Twilight came to on a couch, a throbbing headache developing behind her eyes. As she sat up, she noticed that she wasn’t in her library anymore. The high arched windows in front of the couch looked out on Canterlot, the beautiful capitol of Equestria, the sun harshly shining on the fall morning. She had no recollection of ever going there, so she logically concluded that Luna must have brought her there while she was still unconscious. The décor in the room further supported her assumption.
The carpet in the center of the center of the room was covered in the current celestial constellations that could be viewed that night, and the roof was those constellations that wouldn’t be seen until spring. A scale model of the celestial bodies lay on a large desk beside a smaller writing desk, covered in paperwork and inkwells, as well as no small number of blue quills. On either side of the room behind Twilight and behind her was a staircase, one ascending and one descending down towards the Palace. A soft silk blanket was laid over her, patterns of stars twinkling in the enchanted embroidery.
Though there was no windows open at the time, Twilight felt a light breeze churning in the room. Figuring it was just another spell Luna had cast on the tower, she pulled the blanket off her and stood, stretching like a cat, yawning in an attempt to wake herself up. Her wings unfurled, nearly knocking over a lamp on the nightstand beside the couch. While her attention was focused on the stand, she noticed a note, covered in the Princesses’ trademark cursive font.
‘Twilight, I’m asleep upstairs if you need me. Spike is down in the palace, probably in the kitchen, knowing him. Celestia is in the tower opposite mine, and I recommend you exercise caution if you leave my quarters. In my desk, third drawer down, there is an amulet that renders you invisible to most. This will not help against my sister, though. Avoid her at all costs, or you might be in a lot of trouble. If you wish to go back to Ponyville, you may do so at your leisure. Just don’t forget to stay out of sight.
Luna’
Twilight set the note down, wondering why Luna needed to sleep, but she didn’t. After all, she hadn’t slept for the last week or so up until last night when she fainted. Maybe it was something that she didn’t need, so much as she craved. Like food, or water, or even breathing. She didn’t need any of those things anymore, but there was something about them that reminded her of who she used to be. The mare couldn’t help but wonder what else an alicorn could live without. It seemed most basic necessities for life didn’t apply to her anymore. Only the little things, like company, seemed to make the list. Without company she had nearly fallen apart. Maybe the needs that she thought had been erased were simply changed.
Keeping that in mind, she trotted over to the desk, opening the third drawer down on the left side. A small jade heart on a string clattered noisily to the front of the drawer, seemingly useless. Twilight had learned through prolonged experience with magic that an enchantment can make even the most petty object remarkable in some way or another. She picked it up and tied it around her neck in a bow, seeing there was no clasp or hook on the string. She looked down at herself, still completely visible. Then she realized that, obviously, if Celestia could see through most illusion spells, so could she. In order to confirm that she was invisible the mare conjured a mirror. When she saw there was no reflection, she nodded, making sure to thank Luna the next time she saw her.
Eager to explore the castle, she hurried down the steps leading to the back of the palace. She stopped only briefly to muffle her hooves with a silencing spell, arriving at a door further down the tower. Since she was still in Luna’s quarters, she passed it up. As close as they had become lately, she was sure that the princess wouldn’t appreciate her snooping through her things. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she saw a massive pair of double-doors, both with symbols for the moon emblazoned on their surface, as well as countless runes that made the door both invisible and un-openable to any Luna hadn’t permitted to be there. Twilight took a deep breath and pushed on one of the doors, finding that it was much heavier than she had anticipated. When there was a small opening, she slipped out, the door closing behind her.
By the blue and silver color pallet, this was one of the private sections of the castle, only open to a select few and elite guards. As she walked down the hall she made note of how unnecessarily large the palace was. One could easily have a parade or nine going down any of the corridors, and the sheer berth of the hallway was nearly three-thousand feet. Not to mention how long it was, which measured in the miles. Even the height was overdone, with the vaulted ceiling a dizzying ninety feet above her. Blue-white flames blazed in lamps on the walls, making the whole hall seem as if it was underwater. No windows broke up the endless hall, only sturdy iron doors every hundred feet. By how cold it was she could tell that this place, wherever it was, was deep underground.
By coincidence a certain happy young dragon named Spike was walking directly towards her holding an assortment of dinner pastries in his arms. He had successfully raided the kitchens with nopony noticing, and a few of the cooks had even recognized him and let him take their minicakes. He’d tried to find the vaults that held the jewels, but regular food would have to do for the moment.
