Chapter 2 - Hollow Shades
Silence, but not the kind that Luna liked. Not the kind of peace and contentment, but the kind of unasked and unanswered questions, punctuated with the ticking of a clock and the scrape of utensils against crockery. Worse, Luna knew that they weren’t usually like this, that this family was only uncomfortable and tense due to her intrusion. It made her feel unwanted, hostile, alien. Secretly, she hoped that a guard would come and buck the door in, shouting about an emergency that needed her attention that would free her from the deep discomfort. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen, and she’d have to be political about it.
“This meal is lovely, Ms Velvet, Mr Light.” She smiled more brightly than she felt. “I’ll have to have one of my chefs borrow the recipe for these stuffed peppers.”
“I’ll write a copy out for you, your majesty.” Twilight Velvet answered hastily. It was the fifth time that Luna had dined with Twilight’s family, but it took a lot of time for ordinary ponies to get used to the Princess’ company. And, she thought as she adjusted on the cushions, it took a lot of time for them to decide to invest in an alicorn-sized chair.
“I will say, from prior experience, I’m excited for tonight’s dessert, too!”
“Dessert!” Twilight’s father gasped, shooting up from the table and dashing into the kitchen, his fork clattering to the plate.
Uncomfortably, Luna looked down at her plate, toying with the last mouthful of food. This always happened, didn’t it?
“I’ll, uh,” Spike pushed his chair away from the table, his plate already empty. “Just go and see if dad needs any help.”
“Thank you, Spike.” Twilight smiled. “So, Shiny, has anything interesting happened at the castle lately?”
“Nothing to report, ma’am!” Her brother snapped, and Luna internally sighed. She knew Shining Armour well, given that he was first in line to be next captain of the Guard, but he still couldn’t relax around her, even in what was supposed to be a friendly environment.
“The dessert will be some more time. I-I must not have preheated the oven well enough. I’m very sorry, your majesty.”
“Oh, don’t apologise, Mr Light, these things happen.” Luna waved a hoof in what she hoped was a friendly way, eating the last bite of her meal. She paused for a few moments, waiting for someone else to make conversation, before getting to her hooves, remembering not to stretch out too much, lest she’d destroy a family picture or trinket. “I’ll just get five minutes of fresh air, in that case. Make sure my moon hasn’t gone anywhere.” Her joke wasn’t appreciated, but that was the case in pretty much every setting, and she stepped out into the chill, autumn evening air, inhaling deeply and exhaling steam. She stretched her wings for a few moments, before trotting to the fence of the house’s back garden, smiling at the old, discoloured slide and swingset.
“I’m really sorry about this, Princess.” Twilight walked beside Luna, her head drooping. “They’re never usually like this, it’s just…”
“I’m scarier than I am in the papers?” Twilight nodded slowly, and Luna smiled. “You don’t need to apologise, Twilight; I know the effect that I have on most ponies. Yes, I’d like it if we could be more candid, but I’m happy enough to just meet with them. Have a home-cooked meal without being harassed by Guards. And I know they’re good ponies, because they raised a good filly.”
Twilight blushed a little bit and looked away from Luna, looking up at the expansive starscape above them. “You should disguise yourself. Use some magical glamours to look like a normal unicorn, then visit dad’s shop. Then you’d be able to see him properly.”
It was an idea that Luna had thought of before, but previously dismissed it - how would it damage trust in her if the ponies discovered it? “I’ll think about it.” She glanced back at the house, ensuring that the pair were still alone in the garden. “Twilight, do you think they… dislike me taking you away?”
Twilight tensed for a moment, before she sighed. “Yes. They think it’s dangerous, and that I should be staying at the castle to stay safe.”
“It is dangerous, sometimes.” Luna conceded. “And your staying behind wouldn’t affect your tutelage at all.”
“I know, but I want to come with you. Sometimes it’s best to learn by doing, right?”
Luna smiled. “Right.”
They called what they were going on soon their adventures - times when Luna was called away from Canterlot to deal with a more serious problem, and Twilight (and, now that he was older, Spike) accompanied her to learn and offer assistance. Of course these adventures could be dangerous; they’d combated an incursion of changelings in Los Pegasus, fought a corrupted mage in Baltimare, and stopped an entire migration of monsters from the Everfree moving on the tiny frontier town of Appleloosa. But, Luna hoped, they were a learning experience for Twilight. And, truthfully, the little unicorn had helped a great deal in some of those adventures.
Little unicorn. No, Luna had to stop thinking of her like that: that tiny foal was almost a fully-grown mare, and one that her family should’ve been proud of. Her tutelage would be ending soon, and she’d be going onto bigger things, most likely. And so, Luna wanted to invite her along for one more adventure together.
“Twily,” the elder Twilight had emerged from the house. “Would you help your father set the table for dessert?”
“Of course, mum!” Twilight trotted back to the house, and Luna heard her mother walking closer.
“I’m sorry that we can't offer you more, Princess Luna.”
“Please, Ms Velvet, I am quite content. To be able to get away from the castle for a little while, have some lovely home-cooked food, and meet my prize student’s family, that’s plenty for me. I’m sorry that I’m taking her away again.”
Twilight Velvet sighed heavily. “I know that it’s her decision. I think it’s a silly decision, but she’s old enough to make it for herself. And I know that she’ll have the Princess ensuring that she doesn’t come to any harm.”
Luna felt some pride at that, and relief that they were talking somewhat candidly for a brief moment. “Anything that wants to harm Twilight Sparkle will have to go through me first, I can promise you that.”
“I know. Thank you, Princess Luna. Sometimes it feels like I don’t see my daughter for days now, but I know that she’s safe and she’s learning to be the best that she can be. That’s all that a mother can really ask for, isn’t it?”
“I truly appreciate your honesty with me. And I’m glad that you trust me with caring for your daughter. And if there is anything at all that I can do for your family, you need only ask.”
“Unless you can fix writer’s block, I don’t think there’s anything that we need. We have a good life.”
They paused for a long moment, in much more comfortable silence than before. “If I may burden you, Miss Velvet, there is something else I’d like to ask you.”
“You may ask me anything, Princess.”
In a flash of navy light, an object appeared, hovering in front of Luna in her magical aura. A slightly dog-eared, hardback book. The Lights of Canterlot, by Twilight Velvet, the cover read. “Would you sign this for me?” Luna asked, struggling to hold in her enthusiasm. “I decided to pick up a copy from the castle library, and I just fell in love. Is your next book going to be a sequel? I’d love to read more of the story!”
Twilight Velvet gaped, stunned and struggling to find words for a long moment, before she was saved by a shout from Spike. “Dessert’s ready!”
“I-I’ll get my pen for you after dessert, Princess. I-If that’s alright. I think Spike’s made one of his soufflés!”
“Are you sure you want to come with me, Twilight? You must’ve done this with me a dozen times now.”
“Really, Princess, I enjoy it! It’s a nice tradition before we go off on one of our adventures.”
“Alright then.” Luna smiled, walking into the gardens. “Come along.”
