Chapter 2
‘—All I’m asking is just a few overcast days, it’s not like that’s going to be the end of the world!’ Twilight Sparkle cried out. The sound of frustration was clear in her voice as she stood at her desk in the library. What she was asking wasn’t impossible; it wasn’t even anything remotely dangerous. Just one or two days where the clouds covered the town so that the sun’s harshness wouldn’t constantly be shining down on Princess Luna while she was to take up residence in the town.
‘Twilight, Ah don’ think ya really understand just what yer askin’ o’ the town with this!’ Applejack said, stamping her hoof against the ground. Generally speaking, Twilight and Applejack got on pretty well with each other. In fact, as Twilight thought about it, this was most likely the first major argument the two of them had gotten into.
After speaking with Princess Luna on how the sun had been affecting her, Twilight had immediately gone to Rainbow Dash to ask about the possibility of changing up the weather to help the Princess of the Night feel more comfortable for the duration of her stay in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash had gotten incredibly nervous at the suggestion, and when asked for an explanation, she had told Twilight to talk to Applejack about it.
Twilight could see now why Rainbow Dash had gotten nervous at the suggestion. Twilight herself would have never guessed that Applejack would have gotten so hostile at the idea of changing up the weather schedule.
‘Then enlighten me Applejack,’ Twilight snapped back at her. ‘What am I asking of the town?’
Applejack let out a scowl at Twilight’s attitude. ‘Fine, Ah’ll put it fer ya plain n’ simple, Ponyville’s a rural town, what do we do in rural towns?’ Applejack asked, a look of annoyance on her face.
‘Apart from be incredibly hostile to a simple suggestion at the get go?’ Twilight asked, rolling her eyes.
Applejack ignored the comment and continued to speak on the matter. ‘We grow food out here. We grow just enough to feed ourselves, and we got it worked out so that th’ crops got just enough rainwater, an’ just enough sunshine to grow. If y’all go around messin’ with th’ weather, then th’ crops ain’t gonna grow right, and we won’t have enough food to feed the town!’ Applejack exclaimed.
Twilight frowned at Applejack’s explanation; there was a term for this: subsistence farming, something that was—much to the dismay of professional organiser Twilight Sparkle—practised by every food grower in Ponyville. When Twilight had first come to Ponyville she had seen how the Apple family farm operated. The work was hard, the hours long, and the pay off at the end of the day was little. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that there were easier ways to do it, or maybe it did, judging on Applejack's attitude towards it. She’d made the mistake of making suggestions to change things up to help the Apples get more out of their harvests, only to receive a ‘thanks but no thanks’ with a hostile undertone at the suggestion. Twilight gritted her teeth, struggling not to come back with a snide or hurtful remark.
‘Course, Ah wouldn’t expect ya city folk ta understand that, ya’ll don’ ever have ta do anythin’ yerself up in yer fancy Canterlot with yer fancy magic,’ Applejack said plainly.
It was as if Twilight’s mind had been held together with a single string, which said string had just snapped. She had half a mind to blast Applejack out her front door with a torrent of arcane magic. She might even have, had Rainbow Dash not been there to step in.
‘Okay… I think that’s enough for now!’ the pegasus mare said, as she pushed her way between the two. ‘Applejack, go home. Nothing’s going to get done right now with you two at each other’s throats!’
Twilight blinked, she had almost forgotten that Rainbow Dash had been here at all. Applejack scowled but said nothing; she turned and trotted back towards the door, opening it up before turning her head back to look at Twilight. ‘This ain’t over, ya hear? Not gunna just let ya throw off the weather cycle and kill off all our crops!’ Applejack added with anger in her voice as she slammed the door behind her.
Twilight let out a sigh; she had never fought with Applejack like that before.
Heck, she’d never fought with anyone like that before. She turned her head to look at Rainbow Dash and offered her fellow mare a small smile. ‘Since when are you the voice of reason?’ she asked.
Rainbow Dash let out a small chuckle. ‘I know? Crazy right? You know stuff is messed up when I have to be the voice of reason!’
Twilight chuckled at the joke, but sighed and shook her head. Now that she had stopped and thought about it for a moment, she felt bad about what she'd almost done to Applejack. Twilight never thought herself as even being capable of such hate, but this argument with Applejack had brought out the worst of her. The thought consumed her, if not for Rainbow Dash—
'Twilight? Are you okay?' Rainbow Dash asked, waving her foreleg in front of Twilight's eyes. Twilight blinked, snapping from her daze, before turning to her fellow mare and offering her a smile and a nod.
'Yeah... yeah I'm fine, I'll be fine,' Twilight said simply, before glancing up at the stairs leading to the second level, and her private living space. 'I'll be fine, I think I'm just going to go take a nice, long bath and relax.'
Rainbow Dash nodded her head in understanding. 'I'll see you later Twi,' she said with a wave before departing. Twilight waved her goodbyes before keeping her promise of a nice hot bath to herself. She trotted up the stairs, moving slowly as not to disturb the sleeping Princess Luna and trotting into her bathroom, turning on the hot water, and allowing the tub to fill up. Watching as the steam began to roll off the top of the water; she climbed inside, lowering herself slowly into the water and sitting back.
