//------------------------------// // Pericynthion // Story: Moonbeam // by Laurence Brown //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle awoke to a pale nimbus of light and a soft voice gently calling her name over and over. Slowly opening her eyes, it took her a few seconds to realize that the light came not from a lamp or the moon but a unicorn's horn. And the voice that was calling her was… "Princess Celestia!" Gasping, Twilight sat up, suddenly very awake. "Your Highness, I'm sorry, I didn't know that you would be…" Shaking her head, Celestia brought Twilight's apology to an end. "There is no need to be sorry. It is I who should apologize to you, and not just for entering your house and waking you up at such an early hour." The princess paused to look at Spike the dragon, still soundly asleep. "Let us move downstairs, so that we don't wake him up." At Twilight's nod, the two silently walked down to the main floor. The area was still in the half-cleaned state that Twilight had left it following the party. The discoveries that Spike had made in the book after everyone had left had brought all of Twilight's cleaning efforts for the night to a halt. Twilight waited for Princess Celestia to continue, but instead the regal alicorn simply stood, gazing at the room with a look that Twilight couldn't decipher. "Your Highness, what… what can I do for you?" she asked, hoping to spur her ruler into talking. Celestia magicked a party party streamer to float in front of her face. "Twilight Sparkle, I need to ask you a favor. I need to talk to somepony about all of this." Celestia turned to face Twilight. "I need your help, your advice. Very few know that Princess Luna is missing. And you are the only one who has found a copy of the spellbook. Add to that the fact that you have actually seen her, I feel that only you can help me decide what I am going to do." "Are you here to take her back to Canterlot?" asked Twilight, astonished that Princess Celestia was coming to her for help. "I don't know." Celestia started to pace about the room slowly. "When I received your message earlier tonight, that was my first thought. Finding out that she had cast such a dangerous spell, that she had failed to tell me what she was doing outside of a vague letter… I was flying as fast as I could to get here, wanting to scold her, yell at her. Also, to comfort her and hug her tight so that she couldn't run off again." "But now?" asked Twilight. "But now that I have had time to consider my actions, I don't know. To say that Princess Luna's time back in Canterlot since Nightmare Moon's defeat has been difficult would be to put it mildly." Celestia sighed. "I've been forced to watch her try time and time again to help others, attempt to make friends, to try to do anything of assistance for any pony and always be rebuffed. The specter of Nightmare Moon is something that can't be forgotten or overcome so quickly, it seems. And there is only so much I can do without becoming a tyrant. I can't force them to like her. Telling others that they MUST forgive her, that they HAVE to be nice to her would in the end only make things worse." Tears started to well up in Celestia's eyes. "I love her so very much, but if things were so bad that she felt she had to go these extremes, to run away from everything and try to start over from practically nothing… Do I have the right to force her to come back to that kind of abuse, that level of hatred?" 'Whoa, what have I gotten myself into?' Twilight thought as she absorbed her ruler's words. Seeing that Celestia was waiting on her, she hemmed and hawed while she tried to come up with something. "Well, I guess it comes down to several factors. First of all, is she needed for anything? Does she have any roles in the government that she has to fill?" Gasping, she asked, "Are you still able to raise the moon for her? I haven't even thought to look at the night sky!" Celestia nodded. "I am still responsible for raising both the sun and the moon. Luna did not feel ready to resume that responsibility yet. If the truth is to be told, there is still a lot of resistance to her taking over that task again by much of the nobility. For them, it is still too soon after the events of the Summer Sun Festival, and they do not wish to risk a repeat of that happening again. As for other roles, no. During the thousand years she spent on the moon, any other tasks that were her responsibility were quickly filled by others. I doubt that any of the ponies currently doing those jobs are even aware of where those duties originated." Twilight nodded. "Okay then. During the past couple of days, has Luna's absence caused any problems?" Celestia shook her head. "No. Besides one or two other ponies that Luna had managed to win over, the rest are just going about things business as usual. The simple declaration that I made, that Luna was away studying, was sufficient. In fact, it worked too well, too easily for my liking." Twilight paused to consider her next question, and then cautiously asked, "Besides the possibility of Luna remaining as an earth pony forever, is there any other danger to her staying in her disguise for now?" Celestia considered the query. "In your letter, you were incorrect about one thing. I missed it at first too, although what you wrote led me to figure out the truth. The disturbance that we felt, which was caused by the spell that she cast, was not because she had the wings of a pegasus. Or, rather, it would not have caused the disturbance to have been felt over the entirety of Equestria, and…" "Wait, it was felt everywhere? Not just here in our area?" interrupted Twilight. "Correct. In order for something to cause such a disturbance, it had to have been something of a much greater magnitude. You were on the right track, you just failed to realize that there was something else that Luna possessed that an earth pony does not." Celestia waited to see if her prized pupil could puzzle it out. And after a few seconds, Twilight did. "Do, do you mean, the spell stripped her of her IMMORTALITY? Is that even possible?" "Yes. If she should stay as an earth pony under that spell, she will age and die just like any other earth pony. Also, should