Lessons in the Moonlight

by Harmony Split

Close Encounters

Author's Note:

The bat pony had vacated the premises for a few moments as her companion wrote the aforementioned clop chapter. In payment for having her companion write the mature content, the bat pony was tasked with writing the next chapter.
After a break in the kitchen with an apple, a hammer and a block of ice, she found herself in the living room with her pegasus friend once again.
Giving the clop chapter a quick glance and making a few necessary corrections, she set it in a separate pile than the other completed chapters and got to work on the new one.
Looking across at the nocturnal writer, the pegasus stretched her stiff wings and cracked a few bones before standing and letting out an extended groan, “Ughhhhhh! I am going to go take a break. I think I might go to the barracks and see if I can’t find a few troublemakers we know...  You alright here on your own?” she asked, pausing at the archway into the living room to get a confirmation.
The bat pony, pen in her mouth, looked up at her friend and gave a brisk nod before letting the pen drop once again to the table, “Yeah, sure thing. Tell the mares I say hi, would’ya?”
Flashing a grin, the pegasus nodded, “Of course. I’ll see you in a bit!” she exclaimed before trotting out of the house, closing the door behind her.
With the house now empty, the bat pony looked from side to side for a few moments, searching for some sort of inspiration for the chapter.
After finding nothing, she stood and quickly trotted over to the stereo, giving it a brisk smack to change the music. When gentle rock began to pour out of the speakers, she gave a satisfied nod and walked back to the chair.
Instead of sitting, however, she took the blank papers she was planning on working on and set them on the floor at the foot of the chair.
Content with the angle, she sat in the chair and proceeded to shuffle around until she was sitting upside down with her rear hooves in the air over the back of the chair, and her nose was almost touching the sheets on the floor.
With a delicate wing, she brought the pen from the table to her muzzle, gripped it solidly, then put it to the sheet and began to write.
She didn’t suspect she’d be sitting properly for the rest of the chapter, and had absolutely no desire to.

Chapter seven: Close Encounters

The shower was pretty refreshing, and more. I grabbed the towel with my wing and dried myself. As I dried my belly and lower, there was something left on the towel that would be a bit hard to explain. Not all of the fluids on me had been properly washed away.

“Oh buck,” I cursed, trying to wash the sticky substance away with a bit of water from the sink. After a few moments of scrubbing the towel off and giving it a sniff, I figured that it was good enough and Twilight would likely not notice. To stay on the safe side, though, I gave the bathroom a quick glance-over before settling on what looked to be the dirty towel pile.

I trotted over with the towel and lifted a few of the dirty ones, stuffing the one I had just used in with all the rest, lost among the others. Giving a satisfied huff, I turned and walked over to the mirrors near the door and examined myself in the mirror.

Though my silver and white mane was about as messy as ever, it didn’t look monstrous. I was satisfied with the look after streaking my mane back with an idle hoof, giving it the typical windswept look I prefered to keep it in. It would look better after a quick flight or two, but for the moment, it would hold up.

Nodding to my reflection with a little smirk, I turned and trotted over to the door, giving it a solid push.

Right into the alicorn who had been on the other side.

“Ouch!”

I froze at that. The voice was definitely Twilight’s.

Oh buck…

Looking down at the messy pile of lavender and purple fur and feathers, I recoiled in shock, one of my hooves hovering just off the ground in surprise. I hadn’t expected Twilight to be right outside the door, let alone sitting there. How long had she been sitting there? I had no idea, all I knew was that I had just decked my mentor with a bucking door.

Shaking out of my trance, I quickly rushed forward to her side and felt around her with my hooves, trying to pull her into a less painful position. After a few moments of struggle, I had managed to pull Twilight out of the tangled mess she had made herself and into a more normal sitting position.

“Sorry, Twilight! Are you okay?” I asked in a rush, checking the top of her head to see if I had done any serious damage. Luckily, I didn’t see any blood, so I mustn’t have hit her that hard. Either that, or alicorns just had really thick skulls. The only thing out of place I noticed was a serious blush burning across her cheeks.

“O-of course! I’m completely fine! You… you finish getting ready, and I’ll wait in the library. Yes, that’s a good idea!” Twilight stuttered before quickly escaping from my hooves and rushing away in a flustered blur of lavenders and reds.

She was long gone before I had even managed to blink, let alone respond. I had to admit, that was kind of odd, even for Twilight. Hesitating for only a moment, I began walking after her, heading towards the library to meet up with her. I didn’t even have the chance to tell her that I was done.

