Lunar Convergence

by Lord_Artemis

1: Reintroductions

Luna's heart fell faster than the limp form in front of her, and her stomach wrenched at the crunch of him landing. A shout of concern left her lips as she ran forwards, quickly scooping up the unconscious head of her look-alike. She gagged at the unnatural twists and bends that the stallion's body made, most of his legs bending in ways they never were meant to, a wing trapped beneath him bent over double. Just moving his head made her shiver as she felt bone fragments grate on each other at the slightest move, and fear wrapped a claw around her heart.

Luna quickly lifted one of her doppelgangers' hooves up, internally thanking that this one wasn't as smashed as the rest, and got a look at the large wound deep in his side. She once again felt bile rise in her throat as she saw such a vast quantity of blood spilling forth, and the visible amount of damage to his internal organs. She quickly lit her horn, her mind racing through the medical knowledge she had accrued over the past few millennia. Magically knitting this tissues back together, she cursed her lack of experience as she struggled with the complicated weaves of magic, being exceedingly careful not to damage the broken alicorn before her. After closing up the punctured lung and patching the dermal tissues together, she finally exhaled a breath she hadn't known she was holding.

At this, she looked up, and for the first time noticed that two other male alicorns were standing nearby, looking at her with varying degrees of concern, confusion, and amazement. One was disturbingly familiar looking, having a coat and cutie mark that matched her sister's, and definitely being the same pony she had seen said sister... cavorting with. The other pony she had not seen before, but his striking resemblance of Twilight Sparkle made him not too hard to recognize. This alicorn was sporting a visible blush, in combination with his look of concern, that confounded Luna until she looked down and realized the very... unbecoming way that she was holding the unconscious form in her hooves.

Luna meeped and immediately, but carefully, put down the form she had been almost wrapped around. Oh my! She thought to herself, blushing a deep scarlet. That must have looked very... personal to them! I, a stranger, latched on to a foreign leader is nothing but a scandal! They must think me the most uncouth pony they have ever met! Oh dear! Oh no! Her mind raced and babbled as she sprung up and stepped back to a much more respectable distance from the fallen pony.

“I am... I mean...” Luna stuttered to the two stallions who were now looking at her with even more confusion and concern than before. “I apologize for being so informal...” She started, but was cut off by the white alicorn, who seemed to realize what was happening.

“By all means, go ahead, you seem to know how to take care of him. We'll, uh, go get some medical supplies!” He quickly said, embarrassment filling his deep voice and a blush becoming apparent as it contrasted so visibly with his white coat. His hooves shuffled slightly as he quickly turned and opened the portal back to Equestria. As he stepped through it, he looked back and noticed his student still fixed in place, questions evidently bursting from his head, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to summon words.

“Dusk Shine! Right flank!” The white alicorn shouted, his voice taking on a commanding tone that immediately jarred his purple companion out of his befuddlement. The younger of the two immediately did a curt about-face and took position on the right of his elder, as they immediately stepped through the portal, and disappeared from the face of the moon in flash.

Luna watched the bizarre spectacle and despite the current situation, managed a short chuckle at the strange behavior. The two ponies, obviously princes from the same Equestria that the prince in front of her was from, interacted more like Shining Armor or another guard captain and a guard member. She thought it was curious that the Solar prince and his student were not friends in the other Equestria like Celestia and Twilight were.

She looked down at the blue alicorn laying crumpled in front of her, and she rushed to pick him up again, cradling his bashed head against her chest. Artemis, she recalled, was what the terrible daemon had referred to him as.

“Oh, Prince Artemis, I hope you are alright.” She whispered to him, taking a step back as she started to unfold his shattered limbs to magically set the bones. Suddenly, as if responding to her, his eyes fluttered open, whirling around wildly until they focused on Luna from the vantage of his sideways laying head.

“Ugh... who are...” He mumbled as he stirred. He began to sit up, and panic gripped Luna's heart as she saw the sickening distortion of pain across his snout.

“Hold still, you are safe now.” She said, trying to sound as calm and comforting as she could. She tried to mimic Celestia, so confident and motherly, so that this broken pony before her wouldn't panic and hurt himself further. She stepped closer to him, leaning down to look in his eyes as she had seen her sister do to many a scared pony, and was met by the most unabashed countenance of awe she had ever seen. She blushed furiously as she realized the awe was of her, so she quickly shook her head to clear her racing thoughts.

“Am I dead?” The stallion croaked out, causing Luna to smile in embarrassment as she realized that he thought she looked angelic. Her heart swelled as she found that she wasn't scaring somepony for a change, and that she was actually comforting this battered pony.

