Celestia's sun shone weakly in the sky, as if just as tired as everypony in Canterlot without two mugs of coffee. It was partially blotted out by an overcast that shouldn't have been there. The Cloudsdale pegasi had recently sent a report about it to her; the cloud couldn't be moved, so they scheduled a powerful gust to blow it away later that day. "Be safe for me, Luna," Celestia asked of Luna as they walked towards a waiting carriage, Luna's luggage carried by her blue magical aura. "Komodo City should be safe for you, but the outside area is not."
"Sister, I may be younger than you, but I am no less mature," Luna reminded her. She held back a joking tone, seeing as they were in public.
She promptly noticed the two pegasi that were pulling the carriage, however. They were wearing black armor, and had a black visor over their eyes. They certainly weren't Luna's, as their wings were normal pegasus wings. "Have we changed the color of the armor that quickly?" Luna asked in confusion.
"No," Celestia explained.
She lowered her voice. "They are black operations soldiers. They only put on their black armor when they must deal with matters as secret as this."
"Oh," was Luna's only response. She understood clearly; it just felt like Celestia couldn't trust her with Equestria's deepest secrets. Then again, she had been sealed in the moon for a thousand years, during a time when those secrets didn't exist and weren't needed. The world had definitely changed around her.
"Princess," the guards bowed as the two regal ponies approached them.
"You know your instructions," Celestia said in a strict tone as Luna got on the carriage. "This may be a personal matter, but it is no less important than the missions you have trained for. Follow all of my little sister's instructions, and do not let her down."
"Yes, Princess," the guards bowed again.
Celestia turned back to Luna. "Come back soon," she said, nuzzling up to her.
"I will, sister," Luna nodded, nuzzling back.
With a silent command, the guards pulling the carriage ran forward, leaping for the sky. Luna felt herself rise as the carriage did, pulled by the passive magic of the pegasi. She looked back to see Celestia watching as they flew away. She thought she saw a tear come from Celestia's eye. One came out of Luna's, as well.
"... Guards."
"Yes, Princess?"
It was five hours into the flight, and the first few flakes of snow had begun to fall, prompting Luna to put on a coat. "What do you know about Komodo City?" she asked. "Sis- er, Princess Celestia told me you were supposed to carry out missions involving Equestria's darkest secrets. Do you know anything about this one?"
Neither of them responded for a few seconds. Luna could tell they were exchanging glances. "I'm afraid not, Princess," one of the guards finally admitted. "We were just given clearance to know about Komodo itself. For security reasons, we were only briefed on its location."
"Oh..." Luna's ears drooped.
"We will arrive in roughly two hours, Princess," the other guard reported.
He paused for a minute, and then asked, hesitantly, "Permission to speak, Princess Luna?"
"You may," Luna responded.
"I have to admit that something feels wrong," the guard continued. "We don't get much black ops work, and when we do, it's normally something very, very big."
Luna drooped her head. "Your concern is shared by all of us."
"Princess!"
Luna lifted her head, a little sleepy. "We're approaching Komodo City," the guard that woke her up informed her. "It's just over this ridge."
In an almost childish manner, Luna put her front hooves on the frame of the carriage, to get a better look at the world her sister had hid from the world. And she was in awe almost instantly. Her eyes grew wider as they flew over the ridge.
Komodo City was built into a crater in the ice. What caught her attention the fastest was the large campus directly in the middle; it almost seemed as large as the palace Luna called home. The city itself was built around it. It looked like two cities forcibly merged; some of the buildings were almost like pieces of art, with beautiful forms and vibrant colors. Those, however, clashed with the grey structures they shared the city with, which looked old and rotted with age. "It looks like they're undergoing a gentrifying process..." a guard let slip by accident. He covered his mouth in embarrassment, realizing his slip, but Luna wasn't paying attention.
The citizens below certainly took notice of her. Below them, she saw parts of the crowd bow deeply. The others simply watched. "Am I not fully respected, even here?" Luna wondered.
"Princess Luna!"
This time it wasn't one of the guards. Luna looked up to see a group of ponies circling her. All of them looked like foals... and all of them had horns and wings. Luna's jaw dropped, and she wouldn't be surprised if the guards pulling her carriage were equally surprised.
The alicorns slowly spread out into a V formation, with Luna's carriage in the middle. "Clear the runway!" the leader of them, the one in front, called down.
The crowd down below began to disperse as the alicorns slowly led the carriage down onto the asphalt road. Luna knew what it was; she had helped create asphalt. It was just very hard to produce back then. Komodo must have improved her design. The carriage landed with only the slightest of bumps, unlike in Canterlot where the landing would always be rough. Luna stepped off to see that very crowd of alicorns bowing before her. In confusion, she asked, "I thought the alicorns had died out?"
It was as if Luna had set off an emotional bomb. The crowd went straight from bowing to shouting at her. "What makes everypony think we're alicorns?!" she could have sworn she heard somepony shout at her among the ruckus.
"Enough!"
The crowd suddenly stopped, turning to the voice. Immediately, they parted, revealing another alicorn, clearly much older than any of them. This one was as blue as the ice around him, and his eyes were piercing in their gaze. "I beg your pardon for our behavior, Your Majesty," he said, walking forward to meet Luna. "We pegacorns don't take very well to being called alicorns."
Sixty questions were flying through Luna's head, but one came out. "Um... what are you, then?"
