2-Correspondence
Luna, Princess of the Night, was many things. Patient. Wrathful. Commanding. Sick and tired of Philomena’s and Tiberius’s little squabble most of all.
“Will thoust both cease!?”
Tiberius paused mid-punch as he hung by tail and paws from the phoenix’s hovering form. Blue possum was a rather pleasant contrast to the flaming orange form of the astral bird as they wobbled in the air. Deciding to get the final word in, the possum punched his solar counterpart once more. Philomena dazedly wobbled once more as her lunar counterpart hopped from her to skitter across the floor to his master.
“Tiberius!”
Chitter-Squeak!
“I care not for what she called thy mother, thy behavior is entirely uncalled for!”
Luna’s aura hoisted him bodily into the air, hanging him upright before her face uncomfortably as she examined him. With a caw of frustration and a rushing burst of fire around her wings Philomena separated herself further and flew up to the rafters to preen her out of place feathers and shake off the lethargy her counterpart’s strikes had dealt unto her. Irritability had been the order of her days since her mistress had vanished from the face of Equestria; foul and fearsome sulks had dominated her mood with every waking moment.
As for her counterpart, Luna’s beloved “Tibbles”, the formerly common possum had changed drastically since Luna infused him with a part of her magic from a mere mortal creature into something not unlike the phoenix herself. As Philomena reflected the glory and majesty of the sun (when it wasn’t in a sulk and quiet), so had Tiberius begun to glow faintly in the light and reflect the mercurial nature of Luna’s moon. Glowing blue-white with translucent fur that had begun to hint at the night skies, he too had changed drastically from his common origins into something eternal. But even his reflective nature did nothing to spare him from the full glower of the current reigning princess of Equestria.
“Tibbles – Philomena has enough issues in her claws without you adding to them.” She started as she calmed from her initial anachronistic reversion. “Just because I pay attention to her to keep her company does not mean that I have stopped loving you. You know that my sister cannot take her along, as she would be far too easily revealed. I am very disappointed in how you repeat the same follies I once made.” She admonished the shadow-possum, shaming him for harassing his counterpart. His faint glow dimmed in the relative darkness of Luna’s quarters; his fur disappearing behind a cloak of night given form as he hid his eyes behind his ears and shivered slightly. “All will be forgiven if you apologize and stop harassing her so.”
Squeak-squee-Squeak?
Squak-Caw!
“There. Was that so hard?” Luna patronized him. Tibbles lifted his ears to look at her, considered, and raised his paws up with but a tiny distance between them. Fuming grumbles escaped Luna as she wondered what she was going to do with her beloved pet.
“Fine. Stay over here, she stays over there, and we shall all be miserable together until we figure out how to stand each other.” Luna warned with a huff. She dropped Tibbles onto her desk gently, and sat back down in front of it. Once a wonderful piece of craftsmanship, her wide and well organized desk had been rendered into a paper-avalanche waiting to happen. Cubbyholes and correspondence sorting shelves rose an impressive height from it already and her formerly ample workspace was stacked high with even more reports and useless papers she hadn’t the faintest clue why she was even supposed to look over. With a sigh of disappointment, she withdrew the small stack of work from the evening court and went to work sorting it out into manageable chunks.
Proposals for legislation, bills of requisition, letters of censure for most of the unicorn nobles for their utterly pathetic attempt to overthrow her in the middle of the Tirek crisis, a glowing commendation for Stiff Resistance for rallying the temporarily magic-less solar guard back into a war-host to deal with the mad centaur and rescue the ponies of Ponyville, and of all things a letter of commendation from Duke Redcoat. Odd, she could only recall endless criticism from him over the conduct of the alicorns and their rule of Equestria.
“Tibbles, could you stick this one up top? I need to remember to schedule an appointment with Duke Redcoat and find out what mad game he is playing now.”
With but a tiny squeak and a comical salute the shadow-possum leapt into motion and carried up the potentially nasty letter up to a special place atop Luna’s wall of correspondence she had saved for the letters she had no idea what to make of.
