Chapter Thirteen - Luna
Luna paused at what she heard in her head, causing Solaris and Dusk to stare at her with concern. At least, Solaris was; Dusk Shine was instead examining the note. The voice in her head sounded like Artemis, but that was imposi-
‘Luna?’
The voice caused her to squeak in surprise, which in turned made Solaris jump in surprise and trot over to her.
It was him! She quickly answered back, unable to keep her eagerness out of it.
“Luna, what’s going on-” she felt Solaris’s hoof on her shoulder when she heard the reply.
‘Yes, it is me!’
Grinning broadly, Luna smiled and wiped her tears away as Artemis spoke back with the same tones of joy as she had just done.
‘Indeed Luna! I can hear you as well!’ Artemis’s voice chirped back and then there a dreadful moment of stillness as a pressing question came to the front.
‘Why can I hear you?’
“Luna!” Solaris’s shout broke her focus, making her aware of the concerned looks from everypony around her. Barricade was eying the stallion who had a wing around her again, but she had to admit it was comforting and a rather surprising method of focusing her thoughts again. “Please, tell us what the matter is. You went silent and we worried for you Luna dear.”
“Solaris,” Luna replied softly, a smile on her face as she stepped out of the wing and towards the large earth pony mare. She’d long since recognized her as Ironhide’s counterpart, and once this whole ordeal was settled with, she was going to see if he was as good at dealing with Celestia as Steel Barricade was when it came to dealing with Solaris. “Captain Barricade, you need not worry.” She gave a small smile towards the group, trying to prod her own mind to see if what was causing the voice in her head was truly Artemis. “I do believe that our meeting with my dream realm has provided some-Gah!”
“Luna, are you alright?” Barricade gave her a worried look, with her armed hooves on her shoulders and her body lying almost on top of her as if to protect her from a physical attack.
“Yes, yes I am.” She brushed off the hooves from the large mare, sending an apology towards the pony that had poked her mind.
‘Well, excuse me but I do not care for uninvited guests poking at my mind!’
All that Luna heard from the ungrateful colt was a loud huff before she turned her attention back towards the group.
“Again, I was saying that I believe that due to our interaction with the dream realm, I can hear Artemis within my mind now.”
“Really?” Dusk gave her a thoughtful look, tapping his chin as he tilted his head to the side like Twilight would do in deep concentration. “Mental communication is not unheard of, but I was under the impression only those who’d studied it for decades could attempt it, and it would take even more time before a mental connection between two ponies could be attempted.”
“Sir Dusk, need I remind you that my appearance is not indicative of my age?” She gave a tiny smile, causing the alicorn to blush. “I had many years to practice this form of magic, and I was one of four mares that developed the practice of speaking within one’s mind to another.” She gave Solaris a sad smile, remembering days long ago. “Sadly, this was last used before my banishment. I would be surprised that you know of such magic, but then again, Twilight has a wide breadth of knowledge once it comes to magic that I can believe she would learn it even if she cannot use it yet.”
Solaris gave a throaty chuckle, shaking his head with amusement. “There was a period of time when dear Dusk Shine, after devouring the language portion of the library, would respond only in Morse code.”
The pony in question blushed, with his friends chuckling at this tidbit of knowledge of their friend’s foalhood. Steel Barricade, surprisingly, had a tingle of amusement in her eyes. “Gleaming told me of how annoying it was, and only after threatening to show everypony here a certain ‘action figure’ did he finally stop.”
Dusk Shine groaned, burying his head in his wings as his friends laughed harder now.
“As I recall, Baron Von Genius Jeans was quite adorable, my prince,” the earth pony finished her assault while keeping a professional neutral tone, causing Solaris to snicker loudly.
“She showed you Genius Jeans?” He gasped, and moaned, “Oh Faust, kill me now.”
“There there, my little pony,” Luna smiled, patting the pony on the back. “They are only teasing because they care and your friends laugh because it is precious moments in your life that are amusing.” She then leaned down to his ear, whispering loudly. “I am sure that they have similar events in their younger days and that they would not mind sharing after hearing your own.” She then cast an eye at the group of stallions, gulping at the prospect at now being forced to tell stories of when they acted like foals. And they would tell, as it would be unfair for their friend to suffer alone.
“I am sure you and your friends can share stories later as I do believe we need find another bed for our guest.” Solaris smiled broadly, urging them forwards with a wing, looking around the room with a bit of a frown. “We can figure this matter out tomorrow as well as finally have this room cleaned up.”
Luna rolled her eyes, frowning at the false statement. Despite the mess from when she woke up, it was a fairly well put together room with a well thought out system of notes in smart piles. Just because somepony couldn’t handle the fact that a desk wasn’t big enough for all the paperwork did not mean it was a messy room! Following the guards out with the stallions beginning to share their stories, one involving a young Blitz and his mother’s makeup from the mouth of Butterscotch, the pink stallion reared backwards suddenly.
“Just remembered you forgot your stuff in the room princess!” He beamed at the group, bouncing back into the room. “I’ll catch up with you guys, don’t start without me!”
With a sigh of relief from the blue pegasus, the small group left the stallion alone in the room. Eyes almost fully closed in a simple relaxed frame of mind, he started to lift thing around, watching Artemis’s pet possum run out with the alicorn of the night’s abacus with a chuckle.
As he lifted the Princess’s shoes into the crux of his foreleg, his eyes snapped wide open as he bowled over by a terrible wave of his own Berry Sense.
It started with painful hind leg spasms, then his tail constricted around itself painfully tight, followed by an attack within his own head that was just barely short of causing any form of lasting damage to the the stallion to be finally followed by something seemingly grabbing his heart hard enough to cause tears to flow from his eyes. Bubble Berry paused for a moment, his mind starting to decipher the warnings his senses were telling him and then he almost fell to the floor out of fear as the warnings were perfectly clear for once.
He had to go tell the Prince, tell Dusk, tell everypon-
No, you will not warn Sunbutt, my little pony.
He paused mid step, his eyes growing dull as the memories were stolen from him. Shaking his head, and briefly wondering why he had dropped Princess Luna’s stuff, he began to pick them up when a stray thought entered his head that something was off. Tilting his head to the side, he tried to recall anything he had just forgotten. But as you cannot recall what you don’t know, he simply shrugged his shoulders as he bounced out of the room, closing the doors behind him.