They made their way out of the Slow Healing’s clinic. Luna did not feel very happy.
“A whole five minutes with you in another room, the door closed and everything. I dunno how those silly exercises of hers work so well, but that is some good progress.” Jax said from beside her. Of course she was happy that he was getting over the psychological damage… she just wanted more time with him.
“Yes. Indeed.” She tried to sound happy, or at least not unhappy. Apparently it didn’t work.
“Something wrong, Luna?” He sounded concerned, which warmed her heart enough for her to give him a small genuine smile.
“’Tis nothing, my dear Jax.” She felt better after calling him her dear. “Let us just go.” She started walking towards the castle.
“Alright, my dear Luna.” He said teasingly as he followed. Her bad mood evaporated instantly. “Let’s go start your bestselling, award winning, based on a true story, novel.”
“Right. I still do not fully understand the point.” She answered.
“It’s simple, Luna. Step one, we write the events leading up to, during, and after your time as Nightmare Moon, with enough historical accuracy that historians will be interested because of the lack of data from then, but enough personal elements that the common pony will take up the book as well and become saddened by your tragic story. In step two we have Twilight, a known author, give a statement to some newspaper about how she’s looking forward to reading it. This will interest her fan base, while spreading the word of your book. Furthermore, we proclaim that all income from it will go to some charity. Step three, we publish it. We’ll probably get some help from Twilight for this, she knows about the industry and all that. Everybody will be interested in your book by this point. Step four, relax and watch as more and more ponies see you as the best princess ever. BAM, problem solved.” Jax enthusiastically explained.
“I uhm… I do not think it will be that easy.”
“Of course not. Writing a book is hard, I think. We’ll take care of all the details as they come up, so don’t worry.” Luna had a feeling that Jax was far too easygoing about the whole thing, but she could not gather the energy to doubt him. If she had Jax by her side, she could do anything.
***
Jax thought for a moment. “What about… ‘The Lunarium’?” He asked with a smile.
“Jax, we have not even written the introduction yet. Maybe we should wait with the title?” Luna answered patiently. She was lying on the bed, with some parchment, ink and quill in her magical grasp. Jax was lying on his back next to her.
“But it has your name in it. Alright, what about…” He was interrupted by her giggle. He reveled in the sound.
“You have a wonderful way of thinking, dear Jax. Maybe I shall call it ‘The Jaxonomicon’ to commemorate your efforts in helping me with it.” She smiled down at him.
“Nah, that would just confuse ponies.” He answered nonchalantly, but was actually fighting not to laugh. Jaxonomicon. Heh. “What about ‘and the Nightmare was no more’… that’s pretty long though.”
“Yes. Also, the book is ‘no more’ than a thought.” He laughed at that.
“Well what else do you want me to do? It’s not like I can write the book for you.” He said with feigned sadness, even adding a pout at the end.
“Well, it was your idea, I am still unsure what exactly I am going to write.”
“Ohh, I’ll make a list for you then.” He almost reached into her magical grasp before he remembered why that was a very bad idea. He smiled sheepishly at Luna when she yanked the parchment away from his reach.
“Right. No touching magic for me. I’ll just get some from over there.” He went over to the desk to get the parchment and a quill. They would have to share the ink though.
“Alright, let’s-“
He interrupted himself as he looked down at the quill in his hand, then over to the inkwell in Luna’s magical grip. He just had a crazy idea… An idea that might just solve his money problems, without having to rely on Twilight and Luna like an ungrateful leech. He really hated how much he had received from them, and how little he had given back. He looked up at Luna again.
“I need to talk with Twilight. Follow me!” He dropped the items in his hands, ran out of the room, and down the hallway towards the library.
***
Luna hurried after Jax but he had gotten a head start since she had to put down the inkwell on the table and put the lid on again. She saw him round a corner.
“What the hell?” She heard him say. “Are you… vamponies? You gonna take my blood? Well not without a fight you aren’t!” Curious, she slowed down to a walk. “Well, okay, I guess you can’t really help your nature. You can have a bite, but I’m warning you, I probably don’t taste very good. Alright, that was a lie, I probably taste fantastic.”
Rounding the corner, she almost burst into laughter. There he was, extending his arm towards two members of her night guard, who were looking at him like he was a crazy pony.
“Jax! That is not very nice of you. Just because they have bat wings, does not mean they are vamponies. I have already told you that my guards do not drink blood.”