“Not quite,” She said, feeling fear be replaced by happiness. “And thanks to you, neither are all of us.” She couldn't resist and extended a hoof and comfortingly stroked his shoulder. His eyes continued to bug out as his injury-addled mind tried to take in what was going on. Luna looked over his form, wincing at the grievous injuries on the outside and trying to not to think of what horrible neural damage he must have sustained. She hoped he just had received a concussion, but he could have sustained serious brain damage.

“Just relax, all will be fine now.” She breathed, more for herself than for him, as he passed out yet again.

Closing her eyes and sighing, Luna set her mind to healing the wounds she could at the moment. She patched several bleeding cuts and set his remaining broken limbs, wincing at his crumpled wings and the sickening contortions of his body.

Carefully wrapping the patched-together form in her magic, she lifted Prince Artemis from the lunar surface, cradling the magic bands and braces where his body was the most structurally sound, as to avoid further damage.

Luna then inspected the familiarly-colored form, looking for any more wounds to the stallion. My, why ever is he so muscular? His physical fitness would put even Shining Armor to shame...She thought as she saw the cut and well-defined muscles very apparent under the blue coat. They felt more like coiled ropes around his legs and shoulders than flesh, more like bands of iron across his barrel than skin.

The other stallions were like that too, were they not? The male Twilight and Celestia looked like Artemis here, more muscular than royalty ever would need to be. Luna examined closer to see if there were any of the tell-tale signs of sedentary ruling that her sister and her bore. She saw no excess flesh anywhere on his body, no wrinkle in his azure coat, not an ounce of fat on his taut form. I am not fat, and neither is Celestia, though she has quite a round plo... flank. I just know that there are a few pounds I could stand to lose, especially around my hips. She looked back at the hips in question, and sighed as she saw the offending flare of flesh she had developed from sitting too long upon a throne. She snapped her eyes back forward to end that dismal train of thought, again studying the stallion before her. They must not have thrones where he comes from, or at least not use them that often, because he is in peak physical condition. Oh my, and his flank is very well toned. My goodness...

She nearly fell forward as she found herself gawking at the figure before her, and stumbled a few steps. Gulping hard and shaking her head, she felt her cheeks burning, and forced herself to look away from the stallion. “Whew, I need a cold bath...” Luna grumbled to herself as she scolded herself for reacting like a filly seeing her first colt, with eyes wandering to... places that were not at all prudent for her to be looking, much less staring in awe.

“Oh, and I would wager you do as well, do you not, Artemis?” She said as she suddenly remembered what was going on. Nodding her head, she concluded that it was definitely time to bring the Prince to the medical ward to be cleaned and properly healed by the trained staff of medical unicorns in the castle.

Focusing on the portal spell that linked with her mirror in her room so far away, she tore open a fiery ring, revealing the inside of her bedchambers down in Equestria, and took a step towards it. Luna levitated the broken form of Artemis towards the ring and pushed him through the membrane.

However, rather than floating through like an open window, the tail and rear legs of the stallion disappeared like the section on the other side of the mirror had been amputated. Panicking, Luna pulled the form back through. She sighed in relief as she saw the missing portion restored as it was pulled back through the membrane of the portal.

“Woah... alright. So that isn't right, but what is happening? Why does he disappear when he goes through the mirror?” Luna said to herself, her mind whirling with theories and questions about this new anomaly. “Maybe if I go through first?” She said as she turned around and backed in, leading the suspended Prince behind her reverse walk through the portal.

Yet again, though, as the tip of his horn and head met the surface, it did not go through the portal, disappearing like he was being ground down by the membrane.

“What?” Luna huffed in exasperation, blowing an errant lock of her mane from her face with a upward puff of breath. She sighed, closing her eyes and spinning the cogs of her mind up to a higher speed. Recalling her early studies on the mirror and her knowledge of transportation spells, she decided a course of action.

Walking through the shimmering surface of the mirror onto the alabaster expanse, she gently rested the body of the alicorn on the dusty surface. She then scanned her surroundings, quickly locating her quarry and snatching it up in her magical grasp.

This should be magically inert enough to be a control for testing my theory, she thought to herself as she hefted the coconut-sized moon-rock in her magic grip, judging it to be about a kilo. This is large enough to be noticed if it is just emerging from the portal in a slightly different location, as these magics are prone to do.

Turning to face the glowing gateway once more, Luna held the rock right in front of her, so she could keep her eyes on it as she brought it through the portal. She then stepped forward, approaching the membrane as it phased through reality like the surface of a pool. Her eyebrow quirked as the rock stayed floating in front of her, perfectly accompanying her through into her bedchambers. It was seemingly unaffected by the bizarre conduct that was displayed by Artemis' body going through the portal, much to the confusion of Luna.

Why do they react differently to the same thing? She thought, but her musings were interrupted by the sudden realization that the rock was now much different feeling. While her body had increased in weight six-fold, the rock did not feel nearly that much heavier. It feels half as heavy as it should... hmm. What could be the cause of this strange behavior?