“Spike!” Twilight said, trotting towards him. “I’m so glad to see you! Where are we?”
Spike looked around in confusion, almost dropping his beloved food. “Twilight, where are you?”
“I’m right in front of you, but I have an invisibility charm on myself so nopony can report me to Celestia. Now, where are we and what happened after I fainted last night?”
“Well,” The young dragon beamed, glad to be of use. “I memorized a map of this place and this place here is the underground storage block. Nopony ever goes down here, and it trails all the way to the back of the mountain. That’s why Celestia put the entrance to Luna’s tower down here. Over there is the other side of the summit, where Luna can be all on her own.”
“Wow… isn’t that a little… harsh?”
Spike shrugged. “Anyways, after you fainted last night we came here for a ‘change of scenery’, since Luna said that you shouldn’t be cooped up in your library. Anyways, I fell asleep on a chair, Luna laid you on the couch and went to bed. That’s about the whole story.”
“Okay then… do you have any idea what’s in these rooms?”
Again he shrugged. “I don’t know, but I remember that most are just empty. The ones that are being used have a sun mark on them, and if not there’s a moon on the door. But they’re all locked, so I couldn’t get into any.”
With that the dragon began to march back in the direction of Luna’s tower. Twilight hurried after him, wondering where he’d learned all of these things. She hardly ever brought him to the castle when he was younger, but somehow he seemed to know where everything was.
“Hey, Twi, can I ask you something?” Spike said, turning in the direction he thought she was. “Why’d you faint last night? The moment Luna mentioned you had to tell everypony you blacked out.”
Twilight didn’t reply to that, just kept walking down the hall, swatting a suit of armor with her tail to show that he was annoying her. Spike followed in her general direction, hoping that she wasn’t mad.
“Okay then, why’d you, um…” He stuttered, trying to hurry. He could hear her dragging her hooves purposefully ahead of him. “Can I ask you something else? You can’t be mad at me, okay?”
“What?”
“Why did you kiss me last night?”
Twilight nearly knocked the suit of armor on top of him. “Because I was thanking you. What of it? Do you think that I did it for some other reason?” She asked, turning to face him.
“Oh, well, uh, I was just wondering because…” He trailed off, red-faced. “Never mind, it’s stupid.” He started walking again, making his strides as long as possible.
The two didn’t talk again until they reached the tower and were once again in Luna’s living room, sitting across the suite from one another. Twilight had taken the amulet off and put it back, and was sitting at the desk. Spike sat on the couch, doing his best not to look at Twilight. As much as he wanted to tell her, he felt guilty. She always got edgy and uncomfortable when he tried to tell her.
‘She doesn’t want to know.’ Spike thought to himself. ‘I’m not supposed to be thinking about her like that… she’s a pony and I’m a dragon. Heck, she’s an alicorn. Plus I grew up with her. She probably thinks of me as her brother. Like Shining Armor…’
Spike sighed and took another bite of chocolate forest cake, drowning his sorrows in food while he fed his sadness with his sullen thoughts. He couldn’t help but glance at her on occasion. She was looking through the papers Luna had left on her desk, occupying herself so that she didn’t have to talk to him. Her wings were draped over the back of the chair while she worked, sorting the papers into separate piles compulsively.
‘I wish that she’d just let me tell her, that way at least she knows and I don’t have to keep sitting here asking myself why I’m so spineless.’ He thought, licking the crumbs from his claws. ‘What if I tell her and she sends me to the moon? Celestia did that to Luna once… it’s not like she couldn’t.’
Twilight got up and drew the curtains with magic, blocking out the setting sun. The moment the curtains shut the room fell into darkness. Then, sensing it’s time to shine, the chandelier lit itself with bright azure-white flames. Almost as soon as this was done, Luna descended the stairs in her evening robes, putting the finishing knots at the waist. She looked quite… un-royal. Her mane was in disarray, and she didn’t have any jewelry on. Without her crown she looked almost normal to them. If it wasn’t for her wings they could honestly mistake her for any other blue unicorn getting out of bed in the morning.
“Good evening, Twilight.” Luna said, smiling brightly as she passed by on her way to the other staircase. “I trust you had a nice day?”
Twilight shot a glance at Spike, who looked away quickly. “My day was great.”