'Ahh...' Twilight said as she closed her eyes for a moment. She chuckled a bit as she felt a little bit like Rarity. She sat back, and tried not to think about Applejack, Princess Luna, or the weather, now was the time to relax.
…
Princess Luna had fallen asleep; she was in the middle of a dream world. She was Princess of the Night, after all. If there was anyone more qualified to determine if this was a dream than she, then she might as well consider herself out of a job. She knew that this was a dream because she found herself in Canterlot, rather than Ponyville, but this was no Canterlot that she recognised. Actually, the more she looked around, the more confused she was. She had assumed that this was Canterlot, because of the altitude. There was no place in the civilised Equestria that was higher up than Canterlot, but as she looked around, she discovered that there was not a single thing that looked familiar.
The buildings were metal, some of them rising to well above 100 metres. She looked to the ground, finding not cobblestones at her hooves, but a black tar like substance that sprawled out in every direction. She looked up to the sky above her and saw a balloon unlike any she had ever seen before, far larger than what she was used to, and in the rough shape of an éclair.
There was a low whine on the air, getting louder as if something was coming towards her. This place was unlike any that she had ever seen. She took a step forward, before she felt something slam into her.
…
Princess Luna's eyes shot open, and she sat up in bed, glancing around, her mind began to panic as she had forgotten where exactly she had fallen asleep at. It took her a moment, but she eventually recognised that she was in the bedroom, that Twilight Sparkle had offered her sanctuary in. She let out a sigh of relief, putting the dream out of her mind. If being Princess of the Night had taught her anything, it was not to dwell upon one's dreams.
She let out a yawn and glanced around the room, looking at the window next to the bed. The drapes were still drawn, and it made the room dark as night. Luna used her telekinesis to pull them open, allowing the sunlight to filter in. It was still daylight, though it now seemed to be later in the day, as the sun was in the western sky, and its' light bounced right into her eyes as she looked. Could she not escape it?
Luna shut the drapes quickly, blacking the room back out, and gently rubbing her eyes. It was futile, she was still seeing spots. She waited a few moments, blinking every so often as the spots on her eyes began to fade. She climbed out of the bed, landing on her hooves with a wooden thud against the floor, before trotting over to the bedroom door, and going out into the library proper.
She looked down at the first level; Twilight Sparkle was standing at her desk, her nose buried in a book, and occasionally scribbling something onto a piece of parchment paper with an owl feather quill. According to what her sister had said, this bit of behaviour was so normal that she should be on the lookout if it wasn’t happening. If it is not, then something is wrong.
Luna absent-mindedly watched Twilight as she scribbled down her notes onto the parchment paper, Celestia had always said that Twilight's focus on her studies was second to none, but she couldn't help but feel like there was something more going on here than just a love for learning.
That was when it happened. Twilight dipped her quill into the bottle of ink, but upon bringing it out, accidentally knocked the bottle over, spilling the ink onto her work. Princess Luna suddenly felt a sharp wave of anger on the air, a feeling that she was all too familiar with.
'Ah... DAMNIT!' Twilight cried out in frustration as she leapt into action to clean up the mess she'd just made.
‘Twilight Sparkle,’ Luna called out to the unicorn from the top of the stairs. Twilight looked as if she was about to jump out of her skin, and whirled around to face the Princess of the Night. ‘Is everything alright?’ Luna asked, as she began to trot down the stairs.
‘Oh… Princess Luna. I’m sorry I didn’t…’ Twilight began, before stopping herself and biting her lip. ‘No, no not really,’ she added finally before turning away and using her telekinesis to pull a towel from the kitchen to mop up the ink that she had just spilled.
‘What troubles you, Twilight?’ Luna asked as she joined her fellow mare, helping her to clean up the mess.
‘You don’t have to do that,’ Twilight said.
‘I know that, you know that. You are merely stating so to avoid the question,’ Luna said, turning to her host and offering her a small smile. ‘Now I ask again, what troubles you?’
Twilight frowned and bit her lip again, turning her head away to look out towards the evening sky. The sun was setting; soon it would be night, and the problems of the day would be behind them. ‘I... I had a fight with my friend Applejack this morning,’ Twilight said, almost as if she didn’t believe it herself. ‘Tempers flared, and I… I came close to hurting her.’
Luna’s jaw dropped, stepping back from Twilight in surprise. ‘Twilight Sparkle!’ she cried out.
‘I know! I know!’ Twilight said as tears began to run down her face.
‘Twilight, we are Equestrians!’ Luna said. ‘We do not get angry!’
‘I know! I know!’
‘We do not hate! We do not hurt others! We live together in perfect harmony’ Princess Luna added, stressing her final words.
‘I know! I know! I know!’ Twilight cried out as tears began to flow with full force. Twilight turned her head to look at the Princess of the Night, barely able to contain her sobs. ‘I’m sorry…’
‘It is not me that you need to apologise to,’ Luna said plainly.
Twilight nodded, before turning away from the princess, throwing open the door to the Library and running off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.
Princess Luna sighed in relief. Such thoughts were dangerous for a pony. Anger, frustration, hate, such emotions always lead to violence. Still, they had happened. This was Equestria; this was not supposed to happen here. They could not be allowed to happen here.
Princess Luna could not allow Equestria to stop being perfect. She needed to talk to her sister.