May the Shadows Hide my Secret

by Fire Feather

More Recently...

Luna walked through the halls of Canterlot palace towards the library. The sun was rising, so Celestia wouldn't be bothering her for a while. That meant that she could search the archives freely. She nudged her way through the door and came face to face with... "Twilight Sparkle?! What art thou doing in my library?"

Twilight backed up, surprised by the sudden appearance of Luna. "I'm looking for a book, Princess. What else would I be doing in a library? It's not like I'm hiding anything. Heh."

"Sleeping, perhaps? You have book lines on your face," Luna replied, smothering a giggle.

"I what? Um, well, maybe? Byegottago!" Twilight said frantically, dashing out the open door with several books held in her magic.

Luna looked after her as she rushed down the hall, into the wall, and down another hallway. "Huh. That was... odd." Luna quickly glanced at the catalog, searching for anything concerning shadow ponies and dark magic. As she suspected, there was nothing. This would call for deeper searching. "LIBRARIAN!!!" Luna yelled, employing the Royal Canterlot Voice. "LIBRARIAN!!!"

"Yes, my Princess? How may I help you?" A pale brown mare with a stack of scrolls as her cutie mark peeked her head out from a pile of books, rubbing her ears. "What kind of book are you searching for?"

"Oh. Sorry, Scroll Rose. Do you have any books on shadow ponies, Sombra, that kind of thing? I would look for them, but I don't have much energy in the daytime," Luna said apologetically, trying to sound not super interested in case Scroll Rose reported back to Celestia.

"Okay, but, uh... do I want to know why?" Scroll Rose replied cautiously.

"Uh..." Luna froze mid-step on her way to the center of the library, not sure if there was a correct way to respond without arousing suspicion.

"Say no more," came the reply. "And I won't breath a word of this to Celestia. Who knows what her reaction would be?" Scroll Rose went to look up the location of the books that Luna had requested. She suspected that they were in Celestia's special restricted section, but hopefully they weren't.

Luna froze again. "If my sister found out?" A squeak similar to that of a mouse's came out of Luna's mouth. Her eyes had shrunk to pinpoints at the mere thought of it. Moments later, Luna was down in front of Scroll Rose's hooves, begging frantically. "Pleasepleaseplease don't tell her. She won't settle for banishing me to the moon. She'll just flat out plain kill me."

Somewhat surprised at Luna's extreme reaction, Scroll Rose promised that she would never, ever, ever say anything. Ever. Luna thanked her profusely, and went to find a comfy reading spot, snagging the first Daring Do book to read while she waited. Moments later, Luna was deep in the world of Daring Do, and Scroll Rose was deep in the world of thousand-year old messy book cataloging. Daring Do was having much more luck at finding things.

An hour or so later...

"FOUND IT!" Scroll Rose yelled triumphantly, emerging from a pile of books and catalog papers.

"Uh huh," Luna replied distractedly, not bothering to tear her eyes away from the book. Currently, Daring Do was trapped and fearing for her life. Luna worried that if she stopped reading now, it was being unfaithful to Daring Do, and then Daring would also have no motivation to escape.

Scroll Rose replied, irritated with Luna's sudden lack of interest. "Luna, you wanted a book, I found the book, and now you don't care. Stop reading Daring Do for five seconds AND LISTEN TO WHAT I'M SAYING!!!"

"And, done! I have successfully completed the part where Daring Do is trapped. I must read more," the Lunar Princess exclaimed triumphantly, ignoring Scroll Rose's audible facehoof. "This A. K. Yearling pony writes the most wonderfulest of stories. I must have all of them!"

"... Luna."

"What?"

"...Seriously?"

"What?"

"You sound like Celestia with cake."

"You know about my sister and her cake addiction? She keeps it very secret. I might have said something to the press once, though..." Luna meandered off into silence, contemplating if that was considered funny or not, and if Celestia knew that she was the one who had leaked the secret.

"Yes, Luna. All of Equestria knows about your sister and her cake. Trust me, you only confirmed what everypony in the kingdom thought," Scroll Rose replied, facehoofing again at the way Luna acted. "Back on topic, I found where the book is. It is in Celestia's secret and heavily guarded personal library. There is no way that you will be allowed in there. The only ponies that have access to the place are the other princesses. Not you."

"I don't have access?" Luna looked at Scroll Rose, clearly hurt by her sister's lack of trust.

"No, you don't. Celestia banished you from the place when you tried to blow it up after coming back from the moon." Scroll Rose delivered this statement in a matter of fact tone, ignoring Luna's anguished wails and drawn-out moans. "Now stop that and listen to me."

It continued.

"Stop. Now."

It still continued.

"LUNA! WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!"

"Ok," came the meek reply from Luna. The librarian was in full rage mode, with her gaze steely and her face perfectly calm. Scroll Rose's voice was full of the same deadly calm that filled her face. No pony knew how to intimidate like a librarian.

"Now, there are a few ways to get the book," Scroll Rose begin, talking to Luna like she was a foal.

"Oh! Break in! That sounds like fun," Luna exclaimed, throwing her hooves up in celebration of her idea.

"Luna, no. Just...no. Instead of maturing while you were on the moon, you got younger, didn't you? Should I give you to Twilight so she can test you?"

Luna's head shook frantically.

"I would suggest asking one of the other princesses to get the book for you."

Luna pondered the idea for a moment, deciding whether it would work or not. Cadance wasn't going to be visiting anytime soon, due to her being pregnant, but Twilight was never too far away. That, and Twilight loved books. She would be easy enough to persuade. Just use the right spell.

"Oh, and Luna, no using spells to break in or control ponies' minds, ok? You are a princess, and should act accordingly."

As scroll Rose walked off, Luna thought she felt something strange, but quickly dismissed the feeling as being nothing more than her being nervousited*.

Author's Note:

* being nervous and excited at the same time. Like if you are going to perform in front of people or if you are going to go down a large waterslide. Nervousited is mostly a first-time thing.

I need suggestions as to what to do with the story. Like if you pony people would comment.

Comments

[Fire Feather]

I like feedback!

[ice wing]

I really think you sould write more I loved this chapter.

[King Sombra Returns]

This is nice I like it.