//------------------------------// // Twelve/ Strategist // Story: A Moonlit Balcony // by aquilerafroot //------------------------------// Luna fluffed her feathers as she rolled on the bed. She was spending way too much time in her room and in her bed, but it was just easier to relax in than on a chair, plus she could close her eyes and sleep if her thoughts got too frustrating. All those close calls with her sister weren’t helping either, Celestia was bound to find out sooner or later that she hadn’t really confessed her feelings to Twilight. It wasn’t the first time she had considered coming clean to her sister herself, but it was still terrifying to think of how Celestia would react and what she would say. Twilight had returned to her room – Luna was both surprised and happy when Twilight had told her that Celestia had asked her to stay the night. They’d played a few more games of Diskus after Celestia had returned to her duties and taken a walk around the castle grounds. After that Luna had raised the moon, bringing back memories of the first time she had done so beside Twilight out on the balcony. Did she welcome these memories now? Luna sighed and looked out the window, only to jump as she heard the door open, light hoofsteps announcing the presence of her sister. “Celestia?” Luna looked worriedly at her sister; she never entered without knocking unless it was something urgent, a respect they had always shown one another. Celestia didn’t reply, instead cutting a straight path to Luna’s bed and sitting down with that unnatural grace that Luna had always envied. Luna reminded herself to keep her face smooth as she sat up, looking at her sister. “What is it?” Celestia fixed her with a stern gaze. “Just friends?” Luna felt as if her heart had stopped as her sister’s words reverberated in her ears. Her mouth hung slightly agape, no sound coming out. Celestia waited patiently for her to speak, but still no words came. “Luna, why does Twilight call what you have ‘friendship?’” Celestia nudged. Luna could only keep staring wide-eyed, as if petrified, and it felt like she was unable to breathe. She found out. “Well, um, um…” She trailed off, her mouth completely dry, and she clamped it shut. Celestia scooted over and draped a wing over her younger sister’s back. “Talk to me, Luna.” “I…” “You know you can tell me anything,” said Celestia encouragingly. “A-alright.” Luna’s voice was choked, and she took a few deep breaths. There was no backing out of it, and there would be no more lies. She’d gotten herself into way too much trouble just because she wanted to make things easier in the short term. It was just so very typical of her – when would she ever learn? “I just couldn’t admit to her why I kissed her, I was too afraid… It just seems impossible that she likes me that way.” “Luna, we talked about this, remember? How can you be sure she does not?” “I don’t know, I just don’t know.” Luna could feel the tears in her eyes, but it felt like a release from the secrets and lies. “I just didn’t want to risk our friendship. So when I wrote that letter to her afterwards, I didn’t tell you the truth.” Celestia sighed and nodded thoughtfully. “Did you know I’ve been Twilight’s teacher since she was six years old?” “W-well, I know you’ve been her teacher since she was a filly.” “I’ve seen her happy when she learned a new spell, upset when a book she wanted to read was in use by somepony else – but today, she was sad.” Celestia smiled warmly at her sister. “She likes you, Luna.” “Really?” Luna looked up, hope welling up in her chest. If Celly says so… “Yes, really. What are you going to do?” Luna paused, face falling again. It’s just too good to be true! “How do you know for sure?” “Luna.” Celestia shook her head. “I just told you I’ve known her for most of her life.” Luna knew she was resisting too hard, that it made perfect sense, but what if everything went wrong again? It was just so easy to keep denying it, and so comfortable to build walls around herself. “But how? I have already messed things up so badly!” Celestia’s expression grew stern again. “Well, if you aren’t going to do anything, maybe I should ask her myself.” “W-what?!” Luna almost leapt to her hooves in disbelief. What on Equestria was Celestia saying? It was just too much to take in, too much to process at the same time! Does Celestia mean that she – “I’m sure she likes me almost as much as she likes you, and since you won’t…” The older alicorn shrugged. “It’s only fair.” “No, don’t you dare.” Luna edged off the bed, glaring at her sister. She should’ve known! But then if Celestia hadn’t done anything it was because her sister was always so insistent on ‘playing fair’ and all those ‘honorable codes of conducts’. “You are not going to do that!” Celestia cocked her head, her voice perfectly calm. “Well then, you’d better hurry up.” Luna stared at her sister in horror. She couldn’t believe that Celestia would do something like that to her, and this time it was real, not just something she had worried herself into! “In fact, I think