"We are known as pegacorns," the ice-blue pony explained, "the evolutionary children of both unicorns and pegasi."
Bowing his head, he introduced himself, "Night Flash, chief geneticist of Komodo University."
"You're the one Cel-, er, Princess Celestia told me about?" Luna asked.
Night Flash nodded. "Please, take me to your labs," Luna ordered.
"Princess Celestia informed me that you would be staying for a few days," Flash responded. "With all due respect, may I suggest settling in, first? I have already prepared accommodations for you, Your Majesty."
As much as she hated to have her authority subverted, Flash was right. It had been a long, cold journey, and Luna could really use some warm chocolate. Celestia wasn't kidding, she thought to herself.
"Very well," she agreed. "Please lead me there."
"This way, Your Majesty," Flash said as he took to the air, gliding through the city streets.
Luna was quick on his tail. Flapping her powerful wings, she also took to the air, motioning for her guards to follow. It felt nice to fly again, for her, and she needed little effort to catch up with the geneticist. "Can you tell me about the pegacorns, Dr. Night Flash?" she inquired.
"Gladly," Flash agreed. "Though I lack a doctorate. I am not even an adult yet."
Luna nearly fell on the ground. "You're still a colt?"
"Barely," Flash corrected. "As for the pegacorns... I am the first."
Again, Luna nearly fell out of the air. She tried her best to restrain her excitement, to be able to speak with the first of a kind. It explained why the pegacorns leading her carriage down were all children. "We are a blend of unicorns and pegasi, as I had mentioned earlier," Flash continued as they took a turn. "Were I not hybridized, I would be born a unicorn. For the power of flight, we sacrificed our strength."
He waggled one of his limp legs. Luna may not have put too much effort into the medical sciences, but she could tell they were atrophied. Flash's legs were so thin, she could have sworn she saw bone. "These accursed things are why I am forced to take to the air," he lamented. "Sometimes it reaches a point where we are confined to a wheelchair to the rest of our lives."
Luna gasped. "That bad?" she had to ask, letting her formal tone slide.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Flash confirmed. "What's even worse is that it is genetically impossible to stop it. The code that atrophies our legs is also responsible for the growth of our wings."
They stopped in front of one of the fancier buildings, colored blue with pink highlights. "Here we are," Flash said. "Welcome to-"
Flash did not have the chance to finish before a pink blur tackled him. "Oof!" he gasped as he landed in a pile of snow.
"Hey Night Flash what brings you here?" a feminine voice asked, speaking very quickly. "I already prepared the penthouse for you but you normally live in the labs so did you get tired-"
"Get OFF ME!" Flash shouted with all of his strength.
A burst of purple lightning exploded from the snow pile Flash and his attacker were buried in, sending snow everywhere. In front of her, a pink pegasus landed with a cartoonish splat, like a sleep-deprived Applejack trying to land on a see-saw. "When will you stop tackling me?!" Flash demanded, his eyes burning with anger, his teeth gritted, and his horn still sparking.
Seeing those sparks gave Luna a funny feeling. She felt a pressure in her head, as if the nobles were in front of her, squabbling again. "Ooh..." she sighed, holding a hoof to her head in pain.
"Princess Luna, are you alright?" one of the black ops guards asked.
Luna wasn't listening. Images were appearing in her head... familiar ones...
"Sister!" Luna called from the gardens.
"What is it, Luna?" a teenaged Celestia asked.
Celestia had been feeling very tired lately. She and a tiny little Luna had created Equestria nearly half a millennium ago, and Celestia herself had just finished creating their subjects, the earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns; twenty-four of them total. They were sleeping peacefully, in the same massive cradle Luna built for them. Cadence, who was created a few years ago, was watching them for Celestia. "I finally succeeded!" Luna cheered, bounding up and down. "I made my own magic!"
"You made your own spells?" Celestia asked.
"No, I made my own magic!" Luna insisted.
She pointed at a large boulder. "Can you lift that boulder, Celly?" Luna asked. "Just as a point of comparison."
"Okay..." Celestia agreed. She felt a little skeptical about what Luna was trying to prove. She may be much smarter, but she was still little.
Concentrating, Celestia began to pour magic through her horn, into the air. She willed for the boulder to move, as is the nature of magic. The rock began to glow a bright yellow, like the sun itself, and rose into the air. "And what are you going to do with it, Luna?" Celestia asked, keeping the boulder there.
"I'm going to keep it in the air, like you," Luna explained.
She didn't give her sister the chance to sigh. "I'm just going to do it differently."
Luna closed her eyes, and like Celestia, began to concentrate. However, instead of pouring magic like Celestia did, she pulsed it, sending many short bursts of power through her horn, very fast. Immediately, a burst of purple lightning leaped from her horn and hit the boulder, enveloping it in the same energy. Celestia was so shocked, she let her grip go. True to Luna's words, the boulder remained in the air, unmoving. "It's lunar magic!" Luna explained. "The magic we normally use works by directing energy to where we want it to go."
Luna carefully set the boulder down, with more finesse than her sister could ever achieve at that age. "This magic works by sending a signal through the energy instead of directing it. It's really energy-efficient!"
Celestia could not hide her pride in Luna. "I'm impressed, sister," she said, nuzzling her on the cheek. "I thought you were still too young to do stuff like that.'
"I'm only a little younger than you!"
Celestia smirked. "Ten years younger."
"So? That's not much," Luna pouted.
