//------------------------------// // Balanced: Chapter 1 // Story: A Rising Moon // by Metal Squirrel Chaos //------------------------------// Balanced: Chapter 1 By: Metal Squirrel Chaos “And she did what?!” Luna laughed. “You heard right, Lulu,” Celestia giggled next to her sister, “she actually tried to stop time, then tried to reverse her mistakes by going back in time, causing the whole thing.” The two royal sisters laughed again at the antics of one Twilight Sparkle, sitting on Celestia’s bed next to a large stack of friendship reports they had received from the six Elements of Harmony, collectively. Luna chuckled deeply to herself, before regaining control of her voice. “Ahhh, truly amazing how your student can reach such bizarre conclusions. Though,” the Night Alicorn thought, “she is certainly something. You are certain she had never seen that spell before? To travel in time, as useless as it may be, is both complicated and taxing on most unicorns.” Celestia gave a sage-like nod. “She barely had to look at it before she was able to perform it.” “Truly gifted,” Luna tapped her hoof against her chin. “To learn such a complex spell in hardly any time at all. How did you teach her such skills?” The Solar Sylph smiled to her younger sister. “I didn’t. She learns so fast on her own. Twilight can simply cast any spell she sees, almost like she already knew the spell and was just recalling it.” The younger sibling raised an eyebrow. “You are implying something?” Celestia giggled. “I’m just saying. Her Nightmare Night costume may have not been a total coincidence.” Luna turned her head to the window, looking out at the steadily setting sun, her thoughts turning to friends long past. “She is a lot like he was. Besides the obvious, of course,” she allowed a half smile. “You must be very proud of her, Celly.” “More than you can imagine, Lulu.” “Yes...I miss that kind of pride that a student and teacher can feel,” the younger sibling thought aloud. “What was that, Luna?” “I said,” the Midnight Maiden smiled, “that I wish to experience such things as well. Celestia, I believe it is time I took on a student once more!” Celestia beamed like only a goddess of the sun can. “Oh Luna, that is wonderful to hear. Do you have anypony in mind?” “Twilight Sparkle,” the Night Princess said without hesitation. “Excellent, sister. I shall arrange for-what?!” the Mare of Day blurted, once she had processed what her little sister had said. Luna attempted to hold her sister’s backlash with a raised hoof. “I know what you are thinking, Sister. It would not be a permanent transfer to my studentship. Say, three days of the basics? I promise. She would still be your student. I just...need to get back on my hooves, so to speak.” Celestia had not prepared for this scenario. She let the idea muddle in her head for several seconds before answering. “Luna, the form of magic that you teach is the same thing I have tried to steer Twilight away from since her early years. Her magical power is too great for-” “Sister,” the young sibling raised her hoof again. “Please. Just listen.” She turned to the window, looking out at the still rising moon, a brilliant crescent. “Twilight Sparkle is both incredibly smart and powerfully talented. She has also defeated two beings that are far older and more experienced than her, even if it was with her friends’ and the Elements’ help. She deserves this chance, more than most anypony I’ve ever known, to try for the title of Archmage.” Archmage. It was a title that Celestia had not thought of in over a thousand years. “Luna, she’s too young to attempt that.” “I am aware,” Luna countered. “Again, this would only be for three days. No more. I would only teach her the fundamentals. Please, Celestia, I can’t think of anypony better than her to learn these skills.” Celestia sighed and rubbed a hoof over her temple. “Luna, please, you must understand. Twilight is incredibly powerful, and if she-” The Solar Matriarch held her tongue as she looked back at her sister. Luna was pouting. Her eyes were downturn and her lips fell off to the side. Celestia cringed as she looked at that face. It was a face she had seen before, on the evening before the longest night of her life. To see it again felt like a bee sting right in the chest. The older sibling sighed. “Ok, Luna, you are right. I should have more faith in my student.” She walked closer to her sister, and put a hoof around her shoulder, hugging her close. “And you, too.” “Thank, you, Celly,” Luna hugged back. “I promise, nothing bad will happen to her.” “If she accepts,” Celestia reminded her. Luna just