//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: Ponyville // Story: Cracking Dawn // by Didily Winkles //------------------------------// Chapter Twenty-One Dawn woke up with the sun. Not by choice or from outside disturbances but by habit. She was her full size with April cuddled up next to her chest. She wanted to stretch to work out the morning kinks and to shrink but she didn't want to wake April. She let out a gentle sigh as she felt the life underneath her arms. "Go on and stretch, I'm awake." April said brightly with her eyes still closed. Dawn took up the offer and shrunk to April's size. "Sleep well?" "Freakishly well. You think there's anything to sleeping with a 'princess'?" April asked, opening her eyes to the sight of the pink alicorn. "Maybe." Dawn laughed as she pulled herself from the bed. She looked at the giant bed meant for the room. She laughed again at the preparation Celestia had done. "What's so funny?" April said from behind her bed head. "The bed." Dawn answered as she left the room to go begin her morning routine. When she emerged from the bathroom, Luna was laying in the center of the main room next to her block of marble. "Good morning." Dawn greeted brightly. "Indeed." Luna beamed back. April gracefully glided from up stairs to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Dawn sighed at the giant rock sitting in middle of her room. What do I want to carve? She drew a blank as she stared at the stone. "A day in Ponyville?" She asked Luna. "Sounds like fun." Luna said, grinning at the idea. "I think Twilight will be caught off guard if I went in giant." Dawn laughed as she walked over to the balcony to greet the rising run. The gardens below were vibrant with color, sparkling from the morning dew. She was curious on how the garden would greet her though a larger part was scared to find out. Even her wings still felt a bit... odd. Learning to use them had helped a lot but it didn't snuff the feeling out completely. She watched the plants below glisten in Celestia's sun until April popped out of the bathroom. After an uneventful breakfast Luna and Dawn retreated to her tower to let the sun rise a bit more. They had planned on leaving for Ponyville right after they ate but Celestia insisted they wait for Twilight to wake up. So they laid around, reading nothing in particular. "I'm bored of waiting let's just go to Ponyville and figure something else out." Luna suggested as she slammed her book closed. Dawn was ready too. "Let's fly there." Dawn suggested excitedly, setting down her own book and spreading her wings. "Alright but don't go too fast. It is no fun when you get there too soon." Luna said to deaf ears as Dawn flew out of the balcony into the welcoming blue sky. Dawn wasn't planning on going fast she just wanted the wind in her, now ethereal, mane. She took in a deep breath of the gardens as she swooped at them. The new spring blossoms let the sweetest of smells surround the area. Luna flew by her side, taking in the same smells and enjoying the flight. The two alicorns lightly glided through the air, showing each other tricks. Dawn recalling the many tricks she had remembered from her early youth, Luna showing tricks that she had created over her lifespan. Each giggling at each others stunts. It set Dawn's mind at ease that, even after all this stuff, she could enjoy simple things with Luna. She knew Luna still enjoyed the little things beyond just the chaos they liked to sow. Eventually, they did make it to Ponyville. They circled the town, looking down at the ponies only to find a stray cloud to spy from. "Do you think I'm in today's paper?" Dawn asked. "Knowing Celly? You likely are." Luna replied. "What fruit comes out this time of year?" Dawn asked, looking at the market below. "Mmm, berries." "We should get some." "That sounds good." Luna agreed as she dropped off the cloud, spinning in a dive. Dawn followed closely. She needed to practice landing, yesterday she had gotten by with the help of teleportation. Luna touched ground gracefully, making it look so simple. Dawn followed. As she tried to slow down from her descent, she landed with a thud letting her legs absorb the impact. "Good enough." Luna laughed as she turned around just in time to see it. Dawn snorted at her landing. Ponies started to bow around her only then did she realize why. "Right, forgot I was a giant..." Dawn said as she stretched her growth away, her muscles quaked in thanking her. Her hair fell to her side, straight as can be despite the speeds she had just subjected them to. "There we are! Blueberries!" Dawn exclaimed excitedly as she spotted a fruit stand. "It is not because you were larger than them, Dawn. It was because they sense your magic, your power. We never told our little ponies to bow to us. They do it out of instinct. If you recall back when we first met, you were the only pony in the room lacking that instinct." "I'm pretty sure that was because I didn't know how to act around you." Dawn whipped out her purse from her bank and trotted over to the shops opening with Luna in her wake. She dropped two bits to the stunned frozen ponies behind the counter and grabbed a bag of blueberries. "Thank you." Luna said quickly as she left the stand, following Dawn down the road. "I wonder what time it is." "Let's go find out if Twilight is awake." Dawn said launching into the air, pulling her bag of berries with her. She stopped short of the tree. That is still alive... "What's wrong?" Luna asked while hovering next to Dawn. "Want some?" Dawn asked as she opened the bag and threw a few berries in her own mouth as she stared at the defaced tree. "Thanks." Luna said, taking some, still