//------------------------------// // 5.7 // Story: How Hard Could it Be? // by Richardson //------------------------------// 5.7 Luna rang the doorbell of the Fortress of Friendship once more. This time, it was not the lower door, but the upper, and despite being in a different note the tune of the joyously ringing bells continued to remind her of music for the soul. Fluttershy would be so awkwardly proud and terrified if she heard the great crystal tree ringing with her notes. Prouderified? Terrioud? Nervouscited? It didn’t matter beneath the rising stars of evening and the setting sun of day, she stood upon the receiving balcony and held down the door bell button so that the music continue onwards. Onwards, and outwards, lifting the spirits of all in Ponyvile and beyond. A tune calling out that Harmony was alive and well and would watch over them all tonight. The pop of displaced air above didn’t stop Luna, nor did Twilight gliding down from above with the oddest expression on the frazzled young princess’s face. Worry, relief, pangs of what looked like betrayal, and a twitching mass of heart-aching confusion. She skidded to a halt at Luna’s side, skipping several times as her hooves caught on the semi-slick crystal of the deck. “Luna, stop ringing the door bell! It makes the whole building ring!” “Wouldn’t you want such joy?” The oblivious alicorn rhetorically asked as she basked in the all-encompassing sound that lifted her spirits up. If she had paid attention, she might have noticed how the decking beneath her hooves clattered. “Doesn’t it remind you of the joys of companionship, or ease your heart? How wonderful, then, to know that it so courteously brings that joy to all within! Mor-“ “No, I mean it is quite nice, wait—I mean the whole building literally rings! Giant tree-shaped crystal bell! You’re deafening every-pony in Ponyvile and waking up all the foals!” Twilight frantically corrected as the music suckered her in for a moment. She shook her whole body to clear the lethargy creeping up on her, and slapped Luna’s hoof away from the button. “Oh.” Now Luna just felt like an utter twit. There was a limit to how much joyousness a pony could take before they grew fed up with it all and their head exploded. Probably. She might be exaggerating the effects slightly. Having the titanic tree-castle at the end of the lane ringing like a bell at eight after the noon would probably qualify as such a limit, especially if it started happening on a regular basis. Right, so stay away from the happy fun door bell. Luna sheepishly backed away from her temptation, chuckling nervously. “It is a good bell.” “I heard it the first time.” Twilight grumpily retorted as she sat down beside Luna. She had a distraught air to her movements as she fidgeted in place, her wing-tips constantly moving in agitation as her fore-hooves clip-clopped against the crystal decking constantly whilst she looked over her guest. Luna had ditched the ill-fitting pants, letting herself walk without a—what was it called—ah, without a ‘wedgie’ as it was called by the minotaurs. “Um, thanks for liking it so much. I guess. Did-“ Luna shrugged. “The pants were not Rarity’s best work. I think she was a little over-zealous in its tightness.” The diarch jerked her head towards the door. “May I come in?” While the night air was wonderful as the early winds swirled around them, she was really looking forwards to stalking the halls and exploring a strange new castle. Who knew, maybe they might find secret traps and chambers within! Her sister had been so boring with the new castle in Canterlot sometimes. “Oh! Sure!” Twilight randomly gestured and/or flailed in the direction of the elegant crystal doors, still unnerved about whatever had happened since Luna had last seen her a scant few hours before. “Sure, let me just open that for-“ Twilight jerked on the handle with her magic, rebounding as the doors failed to open, “-you?” Luna smirked as Twilight scowled at her doors and prepared to do battle with the reluctant portal. First, Twilight ran up and grabbed the ornate handle in her mouth, pulling and tugging outwards with it like a dog might tug at a rope. Luna scooted over to one side as the purple alicorn’s skidding hooves sliding against the crystal decking slowly wagged her back and forth in front of the door as she pulled; funny, the door was set rather far into the frame to open outwards. Twilight spat the handle back out and grabbed it with her magic again, jerking her head back again and again to try and yank it free of whatever obstruction was holding it in place as she growled with each yank. As the young alicorn’s eloquent and thoughtful insights into the design of the portal and its décor grew sharper, Luna leaned in to look at its sister, paying close attention to the seam between the two halves of the set and what lay on their other side; after a minute or two, Twilight’s commentary had passed in favor of spluttering indignation and curses whilst Luna noticed a rather irritating little complication just behind the doors. Twilight ground her hooves into the deck and pulled with enough force to make her glowing horn bend, enough force to send an Ursa Major flying over the horizon as she started sliding back towards the doorway once more from the interaction of her leverage against the handle. Luna giggled into her hoof as the muttered expletives transformed into grand rants on the lineage of the door and poxes out to the hundredth descendant yet to come from its design as Twilight planted her fore-hooves against the frame and pulled again. Right, time to let her stop embarrassing herself. Putting a hoof on Twilight’s horn, Luna extinguished the magic with a single touch as she shushed into the young alicorn’s ear. “Be easy Twilight.” “Not until I get this door open!” “Twilight, you won’t open it this way.” “What?” “Just so that you might know, the door is barred.” “What!?” “Also, I think this style of door pushes in normally.” Best just to save the worst for last, the build-up to it gave time for a pony to get used to the embarrassment of failure. Twilight yowled aloud for a moment, kicking the obstinate door in frustration. Then again, saving the worst for last could just make it worse. Yelping, Twilight dropped to her side and curled up into a ball to hold the hoof she kicked with until the pain went away, uncaring that Luna was watching on. Gradually, Twilight’s muttered curses and grumbles of pain faded away into a general groan of annoyance as she laid on her side, staring into Luna’s gathered hooves as the night alicorn stood just beside her. Each of her hooves shuddered as she forced the pain away, and Luna bent down to crouch beside her. “Shall I take it that you’re not alright? I can come back tomorrow if something has you stressed.” “I’m okay, I’m okay!” Twilight hastily chanted as she rolled back to her hooves. She pranced in place, rubbing her aching hoof against the decking as she began charging her aura. “Just let me teleport in to get the door!” She stalled, glaring at the door with irritation. She was almost certain it opened outwards just a week or two ago, but the last time she had been through it had been on the day of Sweetie’s flare. Nothing to it, just time to make good on her word. She teleported out successfully enough, but instead of appearing where she was supposed to she was rebounded back by a surprise ward within the walls, blasting back into the universe just over Luna’s head in a small explosion of magic from the backlash. She was quite well done from the heat, and instantly frizzled in the second before cruel gravity had her mischievous way and dropped her upon her guest’s back. Coughing out a bit of soot from her mishap, Twilight brushed some of the burnt layer of hair from her face as she gaped at her house. “What? WHY!?” Levitating Twilight up and setting her to one side, Luna arose from beneath her royal burden. There was enough of a gap to fit, she’d squeezed through worse. “May I, Twilight?” She suggested, pointing at the crack between the doors with her hoof. Twilight just threw her hooves up in frustration; grunting her assent as she flopped flat to mope at how frustrating life, the