Dream's First Lessons with Luna
Dream's First Lessons With Luna
Luna woke three hours before Moon Rise was due, she felt proud of herself for being able to have a little extra free time. Giving a very unrefined yawn with awakening Luna gently pulled herself out of her lavish bed that was a little over twice the size of the one Dream was sleeping in (Why it had to be so big was beyond her, if it were for her sister she could understand given the proportions Celestia has to other ponies). The bed was adorned with midnight blue sheets that had her insignia emblazoned on them and topped with a midnight black quilt that had her mark dominating it. The bed itself was solid oak and carved with immense detail so as to have one see her crescent moon every few inches when looking close, but at the same time formed larger crescent moons the further you got from the bed. The Headboard had an imposing crescent moon with a well cut white diamond being in a groove that was specifically made to hold the gem perfectly, a matching well held monstrous pearl that gave the impression of being the mate for the head was dominating the site at her footrest in a hold that did not damage the gem while maintaining the illusion without the aid of magic.
Looking about her equally lavish room, she once again wondered why her room had to have such pointlessly opulent decadence seeing as she was the only pony that used it regularly. A perfectly smooth silver mirror with a cherry wood frame was attached to the dresser that held her vestments, each drawer holding a piece of her regalia and shoes with her crown in a special hold just behind the mirror. The piece of furniture was decorated similar to the Lunar Princess's bed. With a practiced hoof Luna used her magic to throw on her vestments, several years ago she had forbade anypony to enter her room and “aid” in dressing her, she much preferred putting her attire on herself, it helped her feel like she was actually able to accomplish something. The floor and trot-in-closet could easily be mistaken for the ones in Dream's room at first glance. The stained glass windows across from her bed depicted her and the moon during each of it's various phases.
Luna gave a deep sigh and headed out of her midnight blue painted door, why it was painted only on this side while maintaining its natural color on the other side was beyond her, into the hall. After she carefully closed the door behind her with nary a sound she cracked open the door to the room that Dream Step was using to check on the filly quick. She gave a smile at the sight of the little filly still sleeping, and still giving off the impression of being a comet in the night sky. Leaving the door ajar the umbra alicorn made her way down the hall.
After twenty or so minutes Luna came into the throne room, and saw that it was devoid of anypony save her sister, two guards were at the exterior of the throne room entrances and was it. Smiling to herself Luna gave the guards a curt nod before entering the throne room and sitting down in the throne designated as hers next to Celestia's with a small table between the two. On the table was Celestia's favorite mane brush, a mane comb and a small pile of neatly stacked papers.
“Still trying to keep organized, sister,” said Luna with a hint of amusement as she sat into her throne.
“Luna,” said Celestia with obvious surprise, “I didn't expect to be up for another hour and a half.”
“I had a sleep that more restful than I thought,” said Luna with smirk, “it also gives a chance to talk like we used to.”
“So, how's our guest?” Celestia started off.
“Still sleeping,” said Luna, “I told her about my other self, and a few other things. She shared a few things about herself, but she talked more about her siblings than herself. She has a very low opinion of her self worth it seems, she was never allowed to peruse a course that would make her feel like she could stand on equal footing to her siblings.”
“Well, that's all changing now,” said Celestia with amusement, “anything else I should know.”
“Talk to the pony responsible for making dough in the kitchen,” said Luna with a more serious tone, “the pizza crust for our presleep meal was a little rich. Also I'm unsure if what they said about their home was completely true, Dream said she had never heard of pizza before today, but she read the menu perfectly, and pronounced everything properly. She had a minor freak out when she came to the full realization. She claimed she had never seen the word before today, maybe that spell Twilight copied down might help.”
“The future will tell us of their intents,” said Celestia, “as for everything else, you said you saw their arrival.”
“And I saw them standing beside us and Twilight proclaiming to be truly children of Equestria. But you know how imprecise visions of the future can be, I've told you Enough times, Tia.”
Celestia mentally giggled at the pet name her sister had used for her when they were just fillies, Luna had stopped using it for some time now, but it seemed that having a filly for her to watch over had brought out the playful little Lulu that Celestia hadn't seen in centuries. “Nice to have you back too, Lulu.”
