Author's Notes:

Hello all, the Neckbeard's back again with the 4th part. Again, please, give me critique, tell me what I'm doing wrong, what needs fixing, what's working for you.

The Usual Disclaimer:

The following is a work of parody, and is protected as Fair Use under section 17 U.S. Code § 107 of US Copyright Law. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all affiliated characters are property of Hasbro Inc.

I own nothing. All characters, settings and other belong to their respective owners. This is purely a fan-work with no intent towards profit, slander or harm towards the characters, settings or other, or their respective owners. If the respective owners feel that this fan-work in any way, shape or form threatens or besmirches their property, please let me know so that it be can be removed asap.

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CHAPTER 4

"Necklace, necklace, necklace, necklace, necklace aaaand ... big crown-thingy!" Twilight muttered to herself as she went down the checklist, ticking off the final boxes as a rather unhappy Spike jumped up and down on a large and battered suitcase, trying to get the damnable thing to shut properly. "That's the Elements of Harmony all accounted for ... have I forgotten anything? Anything else I need to take with me on this training trip?"

While she was away, the jewellery that served as the 'tokens' of the Elements of Harmony would be stored in Rarity's home, where they could be safely hidden amongst the wealth of jewels and ornaments that the designer kept in her 'inspiration' room.

"A .... bigger .... suitcase .... may-BEEEE!" Spike grunted every time he landed, before the suitcase snapped open and catapulted the baby-dragon onto the bed.

"Oh! That's right, my special pillow! I just can't sleep properly when camping without it!" Twilight said brightly, having completely missed Spike's complaints and his 'flight', levitating the pillow, which lay right next to Spike, up off the bed and into her suitcase, and then closed the bulging suitcase with a single 'push' of her magic.

Thankfully still off in her own world, Twilight Sparkle missed the glare from her Number One Assistant, one that could have melted stone, as she levitated the suitcase out of the room to rest by the door, before taking one last look at her bedroom.

It was a nostalgic, bitter-sweet feeling. To finally be 'home' after so long, only to leave again so soon. Who knew that these living wooden walls could feel so comforting ...

Spike says he can handle the library, he's already done so for a few weeks now, and I've asked Rarity to pop over every few days to make sure he's not in any trouble .... or eating all the gems in one sitting ... The purple Alicorn thought to herself as she closed her eyes and tried to think of anything she'd left undone. He has been saying I don't give him enough space ...

"I still don't get why Princess Celestia is making you and Luna go to the Everfree Forest to train ... can't you just train in Canterlot, or Ponyville, where your friends can find you?" The baby Dragon grumbled as he slid off her bed and walked over to give his 'sister' a goodbye hug.

"Because we … uh ... my powers aren't stable yet. Because they keep spiking like they are, it's not safe for me to practice using them in areas with lots of Ponies around." Twilight replied sadly, wrapping a wing around Spike's head and hugging him in return. I wish I could tell you exactly where I was going, and what’s really going on ... "But don't worry, Luna is with me, so there'll be no problems at all. I wish I didn't have to go either, but this is a Royal Decree Spike, from Princess Celestia herself. If even Luna can't say no, I can't either."

"Yeah, well ... let's not tell Fluttershy you might be setting parts of the Everfree forest on fire then." Spike said, grinning hugely. "Last thing you need is Fluttershy giving two of Equestria's Princess 'The Stare'!"

"Ugh, don't remind me ... and Spike, seriously, Princess Celestia has commanded that nobody know where Luna will be training me. I’ve broken that Decree so you know what’s going on if there’s an emergency. So no following us into the Everfree Forest, and no telling our friends where I am unless it's an emergency, something huge like a second Changeling Invasion. And that goes double for Pinkie Pie."

"Hehe, yeah, imagine if Pinkie Pie starts to drop by to set up parties for you two!" The Dragon added, an impish grin on his face. "I can just see it now, you and Luna, trying to meditate, with Pinkie Pie swinging by overhead screaming "MAGIC PAAAAAAARTAAAAAY"! at the top of her lungs!"

"If I need their help, I'll send you a message through the Flame-Scroll spell along with our weekly correspondence." Twilight tried very hard not to smile at the mental image her Assistant/Little Brother had conjured for her, before hugging him tightly once again at the top of the stairs. "I trust you with the Library, Spike. I know you can handle it, and I won't be too far if something drastic happens."

"Hah, more like I won't be too far when you need something." Spike retorted, but did so with a smile. "I won't ask where exactly you're going, so nopony can get it out of me ... but are you sure you don't want to take Owlicious with you? He could be useful in a pinch?"

"More than a brave Dragon? No, Owlicious needs to stay here and be your assistant while I'm away ... and again, please apologise to the girls that I can't speak to them right now ... Princess Celestia was adamant that I take what I need from the library and leave quickly and quietly." Twilight started to say, then sighed heavily, levitating her suitcase down the stairs after Spike, taking one last, longing look around her home for the past three years.

