Chapter 4
“Geez, ever since you started hanging out with Princess Luna you’ve reverted back to your old sleeping schedule.” Spike said from the astronomy tower common room as Twilight came into it, stretching. She looked up at the clock and saw that it was well after noon, but it was still a few hours until sundown.
“What, you mean none at all?” She retorted with a roll of her eyes. The dragon put a talon to his chin in thought.
“Actually yeah you’re right, you actually sleep. Usually. I guess I can’t complain you’re a night owl.” He said with a shrug and turned back to his book. Twilight took a peek at the cover and found it to be another book about the growth and history of dragons. She couldn’t help but smile at him and kiss him on top of the head. He waved her away but his little giggle betrayed how much he loved it.
“I’m glad you’re learning, I’m probably going to be gone all night again. You gonna be ok?” She asked him.
“Of course! I’ve been able to live on my own for years now! I just like taking care of you.” He replied, sticking his forked tongue out at her for effect. Twilight snorted.
“You take care of me? Riiiiight.” She just said and shook her head.
“Gonna meet with Princess luna again?” He asked. She nodded.
“I’m gonna meet her at the library at sundown, she’s gonna show me a whole lot of super advanced stuff that nobody’s been taught in over a thousand years.” She explained, by the end of it she was practically giddy. Spike just chuckled and booped her nose with her own, earned a scrunched up face and a giggle.
“Just be careful. I don’t really have a bad feeling about this or anything, but something deep inside me just wants you to be careful.” He said. Twilight was going to brush it off as him just being worried about her, which was true regardless, but the way he worded that… Maybe some of the old dragons remembered Luna before her banishment, the things she did. Maybe Spike was tapping into that.
“Don’t worry, I know what I’m getting myself into. She spent all of yesterday making sure.” She said simply, kissing him on the head again and walking off.
“Go get something to eat, when you get excited like this you forget that you need food!” Spike called after her. Twilight stopped as the door closed and looked down. Yeah, she was SUPER hungry. She decided that brunch was the first thing she should take care of. She was delighted to find Celestia in the dining hall just starting her lunch.
“Oh there you are, Twilight. I admit I was slightly worried when you weren’t at breakfast, but I suppose my sister’s Nocturnal schedule has something to do with that.” Celestia said when she entered the room and quickly came over to hug her adoptive mother.
“Pretty much. It’s not much different than when I’m in crunch mode, except I get more than half an hour of sleep. How was court today?” Twilight asked. Celestia practically deflated as a servant put a plate in front of Twilight. It was a plate of a couple grilled cheese with eggs and bacon sandwiches, her favorite brunch!
“My dearest nephew is trying to get into politics again and insisted he sit in as an advisor. I was actually surprised, he was polite for a while. The second the first noble refused to leave when I asked him though he practically exploded at them. After that it all went downhill and he started trying to shout every noble that asked anything of me out of the room. I tolerated it until he insulted a Griffin dignitary and they almost dueled…” Celestia grumbled.
“Please don’t tell me you actually let them duel…” Twilight groaned. Celestia had a particular twinkle in her eye, like the one she had when she introduced Spitfire to Dash.
“Of course I did, I just gave them sticks to duel with instead of blades. It was actually rather impressive- if amusing.” The princess giggled. Twilight just laughed. “How about your last Night court with Luna?” Celestia continued. Twilight hummed.
“A whoooole lot of people trying to run things by her that you rejected, a few people with relevant requests… Oh yeah, I was meaning to ask you! This one noble brought up a decent question. If the Night Guard aren’t for guarding, then who polices the city at night?” The young girl replied. She had been curious since she didn’t really know the answer to that.
“Why, the police of course! They aren’t exactly common to be honest, since most matters that require authority intervention is minor enough for a royal guard or two to take care of. Luna actually came to me about that topic, though, expanding the police force- especially at night. Even got a few volunteers from her night guard to start it off.” The Princess explained. Twilight nodded. She wanted to ask more about the night guard, but knew that if she really wanted to know then she should ask her new mentor. Knowing Celestia, she’d say the same.
“How is Spike doing? I’m afraid nobody has seen him outside of the tower in days.” Celestia broke Twilight out of her thoughts. Twilight snorted.
“He’s pulling a me. He found a few old books about dragons and has been hiding in his cushion fort ever since.” She replied, smiling at her adopted sibling’s similarities with herself.
“I thought so, I’ll have to send him a few of my private copies then if he’s reached that stage of his adolescence. Learning more about himself will help his connection to his kind swimmingly!” Celestia said happily. Twilight smiled and nodded. The meal fell down to comfortable silence again before Celestia stood and servants cleared both of their empty plates.
“I’m afraid I have a mountain of paperwork to get through, I approved a small tax reformation to spread the wealth of the nobility around where it’s needed and I’m going to need to pull an all nighter to word it so they don’t come after me with pitchforks and torches.” The Diarch said ,ending in a grumble.
