Checkout awesome fanart here > http://v-invidia.deviantart.com/art/Waking-with-Company-284366078
Luna floated in a calm sea of gentle warmth and comfort, completely at peace. She wasn’t entirely sure whether she was still dreaming or whether she was awake. But one thing she was sure of, wherever it was she drifted, it was infinitely better than her nightmare-plagued sleep or her guilt-haunted consciousness. The only hint that she was seamlessly drifting from slumber to wakefulness was a gradually growing awareness of light surrounding her. Even in the best of her dreams there seldom was very much light.
Following the suffusion of brightness, the next sensation that filled Luna’s senses was the fact that she was pressed tightly against the soft body of another pony. Their chests were pressed so close together, that the gentle rise and fall caused by her breathing was synchronized with Luna’s own. A hoof shifted its grasp around her croup a little higher, and a drowsy, sleep induced murmur rose from next to her.
The realization that it was Twilight she was being so familiar with washed over Luna like a swelling tide, deceptively gradual and immensely powerful. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Luna’s thoughts of Twilight lacked the habitual stab of guilt she’d become used to. Luna had told Twilight the truth, and Twilight didn’t hate her for it. Even in her dreams she couldn’t have imagined a more wonderful turn of events.
Luna smiled and sighed in contentment as she effortlessly opened her eyes and found herself in what was quickly becoming her favorite place in Equestria; Twilight’s bed.
Vibrant beams of light, mellowed by the subdued wooden tones of Twilight’s home, poured through the windows and doors, flooding the room with pleasant, almost magically sensual, warmth. Dust motes danced in an unfelt breeze over the bed, creating shimmering sparkles as they reflected the sun’s light, adding further to the feeling that the morning was special. Dimly, Luna noticed all this. But her mind felt sluggish, sated on happiness, and what focus she could muster was turned entirely, and quite pleasurably, upon the lavender unicorn in her hooves.
She and Twilight were tangled together; their limbs splayed and mixed in a snarl of hooves and wings. The blanket covering them had slipped down during the night; most of it was bunched up on the floor, while one tenacious edge just barely held on enough to cover their cutie marks. While they’d slept, Luna and Twilight had pulled each other so close that through her heated skin, Luna could feel Twilight’s heart beating just slightly out of rhythm with her own pulse.
Twilight Sparkle glowed in the soft sunlight. Her mane was only slightly mussed, and the few strands that twisted away from the others in odd directions only enhanced Twilight’s appeal, making her appear innocent and unaffected. Though Luna could still trace the faint tracks Twilight’s tears had left in her coat the night before, any other trace of sadness had been wiped away by the soothing refuge of slumber.
Twilight’s naturally long eyelashes rested peacefully on her slightly dimpled cheeks. Her mouth was parted slightly in a small and softly enigmatic smile, which revealed the tips of her front teeth, as well as the occasional fleeting glimpse of her tongue as she breathed in and out. In the pervading sunlight, Twilight’s horn glowed almost as brightly as it did when she used magic, and Luna noticed that it was rougher than many of the other unicorns she’d seen. Likely her bookworm had spent too many hours in study to give a thought to going out and having her horn filed and polished as most other unicorns did. Twilight seemed the sort of pony to not normally have such superficial concerns.
As Luna studied Twilight’s face, her features open and unassuming in only the way that sleep could bring about, Luna found her own lips quirking into an unbidden smile as a warm, slow pleasure thrilled through her body. She could watch Twilight’s face forever, and never grow tired of tracing with her eyes the line of Twilight’s jaw, or the arch of her cheek, or even the slight flare of her nose as she breathed.
Luna laid as still as possible, not wanting to wake her friend, and absently wondered if she’d be willing to come back to Canterlot and sit for a portrait. Although, if necessary, Luna was certain she’d be able to find an artist willing to travel to Ponyville on behalf of the princess of Equestria, if Twilight was loathe to leave her friends for such a simple errand. Of course it would be difficult to find an artist capable of capturing Twilight’s essence on canvas. How her eyes sparkled when she was excited, or how she assumed an air of knowledgeable studiousness when explaining something, or the manner in which she pursed her lips slightly in deep thought, causing a tiny and very cute crinkle to emerge over her nose.
With a soft sigh, Luna came to the conclusion that perhaps nopony would be able to truly capture Twilight Sparkle in any media. But even if they were only able to take down her superficial appearance, it would at least be somewhat true to the original, and it would be enough for Luna to fill in the less tangible details with her memories.
Lazing in the comfortable warmth, watching Twilight rest, Luna’s thoughts turned inward as she pondered over just how much had changed in so little time. Only yesterday she’d been deathly afraid, certain that Twilight would leave her, and she’d be all alone once again. But then a miracle had happened. Twilight hadn’t left her. Instead, the amazing, young mare had welcomed Luna with open hooves and had pledged to always be her friend. For the first time in far too long, all of Luna’s fear had disappeared. In a single wonderful moment it had all been stripped away and replaced by Twilight and the unconditional friendship she offered.
Luna didn’t think Twilight was aware of just how much she’d affected the princess. But Luna would never forget Twilight’s words, or the sentiments behind them. She’d cherish them and keep them locked in her heart forever.
She was contemplating various ways to show her appreciation to Twilight when without preamble, the unicorn in question yawned wide enough to crack her jaw and blearily fluttered her eyes open. It took her a few seconds to bring her eyes under control and to focus on Luna, who was grinning in bemusement.
“Good morning,” Twilight sighed. Judging by her tone, her mind hadn’t yet completely thrown off the last vestiges of sleep.
“Good morning, Twilight,” Luna whispered back. She wasn’t sure why it felt important that they kept their voices low, but it was as if that moment was a fragile, delicate thing, and even the minutest of noises could shatter it.
Twilight’s half-lidded eyes examined Luna’s face for a moment before she observed, “Your mane’s all messy.”
Luna’s stifled laughter shook both ponies as she replied, “So’s yours.”
Neither pony made any move to pull away from the other.
Twilight shifted around a little, finding a slightly more comfortable indention in her pillow. “Did you sleep well?” she asked after settling down.
Luna laughed again, this time letting it out in a silvery happy chime, like tiny bells ringing in the morning air. “I slept better than I have in years.”
Twilight’s smile grew, and her ears perked up at the sound of Luna’s short laugh. “I’m glad.” Twilight’s tone was a bit firmer and less ethereal than it had been before. “You deserve a full night’s, er, day’s, rest. And I’m glad Princess Celestia was able to lower the moon and bring up the sun without having to disturb you.”
Truthfully, Luna had forgotten all about her duties towards the moon and the night. When she was around Twilight, everything else just seemed a bit less important.
Twilight’s eyes drifted past Luna’s face and toward the window. “It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day,” she observed.
“It does.” Luna hadn’t needed to look out the window to come to that conclusion.
Twilight groaned lightly and lifted her head as she commented, “We should probably get out of bed.”
Lacking any sincerity, Luna replied, “You’re right. We need to start the day.”
Agreeing with Luna’s feelings rather than her words, Twilight settled her head back down on the pillow and began to gaze contently at Luna once more. Neither pony moved a muscle to untangle herself from the other, much less to leave the invitingly warm and insidiously comfortable bed. Luna smiled impishly at Twilight, who smiled warmly back. Both of them seemingly perfectly willing to let the day pass them by rather than interrupt their moment of tranquil peace.
However, their bodies weren’t quite as content apparently. A loud gurgling rumble broke the stillness of the morning. They were pressed so closely together that Luna couldn’t tell whether the vibrations she felt came from her stomach or Twilight’s. She shot a surprised glance downward, and when she looked up again, the blush on Twilight’s cheeks were more than a match for her own.
Twilight laughed nervously. “I guess we should get up … to have breakfast, heh.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Luna heartily agreed, and the mood thoroughly shattered. While only moments before, Luna had wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the morning lost in Twilight’s eyes, the idea suddenly seemed rather embarrassing. In fact, as she reflected on them, the thoughts she’d been having seemed a bit strange. Friends didn’t normally lie in bed admiring each other’s innate beauty, did they?
Quickly, Luna began to separate herself from her friend, and just as quickly, Twilight kicked free from what few covers they’d had and rolled off the bed. Luna somewhat gracefully fell off the other side and found that her muscles were quite stiff from the unusual position she’d slept in. Without thinking, she began to stretch all her limbs, and her outspread wings blocked out almost all the light streaming in from the window. She closed her eyes as she cracked a small, unknowingly cute, yawn.
When she opened them, she found Twilight frozen on the other side of the bed, regarding her with surprisingly rapt attention.
With a bit of confusion, Luna turned her head to try and see what it was behind her that was distracting Twilight. However, from her vantage point, it was impossible to see just how well the light falling through the window passed through her feathers, highlighting her delicately soft down before bouncing off her beautiful coat, causing her to glow with an astonishing radiance.
Luna turned back to Twilight with a small, concerned frown. Seeming to refocus on Luna’s face, Twilight shook her head briskly and shot Luna an embarrassed and awkward smile. “So … um …” Her eyes darted around the room before coming to rest on Spike’s empty basket. “Didn’t Spike come home last night?” A note of worry crept into her voice as she said, “I hope nothing happened to him. Maybe he’s downstairs and I just didn’t hear him get up this morning.”
“It’s alright, Twilight. Spike spent the night with Fluttershy. I was with her last evening when he appeared at her house. He thought it was important to give you the space you needed,” Luna explained as she gave her wings a last tiny bounce to stretch them out a little more, before folding them back to her sides.
“Oh. I see,” Twilight replied, calming down. “Well, I guess if he’s at Fluttershy’s, he’s okay. She’d never let anything bad happen to him. Although I don’t think a baby dragon should stay out so late.” The distinctive sound of a pony’s stomach rumbling in protest rang out again, this time it was apparent that it came from Luna. With a smile, Twilight commented, “I guess we should hurry up and have breakfast.”
Mortified by her body’s betrayal, Luna could only shamefacedly nod.
With a small, private smile, Twilight turned and opened her bedroom door. Neither of them bothered to even brush their manes before they headed down to the kitchen. The library proper was brightly lit by the mid-morning sunlight cascading from the many windows. In the gentle light Luna descended the well-worn wooden steps, following Twilight’s hypnotically swishing tail as she entered the kitchen.
Twilight ducked her head into the pantry door as Luna sat down patiently next to the kitchen table. From Twilight’s direction arose the sound of items being shifted around and of cans and canisters being dragged from one side of a shelf to the other. In a few moments she emerged from the pantry with a look of dismay on her face and her ears flat against her head.
“Um, Luna … I’m sorry. Yesterday was so … hectic, that I forgot to go to the store. We’re completely out of food! Oh, I hope you don’t mind going out for breakfast again,” Twilight despaired.
While Luna thought that Twilight’s reaction was disproportionate to the situation, her mood did sour. For some reason, she was loath to leave the library, to cut short her private morning with Twilight. On the other hoof, her stomach was painfully empty.
“Isn’t there something left at least? Perhaps we could make some simple fare from what we have on hoof,” she proposed hopefully. Twilight leveled a flat stare in her direction and Luna quickly amended, “Nothing that would require baking of course, just something easy and non-combustible.”
Twilight still looked doubtful as she turned back to the pantry. “I don’t know …” She levitated out the few ingredients they had in order to show them to Luna. “It looks like all we have is a bottle of syrup, a jar of mustard, a basket of apples that I bought a week ago, a jar of honey, and a bottle of cumin. I don’t even know what cumin’s used for, why do I have that?”
“That’s everything?” Luna asked, her hopes sinking.
Twilight poked her head back into the pantry for a moment before replying, “Well, there’s a few diamonds and an emerald or two, but I wouldn’t want to eat all of Spike’s snacks.”
Luna smiled faintly at the joke. “Of course not. Though to be honest, I never really developed a taste for gems. Whenever Celestia and I visited the dragons, we always made sure to pack our own lunch.”
Twilight chuckled as she turned to set down the mismatched ingredients on the table, and with a start, Luna realized that she hadn’t felt the slightest tinge of pain when she mentioned her sister. For the past week, nearly every time she’d heard Celestia’s name, a cold dagger of guilt at her betrayal had pierced her heart. And even before that, there had more often than not been a brief surge of mixed emotions that had risen in her throat at the mention of her sister’s name, a bilesome collection of anxiety, jealousy, and guilt, which would fade as quickly as it came.
