On a Blood Red Moon

by Bronyxy

1 The Invitation

Books rested in piles on the wooden table, creating a barricade between anypony who happened to be in the library and the only other occupant of the room, who was currently muttering to herself from behind her defensive array. The room radiated a benign comfort that the occupant found to be conducive to study, although her occasional muted howls of academic frustration bore witness to her rising exasperation, as she tried unsuccessfully to follow individual strands of obscure research from one book to another.

Inside the barricade of books, a lilac unicorn was holding aloft three different volumes in her aura, each at specific pages, whilst she cross referenced against two other books open on the table. She would have liked to see more books open, but there was insufficient table space left once the piles of books that hemmed her in were taken into account.

“Hey Twi” came the friendly greeting from a baby dragon emerging from stairs that came up from the kitchen, “I’ve done your pancakes. Where shall I put them?”

“Oh … er … over there” said the voice dismissively, neither looking up, nor providing any indication as to where ‘over there’ actually was.

Spike looked around, turning a full 360 degrees looking for a convenient surface that wasn’t covered in clutter, then upon finding nothing available, repeated the process for another full turn, just a little more slowly this time.

“Umm, I really think you should get them while they’re hot” he continued, eyes finally alighting on the stairs. He walked over and put the plates down on one of the exposed steps leading upwards that seemed to be at about the right height, then waddled round to see what his mistress was doing.

Twilight was so engrossed, she didn’t see him immediately, her eyes busily darting from one open reference to another, as she jotted down copious notes in an effort to try and link her findings together.

She moved a book levitated in her magic to turn the page and suddenly saw a pair of large emerald green eyes looking up at her, their unexpected arrival causing her to gasp in astonishment, which in turn broke the magical link that held the books aloft. With nothing supporting them any longer, they all tumbled onto the table or the floor, whichever was nearer, in an assortment of little thuds and splats, depending on whether they had landed closed or open.

She was ready to snap at him for the interruption, but the nervous ‘little boy lost’ expression on the face of her number one assistant stopped her in her tracks; she couldn’t be cross with him, even though the thread of her research had been lost.

“Oh, thanks Spike” she said warmly, betraying none of the anger she had felt only a few seconds previously, “I guess I was getting a little carried away.”

She levitated each of the fallen volumes in turn, bookmarking as best she could, and brought them all together to start another pile of books on a small island of space that had appeared before her on the overloaded table.

She looked around and noticed the two filled plates resting on the stairs and shot Spike a quizzical glance; “Really?”

“Uh … There was nowhere else Twilight” the little dragon replied apologetically.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, “Right … sorry about that Spike, but thanks for bringing me lunch. I hadn’t realised how long I’d been going.”

“Lunch?” Spike deadpanned, “This is dinner. You missed lunch hours ago.”

At this, Twilight blushed furiously. Spike had heard all the excuses before, so switched off listening as she garbled out something that just made her blush an even deeper colour of red. Embarrassed, she levitated the piles of assorted books off the table and placed them over to one side, then drew up a small chair next to her own and fetched the filled plates in her magic, setting one in front of each of them.

“There we are Spike” she announced happily, “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting?”

“Nah – that looks fine” he replied and climbed up onto his seat before tucking in.

Just at that instant, his cheeks swelled, his eyes bulged and his mouth was forced open as a gout of green flame drove its way out, and a scroll materialised in front of them.

“Ewwww!” exclaimed Twilight, “Gross!”

“Yeah” Spike agreed, “It would be kinda nice if I could switch that thing off when I’m eating.”

“What’s it say, Spike?” she asked.

“Well” he cleared his throat, then unrolled the scroll with due formality, “It’s from Princess Luna …”

Twilight gave a look of surprise that stopped the dragon in his stride; she was used to receiving mail from Princess Celestia, but when she tried to think of a time when anypony else had used the service, she drew a blank. Interest piqued, she nodded for Spike to continue.

“Our dear Twilight Sparkle” he read aloud, trying unsuccessfully to hide a smirk, “Hey, that sounds kinda funny, doesn’t it?

“Cut it out Spike” she chided, “That’s just the way she talks, OK?”

“OK, OK” he conceded, clearing his throat again:
“Our dear Twilight Sparkle,
We request the pleasure of thy company at Canterlot Castle this evening. Should this be convenient, please wouldst thou respond and a Royal chariot shall be provided for thy transportation.
Yours sincerely,
Luna, Princess of the Night.”

“Wow” mused Twilight, “I wonder what she could want with me?”

“Um, Twi” Spike recalled, a look of apprehension creeping across his face, “Don’t you remember how you took on Nightmare Moon? Maybe she wants to get even?”

“I don’t think so” said Twilight reassuringly, “I’m pretty sure she’s not the type to bear a grudge.”

“Uh huh” replied Spike sceptically, “Not like she's the sort who would dwell on being banished for a thousand years and then try and take over Equestria when she returned?”

“Spike, that was Nightmare Moon, not Princess Luna. I’ll be fine. Now please would you send a reply saying that I am looking forward to seeing her tonight.”

“You sure” cautioned Spike, “I mean, like, really sure?”

“Just take care of it while I make a start on tidying up, OK?”

Spike shook his head, but did as he had been asked, and as Twilight levitated each of the books strewn across the floor in turn, working out whether to put them back or leave them to one side for later, she heard the roar of dragon fire that signified the message had been sent.

At that precise moment she felt a rush of trepidation run through her, knowing it was simultaneously reappearing in front of a midnight blue mare in Canterlot, and only now did she start to feel anxious, wondering what she had let herself in for.

Comments

[Cerulean Blue]

Nice start - will be interesting to see where this goes

[Bronycommander]

Interesting