Luna's attempt to correct the timeline has unexpected and far-reaching consequences. Now what will she do with herself?
Celestia reluctantly accepts the invitation to take a brief vacation, and leaves the sun to Luna's care. What the lunar princess does with the responsibility is anything but responsible, and leaves her with the task of policing the timeline on her own. The result is tragic, but does create some entertaining possibilities.
At Twilight Sparkle's behest, and the insistence of a majority of the serving staff, I have resigned myself to a very brief stay in Neighpon to alleviate some work-related stress. Ordinarily, even in my time away, I of course would maintain the cycle of the sun, but one of Twilight's friends is accompanying me on the trip and has told me Twilight is unmoving in her demands that I leave everything pertaining to my duties behind and spend some time as an ordinary tourist. Evidently she intends to rat me out if I so much as touch the sun. It's funny to think how far Equestrian society has come when its princess can be ordered not to perform her tasks by her own student and one of her friends. Amazing and terrifying.
At any rate, Twilight offered to take control of the sun in my place while I'm gone, but I myself was insistent on her not being ready for such a task. She has come a long way in her studies, but the Old Magicks are still beyond her total control. I am very sorry to do this to you, sister, but I must ask that you take over the sun, starting tomorr this evening. I will be sure to bring you some mochi (that is what it's called, right?) when we return. Once again, I am sorry to put this burden on you, but it must be done.
See you in three days,
Celestia
Luna scanned the note again, groggily conjuring a hand to rub the sleep from her eyes. She rolled out of bed, staggering as she got to her hooves, then stumbled to a great blue curtain that kept the invasive light from her lair. The smallest of movements of the curtain let a blindingly bright sliver of golden light into the pitch-black room, making the princess of night hiss and shield her stinging eyes. She stumbled backward, knocking into a small table in the middle of her room, then righted herself and returned to the curtain.
Luna fumbled with her ruined nightvision, groping magically around her bed for her blindfold, then slipped in snuggly and securely into place before pulling back the curtain once again. She could feel the warmth of the sun's rays pierce the cool of her inky tower, heating her dark coat and making her anxious and hot. Using the dexterity of a drunkard, she threw an arm of magic out at the sky, flailing around until she felt the sun brush her aura. Now, considerably more carefully, she heaved and pulled the lassoed star from its point in the sky and guided it gently below the horizon.
The burning orb gone, its uncomfortable heat vanished, Luna dared to remove her sleep mask. Her vision was fuzzy, her eyes adjusting to changes from total dark to blinding light and back again. She blinked repeatedly, rubbing her watery eyes, and reached out with her magic to take hold of the smaller, and considerably more manageable moon.
The familiar touch of the silver sphere put the Lunar princess at ease. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, calming herself as its tranquil aura mingled with her own. Luna straightened her neck, adjusting to a dignified and powerful pose, and lifted the shining orb from its hiding place behind the horizon. The cool, dim light of the moon filled the void left by the vanishing of the sun, and the once empty black of Luna's chambers filled with starlight endless nebulae and constellations took shape on her rounded ceiling and projected downward into the empty room below.
Luna opened her eyes, slowly, then turned and wandered through the holographic starfield. Her eyes scanned the arrangements of the heavens, calculating paths of orbit and the ever changing effects of gravity on the many systems that sprawled out before her. An errant thought broke her planned path of observation, turning her focus to a specific green nebula. The princess of night approached it, leaning close and expanding the image.
"As I thought," she thought aloud, "It is about time."
Princess Luna turned and made her way back to the curtain, this time stepping out onto the balcony and breathing deep the thin air of her high perch. She looked to a spot in the middle of the sky, at a faint green cloud in the cosmic distance, and called a well remembered spell from the Old Magicks into her horn.
"Let us be the first..." the alicorn whispered, releasing the spell.
From the green cloud came a twinkling orange light. For the briefest of moments, the peaceful blue of the night was disturbed by a flicker of gold. In seconds, the light had faded, and a bright yellow star shone at the epicenter of the fleeting disturbance.
"...to welcome you," Luna finished.
The Night Mother let out her held breath, smiling affectionately at the new addition to her cosmic garden, then quietly returned to her sanctum to view the stellar object properly. A knock at the door cut her admiration short and drew a sigh from the blue alicorn.
"Who knocks?" she queried, her voice controlled.
"Princess Twilight," a guard answered.
Luna felt an unnoticed tension drain from her body, then return as she swept her eyes around the room to ensure all was in order. Satisfied with the cleanliness of her living space, she righted herself and responded.
"She may come."
The door cracked open, allowing access to a giddy purple alicorn, then closed silently behind.
"Good evening, Twilight Sparkle," Luna greeted her guest, bowing slightly. "For what purpose do you seek my company?"
"I saw the starbirth," Twilight piped excitedly, then stopped in her tracks.
The young alicorn looked up at the hologram that filled the upper portion of the room, her eyes twinkling with excitement and mouth spreading wide in a girlish grin.
"Wow!" she breathed, spinning in place and drinking in the projected sky. "Is this...is this real-time?"
"It is," Luna answered casually, pulling the projection down to encircle the two royal ponies. "The new star is right here."
Twilight rushed to where the lunar princess had pointed and studied the brilliant yellow dot from all angles, bobbing and weaving around it and dancing in place on skittish hooves.
"This is amazing!" Twilight laughed, turning her attention to the rest of the cosmos displayed around her. "Is...is everythithat's Perseus!" she squealed, leaping over to the named constellation. "I never get to see Perseus!"