universe, her secrets, and everything was being to her. She just wanted to get away from it all: away from the secrets she would be keeping, away from the nobles and especially Redcoat when he finally came down to pay his ‘respects’, away from the stupid new ‘Fortress of Friendship’ and back in her old home, away from it all. She was so busy just letting her frustrations run over her that she almost missed Luna transforming into a veil of smoke before her eyes. Now THAT was something that she didn’t want to get away from. She had seen it before, when Luna had been Nightmare Moon. But, it had been an aspect of the nightmare force, right? Did it matter? No, probably not as Luna’s mystic misty form wrapped around her and caressed her with a col, tingly touch before slipping away and through the crack between the sides of the set of doors. A small flash of light flickered through that tiny gap as Luna reformed, but Twilight didn’t really see it. She was still sitting there, dumbfounded, when Luna opened the doors and stepped back through. “What, did you forget I could do that?” New knowledge? “Teach me!” Twilight proclaimed as she tried to dive for Luna’s hooves, only to be stopped by the elder alicorn’s aura as it levitated her. “No, stop!” Luna protested as she held Twilight’s wriggling form. “Not until you tell me what has you so stressed!” That stopped Twilight, who hung limply in the telekinetic field and sighed. “Come now, I can tell, don’t say that you’re not. Your mane is completely frazzled, you’re making simple mistakes, and you’re showing all the other signs of being unable to cope with something that my sister warned me about. Stop trying to distract me, what’s wrong?” Luna drew Twilight away from the door, leaving it open behind her as she floated Twilight over to the balcony and set her beside it looking out. “Nothing is wrong!” “You twitched, and you forget that I once bore the Element of Honesty.” Luna frowned, then hugged Twilight with her wing again, hoping to use the same strange effect the embrace had earlier to snap the young princess out of her funk. “You weren’t like this a few hours ago.” Luna hugged tighter, watching the spread of the remarkable pinkish glow in Twilight’s fur as the embrace took effect. Just for added fuzzy feelings, she reached down and carefully booped Twilight’s nose with a hoof. “You are stressed, stressed beyond compare. My sister is out upon an impulsive vacation from her stress; I’m not going to lose you to it as well. I care about you just as much as I do her, maybe even more. Spill.” “N-nothing! I mean it!” “Lying.” Boop. “You’re stressed and frazzled, it happened sometime in the last few hours.” Redcoat never reappeared after his departure, and he certainly hadn’t been in her office. She was pretty sure he wasn’t still in her office, thought she didn’t yet have the same wards up as in the hall. It would be easy for him to come down to Ponyvile. “Did a noble bother you again? Maybe Duke Redcoat? He’s been up to something.” Luna’s hoof hovered in front of Twilight’s nose, making her cross-eyed as she stared at it. “What? No, no. It’s-it’s nothing.” Twilight fidgeted for a moment, trying to look away from Luna’s concern before she was mercilessly nose-booped again and had her gaze turned back to the lunar alicorn. “Alright, I promised myself I wouldn’t tell!” She tried to look away again, and found herself booped and captivated once more. “That seems like a rather silly thing to do if it effects you so. Friends are supposed to support you, after all.” Luna carefully admonished, ruffling Twilight’s back and side with a shuffle of her wing. “So, it isn’t about nobles. Did you find something, perchance?” Twilight shook her head. “It isn’t the kind of secrets you tell friends. It’s the kind that-“ Twilight struggled for words, “-involves running, and screaming, and trying to get away from the trouble. If I tell some-pony, they might tell some-pony else, and then it’ll all happen, and everything will go wrong.” Twilight’s worries trailed off into weak squeaks more suited for coming out of Fluttershy as her eyes watered slightly. She tried to look away once again, and was again booped affectionately upon the nose by Luna’s hoof. “No, none of that. I shan’t allow such doubts.” Luna let Twilight’s gaze wander out over Ponyvile and studiously noted the particular sights Twilight was doing her best to avoid. Three sites in particular, how curious. Secrets, plural. Possibly her sister, but she suspected three more. Best to find out what exactly. “Something you learned in the past three or four hours, then? Something that has shaken your faith?” “Maybe?” Joyous. A heart broken of its views and left to fester could be a most terrible thing, after all. Adrift, alone, and afraid, a heart left to believe that it had been deemed unworthy or unfitting could collapse in on itself. Ponies needed to believe that others believed in them; they needed to believe that they had worth in the world, that they could be trusted. Like the framework of a house, that self-worth supported the whole structure; all it took was a single nagging doubt, or a careless word at the wrong time, or a mis-timed deed to undo the whole thing like a house without a foundation stone. So too, had her sister accidentally bungled her escape. AGAIN. Instead of convincing Twilight that she trusted her to do the right thing and report her, it seemed Twilight had come to think that Celestia thought ill of her. “My sister?” “No. Yes? Maybe, I don’t know. I don’t want to know. Sort of.” Twilight looked away from the glimmering night-time vista of Ponyvile, and found herself righteously booped once more. “Gah, stop!” “You do know that she trusts you too much, right?” Luna told her quietly, resting her head atop Twilight’s own to let the comfort of her presence reassure her. “She trusts that you will do the right thing and report her. Which is a problem for her, because she is trying to do the wrong thing.” Luna slowly shifted over, letting her warmth soak through to Twilight as the general nervous ticks in the young alicorn’s body-motion eased away. She also booped Twilight’s nose again, to be rewarded with a wing-swat to her hoof. “Why?” “What? The wrong thing? I’ll explain later. But she is—impulsive at heart. She means well, but this is the first chance for her in a long while to truly relax and let all of her worries go.” Luna whispered the last part into Twilight’s ears quietly. Carefully stroking with her chin sideways up against an ear, Luna slowly calmed her as she put the broken corner-stone of Twilight’s self-worth back together again. “She trusts you. Perhaps it would be a good time to take up faith.” “What?” Boop! “No, I’m not moping! Stop doing that!” Twilight complained as she tried to fight off the viscous nose-boop with a shield of magic, only to be booped again by a tendril of magic materializing inside of her shield. “Have faith. Faith that things will turn out as they should.” Luna cryptically continued as she slowly wrapped her wing around Twilight’s front and gave her attention from that direction, leaving only the purple alicorn’s head unwrapped. “Faith in yourself, faith that you will persevere. Faith that Sunbeam will tell you what you really need to know in time, when she’s ready to.” It felt good to feel Twilight slump against her, to lean against her and let her take solace in the embrace. “So she is, then.” Twilight sadly said as she let her head slump over the support of Luna’s wing and sighed. “I can’t really say anymore. What Sunbeam knows of Celestia is hers to tell, not my own.” “Can’t say, or won’t sa-“ “Boop!” And Twilight was booped. Twilight straightened in Luna’s grasp. “That’s not an ans-“ “Boop!” And Twilight was further slain by the boop. But she wasn’t breaking down into ticklish giggles like Celestia and Twilight Velvet had told of in their stories. Curious. “Stop that!” “Boop!” “Gyah!” Twilight scrunched and flailed rather sillily with her hooves for a few moments. She held off the boops valiantly until her outstretched legs tired and provided an opening for the mad booper to boop once more. “Boop! The boops will continue until you tell me what else is bothering