Princess Luna stared at the pattern she had traced on the floor with her magic chalk. It consisted of a large circle, adorned with four crosses pointing out at right angles, and four arrows pointing out diagonally. As she observed it, she began to levitate a number of stones, each one just small enough to be held in a hoof, and place them along the crosses and arrows.
As she finished setting down the stones, there was a knock on the door. A strong yet kind voice called out to Luna from behind the doors, which she recognized as the voice of her sister, Celestia.
“Luna, how is everything going? May I come in?”
“What?” she asked in surprise. “Oh, yes, please come in.”
The doors opened, and the princess of the day walked in. Much to Luna's surprise, she was accompanied by another pony.
“Hello Princess Luna, it's a pleasure to see you again.”
There before her stood Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s faithful student. Luna stared at her for a moment before turning towards her sister.
“I thought you did not wish anyone else to know about this spell,” said Luna.
“I know,” said Celestia, “but I think that both you and Twilight could learn from this experience. In addition, I believe that her experience in magic will help if something goes wrong.”
As Celestia finished these words, Luna couldn't help but look away in embarrassment. Ever since she first spoke of her intention of using the spell, her sister had been warning her about the potential for catastrophe. Luna had spent several weeks pleading for permission to use the spell, and eventually had to make a certain deal in exchange for being allowed to perform it.
Before she could say anything, however, Twilight spoke up.
“So, tell me, Princess, what exactly does this spell of yours do?”
“Well, Twilight Sparkle,” said Luna, “that is precisely what I wish to find out.”
There was a short period of silence in the room. For Luna, it was painfully awkward, as she knew that Twilight was processing what she had just said. Her lack of knowledge on the spell's effects had been one of the main reasons Celestia had been so reluctant to allow her to perform the spell. Still, the younger alicorn’s determination had won out in the end.
That, and her promise to try to make a few friends. Which, if she remembered correctly, was similar to what Celestia had told Twilight Sparkle when she first sent her to Ponyville.
As Luna mused the similarities between her situation and Twilight’s, the young unicorn began to speak with a raised eyebrow.
“You want to perform a spell without the slightest idea what could happen?”
Luna sighed in mild irritation.
“That is not entirely true,” she said. “You see, a few months ago, I was reading through one of the older parts of the library when I came across something I never would have expected to find.”
“And what would that be?” Twilight asked skeptically.
Luna smiled as her horn began to glow. A book that had been resting on a table near the stone arrangement rose into the air and floated towards Twilight, who took it with her own magic. The first thing she noticed was that it seemed very old. Judging by the way the words were written, the faded colors of the illustrations, and the fragility of the pages, it seemed to be at least 2000 years old, which would put it around the time Celestia and Luna had first come into power. The cover, which consisted of a pair of stars circling each other endlessly, was intriguing as well.
“Well, that’s… interesting,” Twilight said confusedly.
“Indeed!” said Luna excitedly. “I always thought it was lost forever, so I never bothered to search for it. The fact that it has managed to survive this long is nothing short of a miracle! Can you imagine the secrets that could be concealed within these pages?”
“Well, I suppose I might if I actually knew what it is,” said Twilight.
“What do you mean you don’t know?!” Luna said in disbelief. “Twilight, you of all ponies should be able to recognize it easily!”
For a moment, the young unicorn stared at the book, trying to find some memory that would tell her what the mysterious book was. In particular, she focused on the stars swirling around each other.
And then, as if a light switch was turned on, Twilight gasped in shock before bouncing up and down like a filly on a sugar rush.
“Star Swirl the Bearded’s Personal Diary!” She said before gripping the book and squeeing excitedly. She could hardly believe she was holding the diary of Star Swirl the Bearded, one of history’s greatest archmages. The knowledge, secrets, and ancient spells within were almost certainly unknown to anypony in Equestria.
“Is this for real?” she asked, her voice full of excitement at the prospect of rediscovering such precious forgotten knowledge.
“I had a team of our best unicorns make a thorough investigation of this book,” said Luna. “They used every dating technique and spell they could think of, and there has been nothing to disprove the idea that this book did, in fact, belong to Star Swirl. I was quite impressed, but I became even more excited when I realized that, while most of the writing is in the traditional Equestrian language, a small fraction of the writing was the form of mysterious symbols.”
“What sort of mysterious symbols?” asked Twilight.
“I believe I should explain this part, sister.”