"Truly?" Luna asked with a frown, stepping over to her guest.
"Well, not never," Twilight admitted with a blush. "Never this clearly though. For some reason the weather teams of Ponyville seem to think the best time to have cloudy nights is during prime stargazing opportunities." She ran her eyes over the floating constellation again. "You know what? I'm going to make a weather management ordinance"
"A mayor makes ordinances," Luna said, her tone suddenly stern. "A princess makes decrees."
Twilight's ears splayed as she flinched under her superior's commanding words.
"Ah...well, yes," she agreed, "I don't think...y'know that just seems kind of extreme, doesn't it?"
Luna cocked an eyebrow. "Twilight Sparkle, you must learn to accept the power of your position. Taking small, elaborate measures to avoid using your rightful ability to command the common people is not the path to a long and fruitful rule."
"You don't command ponies though," Twilight said in defense. "T-That I've seen. Or...I mean, Princess Celestia doesn" She quickly backpedaled in her statement, raising her forehooves deisarmingly. "B-But, I mean, I haven't seen it is all"
"Twilight," Luna sighed, cutting her off, "be calm." She waited for the young alicorn to take a few breaths to steady herself before continuing. "We that is, my sister and I have no need to command the ponies of Equestria to gain their reverence and respect. Celestia has been a benevolent, if not subtly manipulative, ruler for many centuries, and I am remembered and am becoming known once again for being a kind, if firm, force of good to watch the night." She rose slightly in her position, subconsciously striking a more dignified and regal pose. "The common pony knows, loves, and respects us. You, for all your heroism, go unrecognized in the cities beyond your two homes." She relaxed her pose slightly, but kept her stern expression. "No ordinances. Decrees."
Twilight fidgeted for a moment before nodding and offering a quiet "Yes, princess."
Luna nodded approvingly, then let her face become neutral. "Now, what business brought you here?"
The purple princess perked up as she remembered her mission. "Oh! Well I...I assume Princess Celestia told you about her trip."
"You are a princess too now, Twilight Sparkle," Luna reminded her. "To you, she is Celestia." Twilight frowned and nodded again, unused to being corrected so frequently. "And yes, I have just read of her being taken hostage by your accomplice in Neighpon. I do hope you are prepared to stand trial for treason."
A raised hoof made her silent, and a somewhat worried grin alleviated Twilight's fears.
"I am concerned, Twilight Sparkle, that we have conversed on so many occasions and yet you still cannot recognize when I am facetious." Twilight started to apologize, but was interrupted as her elder continued. "You do not hope to convince me to abandon my duties as well, do you?"
"N-no," Twilight said sheepishly. "I um...I want to help. You. With the...sun thing."
"'Sun thing'?" Luna repeated skeptically.
"I want to...pick up some slack," Twilight rephrased. "I want to make this easier for you. Not that I don't think you could handle it on your own, I mean," she added quickly, "I just...it's my fault that you're stuck doing it, so"
"My sister warned me that you had offered to take over the sun while she was away," Luna cut in, making Twilight flinch. "She also told me you are not yet skilled enough with the Magicks of the Sky to handle such a task." She considered the younger alicorn for a moment. "...You do not hope to usurp her throne, I hope."
Twilight's eyes went wide, but she quickly pushed a grin onto her face. Luna's expression, however, was unreadable, and she quickly lost confidence in the assumption that she was again joking.
"No," she said quietly. "N-no, I-I-I just thought...she could use a break. A thousand and some years is a long time to go without a vacation, right?"
Luna stared flatly at her guest for several seconds, giving Twilight just enough time to realize what she had asked, then sighed heavily and waved away whatever apology the purple alicorn was about to give.
"You are correct, Twilight Sparkle," she agreed. "A thousand years without vacation is a long time. My sister deserves a brief stay away from her duties. You, however, are not prepared to take her place, regardless of how brief the stay truly is."
"Isn't there something I can do?" Twilight pleaded, eyes big and sickeningly sappy.
Luna held her bemused gaze on Twilight for another moment before lifting her eyes in thought. Her tail swished behind her, her body realizing rather suddenly that the little purple yes mare was about the only thing standing between her and breakfast. Her head swayed back and forth as she deliberated her options, stopping as she found what seemed like a fair compromise, and the princess of night sat down rather unceremoniously.
"I'll tell you what, Sparkles," she said, all pretense of regality gone from her voice, "You meet me back here in eight hours and we'll raise the sun together. I'll help you through it, keep it going for a few hours, and if you do well, I'll leave it to you for the day. Sound good?"
Twilight blinked, then beamed and began hopping excitedly around a nebula. "Ohh thankyou thankyou thankyou! I won't let you down!" She stopped suddenly and faced her elder. "Uh, but, you won't tell Pr er, Celestia, right?"
"Nooo, believe you me, I would be in much more trouble than you if she found out. Unless of course everything goes swimmingly, in which case she'll probably only be mildly upset with me and very proud of you. Regardless," she sighed, "I hunger. If there's nothing else to discuss, I shall meet you here at the decided time." Twilight started to say something, but hesitated. "Is there something else to discuss?"
"Uh, not exactly," Twilight murmured, rubbing her shoulder. "But, do you...or, would you mind if I...looked around in here for a while? This is just...I've never seen star charts so accurate before," she blushed. "I'd really love to study all this."
Luna narrowed an eye, offput by the thought of somepony wandering around her room and peering into her personal charts. After a moment of consideration, however, she reluctantly nodded.