Luna blushed to the point of having a deep shade of purple on her cheeks, “you haven't called me that since before we first encountered Discord,” said the umbra alicorn, “why would you call me that now of all times?”
“Because you used the pet name you gave when we were fillies just now,” said Celestia with a teasing voice, “I missed my playful little Lulu.”
“I haven't missed the mischievous Tia that somehow never got us into trouble with all the things she got us into,” retorted Luna. Quickly picking up the mane brush with her magic in desperate attempt to change the subject Luna began gently, yet a little too aggressively, brushing her sister's four toned mane while saying, “I think I found a knot in your mane, you've been skipping brushing your mane and tail again, sister.”
“With how our duties have gotten I've taken skipping my grooming every couple of days.”
Luna gave her sister some playful tuts while brushing her sister's mane before saying, “you were the one who told me that grooming is among the most important things for mares of any age, I'll go take care of my grooming before moon rise and then it's off to lessons with my new student. I think Night Court can do with a break for a few nights,” she gave her sister a playful wink before setting the brush down and trotting out.
When did my sister get so interesting? thought Celestia as she watched her sister leave the room
Giggling to herself as she made her way to her room Luna wondered when she had gotten so mischievous, she wasn't quite this way before, during or after her duties before this coming night. After spending an hour making sure her mane and tail were free of tangles and knots Luna exited her room. What met her was a nervous looking Dream peering out of the crack to her room with what looked like wonder and confusion.
“Good evening, little comet,” said Luna without really thinking about what she was saying.
Dream Step looked at the umbra alicorn with surprise before saying timidly, “do you mean me?”
Luna nodded with a slight look of embarrassment on her face before saying, “you sleeping under the covers made me think of a comet shooting across the night sky. I hope I didn't make you feel uneasy.”
“No, it's just that... nopony's called me anything other than my name before now. It feels... weird, but in a good way. That's an expression I've heard others say, but never thought I would ever say myself.”
“Come, my student,” said Luna, “I shall raise the moon in a little under an hour, then your first lessons with me will start.”
“Um, Lady Luna,” said Dream as they walked the halls of the Night Wing, “this may sound strange to you, but this is more comforting than any interaction I ever had with my mother. I'm not even sure I should be calling Great Spell my mother anymore. The definition I was given for a mother is somepony who gave birth to you and made sure you had a proper education growing up.”
“That's a very sterile definition,” responded Luna, “a mother is a mare that is there for another pony in a nurturing manner. They are there to comfort younger ponies under their care when they are scared, they are there to encourage them to express themselves in any way they want so long as it isn't too dangerous. In short a mother is the pony that protects and guides a pony, they don't have to be a blood relation. Your sister's reaction to Twilight Sparkle was like that of a filly running to her mother, and yours was much like that of a filly wanting her mother to protect her from the dangers that they just became aware of. As it currently stands I am your caretaker and Twilight is your sister's, who's to say when you might decide we are something more than your mentors and caretakers.”
“Great Spell was of the opinion we didn't need such things because we have rare abilities. I don't want to be defined as pony who can visit the dreams of others. I'm going to tell you something I haven't told my siblings,” Luna leaned closer and the filly whispered, “I would have probably cracked and become nothing more than an emotionless doll for my family to treat as a puppet in a few months, if Eclipse hadn't told me of her escape plan that would have been it. I would have resigned myself to being someopony's puppet, danced on the strings as they told me too without a thought or contradiction of my own.”
“You can't mean that,” said Luna as they made their way to the tower that she used for her lunar duties.
“More than you know,” said Dream, “we were treated like tools that were intended to be thrown away the moment they got too damaged. Even the best craftspony respects their tools, we were treated as something that was to serve a purpose then get thrown aside when there was no more use for us,” Luna opened her mouth to retort, but Dream cut her off by saying, “before you say anything I know all this because Great Spell and Grand Charm didn't even bother to keep this line of thinking hidden from their conversations right in front me and my sisters, all three of us were nothing more than objects to be used in the political barter system.”
Luna's eyes went wide before she said, “at least the Canterlot nobility have enough tact to modify their wording when they are aware foals are present, I assure you if this was merely a story to garner sympathy from me there will be consequences.”