As Luna pondered this, she decided to gently set it down to see if it was more magically active than she had thought. However, as soon as it touched the soft black carpet beneath her hooves, it bent inwards, as if the soft fabric was flattening the solid rock. Curious, she released her magic hold, and gasped as the round ball collapsed, losing all form as if it were made of dust. Inspecting the pile of white former moon-rock, she found that it was indeed a fine dust, its particles far smaller than the finest dust on the moons surface.

How could this be? It was most certainly a solid rock on the moon, and it does not appear now, nor did it appear to have any magical properties. Hmm, how bizarre...

As she stood in her room looking at this new mystery, a small form crept around the ebony post that marked the nearest corner of Luna's bed. Now that the massive magical disturbances had cleared, the small white creature was emboldened to the point that it approached the contemplating princess.

Spying the intruder, the concentrated grimace that twisted Luna's features unraveled into a broad grin.

“What are you doing here, Nyx? Did you miss Mother?” She chuckled, extending her hoof to caress the small white kitten approaching her. The feline in front of her loosed a heart-melting meow to show the alicorn her feelings. As the petting comforted her, she stretched her perfectly white form, closing her brilliant purple eyes as she resumed her normal size as an adult cat. “Well, I missed you too. Sorry for all the... err... fireworks.” Luna said, shifting her attention from the magical cat that she kept as a companion to the enigmatic pile of powdered moon rock at her hooves.

“But that still doesn't explain why my portal no longer is working...” She grumbled, nudging some dust with her hoof. Shrugging her shoulders and sighing in vexation, she turned tail and reopened the portal, gruffly stepping through as her mind whirled around looking for an answer. As the membrane let go of her tail, the Lunar Princess ran head-long into what felt like a white cliff-face.

Stumbling back onto her haunches, Luna looked up the sheer wall and saw that it was one of the male alicorns she had seen earlier on the moon. This was the male counterpart for Celestia, she realized, as she recognized him vividly and... disturbingly from her peek into her sister's dream.

“Oh my goodness! I am so sorry!” Luna quickly squeaked, hurriedly standing back up and magically brushing the moon dust from her flanks. Her cheeks tinted in embarrassment as the white alicorn turned towards her, a startled expression playing out across his features as well.

“Excuse me, my lady! I did not see you coming! How rude of me to stand in your way!” The tall prince replied, his polite words and official demeanor reminding her uncomfortably of her sister, which, of course, made her think he was mocking her like she often did. He extended a hoof to help her up, but she brushed it aside looking away from the prince. Please tell me he isn't like her! I don't even know him and he is already picking on me... it's not fair!

“No, it is alright. I should have looked where I was going.” She replied, unintentionally letting a slight twinge of annoyance into her tone. Looking back at the tall white pony, she saw his face was etched with sincere concern, and he tilted his head to look at her.

“Are you alright?” He asked, his tone holding compassion and comfort that she did not expect at all from this pony, being so similar to Celestia. Caught unawares by this, Luna quirked an eyebrow and stuttered slightly in response.

“I... uh.. yea.. I mean...” She stumbled over her words. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to regain her composure, she looked back at him. “Yes, I am fine, thank you.” She responded, nodding her head in what she hoped was a graceful recovery.

To this, the much taller stallion nodded back sagely, only to suddenly widen his eyes as he realized something. He bowed deep and full, spreading a wing ceremonially in front of him, as he spoke, “I forget myself! I am Prince Solaris, co-ruler of Equestria, Aspect of the Sun, and bringer of the day. I give you my most humble and deepest thanks for what you have done.” The prince somewhat belatedly introduced himself, standing up from his low bow when he was finished speaking.

Realizing that she too had not yet introduced herself, Luna nodded her head in return, spreading her wings to her sides with their tips curled upwards as was proper for a mare. “Greetings, Lord Solaris. I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria, Aspect of the Moon and bringer of the night. You are most welcome.” She introduced herself in return, her centuries of court training switching on. Looking around, she noticed that the lavender prince had not returned yet, and that her and Solaris were alone, save the unconscious Artemis. As a moment of silence lulled between them, Luna became slightly uncomfortable, and gave a polite cough, in an attempt to get Solaris to say something.

Sensing his cue, the white alicorn started and began speaking, his cheeks the slightest shade of pink as he realized awkwardness hanging in the air. “I... err... um... oh yeah! What were you just doing, Princess Luna? I came up to Artemis' room to fetch the mirror and bring it back to the castle, and saw the mirror glowing again, but all that was coming through it was my brother Artemis' tail and... flanks.” He chuckled slightly as he recalled the interesting display he had come upon. “I was not at an angle at which I could see the mirror's surface; all I could see was a royal blue rear floating out, which I found to be understandably odd. I saw it retreat back through quickly, so I hurried over to the mirror, only to find it had gone blank again. I got there just in time for it to light back up, and out came his head through the mirror, treating me to odd spectacle of his unconscious body just floating towards me on its own. I found this very bizarre, so I picked up the mirror carefully; his head and the rest of him disappeared again, and the portal went dark as soon as his horn crossed the surface. I flew the mirror very cautiously back to the castle, but no body parts of my brother reappeared. What were you doing with him?” Solaris told the tale with mirth in his voice, but the last question was laden heavy with insinuation.