"I suppose I can trust you to my chambers," she thought aloud, then leaned in close to impress her seriousness. "But do not touch anything."
Twilight quickly distanced herself from the table next to her. "Okay."
"N Twilight," Luna sighed with a smirk, "You can touch anything you want. Just keep your horn empty of unchecked magic. Any spells cast on this model will have repercussions on the sky as a whole."
The purple pony gulped and nodded, cautiously returning to the table. "I can do that."
"Good," Luna smiled. "See you at dawn."
Twilight started to bow before a hoof under her chin stopped the motion. She looked up at Luna, who gave a subtle shake of the head, then fidgeted and straightened up as the elder princess strolled past her and out the room.
Luna leaned back into her room, out of the way of the blinding rays of morning sun that pierced the skyline. Twilight stumbled, exhausted by the effort of lifting the gargantuan orb above the horizon. She caught herself on the frame of Luna's door, panting heavily and stretching to keep herself from becoming sore later.
"That was...amazing," the overexerted alicorn breathed. "Was it...was it helping?"
"It was," Luna confirmed. "It helped a great deal, in fact."
Twilight held her breath for a few seconds before gasping and pushing herself to her hooves.
"It's...alive?"
Luna pouted thoughtfully as she considered the question. "...Perhaps that is a subject best left for my sister to explain." She reached out with her magic, conjuring tiny dragon-like hands to pull the great darkening curtain closed. "With or without its help, you did well," she smiled.
"Really?" Twilight asked hopefully, finally able to breathe again.
Luna nodded, a motion she realized was rendered invisible in the dark, then responded, "Very well. Though your success is clearly not without effort."
The purple princess sighed and rolled her head, causing her neck to pop and crackle. "It's just so...big. I've never lifted anything that size before."
"I should hope not," Luna chuckled, "Were it so easy my sister and I would be out of work."
Twilight snorted and nodded, sitting as she let her eyes adjust to the dark. "I'm still baffled by how the Old Unicorn Kingdom managed to do it every day."
"The magicks they used were not so simple as our method," Luna explained, trotting over to a couch and reclining casually. "A fitting simile to compare it to the Old Magicks of the Sky would be to call forth the juxtaposition of 'lifting with our knees' to using a rope and pulley. It is a brute force approach one that works, but one infinitely less viable for long-term use."
"Rope and pulley?" Twilight mused. "Like...how? Like putting it in a harness?"
"It is a crude, ill-fitting metaphor, upon reflection, but it suited the comparison," Luna shrugged. "In truth, it is more to do with gravity and temporal magick than actual movement."
The young alicorn blinked in surprise. "Time magic? How does that play in?"
"To set the sun and moon in motion, we create a vortex a gravity well, I believe modern astronomers call them and apply a decaying temporal manipulation that shifts the vortex throughout the night, or day, and sets our respective heavenly body on a path of our choosing. The effect could be described as making a tunnel out of instantaneous iterations of directed rings of gravitational pull over time."
Twilight stared in into the dark, eyes wide. "B-because making the actual tunnel would...take just as much effort as lifting it," she reasoned. "Just without the strain focused on the neck."
"Precisely," Luna nodded. "The effect, of course, can only be achieved once either body has cleared the Horizon Line, so we still need to push or pull them through to start the cycle, but once this is done we need only set the body on its path and the work is done."
Twilight shook her head in amazement. "How did they come up with stuff like that?"
"They didn't," Luna grinned smugly. "I did."
"You?"
"Well, both of us," Luna shrugged, "I'm sure Tia would be pissed if I didn't give her credit. And truthfully, the unicorns had come up with the gravity idea, and that resulted in a fair number fewer broken necks. But the time displacement. That was all me," she nodded, polishing a hoof on her coat. "Mostly."
Twilight continued to stare, nodding slowly. "That's why it's so difficult to do, isn't it? Time magic is even harder to pull off than...anything, really."
"Mm. And that's how we came to be who we are," Luna said thoughtfully. "The cycle of day and night represents the immutable passing of time, the ever present order that even Discord's Chaotic Magicks couldn't disrupt."
Twilight frowned. "But...Discord made it day or night whenever he wanted."
"Or," Luna agreed, "But never and. Even if their duration is shortened to mere seconds, the day and night and night always exist cyclically. Their order is absolute."
Twilight pawed at her chin, considering the other princess' words. "...What about during eclipses? Or that time before the Summer Sun Celebra"
"Ya gonna argue semantics all day or get to moving that sun?" Luna asked flatly, surprising her guest.
"Uh," Twilight stuttered, taken aback, "I...S-yeah, I'll...get to that." She stood and made to head back to the balcony, then stopped. "Wait, aren't you supposed to help me until noon?"
Luna shrugged. "You know gravity magic, don't you?"
"Yes, but not time magic."
"Who said anything about time magic? Look, here's a shortcut," Luna grunted, sitting up, "It's what I used to do before we figured out the time and order and yadda yadda. Make a vortex stronger than you need, at longer intervals, and pull it a few degrees at a time. You can do it every hour or whatever. You just have to balance out the force and catch it before it goes too far."
The purple princess pony slowly tilted her head, staring at the dim figure of Princess Luna in shock. "That...that's terrible!" she finally blurted. "Really?? That's how you used to move the moon??"
"Of course not!" Luna snapped, jumping to her feet. "The magicks of the sun and moon are vastly different. I connect with it much more easily than the sun." She sat again, turning her head. "It's just easier to move the sun like that," she pouted.
