With a brilliant flash of raspberry magic, Twilight teleported back into the Central Library. She appeared right in front of the circulation desk. She didn’t look or feel awkward. At all.
Moondancer looked up from the eight-inches-thick Manual of the Library of the Castle of Friendship, Volume 1. Then, she calmly put the book down, adjusted her glasses and looked at Twilight expectantly, which might have made Twilight feel awkward… and then extremely awkward.
Twilight withered under the gaze. “I guess I deserve that, huh?”
“Well, a little,” Moondancer said, her voice surprisingly even. “You just popped away without letting me get a real word in, Twilight. Not exactly friendly.”
The evenness vanished as she stressed that last word, her ears folding down a little in what was probably annoyance.
After a few moments, the expression of annoyance faded, only to transform into one of gentle sympathy, a look that seemed somewhat odd on her face, though it did bring out the color in her eyes. The faint blush also reappeared.
“But,” Moondancer continued, her ears flicking to the sides of her head. “I’m not the pony you pulled out of a run-down shack. It’s been years since that. These days, I’ve got a pretty good idea when you’re freaking out about something.”
Twilight held up a hoof to get a word in, but Moondancer’s lapse into silence reminded her a great deal of walking up stairs, expecting another stair at the top, only to realize one had misjudged the stairs and there was actually no additional stair.
In other words, there was awkwardness.
“Uh.”
Moondancer smiled behind her new desk. It was so strange how well it suited her. Even if Twilight had never liked the crystals everywhere motif, Moondancer looked like she belonged here, which was madness since Moondancer had never had a chance to come and visit her in the Castle of Friendship and frankly Twilight much preferred the trip to Canterlot since Canterlot’s castle actually made sense so she had to wonder what had caused the creatio—
“Twilight, you’re spinning.”
“How do you know that!?” Twilight cried as she exited her spin. “I mean, yes, I’ve interviewed you for this position and we’ve spent loads of time together in the last couple of months and we practically wrote that manual together by visiting a few dozen different libraries… but… how can you know that?!”
Now, Moondancer giggled. She actually giggled. The nerve of the mare! Giggling at the Princess of Friendship in her own Castle! In her own Castle Library!
Except… now it wasn’t.
Her wings drooped just a hair.
“You know one of my favorite things about you, Twilight?” Moondancer said, leaning back in her chair a little, showing a magnitude of confidence that would have been downright disturbing had she not witnessed the growth of said confidence in the last several years. “You… haven’t really changed all that much.”
“What.” Twilight’s wings shot upright, almost as if they wanted to leapt off her body to go slap the other mare. “What.”
Moondancer lifted her hooves in an attempt to calm Twilight down before her wings could slap her silly. A wise move, really.
“No, not like that. You’re a better friend, a better pony, more skilled, more talented, more… well, almost more everything.” She eyed Twilight’s outstretched wings and blushed quite a bit harder. It was extremely noticeable against her pale coat. Twilight tried not to notice just how noticeable it was. “And then some.”
“And?” Twilight demanded, pushing away thoughts of blushes she’d been seeing for years and focusing on the matter at hoof. She had changed a lot since leaving Canterlot! Changed in so many ways!
“You still spiral! You did that when we were fillies, Twilight. You still get obsessed. It’s…” Moondancer licked her lips and blushed even deeper, which was… just… just… annoying. Or something. “Cute. Maybe… a little endearing. And… a reminder of old times, even if you were oblivious most of those old times.”
There were a few words in there her mind decided to skip, as she needed to set the record straight on very important matters that had nothing to do with avoiding things.
“I was not obli—”
Moondancer raised a single eyebrow.
“I was completely oblivious,” Twilight amended with a sigh.
“So was I,” Moondancer said softly. “And that’s okay. Because we’re both still the same ponies. I’m not a horrible antisocial recluse who lives in a tiny house that’s falling apart. You’re not somepony so obsessed with their studies that she forgets their friends even exist.” She giggled to soften the words. “Now? You’re Princess of Friendship. You’ve saved the world a good dozen times with your friends. You run the School of Friendship that’s reaching out to all races across the world. Ponies who were once your personal nemeses are now your closest confidants!”
“I… uh…”
“And me?” Moondancer leaned forward and smiled up at Twilight, her ears up and perky with pride. “I’ve received about three dozen awards for my research into… well, everything. I’m an Honorary Master Archivist of the RCA. I have four honorary doctorates. I have some of the best friends anypony could ask for and I just got asked by the Princess of Friendship to personally manage her castle’s library for an entire town.”