“Even if all the memories that lead to this point prove to be nothing more than a carefully crafted lie I will gladly accept whatever punishment you feel I deserve without complaint. Eclipse brought those cursed books, the one that talked about mind magic has spells for implanting memories and even one for replacing them entirely. None of use have ever been sure our memories are real or something somepony crafted to ensure we would act a certain way. I want you to enter my dreams on a future night and use them as a gateway to seeing my true past, you said that's what your ability allows your to do.”
“Well yes,” said Luna, “but I do my best to use it sparingly, but if you are certain I will go use it, and take to see the truth. We both have to face the truth. Of what your past is and what our futures could be.”
“I am curious about the future,” said Dream Step, “but if I am also capable of such things I do not wish to use such a power if it is unneeded. I want to be able to tell needing to know from wanting to know. I want know the difference between truly knowing and think you know, mys sister seems better at knowing such things.”
“No,” said Luna as they continued through the halls, “she just has an intuition that is not seen by most, a devotion to her beliefs that is rarely seen these days and most importantly genuine emotions towards her family that are always preferred.”
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It was time for the moon rise and what Dream captivated her in a way she didn't think was possible, she felt a need to share her emotions about watching the majestic dark alicorn raising a white orb with the impression of a purity that was hard to notice without witnessing some kind of taint.
As they walked to the arts room that had been prepared Dream said with a shy certainty, “it was like watching you lift a force that could purify the land before us, I never thought I would witness such true majesty.”
Luna stopped at a door that looked like it was adorned with constellations of a unicorn, pegasus and earth pony playing together before saying, “you are far too young to be thinking such things, does the constellation on this door look familiar?”
“The pegasus and unicorn, yes, but shouldn't they they be on opposing sides of the sky?”
“Different cultures, different constellations,” said Luna, “why did you say that?”
“Night time is my favorite time,” said Dream Step, “on nights when I was feeling braver, when Eclipse was sneaking out to the manor library I would look out the window and try to find stars that made me feel warm inside. One night Eclipse found and astronomy book and showed me the constellations that were recorded in it, we spent the next night looking for some of the constellations in that book, that was... a year ago, why did it take me so long to remember one of my happiest memories?”
“The mysteries of memory,” said Luna as she swung open the door, “we'll discuss that at length another night, for now we have a lesson to get to.”
What greeted Dream step was something that made her stop and make her heart race. She saw a mass of musical instruments by the far wall on shelves or the floor if they proved to large for shelves, a painting easel by the door that looked like it had been craft from ebony and almost seemed to be telling her to adorn it with images, on the shelves on the other side of the door were a collection of pencils, paintbrushes, paints, unblemished papers of varying sizes, small circular containers with glittering specks and various other items; all in a variety of colors, another thing that struck her was the walls were not adorned with anything were instead a blank stone that seemed to be begging her to leave her mark on them. The first words out her muzzle surprised her as much as Luna, “is this what paradise is like? I've never seen a room that's made me feel so... happy,” tears of joy flowed down the white filly's face. The sincerity in her voice and actions made Luna smile a bit.
“I was quite the artist when I was a little older than you, but at your age I could only do some simple art pieces. We'll be seeing your skill level in a moment,” she tore one of the larger blank white sheets out of the shelf and placed it on the easel then floated over an assortment of colored pencils and laid them on the lip of the easel. Almost as soon as the pencils had been set on the easel Dream Step was in front of it, “now to get a baseline I would like you to try floating the pencils that speak to you loudest to draw the first thing that comes to mind.” Dream gave a nod and spent almost five minutes trying lift the yellow pencil in front of her, something that Luna noticed and showed concern over, after finally lifting the pencil off the easel rather shakily in her indigo aura.
For a full ten minutes she worked a wobbling yellow color pencil over the paper, before putting it down and just shakily moving the orange across the paper; this was followed with the light green, sky blue, black, dark green and indigo. When Luna trotted over to see what the filly had drawn with the pencils she had to restrain a giggle as nostalgic memories flooded her eyes. “Well,” said the umbra alicorn, “it seems your skill is as good as mine was at your age,” what she saw on the paper were masses squiggles that if she squinted just barely looked like ponies, just like when she was little, “you'll improve with practice, don't worry. Let me guess, it's... you and your siblings.”