But now, after Twilight’s unquestioning acceptance of her the night before, Luna was shocked to find that she no longer felt any resentment toward her sister. Nor any of the guilt that came from being such a bad pony and harboring such un-sisterly feelings toward Celestia. Somehow it seemed as if nothing, not even her own past negative emotions, could interrupt her newfound happiness with Twilight. Still, it would likely take some time for her to fully stop emotionally flinching from the expectation of pain whenever her sister came up in conversation.
Smiling softly, and somewhat bemused at the difference a single night, a single pony could have on her life; Luna shook her head to clear her thoughts and turned her attention to the possibilities for breakfast. She studied them intently, her small smile turning into a frown of concentration. Eventually she admitted, “Well, I’m afraid that I’m just as ignorant as you are about cumin, so I think we can safely rule that out of the list of ingredients.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that mustard is much of a breakfast food either,” Twilight said as she contemplated the meager offerings with a disappointed frown. “And the apples look kind of wrinkly; I’m not sure how good they’ll taste now.”
Luna considered the somewhat aged fruit for a moment before she hazarded, “Perhaps we could bake them? As I recall we had a baked apple dish at the palace not too long ago that was mostly made of sugar, water, and apples. Between the honey and the syrup, I’d think that there’d be enough sugar here for it.”
Twilight shot an arch look in Luna’s direction. “I thought you said that we shouldn’t bake.”
“We wouldn’t really be baking them, just adding extra ingredients and heating them,” Luna hastily explained.
Twilight eyed the apples dubiously. “I don’t know …” she flicked her eyes back toward Luna and smiled a bit hesitantly. “But I guess trying it out won’t hurt.” She picked up the mustard and cumin, putting them away before returning with a large glass dish she retrieved from a shelf higher up in the pantry.
Luna meanwhile took the initiative to create several sharp blades of magic and cleanly quartered the pile of apples, discarding the few pieces that were far too bruised to be appetizing. Twilight set the dish down on the table and Luna artfully arranged the apple slices into it. Twilight then picked up the syrup and honey and began to pour their viscous contents over the slices.
With both of them filling the kitchen with their magic, they quickly finished putting the ingredients together, and were left staring down at their sticky concoction. Twilight’s disappointed frown and drooped ears, along with the askance way she was looking at the apples, revealed that she still had her doubts about their culinary ability. “I think that the syrup and honey are too thick. Maybe we should add some water to thin it out.”
Luna pursed her lips as she contemplated the admittedly dense mixture. “That’s a good idea; we wouldn’t want them to burn.”
Twilight turned her attention to the sink where she began to fill a pitcher. Luna meanwhile approached the oven, and after opening its door, lit the burner inside. Unsure of what temperature would be best to use, she set the flames very low. They hadn’t had much success the last time they’d worked in the kitchen and that had been without actually making to the cooking part of the process. Who knew what would happen this time? It would probably be wise to mitigate the damage as much as possible.
“Okay, I think we’re ready,” Twilight announced as she drenched the apples with water and floated the now sloshing dish over to the oven. She set it down on the oven’s wire rack and closed the door. They nearly bumped their heads as she and Luna crouched down to nervously watch the results through the tiny window revealing the oven’s interior. Aside from the soft sound of the flames in the oven, a tense silence filled the kitchen as both ponies paid close attention to the inert apples.
As nothing continued to happen, Twilight looked over at Luna and commented, “Well, they do say that a watched pot never boils.”
Luna raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Does the same saying hold true for apples?”
The bridge of Twilight’s nose wrinkled in thought. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “But maybe, just in case, we should do something else for a little while to take our minds off of it.”
Luna quickly turned her eyes away from the oven and retreated to the kitchen table, studiously ignoring the baking apples. Twilight followed after her and they took the seat next to her. They were positioned so that while their backs were to the oven, they could still steal surreptitious glances every so often. As they waited for the culinary magic to happen, both Luna and Twilight retreated into their own thoughts, allowing a companionable silence to take hold of the warm kitchen.
Luna found her thoughts returning to earlier in the morning, to just after she’d just woken up. At the time she’d been lost in the feelings of relief, gratitude, and just plain simple happiness at waking up to a new day in such a wonderful world. She’d simply coasted on those feelings as she’d lain in bed, content for the first time in years. But looking back, perhaps she’d accidentally crossed an invisible boundary. Perhaps she’d been propelled by the overwhelming gratitude and release she’d felt at not being denounced by Twilight, past the point of simple friendship. Reflecting on her thoughts and feelings from earlier in the day, Luna felt a bit as if she’d betrayed Twilight’s simple trust of her as a friend, and that perhaps she’d overstepped her bounds.
But still, Luna did feel grateful to her friend, and so long as she kept her minor trespass to herself, nopony would know. So she made a new promise to herself, that from that point on she’d take Twilight’s friendship only as it was offered, and push no further. However, Luna still didn’t feel as if she’d adequately told Twilight just how much her friendship meant to her.
Shyly, Luna looked over at Twilight, who was looking back over her shoulder at the oven. Quietly, hesitantly, Luna broke the morning’s stillness. “Twilight, I … I wanted to say thank you.”
Twilight quickly looked away from the oven, pretending as if she hadn’t been staring intently at the small window, and she sat up at straight, even her ears were perked up and at attention as if she’d been called on in a class she’d been napping in. After a moment, her posture relaxed and she asked, “What for?”
Luna chuckled a bit nervously and broke eye contact with Twilight. She placed her hooves on the table and tapped them a bit absentmindedly. “Well, I just ... I mean thank you for last night, for being my friend. I thought that after everything” Luna sighed deeply, not sure of just how to say what it was she felt she needed to say. “ … well, just, thank you, Twilight.” Luna sighed again, and slumped a bit in her seat. She desperately wanted to let Twilight know just how grateful she was, and how much Twilight’s actions had meant to her, but the words simply wouldn’t come to her.
Twilight smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof as she replied, “Don’t mention it, Luna. There’s nothing you really need to thank me for. I only did what any good friend would do. I’m sure that as more ponies get to know just how wonderful you are, you’ll make many more friends. I know it was a bit difficult for me to make friends at first too, but eventually you’ll realize that almost everypony is a friend you just haven’t met yet.”
“But you'll always be my first,” Luna said with a soft sigh and half-lidded eyes complimenting the small, strange smile she shot Twilight.
Twilight laughed a bit too loudly, as she replied, “You don't mean that, Luna. I'm sure that Princess Celestia was your first friend.”
Luna looked away, and a muscle under her eye tensed, before relaxing just as quickly. “Yes she was. But the feelings of friendship I have with her are different than the ones that I feel for you. Celestia and I are friends, but we're also sisters, so the bond between us is inherently different than the one between you and I. With you, you're not only my friend, you're my -” Luna cut herself off, not sure just what she intended to say. It was true that she and Twilight were friends, but they were more than that as well. After all, she was also friends with Applejack and the rest of the Apple family, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, RD, and Fluttershy. But she didn't get the same sort of warm, bubbly, happy feeling with them that she felt around Twilight.
Unsure of how to put her thoughts and feelings into words, and realizing that she'd paused too long to make a smooth recovery, Luna skipped the rest of what she was going to say. “Anyway, I’m afraid that Celestia and I can’t be as close as we once were.”
Twilight leaned forward and placed a gentle hoof on top of Luna’s. “But why?” She softly but desperately asked. “With Nightmare Moon gone and ponies enjoying the night sky, why can’t you two be friends again?”
Luna looked down at the purple hoof covering hers, and followed the leg up, meeting Twilight’s eyes with a sad smile. “Even before Nightmare Moon, we were drifting apart. She rules the day and I rule the night. We simply can’t be as close as we once were since all we share is the twilight between.”
“But can’t you at least try? I mean you are sisters after all, and you’re both,” Twilight paused and looked away, searching for the right words, before she looked back with a strange intensity in her eyes. “You’re both very special someponies to me, and I’d hate it if you weren’t friends.”
Luna could feel her own eyes becoming misty as she stared into Twilights sparkling gaze. For the briefest of moments, Luna thought that she saw a hint of something … something more than friendship in Twilight’s eyes. But she quickly dismissed the thought as merely another idle remnant of her own feelings clouding her perception.
Not wanting to pursue the conversation any further, Luna pulled away from Twilight. Her gaze fell on the oven, and with false enthusiasm she observed, “Oh look, the apples are bubbling.”
With a false intensity, Luna left the table and rushed over to the oven, turning all her attention to its dimly lit interior. She watched as the syrupy liquid surrounding the apples frothed and boiled, growing thicker and darker.
“That's … great, Luna,” Twilight replied, her tone betraying her uncertainty at Luna changing topics so quickly. But she mercifully let the subject drop. Her hoofs softly clopped against the floor as she also left the table. “I hope that they’ll be edible.”
“They certainly smell like they will be,” replied Luna. She breathed in the steam escaping from around the oven door and could only detect the smell of sugary sweetness mixed with the earthy scent of apples, nothing unpleasant.
Twilight put her head next to Luna’s and peered into the oven. “How will we know when they're done?”
“I'm not sure,” Luna admitted.
“Well, it is boiling, so it must be very hot already. And while I'm not all that great a cook, I do know that if you leave things in for too long, they dry out, and then burn. So I think that it's probably safe for us to take it out and let it cool.”
Luna moved out of the way as Twilight opened the oven's door and levitated the piping hot glass dish out, while extinguishing the oven's flames at the same time. She closed the oven with a bump from her hip, while she set down the bubbling apple mixture on a strategically placed cooling rack. No longer confined by the oven, a pleasantly sweet aroma filled the kitchen as Twilight retrieved a couple of plates and placed them where she and Luna had been sitting before. While the apples were still steaming, she carefully separated them into two precisely equal portions, which she levitated over to the plates. Then both she and Luna sat down and contemplated the fruits of their labor.
The apples didn't look all that unappetizing, but still, despite her hunger, Luna had a few reservations about being the first to try them. She looked up from her plate over at Twilight, who was staring down at her own breakfast with a sort of resigned skepticism. Like she knew she probably wasn't going to enjoy doing something, but she was going to have to do it regardless. She caught the motion of Luna looking up out of the corner of her eye, and she looked over at Luna and hazarded a crooked smile.
“Well, they can't be as bad as the cookies we made,” Twilight said hopefully. She looked back down at the apples and sighed before leaning down, and with only the tips of her teeth, took a minute bite out of the topmost apple. Luna watched with eager interest, glad she wasn't the first to taste their cooking.
Twilight chewed for a few seconds, before her eyebrows rose in surprise and she delivered the verdict, “These aren't all that bad. In fact, they're pretty good.”
As she bent down for another, larger bite, Luna looked back down at her own plate, still with a bit of skepticism, and lifted up one of the apple slices smeared with viscous liquid with her magic. Quickly she popped the slice in her mouth and swallowed it, almost without chewing, just in case Twilight was playing a joke on her and they tasted quite foul.
After a moment's consideration, allowing time for her palate to adequately analyze the taste, Luna agreed with a hint of surprise in her voice, “You’re right. They're quite delectable actually.” She floated another slice up to her lips. Perhaps it was some remnants of the enchantment holding sway over her from earlier in the morning, or maybe it was due simply to the wonderful company she was with, but nothing had ever tasted quite so sweet to Luna. Logically she knew that what they'd made couldn't taste as good as she thought it did. After all, it was impossible for two mares such as herself and Twilight, armed with only the barest of ingredients, to make a dish as wonderful as any of the apple products they'd tried at Sweet Apple Acres.
Yet, on that warm summer morning, bathed in soothing sunlight and in the company of her best friend, the baked apples they'd made together far surpassed even any of the expertly produced spun sugar confections that had been painstakingly made by the finest chefs in Equestria for her enjoyment in Canterlot. Luna smiled and laughed quietly to herself at the strange realization as she continued to enjoy the best breakfast she'd ever had.
Seeing her friend's body shake slightly in stifled mirth, and wanting to join in on the joke, Twilight asked, with a slight chuckle in her voice, “What's so funny, Luna?”