studying Dawn for a reason of stopping just short of their objective. "We will just have to see." Dawn said, nodding to herself as she started to move closer to Twilight's library. Landing and knocking on the door, she heard the wood of the library lightly groan. "We're open." Spike yelled from with in. "And rightly so being a public Library." Dawn laughed as she walked in. The wood under her feet resonated with life, it was a thrilling sensation. "How are you this fine morning Spike?" "Oh hey Dawn, Luna. How are you feeling?" Spike asked Dawn. He was lying on a large cushion across the room. He did his best not to get up and greet them, his comfort was too important. "Fine, dandy, uber-ific even." "Uber-ific?" "Something I expect you to understand your next growth spurt." Dawn chuckled. Dawn and Twilight had been learning a lot about dragon anatomy. His wings were due in a couple of years. "Twilight around?" She asked excitedly. The tree groaned with her excitement. "What was that?" Luna asked. Dawn listened in to the tree. The morning breeze against the tree's leaves was the only noise she wanted to take note of. "What was that Spike? Did you accidently collapse another bookshelf? Again..." Twilight asked as she ran out of the second floor with a wretched case of bed head. "Luna, Dawn! Uhh...What are you two doing here?" "O drat, I went incognito earlier. I really didn't think that through." Dawn whispered to Luna as Twilight made her way near the entrance where her guests were standing. "We still have Rarity." Luna consoled. "We can still salvage it!" Dawn protested. Before Twilight came into perfect view of Dawn, she launched into the air. "I CAN FLY!" Dawn shrilled in excitement as she did quick circles in the air show casing her wings. Twilight stood on the ground, looking shocked as expected. Luna was chuckled at the whole display. Dawn came in for a clumsy landing, beaming at Twilight. "What? How?" Twilight asked, mumbling incoherently to herself. "Well I had a rather nasty teleportation accident with a pegasus the night of the party. Unfortunate for her, lucky for me that she was my shade of pink." Dawn said in serious tone. Luna collapsed with laughter from the very idea. "You're awful." She giggled out loud. Dawn broke her façade and joined Luna in laughter at Twilight's expense. "Seriously, what is going on?" Twilight asked, cocking her head as she inspected Dawn and poking her wings with her hoof. "Twilight Sparkle, can you keep a secret?" Luna stood up straight, taking a serious royal posture. "Uhh, sure..." "We do not know. We suspect it has something to do with being trapped in the void." Luna lied. "Yeah, crazy isn't it. You should see me in an hour or so I'll be big with crazy hair and junk." Dawn said as she fell to her quarters. "Wait... What?" Spike asked, getting up from his cushion, vocalizing Twilight's apparent confusion. Dawn and Luna looked at each other knowing they can't let her know they know more than what she already knows. "Luna explained it pretty well." Dawn said plainly, waving a hoof at the already spoken words. "We are explaining it to the public, saying she is a long lost princess of an ancient land." Luna informed. "So wait you’re a princess now? What do you represent? Are we going to have something new in the sky or something? Are we going to have thirty six hour days? Or maybe 24 hour days spilt into 8 hours. I could work with that." Twilight quickly asked, her eyes growing to the size of dinner plates as she continued to check Dawn's wings for authenticity. "Umm... Yes. I'm the earth. No. No, and while that would be neat and convenient, no." Dawn answered Twilight's hurried questions just as quickly. "I'm the one that is making this poor mutilated tree of yours, groan. It's 'growing' around me. I should probably not stay in here for very long or at least until I can learn to stop that little bit of magic." She said, waving her wings to make her point. "Blueberry?" She offered Twilight and Spike. "You didn't tell me about that." Luna said, taking a hoof full of blueberries for herself. "Yes, well... I made it a point to stay in the skies yesterday so I could 'Not' think about it." Dawn admitted. Dawn slowly backed out the front door of the library. The tree groaned some more, longing to be with Dawn a little longer. "Come join us in the park." Dawn said to Twilight who was still processing the lot of information. Luna closed the door behind her and followed Dawn up to the skies. Dawn spotted the park she had enjoyed on occasion and started to dive for it, her bag of berries flew next to her. She managed to gallop into a landing, a mark improvement from her meteor approach. She skipped over to the tree that over looked the park and planted herself under it. The dew of the morning soaked her coat as she did so. "So do you make all plants grow or just trees?" Luna asked, approaching Dawn from her landing point. "All plants for sure but I think..." A bunny landed on her head from the tree. She picked up the bunny with her hooves. She could feel it was an old bunny, very close to the end of its life. She wasn't sure how she felt such things but it was clear as day to her. She gently placed the bunny on the ground next to her, giving it a blueberry. "I think all living things respond to this energy I seem to give off. April said she had never slept better in her life than she did last night." She finished as the bunny cuddled up next to Dawn. "Hmmm." Luna hummed, studying the bunny from where she sat next to Dawn. "Angel!" some voice cried from above. "I thought I recognized that bunny." Luna said, getting up. "Fluttershy, he's down here." "Fluttershy?" Dawn asked the bunny