you.” Luna forewarned, holding a hoof up to strike with horrible, tickling, embarrassing booping force. “I can’t! There isn’t any more!” “Boop!” This was getting rather silly. Luna laughed at the utter ridiculousness of the action, not maliciously, but light and hearty laughter of some-pony struck by how mad her relationships were. “You said secrets. Plural! You said running, and screaming. Worries about Celestia and Sunbeam wouldn’t cause that, the running and screaming from silly ponies much too enamored of my overrated sister is pretty much over.” Luna settled her head down onto Twilight’s own, trapping her between a fluffy head atop and a grasping fluffy wing beneath. “So, something society-shaking then. You wouldn’t be worried about a natural disaster you could do something about.” “No! Yes, uh—maybe?” “Boop!” “Hey!” “You’re making less sense than before. I wonder, do fuzzy cuddles have an adverse effect on the mind? Boop!” Luna could feel the sudden bloom of warmth as Twilight rethought her position. When the alicorn started squirming in place a little, Luna began to almost purr into the back of her head. “I noticed your gaze earlier. The crusaders, then.” “Maybe?” Twilight timidly answered, still overwhelmed a little. It felt oddly right to be swallowed up by the warmth of Luna’s embrace, and it was getting hard to remain focused on not telling her anything. “Hmm. So, you discovered their secret research to help them develop means of tracking down and capturing my sister so they can earn their cutie marks?” Luna concluded, ceasing her bomb-boop-ment. Twilight boggled a little at the revelation, her wings spreading slightly against Luna’s own in shock. “They’re trying to build some mad ship of the skies.” “I-but-I, what?” “Oh.” Twilight didn’t know then. What could—oh dear. “Oh, oh dear. They’re all more powerful than my sister thought?” Luna felt Twilight nervously nod her head against her neck. Celestia already had wild fantasies about their powers. The wild magic incident had been frightening enough from the reports, but if they were all like that it was indeed much worse; if they were all like that then they would become something terrifying indeed. “You’re afraid that someone will force a—uh, you out of them, then.” Nod. “Three more claimants to the throne, young enough to be manipulated and tricked would be a big problem indeed. Lots of running and screaming, then.” Twilight chuckled nervously beneath Luna, huffing out a last chuckle before squeezing her head out from under Luna’s to rest her chin on the knees of her fore-legs. Luna got it. “So, can you not tell them?” “I, Luna Morningstar shall do my reasonable utmost to keep the true nature of the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ from the knowledge of any-pony I speak to; Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my-OW!” That smarted. Why on her sister’s good earth did Pinkie have the bright idea of a final part of her promise that involved a hoof to eye action? At least Twilight found it hilarious after her righteous boop-age. “Not funny. It stings.” “I do it to myself every freaking time.” “Oh.” “So, crazy magic airship research?” Twilight asked, eager to change the subject. “And don’t forget you need to teach me your trick.” Chuckling, Luna slowly unwrapped her wings from around Twilight, to the small alicorn’s disappointment. It seemed the events of a few days prior were turning into an odd comedy that kept on giving. “Yes, so I shouldn’t. But I probably will.” Twilight pouted a little, only a little; she knew better than expect some-pony to just give up a special spell like that. And she certainly wasn’t feeling strange in her chest over the increased distance between them. “Yes, crazy magic airship research. Why did you think I cut my mane?” “Change of style?” “Well yes, but no.” “I’m confused.” Beat. “Uh, more now. I was already confused.” Luna looked towards Sweet Apple Acres, and the crusader’s not-so-secret laboratory there. It was still worth it. She actually owed them a bit of thanks. “They hit me in the head with a zap apple whilst testing a new engine that pulls air through it with pegasus magic for holding up heavier than air airships.” Luna explained, smiling at the mad genius of the device, provided they could it to produce thrust. Twilight followed her gaze, uncertain of the context. “Well, less testing it and more playing with the cool machine that made funny noises. They had it turned around and were launching objects through it.” Confusion turned to outrage as Twilight remembered the lesson Celestia had very carefully taught her after her ascension and the unfortunate accident that led to it. “That’s unsafe! What were they thinking, aiming an experimental device at some-pony and launching objects through it instead of using proper safety precautions!? That’s mean. Mean and careless!” “By hit me, I mean ‘knocked me off my hooves on my tower’s balcony. With a shot fired from Sweet Apple Acres.’ They were using the peak of Mt. Canter as an alignment point for getting everything straightened before welding together the assembly of the device.” Gobble. “Yes, that was about my reaction as well when I carefully confronted their nightmares that I would send them to the moon. Understandable, but silly. I had to calm their fears without letting them know I knew. They also might have caused the avalanche, it happened the next day.” Careful geometry equations clashed with estimations of atmospheric drag on the beads of Twilight’s mental abacus as she took into account various factors, including the spells that magnified their images from medium to long range to allow them to be seen across a distance 200 miles in diameter. Sweet Apple Acres was probably around 40 miles away from the capital, she didn’t have the precise calculations. But even the rough figure, combined with the extreme ballistic arc needed for an object with an apple’s mass to avoid atmospheric drag and the speeds required to achieve it was—excessive. “Are you sure, because if they did, then they would-“ “Yes.” “But the-“ “I am aware.” “They scare me. More than before, that is.” “Yes indeed. I half-expect to find out that they turned into alicorns overnight.” Twilight and Luna both nervously laughed at the tall mare’s joke. It did disturbingly seem to be possible. It was silly, and probably wouldn’t happen. Who cared if they had all the signs of proto-alicorns, what was the chance of three ponies being in the same place all at once, friends, and all getting the perfect chance for them to ascend? Nonsense, couldn’t happen. Would probably happen. Luna inwardly sighed in frustration. It was a one in a million chance. More. Probably a one in a trillion chance, which was just as good as a one in a million chance for just so happening to happen. She’d have to make plans, alert Captain Berry to watch out for Redcoat, and drink lots more coffee when the inevitable chance happened. “Don’t worry, Twilight. They’ll be fine.” Probably. “But, I think we have dallied long enough upon your doorstep. Shall we plumb yonder labyrinth for our prize?” Luna gestured with a swept wing back towards the Fortress of Friendship, turning around to- “There was a door there. Just a minute ago!” ---------------------------------------- In a hidden control room tucked far away from any place a sane pony might look, a fiendish villainess cackled beneath the light of a dozen flickering monitors showing her the feeds from the security spells hidden about the castle. Not that she meant any harm, she merely wished to share the ‘joy’ that her clueless match-making friend had inflicted upon her. Revenge was not something that Rarity—MAD FASHION MISTRESS OF PONYVILE—took lightly, but for the insult of attempting to ruin her waist line, Twilight Sparkle would pay. Her revenge would not be petty, oh no, for Rarity did not do petty. She did FABULOUS! So, she would subject Twilight and her date to every romantic cliché under the sun and moon; she would make the two fall in love so madly that the merest mention of one another’s name would send the other into stammering fits of romantic embarrassment; she would drive them into one another’s hooves and skip them down to the