“Oh, nothing really. I was just thinking how strange life can be, and how drastically our perceptions can change when we're with other ponies.”
“I know what you mean.” Twilight fell silent and her eyes became unfocused as she lost herself in thought. A lone piece of apple held by her magic was frozen in mid-air, its thick glaze dripping back onto the plate in long, oozing strands.
Luna felt as if she could watch Twilight’s adorably absentminded expression forever, but after a few moments, she realized how dangerously close to forbidden territory her thoughts had become, and turned her attention to a nearby window. The sun had changed positions and its light was no longer pouring in, but was slanting through the panes. She turned back to examine Twilight in the changing light, when she came to the sudden realization that her stay in Ponyville was nearly over. She’d spent so much time in needless agony that now, when it felt as if her vacation had finally begun; it was coming to a close.
A part of the brief flash of desperation she felt must have made itself known on her face because Twilight inexplicably snapped out of her trance and refocused her eyes on Luna, asking, “Is everything okay?”
Luna smiled a bit sadly. “Yes, it’s just that I remembered how little time we have left before I have to return to my duties in Canterlot, that’s all.”
Twilight’s eyes and ears shot up in alarm. “Oh no! I forgot that you had to go back so soon! For some reason it feels like we still have weeks left together.”
Luna felt dismay at the realization of how little time she had left before having to return to Canterlot and the large, empty castle that was her home. But she didn’t want to burden Twilight with her feelings, so she forced a smile and tried her best to be nonchalant. “Well, since I must leave tomorrow, we’ll just have to have as much fun today as possible.” Twilight’s face was still twisted in a disappointed frown, and Luna found herself in the uncomfortable position of having to comfort another pony. “And even when I do return to Canterlot, that doesn’t mean that we won’t see each other anymore. You can come and visit the castle anytime, and I’ll certainly come and visit Ponyville as often as I can.” Luna even made a half-hearted attempt at a laugh as she said, “Although I’m afraid that when I resume my nightly duties, my visits may come at somewhat odd hours.”
Twilight cracked a wan smile as she replied, “Don’t worry, I keep some odd hours myself. And I’ll make sure and write you every day, Luna. I made a promise, and I won’t leave you alone ever again, even when I can’t be there with you.”
Luna felt a swelling warmth fill her chest, and she wistfully replied, “Thank you, Twilight, that really means a lot to me.”
Twilight looked away from Luna’s earnest face and cleared her throat before abruptly changing the topic. “Anyway, there’s still somepony left I’d like you to meet. Although if you’d rather stay in today or do something else, we can do that too, since today is your last day in Ponyville and all.”
To be honest, Luna did relish the thought of simply whiling her last day in Ponyville away, locked in the library with Twilight keeping her company. It didn’t even matter what they did really, whether it was playing games, having another mareathon study session, or even just tiding up and shelving books. No matter what they did, so long as it was with Twilight, Luna knew it would be wonderful.
But she could tell that Twilight loved and was proud of her friends, and she seemed anxious to introduce Luna to all of them. If there was one thing that Luna never wanted to do again, it was to disappoint Twilight. So she put aside her own selfish feelings and smiled good-naturedly. “Well, what is this friend of yours like?”
Twilight’s face lit up at the question and her ears perked up in excitement as she eagerly replied, “Oh, she’s really smart and very fascinating to talk to. She’s a zebra who lives alone in the Everfree Forest and gathers herbs and other natural ingredients to make potions and holistic remedies.”
Luna’s curiosity was piqued by Twilight’s enthusiastic portrayal of her friend. “She certainly does sound interesting, but does she really live in the Everfree Forest? Isn’t that a bit unusual?”
“She doesn’t live too far into it, but she’s a very independent zebra.”
“She does sound interesting; I’d love to meet her, Twilight.”
Twilight clapped her hooves together happily. “Great! We can go see her and then stop by Fluttershy’s on the way back to pickup Spike.”
“That sounds like a wonderful plan,” Luna said. She looked down to find only a single slice of apple left, and she hurriedly popped it into her mouth. As she licked the last of the gooey, sugary residue from her lips, she commented, “We should probably get going though if we want to take advantage of this beautiful weather.”
Twilight turned her head to look out the window and agreed, “You’re right, we should get going. I’ll take care of the dishes and you can go ahead and get cleaned up.” She looked back at Luna and quickly ran her eyes over her hair, before looking away quickly and blushing slightly. “Your mane looks cute mussed, but I don’t think you’d want to go out in public with it like that.”
Luna involuntarily raised a hoof and ran it down her mane, shocked that she’d gone the entire morning without brushing it, and hoping that it hadn’t made her appear too ridiculous. But she quickly put her vain concerns aside as she replied, “Nonsense. I can brush my mane after I help you clean the dishes. After all we both helped to make the mess; we should both help to clean it up.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, Luna. It’s only a few dishes; it won’t take me any time at all to clean up.” Twilight waved her hoof dismissively before she stood up and began to pick up the dishes with her magic.
“And it will take even less time if we clean them together,” Luna replied as she also stood. Her magic wrestled with Twilights for a shiveringly pleasant moment before she wrested control of the dishes away from her hostess.
Twilight screwed up her face as if she was about to argue, but Luna gave her a flat, stern look, and the unicorn seemed to deflate a little before replying, “Well, okay.”
They carried the dishes over to the sink, where Luna put to her newfound dishwashing skills, gained from Pinkie Pie’s, to use. Soon the only remnants of their breakfast were drying on the rack next to the sink.
“You can take the bathroom first, Luna. I need to go make a quick list of the things we need to take for our trip to Zecora's,” Twilight suggested as they left the kitchen.
Luna looked askance at Twilight as she replied, “A list? I thought we were simply visiting your friend. I didn't realize that it was necessary to take supplies with us.”
Twilight let out an uneasy chuckle. “It's not really. I just want to make sure that we don't forget anything in case we do need to take something.” She rushed on, eager and energetic to explain herself, “I mean, what if something happens and we didn’t have a list for it beforehoof, so we’re not prepared for it? Like the Filly Scouts say, ‘always be prepared.’”
Twilight seemed to be looking forward to making her list, so with a chuckle and a slight shake of the head at her friend's quirks, Luna took Twilight up on her offer and headed off to the bathroom. As she left her, Luna could hear Twilight quietly murmuring to herself, “Now where did I put my list of things I need to make lists?”
The tiles of the bathroom were pleasantly warm on Luna's hoofs as she walked in. With a bit of trepidation she quickly strode over to the mirror to assess just how badly she appeared, running a critical eye over not only her mane, but her coat and her tail as well. Luna let out a small, relieved sigh when she found that they weren't as mussed as she'd feared they were. Picking up a few combs and a brush, Luna ran them through her hair, smoothing the tufts and unsnarling the snags. There was something soothing in the gentle pull of the combs and the relaxing massage of the slightly stiff-bristled brush, but Luna didn't want to keep Twilight waiting, so she hurriedly finished up her grooming. In a matter of minutes she had her hair combed into an acceptable amount of neatness. As she set down the combs and brush, Luna gave herself one last cursory examination, turning her body slightly so she could see first one side and then the other, and decided that she was presentable enough to face the world.
With light steps, Luna left the bathroom and returned to the main library, where she found Twilight happily putting the last flourish to her list.
"And a copy of the Filly Scout’s complete guide for camping," Twilight said to herself as she pressed her quill against the floating roll of paper hard enough to indent the other side. "That should do it." She blew on the scroll to help dry the ink, while cleaning the nib of her quill with a scrap piece of cloth. As she rolled up the scroll, she noticed Luna's entrance and smiled at her friend. "That was quick, Luna." She ran an appraising eye down the length of Luna's body, and under her smoldering gaze, Luna could feel herself growing embarrassed, and she shifted her weight nervously from hoof to hoof. "You look great," Twilight decided. "I guess it's my turn to tame the dreaded bed head then."
Twilight stood up and brushed past Luna on the way to the bathroom. Luna watched her go, and then turned her attention to the pair of saddlebags Twilight had left lying on a nearby table. They were practically bulging at the seams. Luna hoped that Twilight was just being over-prepared and they wouldn’t really need everything that she seemed to want to take. She turned her attention to the rest of the library, and whiled away the time waiting for Twilight by browsing the various books lining the library’s shelves, finding several familiar titles in the collection.
Eventually Twilight returned, groomed and much sleeker. “Ready to go?” she asked Luna as she lifted up her saddlebags.
Luna floated down from the shelf near the ceiling that she’d been perusing, and eyed the bags as Twilight fastened them around her middle. “I thought that you said this Zecora lives just inside the Everfree Forest. Do you really need to pack so much?”
Twilight gave one last magical tug on the bags’ straps before she turned her head toward Luna and breezily replied, “Oh, it’s not all that much, just a few bottles of water in case we get thirsty, a book on the flora of the Everfree Forest, a book on the fauna of the Everfee Forest, a book that I thought Zecora might be interested in, a book on camping and surviving in the wilderness , just in case, and Beach Sunday’s compendium of Eudoxan spheres.” Twilight noticed Luna’s inquiringly raised eyebrow and hastily explained, “I’m in the middle of reading it, and you never know when you’ll have some free time for a bit of light reading when you’re out visiting.”
Luna good-naturedly rolled her eyes and nodded non-judgmentally. “I see. Well, in any case, yes, I’m ready to go.”
“Great! Trust me, you’ll love Zecora, she’s a great friend.” Twilight walked over and opened the library’s door, waiting for Luna to go through first.
Luna accepted her invitation and found that the day outside was every bit as wonderful as she’d hoped it would be. Twilight closed the library door behind them, and with an exchange of excited smiles, the two ponies set off down the road that would lead them out of Ponyville.
As they passed through the town, they found a few other ponies who were enjoying the warm morning as well. Behind them, closer to the center of Ponyville where the main market was, the street was much more crowded. But as Luna and Twilight neared the edge of Ponyville, there were fewer and fewer ponies to pleasantly nod hello to.
Judging by the position of the sun, it wasn’t quite yet noon as they left Ponyville behind, Twilight leading Luna down a wide but overgrown lane which seemed to run in an uninterrupted line straight into the heart of the Everfree Forest.
“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it, Luna?” Twilight asked as they strolled through the middle of a meadow of wild grass. The tall, feral stalks rose to wither-height on either side of the road. Luna looked over to find Twilight’s head swiveling back and forth as the examined the azure sky overhead with appreciative eyes.
“Yes, yes it is,” replied Luna. She spared only a casual glance upward; finding it much more interesting to watch her friend’s excited face. “Exceptionally beautiful.”
“Celestia and the weather ponies must have worked extra hard this morning to get everything so perfect.”
“Most likely they did,” Luna agreed. “Though perhaps we’re a bit prejudiced. I’ve always found that the world, and the weather, seem brighter and better when you’re happy.” Luna hesitated for a moment before she quietly admitted, “And I think I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long, long time.”
Twilight stopped scanning the sky and turned to look in Luna’s direction with a small concerned frown.
Luna ducked her head slightly and searched for the words she wanted to say, but all that came out in a tone full of raw gratitude was, “It’s just … thank you, Twilight. Thank you for staying with me.”
Twilight blushed and looked away in embarrassment as she observed, “You’ve already thanked me for being your friend, Luna. You don’t have to keep saying it.”
A loose stone loomed up ahead in the path, and Luna side stepped it, using the movement as an excuse to move closer to Twilight, close enough to occasionally bump up against her saddle bags. In a heartfelt voice, barely more than a whisper, Luna said, “But I want to keep saying it. I can’t tell you what it feels like to be accepted by a pony like you. Thank you, Twilight.”
Twilight blushed even more deeply and continued to closely examine the wild field they were passing through in lieu of looking at Luna as she replied, “Well then, you’re welcome.”
An awkward but pleasant silence settled over them as the two ponies continued toward the forest looming ahead of them. The grass grew shorter and shorter and the road was less carefully maintained as they neared the forest. In fact the road transformed from a worn dirt covered path into a patchwork of dusty stretches of packed earth separated by scraggly growths of grass. By the time they reached the edge of the forest, the road had virtually disappeared altogether.