I’ll go visit her right now, fortunate that she’s so conveniently close by – oh right, makes sense that I was the one who suggested that she stay, doesn’t it?” Celestia smirked and then swept out the door without a backward glance. Luna stood as if frozen – Celestia must be joking, trying to goad her into action! But yes, she knew it was her own fault she needed to be goaded to take action. Celestia definitely knew this. So it was impossible that Celestia was being serious – but what if it was true, that Celestia and Twilight had feelings for each other? Could Luna risk it? Could she, should she do this again, face Twilight and admit her own feelings? But then she thought of what Celestia was maybe going to do and made herself swallow her fears. I will get to her first. With that final admission, she tore out the door. Luna leaped out of her bedroom onto the balcony, unfurling her wings and launching herself into the night sky. Using the downward momentum to glide, she swerved and rounded a tower before flapping her wings to gain speed towards Twilight’s tower. No doubt Celestia would already be there, and whether what she had told Luna was a trick or not, the older alicorn was definitely up to no good. Reaching Twilight’s tower, Luna landed as lightly as she could in front of the doors that led inside. Should she knock? Maybe not – after all it was quite late. Very important things were at stake here, so perhaps it would call for drastic measures. In addition, knocking on the door would certainly alert Celestia to her presence. Stealthily turning the knob with her magic, Luna found she wasn’t really surprised that it wasn’t locked. She nudged the door open, and as a last minute decision, turned into mist form, inching inside while clinging to the shadows as a starry haze. Luna had never been inside Twilight’s castle quarters, and the most she had seen of the tower was when she had walked Twilight up the stairs the last time the unicorn had stayed over in Canterlot. A quick glance around the room revealed that it was a library and reading room, with shelves along the walls and scattered tables and cushions, much like the main room of the library in Ponyville. The bedroom would be somewhere further in, and that seemed to be the most likely place Twilight (and possibly Celestia) would be. Luna misted her way into the adjoining corridor, catching glimpses of some pictures of Twilight as a filly, and of her growing up. Many of the pictures had likely been taken by Celestia, showing the lavender unicorn at the academy, at castle events and science fairs. Of course Celestia would be able to tell what Twilight was thinking, wouldn’t she, she had known Twilight for so long. Well yes, her sister’s encouragement had made sense, from the first time Luna had told her about the kiss with Twilight. It was just that Luna had been so stubbornly resistant to them! It seemed so stupid in hindsight, but what Luna felt towards Twilight definitely had rendered the dark alicorn pretty illogical at times, now that she thought about it. Luna scanned the three doors in the corridor and the rooms they led to one by one, none of which seemed to yield voices or movement. Probably the upper level, then. Quickly flitting up the stairs, she paused in front of the two doors on the landing of the second level. She again used a quick spell on the doors – behind one of them she could sense Twilight’s aura, and to her dismay, her sister’s as well. It was still an unpleasant discovery even if Celestia had made it clear that she would go talk to Twilight. There was no sound coming from the room, which somewhat eased Luna’s worries – the less that had been exchanged between those two before Luna made things right, the better. Luna materialized into the room in an elegant sweep from the starry haze, her mouth already open, ready to confront Twilight and to stop Celestia. Her first glance around the room showed the lavender unicorn lying in her bed, asleep. This was strange – she’d expected her sister and Twilight to have been sitting and talking. Her sister, however, wasn’t in sight even after she had surveyed the room once more. Then where was her magic coming from – Suddenly she felt herself immobilized, invisible chains physically restraining her while some other spells restricting teleportation were placed around her in an instant. The aura of these spells Luna definitely knew to be Celestia’s. She had been mentally prepared for an attack with words being the weapons, not this. As it was, she could have struggled with force, but that would wake Twilight up for sure. Just as that thought went through her mind, a book from behind Luna was levitated and hurled with precision at Twilight’s sleeping form, with a golden aura. Luna’s eyes widened and she could only stare in horror, as the hard tome, with a sharp whoosh and then a dull thud, found its mark on the sleeping unicorn’s side. It felt like things were in horrific slow motion, the sound of impact almost comical, as Twilight startled up with a yelp. And of course, which