The two ponies looked up at Celestia. While she had been happy to allow her sister to explain everything so far, her greater age and knowledge guaranteed she knew more about the symbols and what they meant. Luna and Twilight understood this, so they turned their heads back to listen to what she had to say.
“Many centuries ago, before Luna and I ascended to the throne of Equestria, there were many theories of magic, and even more ways for ponies to interpret them. After the founding of Equestria by the three pony tribes, the theories were unified, and this was the beginning of the modern foundation of magic as we know it today. However, some knowledge of pre-Equestrian magic remained, in the form of tomes of ancient knowledge which were protected by a select few unicorns. One of which was Star Swirl the Bearded.”
Twilight stared at Celestia blankly. She then shook her head and looked at her with a more serious expression.
“So, in a nutshell, magic back in your day was very undefined, with no cohesion between the tribes on what it was and how to use it?”
“Yes, I suppose that summarizes it,” said Celestia. “Spells were written haphazardly, never matching or complementing one another until the three tribes came together to write the foundation of modern magic with the help of wise unicorns such as Star Swirl the Bearded.
Twilight nodded in understanding, then turned back towards the ancient journal.
“So, these are some of the spells that didn’t get converted or assimilated?” said Twilight, her voice full of wonder and awe.
“Indeed,” Luna said excitedly. “But, if all goes well, it may find its rightful place.”
“If all goes well,” Celestia repeated as she prepared to explain the spell. “The symbols belong to a language so old, even Luna and I do not understand it well. However, after several months of decoding, we were able to figure out that the spell is some sort of transfiguration spell, and it is meant to be applied to a living creature. Other than that, however, we aren't quite sure what the effects shall be.”
“Well, if you don't know what it will do, then I don't think it would be wise to use this spell on a pony, especially if it's a transfiguration spell,” said Twilight.
“Oh, do not fret, Twilight, for I have already found the perfect test subject,” said Luna. She then levitated a large rectangular object from the back of the room. Momentarily confused by the object, Twilight quickly realized that it was a cage with a small gray rabbit in it. It was curled up with a peaceful smile on its face.
Twilight felt somewhat relieved that nopony would have to be used as a test subject. Even so, she still felt slightly uneasy about the prospect of testing the spell on the rabbit. What if it was injured? She quickly pushed the thought back, however, remembering that Star Swirl the Bearded was not the sort of pony who would allow magic to be used for harmful purposes.
“Well, I guess testing on a rabbit is better than to use a pony,” she said, a slight hint of unease in her voice.
“Don't worry, Twilight,” Luna said as she levitated the rabbit out of the cage, placing it in the center of her arrangement and positioning a carrot next to it for good measure. “Star Swirl would never dream of placing a harmful spell in his diary. And besides, think about everything you could learn!”
“It's wise for her to worry,” said Celestia, her voice taking a stern tone. “Although it is doubtful that the spell is meant to inflict harm, we cannot be sure it will not harm its target.”
“Well, that's one of the things we are going to learn today, is it not?”
“Indeed. You have a lot to learn as well when this is over, Luna.”
Luna winced at her sister's sudden mischievous tone. She remembered the promise she'd made to her in exchange for permission to perform this spell: make friends. Ever since her somewhat unconventional debut at Ponyville's Nightmare Night festivities, she had spent most of her time alone, studying the changes that had occurred in Equestria since she was banished to the moon, as well as learning how to speak in a more modern dialect.
While this had helped her get to know modern Equestria, it had done very little for her social life. Aside from a few brief conversations with a couple of guards and servants, as well as Celestia, she had barely spoken to anypony at all. In fact, her obsession with her studies, along with her nocturnal lifestyle, had even caused her to miss her niece’s wedding.
With the exception of the wedding, however, she didn't particularly regret her isolation. Twilight Sparkle had been in a similar situation herself, however, and she seemed to be happy with her small group of friends. Perhaps after she was finished here, she ought to ask Twilight how she had made her friends.
Perhaps.
For now, however, she had a spell to perform.
“Well then. Shall we begin?”
Despite her initial apprehension, Twilight's curiosity seemed to be winning over as she was nodding eagerly. Celestia, on the other hand, seemed much less eager, even though she too nodded. However, this did not trouble Luna.
The time had come for the final preparations. Luna lifted a bucket full of a strange blue liquid over one of the stones and slowly tipped it over, drenching the stone. As she did so, the stone absobed the fluid and glowed intensely. Luna then repeated the action for each individual stone. Soon, the pattern was glowing like a constellation. Luna then poured the remaining liquid along the enchanted chalk lines, causing them to glow intensely.
