Moonrise
“All right, first things first.” Twilight Sparkle turned towards Sunburst and pointed to the papers on her desk with her right hoof. “Sunburst, take a look at the list of books that Skyla gave us. Are any of those familiar to you? Do those books actually exist here?” The orange and white stallion nodded and hurried over to the chair at the desk, his eyes riveted to the copious amount of notes that Twilight had taken. He hopped up into the seat and took a quick look at the list, which Twilight had left out on the top of her pile before she’d stepped out from behind the desk herself. Silence fell in the room as he read and, in spite of her gut instincts telling her the opposite, Twilight couldn’t help but feel a surge of hope as he did so. If Sunburst recognizes the title from even one of these books, we’ll have a common thread to start stringing dimensional correlations together with, she thought with a smile that barely turned the corners of her lips upward. That will definitely make it easier to see what kind of trans-universal relationship we’re dealing with.
“Well,” he murmured, his brow furrowing as his aqua eyes darted back and forth behind his glasses, “the bad news is that I’ve never seen these exact titles anywhere before.” He sighed and sat back in the chair, his right hoof rising and pushing his glasses up his muzzle as he shifted his gaze to Twilight. “I’m sorry, Princess, but it looks like these books are native only to Skyla’s dimension.” Twilight’s smile died and became a small frown, but it was Starlight who voiced the obvious question that Sunburst had left hanging in the room.
“All right then,” she said as she approached the desk and stopped next to Twilight, “so if that’s the bad news, then what’s the good news?” She frowned deeply at the stallion, the curl in her mane bobbing as if to more clearly express the tense displeasure that Twilight could see coursing through her student’s whole body. Sunburst chuckled and waved his right hoof as casually as he could.
“Ah, yes – the good news… right.” He cleared his throat and pointed to the list again. “The good news is that, while I don’t recognize the exact titles of these books, I can extrapolate from Skyla’s method of travel here that each of these books is about the subject of travel through space and time. Using that, I can say that these books are almost certainly here in this world, just under slightly different names.” His horn lit up and he grabbed Twilight’s quill up from the desk, his golden magic pressing it against the paper where it began to scribble noisily. “The Theory of Temporal Dissonance matches almost perfectly with ‘The Complete Theories of Temporal Dissonance’, for instance – one of Starswirl’s main treatises on how to mathematically predict the seemingly random and chaotic nature of time travel.” He frowned as the quill scribbled faster, a smile touching his lips as his eyes lost focus. “The Principles of Space-Time Equilibrium is almost certainly ‘The Principles of the Space-Time Equilibrium and How to Maintain It’, a small book that, if I’m correct, was written when he and Princess Celestia made their discoveries about the mirror world into which she had traveled often. You know, the one you gave me about our universe colliding with another and the untold damage that it might do?”
Twilight winced as she nodded. “Uh, yeah – I remember that one pretty well,” she murmured, her ears drooping almost to her mane. It would have been super helpful if I’d read it before we traveled to that mirror world, but I suppose it’s better late than never. Sunburst’s smile grew at her words, despite his eyes remaining glued to the paper in front of him.
“Good – that’ll make things easier as we go forward.” He sat forward again and placed both his hooves onto the desk. “Alternate Worlds and You: A Reference Guide is probably ‘A Beginners Guide to Alternate Worlds’, and Gravitational Waves and Temporal Anomalies sounds like a book that would be very similar to Starswirl’s ‘Gravity Waves and Temporal Abnormalities: Don’t Try This at Home’.” His quill slowed to a stop, and after a moment he raised his eyes to look at Twilight, his brow knitted into a look of concern. “Starswirl was… a very strange pony, wasn’t he?” he asked. “I mean, I guess it never really hit me until I was reading them out loud, but the titles of some of these books are unbelievably awkward and just weird…”
“Yeah, he was pretty much the kookiest crack pot in the whole of ancient Canterlot,” said Starlight with a knowing look at Twilight. “But you really can’t argue with his genius – I’m sure that’s why Celestia put up with his nonsense for so long.” Twilight sighed heavily, but after a moment she nodded.