Luna's cheeks flushed a burning red and she gasped in indignation at what he was implicating. “What! I'd never!” she blurted, scowling at him.

“Just because he can't say 'no' doesn't mean he is saying 'yes'. You should know this, at least we have several laws on this in my country!” The white prince said, his serious demeanor cracking under the weight of his barely contained laughter.

“I... oh... you... you pervert!” Shouted the blue princess, glaring daggers at him. “I do not appreciate such humor, it is most unbecoming of a ruler. In my country, we know where to draw the line.” She huffed at Solaris as he burst into great baritone guffaws, his laughter rumbling the very ground beneath their hooves, sending the moon dust dancing in the vacuum.

The Solar Aspect's revelry was cut short as a portal tore open right next to him, and out of the portal stepped Prince Dusk Shine. The lavender alicorn was carrying a small satchel adorned with a recognizable red cross on it that marked that it had come from the apothecary at the castle.

“Prince Solaris! Pri... Miss... Um... My lady...?” Dusk said, faltering when he turned to address Luna, not being as well versed in courtly addressing as Solaris was. Shaking his head and dismissing this, he remembered his original purpose in speaking. “I brought some pain medicine for Artemis, they said he can take it whenever, but I guess we are gonna wait till he wakes up, right?”

Dusk's question was answered by a blue aura that ripped the pain medicine away from him. Luna opened the pouch and pulled out several colorful capsules, which she immediately floated into the lying alicorn's mouth. She knelt at his side and gently used a hoof to make him swallow the pills tenderly cradling his head as she watched the muscles in his neck ferry the medication into his stomach. As she stood up, she surreptitiously stroked his mane, which was now a light blue head of regular pony hair rather than an ethereal nimbus like hers.

“I guess we aren't going to ask him about it, eh?” Solaris mumbled, looking away from the still angry mare. Remembering himself, he turned to Dusk, and introduced Luna to him.

“Pleasure to meet you, princess.” The element of magic stated as he bowed low in formal greeting. Luna noticed that his form was less than perfect, just like Twilight's, and began wondering how similar these two ponies were to the ones she knew from her world. As he stood from his bow, the purple alicorn's eyes flashed in remembrance, and immediately spoke. “I was in a bit of a rush to bring this back, but I noticed something... odd... by Artemis' mirror back in Equestria. “

A portal was torn open by Dusk, but when Luna looked through it, all she could see was the inside of her room. This struck her as odd; since she was able to open a portal to her mirror, she thought that the spell that the stallions would know would lead to Artemis' instead. Her question was answered before it left her lips when Dusk spoke.

“Right here, by the base of Artemis' mirror, is a little pile of moon dust. I was wondering how it got there, since none of us brought any back with us, and any that we may have tracked in on our hooves would not have formed such a distinct pile there and nowhere else.” The stallion's horn lit a bright purple again, and a small pile of dust floated out of the shimmering gateway, despite the fact that Luna could not see where it was coming from until it appeared out of the membranous portal.

Confusion played out across her face until a thought popped into Luna's head. “Tell me, Lord Shine, what do you see through the portal?” she asked, hoping that her theory was correct.

“I see the inside of Solaris' chambers, right where he brought the mirror from the field I... relocated it to when this whole mess started.” The element of magic responded, looking to the blue alicorn questioningly.

“Oh, I get it now!” Luna stated, beaming as she found understanding, happy that she was able to solve this small mystery. “You see, when I look through it, I see the inside of my room, right out of my mirror, back in my Equestria. It appears that the portal leads to our own world, depending on where we came from. Hmm... but that still doesn't explain the moon rock.” Her grin faded to a look of consternation, afraid that she had gotten ahead of herself. She turned to the portal and summoned forth her own small pile of former moon rock, and examined it.

“What is that? It looks like the same stuff that was in my world. Could it be that matter is leaking from the portal?” Dusk looked over at her, floating his pile of moon dust alongside Luna's.

Her expression cleared like the sky after a storm as inspiration alight in her eyes. “Aha! I understand!” She exclaimed as she took hold of the dust in Dusk's grasp. She combined the two piles, and formed them to the shape of the moon rock she had held previously, grinning as the construct looked exactly the same, and felt to be the same weight as well. “Apparently, that is where the rest of the rock went!” she chuckled, nodding to herself.

