Crusading Kingdom

by Calden

Foray into the Night

"No Scootaloo, you cannot become Princess of Awesomeness." An exasperated Twilight Sparkle said as she rubbed her temples with her hooves.

"Why not?! I'm the princess here. I'm the one with the alicorn magic!" Immediately Scootaloo bit her tongue as she saw Twilight look sadly at her sides where once her wings had been. "I'm sorry Twilight. That was out of line." Suddenly a Twilight’s face was scrunched up with concentration as she summoned her magic; Everything was more difficult now, she had forgotten how much she relied upon alicorn magic. Two crowns were teleported over to them. She held them up in front of Scootaloo's face.

"Friendship or The Night?" Twilight said, shaking the pointed purple crown and its dark blue compatriot as she offered their dominions. "Just choose your role to play." Scootaloo groaned for what must have been the eighteenth time in last hour. Twilight's headache started to come back and it seemed to have brought a twitch for her left eye along with it.

"I don't get why Applebloom and Sweetie got to pick before me." Scootaloo was met with an incredulous look from Twilight.

"Were you there? I'm not sure anymore because I'm pretty sure I remember seeing you there, together with your new sisters, demanding a crown based on, what was it?" Twilight quickly consulted a list on the table. "Dashosity? Funnily enough that wasn't the first new word you've invented today. I also think I remember Applebloom choosing to be Princess of the Day because she's worked in the sun at Sweet Apple Acres since she was a foal, and Sweetie Belle chose Love because she doubted any of you were as qualified to be in charge of it as she was. You were all there together and got to choose. You're lucky Twist said she wanted to let you choose first. At this point I’m tempted to give her two!."

"I know Twilight. I was there." An unimpressed Scootaloo replied. Twilight's twitch got a couple of levels more aggressive in response. Not for the first time she had to rationalise why a lobotomised princess was not ideal.

"Are you one hundred percent sure? Because from the way you're acting it seems like you don't understand the situation." Scootaloo grinned sheepishly back at Twilight.

"Maybe if you went over it one more time I would understand a bit better?" Twilight screamed in frustration for a moment before she pushed the stress away from her, like Cadance had shown her the year before, it felt much longer.

"Chalkboard, chalk, now!" Twilight barked before materialising the items. She lifted the chalk and began to draw as she explained. "Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twili- Me. Day, Night, Love, Friendship. We all play our part. We aren't alicorns anymore, you four are. Do the math Scootaloo." Once again Twilight was starting to work herself up. "We used to have four dominions and four princesses. We lost four princesses and gained four new ones. You each need to rule over a dominion. We have two left." Once again Twilight wiggled the crowns in from of Scootaloo. "Pick!"

"This is a really big decision Twi-"

"NOW!!" Twilight screamed. "We have been in this room for little over an hour and I think rooming with Tirek for an eternity would be something I might consider if it would end this conversation, and remember that I already spent a few months in Tartarus. Now, please, choose a crown." Scootaloo took a deep breath and closer her eyes. Twilight relaxed slightly, this could be the moment she finally got out of this room and back into the land of the decisive.

"Eeny, meeny, miney-" Scootaloo whispered.

"This one!" Twilight prodded the crown Scootaloo was currently pointing a hoof at with her hoof. Quick as a flash, literally in this case, as the crown was teleported onto her head. WIthout even stopping to breathe Twilight uncharacteristically bucked the door open, startling all on the other side, and walked towards Twist. "Luna, meet the new Princess of the Night. Twist you're with me. Six weeks Luna, and I'd buy some painkillers if I were you."

"Awesome!" Scootaloo whispered to herself as she watched as the image of a full moon appeared under the Lance on her flank. "I was hoping for the Night" Luna and Scootaloo both flinched from the agonised scream elicited by Twilight as she heard this. “Sorry?” Scootaloo added meekly.

"Come along Princess Scootaloo." Luna ordered as she walked towards the main door to the Canterlot Castle gardens. "We have much to do and not enough time to do it in. I also do not trust Twilight not to try and crush you right now."

"What?" Scootaloo asked as she raced to catch up to the Princess. Had she still been the young mare she had been a few days before she would have had to really push herself to keep up with Luna's brisk pace. Out of the corner of her eye Kuna could see that Scootaloo was already a few inches taller than the average mare. It wouldn’t be long before she herself started to lose her height, eventually she would be looking up to her student! "What did Twilight mean we have 'six weeks'? Where are we going? What we going to do?"

"You're going to raise the moon. We are going to the Lunar Solace. In six weeks the four of you girls will be crowned Princesses of Equestria and will have to rule. You must be ready."