“Um yes, how did you know? I can tell it's not very good, if I hadn't made it I wouldn't know what I was looking at.”
“I made a few pieces like this that were of me and my sister. I see you care for your siblings a lot, I also did the same for our parents.”
“After what you told me what your interpretation of what a mother is I started having doubts about the ponies I called my parents and grandmother being just that. They could have used magic to make us think that.”
“But you have a sister with corresponding memories,” said Luna, “she's your twin, you both grew up next to each other. And considering her natural ability is to make other spells not work...”
“I trust her with all the love and faith I can send her way,” said Dream bringing her ears back, “but Great Spell, Great Seal, and Grand Charm kept saying things like 'love is an emotion that serves no practical purpose' and 'faith is not something that serves much more than a means for keeping ponies in line', the truth is that everything I can remember about the place we came from makes Equestria look like a foal's tale come to life, self-righteous nobles included. Fear and intimidation are used to control the populace, stabbing others in the back is seen as just something you do in politics, a caste system that is shown to be pointless and archaic when compared to the way Equestria operates, and host of other problems are present,” she started crying, “laws in place that restrict the names of ponies are the most atrocious I can think of.”
“Laws that restrict the names of ponies?” said Luna with confusion.
Taking a deep sigh and looking at her work with a sad smile Dream Step said, “only colts born into the royal family can be named Artanus, nopony can have a name that references apples in anyway, all names beginning with an M Y R or M E R are prohibited to anypony that is not of a confirmed mage family, all names that reference islands must be approved by the king before being given to the foal they are intended for. There are others, but those are the ones I can recall most readily.”
Luna just shook her head and said, “I can think of one family that would feel offended that such laws are in place, and frankly I can't blame them,” she floated the sheet away and placed another blank in front of Dream before motioning for the filly to repeat the exercise.
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four hours, and forty sheets of art paper, Dream had not only managed to make a drawing that looked the way she intended, but also colored in with a level of detail Luna hadn't expected in such a short period of time. Dream Step was now laying at Luna's hooves exhausted from her practice, but a genuine smile of accomplishment, “can I keep this one in my room?” asked the filly with a groggy tone.
“You can keep any works you make during our sessions, I will not stop thee,” said Luna in a playful tone, “dost thou have anything else to ask of us.”
“Just spend time with...” Dream gave a deep yawn, that Luna thought of being rather cute, “me like this more often,” with that she fell asleep.
“Forty two sheets in four hours before collapsing,” Luna mused to herself, “I expected her to last two more hours than this with half as many sheets,” she smiled as she carried the filly out of the room in her magic, “she has the dedication to her work I did when my sister said she wanted to see the best art I could make for her.”
After tucking Dream in Luna headed back to the art room, she took a look simple colored pencil art picture that Dream had drawn, it showed the filly and her siblings all standing and smiling at each other. Luna figured who Sunshine Bottle was by the fact her image was the only unfamiliar muzzle she glimpsed. Then she gasped after taking a quick closer look to see what kind of imperfections she could help Dream improve upon. Dream Step had included the cutie marks of her elder siblings in the image. She was familiar with Storm Walker's mark, but the mark she saw on Sunshine Bottle made her feel like she had to do something, Luna quickly cast a duplication spell (reminding herself that the duplicate would be gone in 12 hours, just enough time to show the piece to her sister) before taking the original and laying it on the foot of Dream's bed before rushing back to her magically crafted duplicate and carried into the throne room to wait for her sister.
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A hour and a half before sunrise was due Celestia trotted into the throne room to see her sister staring at a large sheet of paper. “I sincerely hope you aren't reading yesterday's paper,” she said with a teasing voice, “it was rather bland.”
Instead of giving the comedic embarrassed response she normally made at such statements Luna floated over the sheet, Celestia saw four ponies smiling at each other (three that she recognized). “The cutie mark on the yellow one,” said Luna in a tired voice.