The gardens of Canterlot Castle were massive and expansive, open to the public as a public park - though at this time, approaching midnight, they were utterly empty aside from the Princess and her student. They stood at the entrance to the area that Luna called the Statue Garden, a mazelike area dotted with statues and sculptures of cultural significance. The entrance was a tall, stone archway, with one statue looming over it.
It was called, according to its polished, brass plaque, the Tribes United. In fine, white stone, it depicted a group of larger-than-life ponies. An earth pony and a unicorn stood flank-to-flank, sprouting plants emerging from around the earth pony’s hooves, and books and scrolls were around the unicorn’s. Above the pair was a pegasus, avian wings spread and a fluffy cloud under a foreleg, and a thestral, bat wings spread and an old-fashioned spear in hoof. It was an ancient sculpture, and a very famous one. Famous enough that the Princess only gave it a moment of study, and a little smile, before she walked on.
“Come along, Students’ Corner, you know that’s where I’m going first.” Of course, Luna’s favourite part of the Gardens. In amongst the maze of hedges and trees was a large clearing, dotted with benches and with a tall bandstand in the centre, surrounded by five statues of ponies, larger than they were in life, each about Luna’s size.
“Will you tell me about them again?” Twilight walked into the bandstand, settled on one of its benches.
“Would you like me to? I must’ve told you so many times now.”
“I love to hear you talk about them.” And, honestly, Twilight did; Luna’s students were all well-documented historical figures, but to hear it from the horse’s mouth was special. Luna made them feel like individuals, rather than legends.
And so Twilight turned to follow Luna as she trotted to the first of them. The statue depicted a stallion with a smiling face and a cutie mark, not unlike Twilight’s, depicting a pattern of stars. The First, its plaque read, and a crescent moon was at his hooves.
“Starbright Moonlight was the first unicorn I tutored. This was a long, long time ago, a little over a century after I first raised the sun. He was the son of one of the castle’s servants. And this was in the days before schooling for all foals, so while his mother worked, he would trot around the castle, making trouble. He became quite attached to me, for some reason, and would follow me around, asking me to teach him spells or read to him. And I was rather… prone to melancholy back then, so I found this deeply irritating. Some colt interfering with my moping time.”
Luna said that last part as a joke, and Twilight smiled, but she knew that there was genuine guilt beneath it.
“And one day, I snapped at him. I told him that I was sick and tired of his following me everywhere, and that I’d never teach him any of my spells. Of course, that upset him, and I quickly realised what I’d done, and tried to apologise as he ran off to his mother. It affected me a great deal, and made me realise that my misery did not just affect me. So, I decided to be better, and care for the foals. I opened all the schools because of it, but not before I promised to teach him whatever he wanted to know. And, for a long while, I did.”
Luna lingered there for a long few moments, smiling at the statue’s face, touching its forehoof with one of her own. Then, she walked onto the next, The Carer according to its plaque, depicting a slight unicorn with stone flowers around her hooves and a cutie mark of similar flowers.
“Then, much later, came Blossomer. I met her when she walked around the front of the castle, using her magic to coax entire flower beds into bloom in an instant. And, when I spoke to her, she didn’t realise at all just how difficult that should’ve been. She was a very unique unicorn, because she didn’t understand the theory of magic at all, she was barely even literate. She just… did it, and it worked, in exactly the way that it shouldn’t for most unicorns.
“I eventually taught her to read properly, but she never liked it.” Twilight pulled a funny face at that concept, and Luna gave her a smile. “The most intensive things she ever read were penny dreadfuls. If I could’ve ever convinced her to read an actual textbook, well, I’m convinced that she would’ve been able to raise the sun far better than I.”
Another affectionate touch from Luna, and she moved onto the next, The Protector. If the scale was consistent across these statues, this unicorn would’ve been the size of Luna in life, and he was as broad as a particularly impressive earth pony. And he was clad in old-style Guard armour, one foreleg resting on a kite shield, similar to the one depicted by his cutie mark.
“And then Rarelast. Much like your brother, his speciality was in magical shielding. And his were, without a doubt, the most incredible I’d ever seen. He was competent, at the very least, in almost all other areas of magic, his grasp of the theory was more than passable, but his barrier spells… he was better than the rest of the Guard combined when on the defensive, I have no doubt.
“Indeed, I’m not ashamed to admit that he was much stronger than me in that way. I couldn’t break his barriers, much of the time. I’m fairly sure that he always believed I was holding back, not giving it my all when I attacked them, but I most certainly was not. A true gentle giant, too, I sincerely believe that he never even offended a pony in his life. And, to this day, his descendants are Guardsponies. None with quite his magical potency, but all with his heart.”
Luna flapped her wings to come to the sculpted stallion’s eye level, press her forehead against his, and then move to The Innovator, a unicorn mare with a cutie mark of firework-like sparks. The mare was sat on her hind legs, her forelegs holding an open book, its pages marked with dots rather than traditional lettering.
“Star Eyes came from the far north, close to the frozen north. She was born blind. And her parents brought her all the way to Canterlot, without the help of trains, believing that I could heal her. Of course, I couldn’t, and the family were going to leave broken-hearted. I offered them work and a place to stay at the castle, and I had little Star enrolled at the School to give her the best education I could. She had a great magical talent, but limited by her inability to truly learn the theory. Until, one day, I went to her room, and found that she’d gouged marks into the walls in a sort of shorthand that she could feel to read.”
“And then you created braille.” Twilight grinned.
“No, she created braille. I helped. And once we had that, the doors were open for her. Her perspective helped us create modern magical theory, making it more science than guesswork. She created more spells than any mage since Starswirl, and made it her life’s work once she was free of my tutelage to teach other disadvantaged ponies. Such a pure soul.”
Another affectionate, motherly touch, before Luna moved onto the final statue. A unicorn of similar build to Twilight, with a cutie mark of a sun and a confident smile on her face, bottles and alchemical equipment around her hooves. The Witch, her plaque read.
“I always hated that title.” Luna chuckled, gesturing to the plaque. “Thought it made her sound wicked.”
“You could’ve told her not to use it.”
Luna laughed, shaking her head. “Spoken like someone who’s never taught Sunset Shimmer. If you tell her that she can’t do something, she’ll just want to do it more, unless you can give her a very good reason not to do something. And she is right, it’s a traditional term to refer to herbalists and alchemists, and she is one of the better alchemists I’ve ever seen. I don’t need to tell you how she is, you’ve exchanged letters, ambitious, brave, sometimes headstrong, but deeply intelligent and with a good heart under it all. I first met her in one of the orphanages in Canterlot, when she’d almost burned it to the ground. Powerful magic, but lacking in control.”
Luna lingered for the shortest time at Sunset’s statue, though her smile was no smaller, before she turned back to Twilight. “And that’s them all, until we have yours put in.”
Twilight blushed. “I don’t need a statue, Princess Luna.”
“And I bet you don’t even want one, knowing you.” Luna gestured for Twilight to follow as she walked elsewhere in the garden. “But I want one of you. So that everypony can remember you, and know that you, Twilight Sparkle, are a wonderful pony.”