who was curled up in a ball against her. "Oh, Thank you, Luna." Fluttershy said quietly as she gracefully landed next to the night princess, looking around. "Over here." Dawn said, pointing at the ball of fur with a hoof. "Oh, thank you, thank you." She said swooping in to pick up the bunny. "Now Angel you know not to jump off my back when I'm flying." Fluttershy scolded the sleeping bunny as she put him on her back. "I hope he wasn't any trouble..." She said as her eyes caught a glimpse of Dawn's wings. Her eyes grew wide. "I'm a fancy smanshie princess now, got promoted." Dawn said plainly as she watched the shock grow in Fluttershy's eyes. "Oh... I'm very happy for you." She said so quietly Dawn was surprised her voice didn’t get lost in the morning breeze. "Well thank you." "Dawn!" called Twilight's voice from a distance. Dawn titled her head to see Twilight running her way with Trixie and Spike in tow. Twilight's mane looked haphazardly bushed, Trixie looked like she didn't care. "By Celestia's meadow muffins! You guys were telling the truth." Trixie exclaimed while out of breath. "Isn't it wonderful? She got promoted to Princess." Fluttershy told the new arrivals. "I am so happy for her." "Promoted?" They all asked in unison. "Sure, what position is above lady of the east tower? Princess." Dawn chuckled. Luna retook her seat next to Dawn. They were roughly the same size now, bigger than your average mare. "Dawn, no more jokes. Tell me what did this to you." Twilight demanded, getting annoyed in the process. "We already told you Twilight Sparkle." Luna said with a sigh. "But that does not make sense. You do not make sense." Twilight said, pointing a hoof at Dawn. "You should not exist." She concluded. "I felt that strange magic at work on your birthday. Why you? What was it?" "She already said Twilight, she got promoted." Fluttershy said, knowingly. "Just because we do not have the answers yet does not mean it does not make sense or it does not exist, Twilight." Dawn said, taking a collegial tone with her. "We, Luna, Celestia and I, believe that being lost in the void and returning has triggered magic older than the princesses. Thus I gained wings." She added casually flapping her wings to prove a point. "And look what happened to poor Sir Castalot... Blueberry?" She offered the last few berries to the group before dumping them in her mouth. Angel jumped down from Fluttershy's back to run over to Dawn to cuddle up with her. "Angel, no! You shouldn't go running up to ponies you don't know." Fluttershy chided, plucking up the bunny from Dawn's flank only for him to fight back. After a couple of swipes at Fluttershy's face he was free from her grip. "I've never seen him act like this for any pony." "He's approaching the end of his life." Dawn said indifferently as she stroked the bunny's fur with her hoof. "Wha... What?" Fluttershy asked, her eyes filling up with tears. "Oh..." Twilight jumped to her friend's side to comfort her. "...it will be alright." "Little bunny?" Dawn said to the fur ball only for it to perk up to hear Dawn's words. "You should spend your last moments with your loved ones, not with me." Fluttershy in the background started to weep harder. The bunny considered Dawn's words before it hopped over to Fluttershy to comfort her with Twilight. "I'm going to go take her home." Twilight said with a hoof over Fluttershy to comfort her. Dawn helped the bunny get on Fluttershy's head where he curled up in her mane. The two mares walked out into the distance. "How did you know he was going to die?" Luna asked, gaining that studious tone again. "Not sure. Worth further study." Dawn said as she noted it inside her head. "I don't have to call you Princess now do I?" Trixie teased. "It would be better than 'vagabond idiot' you hag." Dawn replied in kind. They both laughed at each other before Trixie deadpanned saying, "I'm going back to bed." Trixie turned around back the way she came and with an unsatisfying sigh, Spike joined her. "Poor Fluttershy." Luna sighed into the grass she was now laying on. "Angel is the one that is dying." Dawn said, shuffling in the new growth that had sprouted under her. "What do you want to do now?" She asked, looking into the sky. It was scheduled to be a good day. A few white clouds were allowed to drift lazily in the sky. "I was hoping Twilight may join us at Rarity's." Luna admitted. Dawn let out a heavy sigh as she watched the empty blueberry container burst into magical pink flame. "I suppose we could go catch up to Twilight and Fluttershy." Dawn suggested, getting up and flaring her wings for take off. Luna followed suit. "Alright." Dawn launched from under the tree into the air with a terrific speed. She turned around, once reaching the altitude she wanted. She could see a perfect circle of new growth around where she was sitting under the tree. She massaged her temples on how much she didn't know about this whole thing, she reasoned to just put it on the back burner she had plenty of time to deal with it. An eternity in fact. Luna, who was hovering where Dawn stopped, was studying the same circle on the ground. She offered a comforting hoof to Dawn, and much to Luna's delight Dawn did relax to her touch. "Shall we?" Luna asked over the sound of their flapping. Dawn banked into a glide towards the direction she saw Twilight head in, just flying above the canopy of the park. It led them to an edge of a forest that sent a chill down Dawn's spine. "What is that?" Dawn asked. "The Everfree forest." Luna answered half heartedly. "Why is it like that?" The forest just didn't set right with Dawn in the least. Something was profoundly wrong with the area. "That is where