//------------------------------// // Gloria Noctis // Story: My Week with Luna // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// Luna liked the balcony that sat at the top of Canterlot Castle's observation tower. It had perfect sightlines as far as the eye could see, and on a clear night one could see Mount Aris glimmering in the distance like a diamond in the sky. Canterlot was built into a hillside, and as a result the higher elevation did catch some off guard, especially those who weren't so used to the slightly thinner air. However, the views were absolutely spectacular, and the moon hung above it all. "Hmmm," Luna said to herself. "The positioning of the moon is not quite right, I think. Perhaps I should move it a bit?" Harnessing her magic, she focused her thoughts on the moon, and looked up as it slowly began to move through the sky, stopping directly over the city and bathing it in beautiful silvery light. Given it was so cool and clear at night, Luna couldn't understand why people would want to sleep through it. That had been what had caused- "No. Dismiss that thought immediately. Such thinking is what caused that great disaster a thousand years ago. I will not have it happen again." To emphasise this to herself, Luna shook her head. She would never permit herself to give in to Nightmare Moon again, as another thousand years on the moon did not seem that appealing. A quick glance down, once again, reminded her that she had gotten distracted. Before she potentially entered the dream realm, she wanted to be comfortable. And changing her attire could help with that. As she knew well now, her ability to transform was connected to the moon. When it was full, it was at its most potent, its most powerful. And so, she focused her mind on her task. The moon glowed even brighter than before, the land being washed in brighter light than had been seen in centuries. Nobody seemed to notice, except perhaps the Lunar Guard who were on patrol. Up on the tower, Luna felt the energy of transformation flowing through her, and looked down as her gloves vanished from her hands. Her sleeves began to shrink in length, getting shorter at greater speed until they stopped at the bottom of her upper arms, just above her elbows. The shoulders and fabric then began to inflate in size until they stuck out several inches from her arms, and turned a lighter blue. The bodice stayed the same colour, but split open again at the top, with the collar looping back around her shoulders and back. A silver button appeared in the same place as last time. This time prepared for it, Luna exhaled as a corset appeared around her waist, pulling it in. The bodice shrank back to compensate as well, though it wasn't as bad as last time had been. She looked down at her skirt. The symbol of the crescent moon and the darker patch vanished, followed by the skirt becoming a slightly lighter blue. Several extra layers appeared underneath it, followed by a metal frame brushing down her legs in front of her inner garments. There was another flash of light, and the skirt, rather than the slow, drawn out growth on Manteo beach (which felt like an eternity ago), suddenly exploded outwards as if it had been held under compression and suddenly been introduced to a vacuum. Parts of it seemed to inflate slightly and bulge outwards, but otherwise it was a perfect half sphere of six foot diameter, which would have been awkward anywhere else, but the castle had very wide doorways. And with that, Luna felt much more comfortable, and ready to assume her duties. She would never admit it to anybody, but she secretly loved wearing her ballgown. Rarity had made it for her when she had returned from the Moon, and for that reason she treasured it more than any other clothing she had. It was a symbol of her redemption. Quite how she suddenly knew all of these details, despite having only changed into her the previous night, was an issue that Luna didn't bother herself too much with. Looking up again, and soaking up the spectral beauty of the night sky, the moon and stars hanging over the land, she closed her eyes, and prepared to enter the dream realm. Instantly, she found herself floating in amongst many bubbles. In all of them were the citizens of Equestria, or rather those who were currently asleep. The awake had no place in this realm. The darkness was held back by the light, and it mostly seemed to be peaceful sleep for the people. No nightmares to be seen anywhere at this moment in time. Moments after thinking that, Luna's attention was captured by a scream. She raised her hands, and began to move along the time stream to find the source of distress. Before her, finding it at last, was a girl with icy blue curled hair. Luna quickly accessed her dream. In it, she was cowering in a crater, an angry Celestia standing over her and two others whom Luna did not recognise. "There is no punishment worthy of what you three have done!" the dream Celestia said. Luna internally groaned. She knew exactly what this was. "Please, have mercy!" the girl begged. "I- I can't help being the way I am! I had a bad upbringing, a- and clearly the Elements want us to be-" Celestia scoffed. "You three are too dangerous to be kept alive." Her hands began to glow, and a yellow light shot from them at the three. The girl screamed. "ENOUGH!" Luna boomed. The girl looked up, to see that time had frozen completely. "Princess Luna?" she asked. "I saw your distress and felt it my duty to help," the Princess of the Night replied. "And I wish to help. May I ask the cause of your distress?" The girl stood up, and curtsied. "Sorry for my rudeness, your majestiness!" she said. Luna could tell this was not meant to be sarcastic. "My name is Cozy Glow. I have trouble with my temper. I struck out at my teachers today, and none of them believe I have anything wrong despite the doctor saying their is! All they see is a badly behaved child, and so do my parents!" The child began to sob. "Nobody