The door opened behind her; the captain of the Solar Guard, Stiff Resistance marched in through it to join her in the study. Adorned in a set of more protective and militaristic armor that Luna had been designing since her return the captain was an impressive figure since he had settled into a truce with the lunar princess. Not that there was no more war between them, of course. A thick stack of further reports found themselves balanced on the captain’s back; a taste of the reports from the outlands that he felt could use a princesses ‘personal touch’. “Ma’am, I believe you wanted to see these.”
“Ah! Resistance! How wonderful.” Luna cheerfully chirped before sticking her tongue out at the destruction of yet more of her free time.
Resistance chucked at her. “Nothing to it.”
“Oh yes there is.” Grumbling at the timing, Luna had still wanted to examine the reports for several key things—most particularly those reports from her Night Guard detailing the response of the other nations and the wilds to the results of the Tirek Crisis. “Good or bad?”
“Mixed.”
“Better than feared.” Luna remarked—she had expected all save for Cadance to try and take advantage of the recovery efforts within Equestria’s borders. Strange, then, how they all seemed to step away instead. Even as the wilds grew more restless with the movements of the guards.
“They don’t know how you will react. They’re wary after you and Princess Twilight gave your displays in the defeat of that Tartarus-spawn.”
“More than you were?”
Resistance winced. “A little, yes.”
“True enough. I—Philomena?”
The phoenix’s eyes were bugged wide for some strange reason, and the phoenix thumped at her chest as her airways were clogged by some unseen ailment. Tibbles leapt from his perch to scale his mistress in a flurry of flickering shadowy movement and perch himself atop her crown. In but a moment Luna rushed to action; levitating atop a bubble of her mana to rise and match Philomena’s eye level. Squeaky strangled caws of distress erupted once more as the firebird’s aura flickered brightly.
“Princess, I’d stand back.”
“She needs aid. Fetch somepony quickly!” Luna said before reaching out to poke Philomena in the chest and force the blockage free.
A final cough shook free; Philomena wracked herself with motion. Sounds like a pony hacking mucous gurgled in the phoenix’s throat. Philomena’s wing rose to her throat as something bulged it and—Caw-Buurp!
Green fire burst from within her beak; scouring Luna’s face with a burst of dragon-fire. Tibbles flapped in the current of mana from his attachment to Luna’s crown and his master rocked backwards from the force. A lump roiled up within Philomena; with a final burst of ragged fire it escaped her. A massive apple shimmering with light materialized in a final flare of dragon-fire to fly through the air to smack Luna in the face. Deftly did the lunar alicorn’s magic strike out to stop the mysterious produce from meeting an untimely end at the vile hooves of gravity—after all, it wasn’t every day that one’s sister considered an apple good enough to send via dragon-fire and mortify her companion enough to burst into rejuvenating flames.
Philomena all but burned herself in embarrassment as she stared slack-beaked at the shimmering apple held before her with awestruck eyes as Tibbles chittered his tiny giggles of incredulousness concerning the matter. A wing unsteadily pointed at the produce—no apple should have fit down her throat in pieces or whole.
“Yes, I know could not have ate it whole, dear Philomena. A delicious souvenir from my sister, I would say. I’ll have to set up a less mortifying transmission method for the next time.” Luna remarked before stretching forth a wing to sooth the ruffled phoenix and ignored the unhelpful weight of her own pet’s tail wrapped round her horn as he squeakily giggled hanging from her head.
Stiff Resistance idly moved over to the group, looking up to the high rafters above with worry. “Maybe you should hold off on eating that. It has some form of magic effect judging from the shimmer, and your sis-“
“Has never pranked with food, let alone properly pranked me since my return. She’s mischievous, but that would excessively stretch her behavior that I know. She cares too much for that.” Luna dismissively replied before biting into the juicy zap-apple colored treat. Electric juice sparked and fizzled around the tip of her muzzle, running forth as the fleshy innards leaked upon her tongue to grace her with undreamt-of flavors she savored deeply. “Mmm. Besides, only my sister would have a bond strong enough to send correspondence through her phoenix. This is no assassination attempt. Besides, what harm ever came from eating an apple?”