Celestia and I fought a thousand years ago. The spells cast back then have sundered the balance of the area. It's is also where I still consider home is, though it is long gone." "Neat." Dawn chirped as she swooped towards the expansive forest. Luna didn't follow right away which caught Dawn off guard. "Is something wrong?" She called back after coming to a slow hover. Luna hovered closer to Dawn. "I just want you to be careful. There are beasts in there that do not fall under our rule." "We won't hurt any animals." Dawn figured is what she wanted hear. "I'm just curious to see this home of yours." Luna gave a weak smile to Dawn before leading the way. An old castle that looked nothing like the one in Canterlot came into view. It was surrounded by a gorge that was strategically valuable against attackers and very high walls. Luna landed at the bottom of a long line of steps only to start climbing them. Dawn followed. The large grey stone walls were well weathered. Weeds, vines and small critters used this as their home now. They climbed to the top to be greeted by large metal doors that were unhinged. The pony made material resisted all attempts of nature reclaiming it. They both stepped on and over the doors and walked inside. "This was our home for over ten thousand years, Celly and I built it ourselves originally." She said, stroking the stone floor lovingly. "Our little ponies added the small things that made it home though. Decorations, those doors, they pampered us as they do now." Luna sounded distraught, like she was in pain and wanting to weep for her home. Dawn went over to wrap her foreleg around her to console her. "We could always restore it later." Dawn comforted with a shrug. "Move back." She offered, lifting her arm to take steps forward into what she now recognized was the throne room. Dawn chuckled at the sheer importance of the place where she was now standing. So much history happened here. Her joy was almost inappropriate to Luna's mood but it soon rubbed off on the night goddess. "Let me show you my favorite part of this castle." Luna invited, leading Dawn down a hallway off to the side where she thought the thrones must have been at one point. This hallway was lined with ornate carvings that could still be seen, when they were not covered in vivacious vines. Luna stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to the wall. She gently pressed with her hoof a small stone block that looked like all the others around it, it gave way. With what sounded like large clockwork from behind the wall, the stone blocks started to fold away revealing a secret entrance. Luna smiled as a proud mother would as Dawn's curiosity took the better of her. Dawn peaked inside, her eyes darting to the wall containing the secrets she desired. Luna guided Dawn into the room which was large and circular. There were gears, pacers and levers all working franticly around her, reminding her of most complicated clocks of Canterlot. Runes, Dawn did not recognize, covered the surrounding mechanisms. Dawn looked down to see she was standing on a translucent floor where she could see more gears and the like, working just as hard as the others. The secret door they had walked through resealed, leaving them in the dark. Only then did Dawn see that a light that sparkled through the clockwork around her. "Stars?" She asked, recognizing the light were in a pattern that she knew. "Star Swirl made this for me. So I can show the night to any pony I desired, no matter the weather or time of day." She said, pointing at the moon below their hooves. The waxing moon was the main source of light in the room, there was no sun. "Not even my sister knows of this room, I think. He built it in complete secrecy from us and surprised me with it." She added while lying down to stare at the stars. "It's beautiful." Dawn said, taking a seat next to Luna. "It's a shame I want to take it apart so badly." She laughed. "He was a brilliant unicorn." Luna said mournfully. "It is only a couple minutes off after all this time too." She added while smiling at the mechanisms below her. "Amazing." Dawn stretched away what little growth she had before laying down next to Luna to enjoy the night sky. The two watched the sky drift around them like they had done so many times before but with the real sky. The ticking of the clockwork was a very calming sound. Tick after tick, Dawn felt her eyes slowly close to the almost musical timings of the room. Dawn fell asleep under Luna's wing, which she had been stretched over her once Luna saw Dawn's eyes close. ----- Dawn walked over to April. She was only grey blur but she knew it was her. The scenery evolved around them into a part of the Canterlot castle she had never seen before. April was laying down in a bed meant for one. Dawn out stretched a hoof that was bigger than she wanted it to be. April smeared like paint under her hoof. Panic raced through her body as she tried to fix what was April. Her dream faded into black as Dawn stretched herself into consciousness. She found herself curled up in a ball with Luna cuddled around her. "Have a pleasant nap?" Luna smiled at her with that one smile that kind of crept her out, again. Dawn didn't mind it much, she was more shocked at the fact that she fell asleep at all. "Yeah. Thanks." She said, getting up feeling the chill of the castle crawl at where Luna was keeping her warm. "How long was I out?" Dawn asked, almost fearing the answer. That didn't feel like a normal sleep. Luna turned around to look at the moon below her. "Almost an hour, you were so cute. I didn't want to wake you." Dawn looked around at the amazing room. She was going to ignore Luna's comment. As