"You're right, it's not much compared to how long we've lived together," Celestia admitted.
"So do you think the children will use this magic eventually?" Luna asked, changing the subject.
Celestia shook her head. "I'm sorry, Luna... I don't think so."
Luna tilted her head, in confusion. "Why?" she asked.
"When I created them... I only infused them with our usual magic," Celestia admitted. "It would be impossible for them to use any other type of magic."
"Aww..."
"I'm sorry, Luna," Celestia sighed in regret. "I wish I knew of your new magic earlier."
"That's okay, Celly," Luna's face brightened up. "I'll just make my own ponies!"
Luna quickly snapped back to reality. "Princess?" the guard asked. Flash and his assailant were also on their feet, watching Luna with concern.
"Oh, I'm sorry..." Luna said. "I spaced out a little."
Night Flash had a look of skepticism on his face, the same one Celestia had in Luna's flashback, but said nothing. "It's nice to meet you Your Majesty!" Flash's pink attacker greeted, flapping her wings like a hummingbird. "I'm Pink Ribbon I'll be your host for the next few days welcome to Komodo City-"
"Ribbon," Flash hissed. "Slow down."
Blushing in embarrassment, Ribbon simply shut up, landing back on the ground. This gave Luna the opportunity to look her over. Instantly, she noticed something different about this pegasus. She was wearing a maid's uniform, like in Canterlot, but she could easily see her muscles underneath them. It was clear, however, that she didn't work out. She also couldn't help but notice a set of lighter pink patches on her flank, just like her own, darker ones. But something stood out to her, though; Ribbon lacked a cutie mark. "You're not a pegasus, are you?" Luna asked.
"Nope!" Ribbon confirmed. "I'm a chollima!"
"The children of pegasi and earth ponies," Flash explained, cutting off Ribbon before she had a chance to continue speaking. "For strength immeasurable, they are cursed with boundless energy. In Ribbon's case, it's particularly bad, as the first chollima."
"It's nice to meet you," Luna greeted, holding out a hoof.
"It's an honor to meet you Your Majesty it's a really great honor to meet you and even better to see you living here wait a minute-" Ribbon began shaking her hoof up and down very, very quickly, but then stopped to glare at Flash, getting back on the ground. "You got the penthouse for Her Majesty?"
"What do you think?" was Flash's only response.
Ribbon suddenly became worried. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh what if the penthouse isn't up to spec I'd better go double-check it!"
She darted back through the doors of the hotel, so fast that Luna was amazed the doors weren't blown off. "I beg your pardon for her behavior, Your Majesty," Flash solemnly apologized.
"It is no matter," Luna replied. Ribbon reminded her too much of Pinkie Pie.
Luna picked up her luggage, and was about to go through the hotel door when Ribbon burst back out. This time, Flash dodged her... but he wasn't Ribbon's target to begin with.
Ribbon did a hairpin turn, and plowed right into Luna's tail, pushing her through the lobby with blinding speed. "This way, Your Majesty!" she said, excited as usual.
Luna didn't have a chance to respond as she was pushed up ten flights of stairs, eventually stopping at a lone door. It was simply labeled "Penthouse". "Here's your key, Your Majesty!" Ribbon held it out. A card was dangling from it; "Velvet Hotels, Penthouse."
Still in shock from being pushed that far that fast, especially by her flank, she cautiously took the key. This pony may be innocently hyperactive, but that level of hyperactivity should be illegal. Luna made a mental note to learn some high-level sleeping spells as she turned the key in the door. It clicked open, and Luna stepped inside.
The penthouse was lavish, but clearly nothing special. It was decorated with soft blue wallpaper, and all of the doors were open, revealing that she even had her own kitchenette. It was clear that the room had been sped through, despite it being so tidy. No points for guessing which pony made short work of this room, Luna joked to herself.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of rustling. Ribbon had become a blur again, but this time she was handling Luna's luggage. "What are you doing?!" Luna nearly shouted.
Luna wasn't fast enough. Ribbon had finished unpacking all of her stuff for her; the closet door was open, revealing that all of her coats were hung up, and her spare shoes were tucked underneath them. "Are you sure those coats are enough?" Ribbon asked.
"Well, Night Flash was outside with nothing more than a jacket," Luna retorted, a little peeved about how Ribbon kept taking all of these liberties. Luna may as well have been a stone statue.
"Oh, that smartypants loves the cold," Ribbon waved a hoof. "His magic is mainly ice-based too."
That explains a lot, Luna groaned to herself.
"He likes to throw icicles at whoever bothers him while he's working," Ribbon continued. "And they fly fast! I've never been hit by them but I hear they leave holes in walls!"
"I've never heard of such a violent pony," Luna admitted as she trotted into the kitchenette. "What happened to him?"
For once, Ribbon stood still. "We... don't talk about it," she replied, almost solemnly.
"Is it that bad?" Luna asked, reaching into the fridge.
"Very," Ribbon confirmed. "Bringing it up in conversation around him is normally a death wish."
Luna pulled out some milk from the fridge. The Velvet Hotel definitely didn't want to leave their princess unprepared. "I supposed I shouldn't try to find out, then," she muttered to herself as she poured herself a glass, heating it up with a spark of solar magic.
Ribbon gave Luna a look of confusion. "Your Majesty, why do you use solar magic?" she asked.