“Be that as it may, you should still be caut-“ Philomena hacked and coughed once more, coughing up a thick scroll in yet another burst of dragon-fire to fall from her perch to land on the head of Stiff Resistance. “-ious.” With only a single beat, he held it up in the feathers of a wing. “You have mail. Perhaps I should open it to-“
“Oh no you don’t. You want a clue to Celestia’s location.” Luna snapped a little too quickly as she took the scroll from his grasp. Wincing, an apology escaped her. “Sorry. I have been waiting for this letter since she took the hit for her student.”
“Just be sure it isn’t a trap. I have enough on my plate finding her.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. Eyebrow raising, she held the scroll and its seal away from her and snapped the band with simple force. “Nothing happened. Excuse me, while I catch up with my sister.”
-----------------------------------------------
To My Dear Luna,
While I cannot say I have truly settled in thanks to Tirek and his diversion; I can say I have settled down and my mission is underway. I’ve found myself all but forcibly taken in by a sister of Pinkamina who has come to town to live with her husband during the construction projects around the Everfree. It took me a bit, and more than a few added pounds from cake bribes-
-----------------------------------------------
Snort.
-----------------------------------------------
-But, I have managed to escape into a custom-built sub-building adjacent to her home so that I can relax all the way sometimes. They do have a rather precocious daughter and son, and their youngest seems to gravitate to me without fail to my amusement. I can scarcely turn around without finding him hiding in my mane. Perhaps the Plaid I have been afflicted with attracts him.
------------------------------------------------
Luna paused; an eyebrow marched its way upwards towards her hairline. “Plaid? What strange manner of disease is plaid?”
“Plaid is a pattern for clothes, not a disease.”
“Then how could my sister be afflicted with it?”
“It is rather tacky.”
“I believe there is a great deal of miscommunication going on here. What does bondage gear have to do with a pattern of clothes my sister has been afflicted with?”
--------------------------------------------
Oh, enough about me. I know you hate it when I wax philosophical and bore you endlessly; or when I devour the attention of our conversations as I would cake. So, I shall say it outright: I am proud of you, Luna. I could never have seen Tirek coming, and you handled him without hesitation or failure. I would have been hard-pressed to handle him as well as you did.
I should have let you take the lead sooner. While you have much left to learn, I was right; and I was wrong. I worried about you, how you would handle the modern era. I worried about how you would handle the court which has grown bold in your absence; afraid that your unique manner of rule would turn all against you. And here I stand, so wrong in my estimates. All I have to do is speak your name, and praise is heaped upon it from all sides as the common pony hear of how your actions cowed the nobles in the midst of the crisis. In retrospect, ‘proud’ is far too weak a word for what I feel towards you. When did I stop trusting others to handle themselves? How long were you really ready to take command of so much? I worry that someday soon, it will be I who is the forgotten princess as others exalt you instead.
------------------------------------------
Luna rubbed her eyes with a hoof. Some damnable thing in her room was irritating them and tearing them up.
-------------------------------------------
But enough of this stalling and disruption, I know you are interested in the status of my mission here, and whether or not the three are enough to risk my presence here.
Scootaloo, I’m afraid, is exactly as we expected. No more, no less. She has exceptional power in her inherent magic’s, easily as much as Rainbow Dash. And, she indeed learned how to use her power quickly once I opened the door for her. But that is it, unless I have missed something of vital importance. She should soon be flying and I look forward to it; but I expect my training will be quickly surpassed by others. Ultimately, she shall not be the focus of my attention here. We might yet gain use of my time here if we can call attention to the plight of those like her and correct several shortfalls in pegasi society with her help, however.
-------------------------------------------
“Celestia—stop. No. Whatever you are planning, I—ugh.”
-------------------------------------------
Applebloom is—well, I have my work cut out for me in her. Her mind is brilliant when applied; smart, cutting, bluntly to the point; in her I have found an intellect that I have rarely seen. Despite her outward façade of a mere farm filly she easily contains the makings of a brilliant scientist or engineer. Were it not for an unreasonable stubborn streak within her that renders her dead set on certain matters I would directly compare her to Twilight.
Wait—Oh. I guess I did anyway.
In any matter, she is sharp indeed when she applies herself; highly perceptive of the world at large and the things within it. Her gift in potions could radically change our perceptions of material magic and in many manners she has partially passed her teacher, Zecora. And yet, that self-same sharpness I mentioned lies at the heart of her downfall.