grinned. “Come on, sister. You know her better than that.” The Solar Alicorn let out another sigh. “Yes, I do.” *** “And then, WHAM, Great Stallion kicks Lex Equor right in the FACE!” an over excited pegasus spouted, making a quick demonstration in the air. “Rainbow Dash,” a more annoyed unicorn spouted from below, “Can you try and not knock over all of the books on that shelf? Again?” Dash blinked as she looked down, seeing her hoof mere inches from that same bookshelf from earlier this morning. She should look more closely when she kicked at things, but she was also sure that this bookcase was cursed. Twilight Sparkle chuckled to herself. The cyan pegasus could be quite silly sometimes. Since the Darring Doo series had roped Rainbow Dash into reading, the unicorn and pegasus had been spending more time with one another, often hanging out to discuss the latest book they had read, or often just reading together in peace. Dash was still quite picky about her reading material, however, so it was often up to Twilight to supply what she could. Recently, Twilight had found a huge stack of old superhero graphic novels, or “comics” as Dash called them, and the two had been reading them for the past week. “So who’s your favorite so far, huh?” Dash asked, fluttering back down to her position across from her bookworm friend. “Honestly,” Twilight pondered, “I like Iron Hoof. His character is surprisingly deep for such a simple concept of a hero.” “Really?” Dash snarked with narrowed eyes. “Iron Hoof? His power is so lame though. ‘Oh look, I’m an Earth Pony with this weird magic I can do without a horn, but all it’s really good for is making me kick people harder.’ That’s so boring.” “Boring?” Twilight retorted. “And who’s your favorite?” “SuperColt, of course.” “Of course,” Twilight echoed. “The most overpowered hero ever. Talk about a boring character.” “Pffft, you’d know all about over powered, wouldn’t you?” Rainbow Dash quibbed. Meanwhile, in the same room of the Library as the two arguing mares, was a rather annoyed purple dragon. “Would you two just hurry up and kiss,” he whispered to himself, laughing at his own joke. Spike lifted yet another book into place, and slid it gently next to its brothers and sisters. Reorganizing after Twilight had found that box in the basement full of  books and comics had taken a while, but finally Spike was nearly complete. He only had five books to find places for, and he would be done. Suddenly, as he was reaching for the next book, Spike felt a sudden heat and pressure in his stomach. With a loud “BLURP” the pressure released in the form of his own magical green fire, and a scroll fell to the ground in front of him. Twilight Sparkle turned her head away from the argument with her sky blue friend. “Spike, is that a letter from the Princess?” Spike rolled his eyes at her. “No, Twilight. It’s a letter from-” Spike looked down and grabbed the scroll, his quib cut off half way as he looked it over. The scroll was not the normal parchment he was use to seeing, but instead a dark grey. It was tied together with a pin which had an insignia on it, one of a bat flying in front of a full moon. “Ok, I don’t know who this is from.” “I have a guess,” Twilight said as she trotted over and gave the scroll a look. Grabbing it with her magic, Twilight undid the pin and read the white ink text out loud. “Dear Twilight Sparkle” “As Princess and ruler of Equestria, I would like to cordially invite you to visit me in Canterlot for the weekend to discuss matters related to both your apprenticeship to my sister, as well as the possible future apprenticeship to myself, if you so wish it.” “This is not an order, and you may refuse if the timing is inconvenient. If so, please respond as such with possible times to reschedule, or with a simple refusal if you aren’t interested.” “I would also like to warn you, Twilight Sparkle, that if you accept, you may find my methods of teaching quite a bit different than my sister’s.” “Your Ruler: Princess Luna” Both Twilight and Spike both gawked at the letter for a few seconds once the unicorn mare had finished reading it. “Wow,” Spike finally broke the silence, “the Princess of the Night wants to teach you magic too? You’re popular with everyone, aren’t you Twi?” he chuckled. The lavender spellshaper kept reading certain key parts of the note, over and over again. Her eyes kept coming back to one line in particular. “Different teaching methods than Celestia? What could that mean?” She sat down on the wooden floor and began to think. The two shared the silence for a time as Twilight kept reading the note and