Winter had begun in earnest, so I was glad we had teleported right in front of Twilight's tree, and as a public library the door wasn't locked. Of course I wouldn’t have complained if we stayed outside, but I know Trixie would have. However I felt we for once we might have agreed on something, following Luna quickly inside out of the freezing snow felt nice. Twilight looked up from a book, then did a double take before scrambling to her feet and grabbing hold of most of the countless books scattered about the library with her magic, but clearly had no idea where to actually put any of them.
"Worry not Twilight, we have made far worse messes our self. Why just yesterday one of the librarians was complaining about the state of the library."
"The wise and insightful Trixie is certain she thought Luna could not hear her meaningless griping. Surely the concerns of one of the princesses themselves is far more important than any lowly librarian."
"I would partially agree." I said "She should simply make allowances, as taking care of the library is her job, but if it is more of a hardship than I think she should ask for assistance, not simply complain behind her majesty's back."
"Well said Captain Sky."
"Uh, why exactly are you here princess?"
Trixie was now outright seething having noticed the same thing I had. Not only had Twilight not dropped a single book but was slowly beginning to shelve them without even looking at the shelves. As expected the look quickly vanished but I doubt she was any less upset by casual display of not just power, but skill. Luna didn't seem to notice but it was clear she missed very little.
"We have wished to talk to you alone for some time now. This seems like a good time."
Twilight gulped. "Oh, I guess that's fine."
Trixie laughed. "Oh, little Twilight is nervous? Perhaps the little filly still remembers the bad dreams stories of Nightmare Moon caused and doesn't want to be alone?"
"No, that isn't it at all. I know Luna is restored in full and would never dream of doing anything bad. It's just…"
"You admire her fine breeding and firm flank?" asked Trixie
"What? Why would you even say something like that? She's a princess. She isn't interested in things like that."
"That is not entirely accurate, but it is terribly impolite to discuss. WE SHALL NOT HAVE IT."
Trixie suddenly began shivering. "No, not the moon. Trixie will be good. Trixie will even try to be nice to the ungrateful upstaging ungulate."
"Do you mean me?" asked Twilight
Luna raised an eyebrow. "For that we are almost tempted to change our mind. However, I wish for a quiet place to talk, so…" She took a breath "TO THE MOON."
There was a bright flash and suddenly I was standing some distance away from Twilight and Luna. I wish I could have seen the look of terror on Trixie's face before she realized Luna left her there. Twilight looked less dazed than I felt. I guess even as extra jarring as that was she is used to teleporting by now. Clearly Luna wasn't kidding about being able to breathe on the moon, but something still felt wrong. I flapped my wings lightly and it just didn't feel even remotely right. The air was all wrong is so many ways I couldn't even pick a single one to focus on. Then again I suppose I know it isn't supposed to be here at all.
"Twilight, if I forget, do bring up with Sunny that Nightmare Moon built a well stocked castle on the dark side of the moon. I'm not positive she's aware of it."
"This is really…"
"Of course. It is my moon, not Sunny's. I really don't know where that nonsense about her banishing ponies to the moon, even briefly, could have come from."
"Does that mean you banished Trixie to the moon once?"
"She does not make a good first impression. Though Sunny may be correct that no matter how brief, it is a punishment, and I occasionally overused it."
"I'm sure that…"
Twilight trailed off. I turned around to see the blue and green sphere below me. I could make out part of the shape of Equestria from here, most covered in clouds. Clouds that circled the whole world, the endless sky of so much pegasus poetry reduced to a thin mist covering a marble. I then quickly turned back to Luna. There is no excuse for shirking my duty, and clearly Luna brought me with her to perform it. Luna laughed.
"If you want to look, go ahead my captain. I brought you with me Sky because you would complain if I did not. This simply seemed easier."
"But if you're really going to such great lengths for privacy then…"
"I am not. It's actually easier to teleport here than three feet down there. Also by now Sky I know there is no question of your loyalty to me. Also nothing I will say you do not already know."
"Oh."
Luna then turned away, walking over to the enthralled Twilight. Luna had a big smile on her face. Then I realized why. She was no longer looking at the planet, but the countless stars. I think I had only seen close to this many once, when flying high in the sky, and even then I don't think it was quite the multitude I could see now.
"So Twilight Sparkle? Do you like it? Far more than the moon perhaps?"
"What, no I mean uh…."
"I would not mind." She smiled. "I love if far more myself."
"Oh, uh…" Twilight then took a deep breath. "May I ask why?"