Celestia gave a confused look before giving a gasp when she looked at the image. “Luna this one of the most detailed pencil art pieces I've ever seen, did your student do this?” Luna just gave tired nod accompanied by an unintelligible grunt. “This is,” Celestia continued, “the exact same image I sported as my mark for three days when you found that illusion spell that targeted cutie marks and decided to test it on me, if memory serves right you kept calling me 'Happy Rays' for the whole three days. To think a pony would naturally develop that as a mark. Speaking of old times, what ever happened to that spell?”
“I put in my personal vault in my special place,” said Luna tiredly, “let's lower the moon and raise the sun a little early today, “I very much want to sleep now.”
“I understand,” said Celestia making her way to the palaces outside.
“We thank thee sister,” said Luna, “our student did not catch our slip.”
“Like you're doing now?” responded Celestia, “You slip back into the old speak when your emotions are running high, what is troubling you?”
“My feelings for Dream Step feel like they're changing, when she told me what she was raised to think was a mother and I told what I believed a mother to be and she told me she preferred my version better. I started thinking about what it would be like if she was truly my foal. She wants me to use my abilities to show the truth of her past, apparently that cursed book that is filled with spells for influencing minds holds spells for altering memories and creating pseudo memories which are then implanted in the target. That book needs to be destroyed.”
“Do not fret, those abominations of literature are in the one place in Equestria nopony would think to look and the most secure archive in all of Equestria.”
“I certainly hope so,” said Luna, “because the next time I see that book I am channeling all the magic I can spare into the most destructive spell I have and sending it all at that book. A book like that should never have been made in the first place, it defiles the very materials used to make it with. I will not let something like that threaten any in my charge.” With that Luna huffed and trotted out of the room.
“Oh Luna,” said Celestia to herself, “you always wanted to have a foal of your own, now you have a filly to play the role of your daughter. It's not making things easier that she's fast coming to see you as a mother.”
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After taking care of lowering the moon and watching her sister raise the sun along with the usual exchange of pleasantries Luna was back in her room removing her vestments. She thought back to her outburst and said to herself, “that's not like me to be so riled up, I did always want to experience the joys of being a mother. I think I'm starting to see Dream Step as a sort of surrogate daughter. She told me she loves the night, she's just as promising an artist as I was at her age, and she feels comfortable around me. No, I can't let such thoughts take hold in my mind yet. I will allow such things after a few weeks of getting know her, after that I will start entertaining such things in the realm of my mind. I hope Twilight isn't going through something like this as well, my maternal instincts are starting to rise up and I need to find a way to manage them.”
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Luna slept through the entirety of the following day and woke at three hours to moon rise, she went through her nightly waking ritual while thinking how a filly she had only met a few hours ago was coming to mean so much to her, also if Celestia had gone through having similar feelings. Now that she thought about it Luna had given the filly a nickname, which while initially met with confusion was very much liked by her new student.
On her way from raising the Moon to raise her student she was met by a little white head peering out from her room giving the umbra alicorn a look of deep thought. “I don't know what to think or feel regarding you,” said Dream Step as she timidly pulled herself from her room, “you make me feel safe, secure and comfortable. I don't know if I'll be able to properly focus on my work.”
“I think I know something," said Luna gesturing the filly close, “you need to be near me for this, I'm going to teleport us,” Dream slipped up next to the dark alicorn and gave a confused look to her. Before another word could be said the two disappeared in a burst of midnight blue.
A few seconds later reappeared in an outside region, it was at this point Dream Step noticed they were in a massive crevice. Smiling Luna said, “welcome to Might Canyon, my most personal place in all of Equestria, this place and the surrounding area are off limits to anypony to develop. My sister has a place that's similarly protected called the Noon Glade. They're our personal places and intended only for us to share with ponies we have a great level of trust in.”
“How can you trust me with knowledge of this place when I don't know if I can trust myself?” said Dream with a sad tone that was mixed with excitement as she looked around them.
“You said you needed to calm your mind, and if you truly had malicious intentions for me you wouldn't look around this place with a sense of wonder. One of the first things I did when I found this places was cover the walls with paintings of lots of things, that was oh... almost two thousand years ago now.”
“What?” responded Dream, “I thought that talk about Celestia ruling for a thousand years alone was just a story.”