she choose to have children, they too will have no trace of divinity in them. That, the removal of something so primal from her essence, is what caused unicorns in every corner of Equestria to notice her casting that spell." Twilight's hindquarters hit the floor with a thud. "I'm, I'm going to need a moment to let that sink in, I think," her voice sounding as if it came from across a large chasm, registering in echoes to her reeling mind. "Take as much time as you need." Celestia turned to look around the room. Spying a balloon hiding in the corner, she slowly walked over to it. After a while, she asked, "Tell me, is Luna… is she happy?" Still stunned speechless from the previous revelation, Twilight could only answer with a nod of her head at first. After a few seconds, she spoke, softly but with growing conviction. "Yes. She already has some friends too. They came to the party with her, and… And you should have seen it. Things starting going downhill for her, and her friends were getting into problems they couldn't get out of on their own. And yet she found a way through it. She helped them all out. You would have been proud of her." Finally regaining her full composure, Twilight stood back up, her decision made. "Princess Celestia, is there any other information that I need to know?" Pausing to consider, Celestia said, "No. I have shared everything with you that I can think of." "Then I think it comes down to one thing. What is best for Luna?" Twilight asked. "Is it more important that she be brought back to Canterlot and continue to try to fit in there, or would her being here in Ponyville for a time be better for her?" Celestia considered the question for a while. "I don't know. I honestly don't know." The Princess's voice was raw, filled with anguish. "Then, consider this," Twilight took a deep breath. "If neither option is obviously better than the other, why eliminate either path? The choice for Luna to return to Canterlot is always there. If she leaves Ponyville now, will she ever have the chance to return to her current situation?" "So, you advise me to wait then?" "Why not? It isn't like this hasn't happened before." Twilight stated. "Oh?" Celestia gave Twilight a questioning look. "I seem to recall, a short while ago, a certain unicorn who had no friends and was sent to Ponyville to make some." Twilight gave her ruler a small grin. "I think she did all right for herself." Celestia sank to her knees, and tears streaked her face. "I, I just wish that I could have done better for her!" she cried. "I did everything that I could, and still, and still…" Twilight moved over and nuzzled the Princess, doing what little she could to comfort her. "Was there anything I could have done different? Is this my fault?" Celestia asked, her voice wracked with grief. "I don't think it is anypony's fault," Twilight replied softly. "I think the whole thing is just one terrible situation, and I don't see any easy answers. It seems like every option is a bad one in some way. I wish I could tell you what the right choice was, but I can't. I don't know if anypony can." The two of them stayed there, leaning into each other, for quite some time. Finally, Princess Celestia stood, her composure mostly regained. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. Thank you. For now, I will do as you suggest and let things stand. I fear what could happen. I dread what will happen should she decide to reveal herself. But at least here, for now, she has made friends. And there is always time for her to change her mind. She must know this too; I can't see her choosing to stay as an earth pony forever. I have to trust that she has a plan. I just wish that she had shared it with me. That's the part that hurts the most. "I have two favors to ask of you, Twilight." Celestia continued. "The first is that you keep her identity a secret, and keep me updated on her. Let me know if things get too rough for her. I will drop everything to come to her aid should she need it." "Of course, your Highness." "The second is a selfish one. Could you please show me where she is? I don't want her to know I was here, I… I just want to see her, so I can know that she is doing okay." Seeing Twilight nod, Celestia led the way out of the library. It was still a few hours before sunrise, and Ponyville was silent. No other ponies were about at this hour, and the two moved through town without being seen or heard. Finally, Twilight pointed at the house where Luna was. Thanking her pupil one last time, Celestia waited for Twilight to leave before flying up to a window to look inside. She could only make out a shadowy outline of a pony in bed, under the covers except for a head turned away from her, but apparently sleeping soundly. It reminded Celestia of their first night back in Canterlot. It had been a whirlwind of a day in Ponyville, and by the time the two of them had returned to the royal castle, Luna looked ready to fall asleep standing up. Guiding her to Celestia's own bedroom, there hadn't been time to make one up for Luna yet, Celestia had tucked her in. She had watched as Luna sleepily thanked her, and then promptly fell asleep. Celestia had stood there for almost an hour, just looking at her, happy to finally have her back in her life. And now, after such a short time together, they were once again apart. Not as far as they had been, she thought, but the distance still felt almost insurmountable. Celestia still wasn't certain if this was the right choice, or even a wise one. But for every doubt, every flaw small and large she saw, one reason trumped them and made them, at least for tonight, inconsequential. 'She's happy here,' she thought. 'I know she was in Canterlot when she was with me, but I couldn't be there for her nearly as much as I wanted to. As I needed to, it seems.' Celestia flew around the house once, and then started the journey back to Canterlot. 'Goodbye, Luna. I'll do my best to stop into town as much as I can. So that I can look in and see how you are doing. So I can remember the good times we had, and think on the ones we will have again when you decide to return. So I won't forget you.' 'So you won't forget me.' It was a long flight home.