That which Holds the Moon

by TimeLord_Whooves

Unexpected Circumstances

“Alright, Spike. Are you going to be okay taking care of the library till tomorrow?” Twilight asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Relax Twilight, I’ll have Owlowiscious to help me.” Spike replied confidently. At this, the owl let out a low who. “You
silly” Spike said, turning to the owl.

He hooted again and Spike said with a little more force, “You, I’m talking about you.”

Twilight smirked and shook her head, exiting the library and heading over to the Carousel Boutique. She knew she could count on Rarity to help if Spike messed anything up.

“Okay, so you promise to keep an eye on Spike while I’m gone?” She asked tentatively.

“You know I have a lot of work to do before this weekend, I’m not sure I’ll be able to.” Rarity replied in her usual airy tone.

Twilight knew she should have asked her sooner, she was usually so organized but with fretting over the fact that a princess had asked her to dinner, all sense of organization left her mind. Twilight looked up at the clock, she needed to catch her train, it was due to leave in twenty minutes and it’s a fifteen minute walk from the boutique to the train station.

“Rarity, please!” begged Twilight, drawing out her please as long as she could and ending with a smile. “You only have to go over there every so often to make sure the library isn’t being destroyed and make sure Spike is doing his job properly.”

Rarity sighed, ribbons and scissors floating past in her magic, inspecting which color to use. “I suppose I’ll be able to go by the library when I have some time or when I hit a creative block, it’s not a promise that I’ll be able to go by regularly but I’ll go when I can.”

“Oh thank you thank you thank you.” Twilight said, a little bouncy. “I’ve got to hurry and catch my train or I’ll be late.”

“Oh, Twilight!” Rarity called as the unicorn was almost out the door. “You’re not forgetting the dress I made for your dinner, are you”

Twilight quickly checked her saddlebags and pulled out a neatly folded mass of dark blue fabric. “Nope, I’ve got everything I need.”

And with that, she ran out of the door and through town. She was followed for a few streets by an excited, bouncy Pinkie Pie who wouldn’t stop asking her questions until she smacked into a familiar light blue pegasus and began following her.

When Twilight made it to the station, the train was already sitting there, waiting for all the passengers to board. She walked up to the ticket booth, almost out of breath and asked for a ticket for the train. After handing the ticket mare her bits and taking her ticket, Twilight got on the train and found herself a seat near the front of the train, next to the window on the side she knew Canterlot would show up on.

“All aboard!” shouted the conductor as the doors slid shut and the engine let out a loud, high pitched whistle.

Slowly, the train began to leave the station. Twilight looked out of the window and saw a pink maned, yellow pegasus watching the train leave. Twilight smiled and waved at her friend, who gave her a small, blushing smile as she waved back. Fluttershy quickly vanished from sight as the train huffed along the tracks, gaining speed quickly.

Twilight turned to try to see Fluttershy as the train passed the building that had blocked her from view but the mare was no longer there. Twilight gave a small frown and shook her head, thinking of the fun she was going to have with Luna.

***

Luna was running about the castle, making sure that everything was ready for Twilight’s visit.

She had gone to the kitchens to make sure it was properly staffed and ready to make anything Twilight wanted on the spot. After the kitchens she ran up to make sure the spare guest room was prepared for Twilight, just in case things didn’t go well or if she just wanted her own room for the night.

Luna was fussing over every little thing, making sure everything was just perfect for Twilight.

Celestia was watching everything Luna did. After the guest room was made to the specifications that Luna had given the servants, Celestia couldn’t keep quiet any longer, she walked over to Luna.

“Luna, don’t you think you’re overdoing it just a little?” she asked with her tone of motherly concern.

“You know I want everything to be perfect sister. I’m just, covering the bases, as they say. Making sure I have every scenario handled.” Luna replied as she began to fuss over a ribbon that was just a bit bigger on one side.

Celestia sighed. “You know, the more you try to make things perfect the more awkward it will be for you two. Just try to have fun.”

Luna wasn’t listening, she was busy trying to make all the ribbons exactly symmetrical.

Celestia sighed again and walked out of the room.

***

Twilight smiled, she could see Canterlot castle up on the mountainside. She knew that there was still about another hour to go before the train reached its destination however.

As she was smiling, imagining what she and Luna would be doing together, the train began to slow and come to a stop. Twilight looked up, cut off from her daydreams of talking to Luna about magic, learning, or possibly even teaching
Luna, a few spells.

The conductor came walking through the car, heading for the back of the train.

“Excuse me.” Twilight called after him. “What’s going on, why has the train stopped?”