Goodbye ... I won't be long, I promise. Twilight promised her beloved library as Spike opened the door just wide enough to stick his head out and scan the street, before gesturing for Twilight that it was all clear.

It was with a sense of regret and fondness that Twilight Sparkle crept out of her home, seeing Ponyville shrouded in the faint light of pre-dawn ... and took to the air with her suitcase, leaving Spike behind to take care of their home ... and her friends to wonder why she could not spend even one day with them after nearly a month-long absence.

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The flight over Ponyville was brief, but the night air was still very cold, which forced Twilight to surround herself with a heating spell, which also had the unfortunate side-effect of causing her to glow slightly, but the trip did give Twilight Sparkle room to think, to try and sort out her emotions.

There's the Cake's shop ... the school-house ... oh, Rarity's lights are on! Must be working on something big to be up at this hour! Twilight found herself chuckling as she imagined Rarity at her desk, torn between getting her beauty sleep and finishing a 'fabulous' new design.

Home after home passed under her wings, and Twilight found herself wavering, trying to find excuses to stay in Ponyville for just a day, maybe two, just to let her friends know she was well, that everything was fine.

But everything is not fine. Luna and I flinch as soon as we're in the same room, neither of us have any idea how bad this 'Sympathy' is going to become over time, Princess Celestia has had to send us away on a training mission to stop the Nobles from gossiping about us ...

So consumed with the negative thoughts that filled her, Twilight missed a Pony in the orchards of Apple Acres staring up at the glowing Alicorn in surprise as she flew towards the Everfree Forest.

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The Everfree Forest ... such a frightening place. Here, the wild grew strong and alone and vicious, without the need for Ponies to protect and shape it.

It had not always been so. Once, it had been a place of exquisite, sculpted beauty, the work of hundreds of generations of Ponies whom had guided and nurtured the land to be the apex of a balance between bounty and beauty.

All of it washed away in a single night of rage and fear and jealousy ... all because of her childish behaviour, all because she wanted to be loved like her sister.

All because she had been so desperate and lonely that she’d not been able to see the Nightmare Spirit for what it truly was.

Luna sighed as she stared at the ruined castle, now known to the Ponies of this era as the home of the 'Royal Pony Sisters'. True, she had been possessed by an evil Spirit, and true, the Ponies had neglected her Night, and all the effort she put in to make it as beautiful as she could, but the truth of the matter was that Luna had been sidelined by her older and more socially adept sister, and despite all their adventures together, Celestia had turned her full attention to rulership, leaving Luna alone with only a small number sour-faced servants for company during the long night hours.

That Luna had conquered the savage and tribal Bat-Ponies and then brought them into Equestrian society, and spent every night keeping the dreamscapes and minds of the entire Kingdom free of nightmares and the machinations of rogue groups of Unicorns seeking to dominate the ‘lesser’ breeds had never been mentioned. Celestia had claimed it would terrify the Ponies to realise their lives were still under threat, but at that time, Luna had thought it just another barrage of excuses so that Celestia could avoid sharing the love and affection of the Ponies with her sister.

Celestia should have done this. Luna might have said that. So many ways they had both missed the signs of the coming conflict, of the growing division between them.

The bitterest irony of all... Luna thought glumly as she glared at the ruined tower, still mostly intact despite over a thousand years of neglect. We sealed away Discord and freed Equestria from his ever-changing chaos, threw back the Gryphon Invasion with just ourselves and Starswirl the Bearded, ended the Bloody Horn rebellion over tea and scones and reduced King Sombra to little more than a mindless shadow ... but the one enemy we could not overcome on our own was ourselves.

Now here she was, alone again, or nearly so. It would be just Twilight Sparkle and herself, in these ruins, until their 'Sympathy' to each other's magic could be controlled.

Putting a hoof to her face and sighing, Luna re-started her mental exercises, trying to expunge the afternoon's disasters from her mind. Every time she thought of Twilight now, she couldn't help but think of the smaller Alicorn lying flush on top of her own body, squeaking adorably as the 'side-effects' of the Sympathy ran their course.

Stop! I. Am. Not. A. Filly. Fooler. Scolding herself, the Lunar Princess turned to more fruitful, and hopefully less embarrassing endeavours, such setting up the camp. Thankfully, Celestia had kept one of Luna's older experiments over the centuries as a keep-sake, a circle of woven moonlight and shadow that could be expanded to be large enough to contain a dozen ponies if need be, or shrunken to the size of a single bit-coin, a portal to a small pocket-dimension, a literal portable hole.

Inside this 'hole', Luna had placed everything she believed they would need. A large, spacious tent for both Princesses, a week's worth of provisions, her bathing supplies, a medical kit, some portable telescopes for star-gazing and the scrolls that Celestia had said seemed to be actually useful to the ... 'problem'.