“Really, Princess, I-I don’t need some sort of reputation. I’m happy to just study and learn from you.”
“I know,” Luna’s voice was low and soft. “But it’s for me. So when you’re done learning from me, when you go off and write books, change magic, teach other ponies, find a special somepony, raise foals of your own, poor old Luna will be able to come and look at the statue and remember the nice times with Twilight Sparkle.”
She was half-teasing and half-serious, so Twilight giggled but let Luna embrace her with a warm, blanket-like wing as they walked in the moonlit maze, past the statues of heroes and scholars from time long gone. “Well, I guess that’s OK then. For you, Luna.”
Luna liked it when Twilight dropped the title in private, it made them feel more close, like Twilight really was part of her family. “And this is one of my very favourite statues.”
They were in a clearing that Twilight didn’t recognise (she still wasn’t convinced that there wasn’t some sort of magic to the navigation of the gardens), a circular grove in between the tall hedges, dominated by a willow tree and a carpet of white, night-blooming flowers parting only for an alicorn-sized bench and the statue. It was a dark stone, life-sized statue of a batpony mare in Guard armour, one wing extended to shelter a sleeping earth pony filly, as though from rain or sun. Her fanged smile was kindly, and her cutie mark was of a shield with a full moon in the centre. Twilight walked in front of her, and leaned forwards to wipe the moss from the statue’s plaque. Umbral Skies, it read in the old unicorn script, The friend I needed the most. When she looked up, Twilight realised that, from this angle, the thestral’s wing was sheltering the castle, too.
“A long time ago, just when my sister left, Equestria was in grave danger.” Luna explained, standing beside Twilight. “Umbral was one of my very closest friends, and she gave absolutely everything to protect us all. She was a wonderful pony, and the world would be very different if it weren't for her.” Luna smiled, but the corner of her mouth trembled slightly. “You must be fed up of this old mare’s sentiment by now, Twilight, I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine.” Twilight assured as Luna walked to lay on the bench, her limp suddenly more noticeable. She studied the statue for another moment, before asking a question prompted by what Luna had said. “If I may, Princess… why aren’t there any statues of your sister?” Luna gave her a thoughtful look, as though she’d never expected to hear that question. “You speak very fondly of her, I was just wondering…” Twilight trailed off, wondering if she shouldn’t have asked. Luna studied her with an inscrutable expression, and was silent for just long enough that Twilight opened her mouth to apologise.
“I am fond of her, I love her. She’s my best friend. I don’t have any statues of her, because the statues are for me to remember ponies I might not see again. Of course, I do believe that I’ll see some of them again, but I could be wrong. But I know that I will see my sister again. I won’t need a statue to remember her, because I’ll get a chance to embrace her and speak of everything again.” Luna gave a faraway smile, wiped her eyes with a fetlock, and looked back to Twilight. “And you should never apologise for asking me a question, Twilight. Now, come along,” she stood again, stretching her wings. “We should be picking up Spike and meeting our train.”
So Twilight clambered onto the Princess’ back, comfortable being carried this way after this many years, and they lifted off into the starry night, an adventure beckoning to them.
A steam train chugged gently away from Canterlot in the advancing night. It pulled six carriages - two carried passengers, three carried cargo, but it was the very rear carriage that was the most interesting. Compared to the others, it was long, and grand, painted in deep, elegant purple and lined with clear windows. Its own chimney allowed black wood smoke to flow and meld with the coal smoke from the engine far ahead of it. Inside, the carriage was a palace in miniature, a bedroom with a wide, full-moon bed, a study desk beside the fireplace, a sizable stack of bookshelves, and a washtub. There had used to be a miniature dining area, but that had been removed to make space for the smaller beds that now also occupied the carriage.
“Have you been to Hollow Shades before, Twilight?” Luna asked, sitting calmly on her fine bed. She spent so long in transit between many cities, she couldn’t blame herself for indulging in a good bit of luxury for her carriage.
“No, Princess.” Twilight sat at the study desk, scrutinising her notes by candlelight.
“I wanted to build the castle there, you know. It is one of my favourite places in all of Equestria. Quiet and beautiful.” Luna smiled. “Of course, that would’ve all changed if I had built the castle there. So Canterlot was a good decision, really.”
“What was Canterlot like back then?” Twilight turned around in her seat. “I’ve seen the old pictures, but it’s nice to hear these things from a pony.”
Luna crossed her forelegs and rested her chin on them. “Smaller. It was still the largest settlement around, but it was much more quiet and small. The shelf that holds it on the mountainside was almost all natural, with just a few expansions from magical artificers. When we came to build the new castle, we expanded the shelf massively, and the city slowly grew around it. The shelf is still expanding now, of course, but I’m sure you’ve seen that most new parts of the city are built on the mountainside instead.”
“Why was the shelf first built?” Twilight asked, ever-curious.
“Honestly, I’ve wondered that as well. I think the artificers living on the mountain wanted to show off their grasp of metallurgy, but they must’ve been very confident to live dangling off the edge of a mountain. But they were right to be confident, I suppose.”
Twilight nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer, and returned to her parchment, sparing a glance to Spike, soundly asleep in his own bed. Luna watched the landscape pass by outside the window, the plains soothing her mind with the starlight and the gentle bumps of the train tracks. It was late in the long night, so she was tired. Soon, she’d let the sun begin its rise, then sleep for an hour or two. Then she’d complete the sunrise, and rest for the rest of the morning at the very least. The train would reach its destination not too long after that.
But first, Luna checked the thick file of documents relating to this journey. She inhaled deeply, steeling herself before she flicked it open, laying it on the bed beside her and taking the first piece of paper, a brief report penned in Shining Armour’s familiar cursive.
7 ponies disappeared from Hollow Shades over the past month, cause unknown.
- Ivory Spirit and Sapphire Jewel, husband and wife traveling salesponies. Disappeared around the 8th, exact time and date unknown.
- Velvet Swirl, fruit farmer, went out to check on orchards the evening of the 14th and did not return.
- Auroralea, shopkeeper, stepped out of dinner at the Red Melon on the 19th for fresh air and did not return.
- Lucky Star and Peppermint Spice, students, and Smokey Breeze, groundskeeper, vanished from Princess Luna’s School for Young Thestrals between end of classes and morning meal of the 22nd.
Hollow Shades Town Guard are requesting assistance from the Royal Guard for their investigation, awaiting your permission.
The first thing that Luna had done - or the second, if you included charging through half the castle at breakneck speeds to personally send a telegram to the School staff instructing them to send the foals safely home immediately - was send a reply assigning much of the Guard to Hollow Shades, and requesting more information on the disappeared ponies. That was when she’d been sent this thick file, and she’d assembled a page of her own notes from what she’d studied there.
- All the missing are thestral ponies, aside from Smokey Breeze, earth pony.
- The time between disappearances is becoming shorter as time goes by.
- The exact time of disappearance is unclear for all ponies.
- There is no obvious pattern in where in the town the ponies disappeared from.
- The Town Guard found no clear evidence at any of the disappearance scenes.