altar herself, and when the time came, she would whisper to them that everything proceeded according to her plan! No, her revenge would be the stuff of legends! Also, possibly cheesy romance novels. Mmm, that did sound like an excellent idea for a story. Oh yes, an excellent story indeed, but first she needed to inflict a lovely moon light flight upon them, followed by a romantic dinner that would leave them groaning and clutching their tummies while begging her to refit their clothes. Oh, yes. Get her fat, would they? She’d show them all! “Spike, oh Spike? Where exactly is the button to teleport food about the castle? We have a romantic spaghetti and bread-ball dinner that needs to be in the observatory immediately! Romantic revenge must be delicious and on time!” She did not get petty revenge, but she did cackle evilly enough that even Discord and Tirek themselves might get chills from the sound. “No idea. Don’t you think you’re getting a little out of hoof with this revenge plot? Wait, here it is.” Spike shouted over the tumult of cackling as he slapped the button in the dimly and flickering light of the cramped control booth. Another set of screens lit up upon the board before him, drowning out the darkness and startling him backwards into the soft curve of Rarity’s back. The two turned about to look at each other, both of them feeling a slight yearning to spend more time together before the flutter of wings on the sound feed of a monitor broke the spell between them. They straightened up, blushing a bit as the remembered not to do anything yet. Twisting and turning knobs and dials, Spike flipped through the various cameras of the castle until he had his row of monitors focused in on the observatory tower. Little shifts and tweaks adjusted the cameras to focus in on an alcove back behind the telescope. A cozy place, intimate and remote. The small table between the wall benches had just enough space for the white table-cloth to appear beneath the place settings, enough space for the platter to arrive atop it practically buried in spaghetti and bread-balls. Stately dinnerware materialized at either place-settings, a sextet of candles dropped from hidden openings and lit themselves to cast a flickering romantic light upon the scene as the observatory shutters retracted to bathe the room in the light of the rising moon and stars. Rarity cranked on a grand adjustment wheel, aligning the telescope with the moon as the pair of alicorns lofted themselves higher into the air as they coasted around the Fortress of Friendship. Spike straightened her mane with his claws as she sat back. “Hey, Rarity, do we really have to get your revenge with a—romantic dinner and starlit evening? It seems kind of silly, don’t you think? It was just a suggested chocolate shake.” “No, it was cliché! Used! Documented so well that it has ceased to be truly romantic!” Rarity picked up the pocky stick she had elected for in favor of Twilight’s suggestion, her words muffled slightly as she tweaked the stick in the corner of her mouth. “No, Sparkle, you magnificent mare, I’ve read her BOOK!” She threw her hoof up into the air, triumphantly calling her next phase of the plan. “Spike! Prepare, the Romantic Music!” ---------------------------------------- “I just don’t get it. I mean, the Fortress has been—weird—some times before, but its never made a doorway just vanish!” Twilight groused as she flew beside Luna in the cool air of the late evening. Glittering beside them, the strange leaves of her crystal tree-fortress soaked in the moon-light as they clicked together in the light breeze that ruffled their fur and feathers whilst they glided over the darkened town on the leftover thermals from the day’s heat. Shrugging, Luna half laughed off the suggestion as she angled slowly closer towards Twilight. “Maybe it was telling us to get a room. It’s an off-shoot of the Tree of Harmony, after all. Just a big, cheeky, friendly jerk who likes meddling. Like my sister!” Luna cheekily mentioned to Twilight, who jerked in mid-air as her face scrunched up in confusion. Luna shook her head lightly, releasing it from the tight bun it had been wrapped up into. “Why, that’s probably why it turned the door around on you!” “That makes no sense whatsoever!” Twilight called over as she banked closer to the tree. Luna dropped in on her from above unexpectedly, stopping just a few hooves over Twilight’s head. “Yes it does! Your tree is a tree of relationships! It just got you to open up to me!” “I, uh-“ “See, you let the tree out-smart you, for shame! An owner is supposed to be smarter than her house! Boop!” “Hey! Stop that, get back here!” Twilight protested as she pumped her wings hard to catch up. Luna swooped into the branches of the tree and began weaving through the tight spaces, forcing Twilight to pay attention to keep up with her. It was nice, simple even. Soon, Twilight found herself laughing a bit as she all but nipped at Luna’s heels in their crazy chase, the diarch leading them both to the opened astronomy dome. Luna poured on the speed, soon leaving Twilight behind a lap as she circled upwards and hovered to a halt over the opened space. Her wings flared wider and flapped madly so she could avoid getting air-tackled by her over-teased friend. Twilight yelped as she missed and her arching course dropped her into the depths of the dome without a chance at recovery. Looking down in concern and a fair bit of smug victory syndrome, Luna’s smug smile faded as she couldn’t see hide nor hair of Twilight. Oh, crap, there wasn’t any sign. If she accidentally killed Twilight, her sister was going to kill her to death. Twice even, with extra solar flares. “Twilight? Twilight!” Slowly, Luna hovered downwards, her heart skipping a beat once her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and gloom within the observatory. The over-head lights were out, leaving only a set of candles mysteriously flickering to one side to illuminate the crumpled form sprawled upon the floor in a heap. She held her wings as far up as she could manage, crashing to the floor of the dome in an imposing all-hooves landing beside Twilight. Oh, no. She didn’t seem to be breathing, or was breathing so shallowly that Luna couldn’t detect it. The anxious alicorn felt up Twilight’s form to check for broken bones, and when she found none, she rolled the unmoving princess-in-training onto her back and leaned closer to check for life. “BOOP!” “Gyah!” Luna recoiled as Twilight’s revenge was served melodramatically. Twilight chuckled painfully from where she sprawled on her back as Luna whimpered and rubbed her nose. That had been entirely unfair, and well played. Luna helped Twilight back up with a proffered hoof, pulling her back to all fours. “It seems that I am not as unpredictable as I wished. Well played, you tricked me well. Would you like to know a secret?” Twilight nodded, leaning in when Luna gestured to come closer. “What sec-gah, not the-“ “Boop!” And thus the tide was turned again. “Grrr.” “Pft. You got me fair and square. I’m becoming predictable again, I’m afraid. Dearest sister used to trick me so when we were younger, she was quit the sports-mare.” “Really?” Celestia, exercising a lot and flying around like Dash? That was silly. “Bah, yes. Quite the extroverted run-about in her youth. Impulsive, brash, unafraid. Always going out and mingling while I stayed in the shadows and worked on stopping threats before they started.” Luna sighed, slumping down. Little good had come of being a good enough ruler to fight the problems before they started. Then no-pony even knew that the problems had existed. No, jealousy lead to a dark path. Besides, that was why she put up the yearly audits of her night guard’s activities. Perhaps they needed to be a little more notice-focus, Luna. “She held the common pony’s heart, while I worked on their safety. You don’t think she was always the paragon of organization she was in your youth, did you?” Twilight shook her head timidly. “Bah, no. I used to be the calculating one. Then the tides turned with my—departure. She had to do more than be the face and diplomatic heart of our regime. That was after she got too good for any common