"That is grossly irresponsible, Luna," Twilight scolded. "What if you couldn't balance the forces? You could send the sun flying off into space!"
"Celestia has taught you well," the lunar princess groaned. "You sound just like she did a millenium and a half ago."
Twilight started to speak, but stopped. "I do?"
"Mm," Luna agreed, "Annoying. And naggy. Besides," she grunted, "I can calculate and balance gravitational forces better than anyone, even Celestia. There's no danger in my approach if you know what you're doing."
Twilight twisted her head, staring in disbelief at her mentor's kin, then blinked her eyes wide.
"Wait a minute," she breathed, "I recognize that kind of weak rationalization for minimal effort." She straightened up and pointed an accusing hoof at the other princess. "You're lazy!" she barked. "Sweet Celestia, you're lazier than Rainbow Dash!"
"'Sweet Celestia'?" Luna parroted. "Is that some modern expletive?"
"It's hundreds of years old!" Twilight answered, her voice still high with disbelief, "But that's not the point! These are heavenly bodies that Equestria- that the whole world needs to survive! You can't be so irresponsible with them!"
Luna groaned and stood as the smaller pony continued to berate her. A panel on the floor slid aside as she approached it, a very old and dusty chest rising out of it, and Luna fanned her face as it opened and spewed dust into the air. She peered into it and began to sift through the various artifacts within, keeping her muzzle shielded with a thin layer of magic from the dust that continued to float out of the old wooden box. After a few seconds of searching she removed a scroll, then turned and pushed it toward the still-talking princess of magic.
"...that you had to had to just throw the damn thing around like a What is this?" she asked, breaking her rant.
"'The Old Magicks of the Sky: Scroll of Sól'," Luna sighed, continuing to look through the chest. "One of the only written copies. Tia's is probably in better shape, but I don't know where she keeps it." She paused and lifted the remains of a weathered stone out of the chest, then casually vaporized it. "You want to see how hard it is to do these things? There you go. Sky magic."
Twilight looked between the scroll and the other princess for a moment before carefully unrolling the brittle parchment. She squinted, lighting her horn to try and read in the dark of the princess' chambers, but found that whatever was printed on the scroll was totally illegible.
"What is this? It looks like..." she mused, tilting the scroll. "Are there even words in here somewhere?"
Luna looked back at her with a smug grin. "Oh, I'm sorry. I had assumed the Princess of Magic would be able to read Partiki. It is the natural language of magic, after all."
The young alicorn scrunched her nose. "Of course I...have never heard of that before," she muttered, looking sideways. She looked over the scroll again, leaning close and tilting her head left and right to try and make sense of the various swirling and criss-crossing lines. After a moment of careful scrutiny she looked up at Luna and hesitantly asked, "The other one is written like this too?"
Luna lifted her head from the chest, still facing away and still grinning. "Hers is a bit simpler, if I remember right I copied it out in shorthand for her. But yes, it's the same language," she nodded. "The Old Magicks can't really be written any other way. They don't make sense otherwise."
Twilight nervously glanced at the scroll again. "...Not even in Old Cornish Runescript?"
Luna finally looked looked back at her, her infuriatingly smug face making Twilight's eye twitch.
"That 'throw and catch' method starting to sound good?"
Twilight leered at the other princess and rerolled the scroll, slipping into a pouch carried under one of her wings. "It's starting to sound even more like justification for laziness," she quipped. "If you can actually read this thing and you choose to use a brute force approach, that just tells me you don't want to put in the effort to do the job right."
"Like I said..." Luna started before yawning heavily. "T...Totally different magicks for the sun and moon. Just because I can read it doesn't make it any easier."
"Reading always makes things easier," Twilight nodded curtly, "And I'll prove it."
A hoof on her shoulder made her flinch and open her eyes. She frowned slightly as she found Luna sitting in front of her, her smile now tired and calming rather than annoyingly pleased.
"I hope you do," the lunar princess murmured sleepily.
Twilight adjusted herself as she realized the princess was trying to give her a bode of confidence and smiled back. "Uh...thank you?"
Luna nodded, yawning again. "I'll set up the framework of the time effects. You can handle the gravity bits, yes?"
"Y-Yes," Twilight perked up. "Leave it to me."
Luna turned her head toward the closed window and let her horn fill with a bright, crackling energy that dispersed with a cool blue pulse. She nodded to her guest, informing her that the effect was in place, and Twilight began running through her knowledge of gravity before realizing that the older princess was already nodding off. She smirked, gently nudging her elder toward her bed, and slipped out of the room to work on her half of the spell alone.
Luna stirred. Her mind was foggy with the remnants of an interrupted dream. Her body was sluggish and hot abnormally so, she realized as she began to stretch. Her satin sheets were stifling and wet, clinging to her unusually sweaty body with uncomfortable tightness as she moved beneath them. The air she inhaled was muggy and unpleasant; the cool relaxing atmosphere of her private chambers had somehow been completely ruined. A flick of her horn threw the suffocating sheets off of her body, and she stretched her wings to allow the sides of her body a breath of desperately needed air.
"Princess Luna!"
The alicorn's eyes shot open and focused on a hysterical Twilight Sparkle.
"What is the meaning of this rude awakening?" she demanded, sitting up in bed. "It is... one o' clock?" she snapped after a glance at her bedside clock.