Without hesitation Twilight led them off the beaten path and into the dark depths of the Everfree Forest. Of course Luna wasn’t scared. Not for herself at least. It was entirely for Twilight’s benefit that she scanned the thick undergrowth they passed through, especially the dank, dark spots in which one would expect a scaly reptile to be lurking.
As Luna ducked a low hanging branch, closing one of her eyes to keep the scratchy foliage out, she asked, “So, Twilight, how far into the forest did you say that Zecora lived?”
Twilight blithely replied, “Not very far. In fact, we’re almost there.”
Thanks to the thick foliage overhead, the daylight quickly dimmed into a somewhat murky dusk as they traveled deeper into the tangled woods. Despite how wildly the plants grew the trail they followed never entirely disappeared, though it did become much more twisted as it meandered around trees and through brambles. After several twists and turns, they arrived at a large, primitive-looking hut, which seemed to grow from the forest’s floor.
Luna followed Twilight as she circled the building. The exterior was decorated with strange masks and other exotic objects that Luna didn’t expect to normally find in Equestria. Eventually they reached a large, rough hewn door, and Twilight loudly rapped on it, calling out, “Zecora, it’s Twilight, are you home?”
There was silence for several moments, and far in the distance a bird trilled. Soon however there came the sound of hooves walking on a hardwood floor, and the door opened from the inside, revealing the somewhat familiar face of a zebra mare with a closely cropped mane. The only other Zebra she’d met recently had a much longer mane. Zecora beamed in Twilight’s direction and said, “Ah, Twilight Sparkle, I did not expect to see you today. Tell me, what has brought you my way?”
“Good morning, Zecora. My friend Luna is visiting Ponyville, and I’m introducing her to all my other friends, and I thought it would be nice for her to meet you.”
“If you’re a friend of Twilight, to meet you would be my delight,” The vaguely familiar zebra said as she turned toward Luna expectantly.
Luna smiled and stepped forward, lifting her hoof in the now familiar modern gesture of greeting, while Twilight stepped to the side and raised her own hoof to first indicate one pony and then the other.
“Princess Luna, this is Zecora, one of the most knowledgeable ponies I know. Especially when it comes to the plants and animals of the forest. Zecora, this is Princess Luna, the princess of the night and of the moon.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Zecora.”
Zecora raised her own hoof and firmly shook Luna’s as she smiled widely and happily said, “Ah, Princess Luna, it is a pleasure! My delight at meeting you is beyond measure.” She released Luna’s hoof and stepped to the side of the doorway, inviting them, “Princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle, I was about to sit down to tea. Please, won’t you come in and perhaps join me?”
“That sounds wonderful, Zecora,” Twilight replied. She bowed her head slightly in gratitude as she stepped over the threshold and into the house.
Luna quickly followed her, also nodding in appreciation to Zecora as she passed her. “Thank you for having us.”
Zecora bowed slightly and replied, “Your thanks are cherished, but unnecessary, a warm welcome for my friends I always carry.”
As Zecora closed the door behind them, Luna took the opportunity to take in the interior of the small hut. The first thing that struck her was that it seemed much larger on the inside than the exterior had suggested. It was a large, brightly lit, single room. It vaguely reminded her of Twilight’s library due to the many shelves and tables lining the walls, covered with several jars, bowls, and a few pestles. The center of the room was dominated by a cauldron full of a dark green liquid that was giving of a pleasant smell, reminiscent of lavender. There was a small fire below the cauldron, but it didn’t give off nay smoke, nor could Luna feel any heat coming from it. From the ceiling hung several large gourds, and on the walls were various strange masks, their exaggerated expressions were more interesting than frightening.
Twilight seemed right at home as she strolled across the room. She unstrapped her saddlebags and set them down on a well-worn table that had been made from a cross section of a tree. Luna followed her lead and took a seat on one of the large, soft cushions spread around the low table.
Zecora walked to the cauldron and sprinkled in some dried and crushed leaves from a small canister she picked up from a small table next to the cauldron. She watched the flakes dissolve, and then walked over to a workbench near the table where Twilight and Luna were sitting. Over her shoulder she called out, “The tea will take a few minutes to brew; I hope that the wait won’t bore you.”
“Oh, that’s alright, Zecora,” Twilight hastily replied, eagerly placing her hooves on the table. “We can talk while we wait.” She turned her attention to the saddle bags propped up next to her, and opened one of their flaps. She levitated out a small but thick book. “I wasn’t sure if you’d read this one or not, but I thought you might be interested in it,” Twilight explained as she floated the book over the table in Zecora’s direction.
Zecora turned her attention from the tea she was preparing and regarded the slightly worn book curiously.
Twilight continued to explain, “It’s a book about the holistic remedies that pegasi use. I’ve read through it, and while I’m not sure how you’ll get a hold of some of the ingredients, I thought that the recipes might still be interesting to you.”
Zecora reached up and gently lowered the book to the table. She looked up and warmly smiled at Twilight as she replied, “Thank you for your thoughtfulness, I know little about healing a pegasus. So I’m sure that in these pages I will see, a great deal which will interest me.”
Twilight had been leaning forward intently, with a stiff and somewhat anxious posture. But when she heard Zecora’s appreciation for the book, she sat back and her shoulders relaxed slightly, practically beaming, like a school filly who’d gotten a question right. Luna smiled a bit at just how transparent and honest Twilight was.
Not wanting to seem distant, Luna searched for a way to start a conversation with Zecora. Her eyes traced the many bunches of drying herbs scattered around the room as she remarked, “You seem to be quite knowledgeable about plants and herbs, Zecora. Much more so than any of the other modern ponies that I’ve met. Did you learn from somepony else, or are you self-taught?”
A quick, surprised laugh escaped Zecora. “Neither all of one or the other, but some of each. My family and I took turns to both learn and to teach. As a child, the only classroom that I knew was the wild savannah and sparse forest in which I grew.” Zecora’s eyes lifted to a brown gourd hanging nearby with a hint of wistfulness entering her gaze. The gourd had been made glossy by long use. “It was from my mother I learned much of what I know.” Her eyes cleared as they traveled over to Twilight, and Zecora smiled as she added, “There has been much more I’ve learned since coming to Ponyville though.”
There was a soft crack from behind her and Zecora’s ears perked up. “Ah, that would be the tea. It’s reached the right temperature; at least I hope you agree.”
She left the table and Luna notice movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to find Twilight running a hoof down her mane, trying to straighten it. She saw Luna turning her head in her direction, and Twilight quickly put down her hoof, offering the princess a shaky smile that quickly dissolved into a nervous frown. Her eyes anxiously darted back and forth between Luna’s face and Zecora’s back.
Luna cocked a questioning eyebrow in Twilight’s direction as she mulled over her friend’s apparent nervousness. She suddenly remembered Twilight’s earlier comment about hoping that she and Zecora would get along. Knowing Twilight, she was probably obsessing over whether or not Luna was going to become the best of friends with her older friends. Luna made a mental note to talk to Twilight later about her predilection toward blowing things out of proportion. While it was usually cute, all that stress couldn’t be good for Twilight’s health.
In the meantime, Luna offered Twilight a smile to show that she was enjoying herself. It didn’t seem to be all that effective. Twilight shot a weak, sickly grin in return. Any further exchange between them was interrupted by the return of Zecora. She held a tray with three glazed earthenware cups on it in her mouth. She set the tray down on the table and quickly nosed a cup in front of each of her guests.
“Thank you, Zecora,” Luna said as the zebra settled back into her seat.
“I hope that your thanks aren’t too hasty, and that you will find my tea to be tasty,” Zecora replied before she bent down and sipped at her own cup of tea. Twilight had already taken a drink, holding the cup aloft with her magic and tilting her head back slightly. Her deep drinking was an obvious indication of her enjoyment of the beverage. Luna looked down into her own cup, finding few clues as to what exactly was in it. Thanks to the dark, opaque cup, the color of the tea was impossible to make out. There was no steam rising off of it, only a cool, herbal smell.
Not entirely certain what it was she was being served, Luna lifted up the cup and took a delicate sip. The first thing she noticed was that unlike most teas, this one was served lukewarm, almost chilled. Its flavor was pleasantly sweet, and it left a refreshingly cool sensation that lingered in her mouth and throat as she swallowed the tea.
“This is quite good, Zecora!” Luna exclaimed as she set her cup down. Twilight smiled happily at seeing Luna’s pleasantly surprised expression. “I’ve never had this type of tea before, pray tell, what is its name?”
Zecora lifted her head from her own cup and smiled slightly as she replied, “I am glad you enjoy it, my new friend. Where I come from it’s known as Lover’s Blend.” Luna’s eyebrows rose in surprise at the unusual name, and Zecora quickly raised a hoof, waving it back and forth. “Oh no, Princess Luna, don’t misunderstand, its name comes from a legend told in my homeland. There once were two zebras who loved each other dearly, and one had a duty to collect the harvest yearly. Now in the plans of my homeland the sun is quite strong, the heat is unbearable and dangerous to stay in too long. So the zebra’s loved one created this refreshing treat so that her loved one wouldn’t fear the day’s oppressive heat. And now we drink it because it’s as cold and as delicious as it was in the days of old.”
“I see.” Luna had been enthralled by Zecora’s story, and as if she’d been released by a spell, her eyes left Zecora’s and turned downward toward her teacup. She looked up again to find Twilight plumbing the depths of her own cup, her unfocused eyes giving her a distracted air, as if she were deep in contemplation. With a slight shrug of her shoulders, but without taking her eyes off Twilight, Luna raised her cup and took another cool, calming sip of tea.
A companionable silence descended over the table, and as the sweet flavor of the tea revitalized her, Luna could feel the muscles in her legs and in her back slowly start to relax. She hadn’t even been aware that they’d tightened.
It was strange, Luna reflected to herself, despite the somewhat decoration of Zecora’s home, it had almost the same calming atmosphere as Fluttershy’s cottage. Despite their being in the midst of a wild and savage wilderness, Zecora’s hut felt safe and peaceful.
As Luna allowed herself to relax, she also took the opportunity to more closely examine the strange masks that were scattered about. She studied on particularly garish example with almost comically bulging eyes, and she found herself asking, “So, Zecora, what was it that led you to Ponyville?”
The question had been a casual thought that Luna had accidentally given voice to, but now that it had been asked, Luna found herself genuinely curious about Zecora’s story. How she’d left such an obviously close family to live by herself in a foreign land.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Luna saw Twilight perk up and look first in Luna’s direction, then toward Zecora with eager interest.
Under Luna’s gaze, Zecora carefully set her cup on the table and smiled a strange, soft smile as she looked back over the years.
“The land of my birth is far away. In fact, the distance is part of why I came here to stay. My family is large and closely knit. They love their home and rarely leave it. But in my youth I wanted to explore, and to find new things nopony’s seen before. So I left the plains of my home, and for many years I did roam. Across all Equestria I did travel, until my wanderlust came unraveled. At last I settled in this forest so wild because of the difference from my home as a child. And with Ponyville not far, I can get the supplies the forest can’t offer.”
Twilight broke in, “But you said that your family was very close. Don’t you get lonely out here by yourself?”
Zecora’s eyes twinkled and her smile shifted into fond annoyance. “My family is close, that is true, and that is part of why my restlessness grew. I love them all quite dearly, but in this case, this is one zebra who needs her space.” Zecora’s tone sobered a bit as she admitted, “But still, from time to time, I make the trip back to visit that family of mine.”
She chuckled, and Luna found her amusement infectious. She joined in the laughter, and soon Twilight had begun to laugh as well, though it wasn’t quite obvious what was so amusing exactly. A gentle silence followed after their burst of hilarity, and Luna found her curiosity roused again, this time by the cauldron still bubbling in the middle of the room.
“If you don’t mind my asking, what is it that you’re preparing over the fire, Zecora?”