had been Celestia’s design – to Twilight it would seem that Luna had thrown the book, since she was the only visible pony in sight. The unicorn rubbed her sore side with her hoof, lighting up her horn to see properly. Luna saw Twilight notice the book, and piecing together the correlation between that and the sudden pain she had felt that had woken her up. Being unable to run away due to Celestia’s spell (it’d all happened so quickly!), Luna was of course the first thing Twilight saw. “Oww! What is this, Luna?” “Oh, um, hello Twilight.” Luna grimaced uneasily. This would be hard to explain, and now that Twilight had seen her she had no choice but to talk to her. Twilight’s expression mirrored Luna’s, but out of pain, and she looked to the offending book lying beside her on the bed. “Did you do this?” “I am sorry!” Luna pawed a hoof on the ground. She had to be very careful about what to say – if worst came to worst and she said that Celestia had done it, it would sound like Luna had simply made it up, which really wouldn’t make her look good. “I didn’t mean to… do it on purpose?” “Oh.” Twilight looked nonplussed, but knowing Twilight, she would be considering logical reasons for the situation. “Um, so is there an emergency?” Luna fumbled for words to speak. It’s too late to go back, isn’t it… but how on Equestria should I bring this up? Twilight, sensing Luna’s hesitancy, asked again, “Luna, is there something you want to talk to me about?” “Well, ah, no…” Luna realized that the situation was set up so that she had many chances to start speaking herself and admit her feelings, but if she so much as faltered at any point, Celestia would not pull any punches and eventually wheedle and goad it out of her. It was funny, really, in a way that made Luna unsure if she wanted to laugh or cry about it. Luna greatly admired her sister as a strategist, but when she herself fell prey to them, there really was no way out. First of all, she couldn’t try to reveal Celestia’s involvement and that Celestia was the one that had woken Twilight – the simple absence of the older alicorn in the room would make Luna sound crazy. If she told Twilight to check for magic residues it could make her sound paranoid. Second, Luna had nowhere to run this time, and there was no postponing this conversation now. Luna also couldn’t just make something up – it was near impossible to find a reason that could justify her barging into Twilight’s quarters and (seemingly) waking her up in such a rude manner. “Look, Luna, it’s okay, I’m sorry for sounding impatient, I was just really caught by surprise.” Twilight broke the silence, making Luna pull herself away from her thoughts. “If there’s something wrong, you know you can tell me, that’s what friends are for!” “All right then,” Luna said, mostly to herself, before taking a deep, albeit shaky, breath to steel herself. No running away, no running away now! “Yes, there is something I would like to talk to you about, Twilight…” Twilight waited expectantly but Luna’s bravado was slipping. Just a while ago, in this kind of situation, she would definitely have tried to run away again, as Celestia had rightfully predicted and prevented. Even without Celestia’s magical interference, Luna had learned the hard way the last time she had run away from talking about her feelings with Twilight. “Are you sure you’re all right, Luna?” Twilight prompted again, more softly. She gestured with a hoof at the foot of her bed. “Would you like to sit down?” Luna nodded slightly, and the weight of the invisible chains Celestia had trapped her movement in disappeared as if in answer; Celestia was still listening in. Luna dragged her hooves as she walked to the bed, before plopping herself down at the edge of it. The motion was slightly reassuring as it gave her something purposeful to do, even if just for the few seconds she could possibly postpone this. “Yes, so, Twilight.” Now again, she had to focus on finding an easier way to bring it up. “Do you remember…” Luna took another deep breath. It was just one sentence, she could say this. She could. She must! “Do you remember… the kiss? It, it wasn’t a joke.” Twilight frowned, and Luna was grateful she knew Twilight well enough to tell it was a thoughtful expression, not one that meant the unicorn was upset, as Luna would have wrongly assumed in the past. “So does that mean –” The unicorn’s expression flitted between relief, and confusion. “Wait, so why did you make it out to be a joke?” Luna looked down at her hooves. In retrospect, her actions had really been immature and not to mention, dishonest. But she wouldn’t make the same mistake again. “I was scared, Twilight. I was so scared of losing you. So I chose not to be honest.” It was hard to believe that talking about this didn’t feel as difficult as she had led herself to believe. Again, she was thankful to her sister, whom she guessed had left just after hearing that Luna had admitted her feelings for sure. Twilight nodded. “Luna, I’m glad you told me the truth. I… I feel the same way.”