Shaking her head at the almost worthless notes, she sorted the file and closed it shut again, placing it onto the desk beside Twilight’s notes. The response had been quick after the report was sent to her, and it was a few hours into the morning of the 23rd now, Luna and Twilight attending the tiny, isolated town on the very next train after the one that had brought the Royal Guard to assist in the investigation.
Of course, they weren’t investigators; in fact, Luna was half-expecting to be met at the station by a sheepish group of Town Guard offering an explanation regarding distant family members and an out-of-control game of hide-and-seek. But her presence would be reassuring to the residents of the town, the family of the missing, and her promises of action were often more significant-feeling than those from Guardsponies. And, well, perhaps she and Twilight could help: she had undergone no training, but a millennium of life gave her a different perspective that could be helpful, and Twilight's thorough, organised nature would certainly be a benefit.
“You should be getting some sleep, young Miss Sparkle.” Luna instructed her student.
“Yes, Princess.” Twilight nodded, rubbing her baggy eyes, and walked to fall into her bed. Luna watched, smiling slightly, as she shuffled around under the sheets, bundling the blanket tight around her. “Goodnight, Luna.”
“Sweet dreams, Twilight.” She watched Twilight turn over a few times before the motion of the train lulled her into a deep sleep, then used her magic to tuck her in tight and safe. With another burst of magic, she willed the sun to begin its rise, to tint the eastern sky a beautiful amber. It would need another burst of magic to climb the rest of the way into the sky in an hour or two, but until then, Luna could pull her blankets over her neck, and let the motion of the train and the soft breathing of Twilight and Spike lull her to sleep.
It was mid-afternoon when the train reached the Hollow Shades station, but it wasn’t easy to know that; the town of Hollow Shades was in the midst of the Shaded Forest, notable for tall trees that had a habit of bending over any clearings, effectively almost entirely blocking out the sun and leaving the town in a permanent twilight for most of the day. For the nocturnal thestral ponies, this made it ideal - their slit-pupiled eyes were extremely sensitive to light, and they often simply couldn't function in full daylight. So the largely solitary fourth tribe had constructed the town of Hollow Shades, a city that existed in the one significant clearing in the woods, with a good half the population living in isolated homesteads deeper into the forest.
The Shaded Forest was, unfortunately, not without its dangers: while it was no Everfree Forest in terms of monsters, chimeras, ursa, manticores, and hydra had all been seen. Indeed, if you believed all of the reports, a tatzlwurm had apparently made it into the area recently. In the ancient times, thestrals had supposedly been the protectors of the other tribes, acting as something akin to Guard for the other tribes in the dead of night, even though they were feared and unwanted.
Throughout her reign, Luna had worked hard to rectify that, with some good success; thestrals weren’t feared or rejected in polite society anymore, though their solitary and nocturnal nature meant that they were still very uncommon outside of Hollow Shades. She couldn’t blame the other ponies for being afraid, not entirely - bat wings and sharply pointed fangs were not exactly the most endearing features for ponies. But, well, she knew from her own life that one couldn’t judge a book by its cover.
“Do you think I should take my bags, or leave them on the train?”
“Leave them, Twilight: if we have to stay the day, someone will take them to the inn for us.” Luna assured as the train slowly came to a stop at the tiny, slate-roofed train station.
“OK.” Twilight bit her lip, leaning over Spike’s shoulder to double-check her lengthy checklist. Secretly, Luna envied her organisation. Not necessarily the ability for it, Luna was confident that she could do it if she tried, but the sheer patience needed. “Are we missing anything, Spike?”
“No, Twilight.” The little dragon sighed, rolling up the scroll. “And if we are, whatever it is will be back in Canterlot by now!”
“You’re right.” Twilight sighed, crossing to the nearest window to look out on the station.
The train station was absolutely packed with a bustling mass of ponies, not an uncommon sight when the Princess’ train was due, but the attitude of the crowd was very different to usual; instead of joyous waving, the ponies all seemed subdued and nervous, clutching suitcases and foals close to them. Guards in armour stood amongst the crowd, but they seemed too subdued to make any real trouble, and merely watched the train come in with worried eyes.
“They’re scared?” Spike asked. Neither he nor Twilight had ever seen so many batponies before, all clustered together and as common as unicorns in Canterlot.
“Given the disappearances, I suspect they’re leaving for their own safety.” Luna answered. “I’ll speak to them once the train stops.”
The three watched out of the window in silence as the train slowly came to a stop, and Luna moved to the front of her door, clearing her throat and double-checking her wings. When the door slid open, the crowd became less subdued for just a moment to gasp in surprise at the Princess’ appearance as she stepped onto the platform.
After a long moment of silence, she gave them all a sad sort of smile.
“My goodness, what you have all been through. So many days and weeks of worry and fear, now topped off by having to leave your very homes behind to feel safe. I understand why, and know that my heart aches for every single one of you. Know that my Guards and I will not rest for a moment until Hollow Shades is rid of this terror, and you can all safely return to your homes. Until then, know that you will be offered safety and accommodation by the Guard in whatever city you choose to stay in.” She bowed her head low to the crowd, and they mumbled thanks and bowed in return. Then, the crowd parted as she walked away from the train, Twilight and Spike close behind. Normally, this close to the Princess, there’d be chatter and shouts and requests for photographs, but there was just worried, reverent silence, until they walked down off the platform, and met the Guards waiting for them.
They both saluted smartly, and settled back to attention at a tiny nod from Luna. On the left stood the Royal Guard’s representative, in golden armour, the up-and-coming Shining Armour (Twilight struggled not to grin at her big brother, who had rushed off midway through dessert to catch the train here)). On the right, in matte grey, was the Town Guard’s leader, a thestral mare with a purplish coat and deep blue mane.
“Thank you both. Let us walk.” Luna instructed, setting off at a walk in the direction of the town. “I did not realise that you were personally leading the Royal Guard contingent here, Captain Armour.”
“I thought that it would be pertinent, ma’am.”
“Don’t mistake my surprise for displeasure, Captain, I am glad to have you here. Is there any news regarding the disappearances?”
“No, your majesty. The entire town’s on high alert, and the Guard are heading to the outlying homesteads to spread the news.”
“Good, good. Nectar,” Luna turned to the batpony, who perked up slightly. “Is there anything we should see right away?”
“Some of the foals from the School haven’t been able to go home yet.” She had a slight lisp. “I think it’d be good if you could talk to them.”
“Lead on, then. Captain, don’t let me keep you if you have duties elsewhere.” Saluting again, Shining Armour broke off from the group and Luna fell back slightly from the Town Guard Captain, whispering to Twilight and Spike. “I’d like it if you could check the rooms of the missing foals while I talk to the students. Use that finding spell we practised for me.”
“Yes, Princess.” Twilight whispered back as they approached the School.