cares!" "No, Cozy," Luna replied. "I do. Where others may see a monster, I see a frightened little girl in need of help." "But why?" Cozy asked. "Why do you care? You're so perfect!" "I was not once," Luna admitted. "Long before you were born, I tried to overthrow my sister, Celestia, and establish a kingdom of eternal night. It was a foolish plan, in hindsight, but I let my anger get the better of me. "I was sentenced to the moon for a thousand years, but when I returned, I returned as a monster, Nightmare Moon. Six young heroes came forward to stop me, and the Elements returned me to normal. I was like you in the dream. Broken, battered, and scared for the future. I was certain Celestia would petrify me too for my actions, but I was forgiven. Even then, I still had a long road to regaining everybody's trust." Cozy looked on in awe. "Thank you, Luna," she said. "If someone as amazing as you can overcome the darkness in your heart, I can too." "Indeed, Cozy," Luna replied. Before leaving, she turned to face Cozy. "If you wish, I can visit your school in person, outside of the dream. Perhaps apply some pressure. Royal authority tends to get things done." "Yes please!" Cozy exclaimed. "All of us at school would love to meet you too!" Luna nodded. "Then it shall be done." And she vanished back into the ether. Suddenly, a loud bang shook Luna out of the dream realm, and onto the balcony. She looked about in confusion. "What in Equestria was that?" she asked. She looked up, and suddenly saw something descending from the sky. Flames and smoke roared out of the bottom of the thing, but it was falling very fast, almost plummeting out of the sky like a stone. It roared overhead, narrowly avoiding clipping the top of her tower, and vanished on the other side of the structure, heading straight for the courtyard. "I must follow that object!" she exclaimed, before reaching for the radio set on a nearby table. "All Lunar Guard, do you read me, over?" "Yes, my Lady," the voice of Captain Hook replied. "Are you in need of assistance?" "A strange object has just flown overhead and is heading for the courtyard. I want you and the Noctis Metalican to secure the crash site." "Yes, my lady. The Noctis Metalican will be on the ground in a few minutes." "I will hold you to that, Captain. I am on my way now." "I will meet you there, my lady. Gloria Noctis!" The radio cut out, and Luna got on her way. Unfortunately, she was not watching her footing, and slipped on the first step. She rolled head over heels down the stairs and landed at the bottom in a heap. "This does make it hard to see where I am going," she sighed, getting up and dusting herself off. She set off for the courtyard in the centre of the castle, before suddenly running into Cadence, standing in the corridor, fully dressed. "Aunt Luna!" she said, in surprise. "Did you hear the crash?" "I did," Luna replied. "But why are you fully dressed? I thought you had returned to your quarters for the night." "I couldn't sleep," Cadence admitted. "I'm worried about Shining and Flurry Heart. Are they OK without me?" "At the moment," Luna said, "we have slightly more pressing issues. To the courtyard!" "What's going on?" asked a man with blue hair, dressed in a sharp black suit with a bow tie. Cadence facepalmed. "Blueblood." Suddenly, two Lunar Guard appeared from a corridor. "Are you OK, my lady?" asked one. "We heard a loud crash from the staircase and-" "I am fine," Luna replied. "Please do deal with this idiot." The two guards walked to Blueblood. "Please follow us, sir." "What is the meaning of this?" Blueblood asked, as he was led off. The coast clear, the two princesses picked up their skirts and began to run toward the courtyard. The strange machine had somehow managed to land in the courtyard, but the legs were badly damaged. The warriors of the Noctis Metalican already surrounded the machine, their glaives bared and their heavy blue armour glinting in the darkness. However, Captain Hook appeared to be facing off against Captain Steimer, as several Crystal Empire Army soldiers surrounded the site. The confrontation looked to be aggressive. "We found this object first, tin man!" Steimer boomed. "I hereby claim it in the name of the Crystal Empire." "You are well off of Crystal Empire territory now, Steimer," Hook replied, her voice heavily distorted underneath the helmet. "Back down or face the wrath of the Princesses' chosen." "I have five thousand men at my disposal," Steimer replied. "If you really want to make this a war, you will lose." "And we shall tear through your ranks before you can even move." There was a sound of a weapon reloading, and Hook brought her glaive forward. "This weapon isn't for show, you know." Steimer drew his sword. "Very well." "CAPTAIN HOOK! THOU SHALL STAND DOWN IMMEDIATELY!" Luna boomed. Hook glanced over. "This man has insulted the integrity of the Noctis Metalican." "How does fighting make it any better?" Cadence asked, looking displeased at Captain Steimer. "I know you two have a rocky past-" "That's one way of putting it," Steimer said. "-but fighting one another won't fix anything. Remember what happened the last time Equestria and the Crystal Empire went to war?" Hook seemingly grimaced under her helmet, but pulled her blade back and stood to attention. She, despite her anger, knew better than to disobey a direct order from Luna herself. "My Lady, the Noctis Metalican have secured the object. Nothing has moved from it in the past few minutes." "The Crystal Empire Guard have already seized the roads," Steimer added. "Nothing is getting in or out." Cadence nodded, nervously. She would have preferred to not have a security detail at all, but Shining had insisted. "What is this thing? United States? That's not a country I know!" Suddenly, the main door on the machine opened, and something began to descend the ladder. It reached the bottom, turned around, and looked in shock at the soldiers facing it. It then spoke. "Houston, we have a problem."