pony to compete against, of course.” Luna remembered the day quite well, when they received a petition to let the commoners compete without Celestia. Her poor sister had been flabbergasted that she had been accidentally pummeling their ponies silly with her skills. “Of course, once she stopped dragging me into the lime-light with her antics was probably when everything started falling apart. I was content to work from the shadows and in the dreams, and I couldn’t understand why no-pony remembered my work. It was probably when she started putting on weight again.” “Huh.” Twilight mumbled as she shakily started walking around Luna. “I- Rarity.” Oh, yes, it was going to be a long night. Elsewhere, a white mare chuckled into the straw of her diet soda, blowing bubbles as her loyal knight watched her concernedly. “Rarity? I don’t know why you would so randomly compare yourself to her. Whilst she radiates magnificence much as my sister’s sun beams light, I find you rather more attractive than her mere-oh.” Well, a random dinner out of nowhere would explain the non-sequitur. Who else had such a sense of the dramatic as to hunt down a place of mutual interest so as to set up a romantic dinner? “Well, clearly she wishes for us to enjoy ourselves on this wonderful night after discovering your plans. She must not be a sore loser, despite having a consolation prize.” Twilight slowly crept up on the dinner settings in confusion, her ears twitching funnily at Luna’s words. “Sore loser?” “Why, she must work so hard to bring her inner beauty out; your own radiance still outshines her in mind, body, and soul with hardly any effort.” Luna’s praise evoked a full-body blush on Twilight’s part once more. Her wing crept up behind Twilight and gently coaxed the glowing alicorn onwards. “Bah, enough of such paltry talk. Let us enjoy the fruits of her labor, and one another’s company!” ---------------------------------------- “Pft. Like she knows. How absurd.” Rarity’s lip quivered a little at the insinuation that she was plain. Spike’s claws began rubbing and scratching at her back, massaging her lovingly. “Ah, what does she know, Rarity? I mean, really, a dragon decided you’re the best treasure in all of Equestria, and Princess Luna’s getting all mushy and gross about saying Twilight’s more beautiful. Who cares about what she says?” Spike ranted lightly, smiling hopefully as Rarity shuddered a little. He leaned up against her, sinking a little into her soft side. “You’re way prettier than both of them.” “Really?” Rarity sniffed a little, looking down at her little knight. “Uh, duh? I’m the dragon. I just said it.” Did she even have to ask? She helped him not be greedy, helped him out with his troubles when Twilight couldn’t, was the prettiest and most beautiful mare around, and she didn’t mind when he wanted to read comics in her back room. Did she even have to wonder why he wanted to help her? All she had to do was ask, and he’d gladly help her out. “Don’t you think we ought to let them be? I think Luna can take it from here. You want to spend the rest of the evening checking out gemstones, or something for when they get mushier and start talking funny at each other? Luna’ll probably go full Shining on Twilight.” “Oh, you silly little knight of mine.” Rarity pulled Spike tight to her chest and snuggled him quite relentlessly as they let the monitors drone on. -------------------------------------------------- “Relax, Twilight. I’m sure that she will not bother us further.” Luna soothed the sore alicorn, helping her up onto the sitting bench. “I’ve heard the tales of Spike’s attempted chivalry. Quite the noble little dragon.” Twilight moaned, remembering the times Spike had been quite the silly little ‘knight’. Had she ever been so stupid? Oh, wait, of course she had been with her silly little declaration that she didn’t need friends. “Oh, yeah. He’s been smitten with her since they met.” She mentioned, looking over the dish. Boy, had it been awkward at first. “It was just a crush to begin with. He might have grown out of it if a few things hadn’t happened that started turning it—reciprocal.” Luna joined Twilight on the bench and poked at the table-settings, remarking to herself how strange dining had become since she had left. So formal, and fancy, in her day they just used their hooves, magic, and some spoons. The ‘silverware’ had to have been some delayed madness of Discord’s. So many- wait, why did she care about formal dining etiquette? So long as she was clean and organized, Twilight wouldn’t care. “Reciprocal? Ah, let me guess, it started with mine sister’s boorish nephew?” Nod. “Yeah, comforting her after that started it. Then came his greed growth and everything there, and then it sort of started spiraling out from there.” Twilight was glad to have anything to distract her from the subject of Sunbeam, even if it was about her little brother/son and the just plain weird relationship he had with Rarity. Sure, it was plenty romantic, but just weird. Maybe it was a dragon thing, though she did sort of get Rarity. “I guess it’s because he puts her up on a pedestal and acts like some knight from, uh, your days, and because she’s, well her. He put a lot more research into what he was doing after that ‘noble dragon’ silliness. I’m still kind of surprised at him, he’s been so insistent on doing it right and researching on what was good and what was bad about the old systems and the knightly ‘codes of honor’.” As Twilight made small ‘blah-blah-blah’ motions and noises, Luna chuckled at the sickeningly sweet story-book tale of a knight and his lady and their courtly love. “My, my. It sounds much like your elder brother. Sister told me some of the stories of their courtship. Perhaps he took his example from Cap-oh, excuse me, Prince Armor?” Luna finally grew fed up with trying to fight the utensils and carefully grabbed a twisted set of noodles out of the pile of pasta. Twilight perked up and nodded, then withered back as the reminder of Celestia came to her. She sighed, and slumped down to the table, poking at a bread-ball with a silver spork. Leaning in closely, Luna examined her carefully. Noting all the slumping symptoms of an aching heart reappearing in her companion, she took drastic action. She slurped. “Gah! Luna, don’t get it everywhere!” She flinched back away from the tiny droplets flung everywhere as Luna slurped up the noodle, putting up a pink shield to cower behind as the older alicorn swallowed up the noodles. Luna’s tongue stuck out after she finished, licking at the red sauce on her lips before she laughed at Twilight. “Gross, it’s all over the place!” “I have a spell for that. Come; eat, drink, be merry!” “Spell?” Luna cast her cantrip of prestidigitation upon herself and Twilight, cleaning any trace of the sauce she had messily distributed effortlessly. Ah, yes, proving her magical prowess to Twilight was still needed; she reached over and popped Twilight’s shield with a hoof-tap. “See? Tis a spell adapted from the dragon heart-spell. Or, maybe you know it as the hoard-spell?” “Never heard of it. Interesting.” Twilight mumbled as she examined the tablecloth and the sauce. The spell Luna had used was pretty efficient, far more so than most cleaning spells she knew. Bigger area of effect, too. Then again, the name Luna had mentioned made sense, since despite years of searching she still knew little about dragons and their magic. Heck, the most any-pony knew about them had to do with their migration patterns, and her own struggles in raising Spike. “So, how did you learn about a ‘hoard-spell’?” “Just a few silly disputes with the dragons that my sister left to me. It was back when ponies were first taking Equestria. I stayed with some, and defeated their challenges to be recognized.” Luna began, eating another noodle with considerably less mess and more class than before. “Mmm. They typically have a center-piece of their hoard, something more precious to them than any other thing.” Luna verbally illustrated as she called up an ethereal Rarity and Spike to hover over the dish. Mmm, the sauce was really good. Wait, she needed to soothe Twilight with knowledge still before she could get at her issues. “Even