"I'm so sorry, Princess!" Twilight cried, throwing herself onto the bed. "I tried! I did! I did exactly what you said! But I missed a digit in my calculations or set the wrong point as an axle or"
"What are you talking about?" Luna cut her off. "And what have you done to the enchantments on my closet?"
"I..." Twilight gasped for air, mutely moving her jaw as she tried to push out her confession. "I...I set the sun on a decaying orbital path!"
The lunar princess stopped rubbing her eyes. "What?"
"I-I made the gravity vortex, but... I don't know what went wrong!" the purple princess explained, turning to follow Luna as she leapt from her bed and rushed to her balcony. "I-I must have set the wrong trajectory or... I don't know, something!"
Luna threw the blinds open and staggered as a blinding wall of light struck her and invaded the room. A quick tinting spell over her eyes made the ambient luminescence bearable, though only just, and she looked out at the looming and ever brightening ball of plasma. Luna stared dumbly at the approaching star, silent, then threw the curtains closed and turned back toward her distressed visitor.
"Hast youHave you contacted Celestia?" Luna asked, rushing back into her room.
"I've sent at least thirty letters, but it's night in Neighpon! I don't think she's awake!" Twilight cried. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what went wrong!"
"Where and when did you cast the gravity spell?" Luna switched topics.
"What?"
"Where were you and when did you cast it?" Luna barked over her shoulder.
"G-Th-In the garden!" Twilight squeaked. "Around... nine thirty? I didn't have the spell ready before then so I was just pushing it with your method."
Luna ripped a panel off of the floor that concealed her chest of old belongings and threw the dusty trunk open, emptying it onto the floor in a panic.
"Where specifically in the garden?" she asked, sifting through the assorted objects. "And are you certain of the time?"
"Beside the statue of Princess Platinum, near the fountains. And...maybe a little later?"
Luna found what she was looking for, a silver yoke inlaid with a large sapphire similar in design to her sister's regalia, and threw it over her shoulders. That set, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, drawing from a store of power in the gem over her chest, and channeled the raw magic into her horn. A gleaming white aura enveloped the bony wand, crackling with a familiar energy, and Twilight timidly stepped closer to her.
"Luna?"
The alicorn opened her eyes and focused a shining white gaze at her younger companion. "I cannot stop it now, Twilight Sparkle," she said firmly, her voice layered with an ethereal echo. "I have doubts that my sister could either. But rest assured, it will be corrected."
Light wrapped around her form, bending into vibrant colors and odd shapes before exploding outward and blinding the poor purple pony. Twilight shielded her eyes from the flash. Once it had died, she blinked the bright spot from her vision and looked around for her senior princess, but the mistress of night was gone. The young alicorn breathed slowly as she recognized the sensation of time magic that lingered in the air, relief washing over her and sapping the strength from her legs. She dropped onto her rear with a sigh, a small grin lighting up her previously distraught face.
"Luna will fix it," she nodded, a hoof over her chest. "She's going back right now to..."
A shard of ice stabbed Twilight in the chest. She blinked her eyes wide, the relief and calm melting away instantly to dread. She turned to look at the curtains, her face slowly twisting into a look of pain and fear as she saw and heard and smelled the thick fabric crackle and hiss and spark into flagration.
"But if she changes..." the purple princess thought aloud, watching the flame at the center of the drapes eat a hole in them. "Then this would never have..."
Twilight collapsed under the weight of her realization. Silent tears streamed down her stunned face and sputtered as they struck the hot stone floor. The drapes fell off of their dowel, letting searing light and heat flood into the room and scorch the little lavender alicorn's fur.
'You can't change the past...'
"Are you sure we're allowed to be here?"
"Dad, we're fine. If a princess having brunch in the royal garden is a crime, obviously the laws therein are too strict and need rewritten. Not that I'm going to volunteer to try and fix them," Twilight mused, spearing her fork into her salad. "It's a nightmare trying to get anything done regarding statutes of law. I guess the prince- er, the others have their reasons though."
"Well I don't think your father was concerned about your right to be here," the lavender alicorn's mother murmured, glancing nervously toward a guard on patrol. "But... well it feels a little... invasive. On my part at least."
"Mom," Twilight groaned, rolling her eyes. "You have two princesses in your family. Technically four. And a prince. And Shining and Cadence are going to be King and Queen of the Crystal Empire at some point. You are absolutely in your right to be here."
"Well that's a fair point," her father shrugged, shooting the older unicorn a smirk.
"I suppose," Twilight Velvet mused, rocking her head. "Still, the timing makes it seem a little sketchy, doesn't it?"
"Celestia being in Neighpon has nothing to do with it," the purple princess argued in mock defense. "Well, aside from the fact that I'm picking up what slack of hers Luna can't handle. But really, when else would I be in town? There's so much happening in Ponyville nowadays that I can hardly blink before someone's demanding my help with something." She dipped a slice of cucumber in the dish of dressing beside her small meal and popped it into her mouth. "It's nice to be get a little time to do magical work again, even if I'm still keeping busy doing it."
"Speaking of," her mother began, looking up at the sky. "How much help does Princess Luna need exactly? It seems to me, no offence intended," she added quietly, anxiously glancing around, "that she's... well, kind of dropping the ball on the whole sun thing."
"Mm," her husband nodded, swallowing his food. "It's been almost an hour since I've seen it move at all. Is she... distracted by other work?"
"Uh... Something like that," Twilight mumbled, rolling a hoof. "Actually, she's so busy that she entrusted moving the sun to me."
The young princess's parents dropped their utensils.