Zecora turned her attention to the cauldron in question, and she replied, “Ah, that’s an herbal gel which many Ponyville shops have begun to sell. It smells sweet and can be used to style a mane, and it soothes joints and eases pain.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up and she interjected, “Oh, that’s from … uh, hang on a second, I was reading about it just the other day.” She tilted her head back and her horn flamed to life as she levitated another book from her saddlebags. She set it down on the table and was soon flipping through its pages. Quietly she muttered to herself, “Just one second, not aum, or chamalla, or hybernia.” The pages of the book stopped turning, and Twilight pressed a triumphant hoof down on the appropriate passage as she happily proclaimed, “Found it! Athelas, a low growing vine. Poisonous when eaten raw, if prepared correctly it will create a numbing paste-like substance,” Twilight read. She looked up from the book, hopefully seeking Zecora’s approval.
“Very good, my young friend, correct to the very end. In this case, athelas is certainly the base. But there are other ingredients involved as well, to thicken the mixture and to make the pleasant smell. Try to guess the others, if you’re able. You shouldn’t even have to leave this table. I’ll even provide you a clue, of the remaining ingredients, there’s three, not two.”
Twilight’s smile broadened at Zecora’s praise, and a determined glint came to her eyes as she purposefully bent back over her book.
Luna continued to sample her tea as she watched the tete-a-tete between Twilight and Zecora. She hid her smile with her cup as she watched Twilight energetically diving back into her studies with Zecora looking on with an expression of pleased expectation. An errant thought caused Luna’s smile to falter. Was this how Celestia and Twilight had been? The loving teacher and the trusting student?
The taste of the tea was suddenly overpowering, almost nauseatingly so. Luna set the cup down with an audible click.
Just how many moments of Twilight’s life had she missed? Six months ago, while Luna had been aware of Twilight’s existence, she hadn’t really spared her a second thought. Yet now Twilight Sparkle had worked her way into Luna’s heart, and the princess abruptly realized that she resented all the time that Twilight had spent without her. It was undoubtedly an irrational feeling, but Luna still felt it nonetheless.
She considered the way Twilight had paid attention to Zecora, as if she’d respected and valued her opinion. It was slightly different from the way Twilight had acted toward her other friends. While she obviously valued and respected them, Twilight had treated them as equals. With Zecora, and during the brief interactions with Celestia that Luna had been a witness to, Twilight seemed almost deferential. An unkind whisper in the back of her mind asked Luna why it was that Twilight never looked at her in quite that way, and unconsciously Luna’s eyes narrowed as she glanced over at Zecora.
As quickly as her ill feelings had washed over her, Luna tried to banish them. Of course Twilight had lived a life before Luna. It had been Luna’s own fault that she’d spent so long locked away in the moon and hadn’t had the opportunity to have a hoof in guiding Equestria as a whole, and Twilight’s life in particular, alongside her sister. And why shouldn’t Twilight look with respect toward Celestia and Zecora? They obviously were both very well learned ponies, and quite deserving of admiration. But still, Luna could feel a selfish corner of her heart wanting Twilight to look that way at her and nopony else.
With a start, Luna realized that she’d lapsed back into a similar vein of thought to the ones she’d had earlier in the morning. What was wrong with her? Twilight was her friend, not her … more than a friend. It wasn’t like Luna really wanted her and Twilight to become something more than friends, did she? With a feeling akin to horror, Luna realized that perhaps she’d been right when she had felt perhaps she’d crossed the bounds of friendship in her mind.
Her eyes darted guiltily from side to side as her mind raced and she sorted through her feelings.
Thanks to Twilight, Luna now had several friends. But while she cared for them, her feelings for Twilight undoubtedly ran deeper. Much deeper. But did she actually love Twilight as something more than a friend? Luna quickly waved the distasteful thought away. Any admittance that she loved Twilight more than she was supposed to was an obvious betrayal of the feelings that Twilight was gracious enough to have for her.
She couldn’t love Twilight. It was obvious what had happened though. Twilight had been the first pony to show her any type of affection in so long, that Luna had poured all her tender feelings into their relationship, and had developed a small crush on her. It wasn’t a full blown love or anything like that, Luna reassured herself. Just a simple school filly crush that she’d hide deep inside and would eventually outgrow.
Luna had been lost in her own little world as she mulled over her feelings, and she finally surfaced from her thoughts to hear Zecora complimenting Twilight, “As usual, you’re quite correct. Soon your knowledge of plants will be near perfect.”
Twilight ducked her head and blushed at Zecora’s praise. “Well, you’re a very good teacher, Zecora.”
Seeing such an intimate scene between Twilight and Zecora caused something to turn in Luna, and before she could think about it, she blurted out, “Oh my, it’s getting quite late. We should be going, shouldn’t we Twilight?”
Twilight’s eyes snapped up to Luna, and then to a nearby window, where it was difficult to gauge the time of day due to the sunlight being filtered through the forest’s canopy. “I suppose you’re right, Luna. We still need to pickup Spike before we go home.”
“Yes, we do.” Luna said rather brusquely. She stood up from the table and turned toward Zecora, forcing a smile. “Thank you for a lovely visit, Mrs. Zecora. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”
Zecora also quickly stood, while Twilight began to hastily shove books back into her saddlebags. “Princess Luna, it was entirely my pleasure. Please do come back when you have more time for leisure.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” Luna replied as she took long strides toward the door, causing Twilight to scramble to catch up. Luna used her magic to open the door, and Zecora followed them a little ways through it.
“I hope you look forward to your return, I know I will, but please be careful on your way back to Ponyville. Strange ponies I’ve seen of late in this wood and they way they act makes it seem their up to no good.”
“We’ll keep that in mind, thanks,” Luna called over her shoulder.
Twilight turned and made a small circle as she said, “Thanks for the tea, Zecora, it was great. I’ll see you later.”
Luna’s emotions cooled as they walked away from Zecora’s hut, and Luna allowed her steps to slow as she began to feel a bit foalish for her surging emotions. To cover their hasty retreat, she tried to casually remark, “Well, that was a pleasant visit, and very … interesting. I must say, Twilight, you seem to have a rather eclectic collection of friends. Although I wonder who it is that she’s seen wandering around the forest. I doubt all that many ponies would casually enter the Everfree, especially somepony from outside Ponyville.”
Twilight had her head turned away; focusing on her saddlebags she was tightening across her back. “It was probably some of the pegasi from Cloudsdale. They like to dare each other to come to the Everfree Forest every once in a while to see what weather not controlled by ponies is like.” She turned her head to beam at Luna and glibly remarked, “And as for my friends, well, Princess Celestia did give me an assignment to go out and make new ones, and I’ve always been an overachiever. But to be honest, I never would have guessed that there were so many interesting ponies in Ponyville before I came here.”
“Nor I,” Luna laughingly admitted. Her laughter was cut short by a cry of surprise as she tripped over something sticking out of the dirt path, causing her to stumble and nearly tumble to the ground.
“Oh no, Luna, are you alright?!” Twilight raced to her side, her eyes wide with concern.
Luna managed to save herself from gracelessly falling by skipping a few steps and stretching her wings in order to regain her balance. She came to a stop and frowned down at her now sore hoof and replied, “I’m alright, Twilight. I just wasn’t looking where I was going and tripped over something.”
She gingerly set her hoof down and put some weight back on it. Finding that while it hurt, the pain wasn’t debilitating, Luna smiled reassuringly at Twilight. The unicorn let out a breath she’d been holding in, and the creases of worry around her mouth faded away.
Reassured that Luna hadn’t suffered any permanent damage, both ponies turned around to look for what exactly had caused her near fall. What they found was a rectangular stone that had been mostly buried in the soft dirt of the path, at least judging by the hole left behind from where Luna had kicked it loose. Though its edges were chipped and rounded, it seemed strange that such a uniformly proportioned rock was lying in the middle of the forest.
At least Twilight appeared curious about it, since she brushed it off and levitated it to eye level where she examined it closely. Luna, on the other hoof, had easily dismissed the rock as just another rock and was more than ready to head back to Ponyville and spend the rest of the day relaxing in the library with Twilight. And Spike of course, after they picked him up. Though it was entertaining to watch Twilight as she made a myriad of faces while examining the rock, all reflecting exactly what she was feeling; interest, puzzlement, recollection, confusion. Twilight had a way of making each one appear adorable.
“Hmm,” she vocalized as she shut one eye and held the stone close to the other. “I know that I’ve seen this somewhere before, but where?”
Luna couldn’t resist snorting in amusement. “It’s a rock, Twilight. I’m sure you’ve seen one or two before. In a book at the very least.”
Twilight didn’t respond to Luna’s good-natured gibe. In fact, she acted as if she hadn’t heard Luna at all. Instead she softly observed, as if to herself, “This appears to be ponymade, and quite old. I think the depression on this side is the maker’s mark.” She suddenly wheeled around and energetically thrust the rock at Luna’s nose. “What do you think, Luna? Can you tell what this marking is?”
More to humor her friend than anything else, Luna bent her head down to examine the rock. Twilight had turned the facet in question toward Luna, and it took the princess only a moment to identify the mark in question. Though it had been eroded by the passage of time, it was still fairly easy to make out a half-moon superimposed over a sun that had rays of light emanating from the uncovered half. “That’s the old royal symbol,” Luna announced. She studied the rock a bit more closely before coming to the realization, “This must be one of the pavers from the royal highway. Every twentieth stone had our emblem on it in order to announce to travelers just whose lands they were traveling through. Originally it was the main thoroughfare of Equestria, connecting all the towns and villages with our castle.” With the realization came a flood of memories, of a time long ago, before her banishment.
“So that must mean that this path is the remnants of the old royal highway,” Twilight theorized as she put down the stone.
Luna looked up and down the narrow path, trying to somehow reconcile it with the wide boulevard she remembered. Of course there hadn’t been a forest back then, or at least it had been only a thin, tamed band of trees. In her mind’s eye she tried to imagine the highway, shimmering silvery gold in the sun, cutting a path through the countryside, leading to a magnificent palace in the distance.
“Yes. I suppose so,” she said sadly. Absently she asked, “Twilight, are we near the old castle?”
“The castle of the Two Sisters? It’s a few hours away by hoof. Why, did you want to visit it?”
Quietly, wistfully, Luna replied, “Yes. I’d like to.”
Twilight scratched her head as she pointed out, “I don’t think we’d make it there before nightfall.”
“Not if we walk, no. But if we fly, we should be able to travel there and back again before sunset,” Luna said in a far-off voice, as if her mind wasn’t entirely there with Twilight any longer.
Truthfully she wasn’t exactly sure why she wanted to see her former home again. She had briefly seen its decrepit state before, shortly after her return from the moon. There likely was little if anything left thanks to the ravages of time. Yet for some reason she felt a longing to see her former castle again. Somehow it seemed important.
Her thoughts were broken by Twilight’s matter-of-fact observation, “Um, Luna, I’m a unicorn. We’re not exactly known for our flying ability.”
Luna returned from the distant place her thoughts had taken her and smiled a bit roguishly at Twilight. “Don’t worry, I’ve been told that I’m the second best flier in Equestria. I’ll simply carry you.”
Luna could practically feel Twilight’s eyes as they ran over her body, gauging whether or not the princess could really carry the weight of another pony. For a few long seconds, Twilight’s gaze lingered on Luna and her wings with open longing. Her obvious covetousness rekindled Luna’s suspicion that Twilight secretly longed for wings of her own in order to fly the Equestrian skies freely.
She had noticed the other day that Twilight had acted strangely when Rainbow Dash and Luna had spent so much time flying together. There had also been the occasional covert glances Luna had caught Twilight stealing of her, which could have only been her admiring Luna’s wings. And when they slept together, Luna often found Twilight nestled into her spread wings. It all seemed to add up to Twilight harboring a secret desire to have wings as well, to experience the excitement of flying firsthoof.
Twilight quickly schooled her features, attempting perhaps to appear impartial as she replied, “I don’t know, Luna. Are you sure that you’re strong enough to carry me and fly halfway across the Everfree Forest?”
“Nonsense. I’m much stronger than I appear I’ll have you know,” Luna said, perhaps a bit churlishly. She spread her wings wide and crouched down to better present her point. “These are not merely for ornamentation, I assure you.”
Twilight’s eyes seemed transfixed on Luna’s arching back, but she still seemed somewhat unconvinced as well as a bit flushed. “W-well, you’re wings are lovely, Luna. But really, I don’t know if I can … that is, I don’t think that you should push yourself just to carry me.”
Luna pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes in consideration. Perhaps it was time to try a different, albeit a more juvenile, tack?