much as Dawn wanted to study the room she was in she knew it was something sacred for Luna and so she would let her curiosity rest. "Do you want to see any more of the castle?" Luna asked, using her magic to open the door they previously entered through. "Some other time." Dawn answered as she followed Luna into the hallway. Why teleport when flying was so much more entertaining. "To Ponyville then?" Luna asked, flaring her wings for take off. Dawn's wings flipped up in response. "Sure. Twilight's?" She asked as Luna took off down the hallway flying, half cheering of a freedom of it. Dawn pushed herself into Luna's draft to hear her reply. None came. In no time flat they were high above the Everfree forest. Luna, in her mood, started to mimic some of the moves Dawn had showed her. Dawn couldn't help but join her. Dawn pulled into a barrel roll dive, tucking in her hooves to get a greater spin, only to pull up just short of hitting the canopy of trees putting her in the perfect position to do a full corkscrew out. She did so, extending her wings fully to slow her spin once at the apex of the corkscrew. Luna took up a position next to Dawn once her trick was done cheering her approval. "Perhaps I should go to one of these 'Wonderbolt' shows. When Celly explained it to me, when I first got back, I laughed at the notion that they turned flying into an art form." "An art form? I suppose it is... You've never seen them?" Dawn asked, some what baffled by the idea. "Well Celly introduced them to me at the gala a couple times but I have never have taken a vested interest in them." Luna said, barreling in a circle around Dawn. "We should go some time." The two, instead of landing, found a lonely cloud floating above the town. The town square below was full of life that they didn't want to disturb like last time. They spotted a teenage dragon walking along side a purple pony, even better they looked like they were heading to Rarity's boutique. Luna pushed the cloud by flapping her wings to follow them, while still resting on it. "You'll have to teach me some time about how clouds work." The statement sounded dumb to Dawn but she knew Luna knew what she meant. "You can think of them like a... sponge. You know those things servants use to clean things?" Luna said, nodding, unsure of her analogy. "Alright sponges." Dawn nodded with her. Luna pondered as she pushed the cloud, "I will explain in greater detail later." Luna concluded. "They are not like sponges." "Alright..." They both peaked their heads over the cloud to watch Twilight and Spike waddle into Rarity's carousel, Spike barely fit through the door. Luna and Dawn rolled off the cloud, falling into a dive for the ground. Luna landed gracefully as ever, Dawn landed with a thump and a skip but all together she was still getting better. They walked in after Spike and Twilight to be greeted by a room full of ponies, all Twilight's friends. "Welcome to Rarity's Carousel Boutique." a pony said from behind a counter who didn't really look to who had walked in. "Miss Diamond Tiara, look alive!" Rarity yelled from across the room. Forcing the pony behind the counter to jolt up, greeting the new arrivals. "Princess Luna! Dawn!" Rarity greeted. "What can I do for you?" "Dawn here needs a proper dress for the gala!" Luna decreed. "I could not think of a better pony for the job." "Oh I'm honored, but you did pick a uhh... less opportune time." Rarity said, ignoring the wings on Dawn's side. Dawn closed her eyes in disappointment but that's all the clarity of thought she needed to figure out that Angel the bunny had passed away in the short time they were in Luna's observatory. Luna must have connected a few dots herself. "How dreadfu..." Luna started to say. Fluttershy had swooped in to hug Dawn, crying her eyes out. In her quivering sorrow she whispered, "Thank you" into Dawn's ear. Dawn was surprised to say the least and she was pretty sure she didn't do anything that warranted such affections. Recuperating quickly, she can wrapped her hooves around the crying mare. She could see Fluttershy's friends were just as confused as she was but were not about to pull back the mare. Dawn tried to comfort the pegasus like her mother had on occasion done for her, it felt unnatural and strange to comfort somepony so small and fragile. She stood there in the door way, letting Fluttershy soak her coat in tears until she pulled away whispering, "Thank you" for the thousandth time. Luna had retreated into the depths of the shop with the rest of Twilight's friends for Dawn and Fluttershy to join them. Tea was laid out for the lot of them courtesy of the pink mare behind the counter. "So this was the 'Transformation' Princess Celestia was going on about?" Applejack asked as soon as Fluttershy planted herself in between her and Pinkie, who welcomed the yellow pegasus into her arms. Applejack was gesturing to Dawn's flared wings. Stupid things won't stay down. She forced her wings down and than returned a smile to the eyes staring back at her. "I see it as a most well earned promotion." Dawn teased, earning a chuckle from Luna. "You're bigger too." Rainbow Dash said as she inspected the wings. Dawn stretched to let out her built up growth. "Better?" "You are going to be horrid to fit for a dress." Rarity said plainly. Luna let out a heavy sigh. "We were going to prank you with it but that plan went down the drain." Luna said bluntly. "I'm sorry." Fluttershy whimpered out from Pinkie's embrace. "No forget about." Dawn sighed. "Wasn't going to be 'that' funny any ways." "No. That would have been pretty hysterical." Rainbow Dash said, nodding at the idea only to gain a half a dozen glares from the