"T-To-To you?" her mother stammered. "You've been moving the sun?"
"Well, yeah," Twilight grinned, blushing slightly. "I've been uh, using a method Pri- eh, Luna taught me."
"Wow," her father breathed. "Welp, it's official. We're allowed to be here. Garcon!" he called to a passing guard in a horrible French accent. "A bottle of your finest wine!"
"Night Light!" Twilight Sr. snapped.
"Cancel ze order," he waved at the now very confused officer.
"Just ignore him!" his wife called. "Sorry about that!"
The guard glanced at Twilight for direction, and the alicorn rolled her eyes and waved him away. The guard saluted and returned to his patrol, Night Light turning back to his daughter after watching the exchange.
"You're really settling in here, aren't you?" he smirked.
Twilight cocked her eyebrows, glancing at her still raised hoof, then set it down with a blush.
"Well, it's... an ongoing process. I'm still learning how to not act like an awkward idiot when someone asks me for directions."
"Seems like you're learning well," the stallion nodded. "Say, just a thought, when do you think you're going to be fitted for one of those ceremonial yokes?"
Before the young alicorn could muster a flustered response, her horn began to sputter and spark. Her parents reared back, worried, but a raised hoof calmed them.
"That's just a timer," Twilight explained with a sigh. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean let it go off."
"That's fine, Twilight, but what's it for?" her mother questioned.
"And why not just have an egg timer or something?" her father added.
Twilight Velvet elbowed him in the ribs without looking his way.
"It helps if my magic's already flowing," the younger mare explained. "Don't want to try moving the sun from a cold start."
Her parents perked up.
"You're going to do it now?" her mother whispered, looking around.
"Like you said, it's been almost an hour," Twilight shrugged. "Plus I've been studying up on how to properly set it in motion. No more of this 'throw-catch' method Luna taught me."
"'Throw-catch?'" Night Light parroted, making his daughter flinch. "That sounds... interesting."
"Ahem, well," Twilight started, moving to her hooves, "As I said, I'm done with it. I'm going to cast an advanced gravity vortex and weave it into a temporal displacement spell Luna set up before she went to ssssssee a visiting dignitary."
Her parents beamed at her, nodding proudly as she let out a relieved sigh at having not given away what really had the lunar princess preoccupied. She looked up at the tower, but another passing guard caught her eye with a quick wave and a mouthing of the words "Nice save." Twilight couldn't help but shoot him a smirk while her parents remarked their pride to each other before turning her attention to the sky.
Silence fell over the garden as Twilight's horn began to glow. The subtle whisper of magic radiated from her body, reaching out toward the heavens and filling her mind with light. Her aura touched that of the sun. A swell of warmth rushed into her being. Twilight breathed long and deep, forming the symbols for her spell in her mind's eye and channeling them through her horn with silent incantations. The air became thick and heavy, an ethereal wind sweeping through the picnic and sending chills up the spines of all present. The lavender alicorn let the magic build in her horn, developing into a powerful orb of arcane energy, before opening her eyes and letting the magic free.
A brilliant white crack split the air before the young princess, firing out a blast of hot air and a deafening BOOM! Twilight recoiled from the shattered space, digging her hooves into the ground to avoid being thrown backward into the statue behind her. Wisps of fire lashed out of the shining portal, scorching the ground at Twilight's feet, before the crack exploded out into a blindingly bright sphere of energy.
"Is this supposed to happen?" Night Light yelled over the rush of wind.
"No! Something's wrong!" Twilight called back, throwing up a force field between them and the sphere. "This feels like time magic..."
As if in answer, the ball of light pulsed and shrunk before exploding again. The picnic goers shielded their eyes from the great flash of light, and Twilight strengthened her shield as arcs of lightning buffeted her hastily-cast barrier. The crackling gradually grew quiet. The light faded. Twilight and her parents uncovered their eyes and looked to where the crack in spacetime had appeared to find a sparking, glowing Princess Luna.
Before questions could be asked, the princess of night spun in place and threw her head back, firing a cobalt burst of magic into the sky. The bolt struck the sun, the great ball of light dimming and flashing a brilliant sapphire color as the similarly colored alicorn took hold of it. With a great burst of magical power Luna leaned her head, dragging the sparkling blue sun across the sky to its proper place in time. Once set, another layer of energy enveloped her horn, this one glowing a fainter blue than her hold on the sun, and another bolt of magic was fired at the sky. Twilight watched in awe as a visible vortex of swirling gravitational force manifested just before the sun, appearing as a single disc at first before Luna's earlier temporal framework stretched it into a massive tube that arced across the sky.
The spell complete, Luna let the magic leave her horn. She watched the vortex for several seconds, ensuring that the job was done properly, then nodded firmly and turned to face her stunned subjects.
"P-Prin-Luna," Twilight started.
"This is my decree," the lunar alicorn stopped her. "From now onward you shall not cast magicks relating to time, gravity, or the sky without supervision by myself or my sister. You shall not touch the sun or moon without permission or express need. Finally," she continued, teleporting a scroll out of Twilight's bag and holding it by her head, "You are forbidden to study Partiki, or experiment with magicks derived from it, without my express authorization and guidance." Luna finally opened her eyes and found Twilight in a scared, prostrating position, which her parent mimicked close behind her. "Is this understood?" she finished more quietly.
The young alicorn nodded emphatically, afraid to look up. "Y-yes princess!"