“I see. You’re afraid of heights.”
An incredulous “What?” burst out of Twilight.
Luna’s ears lowered in minor disappointment, belied by her small smile. “What else can it be? You don’t want to go flying with me, even over such a short distance. You must not want to go because you’re frightened.”
Twilight sputtered in indignation for a second, but Luna was surprised by just how quickly she set her jaw, and with eyes sparkling with anger, or determination, or perhaps an emotion Luna couldn’t quite put her hoof on, Twilight boldly stepped forward and hotly declared, “Fine, if you’re okay with us flying together, then I’m okay with us flying together.”
Luna fluttered her wings a bit as she stood on her hind hooves, holding out her forelegs expectantly. With stiff, awkward movements, Twilight walked over to her and put her legs around Luna’s neck. Despite her calm exterior, Luna’s heart was racing at the close contact, especially after her revelation earlier. However she promised herself again that as far as Twilight was concerned, she was nothing more than a friend; albeit a very good friend.
Luna wrapped her legs around Twilight, holding her close to her chest. Honestly, it had been quite some time since Luna had last carried the weight of another pony, and she didn’t remember them being quite so heavy. Nonetheless, an inexplicable thrill went through her as she experimentally lifted off the ground and she could feel Twilight’s soft body pressing firmly against her as Twilight reflexively gripped just a bit tighter. She felt her warm, shaky breaths against her sensitive neck and Twilight’s anxious heart beating wildly through her chest, likely from elation at being able to fly.
Twilight’s grip on Luna’s neck limited her head’s mobility, so she wasn’t able to bend down far enough for Twilight to see Luna’s mischievous smile as she called down, “Are you all set?”
“Ye-aaiiiiiieeeee!“
Luna didn’t even wait for Twilight to finish her syllable before launching herself into the air with a powerful downbeat of her wings. Twilight’s surprised scream in her ears was rather distracting though. There was a brief burst of scratching roughness as they shot through the dense foliage of the Everfree Forest and exploded into the impossibly bright azure sky. For several seconds, Luna rocket up into the air.
Twilight pressed her face tightly into Luna’s neck, catching a few stray strands of her wind-tossed mane between them as she let out another little surprised and undignified shriek as Luna plummeted back toward the forest, leveling off a mere wingspan above the thick leaves. Her grip was almost suffocatingly tight and Luna could now feel Twilight’s hammering heartbeat quicken to match her own. Luna flew slow, straight, and level for a few moments. Long enough for her to catch her breath from the unusual burst of activity, and for Twilight to calm down enough to loosen her stranglehold and admonish Luna, “You could have at least warned me before taking off like that!”
Blithely Luna replied, “I’m sorry. But I thought you were used to high-speed aerial stunts. RD does them all the time.”
“It’s one thing to watch them, and another to be in them,” Twilight hotly replied.
Luna’s playful tone was less than apologetic as she replied, “Sorry. It won’t happen again, at least without me warning you. Now, I’m afraid that I’ve lost my bearings, where exactly is the castle?”
A millennium ago, when most of the surrounding countryside had been fields or pastures as far as the eye could see, the castle of the Two Sisters had been the most conspicuous landmark for miles. But a thousand years had passed and both the castle and the land around it had been drowned in a sea of gently undulating trees, whose thick leaves hid any clue of what lay beneath.
“Hmm, well, Canterlot is in that direction.” Twilight peeled herself away from Luna enough to look around and lifted a hoof from Luna’s neck to point out the distant city. Luna craned her head around to see where she was pointing, and now that she was looking for it, the mountain that Canterlot was built into was fairly hard to miss. “It’s a little past noon, so the sun is just slightly to the west. I don’t have my astrolabe with me, but I’m pretty sure that if you turn a little to the left we should be going in the right direction.”
Luna laughed, causing her chest to vibrate and for Twilight to nervously clamp her hooves around her neck again. She joked, “Astrolabe? I knew you preferred Celestia to me.”
Twilight twisted in Luna’s hooves, trying to see the princess’ expression. “What?”
“Well, if you really liked me, you’d use a sextant, not an astrolabe.”
Twilight sputtered as she replied, “But … it’s daytime, and there aren’t any stars!”
Luna couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore as she burst out, “I’m just joking Twilight.” Twilight lightly pounded on Luna’s chest with her free hoof and Luna asked, “Twilight?”
“Yes?”
“Do you remember how I promised to give you a warning before I did something dangerous?”
“Yes …” Twilight said questioningly.
“Then consider yourself warned.”
“What do you me-EEEEEHH!”
Luna had bunched up her muscles and shot herself forward, slicing through the air and picking up speed. Twilight clamped down tightly with her whole body as Luna abruptly accelerated. Luna wasn’t sure if it was the feeling of the heat rolling off of Twilight’s body, the rush of going so fast, or the thrill of skimming the trees so closely, but her entire body sang with bracing exhilaration as the trees, valleys, and rivers of the Everfree Forest zipped past them.
After a short while, Luna could feel Twilight relaxing and loosening her grip slightly. The princess was puzzled for a moment when she felt the unicorn’s body shaking between in her legs. Luna cocked her head to the side and looked down to check on her passenger, and found Twilight smiling up at her, laughing like a school filly. She tried to say something to Luna, but they were going so fast that her words were lost in the wind. Luna smiled back and shook her head uncomprehendingly before turning to look forward again, a spontaneous jet of giddy laughter erupting from her. She didn’t know why she felt so wonderful, was this the way other ponies normally felt? Was it because Twilight was so obviously happy?
Suddenly, a deep ravine split the forest in front of them. It was relatively narrow, but the dense fog clinging to its recesses, even in the middle of the day, hid the bottom from view. It was like a river of dank grayish mist bisecting the forest. On its far bank, hidden by centuries of plant-life, were the achingly familiar remains of her home.
Luna’s mood sobered instantly. It was strange to see her castle in ruins. In her memories it was perfectly preserved and substantially larger than life. To see just how cruelly time had ravaged it was another reminder of how much the world had changed, and how much she had as well.
She banked into an easy glide, gracefully slowing down as she made a large circle around the remnants of her castle. With a delicate flutter of her wings she landed next to a rickety bridge, which stretched across the chasm next to the castle. Twilight was silent as she gracelessly slid out of Luna’s grasp; her now anxious expression examining Luna’s pained face.
Although Luna would never admit it, Twilight had been a bit heavy and part of her was glad that she wasn’t carrying her anymore. The larger part of her shivered at the loss of warmth and longed for Twilight’s touch as she forlornly gazed upon her former home.
“Well, here we are, the Castle of the Two Sisters,” Twilight stated awkwardly, likely trying to shatter the melancholy silence imposed by the ruins.
Distantly Luna answered, “Yes.”
Twilight took several steps toward the ruins, commenting, “I haven’t been here since we came to find the Elements of Harmony.”
“And I haven’t returned since the defeat of Nightmare Moon.” Luna slowly began to walk to catch up with Twilight as she attempted to reconcile her youthful memories with the decayed reality in front of her.
There were only a few structures of the once vast castle that were still standing, although most of them were mere shells of their former grandeur. Twilight and Luna followed the pseudo-path leading from the bridge and entered what Luna believed was once the display room for the Elements of Harmony. It had been a place where everypony was welcomed and where the manifestations of the importance of friendship were kept on display for everypony to see and reflect on.
Its soaring ceiling was gone, the windows broken, and only the useless and cracked columns stood watch over the empty dais in the center of the room. A few plants had tried invading the room, but it was still surprisingly devoid of the life that seemed to pervade the rest of the forest. Twilight walked ahead to the center of the room where the Elements of Harmony had once rested. She gave it a cursory examination before turning her attention to the naked sky overhead and the crumbling walls.
“I guess time really does take its toll.”
Luna had stayed near the door, and she smiled a crooked, bitter smile as she replied, “No, actually most of the damage here was caused by my … by Nightmare Moon’s battle with Celestia a thousand years ago. This was where it all ended. For a time at least.”
“Oh.” Twilight paid closer attention to the remnants of the room, no doubt noticing that despite the extensive damage, there wasn’t much rubble, indicating that it had all been thrown outward.
Luna gathered herself and ghosted across the scarred floor, remembering how the room had once appeared, full of light and life as ponies from across Equestria congregated there. She softly trailed one wing across the display for the Elements of Harmony as she passed it, and frowned as flashes of her battle with Celestia swept over her. The shouting, the pleading, the smell of ozone and blood, the phantom pain that she still thought she could feel in her knee from time to time.
She passed through a small, nearly hidden door that lead deeper into the castle, and there was a clatter of hooves as Twilight raced to catch up. She slowed down and matched Luna’s pace for a few seconds, her head swiveling back and forth as she tried to take in everything around them. Bravely, she tried to turn the topic of conversation. “So, what was it like, living here when it was the capital?”
They entered into a wide and long courtyard that Luna could have sworn was supposed to be a long gallery of portraits. She slowed down, but continued to walk forward, the tall grass tickling her stomach. “It was ...” How best to describe her past life? How it had been wonderful, and at the same time horrible. How Celestia had been her best friend and her greatest enemy. How similar the ponies of the past were to the ones of the present, and how different they were.
With a strange lilt in her voice, Luna asked, “You grew up in Canterlot, didn't you Twilight?”
Twilight paused, a bit nonplussed by Luna's question. “Well, yes. In fact the first time I left it for more than a few days was when I visited Ponyville.”
“It was very much like Canterlot is now, with similar ponies, similar parties, and similar social maneuvering. Only it was smaller, simpler, and lonelier,” Luna replied in a far off voice.
In the distance, birds were singing, and a gentle breeze played across the grass at their hooves. The ruined buildings ahead, softened by climbing plants, gave off a bittersweet melancholic feel, eased by the brilliant sunlight raining down. Luna paused to admire the scenery and Twilight walked closer to Luna and nuzzled her comfortingly. Shocked out of her memories by the physical contact, Luna returned to the present and smiled gratefully at her friend.
A feeling of calm came over Luna and with a lighter heart she and Twilight began to walk again, crossing the courtyard. They arrived at something of a crossroads, down a worn and cracked staircase was a garden of columns, while straight ahead was the crumbling entrance to the suite of rooms which Luna was fairly certain connected the royal quarters with the throne room.
Twilight let out a little squeal and made a beeline for a short wall leading toward the stairs. “Oh, is that the Rise of the Dawn by Green Vesper?” Twilight asked energetically, pointing out a faded mosaic. “It looks exactly like the 700 year old reproduction in the duchess of Equites' bathroom.”
Luna chuckled at Twilight's scholarly inquisitiveness. “Yes, it is. There were many spectacular mosaics, murals, statues, and other works of art here.” She turned to the beckoning doorway. “In fact, there was a rather spectacular mosaic in the antechamber of the throne room.”
Without looking to see if Twilight was following, Luna stepped through the door and into a host of memories. The roof of the hallway was still in place, and the sunlight filtered away into darkness. Luna's coat brushed the wall of the hallway and the charred remnants of a raging fire fell to the ground. There was a beam of light at the end of the hallway and Luna urged herself on.
She entered the decayed shell of what had once been a grand hall. Now, the last vestiges of its ceiling clung tenaciously to a few mostly intact walls. A scattering of glass hinted at the beautiful stained glass windows that had once lit the elegant hall with a tapestry of colors. The floor, once an intricate mosaic depicting the birth and rise of the two sisters, was cracked and faded into a featureless grey under centuries of dust. The rest of the hall, the stairs, balconies, roof, walls, they were simply gone. For the life of her, Luna couldn’t tell where the damage caused by time stopped, and where the damage caused by Nightmare Moon began.
Luna sighed in regret. It wasn’t Celestia who had abandoned this castle, the home they had shared, and it hadn’t been time and the elements that had destroyed it. It had been her, Nightmare Moon. She’d been the one to betray what the castle had been founded upon, love and harmony. It had been her who turned her back on her sister and the life they had built together.
Her guilty reflections were cut short as a strange sound whispered through the crumbling masonry of the castle. A bleat or a squawk, followed by the sound of something soft and heavy falling to the ground. Luna’s ears pricked up at the odd noise, and she glanced toward Twilight to see if her friend had heard it as well.
