Heavy breathing, the first thing I heard was heavy breathing, not my own, but near me. I had turned to my left to see the sleeping figure of Twilight, laying on quite a lavish pillow while two guards near the entrance to the balcony had turned and saluted once I had returned, however, both had quickly gone mouth agape as I stared down at them curiously.
“What? Is something wrong?” I had quickly recoiled from hearing my own voice, finally realizing that I was quite a bit taller than I was before, looking down at my hooves and seeing that my coat had become a bit, more purple than before, my mane shimmering with what looked like deep space.
Twilight had begun to stir, rubbing her eyes and slowly standing, meeting eye to eye to me, looking a bit tired, of course that didn’t stop her tired mind from realizing we were now the same height.
“Ah?! Stardust are you…? Huh…” Before I could respond, Twilight had begun to pace around me and inspected me closely, looking quite interested at all the changes, of course, I had stopped her before she got carried away.
“Twilight. Before we talk about that, i’d just like to thank you. For helping me through this.” She took a step back and had suddenly hugged me, feeling her against me, I slowly wrapped a leg around her, then stepped back when she decided she was done.
“I’m proud of you Stardust, judging by what’s happened… It seems like you’ve accepted your new role.” said Twilight, who smiled at me brightly.
“Well, I had a lot of time to think about what it really meant to receive the gift I had, It’s what happened to you as well, isn’t it, not when you became an Alicorn, but when you inherited Celestia’s power. You still see her, don’t you?” I had pressed my hoof against Twilight’s chest, who seemed surprised at what I said, as she looked down at my hoof, “She’s still within you isn’t she? She didn’t just give you her magic, she gave you part of her very soul.” I stared into her eyes now, realizing the two guards had been watching the whole time, before I withdrew my hoof, standing straight and tall.
“I… Well, you certainly learned a lot within the last two hours didn’t you?” She smiled slowly.
I tilted my head at her statement, feeling my victorious discovery had been somewhat ripped from me, “Wait, you already knew about that?”
“Of course, however, I felt it was necessary you discovered that on your own. I couldn’t just tell you that the Princess had given you part of her soul could I?” She continued to smile, my mind had drifted to how Twilight described that Celestia had used similar methods of teaching, especially her first lesson.
I couldn’t help but laugh, thinking about all her lessons, putting a hoof against my forehead before my horn glowed and I stuffed the pillow into her face, “You realize this type of confidence boost could have been useful hours ago?” Watching the pillow slide off her face, she was still smiling as she beckoned me to follow her back into the castle, trotting beside her slowly.
“Of course it would have been useful, but I didn’t want your confidence coming from her, in the end it wasn’t her that gave you confidence was it?” said Twilight.
I tilted my head again, thinking about my experience, shaking my head as I found her quite right, of course she helped me find it, but in the end, even before I realized I had more than magic in me, I had lifted the moon. On my own.
“Yeah. I found it after you told me it’s fine to have help when you need it. Even then, before I realized she was… Part of me. I raised the moon.”
“Exactly, though you did sort of take off into your realm straight afterwards, but I assume you felt it was calling to you, probably the dreams of the ponies. It is your duty to help those with mental distress after all. Though, I am guessing it was your own head that had some problems to deal with.”
I nodded to her, looking about the castle, I noticed she had lead me to my room once again, “Twilight, don’t you think I should… You know, actually do my duties tonight?”
“Nonsense, you’ve earned a nice sleep tonight, I’ll keep watch for you.” She nodded at me before stuffing me inside, I slowly looked back and then laid down slowly in the bed, resting my head against the pillow, feeling myself drift quickly into sleep.
The dream was simple, laying down in nature, an incredibly tranquil place… Feeling my mind at rest for the first time, in quite awhile… I felt, perhaps this job won’t be as hard as I thought.
Fin.