He just looked at her with a smile, telling her that the whole thing was a joke on his part. “Well how was I supposed to know they were from your guard? They don’t even have armor on, and I haven’t seen guards do anything other than stand and look straight.” He looked over to one of Twilight’s guards. “Like that! Thank you, guard.” He gave the guard an appreciative nod, while the guard just kept looking straight. Sometimes he acted really silly, like he was no more than a foal. It brought a smile to her muzzle.
Luna looked at her guards. They were indeed without armor. If they were off-duty, what were they doing here?
“Night Guard and Shadow Wing. What are you doing here?” Beside her, Jax facehooved. If she were to guess, it was probably because of Night Guard’s name.
They both bowed before her. “Princess Luna. We were worried by all the rumors going around, so we came to check on you.” It warmed her heart to hear those words, and to see their worried glances. She gave them a smile.
“Do not worry, my little ponies. I am fine, and the rumors are just that. Rumors.” Her guards looked relieved and worried at the same time. Finally Night Guard gave a stiff salute, before he spoke up again.
“Princess, we fear that these rumors are hurting your frail image a bit too much, and have come to ask you to return to Canterlot with us.” He kept looking straight ahead, waiting for her reply.
She shared a worried look with Jax. She had thought the rumors would calm down with time and some work on Rarity’s part, not spread all the way to Canterlot. If her own guards were concerned for her image, things must be worse than she thought.
“How is my sister?” She asked him.
“According to the day guard, worried. She’s trying to calm down the public, but you know how ponies are when afraid. Canterlot isn’t the same as Ponyville, your highness.” His voice was almost emotionless, but she could feel his anger right under the surface.
Shadow Wing spoke up. “Your highness, I heard that somepony might be blowing on the embers, trying to start a fire. We’ve discussed it in the night guard, and we think it would be best that you and…” He looked at Jax for a bit, trying to remember something before his eyes lit up. “… Jax spend some time apart. I think Celestia sent the same journalist as last time to interview the two of you, but we fear that it might not be enough. Please, we don’t want you to undo all the things you’ve worked so hard to achieve.”
The concern in his voice was touching, but their combined words sapped all her strength from her. Her legs gave in under her before she knew what happened. Her guards both took a step forward, but none of them were as quick as Jax. He caught her, and carefully laid her down, sitting on the ground beside her. She looked down, avoiding their concerned looks. It was not fair. She had been happy. For a while, she had forgotten all about responsibilities and fear. She had known that she would have to leave him anyway, but to know that his very presence near her would be cause for this much suspicion and fear was almost too much for her. Was she not allowed friends? Was she not allowed to be happy?
“If it had been Celestia, nopony would have been suspicious. Nopony would be afraid.” She wanted to cry, but her eyes felt unnaturally dry.
He started to stroke her mane, the familiar feeling calming her down instantly. “Maybe. But you’re not Celestia.” He said in a calm tone. “You are the Princess of the Night, the Guardian of Dreams. Be proud of who you are Luna, for you are the most wonderful pony I’ve had the pleasure to befriend. We will get through this, you’ll see. By the time I’m done, no pony will fear you, whether I’m near or not.”
She looked up at his calm eyes. Everything about him radiated a calm certainty. His words loosened the knot of worry inside of her, but did not disperse it entirely.
“How can you be so sure?” She asked him.
“Because, this month and a half I’ve spent with you and the others has been some of the best time in my life. I’m not gonna let some scared ponies ruin that. Not by a long shot.” He said confidently.
Some of his confidence must have leaked into her, because she suddenly felt much bolder. She pulled him closer, so she could nuzzle him on the cheek. When he did not pull away or stop her, she pulled him into a hug, nuzzling his neck instead. She was faintly aware that her guards were looking on with open mouths, but she did not care. All she knew was that everything was going to be alright.
***
Jax’ heart was beating fast. Luna’s nuzzling made him feel so alive, he felt like he could take on the entire world.
He looked at the guards. “She will have to be with me for a day or two more. If you insist on escorting her back, you can probably ask Twilight for a place to stay.”
They just nodded, both looking a bit dumbfounded.
Luna and Jax got up simultaneously, as if they had agreed upon it, but it just came naturally to them after almost a month of being close to each other.
“Wait.” One of them, Shadow Wing or whatever his name was, said. “Why can’t she go now?” He sounded suspicious.