"Terra is the official name in Equestria, to avoid confusion, though the earth ponies call it simply earth, the unicorns a variety of names…"
"And pegasai call it Sky." I then blinked. "Though it's not like…"
"I'm sure we are all aware. Many the earth pony has earth in their name as well, and water is in the name of many the mer-mare."
I blinked. "Oh, yes. I tend to forget that…"
Luna frowned slightly. "Yes, just because they have their own separate kingdom they are often forgotten it seems."
"Actually Princess Luna they have been very isolationist for many centuries now, at least the mer-pony nations have. Individuals are a more complicated issue."
"Ah yes. Still, we are far off topic. Water may be more accurate than all others yet there is one better. The same as the last Queen of Equestria, Gaia, mother of the planet and mine sister and own self."
"The books almost never mention her and even then…"
"THAT IS NOT WHY I AM HERE."
The name had come up rarely in the most ancient of documents, but it was clear Queen Gaia was missing by the time the sisters defeated Discord. She was named Queen in absentia, even though the moving speech by Celestia in the records outright stated she would never accept it if she were available. It was not clear exactly why she wasn't, and she is rarely mentioned beyond that. Though there is one section of Everfree castle marked as the monument to Gaia, but I've never had the occasion to see it.
"Princess, why did you bring me here?" asked Twilight
Luna looked up, then smiled. "Ah yes, how foalish of us." Then she looked Twilight in the eyes. "WE HAVE A MATTER OF SOME SECRECY WE WISH TO DISCUSS WITH THOU TWILIGHT SPARKLE."
"You mean that I'm going to become an alicorn."
"Exactly, we wish to…" Luna blinked. "What?"
I just stared. The reports made it clear Twilight was anything but a normal unicorn, but this seemed a bit much. Except it all fit. Magic itself as a talent. The surveillance files on her weren't all by my girls, but it retrospect it's clear enough there is only one conclusion to reach. Luna then stomped a hoof.
"NEIGH. We shall not allow either of you to continue jumping to conclusions anymore. We wished to discuss no such thing. We thought our sister had cured you of this foalish belief long ago."
"Well, I was a foal at the time you know. But I don't mean that. I mean I figured out the full scope of what my cutie mark meant the day after the welcome back party Pinkie threw you. Once I had a little time to think it was obvious."
"Full scope?" I asked
"Cutie marks give us direction in life, but at times their full meaning is not immediately apparent when foals. Mostly this is for marks involving certain, adult only, talents, and only getting the slightest glimpse of it when young, but there other possibilities."
Twilight blushed soon after she finished, and Luna followed a moment later. Mostly it just involved making ponies happy, comfort, or some other fairly common general talent with a slightly odd mark, but it wasn't just mating related issues. Luna had studied such odd cutie marks extensively. A very late cutie mark was possible, but very rare. Mostly it was ponies who suddenly understood their cutie mark better and had gone from content with their job to deliriously happy. In some cases without even changing professions. She also studied quite in depth how every pony in the military and while some supposedly gave up on following their cutie mark fully, they all found some way to do just that.
"Huh, I wonder if that's the face?" said Twilight
"Thou meanest thy thinking about knowledge face? It is similar but not the same. And while it seems very likely you are right, especially the timing, that proves nothing."
"What do you mean. The elements of harmony…"
"Do not need to be wielded by an alicorn. We know this. Any other evidence?
"I wish I had my journal with me. I know I’m forgetting some things. I'm sure I'll think of something else in a second."
"You mean you hath recorded some useful notes in your diary?"
Twilight shook her head. "Oh no. That would be far too confusing. I meant my Alicornication Journal. It contains the various details and…"
"We might be interested to see that."
Twilight suddenly smiled. "Ah, I almost forgot the most obvious. My odd power level. Though I never have understood how Celestia didn't realize it would be obvious and kept trying to hide it. As her student I had access to nearly every book in the kingdom."
"Well that is simple. Sunny is a terrible mage."
I just started, but managed to keep quiet saying nothing.
"What? How can you say that? She in the most powerful spell caster in all of Equestria and…" Twilight then shoved a hoof in her mouth."
"Oh I agree with you. She is far more powerful than me under most circumstances. The thousand year alignment during the last Summer Sun festival, and the same alignment when I was imprisoned, is the only way I could possibly overpower her."
"Oh. But didn't you just say…"
"Yes, and if you were to ask her even she would say she is terrible at it, at least for her age. Even now she tells me, you have the skill, while I hath the power."
"But, but. She's Princess Celestia."
There was brief silence, and after a few moments Twilight facehooved. In truth that is actually a decent enough explanation for many things, but in this case it was obvious enough it wasn't a valid argument.