"What?" Scootaloo squeaked. "How am I supposed to raise the night the first day on the job?! Is that different to raising the Moon? Does the night come with the Moon or do I do the Moon after the night? I haven't really used magic yet! I can levitate small objects but the Moon is pretty big. Isn’t it heavy?" Luna merely laughed and kept walking as Scootaloo got more and more frantic. Indeed since the sudden appearance of horns and, much to the euphoria of a certain orange ex-pegasus, a pair of large, powerful, fully-functional wings, the girls had had minimal time to practice their use. Twilight had taught them each, with the exception of a very smug Sweetie Belle, how to access their magic and channel it through their horn. They could all just about levitate objects an, conjure very simple things, but there was nothing elegant about their abilities. She led Scootaloo through a series of winding paths until they reached a pond. Scootaloo stopped, her mouth agape, when she saw it. The pond was in the shape of a crescent moon with waters that seemed to lightly glow a beautiful dark blue. Luna stood next to a marble slab in front of the pond in the same crescent moon shape, the one Luna and Scootaloo now shared on their flanks.

"Do I..?" she asked as she approached the slab. Luna nodded and waited for Scootaloo to firmly place her hooves in the 4 small grooves in the marble.

"Welcome to the Lunar Solace, Princess Scootaloo. This is where I first raised the moon and it is here I always found the task easiest. Here I painted the night's sky and here I learned to dreamwalk. It is a place that embodies the Night, your Night." The concept of the Night being her dominion was still incredibly alien to Scootaloo. She still hardly believed it. "Each Princess is not only representative of their dominion," Luna continued "they are are also its embodiment. You are the Night and the Night is you. Try to keep up, the test will be the rest of your life. Close your eyes and look within yourself. Find the Night." Scootaloo shut her eyes as instructed.

"Nothing's happened." She frowned. "I've shut my eyes and it's dark. This seems pretty standard. What am I supposed to be seeing here?" Scootaloo tensed as within the darkness of her mind the Lunar Solace began to appear. Even without the surroundings, the trees and grass and Luna standing beside her, Scootaloo knew that it was the Lunar Solace. "I can see the Lunar Solace."

"Brilliant Princess Scootaloo. Now look into the Lunar Solace. What do you see?"

"I don't see anything. It's just dark."

"That is because you must create the Night. Do not worry, will not be for some time yet. Look deeper into the Lunar Solace." Within her mind Scootaloo leaned forward and look deeply into the calm waters. She had been wrong when she had said all she could see was darkness. Deep below the surface was a infinitely faint white light. She must have reacted physically without noticing as Luna began to continue. "It's the Moon. While you will create the Night the Moon is not your creation. Neither is it mine any more than the Sun is Celestia's creation. It’s older than everything that you can ever understand. Use your magic, take hold of it."

Scootaloo focused on the image as hard as she couldn, shutting her eyes even tighter in concentration. She had to release her magic during the first attempt because she underestimated the depth of the pond, her second attempt failed because she underestimated the size of her target. Finally on her third attempt she felt her magic close around the Moon deep below the waters. "Open your eyes." Luna commanded. When Scootaloo did so she was so surprised that her horn was still alight with magic that she almost released it.

"How?" She asked. "How am I holding onto the Moon when it was only in my mind?" Again Luna laughed at the young Princess.

"What you saw was not solely in your mind. The Lunar Solace serves as a means to manipulate the Night, it is your gate to it. When Twilight raised the Moon with my magic she merely pulled it from the sky. What you do is different, more refined, more beautiful. It is unique to the Princess of the Night. Do you understand?" Scootaloo nodded, something about the object she held in her magic was different. It told her that the Moon was special. She could feel a power emanating from it and flowing into her with every beat of her heart. She realised what Luna meant, to Twilight the moon had been an object to move. To Scootaloo it was more, it was an extension of her very soul in the sky, and yet it was also more. It was power and it was life. "Now look across the Solace."

Across the way, where Luna pointed with a hoof, stood a white pagoda covered with golden filigree. Within stood Celestia and Applebloom. The Princess' horn was lit with the orange light of her magic, just as Scootaloo's horn glowed purple. The student and their teachers smiled at each other across the way before Luna and Celestia nodded to each other and turned to their charge. "Now Scootaloo, raise the Moon. Let it guide you, not the other way around. It knows where it must lie and it will help you."

As she began to use her magic to pull the Moon she did, as Luna had said, feel an occasional pull to bring it onto its usual trajectory. Something the beginner alicorn with her shaky telekinesis was very thankful for. Hitting Sweetie with a book was funny, hitting Stalliongrad with the Moon was just awkward. Scootaloo looked across again and saw Applebloom shared her look of anxiety. Both ponies were shaking and sweating as the exertion and concentration their respective tasks demanded began to take its toll. Slowly but surely the Moon and Sun passed each other, eventually the Sun disappeared below the horizon and the moon reached its place at the top of the sky. Panting, Scootaloo and Applebloom collapsed at the exact same moment. They looked over to each other with a huge grin painted on each of their faces. Their muscles burned with exhaustion but up in the sky there sat the Moon aglow.