How long was she just sitting out there? Did she… No way. She couldn’t have heard me!

I shook my head and picked up my pace to a solid trot, heading down the stairs and towards the library. Despite the fact that she could have possibly heard me screaming her name from the shower, I still had to go and meet with her, at least to figure out what she was doing just outside of the bathroom. It wasn’t the only bathroom in the castle, so I figured that it couldn’t have just been her waiting to go to the little mare’s room.

When I entered through the library’s doors, a quick glance around the room confirmed that Twilight was sitting in our reading corner, except with a distinct blush burning through her cheeks and a blanket draped over her flank. I chewed my lips for a few moments before trotting over to her, ignoring the growing blush that simply radiated off of her.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Twilight?” I asked with concern, looking down at her with skepticism.

Despite chewing the insides of her cheeks in clear thought, she gave a quick nod, “Mhm,” she confirmed with a hum, stoically avoiding meeting my gaze.

A moment of silence later, I gave off a sigh before sitting down next to her and turning my head to look at her, “So what were you doing outside the bathroom, anyways?” I asked, a brow raised in a questioning position.

The question seemed to prompt Twilight’s blush to increase, despite her silence. She seemed to consider her response before she finally replied, “I was responding to a letter in my room, and you were taking a long time. I was about to ask if you were okay,” she replied hastily with an unconvincing smile.

She’s lying… But why? There’s no reason, unless she heard it...

Before I could ask her, she pulled a scroll from Luna only knew where. At least she wasn’t lying about that. Unrolling it, she held it up to show it to me.

“Princess Luna wants to visit me in the next few days,” she said with a smile, the roaring blush still present on her cheeks.

I looked over the scroll curiously for a moment before turning my attention back to Twilight, “What for?” I asked, wondering what Luna could possibly want when her dominion was mostly around Canterlot. Ponyville, as odd of a town as it was, was mostly Twilight’s concern.

Rolling up the scroll, she set it aside before responding, “She has a few days she can spare away from Canterlot, so she wants to make sure I’m not getting overwhelmed by my new duties. Celestia also seems to think that she wants to meet you, being my new student and all,” she admitted with an awkward chuckle, finally turning her attention back to me.

I blinked a few times before laughing and shaking my head. There was no way that I was that interesting, but it made sense that Luna would want to see who Twilight had taken under her wing. The same way that I was sure many ponies had taken interest whenever Celestia had taken Twilight under her wing. Princesses didn’t idly take ponies in as students, so I was sure that a few eyes would be turned towards us whenever more ponies found out.

Despite the blush that still burned away on her cheeks, Twilight seemed to find my laughter contagious, and soon was laughing along with me. I wasn’t entirely sure what was more funny; the fact that one of the sisters thought I was important enough to come investigate me, or the way that Twilight snorted every couple of laughs as she tried to inhale. Either way, her laughter was terribly cute, and prompted me to continue laughing until I felt lightheaded.

When we had settled down a little, the last of the laughter leaving us in matching sighs, I leaned back in the pillow fort we had turned the corner into the other day, getting comfortable. With the incident in the bathroom nearly forgotten, I felt myself relax into the soft bundle of pillows, my tender muscles appreciative of the rest. Twilight appeared to do the same thing, though I couldn’t help but notice that she left a small gap between us.

Even with the small space between us, I felt incredibly close to the alicorn. And not just in proximity, either. Despite the awkwardness, I knew that she was my friend, and I was hers. It was comforting, in a way, to know that there was someone else out there who actually cared about me. It made not having a past more tolerable, because there was someone who I could talk to about anything.

We stayed silent, both enjoying the time spent with a friend. I was about to say something and turned my head, just in time to see her rub her head. As her hoof lowered, I could see a slightly red spot where her hoof had been, which I could safely assume was a souvenir from her head being introduced to the door.

“Did I hurt you with the door?” I asked in concern, a feeling of worry racing down my spine in response to the subtle wince she gave when her hoof moved.

“No, it’s fine,” she replied quickly with an attempt at a reassuring smile, despite the fact that her hoof was moving back up to the sore spot.

Feeling sympathetic to the wince that passed across her features at the touch of her hoof again, I opened my arms towards her narrowly, “Hey, come here for a second,” I said in a soft tone, trying my best to be of some comfort to the mare that I had nearly given a concussion not minutes earlier.