Luna had entered the School intending to investigate the disappearances like a fictional super-sleuth (Sherlock Hooves, that had been a good series back in the day, one of her favourites on the rare occasion that she had time to read). But once she’d seen the fearful, confused foals, she instantly knew what was more important. And so, she’d spent a long while speaking with them, telling stories from long ago to the entire group or sharing words with individuals. When their guardians picked each of the children up, she exchanged words with them as well. Many were following the other thestrals and fleeing the town for safety. Secretly, Luna thought that was quite wise.
“Look, Princess! It’s you!” A roll of paper was shoved into her face, depicting, in childish scrawl, a blue pony with lopsided wings and a horn about as long as her entire body.
“Oh, it’s lovely, Brave!” She took it from the colt in her hooves, smiling broadly. He was one of three foals still waiting with Luna in the School’s hall. She sat surrounded by crayons, toys, and scraps of paper, the three foals all close enough for her to feel them breathing.
“You can keep it.” He informed her, proudly.
“Well thank you very much. I know just where I’m going to put it in the castle.” It was true; over the years, she’d accumulated many such gifts, but she had never permanently disposed of any of them. It would sit proudly on a wall for at least a decade, before she’d sort it away with all the others. Some nights, she would do little except go through all the old drawings, preserved with magic. It was good when she felt like she needed a good cry.
“Mummy!” Two of the remaining foals leaped away from Luna, trotting up to the thestral woman who had entered the hall. She wore Night Guard armour, which excused her tardiness, and Luna merely gave her a soft smile as she beckoned her twins away. The last, a filly who sat right between Luna’s forelegs, she knew was the foal of one of the School’s teaching staff. Now that the rest of the students were away, her parent would be there soon.
“Princess Luna!” Spike jogged up, panting slightly. “Twilight wants to see you! If, um, you know, you have a moment.”
“I think I do. Can you keep an eye on this one until her mother returns, it shouldn’t be too long?” Luna ruffled the quiet filly’s mane as she stood. “Thank you for your company, little one.”
Luna moved calmly and regally to the corridor, setting off at a trot once she was there. Spike had been worried; Twilight must have found something. So, when she came to the two neighbouring rooms with the doors hanging open, she immediately looked into the first, not taking in anything except for Twilight’s absence. And she wasn’t in the next, either. Panic surged in Luna’s chest, and she flared her wings, ready to take to the sky and find this abductor herself before they could abscond with her favourite student.
“Twilight Sparkle!” She bellowed with ancient practise, making the walls tremble.
“Princess?” Twilight squeaked, her head poking through the open window of the room.
Luna folded her wings, her heart slowing, mentally scolding herself for the haste of her worry. “I’m sorry, Twilight, I did not mean to startle you.” Focusing for a moment, she teleported herself to stand beside Twilight. Here, behind the school, was a playground for the youngest foals, all small slides and swingsets. It backed onto the half of the School for older students, separated by a fence that would stop a foal, but little more.
“Look, Princess! I tried the finding spell, and something showed up!” She pointed to the ground at her hooves, where something glowed the purple of Twilight’s magic. Luna bent low to the ground, scrutinising them closely. An adult pony’s, in horseshoes. “I think they might be the groundskeeper’s.”
“I am inclined to agree, Twilight.” Luna stood upright, following the line of hoofprints through the playground with her eyes. “But where did he go? Can you keep the spell up while we follow the trail?” Twilight nodded eagerly, and they set off to slowly trace the hoofprints. The groundskeeper had walked to the windows of each of the missing foals, and Luna fought off the urge to immediately accuse him of wrongdoing. Then, he walked to the edge of the playground, climbed the fence, and walked through the narrow alleyways between the School’s buildings.
Then, the glowing tracks vanished into the shadowed forest, unerring and straight.
“Should we keep following them, Princess?”
“No, Twilight, not yet.” Luna turned to her student. “Can you remember this spot?” Another eager nod. “Then we’ll come back here soon, and follow them. The spell will be able to pick them up for another few hours. I need more information from Nectar before we do.”
Twilight and Luna stood at the centre of a cluster of Guards, all four tribes present and their armour a mixture of gold, purple, and grey. Twilight had her nose pressed into a book, held in front of her face with her magic, managing to maintain the finding spell at the same time as well. The hoofprints were flickering now, becoming too old for the spell to detect.
“Are you ready, Twilight?” Luna asked, growing slightly impatient.
“Yes, Princess”. She tucked the book back into her saddlebags. “I can definitely maintain the spell.”
“Good.” Luna cleared her throat and raised her voice. “Standard search line around the trail.” She informed the Guards again. “Investigate anything unusual looking. If you encounter anything dangerous, raise your voice, I will protect you.” The Guards nodded their agreement and fanned out to each side of the Princess, a few yards between each. In the dense forests, they would be almost invisible to each other. “Twilight, Spike, you are both to stay right beside me, understand? This is a dangerous place.”
“I understand, Princess.” Twilight nodded. Spike was perched on her back, arms wrapped around her neck and eyes flicking nervously about the trees above them.
“I shouldn’t baby you, you’re bright.” Luna scolded herself. “But I would not be able to forgive myself if you were hurt. Come, let us begin.”
They walked forwards, following the glowing, purple hoofprints, and vanished into the woodland. In an instant, the pleasant half-light became almost pitch blackness, and their hooves were tangled by brambles and ferns. Luna could see well in darkness, but she lit up her horn to guide Twilight, preparing to catch the student if she should fall. The hoofprints were barely visible, even aglow, in the dense forest, but they could see that they continued in an almost perfectly straight line, only just swerving around the thick-trunked trees. The woodland echoed with the cries of distant birds and the screeching of bats.
“Princess Luna,” Spike whispered. “Can I please go back to town?”
“Spike,” Luna was whispering back, though she didn’t realise it. Something about these woodlands made quiet feel important. Still, she lifted Spike with her magic, and settled him onto her back. “If anything in this forest wants to hurt you, it will have to get through me.” The little dragon’s claws dug into Luna’s coat fearfully.
“Statistically, with the Princess is the safest place in all Equestria, wherever she is.” Twilight chirped.
Luna frowned. “Somepony calculated that? The universities must be dreadfully boring.” That got a little laugh from Spike, which reassured her.
The snap of a twig underhoof snapped Luna back to reality, after many minutes of quiet contemplation, and she looked down at the hoofprints again. Slowly, they were turning to the right, curving gently unlike the straight lines they had been walking in up to this point. There had been no shouts of alarm from the Guards, so this was their only lead. From their spacing, the groundskeeper had been walking, unbothered before, but now he began to trot. Luna bent to investigate the prints more closely for a moment, ignoring the ache in her foreleg. One of the shoes was lost - had they walked right over it? And surely, he would’ve noticed in terrain like this.
The trot curved into a large clearing within the trees, a small lake reflecting the moonlight where the trees couldn’t bend all the way over it. A number of the Guards appeared from the forest nearby the Princess, looking out over the lake and grumbling to each other. Luna’s mental headcount confirmed that nobody from that flank of the search was missing, so she could return her attention to the trail after sending up a magical flare that should bring the other flank of Guards to the area.
The hoofprints continued straight into the lake, breaking into a gallop just at its shore.