“No, Celestia and I faced Discord when he was less friendly a little over a thousand years ago, then around a century later I fell to being Nightmare Moon,” said Luna with a reflective tone in her voice, “we had been in Equestria for quite a few centuries prior to that, but we had much simpler duties before we stood before Discord with the Elements of Harmony. Celestia just had to raise and lower the sun and offer advice to ponies that sought it, and I just raised and lower the moon and made works of art for anypony that asked, but after Discord began his reign things changed. At first we just let him do as he pleased, mostly because we thought the ponies of the time could handle his actions. However as time went on Equestria continued to slip further into the depths of a physical madness. My sister poured through the protected archives in our old home, which now resides in the Everfree Forest, and her research lead us to the Tree of Harmony, which is the source of the Elements of Harmony, I voiced my concerns about using pieces of such a powerful force of nature and my sister assured me all would work out for the best. After we used the elements on Discord and restored Equestria we were officially crowned the highest rulers in Equestria. There are times I wish such things hadn't come to pass, I have always wanted the joy of having foals and raising them, but I always stopped myself because I didn't want suffer the pain of outliving the family I built. What have we learned this night?”
Dream went into deep thought before saying, “sometimes a pony just needs their own space, Eclipse was always afraid to be apart from me and she needs to learn what it means to do things without me there to watch over her. We all have regrets, but we shouldn't let them define us. And, my teacher is a real sweetheart who deserves to have a little more happiness.”
Luna gave a light blush before saying, “yes, well... very good. Let us be off, it's time we resumed your other lessons.”
“Okay,” said Dream Step, “let us go.”
Luna smiled and in a flash of midnight blue the two were in the classroom. Luna floated a blank sheet over to the easel along with a small bundle of paintbrushes and small set of watercolor paints. “Tonight you'll be practicing with paints, you should know that when it comes to paint there are three primary colors, that means that a certain mixes of each of the colors produce other colors. The three primary pigments are red, blue and yellow. Mixing each in certain qualities, or having an absence of one while calling on others can produce certain colors. If you just heap them all on each other you'll end up with black.”
Dream Step stared at the items on the easel ledge before saying, “I thank you for explaining all that, but, um, is there something you want in particular from me in this exercise? I figured out that you just let me do my own thing last night to gauge just how much work is ahead of you and help me with my levitation magic. So What is this exercise for? What is it you ask of me? I prefer that over the demands that Great Spell made of me.”
Luna blinked a few times before saying in a gentle and supportive voice, “first of all I appreciate that you have been thinking about what the exercises mean, but the truth is I just want see what you want to make, we'll worry about my asking you to do pieces at a later date. So, I would appreciate it if you could stop thinking of things so clinically. While I'm sure Celestia or Twilight would appreciate the approach, I find the approach stifling. Yes these exercises serve a purpose, the exercises of this first week all serve the purpose of freeing up your thinking. What I am asking of you is to show me something new, that is all there is to it.”
“Asking of me? You mean you don't have anything you want from me? It would be nice if we had been asked, but all we got were demands to meet expectations we didn't know about and punishment when we failed to meet them. Eclipse was my shield when that mare that called herself our mother said she would issue punishment for me, she was willing to take on that mare. It wasn't always the case, we just believed that's how it had to be. We went along with her demands as best we could so long as we could have each other to lean on. Then two years ago Eclipse started to bear the brunt of Great Spell's punishments. When it came time for me to be punished half the time Grand Charm would use a punishment spell on me, but with Eclipse taking the blame for the bulk of my mistakes that wasn't an option because of her ability. I don't want to go back there, now that I've just had a few hours worth of Equestria I don't want to go back to Bridleton, it's a place that's filled with horrible memories that keep trying to hide the... box of good memories I have there. Here I can feel good memories, old and new, forming a comfortable blanket around me.” Looking up at the white sheet that was once blank Dream saw her siblings and her at the top of a white castle in heroic poses with smiles on everypony's faces.” The image itself was actually quite sloppy, with several colors running into each other and creating unintentional colors that clearly had no place in the image. “I wasn't even paying attention to what I as doing, what did I just make?”
Luna trotted over and looked the image over before saying, “I think you just did a piece that shows your siblings and you as you wish you could be.”
