as the magic only grew and began concentrating, no doubt filling arrays with power. “Teleportation on a massive scale.” Rarity replied. Celestia stared at her for a moment. With this much power Twilight could teleport anywhere on the planet. “Where is she going?” She asked. “You probably don’t want to know, but you’re going to demand to know anyways. With the reminder that trying to stop it will at the very least vaporize her, she’s going to the moon.” Dash explained. She blinked. She had to make sure she heard that right. The moon. She couldn’t even reply, she just stood there frozen. “I don’t know if she told you or not, but she figured out that book. At least we think she did. The Elements of Harmony seem to embody the five of us, and Twi is totally the Element of Magic. The book appeared when it did to bring us together, because we were able to help each other together. I think the Elements want to fix what they did a thousand years ago. I’m the only one who read anything in the book, but there’s something you should know.” Dash started. Celestia’s response was only silence. “Your Sister has been coming to Twilight in her dreams since the experiment in the testing chambers. Nightmares did not plague her. Then she met me, and she asked Luna to try and fix my nightmares. And it worked. The fact that the nightmare couldn’t follow her to me kinda got me thinking after I read some of that book. She even met all of the girls here after we all agreed to help get her back, and none of us had nightmares, but everyone else she looked in on did. Except you. She came to you, saved my life. Twilight’s confident she can deal with the Nightmare so I’m confident there’s nothing to worry about.” The pegasus continued. The princess soaked in the information and took a deep breath to calm herself. “How long…?” She asked softly. She trusted her student with this issue, even if it wasn’t what she thought it was, so she must continue to do so. Twilight never took risks she wasn’t prepared for and didn’t have backup plans for. If what Rainbow Dash said was true and these mares really were the new bearers of the elements, then the worst case scenario is a repeat of a millennium ago. “Any minute now if you mean when the cast is complete, no more than an estimated day if you mean when she should be able to return if things go well up there.” Rarity answered. “What do you mean if things go well up there?” Celestia asked. “If there is no ambient magic up there then it will add another two days to that because she’d have to recharge the arcane engines, at least four if it’s by herself. The biggest factor is if Luna is able to aid her or not. Either way she has a week of food.” The alabaster unicorn explained. Celestia nodded. She looked up as the arcane force crescendoed, and she craned her neck to look through the open door. That energy felt… familiar. “Princess?” The mares asked as the alicorn lifted off the ground and hovered up to see into the door a little more clearly. What she saw astounded her. Twilight was there, but it wasn’t a way she’d ever seen the unicorn. She had so much power coursing through her it appeared as if there were glyphs scrawled across her coat. Her eyes were glowing a bright lavender and… There was that familiar energy. It was coalescing around her, generated by this legendary show of arcane power and prowess. She saw it form wings of light before everything disappeared. She had to blink a few times to convince herself that she saw what she saw and that the whole workshop had indeed been teleported. She slowly touched back down, turned to the assembled ponies, and let out a long sigh. “I’m going to need a drink.” She said. Twilight, meanwhile, opened her eyes in wonder as her hooves left the ground. She giggled a bit as she flailed her legs around before sending a bolt of magic through the atmospheric arrays and talismans around the building- no use activating the gravity spell when there was already gravity. As she touched back down, she felt something on her back. Curious, she turned to see what it was and stopped. She just caught the edges of purple feathers swinging away from her vision. This time she craned her neck around, looking at the pair of wings extended from her back. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. And another one. More than a few seconds of calming breaths passed before she finally felt she wasn’t at risk of hyperventilating. “Not important right now. Here for a reason. Find Luna first, THEN deal with the fact that I now have wings.” She said to herself. Her understanding of alicorns told her that she did not need worry about the aether beyond the workshop, but she still tied the personal atmosphere talisman around her neck as she walked towards the open door. That was when she saw her. She frowned. There was a mare galloping towards her, one she only vaguely recognized. Where they should have been a beautiful blue and cerulean there was only black. She trotted down the stairs and started walking to meet the nightmare coming towards her. It only took a few seconds, the nightmare skidding on the surface of the moon so as not to crash into the lavender mare. She was panting slightly but smirked. She opened her mouth, but Twilight put up a hoof. “You aren’t Luna. Begone with you.” Twilight said, almost demandingly. The Nightmare scoffed. “You truly have learned nothing you poor little pony. I am Luna.” The spectre sneered. Twilight just gave her an unamused look. “You were Luna. When Luna fell to Disharmony you were corrupted. You are a natural part of her, or you’re supposed to be. Dreams and Nightmares, just like Order and Chaos. Shadows and Light. Her terrible thoughts and depression warped you into a nightmare of a nightmare, kinda like a night terror. You’re just the ghost of a creature that is no longer being fed.” Twilight explained and started walking towards her. The Nightmare glared at her and stood her ground, but started slowly backing away when Twilight flared her new wings out like Celestia does to intimidate people and kept getting closer. “When she came to me, you could not follow. Not in the way you usually do, the queen of nightmares. Because I’m the bearer of an Element of Harmony, but also because Luna found her harmony again. Kindness drove away Rainbow Dash’s night terrors, Laughter allowed her to befriend all of the others, Honesty brought the two of us together, Loyalty drove her to visit Celestia to save our lives, and Generosity allowed us to share in this newfound friendship with the others. And now I’m here, the Element of Magic, to bring it all together and focus it.” Twilight continued, stepping closer. After a few more backpedaling steps, the nightmare seemed to be straining against an unseen force. There was a tear running down her face. “There’s my Luna.” Twilight said and continued forwards. She kissed the Nightmare then, though it wasn’t the nightmare that kissed her back. Her wings intertwined with deep blue ones and they opened their eyes. “Have I ever told you I love you?” The alicorn said softly, wiping her eyes quickly and sniffling. Twilight giggled softly and kissed her nose. “You could stand to say it more. Come on inside, Pinkie baked you a special dark velvet cake and Applejack demands that you try her granny’s apple pie.” Twilight said, taking the slightly larger alicorn in a wing and leading her towards the workshop. When they entered, Luna just stopped and took in a deep breath of air. “I never knew how much I missed being able to take in a breath… This place, it smells of you. And it smells of Rainbow. I like this smell.” The alicorn said softly, her voice crackling horribly as she nuzzled into Twilight’s neck. “What’s wrong? Oh, right, you haven’t been in a proper atmosphere for so long… I’m surprised the gravity isn’t affecting you.” The new alicorn said. Luna hummed and practically trudged over to the still lit fireplace. She spread out and let out a very content sigh, taking in a deep breath while her muzzle was buried in the mattress filled with cloudstuff still in its normal place. “I adjusted to the one from your talisman so it’s not that bad, but heavens I missed feeling warm!” The princess of the night practically moaned. Her body shivered as if trying to shake the last remnants of being cold. She looked up as the coffee machine turned on and watched in interest as Twilight soon approached with two steaming mugs. With a flick of magic she threw a blanket over both of them as she passed one mug to Luna and settled in right next to the other. “Then you’ll love this.” Twilight said softly. Luna sat up slightly as they leaned into each other and both took a sip of the hot cocoa. “It’s very nice…” Luna said, wrapping a wing around Twilight and pulling her even closer. “... but your warmth is the greatest of them all.” She continued, catching the other in a sweet kiss again. Before long their mugs were almost forgotten and Luna was practically on top of Twilight. “Hm, I wonder if Dash would get jealous now?” Twilight asked. Luna’s smirk caused Twilight’s tail to flick. “Time is strange here, at least in comparison to down there. Night has fallen already, and it appears she is asleep. Maybe we should make her watch.” The elder alicorn suggested with a little smirk. This earned a little chortle from Twilight. “No that’s too mean. Besides, I want you all to myself right now.” The younger alicorn replied and nuzzled into Luna  further. “As you wish, my dear.” The princess of the night relented and they stayed like that for awhile. It wasn’t long before Luna felt the familiar