I know that you rule, and that I do not at the moment, but I would ask of you a favor. I would like to see a ‘Filthy Rich’ and his family removed from town and placed somewhere in Equestria where they can do the least damage possible.
------------------------------------------------
“What? Harm?” Luna’s scowl darkened as Tiberius came to her side in worry at his master’s state. He, like his mistresses’ mane, was slowly darkening to the darkest void of the night as she considered what would prompt Celestia to have a family moved. “If he is an abuser, I shall see that he does no harm indeed.”
------------------------------------------------
Stop that, Luna. I already know the dark thoughts you are considering, and they do no-pony good. I would like no part in them. Rich himself has done no harm; his daughter nor Applebloom have been hurt at his hooves. He is for the most part a capable father in most aspects.
No, his daughter is whom I am concerned with. She is his darling, and due to his hopes in her he has failed to notice his daughter’s intolerance and malicious use of others. This ‘Diamond Tiara’ is the capstone of Applebloom’s issues; a vile little snake of loathsome proportions if the reports I receive from many are correct. She has gone out of her way to belittle Applebloom and others, doing her best to limit all the foals of the town and drive them beneath her mediocre skills. I fear that in coming years many will not pursue their true skills thanks to her unceasing actions.
--------------------------------------------------
“Captain Resistance, I have a note for you from my sister’s chief servant. We have a bit of work later on.”
--------------------------------------------------
This—I have no words for her, I shall develop them later—filly has implanted a deep-rooted distrust of higher learning in Applebloom. The foal has come to believe that all institutions are filled with those like Diamond Tiara, and to my shame I cannot completely counter her fears. I am ashamed to say that Twilight Sparkle, your savior suffered from abuse of those under my nominal teachings, a thread that the filly picked up on.
Applebloom’s caretakers also have unwittingly added to her deep-seated issues. Applejack, when I spoke to her, was highly receptive to sending her sister to Canterlot’s institutions; as was her brother. I seem to recall that you had a bit of a filly-like infatuation with him for some reason after attending the summer festival last year. However, despite their prodding, the life at their farm has led Applebloom to put its continuation above all other concerns, and she seems to be considering abandoning her current studies in favor of helping them; an outcome I cannot support. Additionally, accidental insinuations on the part of her sister and grandmother may have planted the original seeds of her distrust after a series of actions on the part of a set of con artists. I’ll think of something, so please don’t act on anything yet.
----------------------------------------------------------
Luna moaned in frustration, resisting the urge to bury her face in her hooves. Once more did her sister decide to carry the weight of the world on her back against the protests of all others. It would only end poorly.
---------------------------------------------------------
Luna—I, I was wrong. I was so, so wrong when it came to the sister of Generosity. I MUST teach her. She is more powerful than I first feared, more powerful than I could have anticipated or imagined. Damnation, I was such a fool to think that it would take an alicorn to demonstrate the power I witnessed when I activated her power. With the slightest whisper of a proper song-spell, her power burst into motion; dangerous; unprepared! How she has not already ascended just from thinking it I do not know!
I miscalculated!
She should have already joined us! If I was to guess at her true nature, she should be the mistress of creation. She should be the mistress of the passions beyond love! Entirely by accident on her first true surge, she put a bolt through my horn powerful enough to send me flying without the use of my wings and would likely have killed me were it not for my immortal nature.
----------------------------------------------------------
Luna turned ashen grey in a moment; her wings fell slack as she considered what mad hornet’s nest her sister had uncovered.
---------------------------------------------------------
Luna, I—never have I had so little of a clue what to do. I dare not reveal myself. If the distractions of the court did not sap my attention fatally in her training, then—this situation has left me at a loss, a blank, a void of thought! We came so close to a catastrophe in my arrogant, self-aggrandizing first attempt! I know nothing of how to teach one so powerful in the arts of the song-spell; worse yet I dare not involve Twilight!