“But if we tried this, we would be put on trial for treason and found guilty. There's only 2 punishments for that, neither is good. Either we spend the rest of our lives in a dungeon designed to disable magic or we are turned into a public spectacle that ends with us dying. Eclipse and I would get the life in the dungeons, but our brother and sister would...” the white filly started sobbing in front of the painting, “why didn't she come with us? She should have come with us, she was more than her name implied. She saw us as ponies, she saw every individual she interacted with as the individual they were. Every pony, griffon, even the animals. I want my big sister, I need my siblings to all be safe here. She knew how to put on a show for the nobility, we didn't know she was playing at her persona until our brother told us. What really threw us off was her talent.”
“What was that?” inquire Luna as she moved piece off the easel and replaced it with a fresh sheet.
“Her talent is filling you up with a sense of false joy or happiness with her magic, but now that I think about it that ability might be incomplete because none of us knew what either of those were before coming to Equestria. I think I'm starting to realize what they are, but I'm not there yet. Doing things like this feels like... I should have been doing them long before this, almost like I'm trying to catch up to a whisper of who I used to be. I know it doesn't make sense, but that's really how I'm seeing all this.” The filly gave a long drawn out sigh before saying, “we all started talking different the moment we left Bridleton's shores, but not in a bad way. Tis difficult to explain to thou just what it means to feel everything about what you thought you were change into something that thee never thought possible to foresee. What woulds thou do unto me if she were to see the horrors that I let happen unto me,” tears started to fall onto the floor, “I want my sisters to all be safe, I want my brother to be happy, but most of all I want a mare I can truly call 'mommy' without feeling like my love for her has a price. We were just pieces on a chess board to Great Spell, and she a piece on the board for Grand Charm. We were nothing more than pawns, something that could only move in a limited manner and easily expendable.”
“Yes,” said Luna, “but a pawn can be promoted to be any piece its commander desires, to me they are precious friends that are willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of their friends. I never really liked that game, to restricting. Well that, and my sister always seemed to win. I preferred games that were much more open with your options, and still do. Games of tactics are all in good fun, but you restrict yourself when you play them. The arts are different, you can imitate somepony, put your own spin on another's work, or create a completely original piece that nopony has ever seen before. Try doing a piece again, but this time put your focus into, you might work your way up to the oil paints before you know it, such works are majestic and your control will be more evident. Of course we only have three hours before I need to lower the moon.”
*******************************
A half hour later charcoal pencils and paintbrushes were whirling and assisting Dream Step in her watercolor painting. Luna just smiled, she hadn't even shown the filly the art resource and she had somehow managed to use her magic to summon four of the art tools to assist her. Dream Step was only focusing on her painting. She smiled to herself and nodded before ushering Luna over. What greeted the umbra alicorn saw what looked like a family portrait. What surprised the alicorn was the little black filly in her hooves (not even a month old from what she could tell) and what appeared to be a well behaved Discord next to a Celestia with a hoof on a white filly that had a black pegasus wing and red bat wing in addition to what appeared to be a griffon talon where her left hoof should have been and a pair of horns that matched those of the draconequus only a few years old; in addition a proud looking Big Macintosh was next the dark alicorn and next to them was a very happy looking Twilight Sparkle with a little fuchsia bundle in her hooves next to a proud looking dark violet thestral stallion with orange eyes and a captain's helmet the same shade of violet as Twilight's eyes, next to them were Cadance and Shining Armor with a white pegasus colt around the same age as the filly near Celestia bearing a mane of pink and blue along with eyes that were almost identical to those of Cadance and all three were smiling with pride. But what surprised the alicorn was the level of craftsmareship, it looked like it had been done in oil or ink medium.
“How did you do this? What is this? From where did you see this image?” said Luna as she took the painting in her magic as if it were a precious treasure, “and why do I feel like crying in sorrow and joy just holding this my own magic?”
“I don't know,” said Dream Step, “I was trying for another family portrait and everything just, sort of, did its own thing. I just wanted a better looking image of my siblings and me, but that came out instead,” the filly gave a big yawn.