"... I haven't used lunar magic in over 2000 years," Luna admitted. "I'm not sure if I remember how to use it."
Ribbon's ears drooped. "Oh..."
Luna had begun mixing in some provided chocolate powder when Ribbon suddenly got an idea. "Oh! Your Majesty!" she gasped. "There's somepony I'd like you to meet!"
Luna had naught a chance to even drink her hot chocolate when Ribbon plowed right into her again, this time pushing her towards a window. It flew open for them... then closed itself right behind her. "Special design for pegasus variants!" Ribbon shouted over the rush of wind. "Lets us out, keeps the heat in!"
"I'd rather you let me DOWN!" Luna shouted back.
"Look, we're there already!"
Ribbon quickly went into a nosedive. Luna screamed, thinking she would land splat on the asphalt road. At that speed, immortality would be a curse. She closed her eyes...
... and nothing happened. In fact, she felt like she wasn't moving at all. She creaked one of her eyes open, finding herself standing on the street. She was in front of a shop, called Serendipity Sewing. Bordering the elegant logo were two ponies in parkas. And inside, she could clearly see Ribbon flying around, apparently pestering somepony. The door was open, and she could hear them. “Come on, Concordia, it’s Her Majesty Luna! Don’t you want to meet her?” Ribbon tried to convince that same somepony.
“I’m… I’m just afraid…” a quiet voice replied.
“Come on, chicken! She’s not going to deep-fry you!”
“I know somepony I’m planning on deep-frying…” Luna muttered to herself, rolling her eyes.
“A-are you sure?”
“Yeah! We went flying together just to meet you!”
“I’m… I’m still not sure…”
“Oh, come on!”
“Wait, wait, wait, no!”
It was clear Ribbon was trying to push that same pony. There was a struggle going on, that much was clear. Rolling her eyes, Luna simply let herself in, closing the door behind her.
Ribbon was trying to push another, much larger pony out of her position. She was ice-blue, like Night Flash, but her mane and tail were an earthy brown. It was clear that Ribbon was losing; the other pony was not only too large, she was clearly too strong. She was wearing a dress, but her front legs were noticeably muscular. If Luna didn’t know better, she would have mistaken her for a unicorn that worked out. “Greetings,” Luna said, breaking up the fight.
Both Ribbon and Concordia stopped. While Concordia froze, Ribbon tried to introduce her. “Oh Your Majesty I’m sorry I didn’t notice you there this is Concordia the first arion-…” she began to say, but Luna cut her off.
“The first arion?” she asked, holding out a hoof for Concordia. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Concordia tried to hide her fear of the lunar alicorn, in spite of the fact that she was less than a head shorter than her liege. It suddenly occurred to Luna that Concordia was most likely stronger than even herself; Ribbon failed to even budge her, while Luna was dragged around like a rag doll.
With either care, caution, or fear, Luna couldn’t tell, Concordia held out her hoof, and they shook. “It’s… an honor… Your Majesty…” she squeaked. “C-can I get you something?”
“Why not sew Her Majesty a parka?” Ribbon suggested. “She’ll need it up here!”
Luna was just about fed up. She opened her mouth to shout at her, but Ribbon caught the movement. “Oh, that’s right, I’ve gotta go clean out the toilets!” she made a very, very fast excuse. “See you later!”
With a burst of speed, she blew her way through the door. Luna and Concordia were alone in the shop. “… How do you tolerate her?” Luna let her formal tone slide.
“I… just do…” Concordia replied. “We shared a nursery, the three of us.”
“The three of you?” Luna asked. “Including Night Flash?”
“Yes… Did you meet him?”
“Yes,” Luna answered.
“Excuse me,” Concordia quickly ducked into the back room.
Luna could hear sparks of magic from the other room. Concordia quickly came back, carrying with her all sorts of supplies; cloth, artificial fur, thread, needles, and measuring tape, among other things. It was how she was holding them that impressed Luna. Tendrils of lunar energy were arcing from Concordia’s horn into the objects she was holding. Quietly, she put everything but the measuring tape down. “Please stay still,” she quietly requested, holding out the tape.
Luna stood upright, taking her jacket off and letting Concordia take her measurements. She couldn’t feel the sparks of energy from Concordia unless the measuring tape touched her. That was one of the reasons why lunar magic was so energy efficient; unlike solar magic, lunar magic had practically no runoff whatsoever. “Do you mind telling me about the arions?” Luna asked as Concordia wrapped the tape around one of her front legs.
“Um…” Concordia tried to tell her, but it was clear her tongue was tied. “We’re… a cross between earth ponies and unicorns.”
She began to measure Luna’s waist, but accidentally brushed against her hip, making Luna shudder a bit. Luna was a little ticklish, especially there, and she struggled to hold back a giggle. Concordia, on the other hand, nearly jumped out of her skin. “Your Majesty!” she squeaked. “I’m sorry, I didn’t-“
“No, no, it’s alright,” Luna tried to calm the hybrid. “I’m just ticklish there, that’s all… You wouldn’t believe how many times Sis-er… um… yeah, Sister got me there.”
“She… did?” Concordia asked, giving Luna the impression that practically nopony thought that the Princesses actually had personal lives.
Luna opened her mouth, but suddenly, she realized something. She didn’t actually remember any of those tickle fights they used to have. She could remember that they happened, but no images came to mind, nor did she even trust those scant memories. She couldn’t even feel Celestia’s slick feathers across her waist anymore, nor could she remember that shortness of breath she felt in the aftermath. What was particularly jarring was that they were some of her happier memories, just them goofing around. “Yes,” Luna affirmed, trying to get her insecurity out of the way.