“That’s good. Say, can you come here a moment. I want to show you how to use the room downstairs. I think you’ll find the enchantment I put on it devilishly clever.”
Twilight cast on last look at Spike and trotted after the other alicorn, wondering what would be so important about a room. The dragon looked at the tray of food beside him and shoved it away, lying down on the couch. He’d had enough for tonight. Instead he looked up at the stars on the ceiling, wondering why the ones he had been born under had been so cursed.
“What’s so difficult to understand about a room?” Twilight asked, following Luna down the stairs. “Isn’t it just like any other in the tower?”
Luna stopped at the door, smiling at how clever she was. “This, Twilight isn’t just one room. It’s well over a hundred rooms all in one. They all occupy the same space, but the one that the door leads to can be different each time. And, once one closes the door from the other side, nopony can enter that room until the current occupant or occupants have left. They may enter a different room, but the occupied room is locked and the door will not even appear in there until the occupant wants it to.”
Twilight struggled to wrap her head around the concept. She’d never even heard of magic being used in such a bizarre way. “Is that even possible? And how do you know which room you’re going to get? Besides, why all the security?”
“Dear, more than a few times I’ve had Celestia burst through my door because she was angry at me. Then there were other times where I just wanted to be on my own, with no interruptions. I also prefer my privacy. I know that a lot of ponies would love to pry at my secrets.” She explained, turning to the door. “All one has to say it ‘Starlight’, then the room you’d like to enter. So, I want to get my evening shower. So I might say something like ‘Starlight, Bathroom’.”
Luna turned the handle on the door with magic and opened it to reveal a spotlessly clean bathroom, complete with dim, warm lighting coming from a large crystal hung above a massive bathing pool in the middle of the floor, already steaming, with frothy bubbles floating on top of the water. All around the chambers were mirrors that reflected the bathroom into infinity, so the occupant could see themselves at all times. To complete the room was the light scent of cinnamon in the air and a thick steam that wafted out into the hallway .
“Impressive?” Luna asked, turning back to Twilight.
Twilight couldn’t think of what to say. This was the type of magic that she would have had to train for a year to pull off back when she was a unicorn. Luna made it seem so simple, like it was almost child’s play. She impulsively stepped into the room, as if to make sure that it was real and not a massively complex trick of the eye. The smooth feel of polished porcelain under her hooves, the humidity, and the slight scent of orchids from the bath all told her that this was quite real. Luna walked past her, impressed with herself. It was the first time she could show off her skills in thousands of years.
“I’m glad you like it.” The princess said, reaching her hoof down into the bathwater. “Nice and hot, perfect to ease those sore muscles.”
With a flash of her horn she closed the door, which disappeared. Luna trotted over to a long shelf and began to pick different soaps off of it, including a few bottles of shampoo and even some herbal bath beads. Confident with her selections, she trotted back over to the pool and set them down. Twilight thought that she must have forgotten she was there, since she didn’t seem in the least bit phased by being alone with her.
“Do you prefer your bath with salts or without?” Luna asked, looking directly at her.
Twilight stood for a moment, not grasping what she was entailing by the question. It took her a few seconds before she realized what Luna was asking her. When she finally figured it out she turned a bright shade of scarlet under her coat, biting the inside of her cheek.
“ I wasn’t planning on taking a bath right now, it’s fine.” The flustered mare said, hoping that she could leave soon. “I have to go… uh, check on Spike now.”
“Oh… okay then.” Luna said, a note of disappointment in her voice. “I was going to tell you the story about what I did on the moon for a thousand years, but… that’s all right.”
Luna began to untie her robe, returning her attention to the bath. Twilight looked around for any way she could leave, but there wasn’t a door anymore. She was stuck there. All she could do was close her eyes while the princess disrobed and slipped into the bathwater, sighing as the hot water met her coat. Once Twilight thought it was clear, she opened her eyes again to see Luna sipping a glass of apple juice she’d conjured, enjoying the bathwater. Luckily she couldn’t see her, since there was so much froth.
“Luna, how did you say you got out of here?” Twilight asked, becoming increasingly uncomfortable.
“It would seem I forgot that the door disappears until I’m done in here. Well, I guess that you could just make the most of it and settle down here with me. The water’s still quite warm and there’s room for two in here, if you want.”