However, Twilight wasn’t just behind her as Luna had thought. Her confusion mounted, and Luna swirled around, searching the room fruitlessly for Twilight. Luna’s confusion curdled into anxiety as she began to call out, “Twilight? Where are you?” It wasn’t safe for a pony to be alone in such a place as the abandoned castle in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Perhaps it was the haunting echoes stirred from the ruins by her shout, but Luna began to feel as if something terrible had happened to Twilight when she failed to reply.
Her steps were made quick and light by unease as Luna raced back the way she’d come, every few seconds calling out, “Twilight, where are you, Twilight,” without breaking her stride. She expected to see Twilight’s comforting smile on the other side of every corner she raced around, but there was no reassuring glimpse of her purple friend, or even an answering voice to quell her ever-growing fears.
She raced down a crumbling stairway into what had once been a long hallway, but with its roof long absent, it was now little more than a colonnade of broken pillars rising from a lane of soft grass. It was there she stopped short. The scene playing out before her was so outlandish that it was nonsensical, and it took Luna several long moments of amazement to fully comprehend the situation.
Twilight was propped up against a fallen column, her head pressed tightly against its crumbling surface. Her pained expression, closed eyes, and limbs splayed out awkwardly all indicated that she’d suddenly fallen senseless. And over her stood Blue Blazer, the captain of the royal guard.
At first Luna thought that Twilight had fallen sick and the captain was helping her up. Her mind was too preoccupied with concern to question why he was there in the first place. But as she tensed her muscles to race to Twilight’s side, Luna realized that everything was wrong.
Blue Blazer wasn’t paying any attention to Twilight. His fierce, angry eyes were fixed firmly on Luna. For some reason he was wearing the full armor of the royal guard, including the razor sharp wing guards and extensions for pegasi. In addition he wasn’t helping Twilight up. Instead, he was holding her down, pinning her in place with one taunt wing. The all too sharp spikes on his wing’s armor were pressed into her tender and unguarded throat, just hard enough to dimple the skin.
“C-captain Blazer, what’s going on here?!” Luna demanded to know. She began to channel her magic, preparing it for what may come, causing the air around her horn to flicker and pulse with energy.
“I wouldn’t do that, ‘Princess’ Luna,” Blazer snarled. His face could have been made of stone for all the emotion he betrayed, but his eyes were locked on Luna and filled with an intense and desperate rage. His voice maintained an eerie calm as he stated, “If I see even the tiniest flicker of magic, I will kill your lover here. I know you’re fast, and I know you’re powerful, but my blade’s resting on her carotid artery. Just a bit of pressure and we’ll have a dead unicorn on our hooves because I don’t think you’re fast enough to keep me from slitting her open, or powerful enough to stop so much blood. Now, Nightmare Moon, release your power, or else.”
Blue Blazer shifted slightly, putting a bit more weight on his wing, driving his steel tipped armor just a hair more into Twilight’s tender throat, dimpling the skin even farther. He pressed so hard that Luna could see a tiny pool of blood welling around the artificial wing tip, transforming into a drop that slowly rolled down Twilight’s nick leaving a narrow trail of red in her coat. Still unconscious, Twilight moaned in pain.
Luna’s heart sped up and she felt as if she’d been dunked into a tank of ice-cold water. For some reason she had a barely controllable urge to laugh hysterically. Had the world gone mad? Only moments before, she’d been enjoying a wonderful day with her best friend, and now a pony she’d never personally injured was there threatening homicide. It was like something from a dream, or a nightmare.
All these thoughts flew through Luna’s mind as she hastily released her magic, letting it fade back into the ether from whence it came. Blue Blazer was likely right, he was so close to Twilight that even a twitch of his muscles could irreparably harm her before Luna could deal with him, and she wasn’t much of a healer; that had always been Celestia’s talent.
Blue Blazer closely watched her actions and terrified expression through narrowed appraising eyes. As her horn ceased to glow, he said, “Good. Now, put this on.”
The wing he had held folded to his side shot out, throwing a narrow rectangular object at Luna. It glinted in the sunlight before landing in the dust at her hooves. Unwilling to take her eyes off of Twilight’s desperate situation, Luna glanced down at the strip of dark metal covered in fine writing. Her eyes quickly snapped back up to make sure Twilight was alright as she asked, “What is it?”
Blazer folded the wing not at Twilight’s throat back to his side. “It’s an inhibitor. It’s designed for unicorn prisoners, to make them more manageable without their magic. I’ve already used one on your lover, so even if she wakes up, there won’t be much she’ll be able to do to help you.”
Luna dragged her eyes away from the cut on Twilight’s neck long enough to discover that a band identical to the one at her hooves had been wrapped around the base of Twilight’s horn. By itself it seemed fairly innocuous, but knowing that it had been placed there by Blue Blazer made Luna feel as if were dangerous and dirty. As if its presence was tainting the beauty of her friend. Deep inside her, Luna’s panic began to boil into a hot rage as she saw Blazer’s further violation of her friend. Luna wanted nothing more than to rip the band off of Twilight and stomp it into a million pieces.
Perhaps Blue Blazer saw some of her anger, or maybe he was tired of her stalling. Either way, with a grim, determined air, he put just a bit more weight on his wing, and Twilight’s blood flowed just a bit more freely down her neck. “Hurry up, Nightmare Moon, before my wing gets heavy and we have to find out whether or not you can bring a pony back from the dead.”
At the sight of Twilight’s blood being so carelessly and needlessly spilt, Luna’s hot rage instantly cooled into a blisteringly cold fury. The pain he was inflicting on her Twilight, she would repay him a hundredfold, no a thousandfold. But first she had to get him away from her. She locked eyes with Blue Blazer, wordlessly informing him his death would be slow and painful. His eyes dared her to try.
Refusing to look away, Luna bent down and picked up the band of metal, hating the cold, greasy texture of its surface. She was unable to get it up and around her horn while it was in her mouth, so she raised a hoof and spit the strange device out onto it. Still without breaking her staring contest with Blue Blazer, Luna reached up and pressed the metal band to her horn. The moment it touched the bone, the band slithered and shifted as if it were alive, wrapping itself seamlessly around her horn.
Luna nearly fell to her knees as a painfully strange sensation crawled across her skin and raced down her spine, filling her ears with a loud roar and casting a veil over her eyes. It was as if something had been cut out of her, something immense and valuable that left an impossibly large void behind.
She blinked, and the worst of it was over.
The pain vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving only a strange numbness in its place. Luna felt disconnected from the world, as if the air around her head had congealed into a thick resin separating her from everything. Even the colors of the ruins surrounding her had been muted and made duller.
Despite these impediments, Luna tried her hardest to focus on the task at hoof. While she had been preoccupied, Blue Blazer had finally removed his wing from Twilight’s throat, allowing the still unconscious unicorn to fully slump to the ground in a boneless heap. The captain began to leisurely walk toward Luna, seeming to have completely forgotten about Twilight as he focused on the princess with a stern yet triumphant smirk.
“And now, Nightmare Moon, you're nothing more than a regular pegasus.”
Resolutely Luna stared back at Blue Blazer and in a voice choked by hatred she asked, “Why?”
Blue Blazer stopped mid-step and cocked his head in confusion. “Why?” he repeated. “Why? How can you ask such a question when the answer is so painfully obvious? When I was little more than a colt, I swore an oath, an unshakable and unassailable oath to protect Princess Celestia and all Equestria from all enemies, foreign and domestic.” He snorted in angry amusement. “And you, Nightmare Moon, are certainly an enemy to all of Equestria, and especially to Princess Celestia.”
Luna shakily straightened and cried out, trying to get Blue Blazer to see reason, “But I'm not Nightmare Moon. Not anymore!”
Blue Blazer's face twisted into a mask of rage. “I know what you are! I seem to be the only pony who does! You were one of the greatest enemies Equestria has ever faced, and you still are. The last time you were defeated, you discovered that you couldn't take the throne through naked force, not with all Equestria against you. So what did you do? You disguise yourself, and make yourself seem like some sort of tragic and sympathetic figure, and begin to spread your poison one pony at a time. First Princess Celestia, then the Elements of Harmony, then Ponyville, and eventually all of Equestria. With enough time you'll try to usurp Princess Celestia's throne again, and this time there would be nopony to stop you. Except for me, because I'm the only one to see through you, Nightmare Moon.”
Even if it had been under normal circumstances, Luna would have been alarmed at just how crazed Blazer had become, and these were most decidedly not normal circumstances. The painful rush of losing her magic was fading, and she was becoming used to the dull, numbing pain it had left in its wake. But she still needed more time to recover if she wanted even the smallest chance at besting Blue Blazer without the use of her magic. So half from a need to stall, and half from outraged desperation, Luna cried out, “But why drag Twilight into this? What did she ever do to you, or anypony? I can understand you hating me, but why her? She's even Celestia's most prized student, there's no reason for you to attack her!” Luna slowly began to edge backwards, trying to put some distance between her and the captain.
“I didn't involve her in this,” Blazer said coolly. “You did. You're the one who hardly leaves her mistress’ side, and when you do you never let your guard down.”
Luna growled out, “She's not my mistress, she's not my lover, she's my friend.”
Blue Blazer snorted in contempt as he relentlessly pressed forward. “Please, spare me your lies. I've been watching you. I've seen the way you look at each other, the way you act toward one another. I've witnessed how you've seduced an innocent pony and twisted her to your will. But that's what you do, isn't it? You weasel in and play on ponies' sympathies by acting pitiful, and then you corrupt them, turning them away from the light that is Celestia, turning her away from me! But no more, I'll stop you here!”
Blue Blazer had worked himself into a frenzy, and Luna's reprieve came to an end as he leapt at her, his razor sharp armor gleaming in the sun. Luna put all her strength into her hind legs, and kicked off from the ground hard enough to leave a web of cracks behind. Time seemed to slow down as she unfurled her wings, pumping them just in time to gain a few more inches of height, enough to dodge Blue Blazer's bladed wings by a hair's breadth.
Time sped back up to normal for Luna as she began to furiously beat her wings with all her might, trying to gain altitude and pickup speed. She chanced a look backwards, finding that Blazer had recovered from his failed lunge and was in hot pursuit of her. She blew out a heavy breath and redoubled her efforts.
From behind her, Blue Blazer shouted, “Give it up Nightmare Moon! Just die, and make the world a better place!”
Luna was a good flier, some would even say a great flier, but she hadn't spent thirty years practicing maneuvers every day in full military gear, preparing, and secretly hoping for a war that would never come. Blue Blazer had, and he was gaining on her.
She looked back again and realized that he was faster than her, and he was quickly closing the gap between them. In open sky, Blazer would eventually catch up to her, and then, without her magic, it would be all over. So she needed to find someplace else to fly where Blazer's speed would count for nothing. Her heart was pumping and her adrenaline was surging, causing her to only think of the next few seconds, and leaving her unable to think up a longer-term strategy.
Luna searched for someplace to lose Blue Blazer in, and her eyes found the ruined columns of the long abandoned breezeway. For an instant, Luna recognized in them the obstacle course of clouds that RD had forced her to run over and over. Desperately, Luna dived toward the columns, gaining speed until she was flittering amongst the stone pillars, twisting and turning at a speed she would have thought insane only moments before. As she sped through the gaps between the columns, Luna caught a glint of light from the corner of her eye right before she felt a string of fire along her thigh. It was more alarming than painful, but the scratch was simply a promise of what was to come. Blue Blazer banked left while Luna baked right, putting the bulk of the columns between them.
Luna didn't have much of a plan, other than to get away. Well, lead Blue Blazer away from Twilight and then get away. Perhaps if she was fast enough and agile enough, she'd be able to fly through the Everfree Forest and find some help. She turned in the direction she thought Ponyville was in, and shot out over the gorge separating the ruins from the rest of the forest. She'd lost sight of Blue Blazer and hoped that meant he'd lost sight of her as well.
“It's no use running, Nightmare Moon. I chose to attack you here, now, because for the first time you're too far away for anypony to come and help you.” Blue Blazer called out from behind her, his tone was almost jocular.