“Oh… I’m sorry anyway…” Concordia lowered her head.
“No, no, it’s not a problem at all,” Luna said. “Please, continue.”
Concordia continued in silence, draping cloth over her and expertly stitching each individual piece. Luna didn’t bother trying to start another conversation. She could easily tell that Concordia was too shy to even speak.
A couple of hours later, Concordia put the last stitch on Luna’s new parka. “Your new parka is finished, Your Majesty.”
Luna took a moment to admire Concordia’s work in the mirror. She was impressive; not a single stitch was either visible or out of place. Concordia had managed to make her parka fit perfectly, and it was decidedly warm. “Thank you, Miss Concordia,” Luna said as she reached into her parka, searching for something. “How much do I owe you?”
“That will be 100- um, 90 bits, Your Majesty,” Concordia seemed to correct herself.
Luna knew what she was really doing. She was trying to stay on her good side by cutting the price. With a small grin, Luna pulled out a hundred little gold coins. She knew that if ponies counted a sum that large, it would be normally after she left. “Here you go, Concordia,” she said, handing over the bag.
Luna had forgotten something about her own lunar magic. Unlike solar magic, it could be used to measure, not just manipulate. The second Concordia took it, she instantly noticed something was wrong. Ten bits were withdrawn from the bag, and hovered in front of Luna. “Your change, Your Majesty.”
With an extended hoof, Luna refused. “You deserve to keep it. I know few better seamstresses than you.”
Concordia was genuinely surprised. “Oh, um… thank you, Your Majesty,” Concordia said. Luna, again, couldn’t tell if it was a gasp or a sigh of relief.
“You’re welcome.”
Luna emerged from the shop. By now, night had fallen. She was still a little overtaken with the idea that she met the first of three new species in the same day. And yet, Celestia said that they might hold the key to her memory, but she only unlocked one memory; when she first showed off her lunar magic. Then again, Luna knew patience all too well.
Her eyes wandered to the massive structure the whole city was built around. Night Flash worked there, maybe he had some answers. She was about to take off when a voice stopped her. “Princess Luna!”
She turned, to see the two black ops soldiers behind her, with the chariot. “Please, allow us,” one of them said as they both moved in front of her.
Gracefully, Luna got on. “Take us to Komodo University,” she commanded.
Without a word, they set off into the air.
The flight took less than five minutes. Luna stepped off onto the cold asphalt again, still glad she got her new parka. She could easily tell the two soldiers had begun to shiver. “Do you have any money?” she asked them.
“Yes, Princess,” they both replied. “Do you need it?”
“No,” she responded. “Go back to the street we came from. There’s a shop called Serendipity Sewing, and a young ari-…”
Luna stopped herself. She wasn’t sure they knew what an arion was. “A young unicorn with a blue pelt and brown hair will make you some more appropriate clothes. Ask for Concordia. I will reimburse you. Meet me back at the Velvet Hotel.”
“Yes, Princess,” they replied in unison, seemingly relieved that they could get out of the cold.
Luna moved out of their way as they flew off. She turned back to Komodo University. In front of her was a massive gate, which was wide open. Nopony was coming in or out, but she could see plenty of students and professors walking back and forth. As Luna went inside, she was quick to notice that none of them, as far as she could tell, were hybrids. Then again, most of them were adults, and Flash, the first pegacorn, was just below stallionhood. She took a couple of tentative steps into the main plaza, and then realized something.
She had no idea where Night Flash’s office was.
Luna looked around, hoping to see some type of directory. A voice piped up behind her. “Do you need something, Your Majesty?”
Luna turned to see a young, purple pegasus standing below her. He was surprisingly young, and was carrying a pair of saddlebags that were filled to the brim with papers. Luna wanted to assume he was a pegasus, but his leg muscles said otherwise; the colt was a chollima. The fact that he called Luna ‘Your Majesty’ tipped her off. “Yes,” she answered. “Do you know where Night Flash’s laboratory is?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he nodded. “Please, this way.”
Luna expected him to take off into the air. Instead, he simply began trotting to the eastern section. She followed him, her long legs allowing her to catch up with no effort whatsoever. Or so she would like to believe. For such a young pony, this colt was an abnormally fast walker. “Please tell me,” she began a conversation. “You are a chollima, is that correct?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the colt nodded. “Most ponies either mistake me for, or blatantly call me, a pegasus, but I simply brush it off and let them have their fun. It matters not to me.”
“Aren’t chollima hyperactive?” Luna asked. That fact had not gone unnoticed by her.
“Not me,” the colt replied. “I was once, but I calmed down ever since. Even still, however, it takes a lot of restraint for me to stay like this. I have to let it out once in a while.”
“How?” Luna wondered.
“With all due respect, Your Majesty… do I look like the type of pony who would go snowboarding?”
That was the last thing she expected. “No…” she answered. “In fact, I would think you had no interest in sports whatsoever.”
The colt grinned. “It is, for all intents and purposes, a requirement of being a chollima. Either that, or we cause mass destruction.”
Then he realized something. “Oh, heavens. I failed to introduce myself.”
He stopped, and held out a hoof cordially. “My name is Illusion. I study law here at Komodo University. It is an honor to serve you.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Illusion,” Luna shook his hoof.