pondering, before Spike shattered it again. “So when are you going to say yes,” he asked with a confident tone. Twilight blinked and turned to her young assistant. “What do you mean?” “Twilight,” Spike sighed, “Let’s not beat around the treehouse here,” he stretched his arms out for emphasis. “You’re going to accept this invitation.” “What makes you so sure?” she accused back at him. The young dragon only crossed his arms and grinned. “Because this is the Princess of the Night. Because you just happen to have a free weekend, and mostly because, if she’s going to teach you things about magic that aren’t normally taught, even by Celestia, that means that you would be the only unicorn alive that would know them.” As Spike talked, and as realization finally sank in, Twilight’s eyes lit up, and her mouth curled and slowly widened. “Oh. My. Gosh. You’re right. I’d be the pioneer to what might be a whole new school of magic! I could even write my own book. I’ve always wanted to do that, but never got around to it.” Spike snickered. “Besides those trashy romance stories you hide under your mattress.” The happy mare suddenly stopped beaming as the mirth drained from her face. “What? You...found those?” she asked with a cringe. “You’re not as clever as you think, sister.” he chuckled. *** A few days later, Twilight stepped off of the train station platform as the evening sun shone brightly behind her. She hefted the weight of two lightly packed saddlebags. She went over her mental checklist for the tenth time since the train had stopped moving. Fluttershy had agreed to babysit Spike for the weekend, the library was locked up tight, and she had cleared her schedule till Monday afternoon. Also, she made a mental note to check her physical checklist once she got a free moment. Waiting at the edge of the platform was Princess Celestia, who wore a bright, shining smile on her face, as always. “Hello, my faithful student. Or, should I not call you that for the weekend?” she chuckled. “Hello Princess,” the young unicorn smiled back as she walked up to Celestia and her two royal guards, who she gave polite nods to. “And don’t be silly,” she chuckled, “you’re still my teacher. I think I can handle two of you.” The Alicorn of the Day chuckled, and reached out a hoof to pat Twilight on the head playfully. “I believe you will, Twilight. You’re a very bright pony. Now, follow me. My sister will be waiting by the time we get there.” *** Twilight gulped as she looked up at the doors leading to the throne room. She went over her mental checklist of supplies one more time.Her saddlebags had all of the supplies she should need, including paper, ink, ink remover, rulers, an abacus, and several other items. She was ready. “Twilight,” the soft voice of Celestia called her. As the young mare turned to meet the gaze of the much older one, Celestia placed a hoof on her head. “I want you to know that, no matter what, I’m proud of you, and that you may quit the tutoring at any time.” Twilight blinked. “What do you mean, Celestia? Why are you so concerned?” The larger pony gave a sigh. “It is not that you are in any danger, per say, Twilight. I’m just concerned that her methods may seem a bit...extreme.” “Extreme how?” Twilight asked, but before she could be answered, the last rays of the sun dimmed away outside, and the throne room doors swung open. “Enter,” they both heard from inside. “Good luck, Twilight.” Celestia gave her one last look before she trotted away. Twilight gulped again, and walked into the darkened throne room. The doors suddenly closed behind her, and the room filled with light as torches on both sides began to light. There, seated at her throne, was Princess Luna, an even poker face held tight. “We were very glad to hear that you had accepted our offer, Twilight Sparkle.” “Of course, Princess,” the young mare grinned wide as she sat in front of the throne. “How could I possibly miss such an opportunity.” “Yes,” Luna looked beyond her for a moment. “Our sister said that you would likely not be able to pass up such an offer. And though we will make good on our word to her to allow you to quit at any time, I would prefer if you would stick with me throughout this weekend’s lessons.” “No problem, Princess,” Twilight smiled as she gave a salute to the current reigning Diarch. With a slight tug of her magic, her saddlebags opened up and out came most of her tools and equipment. She sat down with parchment and ink in front of her, ready to learn. “I’m ready when you are, Luna.” Luna looked at the tools her new young apprentice had brought, and shook her head. “No, Twilight, you are