Jax sighed dramatically. “I’m afraid that I got a bit addicted to your princess while she was here. There’s no known cure so-“ Luna lightly punched him on the leg. “What? It’s the truth.” He smiled teasingly at her blush. It was adorably cute, as always.
She sighed and looked at the guard. “I shall be ready in a couple of days.” She simply said.
They left the guards behind and made it to the library, where they met Spike.
“Hey Spike. Know where Twilight’s at? I need her help.” Jax asked.
“Yeah, she’s in her lab, doing some kind of experiment.” He answered nonchalantly, continuing to sort books.
“Thanks Spike, you’re awesome.” He told the small drake, which made Spike surprisingly happy, if his huge smile was anything to go by.
“No problem Jax, I’m here to help.” He answered proudly.
“Actually… can you tell me where her lab is? I don’t believe I’ve been there before.” Spike looked at him in surprise.
“Really? I thought she would conduct an experiment or two on you. Huh.”
“I think she learned her lesson when she set me on fire.” Jax said with a deadpan expression.
“Oh yeeeaah… well, follow me then.”
Spike led them to a large lab. There were vials, machines and of course, wires from said machines leading God knows where. Twilight stood by a table, looking at two light bulbs shining. One of them seemed to be powered by her magic, the other by the turning of a handle. They were both connected to some machines that probably recorded the data.
“Twi, Jax and Luna want to talk with you.” Spike said for them before he left.
They went over to her. She seemed very focused on her project. “I’ll be just a moment.” She told them. She kept turning the handle and using her magic to presumably power one of the light bulbs, until a beep was heard from a machine and a large piece of paper was printed out.
They had paper yet they insisted on using parchment to write with. It was weird.
She went over and read the print. “Interesting…” she said, looking like she had completely forgotten them
“Twilight?” Luna asked.
“Oh. Sorry about that.” She looked a bit sheepish. “I’m researching whether the light from a magic-powered light bulb is the same as one powered by electricity. We don’t want light pollution to happen here as well.” She smiled at them.
He noticed Luna had a huge smile. She went over and gave Twilight a hug, which was returned. It put a smile on Jax as well.
So Twilight had remembered what he told them about light pollution. He wondered if she was researching global warming stuff as well. He wouldn’t put it past her.
“So, are you two going to participate in the running of the leaves?” Twilight asked them.
“Running?” Jax said. “The only running I like are running jokes.” An impish grin found its way to his mouth. “Hey Twilight, remember that time you-“
Twilight put her hooves over her ears almost instantly. “Lalalalalalacan’thearyou!” It would seem every pony had their childish moments.
“Wow. Did not expect that.” He looked at Luna, who looked just as amused as he was.
In all seriousness, maybe it was about time he got in shape again. When he had lived in the Everfree, it kinda happened naturally. Run from those timberwolves or die. Fight those timberwolves or die. Damn he hated those things. The month and a half he had spent among ponies though… a lot of time in bed and on Luna’s back. He had gotten lazy. Yeah, he should get in shape again.
He put his hand on Twilight withers and gave her a calming smile, and she let her hooves fall down to the ground and stopped chanting. “Tell me more about this running of the leaves. I might be interested.”
***
“So even the leaves don’t fall by themselves. What is wrong with the gravity on this planet? I don’t feel any lighter…” Jax was perplexed. Maybe the leaves were extra strong or something… but would fall anyway when a group of ponies ran by. It was weird.
Twilight looked confused. “There’s nothing wrong with gravity. It works just fine. Now, the race is in four days. Remember to sign up.” She looked at them a bit more. “Any particular reason you came to find me?”
“Ah! Yes. Let me explain on the way.”
***
Shadow Wing looked at his partner, Night Guard. It had been a while since Princess Luna had left them, and he had finaly wrapped his head around what had happened. “Did you… see that?”
Night Guard nodded.
“He… And then she… and she looked so happy in the end! He really cares about her…”
Night Guard nodded again.
“Oh hay. Now I feel bad about suspecting him. He caught her, calmed her down instantly, and reassured her enough to smile again… You don’t think… maybe some of the other rumors are true?”
Night Guard shrugged.
“What’s with you all of a sudden? Why the silence?” Shadow inquired.
“Didn’t get enough sleep because of this trip. Don’t like talking when sleepy.”
Maybe they should have waited till nighttime to go. They had managed to get some sleep in in the train, but that was only an hour. He could feel that his body was working a bit in overdrive.