They continued on their way as they entered the Princess Mi Amore Cadenza Center of Biomedical Research. “Cadence has a building named after her here?” Luna slipped as they entered through the double doors.
“All princesses do, Your Majesty,” Illusion explained as they went through a second pair of double doors.
The inside was massive. It was built around a central, open space, and reached at least ten stories high. In the middle was a statue of Cadence, standing proud and tall. “You should see yours, Your Majesty,” Illusion beamed a little. “One is in the main courtyard. The other is located in the Her Majesty Luna Center for Mechanical Design.”
“Fitting,” Luna admitted. She loved the mechanical sciences; that must not have been lost on Celestia. “And what about Princess Celestia?”
Illusion began to lead her up flights of stairs. “That would be the Princess Celestia Center for Mystical Research,” he answered.
Makes sense, Luna thought to herself. She was always... interested in the magical arts.
They reached the fifth floor. “Flash’s lab is on this floor,” Illusion said. “I would be careful as you enter, Your Majesty.”
“He has a tendency to throw icicles at intruders?”
“… Yes, Your Majesty.”
They stopped in front of a door that had tinted glass on it. Luna could feel a cold breeze drifting under it. “Refrigeration?” Luna wondered. “I thought this building was for biomedical research.”
“It is,” Illusion answered.
Illusion knocked on the door. There was no reply. “Professor Flash?” Illusion called through the door. “Her Majesty is here to see you.”
The door creaked open, and a blast of cold air rolled out, making Luna’s dark coat stand on end, parka or not. Night Flash came out, as if his lab wasn’t a degree colder than the rest of the building. “Good evening, Your Majesty,” he greeted coolly. “I trust you are settled into Komodo City?”
“Yes, I am,” she responded. “Although I disapprove of your friend Pink Ribbon.”
“I never was too fond of her myself,” Flash responded. “Please, come in.”
Flash moved aside, to allow Luna in. Luna was very surprised; the lab was nothing she expected it to be. She knew for a fact that most labs were cramped, but Flash’s was spacious. He had placed all of his equipment in a neat row in the back. She didn’t need to look to tell that every machine was designed for multiple purposes, giving Flash some measure of efficiency. What she did notice, though, was that Flash had brought a bed into the lab. “You live here?” Luna asked.
“I have no home of my own,” Flash answered.
Luna could not help but become curious. The chief geneticist of Komodo University was homeless? “What happened to your parents?” she asked.
Instantly, the room got much colder. Luna could see the anger in Flash’s face at the mere mention of his parents. Luna looked down to see ice forming at Flash’s hooves. Was that the subject that would end in me getting skewered? Luna thought. “… Nevermind,” she tried to defuse him. “So, tell me about how hybridization works.”
Wordlessly, Flash stepped away, his hooves snapping free of the ice his anger generated. A spark of magic shot forward from his horn, leaping towards some files. Pulling it over, he began to explain, "Hybridization is a delicate process," he explained. "Junk DNA must be pulled out-"
Luna suddenly lost concentration. She felt that same pressure in her head, from when she first met Ribbon. Her vision began to blur, and she held a hoof to her head as the pain increased. She could see Flash tilt his head and say something, probably asking about her, but she couldn't hear him. Her vision eventually blurred into something else as images forced themselves into her head...
In a well-lit room, Luna was hard at work doing something to a vial of red liquid. Purple electricity, lunar magic, was shooting from her horn into the test tube. Celestia came in, with a tray of food. Luna's favorite; mashed potatoes with gravy. There were a couple of moon pies next to it. "Luna?" Celestia asked as she set the tray down.
In surprise, Luna dropped the vial. It clattered onto the desk, but as it was corked, nothing came out. "Is that... blood?" Celestia asked.
Luna sheepishly grinned, turning to her sister. "It was a donation," she explained awkwardly.
Celestia had always been a little queasy around blood, even her own. Luna knew that all too well, and quickly put it away. "You've been here for three days," Celestia said. "I know the... what was it again?"
"Hybrids."
"I know the hybrids mean a lot to you," Celestia continued, "but please don't let them consume you. I'm wondering if I even have a sister."
Luna lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Tia," she apologized. "I... I've been a little crazy about making the hybrids, especially after seeing your ponies spreading all around the world these past 500 years..."
Celestia nuzzled her, to Luna's surprise. "I know how you feel," she tried to comfort her. "And your work is noble; there is no question about it. To be honest... I cheated a little. I created the ponies out of magic. But you chose to make your own ponies, out of science."
Luna smiled. "You never held much faith in science."
"I never truly understood it," Celestia admitted. "How do you do it?"
"In everything that's alive, there's something called DNA," Luna explained. "It's basically the organism's unique blueprint. That's why no two ponies are the same, and why foals look like their parents."
"And you're trying to manipulate these blueprints?" Celestia asked, sitting down.
"Yeah," Luna responded. "There's a specific part of DNA that controls what species a pony is born as."
Luna pulled out a scroll, this time using solar magic, and unrolled it. All Celestia could see written on it was lines of seemingly random As, Cs, Gs, and Ts. To Luna, however, they were a puzzle she was trying to solve. "These are the lines of code that result in earth ponies," Luna explained. "The vial I was staring at had pegasus blood in it. Blood has a full copy of a pony's DNA in it."
"And you're trying to discover that code?" Celestia asked.