“Princess?” Twilight asked, and Luna felt bile rising in her throat. If they were hurt…
“Twilight, look after Spike.” She levitated the baby dragon off her back. “Shout for the Guards to look after you and gather the other searchers here.”
“What? Princess, what are you doing?”
Luna smiled reassuringly, making her horn glow as a glasslike orb appeared surrounding her head. “I’m going to look for them.” Luna could feel her forelegs tremble; she could barely swim, hadn’t tried for well over a century. And swimming down into a place with something she didn’t know the nature of, something that could swipe several individuals away, undetected, it seemed… insane. “If I’m not back in half an hour, you run back to town and get Shining Armour.”
“There must be another option! What about the Manehatten Guard divers?”
“By the time they’re here, anything could’ve happened to them.”
“Luna…” Twilight looked afraid, slightly tearful.
“And because I haven’t said it for a long while, working with you, and knowing you, has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.” She leaned in to nuzzle Twilight, remembered the bubble of glass, and instead raised a hoof to ruffle her mane. “And there’s no need for me to be saying these tearful goodbyes, because I’ll be back before you know it.”
With no more words, without even glancing back, Luna walked into the frigid lake, until all that could be seen was the navy glow of her horn, shining up from deep below like another star reflected in its glassy surface.
Anxiously, Twilight trotted back and forth by the shore of the lake. She’d bitten her lip so hard with worry that it had become very painful, but stopping meant that there was nothing to hold back her increasingly frantic monologues.
“How long has it been now?”
“Twenty minutes, Twi.”
“Do you think I should gallop back to town now? Or wait here? What if I go back to town and then Luna comes back and she needs me? I could leave you here! No, she said I had to look after you. Oh Spike, I don’t know what to do!”
She had worn a shallow rut into the lakeside soil, and many Guards were struggling now to hide their concerned looks. Half of them had formed a perimeter around where the Princess had vanished, the others galloping through the woods to find reinforcements to encircle the entire lake. Quietly, a number of them had discussed talking to - perhaps even restraining - the almost-hysterical student, before she could do any harm to herself.
But her mad pacing was interrupted by a chime and a burst of light from her saddlebags, discarded on the shore, and then immediately bound to them, almost knocking Spike flying, shouting that she’d received a reply.
Gingerly, she pulled the thick journal, backed in heavy cloth with elaborate metal sculpting of a unicorn’s head, from the book. Technically, it was thaumaturgically-imbued magical instant-communication matrix. Luna preferred to call it a speaking diary, and it was one of a pair of identical ones, the other somewhere in distant Zebrica, in the hooves of Sunset Shimmer. When something was written in one of the journals, it would appear magically, after barely a minute’s delay, on the pages of the other book. Luna had crafted the pair for herself and Sunset, as she did when all of her students went off into the wider world, but had allowed Twilight to use it freely to receive some advice and tutoring from the Princess’ other student. When she had become worried earlier, well, Sunset had seemed the most obvious pony to consult.
Snapping the journal open to where the bookmark lay, Twilight ran her eyes down the page, over her own frantic, scribbled explanation of the situation, and saw Sunset’s response, in fine cursive.
Twilight, the first thing that you can do is breathe.
Twilight inhaled deeply, held her breath for a moment, and then exhaled. It didn’t make her feel much better.
You’re a clever pony, and I know that you’re clever enough to know that going into that lake after her is a very stupid idea (yes, Twilight had mentioned that as an option in her initial explanation. It seemed rather stupid, in retrospect). The Princess is probably worried sick knowing that you’re safe on the shore, she’d be terrified if she knew that you were putting yourself in even more danger. At times like this - and this is something that it took me a very long time to learn - the best thing that you can do is trust her; she’s been doing this for far longer than we’ve been alive, and she knows her limits - if she needs your help, she’ll let you know. I think that you should do what the Princess said, and raise the alarm when she’s been gone for a while. Try to stay calm. I know that a journal telling that to you won’t really help, but it’s all I can do.
Please, write me another update when this is all resolved. And stay safe until then.
Twilight grunted in barely-contained frustration, part of her wanting to throw the journal, but she let calm and logic take over again. Sunset was, of course, right. Twilight didn’t like it, but it was true. She’d wanted instructions to perform a spell that would boil away the lake, or even one that would simply let her see the Princess and know that she was OK so far down there. But no, she just had to wait. To wait and be calm and worry.
“Twi?” Spike asked. “Are you alright?”
Sighing, she reached out one foreleg to wrap him in a hug. That always made her feel better. “I’m just worried, Spike.” She told him, staring into the navy light in the deepest part of the lake. "Please be OK, Princess."
Luna walked through the silt that lay at the bottom of the lake, every hoofstep raising plumes of muck that rose through the water around her like smoke. It was almost pitch black here, below dozens of feet of water, and the moonlight from her horn was the only thing that let her see her surroundings, sickly underwater plants, and troglodytic, eyeless, pale fish that avoided her thanks to some sense other than sight.
The water was almost entirely still, filthy with the silt she churned up and so cold that she thought it should be ice. Her fur was matted to her body, and all of her muscles ached with the cold; her foreleg with the limp was always worse in the cold, and now, with frigid water clinging to her body, it was worse than it had been for many years. But still, she walked on, her breath and the rushing currents echoing musically in her magical helmet as she followed the barely glimmering hoofprints.
Not much further, she informed herself. The lake had been small, and she would be close to its centre now, to the deepest point where whatever she was looking for would be. Where it had to be. She didn’t know what she’d do if she was wrong. But that wouldn’t be the case, because she knew that whatever the abductor was, whatever the monster was, it would be down here.
There, ahead, at the edge of her sphere of pale moonlight, a break in the featureless, natural landscape, something else, a shimmering jewel where it shouldn’t be. As the Princess approached, she saw it form into the shape of a school-aged thestral foal, tiny bat wings tight against her back as she was curled as though asleep, floating in a pony-sized bubble, just above Luna’s head.
“Star…” Luna whispered, echoing around her head, raising a hoof to touch the bubble. It gave a little at her touch, like taut fabric, but she drew back: the filly was breathing in the bubble, safe for now. If she broke it, that would swiftly change. As she cast her gaze around, intensifying her light, she saw more bubbles. There, Peppermint, the other missing filly. And the adults, more than had been reported absent, all floating in identical bubbles, soundly asleep.
She stepped forwards, and the motion kicked up a stronger current than it should, making the bubbles tremble and spin in place. They rang when they did, like a wet hoof ran around the rim of a glass, each with a different pitch and tone. After a moment, they were all slowly spinning, their tones harmonising into a pleasant, symphonic song, like the choristers of the Royal Orchestra. Luna stood in place for a few moments, turning slowly, eyes wide in wonder. So shocked she was, so distracted, she almost let the spell giving her air fall, letting a few drops of stagnant water creep through her barrier, drip down to sting her eyes before pooling at her neck.