“Princess Luna, do you mind if I ask what exactly you're spreading on that pattern?” asked Twilight.
“I call it Lunar Juice. It is a mix of liquid rainbow, crushed gemstones, and a single hair from my own mane,” the lunar princess said with pride. Given that Luna's mane seemed to be made of pure energy, the fact that Luna could even obtain an individual hair was quite astounding.
Twilight made a mental note to investigate how Luna had managed to do so.
“Furthermore, it has been aged under moonlight for seven months. If it hadn't, the spell would never work.”
“That sounds awfully complicated,” said Twilight. “With everything going on here, I wonder what will happen to the rabbit.
The moon princess turned back towards the rabbit, which was still resting in the center of the arrangement. She began to wonder exactly what sort of transformation would occur when the spell was activated. She hoped it wasn’t anything bad. Until the conclusion of their experiment, however, there was no way of knowing what would happen.
“Twilight, would you mind helping me?” she asked.
“Help?” said Twilight, surprised by Luna's sudden request. “How?”
“Simply direct your magical energies towards the center of the arrangement, just like me,” answered Luna. As she said this, she pointed her horn towards the rabbit and let her magic flow into the pattern. Twilight did the same, letting her magic join Luna's.
Soon, a soft hum began to emanate from the stones. Luna stopped the flow of her magic and gestured Twilight to do the same. Even without their magic, the hum slowly became louder and louder, and the stones began to float in the air. The hum was joined by a sparking noise as small bolts of lightning began to form around them.
It was at this point that the rabbit woke up.
Confused, and obviously scared, it attempted to run away, only to be held back by Luna’s magic. It tried again, only to be thwarted once more. This time, however, it turned towards her, realizing that she was the one holding it back. To everypony's surprise, it squeaked angrily and blew a raspberry at her.
“Well, someone's a bit angry today,” said Luna in a slightly annoyed voice.
“You think?” said Twilight. “I wouldn’t be too happy about being used as a test subject either.”
“Oh, poor little helpless rabbit,” Luna said mockingly. “Too bad there’s nothing it can do about that.
The rabbit decided to prove her wrong by flinging its carrot at her.
“Ow! My eye!”
Momentarily distracted by the pain, Luna released her magical grip on the rabbit, allowing it to run away from the magic pattern. Enraged, Luna began to chase it, charging her horn as she did so.
“COME BACK HERE YOU INSOLENT LITTLE FURBALL!”
“Luna!” Celestia said in alarm. “Stop this before you get caught in the spell!”
Paying her sister no heed, Luna kept chasing the rabbit around the room until she finally caught up to it. Holding it tightly with her magic, she dragged it back to the magic pattern and placed it back down.
“All right! Now just stay here!” she said as she began to walk out of the pattern. Before she could do so, however, the rabbit jumped up and bit Luna’s hoof. She, in turn, yelped, and then kicked it into the wall.
“I can’t believe it!” she said as she massaged her injured hoof. “Never before had I had to work with such an uncooperative and rude little-”
“LUNA!!!”
Luna turned to see Celestia and Twilight looking at her with panicked expressions. By the time Luna realized she was standing right in the middle of the magic pattern, it was too late.
It happened in an instant. The stones discharged their energy onto the pattern, forming a magical barrier around Luna. She in turn screamed as her whole body glowed intensely. As the light washed over them, Celestia and Twilight covered their eyes.
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the surge of magical activity stopped. Twilight and Celestia slowly lowered their hooves.
It was hard to tell. Her body was still glowing intensely, and her mane seemed shorter somehow, but otherwise, she looked fine.
“L-Luna?” Celestia asked nervously. “Are you okay?”
For a moment, there was no response. Celestia feared what may have happened to her younger sister. After a moment, however, a voice began to emanate from the glowing alicorn.
“Ugh. I feel weird.”
The two pony bystanders gasped in shock. Although they knew the voice was Luna's, it was much deeper than it had been before.
“Wait, is that my voice?”
The glow around Luna started to fade. They saw that, while mostly unchanged, Luna's mane was now short and messy, her muzzle looked thicker, and her eyes were rounder and her eyelashes thinner.
“What just happened?” asked Luna.
“Well,” said Twilight, “if I had to guess, I'd say you're a stallion now.”