Twilight shifted uncomfortably in her seat. The train ride from Ponyville to Canterlot seemed a whole lot longer when you didn’t know what you were being summoned for. It had been the middle of the night when she received the letter, interrupting a heavy study hour. She had managed to get through all of her books, but not with a peace of mind.
It was a summons, short and simple, by Princess Luna. Without any given reason or pretense, she was being called to Canterlot that evening, and Luna had asked for her to come without attracting any attention. It was that line in and of itself that scared Twilight. Whatever Luna wanted her for, she didn’t want anyone knowing what it was.
Being one of the most recognizable unicorns in the city did not help things. On the train ride alone four ponies had said “hello” to her, and there was a long group of very confused paparazzi. They kept clicking cameras and acted like whoever they were pestering had simply disappeared. The file kept moving down the train, thankfully.
“Fame must be awful with all those ponies following you around.” Twilight expressed out loud.
“Tell me about it.”
Twilight jumped six feet. That voice had come from absolutely nowhere. “And they all want something. An autobiography, who you’re dating, how did you become famous, a candid picture. I wanted fame and fortune, not sixteen-thousand shutterflies... though I do appreciate the fame and fortune still.”
This time, Twilight recognized the voice. “Sunset?”
“Shhhh. Throw this on.” At that, a little round disk went flying at Twilight, who caught it a mere inch from her nose.
She looked it over and started it for a second. Instantly, she lost sight of herself. But she turned it off in a moment, tossing it back. “Magic holders are unstable and antiquated. There’s a reason nopony uses them.”
“They don’t have as good luck as I do.”
Twilight shook her head and simply cast the invisibility spell herself. “Me and my friends save Equestria twice and YOU got famous?”
Sunset chuckled. “Equestria needs saving every other week, ever notice?” Twilight frowned, that was something Pinkie would say. “Besides, I unleash a dubious history, refuse to show my sources, and have it be refuted by Princess Celestia herself. You never had so much scandal!”
“I can’t tell if you’re joking.”
Sunset became visible for a half-second to show her disheveled appearance. Her eyes were practically carrying purses, and her mane was messy and coated with orange flecks. The grimace on her face showed that her brilliant plans were not really going as she had hoped. “Apparently, sunglasses make you invisible but a mane dye doesn’t.”
Twilight couldn’t help but giggle. “Well a spell works too.” Both chuckled for a moment before both realized that it wasn’t all that funny.
“So, how’s your life goin’?” Sunset asked.
Twilight shifted. “I’ve been nervous. Mostly because I haven’t heard any news from the princess. There was also a whole fiasco with Applejack and her not wanting to return to Ponyville from a rodeo.”
“Oh? I’ve been... not in Ponyville for a while. What happened?”
“She had promised prize money to fix the town hall, but she didn’t win first in anything.” Twilight giggled. “Her pride was stopping her from coming back, but you should have seen the amount of ribbons she won!”
Sunset hmmed thoughtfully, and stood with a large amount of rattling as they began to pull into Canterlot. “Well, come on. Here’s our stop.”
Twilight got up and started walking down the train, trying not to trip over her own invisible hooves. “Well it was nice to talk, Sunset. Maybe we should say hello some other time.”
“Who says we aren’t going to the same place?”
Twilight laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think we are.”
She passed through the crowd of frustrated cameraponies and gossip writers, walking straight to the palace.
“You’re going to Luna to discuss unspecified matters that invariably relate to the book which has YOU publicly recognized as ‘Editor’”
Twilight jumped again, but knew not to scream. She realized that Sunset was still right beside her, but more worrisome was that she KNEW where she was going. “How did you guess THAT?”
“You were nervous, and going to the same place I was at the same time. The only reason I would ever be called on by royalty is that blasted book--unless I misread the law code regarding the statute of limitations.”
“Statute of limi-?”
“It’s been eight years! That’s more than enough time to make my record clean enough to be handled by a city court, and let’s leave it there because I think I should shut up.”
‘Yes’ Twilight thought, ‘that would be a good idea.’
The two trudged on, silently making their way through Canterlot. Twilight was not at all relieved to know why she was being called. She was walking to a meeting with somepony she may have offended by putting out false information about. Or maybe she had revealed sensitive information and would be tried for treason!
“Stop worrying, you’re leaving a trail.” Twilight looked behind her to see sweat mystically appearing on the ground in her wake. Sunset sighed. “There is nothing to fret about. Trust me.”
“You’ve had days to experience this from just newspapers. This is the princess!”
Sunset didn’t respond as they approached the palace. A royal guard walked by, and Sunset immediately tackled Twilight out of his sight. “Shh. Lose the spell.”
Twilight thought the idea was to NOT be noticed. “Why?”
“This is the royal friggin guard. If somepony could walk through with an invisibility spell, we would be in poor shape. Being visible is less conspicuous than being invisible... somehow... I guess.” Sunset materialized on top of Twilight, who followed suit.
Sunset gave a smile before scuttling back into the street that was slightly less than comfortable for Twilight being under her. Leisurely, Twilight rose and strode alongside the mare, who was rifling through her saddlebags to pull out the letter she had received from Luna. Twilight took a peek inside. “It would be easier if you cleared out these knick-knacks. Clovers, scarab tokens, sneakers... is that a painting of Clover the Clever?”
Sunset snapped the bags shut. “No, I refuse to clean it out! And yes, Clover is the patron of unicorn travelers. I need all the karma bringers I can get.”