The conductor turned around to face the lavender unicorn who was now standing in the aisle. “It appears there’s an obstruction on the tracks, it’ll take but a moment to move and we’ll be on our way.”

“Well, let me go take a look at it.” Twilight said, as she moved for the door of the train.

The conductor hesitated a moment before following the unicorn outside and leading her to the cause of the problem.

There were a couple of other unicorns there already, attempting to move some rocks that had fallen on the tracks, there had been a rockslide. The unicorns were struggling with the fallen rocks, unable to move even the smallest of them.

“They… just… won’t … budge!” one of them shouted exasperatedly, drawing in heaving gasps as he let his magic dissipate.

Twilight frowned and moved closer to the rocks. She saw something gleaming in the light when she moved to one side but it vanished when she moved back. There was some kind of hardened liquid holding the rocks together.

“It’s no wonder why you can’t move the rocks individually, they’ve been glued together by somepony.” Twilight said to the others. “In order to move these rocks, you have to move the pile as a whole.”

“Where are we going to find somepony who can move a pile that heavy?” one of the unicorns asked, glaring at Twilight as if she were mad.

Without giving him an answer, Twilight began to focus her magic on the pile of rocks. She lowered her head, preparing to lift the rocks. As she began to lift her head, her hooves dug deep into the ground, threatening to slide out from under her, but she kept them steady. There was a low rumbling sound as the pile began to shift, slowly rising off the ground.

Twilight’s eyes began to glow and her magic aura around her horn doubled in size. The pile of rocks suddenly shot up into the air and landed with a rumbling thud, fifty feet away. The two unicorns and the conductor gasped and stood there, shocked, staring at Twilight and the place where the pile of rocks landed.

As the aura around her horn dissipated and her eyes returned to their usual purple hue. She stumbled a little and the conductor quickly walked over to steady her.

“By Celestia!” shouted one of the unicorns, inspecting the rails. “The rock slide damaged the rails.”

“Don’t worry, this one’s a quick fix.” said the other, noticing that Twilight was preparing to focus her magic on the rails now. “You get on back in the train, we can handle this.”

The conductor helped Twilight back onto the train and into her seat. “It shouldn’t take long, fixing the rails is their specialty.”

“Good.” Twilight said distractedly. Looking up at Canterlot castle again, she suddenly stiffened. “Um… About how long do you think we’ve been delayed?”

“No more than half an hour I’d say.” he said as he checked his pocket watch. “Why, got something important to do in Canterlot?”

“Oh no. I hope I’m not too late.”

***

Luna was sitting at the dining table, waiting impatiently. She looked up at all the decorations she had the servants put up just for this night and sighed.

“Where is she?”

The servants standing by the door shuffled nervously. They had been told by Celestia to do everything they could to make sure everything went to Luna’s liking.

Ten minutes went by and still no word on Twilight’s whereabouts. Luna had put her face in her hooves on the table and mumbled to herself with a small sob. “She’s not coming, she lied to me.”

One of the servants heard this and walked up to Luna. “She said she’d come and I know that when Twilight says she’ll do something then she’ll do it. You just have to wait patiently is all. Maybe something happened with her train and it’s running late.”

Luna smiled up at her, “Thank you Silver Platter.”

Luna waited, every minute that passed without any hint of Twilight showing up brining a new worry to her mind.

Twenty minutes passed, Luna was practically in tears but with Silver Platter giving her comforting words, she waited, obstinately.

Half an hour. Luna was now sobbing with her head on the table. Silver Platter’s words weren’t reaching her anymore. With a sigh, she wiped her tears off her face and stood up from her chair.

She walked silently up to her room, walked out onto her balcony and began to cry openly to the stars.

Comments

[Tavi Scratch]

D'aw poor Luna! I'm sure it'll all work out >.<

[Foxhole]

Hopefully, Twilight can explain her tardiness to Luna.

[icw42297]

I loved it. Everything was really well written and that one part "After the kitchens she ran up to make sure the spare guest room was prepared for Twilight, just in case things didn’t go well or if she just wanted her own room for the night." I got what you did there

[TimeLord_Whooves]

2579040
Why, whatever do you mean?
I honestly didn't see it that way while I was writing it.

[icw42297]

2579163
ahahahahahahahaahhahahaha

[SUBJECTXVI]

I think I died a little on the inside for PL. And don't think I didn't catch that innuendo you slipped in there timey after all I'm insane enough to be ocd about every little detail.

[Elysium]

"I’m just, covering the basses, as they say."

That's "bases".