ponies around her. "What? It would!" "You know RD I thought you would've learned to control your yapper by now but I keep underestimating you." Applejack said, shaking her head at Rainbow. "Oh the topazes and emeralds I could have matched with you..." Rarity said to Dawn, looking disappointed. "So how'd this happen? You're no 'long lost princess' that's for sure..." Applejack asked, quoting the paper. "They don't know." Twilight answered, sounding very annoyed by the prospect. "Hey now, doesn't mean I won't find the answer." Dawn lied, pounding her chest with pride like the parents that raised her. "I don't accept that Celestia doesn't know more than you are telling me." Twilight said confidently, her eyes darting back and forth from Dawn's to Luna's, looking for any kind of a reaction. She found only feigned confusion on the faces of adept liars at work. "What on Equestria could we know Twilight? Frankly I'm hurt." Dawn asked, laying the guilt on thick. "This is older than either me or my sister. I am surprised you would think so little of us to think we would hide such important information from you." Luna added. The tag team got the reaction they wanted. Twilight ducked her head in shame. "I'm sorry, I trust you. Both of you." She mumbled. Twilight's apology brought on a thick silence to the room to the point that it was almost palatable. "I should take you to Cloudsdale!" Luna said, cutting the silence. "Cloudsdale is nice." Twilight added, also hoping to disperse the silence. "Alright. But we aren't eating there. I can't stand pegasus cuisine." "Hey!" Rainbow protested. "Fair enough." Luna agreed, getting up while ignoring Rainbow. Dawn got up with Luna, she was already as tall as Luna again. I wish I would grow at least at a consistent pace. "Well why don't you have lunch with us?" Fluttershy suggested, pushing away Pinkie's arms. Her eyes looked fatigued from crying but Dawn could see she desperately wanted her to stay for what ever unknown reason. Dawn inwardly chided herself for being empathetic. Dawn turned to Luna who was looking indifferent about the idea. "Alright" Dawn relented. "Well if lunch is what you want, lunch is what you will have." Rarity said. "Where should we go?" She asked Fluttershy. "I hope you can excuse me but I think will return to Canterlot." Luna said before bending over to nuzzle Dawn good bye. Before any one could protest, she disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. "Errr... Right. We can go to Fatty Joe's." Applejack suggested as she watched the dark smoke dissolve back into the void. "Why did she nuzzle you like that?" Twilight asked, oblivious to the subject at hoof. "Huh?" Dawn asked to a nodding group. "Luna. She nuzzled you like... Like a mother..." Twilight said as her eyes grew wide. Dawn's heart nearly jumped out of her chest, trying to flee from the wrath she would likely receive from Celestia if this turned out bad. "Like a mother?" Dawn asked calmly with a hint of confusion. "Yes darling. That is exactly how my mother nuzzles me." Rarity chimed in. "And how Twilight nuzzles me." Spike said from a corner behind her. Dawn forced her eyes to go wide with their realization. "You think Luna is my mother?" she asked with a polished shocked tone that ended in stunted laugh. "It would make sense. And you do look alike..." Twilight said. "Wait... Luna was on the moon when I was born. Plus I've seen pictures of my birth." She shuttered at the recollection of those doctored photos. She was convincing, they all stared at nothing, thinking on Dawn's evidence to the contrary. "She's always nuzzled me since I met her at Twilight's little convention." "Assembly." Twilight corrected. "You're right. Silly idea. She is just an... affectionate pony." She concluded. Dawn let out an inner sigh of relief. "So Fatty Joe's?" "Diamond Tiara! I'm leaving. Do not disappoint me with a mess around here!" Rarity yelled out the room. "Alright." Yelled back a voice beyond the walls. Dawn led the way out of the boutique, she needed some fresh air. The second she stepped outside she found herself already in the air, flying. She took in a greedy breath of the brisk spring air. As she did, she fell back into a flip to the ground only to bounce back up in the air. "Enjoying those wings are we?" Rainbow laughed as she hovered next to her. "Walking is for squares." Dawn chuckled back. "I tried my best not to do it when I didn't have them." She teleported in mid air to demonstrate her point. "That's why I bounce!" Pinkie cheered, who was bouncing next to Fluttershy. "Have you tried any tricks with those things?" Rainbow asked doing a little flip in her excitement. "My mother is Ever Watch." Dawn replied as if the answer was apparent. "Well don't keep us waiting darling let's see what you can do." Rarity said from below. Dawn thought for a second on what she should do, once she had an idea she launched high into the air. She reached a high altitude only to dive straight down in a tight spin pulling up just short of the group earning screams of terror from them. She pulled out of her spin into a tight loop only to dive to her landing which sounded like a crunch as the cobble stone below her pulverized to dust. "Oops." Dawn lifted her hoof to see a pulverized stone under her. "I still need to work on them landings." She laughed to the slack jawed group. "Any doubt I had about you being a princess is gone. No normal pony could have survived that." Twilight said, walking up to inspect the broken walkway under Dawn. "Your tree growing around me wasn't enough for you?" Dawn asked. "I didn't see it grow, I heard it. You can't measure sounds once they stop." Twilight said, using a researcher's