feeling of Twilight’s dreamscape opening up and she looked down to find the lavender alicorn dozing off against her chest. She gave a little chuckle and kissed the top of her head. She dared not enter the dream, not while she could physically hold her friend. No, instead she hunted for one particular dreamer. “I can’t quite tell if I’m dreaming of you out of anticipation or not…” Celestia’s voice met her as she opened her eyes. She was sat in a familiar moon-marked throne while Celestia sat in a sun-marked one. They were close enough where they could whisper to each other without anyone else noticing or hearing. “Considering the locale I would image so, but it’s good to see you again too sister.” Luna replied, a little smile on her face. She looked over to look at Celestia’s expression since she was silent and was surprised. Celestia seemed like it was taking every fiber of her being to hold back tears, and even that wasn’t quite enough. “So she…” The solar monarch started. Luna nodded. “The nightmare will never be gone, but we are once again in harmony. And Twilight is fine, she sleeps…” The darker alicorn explained. Celestia nodded slowly before she rose from her throne and took the two steps to put herself nearly muzzle to muzzle with her sister. There was a wash of emotions in her expression, but Luna smiled at her. “Do you not hate me?” Celestia practically whispered, almost begging for the answer. Luna’s smile softened further as she gently leaned forward to press her cheek against her sister’s. “Never, I know what I did was not how things should have been handled. On both of our parts really… but I miss you so much more than all of that. I may have to delay that by a day to have just one full day with Twilight to myself, but after that we will come home. Did you know she grew wings by the way?” Luna asked, pulling back to look at Celestia. The elder princess nodded slowly. “I do, I saw it just before she teleported, but what’s this about keeping her to yourself?” She replied, giving a curious smile. Luna fidgeted in her seat a bit. “I believe the modern vernacular is ‘dating’... Though I plan to make it a full courtship like old times. She was the first creature I had met in a thousand years or more that held no animosity or ill will towards me. We have spoken nearly every night since the experiment that allowed me to sense her in the first place. I have looked into her life through others, causing nightmares to do so even, and ultimately she genuinely wanted to help me. She risked everything trying to come and get me. Me, someone who was supposed to be a vile nightmare. And she just brushed it aside like it wasn’t there.” Luna slowly explained before gaining momentum. By the end it was like she was regaling an epic story. Celestia slowly nodded. “Celestia, she’s even figured out dream magic. I never taught her, she figured it out. I’d say you were the luckiest mare in the world to come across such a student, but I fear I may be luckier still since she holds my heart. And her mine. Rainbow Dash is somewhere in the middle there as well, but that’s beside the point.” Luna continued. Celestia’s arched eyebrows of surprised turned into a single raised one at the mention of a potential triangle with the admiral. “I… seem to have missed quite a lot about my student’s new social life in recent weeks. I have mostly been in the griffon capital negotiating or fighting the rising rebellion.” Celestia said. Luna nodded. “I’ve been hopping around dreams of rebels, both pony and griffon, learning more about it and allowing the nightmare to run rampant to hopefully dissuade them from acting upon their treasonous thoughts. If not, then I’ll be home soon. I’ll know faces when I see them.” The younger alicorn explained. Celestia was silent for a while, processing this new information. “All of this… All of this because the young mare I took under my wing found that damn book- or rather it found her- and I went off to war and couldn’t stop all of this. You’re really coming back?” The elder alicorn said softly. Luna smiled and nuzzled her sister. “It’s hard for me to believe too. But Twilight’s mass teleportation array is still intact and the arcane batteries are already soaking up the ambient energy of the cosmos to recharge. I couldn’t tell you exactly when, or where, we’ll be back but in the meantime I’d make preparations.” The younger alicorn replied. Celestia chuckled softly. “I have recreated your wing of the old castle in Canterlot, there was always a place for you to return to. I suppose I’ll have to fetch your throne as well.” Celestia said. Luna seemed surprised at that but shook her head. “I don’t think my return to Equestria should coincide with my return to the throne. I would enjoy a proper seat on the council, but at least for now I