//------------------------------// // 08: Answers // Story: All for One - One for Luna // by Wodahseht //------------------------------// An hour or so after midnight found Twilight using her magic to go over the remains of the Golden Oak Library. Due to the partially cloudy skies and the possibility of overhanging objects blocking the moonlight, she'd chosen to play it safe and channel her own. It was serving double purpose for her as a light source to search by as well. Though she'd been through the ruins a number of times already while searching for books and belongings which might have survived the explosion, it felt much different going through it in the silence of the night. Ponyville was completely silent but for the sound of night insects and birds. The town felt like it could be deserted as quiet as it was with everypony asleep. In the quiet of the ruins Twilight suddenly felt a stab of loneliness and wondered how all her friends were doing. She'd had a few letters from them, but it wasn't the same as getting to chat with them about their days. She shook her head and resumed her investigation. At least I don't have to worry about being interrupted at this hour by somepony wondering what I'm doin- "Hey Twilight! Whatcha doing?" "GAH!" Twilight screamed and leapt straight in the air at the near-scream right in her ear. Turning on the culprit she huffed out, "Pinkie! Don't sneak up on me like that. You scared the bajeebers out of me!" "Why'd you have bejeebers in you in the first place?" Twilight groaned and rubbed at her forehead. Of course Pinkie would show up. "Never mind. What're you doing here?" "Well-ll-ll... My Pinkie sense woke me up and told me that you were back in Ponyville, and I thought it was strange that you hadn't let us know you were coming back, and since I'd missed you and wanted to see how you were doing I decided to go to your castle and find out, but then I saw light coming from over here and came over here instead, and here you are." All this came out in a single rushed breath before Pinkie made an exaggerated gasp for air and grinned at Twilight before continuing. "How are you doing that anyway? You look like a night light, but I thought that was your dad..." Twilight took her usual few seconds to sort through this rush of Pinkie-speak. "I didn't let you girls know I was coming back because this was a last minute decision and I'm not really back in Ponyville yet." "But you're right here, and this is Ponyville isn't it?" Pinkie looked around as though expecting to find herself somewhere else. "Yes, this is Ponyville... I mean that I'm just checking on something. I'm not back to stay yet." "Oh, so you're still staying in Canterlot. That's good, I thought I was going to have to move everything." "What?" "No-thing!" Pinkie gave an innocent grin that Twilight didn't believe for a second, but didn't have the patience to pursue the topic. She didn't have time in any case as Pinkie continued, "So, if you're not really back, why are you here?" "That's complicated. I'm pretty certain I know what's going on with me now, but I need more evidence, so I'm searching for traces of Tirek's magic. At least I've worked out how it spreads and don't have to worry about other ponies getting it. Now I have to figure out how to get rid of it." Pinkie grin vanished and she seemed to deflate a bit. "You're still sick? Aww, I hoped you were all better." "I'm okay," and Twilight embraced her pink friend. "I'm sure I'll have the answer soon, and I'm really not in any danger right now. Promise." Pinkie immediately perked back up, "Okie-dokie-lokie! If you say so. Guess I better get some sleep if I'm going to have everything ready for tomorrow." "What's going on tomorrow?" "No-thing... bye Twilight!" And with one quick hug Pinkie zipped away before Twilight could say or do anything else. Twilight stared after the dust trail for a few seconds and commented to herself, "Same old Pinkie." Then she brought her attention back to the task at hand. Luna twisted her neck side to side in an attempt to relieve tension as she walked back to her chamber from the Night Court. She'd decided to end it early given the lack of petitions. Few enough ponies even knew of the Night Court, and cancelling it for over a week had interfered with its slowly increasing popularity. She mentally shook off the matter and focused instead on possible plans for the rest of the night. Perhaps she'd see if Twilight felt like another trip to see Majora and Mina. She smiled at the thought and completed the remainder of her journey with a hop in her step. Throwing open the doors she immediately called out, "Twilight! I have returned early. Shall we away on another field trip?" Getting no response and noting the absence of purple pony on the usual pillow, she made her way toward the bathing chamber. "Twilight? Are you in there?" Her smile began to fade as she noted that her chambers were empty but for herself. She also took in that Twilight's books, scrolls, and writing materials were all placed neatly to the side rather than out and in use. Finally Luna noticed a small slip of paper on her own pillow as it moved in a slight breeze from the balcony. Luna, I think I've figured it all out. Gone to check. Back soon. Twilight ***** The last hour before dawn found Luna pacing back and forth along her balcony. She'd gone to Majora and Mina's cave assuming that was where Twilight had gone, and learned that Twilight *had* been there, but had left well before she'd arrived. Twilight had asked Majora if she could cast a spell on both that wouldn't hurt them, done the spell, gotten excited, and left. Luna assumed that Twilight would have returned to Canterlot after that, and returned herself, but there was still no sign of her and Luna was getting rather worried. Not that Luna thought Twilight couldn't take care of herself under ordinary circumstances, but- There was a flash of purple light and Luna spun without thinking and launched herself at Twilight as she appeared, pulling her into a tight hug. "Twilight! Where have you been? I've been worried sick!" Twilight somewhat awkwardly returned the hug. "Relax Luna, I'm fine. I left you a note." Luna released Twilight and fixed her with a glare. "A note? 