“Wait, that is what this is from? You did the Feronion portal test already?” The purple prince asked, his eyes lighting up in understanding and admiration, along with a slight degree of wonder. “Wait, that means that this is a multi-destination portal spell? No it isn't... it is just a binding to a magical mirror. How could that change, since it only went to one place before? There is no way that the runes could have been physically altered like that.”

“But, what if both of our mirrors had the same enchantment? Whenever we activate it, we go to the world we came here from. So when I sent the moon rock through, every other molecule, every other atom, every other quanta of the rock diverted to each world. Half came out of my portal, half out of yours. I guess because they never came through the portal in the first place?” Luna quickly responded, a grin ripping out across her face as she started to geek out about the quantum physics involved with such complicated and eldritch magics.

“Something like that, I bet! Oh wow, do you think if we sent the particles back through at the same time, it would reform the rock?” Dusk grinned as well, characteristically geeking out along with her.

“You wanna try it out?” Luna asked excitedly, sounding like a school filly who just learned something new.

“A-hem” Solaris interrupted, his face a mix of amusement and annoyance. As both of the other alicorns looked at him, he raised his eyebrows and looked meaningfully down at the form of his unconscious brother a few meters away. “While all of your science-y nonsense is terribly interesting to all of us, there may be something slightly more important for us to spend our time tending to.” Both of them blushed in embarrassment, Luna looking away as Dusk nodded abashedly to his former mentor. “Now that you have... rather vigorously dosed him with pain meds, we need to get him back to the royal surgeons.”

“Wait! You can't!” Cried Luna, her eyes widening slightly in panic. When both princes looked at her curiously, she blushed and hid her face behind her mane as best she could, which was rather difficult as the aeriform hair kept floating away. “Umm... We need to make sure he is... umm... hold on.” She babbled, desperately looking for a way to excuse her outburst but still keep the Lunar Prince with her. “We can't move him till we know he is stable! That's it!” She exclaimed, mentally sighing as she found a reason.

“Well, she does have a point, Solaris. He could have suffered some head trauma that would make his transport dangerous.” Dusk said thoughtfully, nodding his head in agreement with Luna's statement. Luna mentally thanked him for being so analytical that he missed the context of her concern.

“We alicorns have a much more resilient constitution than your ordinary pony, you know Dusk? It will take a bit more than an ordinarily fatal ordeal to harm us.” The white alicorn said, Luna growing uncomfortable as he sounded as if he were speaking from experience. Luna thought back to the few times she or her sister had been injured anywhere near as bad as Artemis was currently. The idea that Solaris was very familiar with injuries worse than this made her blanch internally.

“I do not wish to know how you know that, Lord Solaris. Still, it is better to be safe than sorry with these things.” Luna said, looking back at the prone form behind her. As she went to look back forward, she noticed some movement. She quickly turned and rushed to his side, grinning like a foal as she saw his eyes open and look around. She heard the other two princes follow her, but disregarded them as her heart fluttered in relief.

Stopping herself just short from jumping on Artemis, Luna considered her company, and decided to formally introduce herself for their benefit. Taking in a breath, the blue mare looked sideways at the two other princes and spoke in a formal tone, loud enough to be heard by all. “Lord Artemis, I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and...” She noticed the confusion that played out over the injured alicorns features, and switched approach. Lowering her voice as well as formality, she softly said “I am Luna, how are you feeling? I have done all I can out here to treat your wounds, and I have even returned to acquire some pain medicine from the apothecary, which I have dosed you on.” A twinge of guilt ran across her expression as she realized she had not asked permission first, as well as fibbing about Dusk being the one who got the medicine. She shook the feeling, telling herself that he wouldn't mind, and that now was not the time to burden him with such minutia.

“Thank you, fair Luna. Your care..” The battered alicorn started saying as he began to sit up, but stopped short. He grit his teeth and squinted his eyes in pain, and Luna 's eyes widened in fear. Relaxing again, Artemis looked around and spoke again, “Wait, why are we still on the moon? If you have had enough time to go back to the apothecary, why didn't you simply bring me with?” Luna jumped forwards as the injured prince yet again tried to right himself, and she put a hoof out to stop him as he grunted in pain.

“We feared to move you, but I still did try, yet to no avail.” Luna said, trying to mollify Artemis, so he would stop stubbornly hurting himself. “You see, as I try to open a portal, it leads back to my mirror in my room in my castle. But when either of your fellow princes try, their portals lead back to your mirror in your room. I tried carrying you through my portal, but it seems that my spell only works for me to get to my world. Your brother and his student could bring you with them but...” Luna paused, her heart beating fast as she cleared her throat nervously. Her mind raced and she closed her eyes, trying to get a hold of herself. Finally, she decided he deserved the truth, so she whispered, “I wouldn't let them take you away.” Luna turned her head away quickly as she blushed furiously, a single tear welling up and running down her cheek before she could catch it. She straightened up and took a half step back in uncertainty, fearing she had gone all mushy on him, which she had heard stallions did not like.

