//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Return // Story: Embracing The Changes // by -Key- //------------------------------// As Twilight slowly began to wake up, she heard two voices speaking quietly to each other. "I hope she is ok." said a familiar voice from somewhere to the side of her.   "Humph" said a deeper voice, "I still can't believe that Princess Celestia took away my command, especially while those creatures are still out there."   "Really?" asked first voice, sounding slightly annoyed and amused at the same time "You yelled at the first officer you saw demanding details, not to mention that he was a new recruit and was barely older than Twilight. I'm honestly surprised that's all she did, and I'm sure you will get command back soon anyway."   "Yes, but now I can't do anything and I still don't know how she is or what happened." the voice replied angrily.   "Well I think you will find she can tell you herself, she seems to be waking up" said the first voice as Twilight slowly began to stir and open her eyes. As she looked around the room, the first thing she noticed was her brother standing at her side looking worriedly down at her. As she got a better look at the room, she realized she was in her old room at the castle with needles all over her, as she looked to the left however she saw Princess Luna standing beside her looking down at her.   "Hello Twilight" Luna said "How are you feeling"   "I'm fine" she replied "Wh-what happened? I was helping you with the changelings then we got ambushed, we just managed to escape. Then all the changelings seemed to disappear, the next thing I know I'm starting to feel weaker and weaker, I don't remember anything past that"   "Hmmm that's very odd" Luna commented "There aren't many things left in this world that can drain a pony's energy. Mostly it used to be viruses that did that but apparently they have been gone for at least 500 years, sorry to leave you like this after you saved us again but Celestia will want to know how you are, and we are sure she will know what happened"   Luna strolled down the corridors, deep in thought, she hoped Twilight would be okay after having her magic drained like that, from her experience that would leave some ponies in the hospital for weeks, she was surprised that Twilight was already awake. As she made it to the giant doors leading into the hall where her sister was, she could hear her discussing dam expansion plans with a noble.  Luna pushed the doors open and strolled through, "Celestia, I need to speak with you immediately" she stated, while ignoring the noble's squeal of terror.   "Of course" she said "I'm sorry, but we will have to continue this later" she told the Noble as she dismissed her. "What is this about sister? I heard about what happened earlier today, how are you?"   "I'm fine" Luna assured her "However I do not think Twilight is in any condition to say the same."   "What happened?" Celestia asked, worry clearly showing on her face.   "Well" Luna started "It seems something is feeding off her source of energy, and we're fairly certain it isn't some sort of virus, nothing showed up on the test results. We believe she may be in danger if she stays here much longer, she will have to go home."   "She won't be happy with this you realize? She will agree, but she'll want to know why, and  that is why I propose you go with her." Celestia said.    B-but why do we need to go? We are needed here" Luna stammered.   "Well actually from what you've told me sister, you prefer to spend your time hiding in the dark of your room, and I'm sure that if you stay with Twilight, she will spend most of her time in her house reading, which seems perfect to me" Luna opened her mouth as if to say something but was immediately cut off by Celestia as she continued to speak "Also I have been trying to think of a way to extend her teachings without taking her from her friends, and you are just as good, or perhaps even better than me with magic and you definitely know more, this would be a perfect opportunity"   "But why do we need to go? Are you forgeti-" she tried to say before Celestia cut her off.   "Well from what I was told, it seemed that whoever it was, wanted you Luna, so I believe that you would be safer in Ponyville with Twilight. I would prefer it if you were safe with her, don't worry I will come down and see you." she reassuring her "I already have everything arranged for you, you just need to get your things" Celestia said "Oh and don't worry about Twilight, I'll explain it to her."   -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-   "But why?" Twilight asked repeating Luna's words.   "Well you see Twilight, it seemed that whoever it was in there wanted Luna, so I decided it would be best if she stayed away from Canterlot, and you are the pony I trust most to take care of my sister. So I will need you to get ready to head back to Ponyville. Also she will also be tutoring you in magic and giving you tasks, I have been thinking of extending your studies, and let me assure you she is just as good as me with magic and by far more knowledgeable"   Twilight sat in her tower checking that she had packed everything when she heard a knock on her door, slowly standing up from her bed, she looked back at the things that she had packed for her trip home with Luna, before walking to the door. As she opened the door she saw Shining Amour waiting there for her.   "Hey Twily" he smiled at her "I'm here to escort you to the carriage, couldn't let you leave without saying goodbye now could I."   "Thanks" Twilight replied "I think I have everything all packed up, I'll just be ready in one second" Twilight quickly ran back and picked up all of her things in a magenta glow, handing them over to the maid who had come to carry it.   Twilight and her brother walked through the old corridors talking about their childhood memories and their friends. "Well" said Shining Amour "I spend most of my time now as a part of Cadence's personal guard, but I'm still captain of the day guard so it's good for both me and Cadence"   "Well I'm glad you two are happy together." Twilight replied to him smiling.   "So" said Shining looking mischievously at Twilight "When am I going to see you with a special somepony."   'Ohhh, please don't" Twilight groaned in an exasperated voice "I had enough of mum and dad harassing me about that while I lived here, please don't you start too." she said looking pleadingly up at him.   "Don't worry." he replied laughing "I just joking." he said as they walked outside.   There waiting for them was the carriage to take them to Ponyville, however Twilight was surprised to find that this wasn't the normal carriage she rode in. This carriage was a deep sapphire blue with black outlines instead of the usual gold and white, its shape was sleek and stealthy and was being towed by two pegasi wearing black and sapphire blue amour, they were both completely gray and had bat like wings that appeared to be webbed.   "So" asked Luna, Twilight jumped, trying to spy Luna within the inky darkness of the carriage. "How does thou like the night carriage? A little different than thee would be used to, but it should get us there faster and we are less likely to be seen, particularly at this time of night." Twilight just stood there, looking dumbstruck at the carriage, it was magnificent and by far one of the sleekest and most elegant sky carriages she had ever seen.   "It's amazing" she said, staring at it in wonder, it looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place where she had seen it before.   "Well enter and you may see what it is like" Luna replied, looking happy with Twilight's reaction "We didn't want to be seen on the way, so we thought that this would do the job"   Twilight jumped in the carriage excitedly as a maid put everything into the back, she had never in her life been in anything like it, and she loved it. As the carriage pulled off the ground Twilight waved goodbye to her brother and flew off towards the small group of lights in the distance that was Ponyville.   As they flew towards Ponyville, Twilight looked over the side of the carriage and what she saw took her breath away, she could see everything bathed in moonlight, the hills, the trees, everything was cast in an eerie yet beautiful shadow. She spent the whole trip leaning over the side of the carriage, just watching the beautiful land as it slowly went past.   By the time they had arrived Twilight was asleep in the carriage, however she was jolted awake as they landed just outside her tree house. As she stepped out of the carriage she could see the quiet streets of the town and the empty shops, she slowly strolled into her house with Luna following her.   "Welcome to my home" Twilight whispered quietly to Luna "Oh and Spike probably asleep so we will have to be quiet."    As Luna walked in the first thing she noticed was that the entire tree house was spotless, with everything ordered and in place, there wasn't even a single book out of place in the library. As Twilight walked out of the room to find her the spare bed, Luna began to take a look around the library, reading was always a favorite pastime of hers. However as she looked she saw that nearly all the books were non-fiction. When looking around however she did manage to find one book that looked like it might be intriguing, called Daring Doo's adventures, but no matter how much she looked, she couldn't seem to find the first book in the series. Just as she was about to give up, Twilight came back in, levitating the spare bed into the guest room.   "There we are." she stated placing the bed down in the adjacent room "You can sleep in the bedroom upstairs and I'll sleep in the guest room"   "Oh of course not." Luna said looking shocked "We couldn't take thou room and stay here, this is thou house. We shall sleep in that room and you can have your bed, thou will need it if you wish to begin your studies tomorrow."   "Oh that's right!" Twilight practically yelled, suddenly energetic after remembering what Celestia had told her about the lessons "What will we be learning, will it be new spells, or will it be a new magic, or more magical theory or  more magical history or will it be about making spells?!"   Luna laughed as Twilight jumped around the room grabbing books off the shelves "We shall tell thou tomorrow." Luna said smiling.   "Oh" Twilight said looking disappointed "In that case do you mind if I stay up late? I don't want to keep you up." Twilight said looking at Luna.   "Of course not" Luna said laughing at the idea "We find it difficult to sleep at night with the moon constantly needing us to move it."   As Twilight begun to study, she saw Luna searching through the library as if she was looking for something, every now and then she would pull out a book then put it back in again. Luna continued to search the library for a few more minutes.  "Are you looking for something in particular Luna?" Twilight asked as she walked over to Luna.   "Oh" Luna said, turning around "We just found a book that sounded interesting and was wondering if you had the first in the series, We believe it is called Daring Doo's adventures?"   "Oh I'm sorry, but I leant that to Rainbow Dash. I can get it tomorrow for you, she should be finished with it by then."   "Rainbow Dash" said Luna thoughtfully "The element of loyalty, from what we remember, she didn't seem like the kind of pony that reads."   "Oh" Twilight laughed "You should have seen how hard she tried to stop us from finding out, it was quite funny."   "It sounds like it, in that case I shall just find another book to read" said Luna as she walked over to the bookshelf and started searching again.   It was nearly one o'clock before Twilight got up to go to bed, she said goodnight to Luna and slowly walked up the stairs, being careful to make sure she didn't wake Spike. As she got to the top of the stairs, she realized something was wrong, Spike was lying on his bed and everything was in place, however Spike appeared to have something underneath him. Twilight slowly walked forward trying to see what he was sleeping on, as she got closer, she saw a pile of gems underneath the baby dragon. Twilight sat there glaring at him, she quickly lifted him up with her magic and took all the gems, hiding them behind her bookshelf. 'Rarity must have given him those' she thought as she laid in her bed. 'I'll have to speak to her about that' she thought, as she slowly drifted off to sleep.   [Editor's Notes] zagzig17 here again, hope you all enjoy this chapter, I'm pretty happy with it. I feels it flows the best out of all the chapters so far, but considering this is only the third chapter, it doesn't really count. Anyway, Allons-y.