“You did a fine job in front of the Princess though.” He pointed out.
“Always.” He just answered.
Shadow shrugged and looked around. “let’s find out where we can send a letter back to Captain Chipped Armor, and then find out where we can stay.”
Night Guard nodded.
***
“You want to make… pens?” Twilight asked.
Jax nodded. They had made their way to the room in the basement. The one that didn’t let out magic. The one where Twilight had burned him to a crisp. Okay that was unfair, but the memories made him reconsider his plan. Maybe he could remember how a pen functioned without resorting to this?
…
It would probably be fine.
“And you want me to use a spell on you, so that you can use your body’s response against magic to produce a pen for me to reverse engineer?”
He nodded again. “That is correct. Then I need you find a buyer willing to produce and sell them, with us getting a part of the income. We can split it 50/50.”
Twilight and Luna looked at each other with worried looks. Then Twilight giggled. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but not only am I a princess, I’m also an author. I don’t need bits.”
Jax could feel the disappointment wash over him. Twilight was good at this kind of stuff, he didn’t know who else could do it. Luna? Hadn’t he troubled her enough though…
Then Twilight continued. “You can have all the income. I’m just happy to improve our writing utensils. It will be much easier to write when the ink is inside, not to mention easier to carry around.” Her happy face gave space to worry. “But are you sure you want to do it this way? I’m certain we can figure it out with enough time…”
“That’s precisely the problem Twilight. I want this as fast as possible. I won’t be mad if you set me on fire again.” He smiled at her to show he was trying to lighten the mood. She frowned at him before she sighed.
“Well, you certainly know how to make me agree. Not only did you lead us down here so no other pony can be hurt if anything goes wrong, you also tempt me with new technology… Fine, but I’m counting on the fact that Luna will help if anything happens.” Luna nodded her agreement to the arrangement.
They set up barriers around themselves, discussing which ones to use. Water was brought in, just in case. It made Jax feel a little more secure. Luna’s presence was doing most of it though. He could do this. He just needed to focus.
While they discussed which barriers would be best, he sat down and closed his eyes, focusing on which kind of pen he wanted. It had to be one of the expensive ones, the one where the tip was shaped like a quill. He had never owned one, but Liza had. Jax had used it a couple of times, even studied it at rare occasions. He knew what parts it had more or less. He imagined each of them, and how they screwed together to make a whole. He remembered how it was to write with it. He tried to remember every detail about it he could.
“Are you ready, Jax?” Twilight asked beside him.
“Wait thirty seconds, then use a spell. Not the pain one, a different one.” He told her. He thought she nodded but he still had his eyes closed.
He concentrated on the pen again. Every detail he could remember.
Twilight cast her spell. It felt tingly for a split second, but then the feeling changed as if to adjust to his focus. It felt… like a pressure was building on his skin, before it flowed out, gathering in the air in front of him. There was small *pop* and when he opened his eyes, the pen was there exactly how he had imagined. For a tenth of a second he felt victorious. Then the pen fell down on the ground, and a small explosion knocked him back.
He felt fine. A bit shocked, but fine otherwise. He touched his face, body, arms. He wasn’t on fire.
He wished he could have told Luna that before she threw the entire barrel of water over him.
He groaned. So he needed to fill in details like what happened when the pen hit something as well.
Chaos magic was tricky.
This would be a long day.
***
King Sombra was close, so close. He was only more or less a week away.
Moving as a shadow was slow progress, but every time he tried to possess an animal in this damned forest, it was quickly killed, leaving him with the choice to force the corpse onwards, or spend precious time trying to possess a new animal. These beasts were harder to possess than ponies, and moving a corpse around cost him more energy than he was willing to use.
So he stayed a shadow, moving at a slow but steady pace. He was so close. At his current strength he would not be able to enter the Crystal Empire. His empire. He could not extract revenge upon the so called princess sitting on his throne. He could not take back his home.
What he could do was extract revenge upon those who had helped her. They lived in Ponyville, or so he had heard while hiding in the shadows. A village with no magical barriers to stop him.
He would make them suffer. He would not touch them, oh no, they would feel no physical pain. The pain they would feel was going to be so much more painful than that. Yes, everypony they loved would start dying, killed by familiar faces no less, and in the confusion and despair he would grow stronger and stronger. When they were at the lowest, he would possess the dragon and convince them to go to the Crystal Empire. Then he could kill them all in one fell swoop.
So close. Almost there.