Twilight seemed hesitant at first, though as her hoof dropped from her forehead, she shuffled herself closer and into my arms. With her securely against me, I wrapped her in a little hug, “I’m sorry I hit you with the door,” I repeated in soft tones, giving her a compassionate smile before planting a small kiss on the swollen location. I had vague memories of somepony doing that to me when I was hurt, and it had always felt better. I hoped it would have the same effect on Twilight.

My mentor let out a surprised ‘eep’ in response, jumping slightly in my arms, but she remained there and relaxed after a moment, seemingly at ease. Though, I did notice the burning blush that stubbornly refused to leave her cheeks. She gave a little sigh as she relaxed, “Thanks, Night Glider. I forgive you. And it’s okay, I’ve had worse,” she said as I released my grip on her, letting her shuffle back into her comfortable position.

After settling back into her original position, Twilight leaned back in her pillows. Her horn lit up after a moment and a lavender aura appeared around one of the many books in the library. It swiftly hovered over to us and settled on her lap, and was then opened to the index with a further pulse of magic. Giving a small chuckle, I looked up at her, “Well, I guess you’re alright enough to use your magic, so I guess I didn’t turn your brain to mush. Though, next time, you should probably stay a few steps away from doors that might open on you,” I said with a coy grin.

Twilight’s blush burned brighter in response and she smacked my shoulder with a gentle hoof, “Oh hush, you. Maybe you shouldn’t kick the door as hard as you can, next time,” she replied, looking over at me with a small grin of her own.

I couldn’t help but laugh and put my hooves up in a mock surrender, “You got me. But hey, if there was a villain right behind the door, you have to admit that I totally would have looked awesome doing that,” I retorted, my feathers ruffling in a show of faux pride. While I was still a little confused as to why she was on the other side of the door, at least we were in a position we could make jokes about it without feeling bad.

“So, next time I better keep a shield around myself? Got it,” Twilight replied with a good natured laugh, “Besides, what villain would be waiting for you right outside the bathroom?” she asked, the grin that split her face nearly reaching from ear to ear.

“The evil towel thief of disharmony!” I replied jokingly, breaking out into silly laughs of my own as I struggled to keep a semi-serious composure. We shared our laughter for a few moments, no further words passing between us as we rode out our shared joy.

She stopped laughing after a few moments and gave me a smile before pointing to her book, “Today we’re going to cover the basics. What do you think is important for friendship?” she asked, fixing me with that studious and hopeful look she got when she knew that somepony had the answer she was looking for.

I pondered about it a few moments before jumping to the first answer that I found floating around my head, “Trust?” I ventured with no small amount of my own hope.

“Yes, exactly,” Twilight replied enthusiastically before opening a certain page with the word trust on it, “On the night we brought Princess Luna back, I trusted Applejack and was rewarded by being safe,” she elaborated, making idle hoof gestures to accentuate her words, “Trust is one of the most basic stepping stones of friendship, and no good relationship can be built without it.”

I nodded eagerly and she looked at me, awaiting the next important thing. I kept silent for a few moments and she giggled, “Got any other guesses?” she asked, a childish twinkle of hope in her eyes that made a small knot twist in my stomach.

Sweet Luna, she’s adorable…

***

It had been a few hours, and my eyes were trailing across the page of the book I was now engrossed in. We had continued on with the lessons and discussion well into the evening, only stopping to get some food from the kitchen before continuing. It was a long day, but it was a good day, and I felt a lot more confident in my understanding of friendship. I wasn’t quite ready to say that I knew what a friend really was, but it was a lot better than how I started out.

The book I was currently reading was some fantasy novel that Twilight seemed to think had some very good representations of friendship, especially of trust. I couldn’t exactly say that I understood what she was talking about, though. The book was good, but I didn’t read between the lines enough to really see the subtleties of the relationships. It was just a collection of swords here, a magic blast there, a damsel in distress and a couple of valiant adventurers to me.

Of course, it was a really, really good collection of events, and an invigorating read. That’s precisely why I couldn’t take my eyes off of the page as the minutes ticked by. I was almost to the part where the adventurers were helping one another to escape a collapsing island when I realized something. A peculiar weight on my shoulder.

Venturing to take my eyes off of the page for a moment, I looked over to the side and couldn’t help the little smile that grew on my lips. Twilight was sound asleep, resting the side of her head against my shoulder with bits of her mane falling over her face. She looked peaceful and quite content, despite the fact that we were still in the pillow corner we set up.

I gave a near silent chuckle as I watched her sleep, the sound causing one of her ears to twitch slightly. Despite how much stress I was certain she was constantly under, she looked almost childlike while she was asleep, free from all troubles and worries for at least a few hours. There wasn’t any tension in her body as she laid against me, breathing softly and steadily in sleep.