Focus, she chastised herself, casting her eyes back about the submerged landscape. She had found her missing ponies, but what had brought them here? The disappearance would return right away, if it wasn’t found and stopped. Focusing intently, she greatly intensified the moonlight her horn was throwing off, enough that it would likely be visible from the shore, and took in the huge array of the captured. There were dozens of them, thestrals from the isolated, outlying houses of the Shaded Forest, all in a child-like, imprisoned slumber.
“Who finds me down here?” A voice sang, and Luna snapped her head around, looking for its source. “Another lost little pony?”
“Who’s there?” She channelled more and more magic in her horn, preparing to defend herself and acutely aware of the ache in her muscles and the strangely dizzying effect of the symphonic tones.
“Pretty little bird wings… and a horn? My, I am graced with the presence of the Princess herself. What a great honour this is…” The voice sighed, and Luna felt herself tremble. It sounded so sad, so lonely and broken, as though it thought itself unworthy of her presence. So focused she was on this heartbreaking sensation, she didn’t see the clouds of silt that were kicked up without her moving, nor did she feel the slight tremble of the ground beneath her hooves. “So tell me, Princess…” The voice whispered so low that Luna perked up her ears, let her concentration slip for half a moment, just long enough for a serpentine, slick-scaled form to wrap itself around her torso and raise her from the ground, squeezing her tightly enough that she gasped as the air was forced from her lungs, just before her spell began to fail and the water seeped in.
“Do you like my song?” The siren hissed.
Luna had come to her senses just enough to get one good lungful of breath before her spell entirely failed. Resisting the urge to inhale as the water covered her face, she forced her eyes open to take in her assailant, blinking away the way her eyes swum from the silt in the water and the hypnotic effects of the song.
A head was close to her own, cocked curiously. It was like a pony’s, but with a tall, ragged fin instead of a mane, and sickly, pearlescent white scales in the place of fur, interrupted by a glowing, crimson gem at the base of the neck. It looked her over with slit-pupiled, cloudy, grey eyes and a sharp-toothed, wicked smile. A little before where its hind legs should’ve been, its body turned into a long, eel-like, many-finned tail, which was wrapped tightly around her torso, the scales and spiny fins rough and abrasive against her skin.
“You came right to me, all on your lonesome. I didn’t even have to sing to you.” Its sharp snout was almost pressed against hers. “I never thought I’d have a Princess for a servant.” It hummed gently, and her vision swam again, the face of the siren changing. Luna had to remind herself to keep her mouth closed.
The Princess struggled, trying to stretch out her legs that were pinned to her sides, trying to flex her wings enough to move its constricting body away from her, just enough that she didn’t feel the desperate need to inhale. But its grip was tight, and it waved her from lazily side to side, her soaking mane swaying like a strange, starry seaweed. Focusing as much as she could, ignoring all her pain and discomfort, she channelled magic into her horn, letting it light up navy in the pelagic dark.
“Oh no no no,” the siren spoke in a melodic voice. It was distracting, the kind of distraction that was incompatible with the focus needed for magic of any power, Luna vaguely thought as the spark of her magic flickered out. “No magic down here, Princess. I think that you’ve got bigger worries than magic. Breath, for example.” It squeezed that little bit tighter, and Luna saw another burst of bubbles flow in front of her face, another few seconds of life leaving. “I can help you breathe of course. You just need to stop struggling, and promise you’ll help me.” It crooned. “Promise that you’ll be mine.”
Luna felt… drowsy. She was seeing double, so much her eyesight swam before her, and the icy ache in her muscles began to fade. Was this what it felt like when she used her magic to put others to sleep? It was pleasant, honestly. She’d had a very long night, and she was certainly ready to let sleep overtake her.
“That’s it, Princess.” A parental voice whispered. “You must be so tired, working so hard, all unappreciated.” Her sister told her. “You deserve a nice, long nap…” Luna opened her mouth, vaguely aware of a veil of bubbles covering her face, but unable to find the energy in herself to care.
Then, there was a light. A painfully bright pinprick, distant yet powerful, forcing Luna to squint in its direction, the currents beneath the lake making it look like a distant, purple sun behind a barrier of heat haze. The colour was somehow familiar, and became more recognisable to Luna as her captor’s wicked song faltered. She felt her eyes open again, and she began to struggle anew against the powerful body binding her, staring at the rapidly-growing light.
“My little kingdom is busy tonight, isn’t it?” The siren hissed, though Luna could hear its confidence faltering. “Another little friend for me…”
Distracted, the siren’s encircling grip loosened just a little, just enough for Luna to find a last reserve of strength and snap her wings open wide, pushing the scaly coils away with her forelegs and swimming up, away from the thrashing fish-creature, just dodging the swings of its powerful tail and sharp, cloven hooves. And out of the murk, the purple light formed into a galloping shape, and Twilight Sparkle galloped into view, a pink-tinged bubble encircling her head.
Luna’s heart swelled with relief as Twilight expanded her spell to give the Princess another circle of air, letting Luna inhale deeply and gratefully, chasing away the creeping darkness at the corners of her vision. The siren floated, almost ghostly, between the pair as Luna drifted back to the ground, dismissing the pain in her muscles and her lungs as she summoned her magic again.
“So many decisions. Two little ponies, all for me.” The siren grinned, humming softly. Eyes wide, Twilight turned away, letting her hooves fade through the watertight spell to clamp tightly over her ears.
Luna’s vision swam again, but she raised a hoofful of muddy silt, and crammed it into each of her ears. After this, she was having a spa day. “You will let my ponies go and leave Hollow Shades alone!”
“You will not take them from me!” It shouted, muffled by Luna’s makeshift earplugs. “They’re mine! Mine!” It reared back to whip its tail at Luna, which she just about ducked under, firing a blast of magical energy into the lakebed, kicking up a smokescreen of silt that was only exacerbated by the thrashing of the siren’s tail, its high-pitched wails echoing through the water around them. Behind it, through the silt, Luna could just see the moving light of Twilight’s horn, little balls of magical energy enveloping and dismissing the imprisoning bubbles.
Good work, Twilight.
Knowing that the taken would be safe, Luna turned her attention to the massive shape in the wall of murk, and willed her magic into physical shape, forming thick, starlit chains that shot out of her horn, wrapping around the siren’s neck and limbs, pulling it down to the ground. More shot in to restrain its thrashing tail as it screeched against its detainment, entirely pinning it to the lakebed, letting the silt slowly drop back to the ground and clear up the water.
Behind the siren, Twilight was raising the last of the many bubbles to the surface with her magic, looking none the worse for wear for her brief part in the scuffle. The siren looked hurt and pitiful, barely straining against the chains and looking up sadly at Luna, cloudy eyes shimmering in the water. And on Luna’s part, she ached all over. The cold and the fatigue made every muscle burn, and her body was covered in tiny nicks from the rough scales. She experimentally flexed her wings, and was met with a shooting pain from the left wing, twisted or sprained when she freed herself from the siren’s hold.
“Go. Leave me. You have shown your dominance. I shall never spread my song to your pony town again.”
Luna waited for a moment, and then released a pair of chains, letting the monster open its mouth fully and raise its head slightly off the ground. “What is your name, siren?”
“Chorus.” It mumbled, not meeting her eyes.
