Domain of Friendship

by Cold Bolt

Episode 3-2

The princess of the night stepped out onto the station platform and glanced around nonchalantly.

“Nope.” Spike shook his head and took a step back. “Sorry, Twilight, but I think I’m gonna head back to the library and get some chores done. This is officially above my pay grade.” With that, he turned on his heel and began jogging back toward town.

“Spike, get back here!” Twilight hissed, but this elicited little more than a quick wave from the little dragon. Sighing, she turned back toward the train to find that Princess Luna had spotted them and begun her approach; evidently, Princess Celestia had elected to inform precisely one of the parties involved who she’d be meeting.

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE.”

Princess Luna’s voice boomed, echoing across the platform and causing all the unprepared ponies standing nearby to jump in surprise.

Waterwing quirked an eyebrow, glancing back and forth between Twilight and the newcomer. Wasn’t this the same pony who threatened to cover the land in eternal night and attacked her friends? She even poisoned Tank! Much as it suddenly felt like a less than terrific plan, though, Waterwing realized she’d already agreed to help; she couldn’t just bail and let Twilight down like that, tempting though the idea was.

“Welcome to Ponyville, Princess Luna! I’m very sorry about the lukewarm reception.” Twilight took a quick bow. “Princess Celestia never actually told us who we were meeting, so I wasn’t as prepared as I could have been for your visit.”

“IT IS OF NO CONSEQUENCE,” came Luna’s booming voice once more. Several passersby dashed for cover. “BUT WE WERE NOT INFORMED ABOUT A COMPANION. WE WOULD HAVE YOUR NAME, FRIEND OF TWILIGHT SPARKLE.”

Waterwing winced, rubbing her head gently in an attempt to diminish the ringing in her ears. <Too loud…!>

“This is Waterwing,” Twilight explained. “She agreed to help me show you around town.”

Waterwing gave Luna as neutral a face as she could manage. <Hello.>

In the silence following Waterwing’s greeting, Twilight grinned nervously. “…That was ‘hello.’”

“CHARMED.” Luna looked unimpressed.

The awkward silence continued a moment longer before Twilight spoke up once again. “Well then! Why don’t we get going? I made us a reservation for dinner at the Prancing Pony.”

As the trio made their way through town, Waterwing gave Twilight as meaningful a look as she could manage.

Twilight blinked. “What’s wrong?”

Waterwing glanced backward briefly at Princess Luna. <This same pony who hurt friends…?>

“That’s… a complicated question.” Several paces separated them from Luna, but Twilight kept her voice low all the same. “Her transformation into Nightmare Moon was a willing one, but the precise effects of such dark magic on a pony’s psyche aren’t well documented. I know Princess Celestia trusts that she’s not dangerous anymore, though, or she wouldn’t have asked us to look after her for the evening. Besides… I kind of feel bad for her.”

Waterwing quirked a particularly incredulous eyebrow at Twilight.

“Princess Celestia only meant to use the Elements of Harmony to dispel Nightmare Moon’s dark magic, but as I found out firsthoof, they’re very difficult for one pony to control properly on her own, even if that pony is an alicorn… and she ended up banishing her own sister to the moon.” Twilight sighed. “For a thousand years, the only thing Princess Luna had to keep her company was the corruption poisoning her heart. I won’t excuse what she did, but I’m not surprised she lashed out like that as soon as she returned.”

A thousand years… Waterwing felt a pang of guilt in her heart as she realized she’d forgotten that particular detail of the story; she could barely imagine living for so long in the first place, never mind spending such a stretch completely alone.

“Waterwing…”

The very idea made her shiver fearfully. She wasn’t exactly huge on psychology, but she at least knew that if ponies were anything like humans (and from what she’d seen thus far, it was nearly undeniable), such prolongued solitude would inflict heavy, and likely irreparable, psychological damage to Luna.

“Waterwing?”

On second thought… while she did seem rather gruff overall for Waterwing’s taste, she had to admit that under the circumstances, Luna appeared to be doing quite well. Perhaps this was the influence of the blast she took from the Elements? It wasn’t very clear what exactly that beam had done to her, so it might be possible…

“Waterwing, look out for - ”

SMACK

Waterwing staggered backward, rubbing her now slightly smushed muzzle. A wooden sign hanging above her, swaying lightly in the breeze, bore the emblem of a dancing pony. Evidently, she’d gotten so distracted by her thoughts that she failed to notice having arrived at her destination, and promptly walked face-first into the front door.

Twilight blinked. “Are you okay?”

With a sheepish grin, Waterwing nodded. <Mistake…!>

Raising her hoof, Twilight gave the door a firm knock and took a step back.

After a brief pause, the upper half of the door swung open, revealing the head and shoulders of a smartly-dressed stallion with a dainty moustache. “Welcome to ze Prancing Pony. Do you have, how you say, ze reservation?”

Twilight beamed. “Yes! It should be under 'Sparkle,’ I think?”

The stallion reached for a nearby notebook and began glancing back and forth between it and the party assembled before him. “Ah, zen let me - hmm?” He paused, as though unsure of what he’d just seen, and gave them a closer look. Pleasantly smiling lavender unicorn, fair enough. Plain-looking blue pegasus, nothing wrong there. Suspiciously familiar jet black alicorn twice his height giving him a stern look that sent a chill down his spine…

Welp.

The stallion immediately began sweating profusely. “Very sorry, closing early, come back tomorrow for full refund!”

“Wait, wh - ” Before Twilight could protest, the door slammed closed in front of her. She tried knocking again, but this yielded no response. “But I haven’t paid anything yet…”

“…I told her this would happen.”

Given its lack of excessive volume, it took Waterwing several seconds to realize that this line had come from Luna. All of a sudden, the princess seemed like a totally different pony, now sitting back and staring dejectedly at the dirt.

“The wounds have not yet healed,” Luna explained. “These ponies are no less fearful of me now than they were the morning of the Celebration. I warned my sister this would be the case, but she was adamant and insisted I pay a visit regardless. I wish I could say the vindication was satisfying.”

Waterwing’s ears drooped as she glanced at Twilight. <What do…?>

Twilight bit her lip; this was going downhill much more quickly than she had anticipated. “I-It’s alright, Princess! We’ll just find another restaurant. Do… you like hayburgers?”

Luna held up a hoof. “You need not trouble yourself, Twilight Sparkle. I was not very hungry either way.”

“But…!” Twilight began to protest, but soon found herself unable to reply as she realized she hadn’t planned for this particular contingency, and instead turned to her companion. “If the ponies of Ponyville are too afraid to serve Princess Luna, then all my plans are completely blown out of the water… What do we do? We can’t send her back to Canterlot like this.”

Waterwing’s face lit up as the answer came to her. With a quick hop, she hovered in front of Luna… and, smiling softly, spread her forelegs wide.

To her dismay, Luna’s only reaction was to stare at her in confusion.

Twilight pulled Waterwing back to the ground with a gentle tug of her magic. “Um… I know your heart’s in the right place and all, but I don’t really think it’s appropriate to offer the princess a hug.”

Waterwing’s eyes began to water. <No hug…?>

Twilight raised a hoof to her forehead and sighed. “There must be something else we can do…”

Waterwing nodded. <Idea!>

“You have another idea?” Twilight tilted her head.

<Follow!> Motioning with her hoof and grinning confidently, Waterwing’s wings kicked up dust as she took off down the road.

Twilight gave Luna an apologetic look. “Sorry about the wait, Princess, but it looks like we’ll be… uh, doing something… somewhere else!”

Luna hesitated for a moment, unsure about whether or not it was worth the bother. “…Very well. Lead the way then.”