“Yeah, Starswirl was pretty weird,” she admitted, though a part of her that lay deep inside her heart – the part that had practically worshipped Starswirl when she was still a student – made sad, sobbing noises at the acknowledgment. “Celestia told me a lot about him after the mirror incident, and, while it wasn’t always easy to hear, I have to admit that he was an eccentric weirdo.” She winced as Sunburst’s gaze dropped back to the paper and his quill began to move once more. “Ugh, it still feels so wrong to call him that out loud…”
Starlight chuckled under her breath and touched Twilight’s left shoulder with her right hoof. “I said it didn’t make him any less brilliant, didn’t I?” she muttered. “Don’t get your pinion feathers in a twist, Twilight…” The Princess smiled apologetically and sighed again. She’s right, of course, she told herself, Starswirl’s oddities don’t make him any less of the influential figure that he was. And I guess I really should have known, considering he wore a cloak and hat covered in bells all the time… that is pretty weird. She gave her head a small shake and turned her attention back to Sunburst, who smiled lightly at her before speaking.
“The next book was titled How to Punch a Hole in Space, which is conveniently titled ‘How to Safely Punch a Hole in Space’ in our world.” He chuckled. “An important distinction in the methodology, I feel… and the last one was Connecting Everywhere: Mirrors as Travel.” He raised his head and squinted at the ceiling, his mouth pursed. “Hmmm… the only other book that I can think of that Starswirl wrote that mentioned a mirror is ‘Portal Mirrors and You: The Cake is Not a Lie, it’s just in Another Dimension’.” He nodded and looked back to the paper, where his quill scribbled out the last few words of the title. “Now, I should point out that these are simply educated guesses on my part,” he said, turning his gaze back to Twilight and Starlight, “but they’re a good place to start looking for more conclusive information.”
Twilight frowned. “I thought you two spent all day yesterday going through every book you could find about parallel worlds.”
“We did,” Starlight said, “and what we found always came back to the same thing: that how a pony got into whatever world they did was just as important as their presence there. In other words…”
“…we need more information about how Skyla got here to determine whether or not her presence is harmful,” finished Sunburst, his magic going dark as he set the quill back to the desk. “I can remember a lot about these books, but me just talking about them isn’t going to get us anywhere conclusive. For Celestia’s sake, even I’ll admit that I can’t remember everything that’s in these books, so our first stop is getting these books and researching the how of Skyla’s journey. It’s the only thing that’s going to connect the dots from her world to ours. Plus, it’ll give us all a chance to brush up on our trans-dimensional physics as they relate to the multiverse.” He hopped down from the desk and hurried to the door, his blue starred cape fluttering around his hooves as he did. “I’ll go straight to the royal library – I’ve spent a lot of time in there and I know that they have the Portal Mirrors and the Gravity Waves books. I also have Complete Theories and Space-Time Equilibrium at home, so I’ll grab those, as well. Meet you back here in an hour or so!” The door flashed open and Sunburst was gone, his tail flicking eagerly as he exited the room. Twilight blinked and gave her head a small shake before turning back to Starlight.
“W-well… I guess that’s that,” she murmured. “I suppose we should try to find the other two books.”
Starlight nodded and turned towards the door, a smile touching her face. “I think I saw a copy of How to Safely Punch a Hole in Space at the public library in town, so I’ll head over there.” Her magic grasped the doorknob as she threw a glance at Twilight. “Don’t you have a copy of Beginner’s Guide to Alternate Worlds in your library back home?” she asked.
Twilight blinked. “Um… as a matter of fact, yeah, I think I do.” She felt a surge of excitement that made the hair at the base of her neck stand on end as she turned towards Starlight, her ears standing straight up as she grinned. “I’ll send Spike a quick letter and see if he can send it to me. I knew it was a good idea to leave him at the library, just in case!” She giggled in spite of herself. “This is going to be just like studying for exams back when I was a filly!”