"Yes," Luna replied. "I have to sift through and compare a lot of code, in an attempt to isolate which gene does what. This is the twenty-fourth sample I've tested, and I've burned through less than half of the control's DNA."
Celestia's head began to swim. "How much DNA does a pony have, anyway?" she asked.
Without a word, Luna reached into a drawer, pulling out one of the thickest scrolls Celestia had ever seen. With a flick of magic, she let the scroll unwind, falling to the floor. It landed with a thump, and Celestia moved out of the way to let it continue. It rolled out the door and down a whole hallway, falling off a balcony. Celestia's jaw fell with it. The scroll was covered in those As, Cs, Gs, and Ts as well, but hundreds more of them. "I'm amazed I managed to find out what the earth pony code is in two days," Luna admitted. "I still need to decode pegasus and unicorn DNA."
"Now I know why you sealed yourself away for three days straight. Have you been sleeping in here?" she asked.
"No," Luna responded. "I went to bed this morning."
"You've worked for two straight days?" Celestia nearly gasped.
"Yeah..." Luna admitted. "I didn't feel sleepy."
Celestia smiled. That was the exact excuse she would use if she was procrastinating on her own political work. "Come on, silly filly," she said, picking up Luna magically. "Your kingdom awaits."
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Luna struggled as she was lifted off the ground, her limbs flailing.
Celestia took the tray with her as she carried Luna out. With a quick spark of power, Luna quickly rolled the giant scroll up, spinning it at an incredible speed as it snapped back into place. "You're sitting at the table with us," Celestia grinned.
Luna smiled back, blushing. She was getting sick of that room, anyway.
Luna was suddenly pulled back to reality when she felt the cold touch of ice on her sensitive flank. "Eep!" she gasped as she literally jumped, landing with a thump.
She looked back up to see Night Flash with a blunt icicle held magically, and another pony she didn't recognize. He was a cobalt blue, with alternating stripes of dark blue and cyan in his mane and tail. He was wearing a white jacket, too, and his cutie mark was a red cross. Immediately, Luna pegged him as another arion; his size gave him away. "Are you alright, Your Majesty?" he asked.
"Yes... I think I am..." she sighed, getting up. "What happened?"
"You collapsed midway through my explanation about hybridization," Flash explained. "I had to lift you onto my bed. Honestly, I thought you were having a seizure, Your Majesty."
"No, no..." Luna sat up straight. I should tell them, she thought to herself. "Do you know the reason why I am here?"
Flash and the other pony exchanged glances. "I am suffering from... a loss of memory," she explained, lowering her head. "My memories have begun to slip away... my happiest ones. Princess Celestia suggested I come here, to see if the hybrids can help restore my memories."
Again, they exchanged glances. "MRI?" the blue pony asked Flash.
"That and a blood test," Flash added. "We don't have enough information as to the cause. It could be pathological for all we know, not neurological."
"I'll prepare the open air machine," the blue pony offered. "I don't think Her Majesty's horn is going to fit in the usual MRIs."
He quickly trotted out of the room. Flash, on the other hand, reached into a drawer and pulled out an empty bottle with a needle on it. Luna instantly knew what it was for. "Should I mention that I've never had a needle poked into me before?" she asked.
"There is a first time for everything, Your Majesty. Now please, stay still."
Luna lay on her back as a mobile table slowly pushed her into a ring-shaped machine. Her flank still felt really uncomfortable, like there was still something inside of it that shouldn't be there. She also had to be shaved just to put a bandage on it. In short, it was embarrassing.
Luna's head was soon surrounded by the machine. "We're beginning the scan, Your Majesty," that blue-coated pony informed her. "Please stay still."
I'm going to kill the next pony who says that to me, Luna thought.
The machine began to hum. Luna thought that she would feel at least some form of magical interference, but she felt nothing. The machine was simply humming around her. I take it back, Luna thought. This isn't that bad. Shooting Star lives.
As quickly as it began, the machine suddenly stopped humming, and the table retreated, pulling her with it. Shooting Star poked his head into the room. "Scan's complete, Your Majesty!" he reported, coming in. "Let me help you off that."
"Thank you, Shooting Star..." Luna replied as the arion helped her down, acting as a stepping stool. Luna was quick to notice how Shooting Star held up against her weight, not that she was fat. Arions were truly the children of earth ponies and unicorns.
"Please, call me Comet, Your Majesty," Comet insisted. "It's not as much of a mouthful as Shooting Star."
"Very well, Comet," Luna conceded. "So, do you know what's wrong with me?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm an undergrad," Comet apologized. "A medical professor needs to see the MRI scans before a diagnosis can be made. Your blood tests will also take a while, sometimes as long as 24 hours."
“Oh…” Luna sighed. “Is there anything else that needs to be done while we wait?”
Comet leaned slightly. “Um… I’m not sure.”
Then, he realized something. “Oh, right! There’s something I think you should see while you’re here. It might help with your memories. Did Professor Flash tell you?”
“… about what?” Luna had to ask.
“… oh, right, level 20 security matter, can’t say over a magically-transmitted letter,” Comet sighed sarcastically. “Doesn’t he have any faith in his own magic?”
That clicked in her head. “Oh, that,” she realized. “Yes, I would like to see it. It is almost insulting that Professor Flash is too afraid to let even Princess Celestia know of it.”