'Gone to check'? Gone where? To check what? Why couldn't you wait till I could go with you?" Her voice got quieter, "What if something had happened?" Twilight tucked her ears back in shame and looked down at her hooves. "I- I'm sorry... I didn't really think about that. I was just so excited when I thought I might have figured out how all this happened." She looked back up with a sheepish smile that quickly changed to one of pure joy that gave Luna's chest a brief flutter of warmth. "And I did figure it out! I know how this happened and why I can channel your moonlight." Luna tore her gaze from Twilight's smile and focused on the words before blinking dumbly, "You figured it out?" "Yes! And it's so simple... well, not simple, but it makes sense once all the facts are accounted for." Luna stared for a minute or so at the grinning alicorn. "Well? Are you going to tell me?" "Oh!" Twilight snapped out of her joy-haze. "Right. But... Maybe you should lower the moon first, then we can meet with Princess Celestia since she'd want to know too and it'd be easier just to tell it all once." Reminded of her duties, Luna realized that she was again a few minutes late with the moon and quickly lowered it before sealing the room against sunlight. At Twilight's reassurance that she knew how the condition spreads and that there was no danger from close contact, she sent a message to her sister requesting she join them for their morning meal. Twilight could hardly contain her excitement as they waited for Celestia. She'd figured out the problem, had a good idea how to fix it, and wouldn't have to be locked up anymore. Though she was going to miss the excuse to spend so much time with Luna. She deflated for a moment at the thought, but just then her former mentor entered the room. "Princess Celestia," Twilight cried out in joy as she ran to embrace her. "Now Twilight, how many times do I have to tell you that you can just call me Celestia? You're a princess too now after all." Twilight, looking up and noting the teasing look in Celestia's eyes, just smiled and responded with a simple, "Sorry, habit." Celestia chuckled and moved on to embrace her sister. "And it's good to see you again as well Luna. I've missed our daily get-togethers this last week." "I've missed you too, Tia." "I must say, that is a lovely shade of moonlight you two are wearing." Luna and Twilight shared a quick grin, but before they could say anything the servants entered the room with their food and the three settled about the table which had not previously been used during Twilight's stay. Once they all were settled with food and drinks and the servants had withdrawn, Celestia commented, "I am a bit curious about how you are managing that Twilight. I'd always been under the impression that was a skill unique to Luna." "You are well aware that there are exceptions," Luna drawled with a gleam in her eye, "Auntie 'Lestia." Celestia coughed into her tea, and Twilight noted with interest that her cheeks turned a very obvious pink. It was the first time Twilight could recall ever seeing her mentor lose composure. Even when Chrysalis had overpowered her she'd managed to keep emotionally collected. Celestia daintily cleaned up her tea and wiped her mouth with a napkin before refilling her cup. "And what, may I ask, prompted that particular jab dear sister?" "Oh, I think you know Tia." Then her tone turned pleading, "Why did you never tell me about Majora? You must have known how much it would mean to me." "I'm sorry Luna, I was going to tell you when she next woke. She wasn't due to wake again for another five to ten more years, and I knew you'd want to go see her as soon as you knew." "Oh..." "Luna... I don't think I really understood how much it meant to you. I never expected you'd go looking for her." Twilight took that opportunity to speak up, "We didn't go looking for her exactly. We went looking for the Ursa Minor I'd encountered in Ponyville, planning to study her while she slept, but I ended up waking both Majora and Mina." "I see. It seems that you two have had quite the busy week, and not quite in the way I'd expected." Luna looked sharply at Celestia, "And what's that supposed to mean?" "Nothing at all. Shall we move on to Twilight's explanation of her condition?" "Could we maybe eat first? It's been a busy night and I'm kind of hungry." Luna had been considering her sister through half-closed eyes, but spun her gaze to Twilight at mention of a busy night. Twilight felt her face warm a bit and looked down at her plate remembering how much she'd made Luna worry. Celestia looked back and forth between the two for a moment. "Of course. Food sounds like a wonderful plan." ***** After they had eaten and were relaxing with their drinks of choice, Celestia prompted, "May we now hear what you have discovered Twilight?" Twilight nodded began with the delayed explanation, "Well, when Mina came to Ponyville and I had to calm her and