At the door Starlight rolled her eyes, though it did nothing to dim the smile on her lips. “All right, calm down there, teacher’s pet,” she said lightly. “We have a little more riding on this study session than just a grade, so try to stay focused.” She opened the door and darted out without another word, though Twilight noticed that Starlight’s hoofsteps were a little lighter than they had been before. It’s good to know that I’m not the only one of us that likes studying, she thought with a knowing smirk.
“But that’s not what I need to be thinking about right now,” she said aloud to herself, her wings rustling as she stood up straighter. “I’ve got to get a letter to Spike so he can send me that book!” She hurried around the desk and snatched the quill up with her magic, her heart pounding in her ears. Starlight was right about one thing, though, she thought as she began to write, and that’s the fact that this could be the most important study session of our lives so far. After all, our entire world could hang in the balance. “Dear Spike,” she began, her lips curving into an even bigger smile, “I know that you wanted to come with me, but it’s a really good thing you didn’t. I need you to do something for me…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The sun slowly sank over the Crystal Kingdom as a day full of excitement and emotion came to a close, and, as the sky began to grow dark in the east, the last light of day ignited the crystalline structure of the Castle and caused it to dance with brilliant slivers of orange, red, and yellow as the sun slowly sank in the sky. The myriad of colors shifted and twinkled as if the whole building had simply burst into a pillar of frozen flame, and, as Skyla slowly made her way towards the highest point on the Castle, she couldn’t help but feel like she was being lifted along towards her destination by its prismatic tongues of fire. It was a thought that stuck in her head and would not leave her, which filled her climb towards the pinnacle of the Crystal Castle with thoughts that were quite a bit grimmer than she would have liked. Her hooves clicked gently along the stairs as she climbed, her heart pounding in her ears as she watched the smooth crystal walls slide past her on her right.
I wonder what Luna wants to talk to me about, she thought for what must have been the ten millionth time, her wings rustling against her sides. She said when we met in the kitchens today that she wanted to speak to me, and to meet her at the top of the castle at sunset… The memory of her meeting with the Moon Princess burst against her mind, and for a split second she was back in the castle’s kitchen, looking up into Princess Luna’s cool, unreadable eyes. In spite of the warmth that hung on her body from the steady climb, Skyla shivered as her gaze returned from her reverie and refocused on the steps before her. She didn’t sound angry or anything, she thought with a gentle shake of her head, but she didn’t exactly sound happy, either… uuugh, this place can be so confusing! Skyla’s nose wrinkled slightly as a feeling she recognized as irritation pricked at the back of her mind.
Back home in the Crystal Empire, it wasn’t hard to figure out what other ponies wanted from you when they talked to you, she thought as she continued her climb, her mane bobbing around her face as she did. It never took me long to figure out a pony’s real intent when they asked me to talk to them, or when they asked my mother or father for something… but here? She snorted. I feel like everything I learned there is useless. I can’t tell what the ponies here are thinking at all…
Her ears drooped against her mane and she leaned to her left slightly, her right wing extending for counterbalance as she turned her gaze upwards towards the ceiling that still felt impossibly high above her. The center of the staircase was open instead of having a central pillar for the stairs to connect to in addition to the wall, and it was almost wide enough that Skyla had considered simply flying up the middle of the spire to get to the roof. Almost.
She sighed and leaned back to her right, pulling her wing back in tight against her as she lifted her hoof to the next step. I guess I’ll just have to keep trying, she thought as she climbed, a look of determination sliding onto her features as her hooves clicked solemnly in the empty space around her. It might be hard, but that doesn’t mean that I should give up. In fact, it just means that I should try even harder to figure this out. She nodded firmly, her mouth curving downward into a serious, no-nonsense frown. I never let something being hard from stopping me before, and I can’t start now – especially now that I’m here. I’ve got to show everypony that I can do it because…
Her thoughts faltered as she suddenly reached the top of the stairs, her internal workings grinding to a halt as she took her first steps onto the high landing. She blinked at the broad expanse of crystal that curved gently around the interior of the tower and, as she realized where she was, all of the nervousness that she’d felt in the kitchen earlier came flooding back into her, chasing her previous thoughts away in a wave of heat to her cheeks and a feeling in her stomach that was so sickly sweet she was sure she would vomit. Nooo, no you don’t, Skyla, she thought frantically, don’t you even think about throwing up here!