The sight brought a smile to my muzzle that I just couldn’t wipe off. And, despite the fact that I was trapped as a leaning post, I had no desire to wake her to leave. She was a jailor, and I was her willing prisoner. It seemed almost like it was a crime to get up and have her wake, like the most punishable crime in Equestria would be nothing compared to the destruction of peace that I’d be causing.

So, I stayed there and turned my eyes back to the book, contently reading on as I leaned my head to the side to rest on top of Twilight’s, being careful not to impale myself on her horn. With my new perch, I couldn’t help but notice the smell of her shampoo filling my nostrils with a new strength, and more importantly, the smell of Twilight herself.

It was hard to explain, but everypony had a different smell to them. When I’d tried to explain it to other ponies before, most never really had a clue what I was talking about. I could be in a room of a hundred ponies, blindfolded and with my hooves tied behind my back, and still be able to pick an individual out of the crowd by how they smelled. And it was no different with Twilight.

Actually, it is just a little different with her… It’s not just anypony, it’s Twilight Sparkle.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I took a breath of her scent, enjoying the familiar smell I recognized as being Twilight. It was like a mix of lavender, new books and old wood, and a fresh scent I just couldn’t put my hoof on. Whatever the mixture was, it filled my nostrils and relaxed my muscles, and caused a small wave of weariness to pass over my body.

With how comfortable and relaxed I was, it was no wonder why I’d feel a wave of tiredness pass over me. I could have easily fallen asleep in that position without a worry in the world, as long as Twilight was there. Really, without Twilight there, I probably would have been able to just go back to the farm and fall asleep there.

There was just something about my mentor that made me never want to leave, that made me want to stay there and do my best to make her happy, no matter what that took. The little smile she got whenever I answered something correctly, or the twinkle in her eyes when she heard something new, they were little actions that made my heart flutter in my chest. Little touches made my gut twist up, and being around her set me on edge as if I had just been given a dose of adrenaline.

What the hay is wrong with me?

I wasn’t sure what I felt for Twilight. I had a sneaking suspicion, especially after the shower incident, that I didn’t like her just as a friend. But I had never had a crush or fallen in love before, and I doubted that it was that. More importantly was the fact that Twilight wouldn’t be interested, even if it so happened to be some sort of infatuation.

A mare who had no idea where she came from, what she was doing and what she wanted to do wasn’t a good special somepony, let alone a suitable somepony for a princess. Twilight seemed to be everything that I wasn’t; she was organized, brilliant, beautiful, witty, and she knew exactly what she was doing. And the few times that Twilight didn’t know what she was doing, she at least had the guts to improvise and make due.

Me, I just sort of coasted and hoped that everything turned out well enough in the end. In Starlight Glimmer’s town, I just sort of hoped that I’d figure out who I was while I was there. And now that I was free of Glimmer’s reign, I was still clutching to an authority figure to tell me who I was. That being said, Twilight was a far better authority figure than Glimmer was, so at least I had that going for me.

Giving a gentle sigh into Twilight’s mane, I opened my eyes and set the book down to the side and used my free wing to pull the blanket over both of us, submitting to the idea that I’d be spending the night. Despite my reservations, the feeling of Twilight pressed up against me made my trapped wing feel slightly cramped. So, with the utmost of delicacy and dexterity, I unfolded my other wing and slipped it around Twilight’s barrel.

With the blanket over us, my wing around Twilight, her head on my shoulder and my head on her head, it felt as though everything was right in the world. The pillows substituted for a bed just fine, and the castle wasn’t too hot or too cold. Even the faint moonlight that filtered in from one of the higher windows was comforting.

Content, comfortable and tired, I closed my eyes and snuggled into Twilight’s mane. Sleep came swiftly to me, due in large part to the bundle of warmth that was pressing into my side. As my mind fell to darkness, a single thought lingered in my head longer than the rest.

I could get used to this.

Comments

[Satto Kez]

Either my weeks are going by quickly or you're updating more than once a week... I won't complain one way or the other though!
Damn twi, I know you are eager to deliver news of Luna's visit but you could have waited until she was out... eh would not have been as good otherwise!

[Harmony Split]

6087543

Good, because the next one will follow today/tomorrow already

[ForgottenExistance]

6087543 The updates flow like a river cutting through the earth when we work together

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Personally I think it should be 60-40 ratio. at 75 there race is doomed.