Instead of looking back to see how closely he was following her, Luna redoubled her efforts, aiming for the nearby treeline. She felt the dense leaves and branches of the forest tearing at her as she dove into the relative safety of its depths, slowing down only a fraction as she wildly careened through bushes and brambles. Luna's heart was pounding in her ears, and her breath was exploding from her in huge gasps as she swerved around trees and through vines. She spied an especially dark section of the forest and dove inside, tightly hugging the shadows as she came to a shuddering halt, her body refusing to move any further without at least a moment’s rest.
Fearfully she tried to calm down her shuddering breaths and racing heart, certain that they were loud enough to give her location away. She raised her head slightly and peered through the brambles back the way she'd come, cocking her ears in search of the sounds of somepony crashing through the underbrush after her.
Several tense seconds passed and Luna was finally able to get her heaving chest under control. Aside from her gasping breath, the forest was completely silent.
“You're only delaying the inevitable, Nightmare Moon,” Blue Blazer called out from above.
Luna looked up through the boughs above to find the pegasus hadn't followed her into the thick of the forest, deciding instead to fly above it and search for her from the air. As Blue Blazer flew over her, seemingly unaware of her hiding place, Luna finally allowed herself to relax a little for the first time since the whole insane scenario had begun.
If she stayed to the danker parts of the forest, perhaps she could make it back to Ponyville, or at least Zecora’s hut, in only a matter of hours. So long as she stayed low and moved slowly, and so long as Blue Blazer stayed above the forest’s canopy, he wouldn’t be able to find her. She’d get back to Ponyville and get help, while Blue Blazer fruitlessly searched for her, and then she’d return and save Twilight. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was the best one that Luna could come up with under such short notice.
She waited for Blazer to cross over her once more before she began to slink into an adjacent shadow that she hoped was one step closer to Ponyville. However, Luna’s heart froze when Blue Blazer loudly shouted out, “If you refuse to show yourself, then I’ll have no choice but to attack the symptom of your disease, Nightmare Moon! After all she’s lying back there, all alone and defenseless. I don’t want to do it, but if I can’t defeat you, I’ll defeat your followers.”
Panic flooded through Luna at the thought that once Blue Blazer grew tired of chasing after her, he’d go and torture poor Twilight. Desperately she ran through her options in an instant. None of them were very good, and all of them would likely fail. But it would be better to fail and have Twilight come out of this relatively unscathed, then to not try at all and face the even worse fate of having abandoned her friend.
Quickly she put together a nascent plan of somehow catching Blue Blazer by surprise and goring him with her horn. Not wanting to dwell on just how bad a plan it was, Luna crouched down low and wound her muscles up in preparation for a single, powerful, desperate lunge.
Blue Blazer was flying in a rough circuit, and the next time he drew close to her hiding place, Luna leapt. She burst from the forest in an explosion of midnight blue and black, focusing all her weight on the tiny point at the tip of her horn, aimed directly at Blue Blazer’s stomach.
If it had been almost any other pony, Luna would have fatally wounded them. But as quick and fluid as water, Blue Blazer turned and twisted in the air, her horn tearing a long, jagged streak across his thigh. But despite her surprise attack, Blazer was able to twist himself so quickly that he was able to buck Luna in the process, using her momentum against her to send her flying in an arc back toward the ruined castle.
She landed roughly on her side, gracelessly sliding across the stony ground next to the chasm in front of the castle, as her breath exploded from her in a painful spasm. Blue Blazer was bearing right for Luna as she shoved her pain aside and forced herself to her feet. One good buck deserved another. Blue Blazer was dangerously close when Luna spun around with a surprising agility and kicked back and up with all her might. There was a satisfying crunch of metal that shot through her hooves with enough force to rattle her teeth, and the sound of breath exploding from pony lungs erupted from behind her.
Luna wheeled around to find Blue Blazer rocketing back toward the forest before the thick trunk of a tree abruptly stopped him. He bounced off of it heavily and collapsed in a heap on the ground. Luna knew she should take advantage of the opportunity to finish him off, but her aches and pains decided that they were tired of being ignored, and it was all she could do to simply stand. She looked on as Blue Blazer shook his head a few times and unsteadily climbed to his hooves.
“That was a good kick, but it’s over now,” he gasped out, unable to draw an adequate breath due to his heavily dented breastplate. “Without your magic, you’re just as mortal as the rest of us. You can’t out fly me, you can’t outrun me, and you can’t outfight me.” Blue Blazer began to stalk toward her once more. “Your evil will end here. I’ll kill you, and then to make sure your taint will never again threaten Equestria, I’ll even dispose of your lover as well, just to make sure that your foul lies won’t spread any further.”
Through weary lips Luna whispered, “Twilight?” It was unfathomable to her, after having fought so hard that it was all for nothing, that not even her own death would be able to save Twilight’s life. In a far, distant corner of her soul, an icy hatred began to flow into her veins.
“Yes, it’s unfortunate …”
The rest of what Blue Blazer said was lost in the roar of blood in Luna’s ears.
The world seemed to slow down and come to a stop. An image flashed through Luna’s mind as abruptly and as devastatingly as a burst of lightning: Twilight unconscious and defenseless, blood pooling around her, matting her coat and mane, with Blue Blazer standing triumphantly over her motionless form. Luna felt the sensation of ice expanding under her skin, which brought with it a strange calm. With a newfound strength she stood up tall and stared remorselessly straight into Blue Blazer’s eyes, feeling almost as if she could see his bitter twisted soul in their depths.
How dare he harm Twilight. How dare he even think of killing her, much less brag about it. He would pay for all the pain he’d caused her and for all that he’d planned to cause her.
Luna didn’t notice when the inhibitor ring broke and fell from her horn, sparks of energy leaping between the shattered and scorched flakes.
Blue Blazer certainly noticed. His elated expression turned to one of alarm, and then to grim resignation. He clenched his jaw in determination and launched himself at Luna in a desperate final assault. His aim was sure and true, the blades on his wings angled for her long, delicate neck. He covered the distance between them in an instant. But, just millimeters from her skin, Blue Blazer’s blade was caught by an invisible force. For a moment he was held in place as he struggled and strained to cross that last infinitesimal gap. Eerily calm, Luna contemplated his desperate and angered face as he put all his strength into moving forward just a whisper.
She blinked, and Blue Blazer was hurled away from her by the magical barrier surrounding and coursing through her. Luna could feel the magic overtaking her. It was a good pain.
Blue Blazer shot across the open space until he again hit a tree, this time with enough force to cause it to splinter and crack before he slid down its broken trunk. It was Luna’s turn to take careful, precise steps as she stalked toward the fallen pony. She called forth more and more magic, and it easily, greedily flowed into her. She didn’t notice that she’d begun to loom over the captain from an unnatural height, or that the color was being stripped from the sky as the sun dimmed and the day faded into darkness. All her attention was focused with laser-like intensity on the pathetic pony in front of her who was trying feebly to climb to his hooves.
Luna sent out tendrils of her magic and the forest around them began to twist and turn in unnatural growth. The trees and other plants became larger, darker, more menacing. Hideous faces seemed to appear on the scarred tree trunks and their branches creaked and groaned, though there was no breeze.
With fear and resolution born from despair etched upon his face, Blue Blazer attempted to launch himself at Luna once more, but he was pulled up short by a vine that his hoof had become entangled in. He frantically tried to shake it off, but another vine rose out of the grass and after lassoing another hoof, pulled itself taunt. As Blue Blazer wildly thrashed around with Luna calmly looking on, more and more vegetation rose up to restrain him, some even going inside his armor and pulling it tight until the steel cracked and fell from his body.
“You won’t get away with this, Nightmare Moon!” Blue Blazer raged, his mouth beginning to foam.
Luna didn’t bother to reply, electing to direct a tree root to gag the doomed pegasus. She felt oddly detached as she contemplated her prisoner. How best to repay him for his actions? For not only hurting her, but hurting and threatening her precious Twilight. Simply ripping out his throat would be too quick, too easy. She’d have to take her time, make him suffer. Should she tear off his wings? No, that would be too quick as well. Perhaps she should begin by breaking his bones, one by one, starting with the smallest, and most fragile ones in his wings first. With a particularly unpleasant smile, Luna sent out a surge of magic and Blue Blazer began to scream and thrash in pain as all the vegetation holding him suddenly grew long, sharp barbs.
Her sadism was interrupted as a weak voice called out to her, “Luna?”
Her head whipped around and she found Twilight hesitantly standing on the bridge leading back to the castle, regarding Luna and Blue Blazer with uncertainty.
Luna felt her heart swelling with relief and love. The warmth she felt at seeing Twilight alive and unharmed forced out the ice-cold numbness that had settled over her along with her magic. Luna smiled widely and happily cried out, “Twilight!” The sun burst back into life, the plants untwisted themselves and became normal once more, and Luna found the ground a bit closer than it had been a moment ago. The vines and roots that held down Blue Blazer were still there, but they had once again become smooth and painless.
Happily, Luna turned in order to run to her friend, but as she did so, a crack ripped through the air. The rope holding the bridge violently broke under Twilight’s weight. For one eternally long moment, the unicorn hung in midair, her wide, fearful, and disbelieving eyes locked with Luna’s as she watched, horrified and frozen to the spot. And then Twilight was gone, her piercing scream echoing up from the depthless fog filling the chasm at Luna’s hooves.
Panic wiped all thought from Luna's mind, and instinctively she leapt into the void after Twilight. She tucked her wings and legs as tightly to her body as she could, streamlining her body to pick up as much speed as possible. Almost immediately the dense fog closed over her and visibility was reduced to nothing. Desperately Luna chased after the hole in the clouds she thought Twilight had fallen through.
Luna strained as she stretched out her forelegs with all her strength, as if she could catch Twilight with determination alone. She wasn't sure if the screaming she heard was the wind in her ears, Twilight's cry for help, or the memory of a sound that would stalk her for years. The mist covered her in a dense dew, which coupled with her sweat and the blinding wind to cause her eyes to burn and water. She narrowed them, but refused to blink, afraid that if she closed her eyes for a moment she might miss the crucial sight of Twilight.
The fog grew thicker and much damper. The sunlight overhead disappeared and the world became a featureless grey swirl ending just beyond her hooves. The mist was so thick that Luna lost all reference to which way was up, and for an agonizingly long moment, it seemed as if she was no longer moving at all, but frozen in place and time.
Just as she was on the cusp of giving up hope, through a narrow gap in the clouds, Luna caught the briefest of glimpses of a flailing hoof. With renewed determination, Luna urged herself on, desperately trying to wring just a little more speed from her dive.
Suddenly she broke into a clear space between the layers of fog. Only a length or two below her, Twilight was writhing in panic, staring up at Luna with wide, terrified eyes. Her mouth was open in a scream and she reached up to Luna pleadingly.
Luna's heart soared in elation at the sight of Twilight. There was still time for her to save her. But it seemed as if it took an eternity to close the gap between them, inch-by-inch. Her hooves were only a hair's breadth from Twilight as they plunged into the next layer of clouds and the light was shut out so completely that Luna lost sight of Twilight once more. But she didn't need to see any longer to know where Twilight was. With a final burst of speed she managed to wrap her hooves tightly around Twilight.
She pulled her close to her body and shouted, “It's alright, Twilight, I've got you!” But her words were ripped away by the wind.
Luna snapped her wings out and strained to pull up out of the dive. The muscles in her back screamed in agony under the inordinate strain as she tried to change directions. It felt as if the whole world had slammed into her withers. Still, slowly, Luna began to level off, though she was still going incredibly fast. Abruptly the clouds parted again and Luna had a momentary glimpse of dark, turbulent grey and boiling white. Without thinking, she rolled, trying to protect Twilight from the impact, and then they hit the river at the bottom of the chasm.
Her wings felt as if they were wrenched out of their sockets, and water rushed into her eyes, ears, and nose. Luna and Twilight rocketed through the water headfirst, until she felt a hard crack just above her eye, and the world went away.
A/N
Thank you Lambotrist and Pyrite for editing this and setting me right. Again, thanks Wrabbit75 for going back and pointing out my more obvious flaws. Hopefully this chapter was better than it would have been otherwise.
I love commas. Probably more than a man should.
I think I need to start using the oracle naming scheme for my chapters.