Artemis was looking down when Luna looked back at him, and her heart sank a bit as she took this as a sign of his discomfort. Immediately changing the subject, he looked past her at his compatriots, and said, “Well... I guess I should say sorry about that...” he said with an uncomfortable chuckle. Great, thought Luna, I had to go all clingy and gushy on him, and I barely know him. Oh no, he could never like somepony like me! Why do I mess up everything! She sullenly took a pace back, trying to be unnoticed in her embarrassment.

Her position was replaced with the large form of Solaris, bending down to rest a hoof on Artemis' shoulder. “I should too, really. But at least I didn't try any planet killing with my... uh... experiments.” He chuckled, to which the laying prince shrugged off the hoof and glared at him. Luna, too, glared at him for being so inconsiderate to his younger sibling. I guess that is just how it is with older siblings, Luna thought ruefully.

“How about you keep your so called 'experiments' to a minimum, and let's stay away from abusing mom and dad's relics while you're at it.” Artemis replied to his brother, but Luna gasped quietly as he tried to hit his brother and groaned in pain. She immediately rushed to him, relocating the larger prince with perhaps a bit more force than entirely necessary. That felt good.

“Are you alright?” She asked, bending her head in to examine her medical patchwork on his body. “I'm fine, just a slight twinge.” He replied, but Luna saw right through that strategy, since she used it so often with Celestia. She smiled and shook her head, tallying up his many injuries in her mind. “You have six broken ribs, three broken legs, a broken wing and a punctured lung at least that say otherwise. Don't try and move, get me to do anything you would like for you.” She said, trying her best to be funny and helpful to improve her image to him.

“Don't say 'anything', he takes everything literally, and I'm not sure you would want to venture that far. Not without dinner first, at least.” Solaris called, now standing a few paces away with a grinning Dusk, obviously from the discussions the two princes were having. Luna flushed, standing up to face him only to realize how unbecomingly close she had been to Artemis.

“I didn't mean...!” Luna cried, hearing Artemis say “I would never...!” as they both tried to rebuff the lecherous allegations the white prince was making. Dusk Shine immediately burst out laughing, followed by Solaris.

“You were so right! They even made the same face!” Dusk squeezed out from his barely controlled cackling. Solaris booming laugh echoed as Luna and Artemis glared at him, shame and rueful anger now etched upon their faces.

I'll show these ruffians not to trifle with us! Luna thought, summoning two of the crystals from the distant mound. “Don't make me use these.” She said warningly, giving them her most wicked grin. That seemed to shut them up, and she laughed in her head as their eyes widened and mouths snapped shut.

Luna's heart swelled as she heard approving laughter coming from Artemis, proud she was making him happy. She started laughing a moment later, sharing in the revelry of the prince. “I wouldn't mess with her, she still could totally blow up Equestria.” Artemis guffawed out, only adding to her laughter.

Meanwhile, Dusk was eyeing the magical crystals Luna was was pointing menacingly at him. Gulping, he carefully asked, “Um, how many more of those are there?” Solaris timidly followed suit by asking “And where might they be?”

Luna glanced sideways at Artemis, and as their eyes met, she knew what to say. “That is none of your business.”

The two lunar alicorns laughed, and Luna looked over at Artemis, thinking Oh, he is so cute when he laughs! That is absolutely not fair that they are taking him away from me! Why can't I just keep him here..? She quickly shook off that train of thought as she reminded herself of his current condition. But I would take so much better care of him than those... brutes...

“You don't have to worry about them.” Artemis said, causing Luna to stare at him as he seemingly read her mind. “We will handle them and dispose of them in a safe and responsible fashion.” Oh, She thought as she realized that she was talking to his friends and not her. That would be ridiculous, being able to read each other's minds no matter how similar we are. Though we seemed to be thinking the same thing a few seconds ago...

“You had better, you know how dangerous that much raw magic is. You probably scared a lot of ponies down in Equestria!” Solaris said, his voice changing to a warning and lecturing tone that Luna found irritatingly familiar.

“Yeah, a lot of ponies, especially you!” Artemis joked, though his chuckle was only half hearted as he grimaced at the memory of what he had done. Solaris gave him a glare, but relented as he saw his brother's crestfallen expression.

“Well, at least let me help you out, man.” Dusk was the one to speak this time, surprising the two brothers. He walked over to Artemis and put a hoof on his shoulder. “I know a thing or two about cleaning up magical mishaps and mayhem. I mean, you guys should know how much experience I have.” His quip diffused the tension in the air, and all present chuckled, thinking about the uncanny frequency that disaster struck the lavender alicorn, male or female.