“I’ll probably be up all night as well, I’ll make sure we stop by if you’re still awake when we’re finished with whatever it is Luna wants to do tonight.” Twilight replied, standing as well. They hugged, Celestia kissed the top of her head like she had done to Spike, and they parted. Celestia practically trudged in the direction of her study while Twilight decided to head to the palace’s library and research her new title. She was aware of old traditions, but had no idea if they still held true.
She was startled out of her reading by a night guard.
“Sir, it’s nearing sundown.” The leather winged Valkyrie said professionally, though she had a particular expression. It seemed like she was happy to be fetching Twilight. Twilight gave her a blank look, looked out of the window, and nearly screamed.
“Our Princess had a feeling you’d be tucked away in here for one reason or another and sent me to make sure you weren’t late.” The Guard continued. Twilight took a deep breath, like Celestia had taught her, and shoved her panic down and crushed it. She wasn’t late. Yet.
“Thank you, miss…” She started, but realized that she didn’t know a single night guard’s name like she did the royal guard.
“Lunar Wind, Sir. Would you like me to escort you? The streets of Canterlot aren’t entirely the safest place in Equestria at night anymore.” The guard asked, smiling softly at being asked her name.
“While I don’t think it’s entirely necessary, it would give me a chance to get to know you. I am at least acquaintances with every royal guard on the payroll, I don’t see why I shouldn’t extend that to you guys.” Twilight replied, smiling. Wind smiled brighter at that and had to suppress a giddy giggle. Twilight took note, but otherwise motioned for the woman to lead on.
“So, what were you reading that had you so tuned out, if you don’t mind me asking?” Wind asked, risking a bit of casual conversation as they walked.
“I was doing some research on my new title of Magus, what it entails, the responsibilities and all that, then I started on the title of Archmage since it’s the next step and… well... There’s a LOT of very OLD traditions that come with both.” Twilight explained. Wind couldn’t repress her soft snort at Twilight’s blush.
“Yes, I am aware of many of them. I assure you that our Princess hasn’t need of the more… private ones. Luckily the nobility couldn’t care less of our half of history or they’d have rioted in the streets at what the title of even Magus implied of the two of you.” Wind went on. Twilight giggled, and we relatively impressed with the guard. She wasn’t just a grunt that’s for sure.
“Tell me, Lunar Wind, what is your role in your work with Princess Luna?” Twilight asked interested. The woman thought for a moment.
“A little bit of everything I suppose. Seneschal, assistant, runner, bodyguard, she even put me in command of the army sent to blockade the Changelings before Celestia demanded neutrality.” Wind replied. Twilight was even more impressed now ,a rather jill of all trades.
“Do you lead the night guard?” Twilight asked. Wind smiled but shook her head.
“Luna leads the Night Guard, as do you now. We are the blades, you are the hands that hold them.” The Dark Valkyrie replied. Twilight’s step faltered, but she caught up as she remembered what exactly it meant to be the protege of a Princess.
“Right… that’s why you called me Sir… Since I am second in command for my Princess.” Twilight said, halfway reciting from what she read. Wind nodded as the Canterlot Library came into view.
“While we have been instructed to treat you as our superior, I don’t believe you’d use that authority any time soon. Oh, wow, she cleans up nicely.” Wind continued, but changed the subject and stopped as she looked towards the Library. Twilight stopped in her tracks as well, seeing that Luna was waiting there. She was standing, leaning against the fountain, and Twilight had never seen her looking like this.
Normally, Luna was either wearing a simple dress under her regalia for special events, or a rather nice but again simple tunic and trousers under her regalia on most days. Tonight, she seemed as if she were meeting the love of her life. She was wearing an elegant dress, the kind even Rarity would drool over. Actually, it looked like something Rarity could have made. It even had a lovely black bow with the moon dyed into it. And she was wearing makeup. Makeup was one modern beauty trend that the princess of the night neither understood nor cared for… but it made her look absolutely stunning. Either she had a secret hobby, or she had a professional touch her up.
“When you said you were going to freshen up, I assumed you were just going to put on clean clothes or something.” Wind said incredulously as she walked closer. Luna, startled out of her thoughts, smiled warmly at her multipurpose assistant.
“One of the maids convinced me to look my best when I mentioned I was ‘going out’... She may have misunderstood, but I haven’t felt pretty like this in a long time.” The Princess replied. “Did you fetch her then?” She continued. Wind, confused, turned around. Twilight was still standing a good few paces away staring at Luna.
“Uh, Twilight? You’re going to make me blush…” Luna said jokingly, though she had a feeling if she didn’t have the small amount of makeup that she did she would have been called a liar. That snapped Twilight out of it.
“O-Oh! Heavens, Princess, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so… prettied up before. I thought you hated Makeup.” The girl finally said as she joined the other two next to the fountain.
“I hate modern makeup and the trends it follows. I don’t see the point of lathering chemicals all over your face every day for an hour. I make my own beauty products, and as such I won’t waste them on daily activity. Reserved the the most special of occasions.” Luna replied.
“What was that about being misunderstood? Sounds to me like you really are ‘going out’.” Wind said. She snorted as Luna shot her a glare and turned. “Right, If I stick around long enough you might actually punish me for being a smartass. I’ll fly my normal rounds. Princess, Sir.” The night guard continued, bowing to both of them before shooting into the air. Not without sticking her tongue out at her princess first, however. Luna just shook her head and chuckled.