This time, Twilight didn’t manage to repress the twitch in time. And apparently, this time, Moondancer noticed. Twilight could see the realization dawn in the mare’s eyes. However, Moondancer didn’t move. She stayed completely still, as if Twilight were some sort of skittish animal. Which was an apt analogy as that’s very much what she felt like at present.
“Please don’t teleport away,” Moondancer whispered.
“I’m… I’m… trying,” Twilight said in all honesty. If she did, Sunset and/or Starlight would probably track her down in minutes. She had more raw power, but they had grown to have the same level of skill. She couldn’t use… Sunset said she couldn’t do that anymore. And she knew Sunset was right, but she wanted to run so badly right now. She didn’t want to deal with this. Why not just let Moondancer get settled in and then one day maybe fifty years in the future they could go over just what this was actually doing to Twilight on the inside and then just laugh about it until the pa—
“Sunset said that I wasn’t the pony you know,” Twilight whispered, shoving out the words before another spiral took her completely. “She told me you’re not the Moondancer I knew. But you just said we’re still the same… and I can’t get that out of my head.”
“Oh, so that was Sunset Shimmer I saw spying on us.” Moondancer giggled softly. “I’ve never even met the new her and I like the new her already.”
“She’s… wiser than I deserve.”
Moondancer sighed and slowly got out of her chair, but remained on her side of the circulation desk. “You deserve your friends, Twilight. And they deserve you. We’re both right.”
“They’re opposing facts!” Twilight protested, frowning. “They can’t both be true!”
“Like a pony can’t be deeply influenced by an event in their past they once believed they had conquered and still have trouble when things remind them of that event?” Moondancer asked quietly.
Twilight flinched backward and found herself again fighting the need to teleport away.
“Twilight?” Moondancer’s voice was soft and quiet, the perfect timbre for a library conversation. “It’s been around ten years since you fought so hard to fix things between us. Since you pried me out of my shell and let me see the ponies around me for the second time. Since then, you’ve taken your time to see me at least once a month. And… in the last few years, you’ve spent even more time with me.”
She paused for a moment, blushed again, and smiled. “And… well… at this point I’m pretty sure you—”
A strange buzzing filled Twilight’s ears, centered somewhere in her chest as she wondered if—
Moondancer cut herself off and shook her head. “Not… not the right time, sorry.”
Twilight’s wings remained outstretched, though she couldn’t figure out why. Her mane was starting to frizz with the effort of not getting out of here. Her entire body shook as she fought her stupid biological flight or fight response—which served no purpose here and now in her own Castle!
Despite Twilight’s obvious discomfort, Moondancer slowly walked around the crystal circulation desk and stepped up in front of Twilight. She bit her lip, looked Twilight up and down, adjusted her glasses, then finally put a hoof on Twilight’s chest.
“A long time ago, you showed me that friends let their other friends in. Will you let me in?”
Twilight finally closed her eyes. With her vision gone, the only sensations were the scent of the books, the delicate peach blossom perfume of Moondancer, the touch of the crystal floor and the roiling maelstrom inside of her. And of course, Moondancer’s hoof on her chest.
“As long as we don’t have to do it here,” Twilight said in a voice so small she wasn’t even sure Moondancer could hear it.
“Where do you want to go?” Moondancer cocked her head, her mane shifting slightly to the side.
“Ponyville proper,” Twilight said before her own fears could stop her.
“Would… you like to teleport?” she offered.
It was only then, when somepony offered her the choice between a teleport and any other form of transportation, was she able to realize that she didn’t want to teleport. She couldn’t teleport to this.
“I’d rather walk,” Twilight said.
“Okay,” Moondancer agreed readily. “But you’ll have to open your eyes if you’re going to lead the way. I mean… I don’t know where we’re going.”
Twilight opened her eyes and smiled, the maelstrom calming a little.
“I think I might be able to do that. Because I have a story to tell you.” She turned and opened the library doors.
“You know me and stories,” Moondancer snorted. “I’m afraid it keeps getting worse with age.”
Twilight… well, despite her pain, despite everything else running in her crazy head… she actually managed to giggle. It felt wonderful.
“Well, you’re in good company,” Twilight replied as they started to walk out the doors toward the main hall. “This particular one is about a surprise my friends did for me one day, not long after this Castle appeared…”
As Twilight got into the story, she glanced up on the second level of the entrance hall of the Castle of Friendship, and spied a particular amber unicorn looking down on them and smiling.
She made sure to smile back, then returned her attention to Moondancer, just as Sunset Shimmer had told her to.