“Alright, that will probably be a good idea.” Artemis said, smiling appreciatively to his friend. Luna saw this and thought to her growing friendship with Twilight. Well, some things don't change, I guess. I should talk to her about this “Dusk Shine” and see what she thinks about this situation. She know more about friendship than I, perhaps she can help me with stallions too...

“In that case, I had better retire to my world to brief my sister and her former student on the situation. I also probably have to put out some fires with her and apologize. Though she owes me an apology too!” Luna said, opening a portal and walking towards it.

“Do you have to leave so soon...” Artemis called out to her, causing her to turn around, hope budding in her heart and butterflies buzzing in her stomach. “Well, I guess you probably should, never mind...” She saw his face fall slightly, making her want to run back to him. Looking up, however, she saw his brother nodding in agreement, and suddenly felt awkward and shy around the stallions.

“O... kay. I will see you... around.” She said, her voice quivering slightly in uncertainty as she turned and stepped through the portal. She looked back, seeing Artemis looking after her, causing her to feel bad for leaving him. The portal slipped close, and she was left alone in the dark of her room. She released a breath she did not know she had been holding, her cheeks flushing as she was rocked with a wave of emotions.

A few tears dripped off her snout, but she was smiling broadly. Her feelings twisted like a roller coaster, confusing and confounding her logical mind as she lost control over her body. She collapsed in a heap, not sure whether to sob or laugh, and she felt a soft brush against one of her outstretched hooves. Opening her eyes, she saw the white form of Nyx rubbing up against her hoof, trying to comfort her guardian. Luna cracked a smile and stroked the slender form of the small cat, her head clearing slightly from the haze of feelings.