Skyla took a deep breath and hurried to the edge of the landing, where a low wall topped with a thin, decorative silver railing kept ponies from simply careening into the open space beyond the door to the roof. She reared up and placed her hooves onto the wall, her insides flip-flopping around even more than the time when she’d tried some of the alchemical ingredients that she’d found in the castle back home. I had to take a pretty serious antidote for that, she reflected weakly as she exhaled, her wings shaking against her back, but unless the sweet rolls and salad I had with Flurry were poisoned, there’s not going to be an antidote for this… so I have to get a grip.
Her muzzle scrunched in determination and her nostrils flared as she inhaled with purpose, filling her lungs with a warm, fresh breath of air that she held for a moment before exhaling out through her mouth, her eyes locked on the wall across from her. Just take it easy, she thought, inhaling again. This isn’t like being summoned by mother. This is somepony completely different: somepony who has been nothing but nice to you since you met her this morning, and somepony who doesn’t deserve to see this reaction and think that it’s directed at her! The thought that Luna would be able to see her discomfort filled the filly with a cold sensation that washed over her from ears to tail, causing a shiver to run down her spine as she exhaled. Don’t worry about that right now, Skyla – just worry about breathing. Just breathe in, then out… in, then out…
Finally, after what seemed to Skyla like an hour of standing on her rear hooves, her stomach settled into something that felt a lot more natural than it had before, though it was still far from feeling normal again. The bile in the back of her throat receded, and she chased it down with one last deep breath and a firm, audible swallow. There, she thought as she closed her eyes, that ought to do it. Now I can go out there and talk to Luna about whatever she needs to talk about, and I’ll be perfectly under control. She nodded and dropped back to all four hooves, her lips pressing into a thin line as she turned to face the door behind her. Perfectly under control, she repeated firmly to herself, but no matter how insistently she repeated it she could not keep her wings from shaking ever so slightly.
“Well, at least I don’t feel like throwing up any more,” she muttered under her breath. She sighed sharply and lit her horn up with magic, the aqua light filling the small area around her as she grasped the doorknob and gave it a twist.
The highest point on the Crystal Castle that could be accessed from the inside was a balcony that encircled the tip of the spire a mere dozen or so feet from where the castle actually ended, and it afforded ponies the best view of their city that could be had without flying over it. It was perhaps ten feet wide and had a wall around its edge very similar to the wall around the landing inside, but instead of being a solid piece of stone, this outside wall was ornately carved into delicate snowflakes and swirls of crystal, leaving plenty of space between them to see out into the city. It wasn’t a place that Skyla had been many times in her life and not somewhere that she was terribly familiar with, but as she pushed the door open and stepped out onto the smooth stone she felt her wings shift away from her body ever so slightly, as if they longed for nothing more than to spread and fly her away into the darkening sky, never to be seen again.
That’s old junk getting kicked up, she thought with a frown as she shut the door behind her. The last time I was up here was with father, just as things were getting worse with Queen Twilight… and I really did consider leaping off the edge and just disappearing into the northern wastes. She snorted softly as an evening breeze tousled her curly mane, tossing a few stray locks into her face. Of course, that would have meant leaving my research and the mirror behind… so I made my decision. She brushed her mane away from her eyes and turned to her left, where the setting sun was blazing against the horizon and coloring the world in shades of orange, its light dancing across the city as if it hated to leave the buildings and citizens behind. I questioned that decision every single day… until I made it here.
“I’m glad that you were able to make it,” said a voice from behind her, and, in spite of knowing that another pony was waiting for her, Skyla leaped a foot into the air before rounding on the speaker, her ears pressed firmly into her mane as she did her best not to glare at Princess Luna.
“I… I apologize if I’m late, Your Highness,” she said breathlessly, her heart pounding in her ears yet again as she sketched a quick bow. “It took me longer than I remembered to make it up the stairs, so I ended up being a little late…” She winced and focused her eyes on the other alicorn’s silver clad hooves. “Please, forgive me.”
