The more Twilight was sinking into the corridor leading to Luna’s room, the less she felt it was a good idea. Every step was losing a bit of the surrounding light, to the point where only torches on the walls were guiding her.
Luna’s fascination with darkness was impossible for Twilight to understand. The stones around her were cold and scary. The red carpet under her hooves was too dark not to be uncomfortable and so thick it was feeling liquid. The air all around was chilling and constantly in movement, surrounding her, fleeing, hiding, wheezing through the cracks, laughing and plotting.
Twilight crashed into a night guard she hadn’t seen who was guarding a huge door decorated with moonstones that she could now see faintly glow in the dark.
“Sorry your highness.” The night guard apologized.
As a bat pony, she could easily see in the night and thought the blame was hers because she could have easily warned Twilight or avoided her.
“No, it’s okay: it’s my fault.” Twilight apologized. “It’s just… that place. I still can’t believe princess Luna wants to live here.”
“I know.” The guard replied. “We too wish it was a bit bigger, more fit to her majesty, but the princess doesn’t seem to care.”
Twilight couldn’t figure out if the night guard was making fun of her or if she was serious. By default, she decided to ignore the question and asked where she could find Luna.
“You’re in luck!” The guard told her. “This is her majesty’s workroom and she has come to study some old books from the library.”
“Books? What books?” Twilight asked, her eyes suddenly sparkling out of curiosity.
“I’m sorry your highness. I am not allowed to unveil such details. Not even to you. It’s my duty to keep those things secret.”
Twilight noticed the night guard was smiling while saying those words. It felt peculiar, because guards from the sun battalion wouldn’t allow themselves such liberties. The night guard, however, lived under other rules and that smile was probably nothing more than a display of the guard’s pride.
“Can I enter?” Twilight asked.
“You can.”
And still that smile. Bat ponies sure were weird.
Twilight opened the door and, seeing Luna over a huge opened book, greeted her from the doorstep.
“Hello princess Luna!”
Startled, Luna closed the book in less than the blink of an eye and turned to face the disturbance, only to simmer down at Twilight’s sight.
“Oh. It’s you…” Luna said, while trying to catch her breath.
“Sorry, the guard told me I could enter, I didn’t think I would be bothering you.”
“I’m sure she did.” Luna replied with a sigh. “But it’s alright. You aren’t bothering me at all. I am simply surprised to see you here. What brings you in my place?”
Twilight approached, waited for Luna to put her book away, then explained:
“Well, it’s kind of weird to be honest. I don’t really know where to even begin.”
Luna sighed loudly. She went to a cabinet, opened it and glanced over all the bottles she had there. She took one, turned her head back to Twilight, had a grin of laughter and put it back in place. She finally made her choice and came back to Twilight with two glasses full of nectar. She put them on the table, offered one glass to Twilight and, calling for her magic one last time, forced the huge heavy curtains to move and allow the glorious light of the day to invade and brighten every corner of the room, all to Twilight’s enchantment.
“Surprised?” Luna asked.
“I… I thought… I had forgotten we weren’t underground.” Twilight confessed.
“Now let me guess if you don’t mind. Your story begins as such: Celestia.”
Twilight didn’t know how to respond, so she just blushed and shamefully nodded to confess it was the case. In response, Luna simply took a sip of the nectar in her glass, then put the glass down and asked:
“So, now that we know the beginning, why don’t you tell me the rest of the story?”
Twilight took one sip of nectar too. She couldn’t really figure out how Luna could be so impressive and yet so simple at the same time.
“Come on now, Twilight.” Luna told her with a smile. “Don’t let the decorum fool you. You are welcome here and I am very pleased you have come to see me, even if it involves Celestia. So please tell me, I’m curious: what has she done now?”
“Celestia…” Twilight began.
“Yes?” Luna interrupted her out of excitement.
“She didn’t have a shadow this morning in the garden.”
At first Luna didn’t react, but she suddenly burst out laughing.
“Princess Luna?” Twilight asked. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Oh yeah, I am.” Luna said. “I am sorry, but watching you take it so seriously is just too much: you have been pranked!”
“Pranked?” Twilight asked.
Luna went to Twilight and put her hoof on her muzzle just to confirm it.
“A simple yet childish prank. My sister showed herself to you without a shadow intentionally and you fell into the trap head in. Oh that must have been something: you have to tell me all about it!”
Twilight wasn’t really feeling like speaking about it at that very moment. She was more feeling like she had been so very stupid, and yet she had nopony else to blame for it but herself. The only comfort she could find was that if Luna didn’t find it strange for Celestia not to have a shadow, then there was clearly no impostor at all, confirming her own conclusion.
“Don’t feel bad Twilight Sparkle.” Luna told her, in an attempt to bring comfort. “You aren’t the first fool she uses to entertain herself. Lots of ponies couldn’t see they were being played. And she probably had some hidden reason for it, like usual. So it wasn’t to your detriment. She probably wants you to learn a lesson or something I imagine.”
Seeing that her words weren’t really comforting Twilight, she went back to the cabinet and brought back the first bottle she had chosen, full of apple cider.
“Here, drink with me, to a hilarious joke that we have been part of.”
Twilight accepted and drank her glass of cider, forgetting about the shame of having had her weaknesses exploited. She didn’t even really feel betrayed. Pinkie Pie too used to play a lot of jokes on her and her friends, so she could understand the good side of a joke. In the end, it had brought her there, to enjoy a moment with Luna and drink some good cider.
So everything had ended pretty well if one was to be honest.
Then a thought sparkled in Twilight’s mind.
“So, it is normal for Celestia not to have a shadow?” She asked.
“Of course.” Luna replied. “She doesn’t have one, never had one, couldn’t have one. At least, one she doesn’t create with magic. But you can imagine how ponies would react if they saw my big sister without a shadow. Better than anypony else in fact.”
And Luna laughed again.
“So… what about you?” Twilight asked. “Is your shadow the product of a spell too?”
Luna thought about it a moment, as she was trying to find how to explain it to Twilight.
“I am the princess of the night. I come from the darkness, from a time before light ever existed. Asking me about shadows is a bit complex. I actually have multiple shadows.”
At those last words, Luna’s face became suddenly very serious and she let out:
“So that is what she is after…”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, nothing really.” Luna replied, recovering her smile. “I just realized you weren’t the target of the joke: I am. You have just been caught in one of our little sisterly challenges. This one, you should probably stay out of if you don’t mind.”
Twilight’s curiosity was devouring her. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to put her muzzle where she wasn’t invited.
“Alright. I won’t ask.” She assured Luna. “Just please promise me you aren’t mad at each other.”
Luna smiled in response:
“Do not worry. No matter our differences, my sister and I share a bond nothing could destroy. We just always used to challenge each other, to test our capacities, to prove which one of us is the best and probably a bit to keep ourselves entertained too. This particular challenge’s goal is to determine which one of us, her or I, is the best princess.”
Twilight did remember the castle of the two sisters and all the traps laid everywhere. It was making more sense now that the two of them would be in constant competition. She was now convinced she should stay out of it.
“I know my sister.” Luna added. “She won’t let you leave the game so easily. Know that it ends tonight. If you don’t want to be pranked again, you should better be on your guards. She can be very cunning, believe me.”
Twilight believed her.
And she was determined to stay away from the whole thing from this point on.