“Looks like somepony needs to get to bed,” said Luna with a giggle, “come along I shalt tuck thee in,” Dream Step sluggishly followed Luna into the her room and once she was firmly under the covers Luna gave the filly a gentle kiss just above the horn and said, “good night, little comet,” with that the umbra alicorn left the room, Dream's latest work still in her magic, and gently closed the door behind her.
An hour and a half before Sunrise was do Celestia trotted into the throne room to see Luna staring at yet another painting from Dream Step. “Found another odd occurrence in the work of your student,” said the ivory alicorn teasingly, Luna just floated the paint over to Celestia who took in her magic and made her own surprised motions, “Discord...behaving, me...a foal, you...a foal...” the Solar alicorn looked from the work to Luna and back again before saying, “this is a good trick Lulu, definitely the quality I'd expect from you, and you used good ink and oil paints to great affect.”
“No,” said Luna, “that's a watercolor and charcoal pencil piece that Dream Step did a few hours ago, she doesn't even know it happened since she was focusing on making different piece when this piece was made,” said the umbra alicorn in a serious tone, with no hint of the playfulness or teasing Celestia expected from her sister.
“But this looks like a family portrait with...”
“Ponies she has yet to meet,” said Luna, “and there's no sign of her or siblings in the picture. There are two older ponies, and one looks to be part Discord, and two little bundles that appear to be ponies that have yet complete their first month after birth. What confuses me most is that the pony next Twilight is a pony I do not ever recall ever seeing before this night, something strange is going on sister, and when strange things happen I think it best to consult somepony that knows odd better than any other.”
“I will bring this piece to Discord after my duties for court have concluded this coming day,” said Celestia, “we might get lucky and learn he had a hoof in this interesting piece.”
“I'm sorry sister,” said Luna gently pulling the piece back and waving her horn before the piece and creating a duplicate, she floated the copy over to Celestia, “but I feel like I need this piece close at hoof, the double I gave you will last two sundowns, I pray that is enough time learn what you can.”
Celestia nodded as Luna trotted out of the room with the original piece.
“Finally,” came Discord's voice from a mane comb next to Celestia before flashing to reveal the draconequus before Celestia, “I thought your sister would take longer to leave. I got a good look at that piece before you even got here, even did my own little magic scan on it, and get this its actually a piece from an art pony that specializes in ink paintings named Stain Brush, the thing is Stain Brush has never done anything for the royal family, yet that piece clearly has her hallmarks. It's from another timeline, I think your sister's student is tapping into something that should not be possible.”
“But, what about Twilight's student?” said the solar alicorn.
“Oh I met her,” said Discord, “she's a bright girl, has many of Twilight's mannerisms, and her horn reeks of an ability that counters other magics, why it canceled out my magic the first time and completely altered all other spells I tried to cast around her. There's no telling what that ability could do if she could do more than using it reflexively in an instinctual manner. Your acting is superb by the way my dear, she still hasn't caught on to us.”
“If you'll excuse me, I see the moon dropping that means I have a sun to raise,” said Celestia.
“You can't use that excuse forever Celi,” said Discord teasingly, “hopefully you'll have a new excuse by the end of the week,” with that Discord had disappeared in a flash.
Celestia huffed and made her way to the nearest balcony with plenty of time to spare.
******************************
Five minutes after sunrise Celestia said to herself, as she settled into the throne to away partitioners, “just what are these things we're witnessing?” she said to herself.
_____________________________________________
At the same time Luna was having a dream of her wedding Bic Macintosh, one that she could not seem to control however hard she tried. It was almost as if she were witnessing a real event while asleep.
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5409841 thanks, I'm working on the next chapter and errors are unavoidable with any piece (especially when the author is the only one proofreading, I'm better able to spot some of my errors because I type it all out in word document and spend a few days writing each chapter and as a result I am able to spot some errors while heading back to where I left off writing and just before I hit post when I copy and paste the document to the site). Glad hear you enjoyed it, feel free to offer suggestions and use any of my provided material in your works.
5544658 thanks for point them out, I'll get right on my corrections
5544658 thanks for the pointers, I just adjusted Snow's dialogue to be a bit more subtle and a bit less info dumpy. I like it better this way, I think this opens up a few new doors story-wise for me too.