The gentle wind swirled around her, teasing her tail and wing feathers in a way that seemed to perfectly embody the soft laughter that she heard from Princess Luna, a sound that drew Skyla’s eyes back to the Princess’ face. The dark blue alicorn stood on the eastern side of the balcony, silhouetted against the gathering night in her very own patch of shadow that was provided by the central spire of the castle itself, and as Skyla’s gaze met Luna’s she saw a very different face than the one she’d seen in the kitchen earlier.
Now, Luna’s eyes weren’t cool and devoid of emotion at all; instead, they sparkled like the sea beneath the stars, and her smile was as warm as a summer’s night as she took a step towards Skyla, her mane floating effortlessly behind her as zephyrs played around her.
“There is no forgiveness to be had, Skyla,” she said softly. “I’m just glad that you’re here.”
Skyla felt herself blush at the intensity of Luna’s gaze and, before she could stop herself, she shifted nervously on her hooves. “It’s my pleasure, Princess,” she replied formally, her throat tightening beneath Luna’s insistent gaze, “though I am wondering why you called me up here, if you’ll forgive my impertinence at asking.” The Princess of the Night blinked in surprise, and after a moment she laughed a little louder than before, the sound warming Skyla’s heart like the gentle calling of a dove.
“It’s so strange to hear a pony of your age speaking thusly,” Luna said, her smile growing. “And after I have expended so much time and effort in erasing the vestiges of yesteryear from my speech, too.” She stepped forward, her expression soft. “I fear that around my sister and her protégé I am often more on my guard than I would like, but that cannot be helped, I fear. Please, allow me to introduce myself once more.” She extended her hoof towards Skyla, pad down. “I am Luna, the Princess of the Moon and the Night. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, and please – call me Luna, at least when it’s just the two of us.”
Skyla blinked at Luna’s hoof, her mind cart-wheeling for several long seconds before she, too, extended her hoof, turned it pad up, and touched it gently to the other alicorn’s. “A pleasure to meet you, Pr- Luna,” she stammered, her eyes wide as Luna shook her hoof. “My name’s Skyla, and you can call me… well…” her ears nestled into her mane, “…Skyla’s fine,” she finished lamely, her cheeks coloring. Luna laughed again, her smile bright and happy as she withdrew her hoof.
“Please, relax,” she said with a tilt of her head. “I only called you up here tonight to get to know you a little better, Skyla – nothing more. You needn’t feel cornered or threatened.” Luna took a step back and turned her body towards the railing, her eyes never leaving Skyla. “You may leave if you feel uncomfortable, but if you would like to stay, I would greatly enjoy it if you would join me over here.” She offered Skyla one last smile before turning her gaze to the dark skies of the east, her expression soft and calm.
To her surprise, Skyla felt a weight lift off of her shoulders at Luna’s choice – a weight she hadn’t realized was there in the first place. She said that I can leave if I want to, she thought, her brow furrowing. Does she mean it..? Am I free to go if I please? She shifted on her hooves again, her heart quivering in her chest as she watched the blue alicorn. If this had been an audience with her mother, Skyla would have been given the mere illusion of choice and her mother’s body language alone would have been enough to convey how much trouble she would be in if she chose anything but what Princess Amore wanted. This, however, was different, more different than Skyla knew how to handle. Luna had genuinely offered her a choice – stay or go – and she was quietly standing off to the side, waiting to see which Skyla chose. Skyla’s eyes narrowed, but try as she might she couldn’t seem to make herself suspicious of the pony who shared the balcony with her. She really wants me to choose this for myself… She licked her lips nervously, her options running rapidly through her mind. In the end, however, there truly was only one proper choice to be made.
Skyla took a deep breath and hurried to stand on Luna’s left side, her wings shivering and her ears laid flat against her mane as she lifted her right hoof and placed it onto the railing.