Even a simple cleaning aria was too much for her; it roared through her mind and mobilized her magic in a way my use of it in my room could never match! It was transformed into a storm of magic that would either impress or terrify Discord and nearly conjured up an unnatural sea of the inanimate in bare air! Worse yet, that terrible miscalculation has wrecked my relationship with Twilight. She was so upset at the injuries the fillies suffered in the surge, so furious and unlike her. I tried to explain that such effects never crossed my mind at the worst, that I had never seen anything like them but she would not have it.
Luna, she has always looked up to me. Seen me as a second mother in my true form or in my disguise. She thought the world of me before this; thought that I could do no harm. She’s only ever yelled at me twice; once under the influence of Chrysalis’s manipulations, the second when I arrived with Discord’s statue. But it was never anger; never hate.
Now I dare not speak to her when the foals are not nearby. She harbors a deep-seated loathing for me after my actions nearly killed an innocent. It hurts, Luna; an ache reminiscent of the worry I felt for you in the run up to your fall. I made a mistake, and Sweetie Belle nearly burned up in her own magic for it. Maybe that’s what she meant when she called me a ‘fundamentally flawed individual’ when she yelled at me in the hospital.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
“Celestia, she called you an explicative-worthy idiot!” Luna hoarsely shouted at the letter, startling all around her as her mane flared back to brilliant light.
“Princess-“
“Fine. My sister has done something rash and foolish that I wish to smack her for doing.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope that that dislike is the reason why she refuses to believe Sweetie Belle after her burst. Twilight was attacked by the first manifestations of the filly’s magic and incapacitated while her face was violated. That blast disrupted my disguise through the sheer power it contained. Sweetie saw me; how could she not? But, thankfully Twilight did not see. While Sweetie Belle said nothing more in the hospital, I continually feel the strangest sensation that I am being watched. I can find no source of it, but I suspect she is monitoring me for proof.
Rarity provided enough of a distraction to allow me to escape the hospital when she came for her sister. When told of the surge, she developed the strangest look upon her face. Actually, it resembled your own that time when you were hit with a pole-ax. I didn’t think that a pony could make a sound like “Ook” so many times in a row. Her fainting spell provided me with a chance to escape the orderlies before they might have broken my cover.
She is willing to have Sweetie Belle learn; readily and exuberantly at that. I believe she fears for her sister, and she seems to jump at any chance to avoid another flare like it. Their parents seem unfortunately apathetic, other than a slight concern at first for their daughter.
I’ve made quite the mess down here, Luna. I didn’t think it was possible for me to fail so spectacularly anymore. I dare not write further, lest Twilight catch me.
With regards,
Your Sister.
----------------------------
Luna resisted the urge to tear the scroll in half, or burn it or any other such thing. Counterproductive; wasteful; pointless. Stiff Resistance slowly walked up behind her, wondering what had distressed her so until Philomena coughed up a final, tiny scroll. Snatching it out of the air, Luna read it, and slowly blushed in horror as she felt its warning come true.
--------------------------------------------------
Luna! Oh, Harmony I can’t believe I was so stupid as to forget to warn you of this! The apple I sent it a test article of what Applebloom has accomplished; her rapid growth elixirs have side effects still! Do not eat it for at least a day, unless you wish to be contaminated with the potion itself! I’m sorry! Please don’t eat the apple!
--------------------------------------------------------
Stiff Resistance stammered behind her as he watched the growths beginning in Luna’s mane, weighing it down. “Princess, I-“
“I need not guess, there is something wrong with me, is there not?” Luna sardonically lamented as she felt the weights tugging down the tips of her ears. And her tail, and mane.
Stiff Resistance slowly trotted around Luna and nodded apologetically. “Apples, Princess. They are, um—growing in your hair. And on your ear-tips. Did your sister do this?”
“Nay. Well, not intentionally. She was rather horrified to realize that she had not warned me. Next time I shall listen when you forewarn me. I suspect that you- Ow!” Luna squeaked in a manner rather unlike her as she yanked the stems from the tips of her ears. Pulling the objects in front of her, she grimaced as she looked at the two powdery blue, sparkling apples; each larger than her eyes. Celestia was not the only one with a bit of presumptive arrogance.
“Call the castle stylist. The only cure seems to be cutting them off. And take a picture, will you not? I would like to have a tangible reminder to listen to you. Sometimes.”