the finest of treasures withers and fades with the ravages of time.” Twilight watched the scene quietly as the bread-ball impaled on her spork dripped marinara sauce down onto the serving plate at her setting. Slowly, Luna aged the translucent Rarity gracefully into an old mare as Spike grew up. She bit her lip pensively, thinking it over, knowing how Spike might find the continuing age difference too hard to work with until it was too late. But, then came a strange green aura from him enveloping Rarity to Twilight’s interest; the old mare turning young once more within the swirling cocoon of fire. Luna glanced over and nodded slightly as Twilight met her gaze. “Don’t let your bread-ball fall apart.” She smiled as Twilight hastily stuffed the soggy ball into her mouth and chewed it up. “Yes, the hoard-spell, the heart-spell to better refer to it in Spike’s case, is an innate dragon magic. It is why the strongest of dragons are seemingly immortal. It is a restorative magic, a changing and strengthening magic, one that seeks to return any object it is applied to back to an ideal state.” The illusionary Rarity transformed into a crystal unicorn at a touch of Luna’s magic, to be curled around by the grown up Spike. “Wait, greed growth?” Twilight asked, gulping a little at the thought. Luna’s nod made her stomach feel strange and swirly. “How? How old are the oldest dragons?” “Before the earliest pony walked upon the plains, the dragon elders of today grew to lead their race.” Luna intoned, waving a hoof through the illusion to dispel it into smoky swirls. “I have seen books from civilizations so lost that not even the worlds they dwelt upon remain in the hoards of the ancient elders. And no, you can’t look.” Twilight pouted a little until Luna slurped another twisted braid of pasta carefully. “No, I don’t know how exactly they apply it. I know it has something to do with the deepest desires of a dragon’s heart.” Luna conjured up an image of a bestial dragon, twisted and misshapen. “While picking a heart-treasure will enhance a dragon to better protect that treasure, I do know that a dragon that treasures itself above all else will have that magic feed back upon itself, twisting it even as it strengthens until it becomes little more than a feral beast.” Twilight nodded, snatching another of the bread-balls from the sauce atop the dish. “To a treasure, it might keep it pristine for a hundred times its normal lifespan, a thousand times, even more than ten thousand times in the cases of the strongest dragons. I have no idea what it might do to a living thing that is not a dragon, it might not hurt for me to ask the elders.” “Ten thousand times longer? Wait, the lifespan of an average unicorn is about 90 to 125. If Rarity-“ Twilight’s eyes widened as she thought of how long they might have to court and live together. If it was true, and Rarity stayed young for as long as she should. If, If could be good. “Aye, if their love is true like you think, I think they will have a long time to figure it out for themselves.” Far below, in the control room hidden away, a dragon and a unicorn snuggled together in peace. They had long since turned their attention towards just enjoying one another’s presence, and only the young drakeling heard the comments as his partner snoozed in a curl around him. He didn’t need to know anything more, it was all just stuff he had known to be true for a while. He had all the time in the world for their differences to work out. In the meantime, he just switched off the monitors and laid his head upon the soft, slight paunch of his partner. Twilight still fretted, eating away at the numerous bread-balls of their meal. If could be good, but if could be bad as well. If could be unplanned for, unwanted, unaccountable. If was a dangerous word; it could be a wholly new trouble wrapped in a misery, boxed in an agony, and capped by a bow of problems. If was just a bad, bad, bad word as far as she was concerned; best to have certainties. So, as Twilight trailed off into morose contemplation again, Luna did the sensible thing. “Boop!” She poked Twilight in the nose with a levitated sauce-soaked bread-ball until the sauce got inhaled by accident to break Twilight out of her glum loop. Granted, that left her with the small, slight problem of an irritated Twilight eating her munitions, but that could probably be fixed. Though, there was the chance that ponies had a boop-o-meter that could be overloaded. “Hey!” Twilight fended Luna off, poorly. The sauce she licked off her nose was good, even if it would stain the fur pinkish-red. “Twilight, I know where you are right now.” Wait, that was vague, she sounded like an idiot. “Emotionally, mentally, and technically yes, physically. Tis not the place of being that I talk about, though.” She let Twilight clean up her nose and get a drink before she started up again. “I know what it is like to wonder if others trust in you has been lost, to wonder if the mare you looked up to is false. You’re trying to plan for the unplannable, trying to control everything pre-emptively so you don’t experience any further hurt.” Twilight stopped, drooping a little from ears to tail. “Why? Why did she-“ “Even I cannot say. I may be her sister, but your mentor has always been an enigma in some ways, even for me.” Luna ate her next bite with a good bit more care, letting Twilight take the moment to think over that advice. “All I can say is to hang on. Prepare for what can be reasonably prepared for, plan somewhat for what is not, and put your faith in those you can trust that they have the best interests in mind for you and that they will be there when you need them to help you overcome what you cannot foresee. Even her. She needs help to see that she’s hurting certain others while she runs from her own hurts.” “Her hurts- oh, you said-“ “So it seems to be, yes. She’s running from her stresses, and into something that may be comforting for her.” Luna finished for Twilight. Looking into the flickering flame of the candle wasn’t entirely soothing, but it did give her an idea on how to further approach Twilight. “Perhaps an example of why one shouldn’t try to manage everything. At best, you’ll give up tired.” “At worst?” “Sombra.” That needed no further explanation. While she attacked another bread-ball viciously, Twilight thought. And pondered. “I- it’s hard to just let go like you want me to. I learned from Celestia. I, I watched her habits, learned what worked to keep her schedule going, and I tried to fit in it. She taught me so much, and she means so much to me.” “I know, Twilight. You want to confront her about why she doesn’t trust you.” Luna prompted quietly. “I, yes. No, I don’t want to know. I just want things to be fixed. I wish I didn’t- I, she.” Twilight’s words failed her as she clammed up, poking a bread-ball over and over again until it fell apart in the same way she felt. “She was always planning for something, or preparing. I just don’t know why I wasn’t a part of it this time.” She quietly whispered, closing her eyes as they began to burn with what had to be smoke and watered up. “I know, you’ll say it’s a stupid habit to try and plan out my days. I know, my friends have been trying to help me break – to break her habits.” She couldn’t really admit to herself that it didn’t make much sense to plan so thoroughly just as her mentor had. There was always something coming up, or going off that left her plans and intent in shambles. “She used to not.” “What?” “Plan, that is. Like I said, before our divergence, she used to be impulsive, flighty, much like Rainbow Dash.” Luna confessed, swirling noodles around in the depleted dish. Twilight knew it was probably a set-up line, but she had to say it all the same. “I can’t see her not planning, though.” “Why would the sun need to plan?” Luna asked, sweeping a hoof towards the heavens. “Does it not merely need to rise and set? Our system is a strange one, as I am told. It is my moon that need be in certain spots in certain times to adjust the tides and seasons. The sun is just a big stupid-head who blunders around in the skies making the night all bright!” Luna talked in a boisterous low voice to mock the sun, putting on a silly derpy-face. Stupid sun, always getting all the credit when all it did was heat the planet. It was the moon that made it work properly, why did-no, stop. That way led to screaming and time-outs of the unintentional kind. Still, the funny squiggle on Twilight’s face was a hopeful sign. A better mood indeed. Luna wing-hugged her again, nuzzling her ear slightly to reassure her. “Oh, don’t be so serious! Laugh! I keep it all in order.” Sigh. “All in order.” Right, Twilight wondered if she had eaten a bottle of Spike’s dragon-fire. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” “What, like Nightmare Night and Eternal Moonlight?” Luna suggested, knowing how her behavior might have looked. “I may not be the stoic mad planner my sister has become, but I do try to reasonably stick to a course of action and plan. But, after a year of learning and sister-planned days of strict structure and stupidly tight schedules, could you blame me for lashing out spontaneously?” “No, I guess I can’t.” Try not to think of the scheduled spontaneity. Luna rolled a particularly large bunch of noodles together and swallowed down the pasta in a good chunk. “I’m not my sister. Correction, I’m not what my thousand-year absence drove my sister to become. Yes, I handled a good deal of the drudge scheduling in the days of yore, and handled the messy, tedious business while my sister used her flashy nature to handle the ponies. She has—always been good with the crowds. And I with the individuals, the most hurt. We, I- I don’t know.” Twilight solemnly sat in place as the short locks of the elder alicorn fiercely writhed in an invisible wind. Luna devoured another noodle slowly, letting it flap a bit from the motion of her slow slurps in a way that made Twilight’s fur wriggle in uncomfortable ways she couldn’t vocalize. Luna’s gaze turned away from the nook, turned out to look over the darkened equipment of the observatory dome, as of yet unused and dormant. “Neither of us is truly complete without the other. We’re supposed to be the healthy extremes of the world; exemplars wrought by the elements we once bore. Reality is supposed to be somewhere in betwe-mrph!” She shut up as Twilight’s magic wrapped around her muzzle and dragged her gaze back. The purple alicorn winked, and stuffed a bread-ball into Luna’s mouth unexpectedly. “Hey, no melancholy! You’re supposed to be the sage elder giving advice to the helplessly confused younger scribe who’s lost and alone.” Twilight pretended to pout, to Luna’s amusement. “Ah, feeling better now? Starting to realize that thine concerns might be rather silly?” “Well, no. I just don’t want you to feel as bad as me. It sort of works for Pinkie, so I figured, ‘why not’?” “Ah, the Pie Doctrine. Yes, my sister was, er is, err—might still be fond of it?” Luna shrugged as Twilight looked at her funnily. “Forgive me, then. It seems that despite knowing exactly where my sister is, her health in body and mind weighs greatly upon me as well.” Luna nibbled at yet more of the pasta carefully, letting it drip onto the finely patterned plate. “So, she is-“ “Yes? Or perhaps not. Or Sunbeam may be a projection of her spirit onto the world. Yes, your other mentor is directly linked to her. How exactly, I cannot say. I fail to understand it entirely myself.” Fat lot of comfort that did for Twilight. Luna acted quickly, cupping Twilight’s chin and bringing her friend’s muzzle around to face her, to look into her eye to eye. “Nay, Twilight. Cease, desist. I have known exactly where she is, and I have chosen not to pursue. Will thou care to guess why?” Pensively, Twilight broke the lock of their gaze, looking downwards from the deep pools of Luna’s eyes to the mysterious glistening purple of the elder alicorn’s tie. “You said her true nature was more spontaneous.” “Aye.” “You’re- you’re letting her run? Why? You want her to act out her deepest desires and act more like she used to?” Twilight glanced up to Luna, who nodded. “Aye, indeed.” Luna mentioned quietly. “Pursuit wouldn’t help her; she needs a friend. She needs a great many friends, all helping her at once, and an eye kept on Sunbeam. For safety’s sake. I’ve already tried to get through to her, but I don’t know how well the suggestion to seek more professional help than my own took.” It didn’t seem to help Twilight’s mood any further, so there was but one further tactic to try. “Twilight, she trusts you. She trusts you too much and expects you to do the right thing.” “She didn’t trust me enough to- she could have told me.” “She doesn’t trust herself, Twilight.” And Luna could just about hear the grinding of the mental gears as Twilight’s thoughts stopped in their tracks from the cognitive dissonance. “She’s trying to do the wrong thing and knows it. She trusts that you will do the right thing and tell some-pony. She’s wrong, though. The right thing is to be there for her, to be her friend and believe in her when she doesn’t believe in herself.” Luna drove right over any objections Twilight might have had with quiet ease from her experience with the nightmares of dreamers. She scooted over next to Twilight and pulled up tightly next to her. It had an effect on Twilight. Her ear twitched against the strange silk-like fabric of Luna’s jacket as its twin folded flat. Twilight’s head tilted adorably in her confusion as she followed the twisted logic. “So, to do the right thing I need to not be reasonable at all; and uh, believe in her to make her believe in me?” “Something like that, yes.” Twilight’s head tilted the other way, drawing static as her ear rubbed warmly against the coat. “Are you sure you’re not just telling me this so you can spend more time getting respect from the nobles?” Falling over out from under the pony who was leaning against you was just rude. Twilight caught herself with a hoof roughly planted into Luna’s soft belly as the dark alicorn failed to hold in her laughter and giggled herself silly whilst doubling up on herself. She ducked back as Luna’s wings writhed from the stomach-aches caused by her laughing fit, miffed at the reaction. “I was being serious!” She stomped, forgetting that she was still standing partially on Luna’s belly. “Don’t flap those wings at me, how do I know you’re not trying to get me to keep her here?” Luna wheezed as she giggled through the pain. “Redcoat? Owie! Respect? Ow! Please stop; dying! Laughs hurt, can’t breathe!” Her wings slowly wrapped around her chest to squeeze the pain away as her hind-legs jittered in time with her wheezing, slowing chuckles. “Oh. HIM.” The venom in Twilight’s voice could have been used to melt a hole through to the core of the planet. Knowing what absurdity might well have been inflicted upon Luna went a long way towards keeping Twilight quiet as Luna laughed the stress away. She calmly nibbled at the noodles, focusing on Luna’s mild despair until the diarch laughed herself out. “How has he been? I would have expected him to be elsewhere by now. You know, banished and imprisoned in the place he was banished to.” Alarmed, Luna sat back up to look at Twilight, clutching her sides. “He’s been terrible. A brash little abominable nuisance. Is he really that bad?” “You have no idea.” Twilight had long had her disputes with him. After all, Redcoat was a stallion of the nation, not the ponies. Such a stallion didn’t really care about respect, or purpose or any of the other mortal pleasantries in and of themselves; he only cared about them so far as they could be used to further his own cause. Oh, he knew what hopes and dreams where—he had them himself—he just didn’t care. He would twist fates with just a word, try to drive ponies not to those who might love them and be loved, but to those who could bring forth the most effort from them. Happiness had its place for him, firmly in the dust-bin of history or safely locked away in a few idealists to placate the common pony. He believed himself to be making the hard decisions for the good of the land, fully unable to see how easy his decisions were beneath his blinkered self-righteousness. There was nothing more dangerous than a ‘good’ stallion working to help out and willing to commit anything to the cause. “Alright, I’m