"So you're really a more skilled mage?"
"I'm a pegasus and even I can tell from her works how good she is." I said
Luna laughed. "That's a bit over the top, but Celestia's school used to be mine."
"You founded it?"
"Yes, but I mean more literally. Sunny has never shied away form using her power if she can think of a reason to. The entire school used to be on an island, along with the Cresent quarter entire. That's why the rock doesn't match."
Twilight blinked. "So it really was fused onto the mountain like it appears?"
Luna nodded. "Yes. Also Sunny has always been older, and far wiser, than I. Yet the art of magic itself, that is mine. I can craft spells a thousand times more complicated then her best efforts."
"But I still don't understand. There seems to be no magical tidbit she doesn't know. Every time I went to her with a question she had answer."
"Are you sure? Even if she did have all the answers you required, which for such a comparatively young pony is not too unlikely, I doubt she just gave them to you."
"Are you saying, sometimes she wasn't testing me, but she really didn't know the answer? That Celestia…"
She never finished the sentence. For a long while there was an utter silence I'd never heard the like of before. I gently took off, barely flapping at all. It was enough. In Equestria I never would have gotten off the ground, but here gravity really was weaker. It still all felt so wrong, but at the same time it was utter freedom. I felt like nothing could stop me from just flying forever.
"Are you really sure about this?"
Luna laughed. "Of course not. I don't think I'm wrong, but it has been a thousand years. She may have caught up more than I think."
"Perhaps you have both wandered off topic?" I asked
"Oh yes, we have." Twilight tilted her head. "Where was I again?"
"You could not understand how she could not know. I said how she could, but what Sunny knows and does not may occasionally be beyond understanding. There are times where she simply knows."
Twilight's right ear twitched slightly. "That sounds terrifyingly familiar. Can she predict the future too?"
"What does thou mean by..." Then Luna frowned. "You are right Twilight Sparkle, the idea that Celestia and Pinkie Pie may share an ability is terrifying."
I lazily circled around the two ponies in the air. "It is most likely just a coincidence."
"Yes." Said Luna
"Of course."
Twilight didn't sound much more convinced than Luna. I hadn't spent that much time with Pinkie, but between Fluttershy and the friendship reports it was enough.
"ONWARD. It matters not what sister knew or did not. Sunny was convinced this was over once you proved she wasn't your mother with those fetlock shavings.
Twilight turned away, then sighed, followed by a hollow giggle. "Yea, that wasn't really a shining moment for me."
Luna laughed. "Yes. While my sister does like her fun if you were her daughter she would have told you, even if no other pony knew."
Then Twilight looked up again. "But that's why I'm sure. I mean as you obviously know no part of an alicorn ever decays, even when separated, and though some of the more extreme properties tend to fade with time, their magical resonance remains."
Luna blinked. "So thou kept the shavings, and tested them again later for something else? What did you learn?"
"I can't be a unicorn. There are too many similarities for it to be a coincidence and with time my magical aura seems to alter more and more, coming closer and closer to matching Celestia's. It can only mean one thing."
"No. It can mean nearly anything." I said then dropped slightly not keeping beat quite right for a second. "Wait a moment."
"She is right Twilight Sparkle." She then looked up at me. "But before we discuss that further what is on your mind Sky?"
"This similarities thing is I assume real and not some confusion."
"Absolutely."
"So could a unicorn with a certain strange mindset and the skill to somehow detect the same come to the conclusion Twilight was borrowing Celestia's power somehow."
Luna smiled. "We think we know who you mean. That is most interesting in a number of ways. But yes, it is very possible she could come to that conclusion."
"But that's just as wrong as my conclusion?" asked Twilight
Luna nodded. "You have a wonderful mind, but Sunny is right that at times you miss the obvious. Let me guess, recently it has spiked in power tremendously, making you even more sure."
"Uh, yes, I suppose that is accurate. Princess what does it mean?"
Luna smiled. "It means that thou contain the ELEMENT OF MAGIC ITSELF. It only stands to reason that would be the case, having activated them. Though in truth we didn't think the elements worked that way."
"Oh."
It was quiet for a moment. There was something she wasn't saying. Something important she knew but wasn't saying outright. Then it suddenly clicked for me. The exact details weren't clear but the greatest power in Equestria was clearly affecting her magic in some way. Further it only stood to reason Twilight wasn't unique in this. So I'm the sister of a goddess. I wasn't really surprised I forgot to flap, even if it is one of the most natural things in the world. Luna caught me with her magic.
