The rain was coming down in torrents. The normally crowded streets of Canterlot were totally empty spare a trio of ponies walking in the direction of the palace. Or more precisely, galloping.
The sound of their trotting hooves echoed together with their splashes as they dashed through the puddles coating the cobblestone roads of the Equestrian capitol. After a 10 minute jog from the train station to the mighty palace, Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike finally arrived at the gates.
Instantly recognizing the Princess of Friendship, the guards let the group though without much fuss, and the trio hurried to get inside the dry vestibule. As soon as they entered, a navy-colored glow shrouded them, drying them off and leaving the ponies in the group with a light and soft fluff to their coats. Twilight looked up to greet who had dried them, and did a double take.
Princess Luna stood before them, however she was not as they remembered her. The Goddess of the Night now rivaled Celestia in height and stature; her wings had grown, as well as the length of her horn.
Luna took notice to Twilight's reaction of shock and smiled softly. "As it appears you did not take notice, last night was indeed a new moon," she explained, as if it would be more obvious. The lavender alicorn still held a "what the buck" look on her face, however.
The Night Goddess sighed and began a lengthy explanation as the group of ponies started to head towards the throne room. "You see, Twilight Sparkle, while I was banished to the moon, I was also exposed to the harsh climate of the Lunar surface. Because of this, my body was forced to adapt."
The studious alicorn was listening intently to Luna, while Rainbow Dash and Spike tagged along behind them. Leaning down to the purple dragon's height, Dash whispered in Spike's ear, "Got any idea what it is they're talking about?" Spike just shook his head in an agreeing fashion. He was just used to it by now.
"-so whenever there is a full moon, my body appears smaller and a paler shade of blue, (such as how you saw me upon my return), to reduce the amount of heat absorbed from the sun. And whenever there is a new moon, my body is larger and a darker color, to absorb as much heat as possible." Luna finished her explanation just as the group reached the great oak doors to the throne room.
Twilight looked around the room, perplexed. Makeshift tables had been set up everywhere, with random ponies studying maps and charts. Many of which were somehow related to the badlands. "Princess Luna?" she asked. "What's going on? Did something happen?" The mare began to panic. "Oh no! Where is Celestia? Did she get ponynapped?!"
Luna placed a reassuring hoof on Twilight's back. "Do not fear, Princess Twilight," she said calmly. "You saw my sister last night, did you not?" Recalling, Twilight calmed down a bit. "My sister will inform you of the details when you arrive. For now, all I can say is that we are... puzzled." The regal mare's voice was grim as she led them to a door hidden in the side of the throne altar.
Twilight Sparkle opened her mouth, a question forming, however it just seemed to die on her lips. Behind her, Rainbow and Spike were equally as stunned. Random calculations in Twilight's head were saying that the room was impossibly massive to fit anywhere in the castle. It was at least two hundred hooves wide, and possibly even double that in depth. But that was not the room's most attentive feature, no.
A stone walkway arched out in front of them, leading to a circular spire in the center of the room. Yet, still, that was not the room's most impressive feature.
The actual floor lay a good thirty hooves below them. And rising up out of it was a glittering, glowing, majestic, crystal replica of Equestria, in full color. Luna smiled at her guests' behavior. "Welcome, my little ponies, to the Lexicon."
She allowed Twilight to take the lead, stumbling into the awe-inspiring room. "This..." started the lavender alicorn. "This is simply amazing!" Spike closely followed, trying, unsuccessfully, to keep the ever-growing pool of saliva in his mouth to stop from drooling out of his gaping mouth.
Luna took notice of this, and asked with a smile, "Which is your favorite, young dragon?"
Spike, still stuck in his little gen-induced stupor, just vaguely mumbled, "All of them..."
The moon goddess giggled slightly as she looked around the room, locating a floating chunk of the map not too far away. Twilight's eyes locked on with extreme interest as Luna's magic appeared on a rainbow arch in Cloudsdale. She gasped as Luna then proceeded to break it off, making sure to get some of the quartz cloud with it. Having effectively acquired a piece featuring all eight colors, she floated the unreasonably large chunk of gem over to Spike, who accepted it with hearts in his eyes.
Twilight most likely would have opposed Spike eating the entire thing, had her eyes not been focused on the now-missing rainbow. She watched intensely as the crystal rapidly repaired itself, appearing almost pixel by pixel, regenerating the piece which had been broken off.
"Wow... Wha- what is this place?" asked Twilight, still in a state of shock at her new environment.
"This is the Lexicon," Luna replied. "It provides us with the power to teleport anywhere in Equestria, instantly." The dark pruple alicorn gestured from Vanhoofer, then swept her foreleg over to Trottingham in a swift motion.
Rainbow Dash flew around the magically suspended model of Cloudsdale. "Oh my gosh, Twi! You gotta' go and get one of these for your palace!" she cried out ecstatically. Spike mumbled his agreement through a mouthful of crunched crystal.
Luna smiled. "You already have one." All three of the newcomers looked at the goddess in confusion. "Do you not have a map that can lead you to different parts of the land?"
"THAT THING?" cried out the lavender mare. "But it's so..." She looked around. "Small."
The lunar princess smiled as she continued her walk towards the center dais. "Twilight, do not compare your map to the Lexicon's size and power, or even majesty." She gestured to the air around her. "What you see here was built for beauty. It was built specifically to make one feel small in the expanse of Equestria. It was built," she turned towards the trio. "It was built to be in the royal palace of Canterlot. Centuries in the making." She turned back around, for the group had finally made it to the center platform.
A smooth, transparent crystal was carved into the floor. Luna gestured for the trio to stand on the pad. Her horn lit up, and surrounded the Crystal Empire in a shimmering glow. "Celestia is currently with Cadence. She will explain everything to you once you are in her presence."
Suddenly, a bright beam of pulsing energy shot across the room, traversing the chamber from the Crystal Empire to the center dais, and flooding the crystal pad with a bright light. Twilight felt the strange sensation of melting as the room faded around her, and her vision went white.