return her to her cave, I actually didn't have enough magic to do so on my own. I didn't realize it until I was thinking back about it this week, but I actually borrowed magic from Mina. An Ursa is made up of magic and shadow, with no actual physical substance, so given my special talent I ended up tapping into that instinctively instead of draining myself dry." Twilight now had the full attention of both princesses. "The lunar dependency is something that Ursa are born with. It's something like a magical parasite that exists within the shadow bit of their substance. It remains dormant until the Ursa first learns to generate starlight. The parasite feeds on the Ursa magic to keep the light from destroying the shadow. Ursa magic is produced by feeding on moonlight, so the moonlight doesn't directly deal with the parasite, it just ensures there's enough spare food that the parasite doesn't interfere with the Ursa's ability to function. In the case of an Ursa, if the parasite eats more magic than is produced, then eventually it will have no magic left over and die. The brighter the light it is exposed to, the more rapidly it will go through available magic trying to keep itself alive...and will more rapidly end up killing off the Ursa, as happened with Majora's mother." Luna lowered her head at the reminder and Celestia jerked a bit, "You told her about that?" Twilight wrapped a comforting wing over Luna's back, "She didn't tell me. I saw. I got pulled into her dream when she was reliving it." Celestia reached a hoof across the table toward her sister. "You never mentioned nightmares about it Lulu. If I'd known about that I'd most certainly have told you about Majora earlier." "It's okay Tia. What's done is done, and I do feel much better since learning of Majora's survival. If you would continue Twilight?" "Right." Twilight continued, but left her wing draped over Luna. "In my case, I picked up the parasite and Ursa magic when I borrowed Mina's magic, but it stayed dormant because I couldn't produce moonlight or starlight - until Tirek. When you all gave me your magic and I had to use lunar magic to lower the moon, I activated the parasite. It grew in strength slowly over the week after the battle because I only have a little Ursa magic and am not composed entirely of it." Luna broke in, "That explains why you have the condition, but what about the moonlight? You gave us back our magic." "Actually, I didn't. The Tree of Harmony did. That's the other part I checked on tonight." "Either way, we got our magic back, so how do you still have lunar magic?" "That's where it gets a little complicated. You both know that magic takes many different forms. In its natural state there is elemental magic, illusion magic, dark magic, healing magic, and so on. The different pony races channel and manipulate the magic in specialized ways and it is then referred to as earth pony magic, pegasus magic, or unicorn magic. Then the specialization is taken an additional step further when a pony gains their cutie mark. At that point the way in which they use and manipulate magic becomes unique to them and nopony else." Celestia and Luna just nodded acknowledgement of this. "I went to a few places where Tirek used his magic - in particular what's left of the Ponyville library - and discovered that his magic is type-less. He steals magic and converts it to raw magic which can be shaped however he pleases. On the other hoof, the Tree of Harmony's magic is an almost perfectly even blend of every type of magic. When it stripped the stolen magic from Tirek and returned it to everypony, I believe that it used each ponies subconscious memory of what their magic had been to ensure they were restored to what they were instead of having to get their cutie marks all over again." Twilight shifted her gaze between the two, "That's the reason why I still have lunar magic. I also checked and found traces of solar magic as well. When Tirek took my magic, I had all of yours as well. So the 'memory' of my magic included yours." Celestia smiled at her, "That is quite the conclusion Twilight. But how can you be certain that it's not just your innate skill for magic allowing you to mimic solar and lunar magic?" "I can't be entirely certain at this point, but it's not just mimicking. I actually have traces of your magic. It's also the only way I can explain having Ursa magic after Tirek should have stripped it away." "Well, I am content to leave the matter in your capable hooves. Have you figured out how to cure yourself as well?" "I think so, but I'll have to wait until tonight to try." Twilight basked in the warmth of Celestia's smile. "Excellent. And it seems Pinkie's timing is excellent as well." Twilight and Luna traded confused glances. "She's requested the use of the lesser ballroom for tomorrow's 'We've Missed You Twilight' party." Celestia basked in the company of her sister and former student, proud of how both had grown. She hid her smile in her teacup at how closely they'd sat for the entire meal and at Twilight's wing still draped over her sister's back. Deciding it was time to leave the two alone, she stood and nodded at both and said in a carefully neutral tone, "I'll see you two tomorrow then. I should probably check with Pinkie Pie to see if she has any ideas for the wedding." "What wedding?" both Twilight and Luna asked together. Making her way out of the room she answered over her shoulder. "Don't play coy - you two really are such a cute couple." Then she took off at a full gallop with a laugh as an angry shout of, "TIA!" followed in her wake.