“I think I’ll stay,” she said with a smile, and she knew immediately that she’d made the right choice. Luna’s eyes lit up as brilliantly as a full moon, and her smile was so big that it made Skyla feel like crying, though she didn’t really know why.
“I’m… I’m very happy that you decided to do so,” whispered Luna with a nod. “I was hoping that you would.” She turned her eyes back to the sky, and Skyla let her hoof fall back to the stone beneath them.
“So… what did you want to talk to me about? You said that there was something specifically.”
“Ah, yes, of course.” Luna cleared her throat loudly before speaking again. “I simply wished to talk to you about the recent events here in the Crystal Kingdom.” Her wings rustled against her sides and she shifted on her hooves, her eyes still gazing out at the twilight sky. “Have you been comfortable while you’ve been here? Are Shining Armor and Cadence showing you kindness?”
Skyla nodded. “They’ve been very kind to me, despite me dropping in on them completely unannounced and beyond unexpectedly.” She snorted a laugh in a way that her mother had hated. “I’d say that they’ve been kinder than I deserve, considering that I showed up saying that I was their daughter from another world… that’d be hard for anypony to process, much less accept.” Her ears drooped slightly. “Though… it’s kind of hard to separate them from my real parents,” she admitted softly, the evening breeze teasing her hair again. “They look exactly like them… but they’re nicer, better versions of them… ugh, it’s so complicated…” She winced, but when she looked back to Luna, the taller alicorn just nodded sagely.
“Very much like what Celestia said,” she agreed. “My sister told me of her travels through portal mirrors when she was younger, and she mentioned meeting another me in the universe that was ruled by a good version of King Sombra.” Her smile became sad, but her words stayed light and casual. “She said that she was so relieved to see ‘me’ again that she let herself begin to grow accustomed to this other Luna being her sister… and even though she knew that she was not me, Celestia reveled in the time she got to spend with her.” She sighed and shook her head. “Of course, she also confided to me that the time she spent with this other Luna made her feel my absence more keenly, as if it had just happened all over again.” She turned her head and met Skyla’s gaze again, her smile full of understanding. “It is a complicated subject, so do not fear calling it such.”
Skyla’s ears slowly perked back up, and she felt herself standing up a little straighter than before. “Yeah… it is,” she agreed. “But everypony here has been so nice to me that it hasn't been hard to remember that this isn’t my home. That much has been easy.”
Luna frowned, but when she spoke again her tone was light. “Well, it’s a relief to hear that you’re being treated with the utmost care and kindness, at least from Cadence and Shining Armor,” she said with a nod. “In fact, I would like to ensure that you continue to be treated thusly…” she shifted on her hooves again, her tail swishing against her legs. “And to that end, I would like to request something of you, Skyla.” She turned her head from the railing and met Skyla’s gaze again, her ears still pressed against her mane. “I… I would like you to tell me how your time here is progressing,” she said after a moment, her words coming stiffly as if she were trying her best to put them together and they simply weren’t meshing the way she wanted them to. “You can send me letters – I’ll make sure that you can send them to me without any problems – so I’ll know how you are doing. And you can tell me if anything is wrong or if you’d like me to help you with something… or…” Her words trailed off, and perhaps it was a trick of the dying sunlight, but Skyla could have sworn that Luna blushed before turning her eyes back to the dark sky above them. “I… I guess what I am trying desperately to say is… will you let me help you with anything you might need? I know that you have Cadence and Shining Armor, as well as Sunburst to help you, but I...” She sighed sharply and returned her gaze to Skyla. “I want you to know that if you need me, I will be there for you. No matter how great or small the problem, I wish to help you, Skyla… if you’ll have me.”
The hairs at the base of Skyla’s neck rose as goosebumps prickled her skin, and her ears began to ring as she stared up into the eyes of a pony who she’d only heard of in legends up until a week ago. She… she wants to be my friend, she thought. Or my guardian… one or the other, I’m really not quite sure, but… That was as far as her thoughts went, because as soon as she realized what Luna was trying to say her smile returned with renewed vigor, exploding onto her face so forcefully that she could feel her cheeks begin to hurt immediately.