“And…” Comet sighed, losing his positivity, “with good reason. Its codename is Apotheosis. Please, come with me, Your Majesty. I’m not sure you’ll like it.”
“Here we are, Your Majesty.”
The two of them were standing in front of a pretty large townhome. It was one of the older buildings, but it was clear that somepony was sprucing it up, as it wasn’t so gray. “Can’t say I like the newer apartments,” Comet commented. “Stone is the way to go. Nice and warm.”
Comet pulled a key from his pocket, but the door opened by itself. “Princess Luna!” a blue unicorn greeted, emerging from the warm house. Luna was quick to assume that she was Comet’s mother. “Please, come in!”
“Thank you,” Luna replied as Comet’s mother moved aside for her.
Luna ducked her head to avoid the top of the door frame. She would never get used to civilian structures. In Celestia’s case, she had to teleport into buildings instead. “Can I get you anything, Princess?” Comet’s mother asked, with a grin that seemed… too wide. Luna, again, was no empath, but it was clear that Comet’s mother was clearly quaking in her boots.
“No thank you,” Luna replied.
Comet walked over to his mother and whispered something. Instantly, her eyes went wide. “I’ll go get her,” she replied, trotting off.
“Her?” Luna wondered, looking at Comet.
Comet didn’t get a chance to respond. Instantly, a cobalt blue blur, like the color of Comet’s own coat, came bounding down the stairs. It came directly to a stop right in front of Luna, turning out to be what looked like a little pegacorn filly. Her mane and tail were curled extremely tight, for some reason. “Hi!” she grinned, clearly oblivious to Luna’s status.
“Twinkle,” Comet warned as his mother came down. “This is Her Majesty Luna, Princess of Equestria. You should call her that.”
“She is?” Twinkle looked at Comet with confusion, then back at Luna. “Don’t you normally wear a lot more tech on you?”
“Twinkle here is referring to the statues of you in the university,” Comet explained. “Have you seen them?”
“No…” Luna admitted. “A chollima told me about them, though.”
Suddenly, Twinkle jumped up, and hovered in the air ever so briefly with her wings. This gave Luna a chance to look her over. She had wings and a horn, and here, pegacorns had wings and a horn. The odd thing out was that pegacorns’ legs were atrophied. Hers weren’t. “Let me go get Blaze! She’ll be so happy to see you!” she offered.
In a flash, she was off, dashing back up the stairs. “… You took me here to show me your little sister?” Luna growled, thinking she had been duped.
Wordlessly, Comet pulled out some sort of device, with a glass pane on it. Although he simply looked like he was staring at it, clicking sounds were coming from it. Luna realized that he was operating the device using magic. He turned it around, showing her a message on it. She couldn’t believe what he wrote on it.
DO NOT REACT. MY LITTLE SISTER IS APOTHEOSIS. THE FOURTH ALICORN OF EQUESTRIA.
Instantly Luna knew the gravity of the situation. Why Night Flash was so hesitant to send that information in a letter. Why Comet claimed that he’d be killed for revealing their secret. Why his mother was so scared when she laid eyes on her. “Are you going to take her?” Comet’s mother whimpered.
Luna shook her head. “She is not going anywhere,” she declared.
The tension in the corridor practically disappeared. Luna could see Comet’s mother’s legs go weak. Tears began to well up in her eyes. It was clear that years of stress and worry were lifted off her. “T-thank you…” she tried to hold down her sobbing.
Comet seemed equally relieved. “Please don’t tell her,” he said as he helped her mother into the living room.
Luna nodded as they trotted away. Her attention turned to back up the stairs. She took light steps as she walked up them, remembering a moment where a flight collapsed on her. There were days she hated being an alicorn.
Luna came up to the second floor. She could hear sounds of activity coming from down the hallway, from a room with its door ajar. “Come on, Twinkle, you need to dress up for the Princess!” another voice said, amongst sounds of protest and struggle.
“Ow ow ow! Stop! That hurts, Blaze!” Twinkle replied.
Luna nudged open the door to see two fillies struggling with each other. Twinkle was the victim of another filly, this one with an absurdly long mane and tail, who was trying to put her in a dress. Luna coughed, causing them both to stop where they stood. “Oh, um… Good evening, Your Majesty?” the long-maned filly, who Luna assumed to be Blaze, greeted.
“Good evening,” Luna smiled.
The two of them instantly untangled from each other. “What brings you here, Your Majesty?” Twinkle asked.
Twinkle had a point. It was… rare, to say the least, for a princess to visit a civilian home. “I’m here to visit the hybrids,” Luna half-lied, sitting down at the little table in the middle of the room. “I once tried to create them, but I couldn’t.”
Blaze and Twinkle looked at each other, then turned their attention back to Luna. “How are hybrids made, anyway?” Twinkle asked.
Luna smiled. This would be an interesting night.
As the stars twinkled in the night sky, there was only one soul in Komodo University, Night Flash himself. He was waiting for a centrifuge to finish spinning when he heard a loud crash. He didn’t even flinch as he looked up. “What in Her Majesty’s name is that?” he wondered as he left the room.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a portal of flame opened, and out came what looked like a pegasus… with wings on fire. It trotted over to a nearby set of filing cabinets, and tried to open one of them. It only clattered against the lock. Seemingly desperate, it suddenly breathed a quick burst of fire, melting the lock immediately. Quickly, it began to sift through all of the folders, before pulling one out.
PROJECT APOTHEOSIS