“Oh, Mother is just a mess, dear Nyx. Do not worry thyself, I'll be fine as soon as I stop acting like a doughy-eyed filly after the harvest dance.” She chuckled ruefully as she stood again, levitating the magical cat up to her chest and rubbing her cheek against her white fur. Sighing, she set her down and left the room, seeking out her fellow princesses.

~~~

Luna eventually found her sister, who was frantically writing scrolls behind her large mahogany desk in her study. “Sister...” She said as she stepped into the room. Celestia's eyes raised from the paper in front of her and widened as she vaulted over her desk and tackled her little sister.

“Oh Lulu! I was so worried! Are you alright!?!” She cried out as she pinned the smaller form of Luna to the floor. “I'm... fine... can't... breath” She managed to reply as she was squished by the large form.

“Oh, sorry.” Celestia said as she quickly got off her sister, allowing her to take a deep breath. “Alright now, little lady. What happened?” She quickly turned serious and motherly, which annoyed Luna to no end, as usual. As she was about to respond, a puff of magical fire startled the two sisters, and as they turned around, they saw a few scrolls land on her desk. “Alright, never mind. Short version now, long version later.” Celestia amended.

“We discovered your experiments. Prince Solaris seems... nice.” Luna said, sending a verbal jab at her sister. She smiled internally as said sister's eyes went wide as platters and her jaw dropped. “There was an incident, and we solved it. All is well, worry not.” Luna succinctly stated, then nodded and left.

Walking out of her office, she turned towards her own study, and started down the hallway. Nearing her room, she heard a familiar voice talking, and as she rounded the corner, she saw Twilight Sparkle standing outside of the Lunar Study speaking to a handful of guards. As soon as she entered the hallway, Twilight broke out in a broad smile, and quickly dismissed the guards.

“Luna!” She called out as she ran forward and embraced her friend, leaving both princesses smiling. “How are you? What happened? Where have you been?” She loosed a string of questions at close range, causing Luna to almost fall backward under the overwhelming curiosity of her friend. This would have bothered her, but the genuine concern in her voice and lack of accusation made her much more comfortable than Celestia's barrage of questions.

“Well...” She started, explaining the situation. As she relayed the story, the two friends walked into the study, and sat in the plush seats in one end of the room. Twilight listened carefully, her expression showing that she was breaking down all of this information like a computer, storing it in caches of memory for usage, and analyzing the interesting magical usage portions of the story.

“Oh my, that is... wow...” She said when Luna finished recounting the story. “No wonder that was such a large ball of energy. Geez... I can't believe you all survived that.” Twilight shook her head in amazement, but when she looked at Luna, she saw her expression was far away and starry eyed. Luna was lost amongst her thoughts of Artemis, and was only roused when Twilight waved a hoof in front of her face, realizing that she was staring off into space again.

“But what about this Artemis guy?” Twilight said, changing her tone to the verge of conspiratorial, garnering a blush from her fellow princess. She noticed this and jabbed her with an elbow, coaxing her further. “He sounds like some stallion, from the way you described him.” this statement, along with her raised eyebrow finally burst the dam of Luna's shyness.

“Oh my! Oh goodness... He is... something else...” Luna spilled out, her voice thinning to a whisper near the end. Her cheeks had taken on an alarming red shade from her blush, and Twilight barely could bite back a laugh at the curious expression. “You don't even know... He was just so... Oh!” She closed her eyes, shaking her head as she pranced slightly in place. At this, Twilight lost it, bursting out at the her acting more like a filly than an eons-old princess.

“Well, someone is quite the smitten kitten.” Twilight said, chuckling. Luna looked at her questioningly, finally back in control of herself. “Oh, just something I heard Rarity say... Go on.”

Blushing in embarrassment, Luna quietly said “I am a not smitten anything. He was just such a gentlecolt to me, it was a refreshing change.” When Twilight looked at her incredulously, she blushed and projected a memory of him on the far wall. As the image appeared on the surface, a memory of what Luna had seen began playing. Twilight looked in puzzlement at the scene until she understood what she was seeing. Never having been to the moon, the dizzying contrast of the lunar surface against the blackness of space threw her briefly, but she understood when she saw the blue orb hanging in the void. Her stomach lurched as she saw the blue alicorn, who looked very similar to Luna, fall down and crumple on the white ground. She reasoned that this was the 'Artemis' that Luna had been ranting on about.

Luna grimaced as well, remembering the disgusting crunch his body made as it shattered against the white moon rocks. She looked over at Twilight to gauge her reaction. As the image showed Artemis close up, Twilight's jaw dropped. “Woah! What a hunk!”

“I know, right!?!” Luna quickly said, squeeing slightly at the sight. She watched the picture flicker slightly, and remembered that she had been crying. Twilight looked over at her, so she skipped forward in embarrassment. In her memory, she looked up from the body of Artemis, and saw his two fellow princes running towards them. Hearing a strange noise from Twilight, she looked over at her friend and smiled in bemusement. The lavender princess was bug-eyed, her mouth looking like it was about to fall off her face. “See something you like, hmm?” She said, startling Twilight out of her gawking.

“Woah... Is that...” She said, trailing off as she looked at the lavender prince in the memory. Luna stopped the image, trying to encourage her friend to keep talking. “What are they all on!?! I mean, I guess it makes since that a male version of me would have been to a gym in his world, but, like, once or twice... I mean, how could my male version be some muscle-headed brute?” Twilight blurted out, surprising her.

“He was no brute, well, not too much of a brute.” Luna said, trying to comfort her friend. “In fact, they all seemed to be equally educated and intelligent as us, if a tad more brash in humor. Still though, I wanted to ask your question as well, what are they on? My sister and I are unfathomably strong, in terms of simple brute force, from our earth pony traits. We are one third earth pony, and just like our unicorn magic is increased untold times above a normal pony, so too is our earth pony strength. But these two... I can't imagine how they would work out? I mean, It's not physically possible to bench press a planet, but it looks like these stallions could do that easily.”

“I can't imagine how destructive their fights would be...” Muttered Twilight in amazement, getting a glare from Luna. “Hey, just saying, you and Celestia have your little tiffs every now and then, and for guys like that... there would be massive fallout from a bout like that.” She shook her head, then remembered something and spoke. “I guess we saw how destructive they can be. They almost blew up the planet, and from the looks of it, could have done even worse. Are you sure we want to have anything to do with these guys? They seem almost too dangerous for us.”

Luna thought about this for a moment, but then shook her head. “No, that was just an exceptional fight, I know that I haven't been that emotional since... well... a thousand years ago. The difference was that I had to push past all that to help out Artemis. I guess when he got to the moon and didn't find me... well... he didn't take it too well.” She shrugged and looked her fellow princess in the eyes. “And no, we definitely need to have something to do with these 'guys', as you said, because I was the only one who was able to stop them. I guess they just need a mare's touch to their lives.”

Comments

[Treble_Sketch]

Congratulations on the story's first chapter completion :D

[Lord_Artemis]

5340664
Thank you, it was a long time in the making. The second chapter is coming along nicely, but don't expect it too soon. It takes a long time to write these chapters.

[Evilhumour]

This is gonig to be fun

[Lord_Artemis]

5342915
Just wait for the next chapter!

[SageBrony07]

That was good. I loved this chapter. I wonder what is next. I wonder will Dusk and Twilight get crushes on each other as well?

[Lord_Artemis]

5378728
That is still up to debate. Some think that opposites attract, and somepony as scatterbrained and intellectual may be more into a strong stable pony, but maybe Dusk could be that way. Or he could over-think it and ruin his chances. In fact, both of them may over-think it, and cancel each other out and work great together. Nopony knows until that sequel is written.

[SageBrony07]

5378910 Sequel? As in this story or a sequel to this story?

[Lord_Artemis]

5378933
Yes.

[SageBrony07]

5382274 YES!!!!

[Lord_Artemis]

5382624
Perhaps.