“Y-yes, Luna!” she managed to squeak. “I… I’d love to write letters to you! I’ll tell you about everything that’s going on while I’m here – I promise!” She felt her whole body start to shake, from her hooves to her horn, and before she could stop herself she darted forward and threw her neck across Luna’s in a hug, her heart swelling in her chest until she thought it would burst. “I promise to write you as much as I can,” she whispered, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes and filling her face with heat. Somewhere inside of her, the part of her that knew she was hugging a foreign princess like she was her best friend screamed in agony, certain that Luna would be angry with her and chastise her for her behavior; that part of her was silenced, however, when she felt Luna’s left wing wrap tightly around her as the taller alicorn leaned into the hug, her coat soft and cool against Skyla’s flushed cheeks.
“I’m glad to hear that,” whispered Luna, her voice hoarse and thick. “I want to help you as much as I can while you are here, Skyla… and I’m glad that you are willing to let me.” She held Skyla tightly for several long moments, but sooner than Skyla would have liked the Moon Princess withdrew her wing and stood up straight once again, signaling to Skyla that she should do the same. Reluctantly, Skyla lifted her head and stepped back, her cheeks damp with tears as she looked up at Luna.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, and with an inward wince she realized that she sounded more than a little bit selfish. That’s right – guilt-trip the Moon Princess, Skyla. That’s a great plan… To her relief, Luna offered her a smile and stepped back to the railing.
“There was one other reason that I asked you to come up here tonight,” she admitted softly. “It’s not something that I do in front of other ponies, but I thought that if you’re going to rely on me and trust me with your secrets and life, then I had best do the same.” She turned her body to face the eastern sky, casting one last glance over her shoulder at Skyla. “Please, stay and watch.”
Then, without waiting for a reply, Princess Luna took a deep breath… and Skyla’s eyes widened in shock as the magical power she’d seen in the Princess’ eyes earlier that day exploded out from her in an aura that easily rivaled Princess Celestia’s. It flowed out from Luna and filled the balcony like an ethereal wedding gown, its sinuous silk sparkling and shimmering like moonbeams upon a river that was scattered with diamonds, and, as Skyla watched, Luna’s horn began to glow a deep, rich blue that colored the whole top of the castle a brilliant sapphire.
This is the power she was missing, thought Skyla blankly as the taller alicorn lowered her horn almost to the railing, the power and majesty of Luna’s station causing Skyla to take an unconscious step backwards, her mouth open in a wordless gasp of amazement. THIS was the power I was expecting… why didn’t I feel this before? The might of Luna’s magic pressed down on Skyla much like Celestia’s had, but there was something wrapped up in the Moon Princess’ magic that had not been there for her older sister: something cool, rough, and sad…
Skyla’s eyes widened. Regret, she thought, her heart clenching in her chest. That’s what it is… it’s regret… Luna’s lamentation… Skyla didn’t know how she knew that’s what it was, but she knew. As Luna slowly raised her horn from the railing, the full moon crested the horizon in the east and cast its brilliant silvery light out onto the land… and as its light touched the tower, Skyla felt another round of tears spill out onto her cheeks.
The moon’s light seemed to ignite around Luna, causing the very air around her to sparkle with a myriad of ethereal lights, as if the stars from the heavens had descended to be with their mistress for a moment. The blue alicorn lifted her head and pointed her horn skyward as she lifted her right front leg and tucked it against her chest, her graceful neck and shoulders creating a silhouette that was both beautiful and tragic to Skyla’s senses, and it was all the filly could do to keep from sobbing aloud.
Finally the moon lifted beyond the horizon, and as Luna released her magic the balcony plunged into darkness once more, her glorious mantle fading away until it was naught but a glimmer in the Moon Princess’ eyes before Skyla could so much as say a word. The blue alicorn let out a sigh and turned back to Skyla, who sniffled loudly.
“You… you don’t show that to anypony?” she whispered, her voice thick with tears. Luna smiled and shook her head.