“Luck. Good luck. None of those charms affect the superstition of karma, they affect the even sillier belief in luck.”
Sunset waved the letter’s seal in front of a guard who began to ask for identification. “To-may-toh To-mah-toh. It wards off lady karma so she doesn’t come a-calling.”
Twilight became mildly irritated as they began to ascend the steps. “It is not the same! Luck is happenstance, and karma is when you get repaid what you do. And the correct pronunciation is ‘To-may-toh.’”
Sunset put her foreleg around Twilight’s middle. “Hear that Sparks?” There was nothing. “That’s the sound of nopony caring. And do you hear THAT?” Again, no noise. “That’s the abused and unwitty retort police, so let’s hurry.”
Twilight grumbled, shuffling her hooves up the stairwell. At the top, the mage stopped in her tracks. “I- I don’t know where Luna would be.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Luna sent the message to you, Celestia’s student. Therefore, Celestia isn’t in on it. Hence, she would be where Celestia isn’t in the broad daylight: in her room doing absolutely jack... squat.” Her locket levitated the summons to Twilight. “Actually, I just got that off of the letter. Didn’t you see the P.S.?”
Twilight squinted to see a tiny note: “Please find us in our sister’s chambers.”
“I guess my vision was bad at 3 o’clock.”
“You get used to it.” Sunset gave a sly smile and began to ascend to the next level of the main tower. Twilight took over a ways up and began walking almost subconsciously to her teacher’s room. Sunset noticed how little attention she was paying to the path. “Come here often?”
“Ha ha,” Twilight grumbled. The mare was getting rather irritating. The chamber doors didn’t come soon enough. Surprisingly, there were no guards at the doors, and Twilight was able to walk right in. Inside, she saw the room in a bigger mess than she had ever seen it. Papers were scattered to and fro, and news reports about the book dotted the area.
By the fire was Luna, who was reading an actual copy of the book. Twilight stepped into view and bowed. Sunset didn’t follow suit, and just smugly looked at the princess of the night.
“Dramatized, inaccurate, and insulting,” stated the princess of the night. Twilight began to quake in fear. The princess looked up from the book. “Oh, sorry. I was reading this.” Luna levitated a page into Twilight’s view that wasn’t from the book.It was about how Luna and Marcus probably were secretly lovers.
“Pfft,” Sunset grunted, “Tabloids.”
Luna groaned too. “Anyways, ‘inaccurate’ also describes the book. Remarkably inaccurate, but I’m glad for that.”
“Really?” Twilight puzzled, “Why would you be glad?”
Thinking deeply, the princess heaved a big sigh. “Because it’s let Shahar keep her mental barriers.”
Sunset looked like she could die right then. The miserable-looking mess of her face was overflowing with joy at hearing Celestia be called “Shahar.”
“So, it is somewhat true?” Twilight was less enthused. “Then why lie?”
Parting the sea of papers, Luna stepped into the middle of the two ponies, and breathed deeply. As she did, she began to shrink, and her mane began to lose some of its power. Twilight recognized her as the Luna who had emerged from Nightmare Moon, but some magic power still remained in her young form. Her light blue mane occasionally sparkled, and her wings were still large and developed.
“Because,” Luna sighed, “Shahar wants to escape the truth. She doesn’t want power, she wants love. She doesn’t want majesty, she wants harmony. She knows what it does to a pony, and she knows what comes of it.”
Sunset nodded. “Nightmare Moon.” Luna and Twilight both looked at her in a bit of shock. “Ugh, again. All records of you two before your transformation, Li, are shattered, burnt into ashes. It’s only you and scattered warnings that even let us know of Nightmare Moon, hence that’s when Celestia saw the light so to speak.”
Luna frowned. “Are you going to do that all the time we are here?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “If what she’s been up to so far are any indication...”
“Alright alright,” Sunset sighed deeply, “I’ll shut up and let you give exposition.”
That said, Luna turned back to Twilight. “In any case, Shahar has... evaded it in several ways. And thanks to your intentional muddying of the proverbial waters, it hasn’t broken her yet.”
“How do you know it was intentional?” Sunset leaned in with a smirk.
Luna frowned. “Because there is no way Twilight Sparkle would let that AWFUL last chapter by, and you have shown no remorse about adding unneeded detail.”
Sunset winced. “Ouch.”
“Princess,” Twilight interrupted, “the thing is, we don’t know what happened. It just says Shahar was caught and Metis won.”
Luna nodded. “And that’s why you’re here, Twilight Sparkle.” She strolled to the fireplace and removed a single stone near the top. It was sealed, yet Luna removed it with ease. Twilight watched in awe as Luna pulled a midnight black box out. Carved with runes and writings in the ancient language before Nightmare Moon.
Luna slowly lifted the lid, letting a green light blast out, filling the room with an eerie luminance.
Out of that light rose a scroll. The paper was obviously made a long time ago, but it looked perfectly preserved. Luna closed the box, ridding the room of the green glow, and gently levitated the scroll to Sunset, who took it eagerly, unraveling it. It took a while of scrolling, but she finally found something that made her smile grow even bigger. “This is the end of the first scroll, but it’s not even close to the end.”
Twilight realized what it was, but Luna beat her to it. “My copy. All my records, but this time intact. Below the end of your story lies what happened next.”
Sunset glanced at Twilight in excitement and realized it was an invitation to read it. “Umm... wow! I mean... WOW!” She scrolled a few lines down to see what was next, and read out loud, adding her own dramatized flair
“Shahar awoke to her body being dragged across rubble...”