sorry, you want her back to deal with him.” “Oh harmony, yes. You have no idea.” “Yes I do. He used to try and date me all the time.” Twilight acridly snarled. “He drove most of the ponies who could have broken me out of my shell away so I’d be forced to socialize with his little circle. I can’t prove it, but I bet he’s the one who sent the jerks after me who forced me out of the common school. I barely knew any-pony before I moved out here.” Growls were accompanying every word, a little bit from her and from Luna as every bit of her coat seemed to bristle upon her from the memories of putting up with him. She shook her head swiftly, huffing a breath out of her cheeks as she felt them burn with irritation. It was all over, he was gone and away from her, and he wouldn’t dare come down to Ponyvile. She ruled it, her seat of power. She’d show that little troll if he dared show up. Why, she still owed him a good yelling at for the- Lick. What, she- Twilight’s angry blood-flushed frown and scrunched eyebrows slowly drifted back to a state of bewildered confusion. “Did you just lick me?” Luna certainly looked embarrassed enough to have done it. “Maybe?” Luna rested her elbows on the table to help her look away from the piercing interest from Twilight, twiddling her hooves together. “But you were getting frustrated and angry, and- uh-“ Twilight took her turn to guide Luna’s gaze back, emboldened by her anger at Redcoat. “Well, if he’s no respected of boundaries, why should I be one when you needed comfort?” “Oh good. I guess Pinkie brushed off on me. Neither am I.” Twilight shook the table as she hopped up with her fore-hooves on it to lick Luna back. Matching one another shade for shade in the way that only new lovers could quite get right, they separated and awkwardly looked away from each other for a moment. ”Okay, that was a horrible plan. I mean, friendship means getting closer to some-pony than they would particularly like, but that was just silly and I was stupid, and—squeak!” “So you did get closer. Thank you.” Luna kissed Twilight at the base of her horn, scrambling her expressions. “Uh, it’s nice? Being on a ‘date’ with some—pony who doesn’t care about what I can do for them, that is. Just, uh, being a really close friend. Sort of like a Pinkie Party of two.” Twilight mentioned in full babble. She felt like a horrible imitation Pinkie, completely out of her depths and just about ready to deflate back into the box from whence she came. She held up a bread-ball, intending to eat it but never quite getting around to it as she let it hover about. She only slightly noticed as Luna continually nibbled at it whenever it came close until she finally brought it in to eat and found herself pressing nose to nose with her dining partner halfway through the mushy portion. She jerked back, spluttering a bit as she processed the newest implications. “That was just silly. Let’s not do that again.” “Why not? Profound things are often just silly before you think of them deeply.” Luna intentionally kissed Twilight on the nose, turning it slightly red. “Besides, what else are we going to do? We finished off the dishes.” Well, not quite, but the small remaining glops of sauce could hardly be called food. “I, uh, huh.” Twilight blushingly burned bright. Luna wanted to love her; not as a student or a peer, but honest to Celestia- No, stop that. That was just silly. Right? “Well, I guess you could call love a sort of deeper form of friendship.” Oh Celestia, that line was so corny. “Hardly deeper. Friendship is love, albeit a different form from the singular form it is thought of today. Just as familial love, or sacrificial love, or romantic love. Though it burns colder than the grand fires of romantic love, it burns all the same.” Luna spoke, growing whimsical as she remembered ancient philosophy. “Another type of love, huh?” Twilight cheerfully chirped, before she reached over and booped Luna on the nose to the bigger mare’s confusion. Luna turned slightly cross-eyed as she stared at her booped nose while Twilight pointed out a little factoid. “You know, if it is, then we night ponies need to stick together. Since Cadance is hot pink and represents the burning loves, then my cool purple goes with the more passive reflection of feelings in friendship.” Twilight stuck out her tongue, feeling much better from the impromptu therapy session. “Well played, Sparkle. Well played.” “I try.” Twilight smiled, cute as a button. It might have even been sugary-sweet enough to cause a sugar overdose in a mortal pony. “So, shall we discuss our mutual interests now that we have safely unloaded our more unpleasant baggage? While we have the stars, something tells me you want to talk at length still, and looking at the stars isn’t something to talk about.” Luna small-talked, trying to fill the gap. “Well, that kind of seems unfair. The only thing I have that might interest you would be some tips on dealing with Redcoat and his cronies.” Twilight lamely suggested as she let herself lean against Luna’s bulk. It was nice, having some-pony bigger than her to lean on again. Sure, Big Mac might awkwardly let her, but he just wasn’t the same, all muscle and no softness. Luna just felt- right. Like Celestia felt when she laid against her, but different. In a good way. Ish. “Well, that seems useful and noble, and hardly some idle chatter. Quite profound, even.” Luna said, suggesting something else in her words. “Well then, for such a gift, I only have one I can give in return. A rather silly thing. A useful thing, something that could center you in times of panic and in times of stress.” “A useful thing? Really? Or is it something silly?” Twilight asked Luna, leaning against her again. "Can it not be both?” The elder alicorn retorted, speaking from the wisdom of a thousand years and more. She closed her eyes, remembering all that she had seen in a place beyond the physical realm. “The dream-scape is a silly thing, a profound thing. An endless black desert glittering beneath an infinite night of stars. Every star is a dream somewhere in the world, or in the everlasting realms beyond our own. Every grain of sand is a dearly departed soul, basking in the eternally reflected stars above. Where what was meets what is while waiting for what is to come." Her descriptions enamored the soul, calling to Twilight and asking where she had gotten to, calling to Twilight and asking her if she wanted to escape all her troubles and vanish. "I've seen things there; things no mortal mind could imagine or comprehend. A tall minotaur-like being, with a black and wide hat atop his head while wearing a black coat to compliment his white beard, striding beside a hooded and draped pony with a sword and scythe. White ships of the stars, graceful as they fly with a saucer just overhead and watched by strange ponies with long and extra-pointed ears. Kings pulling swords from stones, and snow queens in icy fortresses cold; time travelers on twin trails of fire, and space travelers with buckets of silvery liquefied dreams; sailors of the moons, and trees of all reality. I could go on and on, I could spend every moment of our waking lives continuing to briefly describe it all and never even come close to a thousandth of what I have seen." Luna wrapped her wing around Twilight slowly, pulling her into a hug that seemed to drop the floor out from under the young purple alicorn. It almost suspended her in that other realm as motes of light shimmered quietly in the depths of the crystal walls from unseen points of illumination. “Consider it a place to escape to, a place of meditation without isolation. Consider this my invitation. Would you care to join me?” ---------------------------------------- On a high hill, in a barren clearing beneath a darkened skies, a blood-red stallion stood unclothed against the warning winds of the night, his shock of fire-like mane fluttering in the whispers of air as he stared down upon an incomplete masterpiece. He stood, unafraid of a purple alicorn to his east, or her midnight blue companion, he stood unbound by their petty niceties. And he planned. They were not nearly as secretive as they thought they could be, and he had work to do.