“I have to lower the moon for the Summer Sun Celebration, but it takes very little of my power to bring the moon down. Moonrise, however, is when I must expend the greatest amount of my magic to ensure that the night is properly set in motion, and the only ponies to ever watch me raise the moon are my sister… and now, you.” She closed the distance between them and extended her right wing, its pinions brushing Skyla’s cheek and flicking away some of her tears. “Are you all right?” Luna asked softly. “You’re crying.”
Skyla nodded vigorously and smiled brightly despite the tears still gathering in her eyes. “Yes… I’m just fine. Thank you for asking… and for showing me the moonrise. It was beautiful… more beautiful than any I can ever remember.”
Luna smiled, and Skyla could feel the happiness behind it. “I somehow thought you’d like it,” she whispered. She shifted her wing and gently brushed her wingtip against Skyla’s cheek once more before retracting it with a sigh. “All right, let’s get you back inside – I’m sure that Cadence and Shining Armor would like to know where you are, and I’m certain that Flurry Heart is absolutely beside herself at being left alone.” She took a step towards the door, and Skyla fell into step beside her with a chuckle.
“Yeah, probably… who knew that having a sister could be so much work?” To her surprise, Luna snorted a rather unprincess-ly laugh.
“Oh, I have some stories I could tell you, young Skyla,” she said after a moment, her smile becoming a sly smirk. “Stories about Celestia and just how clingy of a sister she could be…”
Skyla’s eyes widened. “No… no way,” she hissed in disbelief. Luna laughed again.
“Oh, very way,” she replied. “Why, there was this one time, when we were about your age…”
Luna’s magic pulled the door open and admitted the two alicorns back to the tower, and as it closed behind them Skyla had to admit to herself that she couldn’t remember feeling happier than she did right that moment. It was a feeling that she never wanted to go without ever again, and, as she and Luna started down the long staircase that would lead them to the castle proper, she knew that even if she couldn’t always keep this new feeling, she would never, ever forget it.
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It's cool to think of Luna raising the moon in such a manner. I can totally see it, too.
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Thanks very much -- It's pretty easy to make them adorable, but I do my best to make them as cute as possible. X3
And don't worry -- Dad-joke Shining is DEFINITELY going to make a comeback. XD
Amazing chapter, as usual! Loved the portal reference!
Skyla makes an awesome new friend. And maybe she can get Luna to ease out of her shell a little more.
I think Skyla would be quite surprised if she were to watch either Twilight Sparkle or Starlight truly cut loose. She can sense Celestia and now saw Luna, and sure, they're both powerful. It's to be expected that she would be in awe.
Thing is, she has zero idea just how strong Starlight's magic is, and I think she's phenomenally underestimating Twilight.
I think that Skyla is learning that the Legend of the Nightmare is just that, a legend. The real Queen of the Serene and All-Knowing Moon, Regent of Dreams and Princess of the Night is a far more wonderful person than anything that she could imagine.
Skyla took way too many words to ascend those stairs. At least one thousand words too many. You could have gotten across that she was really nervous and still having trouble adjusting, even done so fairly descriptively, in way fewer words than you used. I was getting seriously annoyed reading through that, eagerly waiting to get back to the meat of the story. That was not something that needed to take up over a quarter of the chapter.
The parts with dialogue were better. Things actually happened there that were cute or moved the plot forward.
I'm still looking forward to the next chapter.
Awww... Skyla and Luna come together fantastically. I love the way you described the moonrise - I wonder if the other alicorns, or at least Celestia and Luna, have the sort of magic sight Skyla does, or if that's unique to her.
This is an incredible story - not the usual fare at all, and I'm eager to see where it goes. Thank you for writing this!
Twilight, you're an eccentric weirdo prodigy that's friends with five talented eccentric weirdos who regularly help you save the world. I'd think you'd be more understanding.
Okay... Applejack isn't that eccentric. But Pinkie Pie and Rarity are quite so. And, to a lesser extent, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
Really?
Yeah, I see your point...
Great story so far, nice work.
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This may be of interest to you then.
"I found another book while I was looking." Sunburst said, placing a blue book down on the table. "It's called Time and Relative Dimensions in Space."