Truly, Luna was fascinated to be looking at a siren. They were rare, mostly keeping to themselves in the warm oceans to the south of Griffonia where they supposedly lured sailors away with their songs. Starswirl had dealt with a trio that came to Equestria long ago, when Luna was young, but other than that, she had never seen one. And, though it was pitiful now, this was an especially large specimen, shockingly far away from the ocean.
“Why are you here, Chorus?”
“Brought here when I was a fry. By some pony. Don’t know why.” It was sulking, muzzle in the dirt, like a scolded foal.
“And why did you bring these ponies away from their homes? Their families are very worried.” She walked close to the siren, close enough that it could probably bite her if it extended its neck. It studied her for a long moment, before turning its eyes away and mumbling something. Twilight walked to stand a few paces behind Luna, clearly nervous. “I didn’t hear you.”
“I was lonely.” It said quietly, before the floodgates opened. “Do you know how it feels to be this isolated? To be in a lake that nobody comes to for months or years? To be stuck in the dark, completely and utterly alone? I sang for company! To see another thinking being and hear another singing voice!”
Yes, Luna wanted to say, yes, I do know the feeling of true loneliness. But instead, she shut her eyes for a moment, willing the chains to dissipate, freeing the siren. It was so surprised it didn’t even rise off the lakebed, merely staring up at her. “No creature deserves such isolation.” She reached out with one forehoof, raising the siren’s chin off the ground. “What you did was wrong, but you did it for a reason that I can understand. If you agree that you will let your abductees leave freely, and that you will never use your magic to ensorcell any of my ponies again, I will do my best to improve things for you.”
“How?” Chorus whispered.
“You are a magnificent, special creature. And I know that, though it may take some time to regain their trust, the ponies of Hollow Shades will take a liking to you. I shall have a pathway cleared from the town to this lake, and I shall encourage the residents of the town to visit and sing with you. You will be monitored by the Guard until we are sure that we can trust you, but I believe you are not wicked, Chorus. This is your chance to prove it to me.” She turned to walk away, trying her best to hide the weakness in her limbs, the pain that she was in.
“Thank you.” The siren said, tearfully. “Thank you! You won’t regret this! I promise that you won’t!”
“Princess Luna?”
Luna cracked open one teal eye. She lay, without her royal regalia, on the bed in her train carriage, much of her body covered in bandages and one wing in a splint, a blanket draped gently over it all. Beside her, in the dim light, Twilight stood, looking up at her teacher. Her face was worried and apologetic, but she hadn’t woken Luna; the Princess was so fatigued that she couldn’t sleep at all, and instead just lay down, enjoying that she didn’t have to do anything at all.
“What is it, Twilight?” Luna asked, rolling slightly to the side so she could see her student better, wincing a little at the pressure on her aching body.
“I’m sorry that I disobeyed you.” Ah, so that’s what had been on her mind since they’d left the lake. “I was just… I was so worried, I couldn’t leave you alone down there!”
Luna thought for a long moment. “I have to ask, how did you manage to get right to the middle of the lake like that?”
“I, um, well,” she wouldn’t meet Luna’s eye now. “I saw your light stop from the middle, so I ordered two of the Guards to carry me, and drop me over where the light had been.”
“You ordered them?” That didn't sound much like Twilight.
“I was really worried!” Twilight defended herself, looking more and more like a foal as the moments went by. “That was right when you said I should get Shining Armour, so I sent Spike with a couple of the guards back to town to get him.”
Poor, poor Spike; the poor thing had been exhausted and deeply worried when Luna and her student had emerged from the water. He’d insisted on being carried the whole way back to town, though pretending that he was fine, and had fallen asleep right beside Twilight. “You did disobey me, it’s true. But-”
“I’m so sorry, Princess!” Twilight dropped all the way to the floor in supplication. “I’ll never do it again! I swear! I’ll be the best student you’ve ever had!”
“But, if you’ll let me finish,” gently, she gripped Twilight’s chin with her magic, and raised the unicorn’s head off the carpet. “I think that it was the right thing to do. Indeed, I was unfair in giving you an order like that - I was treating you like a little foal still, when you’re clearly not. You are a fine, grown-up mare, and I should start treating you like one instead of a filly. So I’m sorry, Twilight. Can you forgive me?”
“Of course I can, Princess.”
“Thank you, Twilight.” It was a weight off Luna’s chest, and she felt lighter. Tired, too, ready for a deep, restful, healing sleep. “I think that, sometimes, I don’t want you to grow up. I want pure, eager little Twilight to be by my side forever. But that’s just me being a selfish old mare: you’ve got a big, wonderful life right in front of you. But you’ll still be little Twilight to me. Even if, like today, you saved me from a terrible situation I’d got myself into.”
Silently, Twilight walked to stand at the base of Luna’s bed, and leaned in to nuzzle the Princess affectionately. “Sometimes I feel like I’ve got two mums.”
Luna extended her forelegs to hug Twilight close. “I’m honoured.”
“I was really scared when I went down there. It was dark, and cold, but I just knew that you needed me. I couldn’t just leave it be. I couldn’t leave you behind, Princess.”
“That’s because you, Twilight, are a good, brave mare, and I am so proud to see how far you’ve come.” Luna gave her another little squeeze, before letting her go. “And I’m privileged to have known you for so long. I know that you’ll do many more great things in your life.”
Twilight hesitated, just for a moment. “Can I sleep in your bed? Like we did when I was little?”
Smiling, Luna shuffled further along the bed. “Of course you may. Bring Spike, too.” Twilight gently levitated the little dragon over to the big bed, and Luna pulled him to rest against her chest. He yawned, and it felt like he was a baby all over again. Then Twilight climbed onto the bed and nestled beneath the covers, cuddling Spike protectively and laying close to Luna’s side. She raised her uninjured wing and draped it over the pair like a down blanket, and smiled as Twilight settled comfortably into place.
“Goodnight, Luna.”
“The sweetest of dreams, Twilight Sparkle.”
Luna’s aches and pains faded away with the two warm little bodies at her side, and she smiled dumbly as her eyelids slowly became heavier and heavier. When she slept, it was the deepest and most peacefully she’d slept for quite some time.
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MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
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You really should add this story to some groups. This is a too-good story to pass. Thanks to that it would be much easier to find for others.
Waiting for more.
10940310
Thank you so much! I'd totally forgotten about the groups, so I've just added it to a couple where I think it fits. I'm really glad you're enjoying it, and thank you for your advice!
10940336
np
I have a similar story of my own so you can check groups if you want.
10940719
I can understand why you feel that way. Honestly, I skimmed over a lot of the details in an attempt to keep the prologue (relatively) brief. I am planning to expand on Celestia's thought process a little more in flashbacks. Thanks for the feedback!
10940310
It helped.
I really love this chapter. It has some neat magic, and I always love sirens- I've always wondered if there were others. I'm a sucker for happy resolutions like this, and I hope the villagers and the siren have beautiful concerts together <3
This is certainly an interesting chapter that shows the dynamic between Luna and Twilight.