Luna felt a pang in her chest. She had not intended to use the Traditional Voice, but her message had to be made clear. She motioned to comfort her young peer, but the movement was instantly regretted. Luna swayed, throwing out her forelegs to steady herself, but was still forced to her knees by her fatigue and disorientation. Time magic was no simple feat, even for an alicorn, and to use both that and Old Cornish Magicks so quickly after each other was a drain greater than she'd expected her tired mind would need to bear.
Twilight cautiously watched as the Night Mother struggled to her feet and staggered to maintain her balance.
"D-did I do something wrong?" she asked nervously, flinching as Luna fixed her with bleary eyes.
"Nothing that could not be undone," the elder princess assured her, forcing a smile onto her face. "I am sorry to have yelled. Please enjoy your picnic."
Luna took a deep breath and forced herself to move, starting to awkwardly shuffle her way back to her tower.
"What happened?" Night Light asked before he could be stopped.
Luna paused at an exit to the garden and looked back with a serious face.
"All you need know is that a great tragedy has been prevented. It no fault of yours though, Twilight Sparkle," she added, looking at the younger princess. "The blame lies with me. Celestia was right to withhold the Magicks of the Sky from you." She turned and continued out of the garden.
"You are not ready."
More than once the stairs felt as though they were truly endless. Longer, even, as a total lack of magical and physical strength made every step a mountain. By the time she'd reached the great black doors to her domain, the princess of night looked like anything but. Her mane and tail had lost their starshine; the ethereal flow of wind that kept them aloft had disappeared and left them flat and ordinary. Her dark coat had lost its shade, the darkness of night replaced by a bright cyan. She stumbled as she peaked the endless stair, the jewel in her neckpiece crumbling to dust as the last of its energy was expunged to open the doors.
Inside the dark of her lair, the lunar princess regained her breath. The cool, rejuvenating light of the cosmos that hung above her head filled her with a needed surge of strength, which she used to lift the silver yoke from her shoulders as she trudged her way to the bed. The heavy regalia clattered to the floor as her shaking hooves pulled her onto the plush mattress. With a considerable effort, the blue alicorn pulled the thick downy sheets over her body and shuffled herself flush with the warm silhouette behind her
Luna's tired eyes flew open. She adjusted her wings, discreetly using them to feel behind herself, and blinked as they assured her that there was somepony else in her bed. She silently turned her head, shaking it gently to move her mane out of her line of sight, and found herself face to face with a mirror.
'Or... wait...'
Luna looked the other pony over with wide eyes, as her copy did the same to her. They blinked in unison, adjusting slightly to put an inch or two between them. Luna, the Luna that had just laid down, reached for her magic to examine the other, but another wave of exhaustion hit her instead as she reached into her empty reserves of energy. Instead, she looked forward at the clock on her nightstand, then turned back.
"It's ten fifteen in the morning," she yawned. "We can try and figure this out now or sleep on it and come up with ideas at a sensible hour."
The other Luna, having searched her new bedmate for traps, disguises and any other forms of magical trickery, yawned as well. "I motion for the latter," she murmured sleepily. "If this is a dream, more sleep should solve the problem."
"Right," the first Luna mumbled. "Best not to... dwell on... odd dreams."
The Lunas adjusted once again, one settling herself comfortably against the other, and magical exhaustion and ordinary fatigue pulled each into a much needed and well deserved rest.
Lilac eyes opened wide. Satin sheets folded and fell away from a rising alabaster body. An ethereal breeze caught a messy mane and set it gently and perpetually flowing. The alicorn was silent, scanning the dark room with eyes, ears, and magic, then hissed a long forgotten swear and leaped to her feet.
The sound of frantic packing drew her groggy companion from the next room.
"Your Majesty?" Rarity yawned, rubbing her eyes. "Why's...Haaaah, having trouble sleep"
"I'm afraid I will have to miss your show," Celestia said hurriedly, throwing several trunks onto a cart. "I am needed in Canterlot."
Rarity scowled sleepily, still not fully awake. "Now Princess Celery, Twilight was very specific when she demanded that I not let you back before the..." she paused to yawn again and prop herself against the doorframe. "Before...what time is it?"
The Princess of Dawn finished her packing and turned on her tired chaperone, her face and tone gravely serious.
"I would not disobey Twilight's orders unless it were absolutely necessary," she nearly growled, scaring the sleep out of the comparatively small unicorn. "Understand this is a matter of the utmost importance."
Rarity faltered for a moment before regaining a mask of composure and quietly nodding. Celestia felt a tiny knot in her chest at noticing the fear she'd induced in her subject, but blocked it from her mind as she took the cart in magical tow and stormed out of the hotel room.
The sight of an alicorn rushing through the halls with a determined stride was one the various nocturnal residents of the hotel were far from prepared for. Ponies and gryphons leaped from her path, some bowing deeply as she passed. Drakes and dogs took double-takes as she approached and again as she passed by. Hotel staff rushed to keep up with her, offering in broken Equestrian to carry her trunks or assuage her in some way.
The mistress of sunlight heard none of it. She did not notice the stares or annoyed shouting of those she unbalanced as she rushed by. The only thing she was aware of was her panicked assumptions and the deep desire that they were wrong.
Indigo eyes sluggishly fluttered open. Silk sheets folded and fell away from a rising cobalt body. An ethereal breeze caught a messy mane and set it gently and perpetually flowing. The alicorn was silent, scanning the dark room with eyes, ears, and magic, then hissed a long forgotten swear and flopped back down into her bed.