Twilight groaned, massaging the bridge of her nose with her hoof. This was beyond inappropriate for her. And Luna was behaving like everything was completely fine. Her being totally indecent towards helping her wasn’t making it any easier for her headache, either. Then again… perhaps this wasn’t as bad as she was making out to be. It surely couldn’t hurt her to enjoy a bath with one of her best friends, especially one that saved her life. Not to mention that she’d nursed her back to health.
‘Maybe… maybe just this one time.’ Twilight thought. ‘It’s not like it’s hurting anything. Besides, you’ll be spending the rest of your life with her. It’d be rude if you refused. She’s been really nice, and even let you sleep on her couch. So… here goes nothing. Just don’t think about it.’
Swallowing the growing catch in her throat, she calmly walked her way over to the pool, looking at Luna. The princess nodded, encouraging her. Twilight couldn’t help but think of how wrong this felt to her old self. Somewhere in her the old Twilight was roaring outrage that her parents had taught her better than this, and she wasn’t the type of pony to needlessly expose herself in front of another mare. But that was in the past. The past her, the one that had no fun, and the one that devoted every second of her time to trying to win the attention of her teacher, wasting her life on impressing others with her smarts. She wasn’t that mare anymore. She wanted to be happy. Formality was for business, not for her friends. There was a time for logic and sense, for thought and measurements. Then there were times like this one.
Luna politely turned around and read the back of her shampoo bottle while Twilight submerged herself, sighing at how good it felt to unwind. The tension in her muscles dissolved in the water, and the headache that had been bothering her for hours dissolved with it. When she was completely under the bubbling froth Luna turned back around and smiled at her. She looked overjoyed to have convinced her.
“I told you that you’d like it.” Luna said, pausing to sip her drink. “Now, when I was first banished so many years ago I spent a long time as Nightmare Moon. But after a hundred years or so I managed to come back, and take control again. Then there was just one little problem. The moon is a big hunk of dust and rock. There isn’t much to do. So… I tried my hand at the only thing you can do with rock. I made things. I eventually got so good at sculpting that I made this massive statue of me and my sister…” She trailed off, a sour look growing on her face. “Of course, that was before I realized…”
Luna bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, as if trying to bury a painful memory. Something had happened between Celestia and her, and Celestia had obviously been in the wrong. Then, just as suddenly as she had started, the princess smiled again and opened her eyes, as if she’d once again locked away whatever demon she still had lurking in her past. For the briefest moment Twilight saw her eyes flash green, a trace of the unrepentant anger surfacing briefly.
“Twilight… I’m not going to pretend to like my sister. But I will keep my long-winded rants about her to a bare minimum. I know you and her are… fond of each other, with her having been your mentor. So I’m going to keep my opinions on her to myself. Let’s just agree to disagree right now.”
Twilight wondered to herself just what had happened that had been so awful. Luna wasn’t the mare that locked her emotions in a box. It must have been something truly traumatic for her to be on damage-control a thousand years later. It was a long time to hold a grudge.
“So why did you invite me in here, Luna? Except for the pleasant conversation, of course.”
“Oh.” Luna exclaimed, surprised she’d gotten so sidetracked. “I was hoping to ask you if you’d be a dear and help me go down into the catacombs. It’s part of my duty as the security in the castle to keep the tunnels under the base of the mountain clear, and since you have advanced training in battle-oriented magic, and Spike is a dragon, after all, you two could come down there with me. It’d be a great help. See, I never really liked going down there on my own since it’s… well, I don’t really say this often, but that place is downright unnatural. Things always skitter behind you, or you’ll see things flicker right at the edge of your peripheral vision. It’s like something is down there, always watching you. I’d feel much better with you two with me.”
“Sure…” Twilight agreed, although with hesitation since she knew Spike was coming. “I’ll go.”
Luna beamed at her. “Good! This will make things easier, maybe even faster.”
Twilight felt herself sink farther into the water, hoping that the warmth would fix her problems with Spike. Unfortunately, it only seemed to work for her physical ailments. She prayed that her assistant hadn’t taken what she’d said too seriously. She was just hoping that this was a passing phase, that he would just forget about it and then they could go back to their normal lives together. But she couldn’t see that happening with him longing for her to like him in ways she just didn’t feel right doing. ‘Or... maybe that was just old Twilight talking?’ She thought, letting a hint of doubt creep in.
“Nah, definitely the real me.” She said, closing her eyes and sinking under the water.