"All six?" I asked
"Yes, but we suspect you are jumping to the same conclusion as young Twilight. She may become an alicorn. She would certainly have the power to assume such a form, but that does not truly make her the same as sister or I."
I blinked, suddenly remembering something. "The alicorn project."
Luna smiled. "So you really have read most of the library after all."
"What library?" asked Twilight, eyes sparkling gently.
"The question should be what the project was." Said Luna
"It was a double study on the nature of magic and form. Ponies from all four races were given the forms of an alicorn." I said
Twilight blinked. "Wow, that's amazing. But the amount of power to do such a thing is unthinkable. I don't know how…"
"It was a personal project Twilight. Also transformation is difficult for unicorns but not truly magic intensive. Does thou wish to know the results?"
Twilight then hopped in place with anticipation. I think she only stopped because she realized she was hopping above Luna's head in the low gravity. I plucked her from the sky and placed her on the ground. The air still didn't feel right. It was like it wasn't really all here or something.
"Sorry."
Luna smiled "We heard tales of such enthusiasm but only now do we truly understand what Sunny meant. First, pegasai."
"They could still fly, but there was only one small effect." I said "They could make their horns light up, and most couldn't even do that."
"Unicorns could move their wings, but no matter how long or how hard they tried, they could not fly. Neither gained any greater control of their earth magic."
"Earth ponies could leave the ground, but only for brief periods, the results for lighting up their horns were nigh nonexistent."
"What about the hippocampai?" asked Twilight
"The what?" I then shook my head. "Never mind, I remember now. The mer-mares were excellent at lighting their horns and moving their wings, but could do nothing else. It was determined earth ponies only got off the ground due to their extreme endurance and strength, and obviously even that has some limits.
"All this is much as expected. Do thou know why Twilight?"
Twilight blinked, then got a big smile on her face. "I do. It's because the magic is far more important than form. Pegasai fly mostly because of their magic, unicorn magic is the same, and earth ponies and…" Twilgiht then frowned. "But what does that mean?"
"We do not know. Sunny and I eagerly await the answer. You have always been special Twilight Sparkle, but even to us not all is clear."
"So that's it?"
"For now. When and if we know more we will be happy to share. So, are thou satisfied, or is there something else thou wish to ask?"
Twilight smiled again. "Oh, that project. It sounds like there are records of it and you mentioned a library. It is some private personal library?"
Luna laughed. "In a way, yes."
"The shadow library became the Moon Guard's main responsibility. It contains Luna's various works and was the only record of her legacy. It was the closest we could get to guarding the mare herself."
"Yes, Sunny should have destroyed all the materials if she listened to the nobility, but instead she merely sealed a copy of each book and various materials away, then rewrote or erased me from anything that mentioned me."
"Which considering what the nobles wanted was rather tame. Also she didn't destroy any of the Luna statues, merely what identified them as such. Smoothing out the mane to erase the stars was deemed sufficient in most cases."
Twilight blinked. "You mean some of the oldest statues of Celestia are really Luna?"
"There is a resemblance. Also time removes details, making it very hard to tell even if you're looking. In some cases when enough detail was present it was simply assumed the sculptor was being artistic, or lacking in talent. Quite humorous."
"What is in this library exactly?"
"Everything." I said. "Luna was quite the prolific writer so it was really a massive undertaking. Furthermore an original copy of all works that quote or otherwise mention Luna are also stored there, as well as maps, globes, and various other sundry items she had a direct hoof in."
Twilight's eyes went wide. "And I've never heard about it because it's secret?"
"THIS IS WHAT…" Luna sighed "What we wished to discuss with thee in the first place. The shadow library is still mostly sealed but we wish to change that."
"So this is a library…" Twilight had begun to vibrate slightly. "Full of books nopony has read in a thousand years?"
"Well not nopony." I said "We are tasked with guarding the books, but with the standard library preservation spells we don't really need to do much to take care of them. It's also a huge vault deep beneath Canterlot. There really isn't that much traffic."
"So you read them?"
Then she got uncomfortably close. I flew a bit higher to put some distance between us. The intense look in her eyes didn't fade.
"How big is it. The Library. How big? How many books? What other types of materials and how much…"
I held up a hoof, and was mildly surprised she stopped. "I don't have the catalog with me and I forget the exact numbers. There are several million volumes if you add up…"
"Several million?"
The noise that directly followed was like a combination between shriek, giggle, and a gasp. Then Twilight fell over with a light thump, kicking up a cloud of grey dust. I should have expected a reaction like this. I sighed.