not.” She raised her horn up before the now confused lavender mare, and with a slight wave of magical power, all of Twilight’s tools disappeared. Even her saddlebags were gone. “Wha?” the spellweaver blinked. “Where?!” “Do not fret, we have simply moved them to somewhere else to store them. You won’t be needing any of them, and they would only distract you,” the ancient alicorn instructed. “I have my own tools for you to use. Lean toward me for a moment, horn first.” Twilight Sparkle, now a bit concerned, did as instructed. Princess Luna smiled. So far, everything was going according to how she had pictured it. She held her own horn aloft again, and summoned ancient powers she hadn’t touched in a milenia. A strange black band of shadows formed around her horn, and gently drifted its way toward Twilight’s own horn, wrapping around it. Twilight cringed as the band touched her horn, feeling a strange pull from it. This did not stop the shadow, however, which continued to wrap around her horn until it had solidified into a black, shadowy ring sitting gently around her horn base. “Um, Princess,” the lavender mare looked up to her new teacher, “what is this thing for?” She gently prodded it with her hoof. It didn’t hurt,  but she could still feel a pulling coming from it. She pushed at it with her hoof and found it slid up her horn with relative ease. “Patience, Twilight.” said the Midnight Maiden. “Its purpose will become clear in a moment. However, you are instructed to never take it off while we are teaching, unless we give permission. Understood?” The centuries younger mare gulped, but gave a polite nod anyway. “As you say, Luna.” Luna smiled again, oddly warm for one so cold looking. “Good, now for your first test.” “Test?” Twilight’s eyes went wide. “I...I haven’t even studied anything yet?” “Not that kind of test, Twilight.” the Mare in the Moon laughed. “This kind.” She concentrated for a second while holding her hoof out in front of her, before a strange white rock appeared sitting on her foreleg. “This is your test, Twilight. Pull this rock to you.” Twilight Sparkle, long time student of the Princess of the Sun, and bearer of the Element of Magic, just stared at the rock in the princess’ hooves for a few seconds. “Um, OK, if that’s what you want.” Twilight held her head down and concentrated, focusing on the rock- “OW!” she cringed. “What?” “Something wrong, Twilight?” asked the dark mentor on the throne. “I just...” Twilight rubbed the side of her head, and looked up to see that the rock had remained unmoved. “Nothing, it’s nothing.” “Then please, continue.” Twilight tried again. She focused, and that same...pulling came again, stronger than ever. She cringed, it wasn’t really painful, but very disorienting. The world felt like it was slipping from her hooves and dissolving around her. She held though, trying to focus, to picture the rock, but every time the sensation of something pulling at her would intensify. She finally collapsed, breathing heavy at the foot of the throne. “Having trouble, are we?” Luna chuckled from atop her seat, smiling down at her new student. She had forgotten how fun this could be. “What is this thing?” Twilight rubbed at the ring around her horn. “One more try, Twilight,” the younger Matriarch chuckled. “I felt it sort of bob there for a split second.” The Element of Magic gritted her teeth and stood up, summoning all the power she could, but again finding her focus completely destroyed by the pulling sensation around her horn. She groaned in frustration, summoning more effort than she had put into lifting an Ursa Minor and a water tower full of milk at the same time, pushing everything she had into that rock. A light thud sound echoed through the mostly empty and silent room. Both ponies who occupied it looked down to see the rock had fallen from the Night Princess’ hoof. Princess Luna looked down in shock. “Truly remarkable, Twilight. Only one other pony has ever done that on the first night of his teachings.” Luna looked the young mare over. She was covered in sweat, breathing heavy, and rubbing at her temples. Just like he had. “Princess...this band...why?” Twilight spat out, barely having the energy to talk at the moment. “To understand its purpose, one has to understand what you are here to learn, Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Luna stood from her throne and descended the steps, carrying the rock in her own magical grip. “Long before I lost myself to the Nightmare, me and my sister both taught our own brand of magic. Her magic, as you know it, was crafted from thought, study, careful control, and