//------------------------------// // Ups and Downs // Story: Luna's Librarian, Twilight's Moon // by TheLastBrunnenG //------------------------------// Luna lied. It had been scarcely two weeks ago, and it was the sort of tiny white lie which seemed inconsequential at the time, but there it was. Truth was starting her in the face, illuminated in her very own moonlight, and there was little use denying it. Twilight Sparkle did not, in fact, as Luna had so loudly and recently claimed, have the finest flank she’d seen in generations. Though now that it was pointed in her general direction, Luna decided it may have been a partial truth after all. Perhaps it was the finest flank she’d laid eyes on in the last thousand years, given that the moon had not been particularly teeming with eligible ponies, or it may instead have been the most stunning ex-librarian rump in recent history. What it most certainly was, however, was wriggling free of a shoulder-deep mound of dirt and weeds. “Twilight Sparkle, thy landings are most unconventional,” she chuckled, “though charming in their own way, depending on one’s… point of view.” “Thersh isnerht herppn, Lerrna!” Twilight mumbled, shaking her head and spitting out a mouthful of pebbles and grass before repeating, “This isn’t helping, Luna!” “Oh, it hath it helped most greatly,” Luna grinned, “for my mood hath lightened considerably since the Night Court’s early adjournment. Twilight, thou wouldst not believe how many bureaucrats have petitioned for a public revealing of the so-called ‘alicorn spell’.” Twilight glared at the smirking Moon Princess. “Remind me again why we aren’t conducting flight training in the daytime where I could, oh, maybe, see what I’m – “ “See what thou art crashing into? Learn in the night, Twilight, and thy daylight flights shall be all the more skillful.” Luna’s toothy grin withdrew into a smile as she fluttered her own indigo wings. “Also, it would not do to have the general populace observe their newly crowned Evening Alicorn and Princess of Magic carving apart the Canterlot landscape using naught but her head.” “Thy training fell to me for more practical reasons, of course,” Luna continued as Twilight’s lips curled into a tiny, quivering snarl. “For Celestia’s wings are far different than ours – great spreading wings they are, griffon-like, and ideally suited for soaring on daytime thermals. Cadance, of course, must needs return to her duties in the Crystal Empire, and she has never been the most apt of fliers.” Walking to the smaller alicorn’s side, Luna brushed a cloud of dust and earth off Twilight’s ruffled lavender wings. Flexing her own wings wide, she sat back and said, “Thy wings are like unto mine own, Twilight. They are compact and powerful, suited for speed and maneuverability. I suspect that in time you will supplement your flight abilities as I do – with magic.” Twilight’s head snapped up, eyes wide, and she inhaled sharply. “Magic? You mean, all this time what you’ve been showing me isn’t natural flight? What spells are you using? I didn’t sense any enchantment residue, and I - “ Luna held a hoof to Twilight’s muzzle and shook her head. “Calm yourself, Twilight. I have shown you only that which mine own wings grant, no more. Verily, 'tis most important that you first learn unaided flight before you begin enchanting your each and every feather.” Leaning close, she narrowed her eyes and dropped her voice to ask, “Surely thou art not considering a spell to leave a trail of purple sparks in thy wake?” Recoiling a muzzle’s length, Twilight stammered, “N… No, of course not! That’d be silly.” She turned away from the other alicorn’s piercing gaze for a few long seconds, then glanced back and said, “They’d have been lilac, not purple.” “Indeed!” chuckled Luna as she stretched first her forelegs, then her rear legs, as if she were a winged and starry-maned cat. “I will teach you flight magics as your lessons progress. Speed, maneuver, endurance, elemental resilience - all may be enhanced to the benefit of the flier.” Twilight raised an eyebrow and wrinkled her muzzle. “I’ve never heard of magic like that. If those spells are so straightforward, why doesn’t every pegasus ask a friendly unicorn to cast them? Come to think of it, why aren’t the Wonderbolts practically glowing?” Cracking her neck, Luna stared up into her midnight heavens. “Thou hast never heard of such because they are the sole purview of alicorns. The natural magic of pegasi interferes with such enchantments, as does that of earth ponies and unicorns. We, as you may have guessed, are not bound by such mortal restrictions.” Twilight sidled closer to Luna, staring intently at the midnight-blue wings as she murmured, “So do you use the flight spells constantly?” “Nay. Sorceries of flight are difficult to maintain. They are best used in situations of dire flight or desperate fight,” Luna said. Clearing her throat and keeping her gaze skyward, she added, “Or when making unannounced long-distance flights to visit one’s mistress.” Moonlight failed to hide the younger alicorn’s sudden blush. “Do you make these ‘unannounced flights’ often?” “Nay, not since thy coronation,” Luna smiled. “The flight to thy suite in Canterlot Castle is but a short one." Glancing down, she winked and added, "And 'tis possible my wife may disapprove.”