logic. "Yet..." Dawn laughed as she hovered off the shattered walk way to take a position above the group who started to walk again, weary of their new princess now. "So, Princess Dawn, how fast can you fly?" Rainbow asked, excitedly nervous for the answer. "Just Dawn please. I have no inclinations to run a country right now." Dawn said quickly. "Hmm... I don't know. Fast? Fast enough for my face to burn from the friction of the air." "Heh, I love that feeling." Rainbow Dash said, rubbing her face with a hoof as if simulating the feeling. Dawn opened the doors of the diner with her magic and swooped down to a landing. The diner was full for lunch with only a few booths open. Rainbow picked one in the corner. Fluttershy sat in between Dawn and Pinkie, Dawn on the end, Spike sat on a cushion the waitress brought over for him once she took their order. "Glad your appetite is unchanged." Twilight chuckled from across the table as the waitress left. "Well judging the way Celestia puts away cake I think I got off easy." Dawn shrugged. Twilight rolled her eyes as silence started to loom over the table. Every pony just stared into oblivion for a moment. "Umm, Dawn? I was wondering… If you wouldn't mind me asking a question. That is if you don’t mind answering…" Fluttershy broke the silence but turned silent under every pony's gaze. "What is it?" Dawn asked, trying to mimic Celestia's smile to coax out the best of ponies. "How did you know Angel Bunny was going to die?" Fluttershy asked with more confidence than Dawn realized she had. Especially about the subject that had her in tears just moments ago. "I don't know. It would be another question to add to a long list." Dawn admitted. It left her pondering what she did know. "I can kind of… Sense life now. I can sense all of you thriving, strong. Same goes for all life, plant and animal. I felt your bunny's time was coming..." She paused as she digested her own words. I'm starting to sound cryptic… "Defiantly worth some study later." The specter of silence lingered after Dawn's words. Then it struck her. I make them uncomfortable... Dawn turned to her tail. It was turning to an ethereal quality. She would soon be too big for the booth if she kept this up. She scooted off her seat and to the ground to share Spike's large cushion. He didn't mind. This was her life now. She would always be a size changing, immortal, life giving, princess, might as well have them get used to it. She rested her head on the table in defeat. The silence was revealing for her, even with the knowledge that it wasn't so for the rest. Fluttershy was the only one who seemed to not mind it other than Dawn. Soon enough the food arrived, was eaten, and paid for. All with very mild and tame conversation all initiated by Rarity who was not content with the silence. As they all made it outside Dawn, in the height of her growth, turned to Fluttershy. "I hope you remember your friend well." Dawn said with as much grace as she could muster. Fluttershy just nodded to Dawn's request. She turned to address the rest of Twilight, Spike and their friends. "I'm off. You have a wonderful day and what not. Enjoyed lunch..." She said, letting her wings pick her up. She waved a hoof at them. Once she saw they weren't going to follow traditional social protocols, she took off into the sky. She let her mind wander as she flew on autopilot until she landed on her balcony at the tower. Luna was inside, doing nothing in particular. She was lying against the large marble block until she saw Dawn land. "You do look quite lovely when you're that size. Did you enjoy lunch?" She greeted as she rolled up, off from the ground. "Well I don't think they enjoyed it much. I make them uncomfortable. I think they even fear me." Dawn admitted. "You nearly gave us away when you left. Nuzzling me goodbye like that, they thought you were my mother!" "I am your mother." Luna laughed at the words she was happy to say. "You did that on purpose..." Dawn mumbled with a sudden realization. "My sister underestimates Twilight, her daughter." Luna said, getting up to look around Dawn's room. "You are right of course, that is simply not my 'Call'. Forgive me." "It's fine. I have them thinking it is an absurd Idea and I really don't think Twilight is her daughter." Dawn took up a seat on her couch, leaving no room for any other pony. Celestia teleported to the center of the room besides the marble stone. "Ahh, good you are back. I wanted to remind you of the party tomorrow with all those nobles. I hope you didn't make any plans." "All clear." Dawn answered with a tired sigh. "Dawn was just learning that ponies are afraid of us." Luna said, cooing as if talking about a foal. "Well you are radiating an energy that no pony has ever felt before." Celestia nodded. "Plus when you’re this size you will have to expect it. Even from the ponies closest to you. It was little over a year ago that I finally got Twilight to address me informally." Celestia drifted in thought for a second. Dawn and Luna didn't really notice. Luna was busy rifling through Dawn's stuff like always and Dawn was too involved with her thoughts to notice the world collapse around her. "Can you be that size during the party tomorrow? It leaves little to doubt about your status making my job that much easier." "Consider it done." Dawn answered absent mindedly "So you really can choose your size that easily?" Dawn shook her head out of her thoughts before looking at Celestia who returned an expectant gaze. "For the most part." Dawn said as she demonstrated, stretching herself to normal size. As her muscles quaked so did the tower, right down to the ground the foundation was laid in. "Err and