The sensation of something striking her mattress roused Princess Luna from her odd dreams. She yawned heavily, slowly rolling over and re-situating herself, then groggily opened her eyes.
"You are still here," she said flatly.
The other princess groaned and rubbed her eyes. "You are still here as well."
"I was not the one that wandered in at all hours of the day totally drained of my magic," the still-waking Luna retorted, yawning again. "But the fact that either of us could make such a remark means that something is wrong."
"Indeed," the first-woken Luna nodded. "I am afraid I may have upset the Timeline somehow. Changing locations as I reverted to an earlier point must have kept us from integrating fully."
"Mm... mnnngggg~!" the sleepy Luna mewled with a mighty stretch. "That is a problem if I have ever heard one. How can we integrate if we are already on the same temporal plane?"
"Haven't the foggiest. I doubt I'll be of much good applying any solution we find for a while though. That botched synchronization spell took a lot more out of me than I imagined it would."
The other Luna sat up and glanced at the bedside clock.
"...What you mean to say is that you're too tired to change the day," she corrected with a bemused look.
The temporally displaced Luna's lips curled into a sly grin as she snuggled back under the blankets. "So much more. So tired. No strength. Have to sleep."
Princess Luna cocked an eyebrow at the shit eating grin her doppelganger flashed her, then returned it a moment later.
"Well, that quells any lingering doubts as to our shared identity," she thought aloud as she got to her feet. "If it takes more than the night to reach a solution, though, you will start the day."
"I expect you will be a proper ass until I do," the bedridden Luna mused.
"You know me so well," the standing Luna shot back.
A knock at the tall door to their bedchamber distracted the two Lunas from their banter.
"Enter."
"Enter."
Whoever was on the other side hesitated at hearing the command in stereo, but pushed one of the great doors inward and stepped inside. The two Lunas cocked their heads as Twilight cautiously entered the room, her head down.
"It's time to lower the sun, Pr-...Luna," she quietly informed them.
"Why do you seem so crestfallen, Twilight Sparkle," the standing Luna inquired, turning to face her.
"I..." Twilight sat and rubbed her shoulder with the opposite hoof. "I just... thought I was better than I am, I guess. I was overconfident. I shouldn't have tried the vortex spell"
"Stop."
Twilight flinched. The word was firm, but not angry.
"The blame for what happened, or would have happened rather, lies squarely with me. It was my laziness that put you in a position of so much authority, not your overconfidence. I should have respected Celestia's decision and kept the knowledge from you, or at the very least recognized that you were not ready to apply it. You cannot blame yourself for my shortsightedness."
Twilight glanced confusedly at the now empty balcony, then looked to the princess in the bed. It took a moment for her words to pierce the confusion, and Twilight felt the weight that had settled in her stomach lessen slightly. "I... thank you. I mean... er..." She looked around the room before finding herself staring out the window. "Should I put the sun down? W-without any vortices, I mean."
Luna bowed her head. "Thank you for offering, Twilight, but I can manage."
She shot a glance at the curtains beside the balcony, where she could still see the cloaked copy of herself, and lit her horn after a nearly unnoticed nod. The hidden Luna turned her focus to the sky, taking hold of the sun and moon and passing them through the horizon in turn, then slipped further into the dark to remain unseen. Twilight could not help but be amazed that the blue alicorn had so much energy in reserve after the powerful display of magic earlier that day and bowed in reverence of her elder.
"I suppose I'll get to bed then," she mused quietly, turning to leave.
"Twilight, wait." The little alicorn looked back. "I was... hasty in my earlier declarations; I was emotional and afraid and I said them without much thought. If you see fit to study Partiki I will not ban you from doing so, but the Old Magicks of the Skye should be left alone. For now," she added quickly. "I will of course be happy to tutor you in them whensoever your understanding of the language leads me to believe you are ready for it."
Twilight's shoulders lifted and she smiled gratefully at the elder princess. "Thank you, Luna. I would love that."
The Night Mother bowed and Twilight took her leave, shutting the door behind her with a muted click. Once she was gone the hidden doppelganger stepped into the moonlight and nodded in satisfaction. Quietly, she strode over to the bed and sat beside her other self, bracing for an explanation. "What has happened?"
Celestia frowned as crimson twilight passed through the sky beyond her tiny plane window. Shifting timezones as she had disoriented her as to the cycle, but she had assumed it was nearly time to shift the day and night and was readying herself to do so—but then the sun and moon had traded places and dawn was fast approaching the land she had left behind.
Correct though she could guess that the timing had been, something—a minute something she might have missed were she not so on edge—felt off about the transition. The magic that radiated from the sun and moon was familiar, almost undeniably that of her sister, but there was the faintest tingling itch that something about it was different from the magic she knew. The long forgotten swear slipped out once again in her next breath and she reclined in her seat, willing the plane to fly faster and regretting not using her opportunity to use the Sunbeam Step.
After a few more anxious minutes of tapping her hoof on the arm rest the alabaster alicorn had had all she could stand. She teleported herself out of the plane and spread her wings, quickly overtaking her previous mode of transportation with a powerful stroke of her broad wings.
As she built a steady rhythm to her flapping the plane became a speck at her back on the horizon, and the windswept crest of waves rushed by in frigid waves below. Celestia struggled to quiet her worried thoughts as she pushed her muscles to carry her faster across the water, honing her focus into the faint, twinkling lights of civilization on the horizon.
"Please, light," she hissed, angling herself Northward as she approached the shores of Equestria, "please let me be wrong."