think I would need time to properly adapt. If we are no longer at war with the Griffons then I would like to cooperate with them to root out rebels still clinging to their rebellion.” Luna explained. Celestia hummed in contemplation. “I suppose it would make sense. I suppose it’d also give you the proper chance to get used to the nobility… They’re not all bad, but there’s a reason they aren’t allowed to buy their way into council seats. We also need to do a complete investigation on the rest of the council as two of its members have been recently found as traitors. My Captain believes they weren’t acting alone or in tandem with only each other.” The elder alicorn mused before getting a little serious. “Yes, I’ve been looking into that. Dream Interrogations are much more effective nowadays than they used to be. I’ll continue the investigations in person when we get home. For now, though, it is nearing morning and I fear Twilight may sleep the day away if I don’t wake her.” Luna replied. Celestia nodded and hugged her sister. “It’s good to see you again, Lulu.” She said with a little sly smirk. Luna snorted. “You too, Tia.” She replied and faded out of the dreamscape. Celestia indeed felt the pull of the sun and the moon, they were ready to trade places for the day. Luna opened her eyes as her senses bombarded her with warmth. The fire was still going and Twilight was still in her grasp, though the unicorn-turned-alicorn was staring at her with a little smile. “You’re adorable when you’re sleeping.” Luna was informed by said mare. Luna just smiled and pulled Twilight a little closer. “You’re always adorable, my dear. We need to take care of those, however. Preening is an important part of wing care and I won’t have your feathers fall out due to lack of education.” Luna replied, pushing Twilight just slightly away and taking a ruffled wing in a hoof. “O-Oh wow, they weren’t this bad when I fell asleep!” Twilight exclaimed. Luna smiled and they both stood. “You’ve never had wings before. You don’t have the instinctual muscle memory to keep them from getting this bad during your sleep. The main reason pegasi usually sleep on clouds is so that they don’t toss and turn. Come now, extend and do as I do.” The older alicorn explained as she fanned her wings out and started looking them over. “Your primaries should be fine, bent but sturdy. Just be gentle and bend them back into place. The smaller ones may need to be pulled if they’re damaged or bent too far, which stings just a bit but you get used to it. If you’re not confident using your teeth to bend then use your lips. It’ll take a bit longer but you won’t be pulling out healthy feathers on accident- that hurts quite a bit.” Luna continued as shedid a quick once over on her own wings before looking at Twilight’s. She was only mildly surprised and greatly amused to see a notepad and quill floating in front of her, she had taken notes. She was looking at the feathers of her wings and occasionally giving a cautious nudge to a feather. She was so focused on one of them she didn’t notice Luna assisting her on the other wing until she plucked a frayed downy feather. Before the younger mare could give anything more than a little squeak the feather was blown in her face. “Hey!” Twilight protested, earning a little chuckle from the other as she continued to work. “How are you so good at that? I don’t even feel you unless you pull one…” Twilight asked. Luna stopped and gave her a look. “Two millennia of practice my dear. I daresay I could even find flaws in Rainbow Dash’s maintenance and she has the best kept wings I’ve ever seen.” The older alicorn replied. Twilight just hummed in response and they continued working. “So, I took a peek at your magical reserves while you were dreaming. I think we could leave in about an hour if we wanted to.” The lavender mare said as they finished. “If we wanted to?” Luna questioned with a little smirk. “I mean, we don’t have to go *right* away. We’re never going to be able to get rid of Dash once we get back, not that we’d want to but you know what I mean, I was hoping to get a couple of extra hours in. I was prepared to spend up to a week here, longer if I rationed.” Twilight explained. Luna smiled and leaned into Twilight. “I told my sister something similar. She seemed not entirely against the idea, though she is obviously worried about you. It would appear that she has faith in you, especially since I was able to speak with her.” She said. Twilight hummed and they were silent for a little while longer. “I have an Idea.” Twilight finally said, a little smile forming. She hoped Rainbow Dash was still asleep, it was supposed to be around noon. Knowing the speedster, if she was able to sleep without her there to wake her up she’d be out for at least another hour.