strong focus. A refinement of the will of the individual to use magic as a tool. My magic, however, is different. The magic that I taught does not come from focus or study. Instead, it comes from pure emotion, the power of one’s feelings tempered and strengthened toward a goal. My school used magic not as a tool, but as a force of nature, capable of doing things my sister’s school could not even think of doing.” Twilight lay on the ground, still recovering from her own efforts to move a single rock. Her hoof still traced the ring around her horn, like a barrier that prevented her magic from working. “I’ve never heard of any of this. Magic that comes purely from emotion? That doesn’t make sense.” “Not as you know, it doesn’t.” The ancient mare raised her head, looking not at the ceiling, but into the past. “When we were younger, both me and my sister had our own schools of magic, that anyone could learn from. My school’s attendance was, admittedly, smaller. Those that thought themselves brave enough to learn from me often ran away after a few sessions. There were a select few who were able to master my magic, but it was always my sister’s school that was full, not mine.” Twilight felt great sadness coming from her new tutor, reflected in the quiet eyes of the alicorn. “But most importantly,” Luna continued, “we were both to fulfill the royal duty of an apprentice. Both of us would pick a unicorn form amongst our students we found particularly talented, and tutor him personally. This you know, of course. What you may not know is that, very rarely, there would be an apprentice who showed so much promise that the other of us would ask him to become our student as well.” “Much like you’re doing now,” Twilight added up. “Indeed, though we usually waited till the unicorn in question was finished with his studies under the first of us. If a student proved himself masterful enough to complete tutelage from both me and my sister, he was granted the title of Archmage, the absolute master of magic.” “Archmage,” Twilight echoed. It was a word that felt powerful to say. “Why haven’t I heard of any of this before, Princess?” Once more, the young mare could feel the older alcorn's sadness like a wave. “It was after I fell that my school of magic collapsed. It was seen as a blaspheme, and few were ever willing to learn it afterwards. Worse yet, those who already knew it were seen as traitors to the crown. There were a few...cults who continued the tradition for a time, but a thousand years is a long time indeed. With the persecution they suffered, and without me to teach them, the School of Night’s Majesty simply faded away, lost in memory. Just as I was.” Twilight finally stood again, and placed a hoof on the princess’ chest. “I’m sorry, Luna.” “It’s fine, Twilight,” the ancient mare said. “The past is in the past, and the future looks good so far. This is one of the reasons why I chose you, Twilight. Not only are you more than a candidate for the title of Archmage,  but you are also a publicly known hero. If you learn my magical ways, I am sure I can reopen my school again.” Twilight beamed with pride. “I’ll do my best, Princess Luna. You can count on me!” “Excellent,” Luna smiled. “By now, you have guessed that the ring around your horn disrupts not your magic itself, but your thoughts. It is a sort of disruptor of focus, making it hard to concentrate. Instead, you simply must will something to happen with your feelings. To lift a rock with magic from my school is to feel the rock as it is, not to know its weight and size, but to simply want it to move.” Twilight rubbed the band again. She wanted desperately to rip it from her horn, but she knew how much this ment to the Princess, so she kept it in it’s place, for now. Luna looked outward through the window. The moon was reaching its high point in the sky. “It is late, and I think you are tired, both from your trip and the recent activity. Which is just as well, Night Court will start soon. For now, you are dismissed, Twilight Sparkle. You will find your old room much as you left it. Celestia’s insistence. You may keep the band, practice as you will with it, but you are not required to do either. I will see you tomorrow, Twilight Sparkle, at sunset.” The most faithful student of now both Princesses stood up and gave a nod, trying not to feel dizzy. “I will, Luna. Thank you for having such faith in me.” “I do, Twilight. Though this weekend shall only teach you the fundamentals, I think we will make much progress by the end of it.” Both ponies shared a smile and a fond goodnight, before parting ways for one day’s time.