there's that..." "What was that?" Luna asked cautiously. Dawn shrugged at the earthquake. "I just can't control the rate of growth I think." She said as she repositioned herself on the couch to account for her new size. "That is a nice luxury." Celestia said, nodding. "While I do have a cycle it is over centuries and is so brief it is rarely recorded in history. I appear static to most." "So are you waxing or waning?" Dawn asked, cocking her head in her renewed curiosity. Celestia laughed at the comparison to her sister. "I suppose waning. In about two hundred years I will be normal sized pony again for maybe a couple decades or so then I return back to this size for several centuries." "I look forward to it." Dawn laughed. Crap I'll be alive in two hundred years... "Can I ask you two a question?" "Just one?" Luna asked, laughing. "Of course Dawn, we are an open book for you." Celestia said, taking a seat by the block of marble. "What's it like living forever?" Luna's face turned serious as she considered how to answer. "Ponies, since the time that they could write, wrote of the curse of immortally..." She then broke her façade with a fit of giggles. "Luna... Your daughter is asking a serious question." Celestia said with a straight face. "Yes, yes. It was just so adorable I couldn't resist." Luna straightened up to look Dawn in the eyes. "You are in a unique position to answer this question, Dawn. When you thought you were mortal like all the rest, what was it like?" "I... I don't know..." "You had plans outside the castle if I recall." "I suppose..." Luna broke into another fit of giggles as she swooped in to hug Dawn. "Not that you have a choice in the matter but we have a profound existence. To them they think we see ponies die around us constantly but I would think you have seen enough evidence to the contrary to say otherwise, haven't you?" Luna let go of Dawn to look her in the eyes. "We do not see death because we know it does not exist. We see life as it is and it is our duty to guide that life. When we no longer have a duty then we can stop existing but until then..." "Our plans are boundless." Celestia finished. "Starting a family is fine for some ponies but we are not some ponies." Luna patted Dawn on the back roughly as she said this. "This is something you will get used to thinking. We are not our little ponies. We are smarter, wiser, and stronger. It may seem arrogant right now but it is what defines us." "It is all pointless when you have such grander plans like uniting all life or seeing the end." A chill went down Dawn's spine as she imagined what 'end' Luna was talking about. "Mmk... So what about the moon and the sun?" "What about them?" Luna asked, smiling with her sister. "Well... What binds you to them? Or me to the earth? Can I raise the sun or the moon if tried hard enough? Like the unicorns of old?" Both the princesses couldn't hold in their laughter. Dawn felt like she had missed the biggest joke of the century. "Oh, bless you Dawn." Celestia said with dainty giggles woven in her words. She took a seat next to her. "I love our little unicorns but they were the biggest con-artists." "Were?" Celestia jabbed a hoof at Luna with a sly grin on. "Good point." Luna laughed. "It's an on going problem Celestia let fester the last thousand years. Surely you've noticed the unicorns are nearly always on the higher ends of pony society. "You mean Canterlot?" "Precisely!" Luna cheered loudly. "Why Celly moved to the unicorn capital of all places is still beyond me." "Unicorns have the best food." "Cake..." Dawn muttered what was on her mind. "That's what you keep saying but honestly sister, you are not that shallow." "So what about the unicorns?" Dawn asked, almost impatiently. "Oh..." Luna spent a quick moment trying to recall what they were talking about. "Yes that's right... Our unicorns tricked the pegasi and earth ponies into thinking they were responsible for the sun rising and lowing. In actuality they just managed to master math quicker." "Well where were you then?" At the time we watched our ponies from afar in solitude like I mentioned yesterday. There were kingdoms forming and we wanted to see how they would manage on their own. So we let them forget us for awhile." "So I can't raise the sun or moon?" "No." Luna laughed. "But..." "There are few things that can usurp the will of nature, Dawn, and most of them have been dealt with as of recently or long ago." Celestia patted Dawn on the shoulder. "You cannot bend the moon or the sun to your will no more than I can bend your will or my sister's." "I see... So the rewriting history part comes into play here?" Celestia snickered as she got up from her seat. "Well, I am going to leave you to your thoughts." Celestia said, smiling. Dawn sunk into her couch as she thought up more questions she's wanted to ask, she had managed to put a lot on the back burner. "I think I'll go to the garden." Dawn said as she slid off the couch. Her wings came to life picking her off the ground and out of the tower. She briefly flew around the tower only to swoop at her favorite part of the garden. She landed next to the gazebo that was littered with rose buds of dozen different colors. The nearly dead tree that stood proudly in the middle of the gazebo let white roses climb all over it. Dawn walked to the base of tree where she could watch the landscape before her stretch beyond her sight. She let out a heavy sigh as all the small buds around her grew into fully bloomed roses, greeting her and releasing their sweet smell into the gentle breeze that grazed the gardens. The fragrance of new life helped clear her mind, letting her put her plot of life into perspective.