"Fantastic, Princess Scootaloo. I promise you the task will only become easier with time. Just like any muscle your magic will grow stronger. Take a moment to look up at what you have done. Be proud of yourself, you are one of three ponies to have done what you just did." Scootaloo shuddered before she looked up, remembering the constant dusk during the Tyranny. The ponies had been told that she had given them a level of light that allowed for maximum efficiency. Scootaloo knew the truth. The Queen simply did not care about the dangers to all plant and animal life caused by her negligence. Scootaloo felt a calm she had never experienced before when she gazed upon the Moon, the Moon she lifted into the sky. Her Moon. Suddenly Luna's voice brought Scootaloo back down to Equestria.

"Now follow me, Princess Scootaloo. There is a much more we must do tonight." Once again Luna began briskly walking away. "We shall go to the Tower of the Moon for the next part of tonight's tuition."

"Really?" Scootaloo asked. "Isn't it time we slept?"

"Princess Scootaloo, you are Princess of the Night. Are you tired?" She shook her head. Now that she thought about it she was nowhere near as tired as she should have been. "The Night invigorates you as the Day shall Princess Applebloom. When the Moon has risen you are at the height of your power. Do not waste that time with sleep, save that for the day."

As they re-entered the palace and walked down the corridor leading to the Towers of the Sun and Moon Scootaloo's blood ran cold when she heard the sound that always gave her a chill.

"Why are they crying?" She asked quietly," Applebloom, Sweetie and Twist. Why are they so upset?" Luna sighed.

"Because," she explained, "my sisters are explaining what I am about to. It is especially hard for poor Princess Applebloom." Neither of them said any more until they had reached the apartments at the top of the Tower of the Moon. "Welcome to your new home, Princess Scootaloo," Luna announced in a neutral tone. Her eyes betrayed the sadness she felt as she said it. "As Princess of the Night here you shall live. Feel free to decorate it as you wish."

"I won't," Scootaloo whispered. "It's magical as it is." She looked up at the black ceiling with the moon glowing softly in the centre.

"Even during the daytime your Night shall be here as you design it. Now please make yourself comfortable. You have heard how your fellows reacted to what I am about to explain." Scootaloo tried to settle herself on the sofa in front of where Luna stood but she couldn’t calm herself. Not after hearing how her friends handled this 'lesson'. "You are not just the Princess of the Night. You are its embodiment. As the Night, the Day, Love and Magic are permanent so shall you and the other princesses be. You shall last as Celestia and I have, as Twilight and Cadence would have. This is not a gift, nor is it a curse. It is merely a fact, and there are consequences to it."

"Like what?" Scootaloo asked, drinking up Luna's every word.

"You are gifted with the chance to meet the greatest and brightest of Equestria so long as the Night rises and falls, the high and the low, but also cursed to see all of them live and pass on. You will outlive all. Over the centuries you will see family, favourites and friends wither and die and you will be helpless to stop it." Immediately Scootaloo understood why Applebloom, with her prolific and incredibly tightly knit family, had wailed as if she were in pain. Scootaloo felt the tears begin to roll down her cheeks, one for each pony she realised she would see die. "Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Twist are your sisters now. They are your family. Go to the gardens, Scootaloo. Meet them as sisters."

Tears still streaming down her face Scootaloo raced out of the tower and into the gardens where she saw her friends. The four girls enveloped each other in the tightest hug. It seemed to last forever. Although none of them said a word they all knew what the hug meant. They all knew that their mentors were right. They were sisters now, the only family and constants in their lives, and none of them would ever change that.

"Nice job on the Sun, Applebloom." Scootaloo said into Twist's increasingly tear-soaked mane. She heard a choked laugh.

"Nice job on the Moon. Sky's a little dull though." Applebloom choked through tears of her own.

"Hey!" Scootaloo said, jerking her head away from the hug. "It's not easy you know. This is the first day I've been on the job." The quartet broke the hug and Applebloom bopped Scootaloo playfully on the nose before sniffing.

"I was just messing with you, Scoots. It's actually kinda nice seeing the moon after two years of dusk."

"Here here!" Twist agreed. She wiped her eyes before closing them for a second and made a straining noise. Her horn began to glow pink and her purple glasses began to shake violently before four loud popping noises made the girls jump. "Peppermint twist anypony?" The Princess of Magic asked, holding four sticks of the candy in her magic. Twist frowned as her friends collapsed into laughter. “Rude.” She remarked with a smile before popping a twist into her mouth.

Author's Note:

This is something I wrote up ages ago, when the Tirek episode was new and fresh, and I never got around to uploading it. There's more if people are interested but I thought I would test the waters with this chapter. Enjoy!

Comments

[RuinQueenofOblivion]

Huh, this is kind of a new one, I mean I've seen a couple of fanfics where they became Alicorns (well, except Twist, that one is new), but not like this. Great start, I'll keep an eye on this one, I look forward to seeing more.

[Calden]

7351706

Thanks for the feedback! I hope I can continue to keep you interested!

[RuinQueenofOblivion]

7352161 I'm sure you will, I'm a huge CMC fan, primarily Scoots, but I do like all three of them.

Also Princess of Awesomeness made me laugh a little, nice touch.