“That woman. I love her to death but I swear one day we’re going to get into a fistfight.” The Princess muttered, looking back over to Twilight. The girl seemed a little embarrassed. Luna rolled her eyes.
“I do suppose I got carried away. I just got so… excited...I wanted the first lesson to be special- even if we do away with the old traditions.” The Princess said softly, the last part an attempt to inject humor into it. It failed, though, at least to her .She could feel her blush at the thought.
“You look… absolutely stunning, Princess…” Twilight managed to eep out. Luna’s blush intensified and she was glad Wind was long gone. She scuffed the toe of her very nice shoe on the ground a second, realized what she was doing, shook her head, and then walked over to Twilight and offered a hand.
“Come on then, we haven’t got all night. And thank you dear, I did put more effort than I care to admit into it.” She said with a little laugh. Twilight nodded and took the hand cautiously. They walked into the Library, hand in hand, though at this late hour there weren’t many patrons. The only ones here either fast asleep where they sat or were too engrossed in their studies to notice the odd pair. Luna inclined her head to the librarian, who bowed in her seat, and they walked to a familiar direction.
“Um… I think I could recite the restricted section by memory if I’m honest… any particular reason why we’re going there?” Twilight asked. Luna giggled and led a little faster, that was all the answer Twilight was getting.
There was a somewhat blank wall there, one Twilight was VERY familiar with.
“There’s a secret behind this wall, isn’t there?” Twilight asked, a question she’d asked probably a million times by now.
“Mmmmmhm” Luna simply replied. The gears in Twilight’s head had already started turning, though. She didn’t stop.
“And there’s something special you’ve taught me already that helps me get into it, right?”
“Mmmmmhm”
“Something to do with Dark Magic?”
“Mmmmmhm”
“Let me guess… it’s an illusory wall reinforced with Shadowstuff, Dark Magic, or both, and it reacts to the use of Dark Magic since you and your guard are the only ones that use it?”
“Try for yourself.” Luna finally derailed the exchange. Twilight nodded and, letting go of Luna’s hand finally, stepped up to the wall. She took a deep breath and focused. A thin black tinted lavender tendril of magic coiled around her fingers and she put her hand up to the wall. It turned translucent immediately, and her hand passed right through. Twilight looked back at Luna, who was beaming.
“Very good, Twilight .Your manipulation of it was nearly expert, this time. I’m impressed.” Luna praised her new student. Twilight grinned and they stepped through together, the wall solidifying immediately behind them. It led into a torch lit hallway that felt oddly cool and smelled like a night out in the wilds. Luna took a deep breath of the smell as they walked.
“Heavens I missed this smell. There’s nothing like pure wilderness, the only place you can get this in earnest anymore is in the Everfree.” Luna said, almost as a happy sigh. Twilight took a breath of it too and smiled.
“It is very refreshing.” The girl agrees as they walked. They walked a good hundred or so meters on a downward slope, directly into the mountain Canterlot was built into, and almost suddenly the hallway expended into a massive cavern. There was a beautiful waterfall, lit by luminescent crystals and bioluminescent flora along the walls and in the water, filling most of the cavern. The hallway broke into a long staircase, spiraling down on the outside of the cavern walls until it reached the bottom. Along the way, there were small torchlit alcoves that held bookshelves of all things. There were hundreds of these alcoves!
“Welcome, my student, to the Catacombs. Where knowledge comes to die.” Luna said softly, for once not one for the dramatics.
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obligatory 'it lives' comment
Yessss it's alive it's alive.
Where knowledge comes to die?
Hoo boy, that's going to be a lot of material for Twi to nerd out over.
8738328
FoE and DJ Valkyri-3 got me back into writing, This one is pretty high up there on my to do list XD
8738807
Continue?
8894453
I just got a nice notebook so I should be able to put more into writing soon so hopefully
8895030
Yay
More please.
8895030
Well?
8987499
lol sorry, working a lot lately and been focusing on clockwork dreams. This'll get updated when it gets updated- I have no idea when I'll get the wind I need to do so.
8987973
.....
when can we expect the next chapter?
oh i cant wait for the next chapter! <3
Still hoping for more.
9452282
You and me both my friend
9462033
Any ideas when?
9849966
But overthinking Monarch Political systems is fun! :)
Any news?
9966708
I'm back on my usual content hiatus because working full time and participating in 6 tabletop games a week doesn't spell good news for writing energy
9968217
Aw.....
Please make more chapters for this.
Damn it a cliffhanger... Well I'll put this on the waiting list I guess.
There will be no continuation?
Just read. Is interesting. Will keep watching.
I like this story, I hope to see more of it in the future.
11860385
So basically an alt universe of an alt universe?
Also will this story be continued in the future? hopefully in the near future...? Hopefully in a couple months?
11860388
I wish it could, but the writing muse transferred to DnD a long time ago, and I'm working too much for even that most weeks nowadays