Why are you so set against this? Wasn't it pleasant to be held in your sleep once again, to feel like a Mare again, rather than Celestia's silly little sister? A rebellious part of Luna's mind asked as the Lunar Princess began levitating the items out of the portable hole. Was it really so bad to be held again, without having to order somebody to do it, or to rely upon your sister to ...

"Enough, enough, ENOUGH! I am a Princess, and a Princess is not a ... a filly-fooler!" Luna snapped to herself, glaring into the impossibly dark portable hole as her levitation spell grew unstable with her anger, dumping parcels and boxes roughly onto the ground.

Despite her best efforts, the warmth of laying under the covers with another pony clinging to her came back to haunt Luna, only irritating her more. Apart from a handful of 'Night Guard' and some of Celestia's own servants, she had little friendly contact with other ponies in Canterlot. The Nobles were scheming against each other constantly, and showing favour to one would cause a veritable storm of chaos as the lucky Noble used that relationship as leverage.

The servant-ponies were polite, gentle and always unfailingly positive, but there was always a ... a falseness to their actions. Were they nice because they were nice, or were they buttering her up because Luna was royalty? And there was always the radically different positions of commoner and royalty getting in the way, at least to Luna's eyes.

And her Night Guards, while loyal ... were very much gung-ho enthusiasts looking for a position where they would not have to serve under Celestia's stodgy and old-fashioned generals. But then, Bat-Ponies always were ready to fight, or chase something down, or anything that required adrenaline, a thrill and victory. Even General Thunderwing had been something of a rogue element in the Royal Guard before circumstances had forced the Bat-Pony into higher and higher levels of command.

I wonder what Twilight would have thought if she knew I had almost poached Shining Armor to serve as my Captain of the Guard... Luna found herself smiling as she imagined the look on the young Twilight Sparkle's face as she found her BBBFF wearing dark, bat-themed armor instead of the royal red coat that Celestia insisted he wear.

Further musing was lost as she heard a familiar voice screaming in the distance, and Luna looked up in surprise to see a glowing Twilight Sparkle speeding through the air unsteadily, followed by what looked to be giant moths.

Even for the Everfree Forest, insects that big was odd. Still, they looked to be relatively harmless, but Twilight Sparkle was panicking like they were setting her tail on fire and telekinetically swinging her suitcase around like a club, which was all the signs that Luna needed to take flight and go 'rescue' the younger Alicorn from her 'tormentors'.

"Twilight! TWILIGHT! Whatever spell you are using, dispel it!" Luna shouted as she closed in on the panicking mare. "The moths are attracted to the light! DOUSE THINE LIGHT!"

Luna would later say she was unsure if Twilight heard her, or if the younger mare simply panicked too much and lost control of her spell, but the aura of pale purple light grew larger, swelling like a soap-bubble around Twilight before 'popping', making the giant moths flutter wildly after the dissipating fragments of the spell, and Luna found herself with a shaking Twilight clinging to her neck and her suitcase going flying through the air, hopefully towards the camp-site.

"Oh Celestia, are they gone, are they still chasing me, I hate moths, I HATE MOTHS, get them away, get 'em awaaaaaay!" Twilight squealed, obviously terrified as she clung to Luna with her eyes tightly clenched. "I'm not a book, don't eat meeeee!"

Unsure of what would happen if the panicking mare was exposed to more magic-seeking moths, Luna had to struggle back down to the ground on her own wing-power, no easy feat with Twilight grappling her and getting in the way of Luna's wings, but soon they were both on the ground by the pile of supplies, with Luna trying unsuccessfully to untangle herself from Twilight's grasp.

"Twilight, its okay, the moths are long gone ... please stop, this is ... too clos ... where are you touching?" Luna muttered as she slowly, awkwardly disentangled herself from Twilight, cursing their predicament, which precluded the use of magic.

They still didn't know if they would resonate only if their horns were touching, or if their 'Sympathy' had grown so strong after the disaster in Celestia’s room that it would affect them if their magic touched each other, so Luna had to resort to mere physical abilities to carry Twilight to the camp-site and get her settled ... and noticed that Twilight was shivering, badly.

"C-cold ... but can't use the sp-p-pell, the mu-mu-mu-moths will come b-b-back!" Twilight whimpered, shaking furiously from both the cold and her fear as Luna hastily tried to erect one of the tents with just her hooves.

Until Twilight fully grew in to her new powers and domain, whatever that was, she was still just a pony with wings and horns. Mortal concerns such as temperature, food and diseases were still of concern, and the thought that Twilight might suffer caused Luna to force herself past any fear of the Sympathy as she turned to spells in desperation to set up the tent, throwing everything she had already unpacked into the side of the tent but for the bedding, which she quickly wrapped around Twilight Sparkle and, praying to the Mother Earth that the buffer of the bedding would serve as sufficient insulation against more magical mayhem, levitated the shivering mare into the tent.

Next was discovering where Twilight's suitcase had gotten to. Knowing Twilight, the young mare would be up and rushing about, trying to find the ... oh dear.

Following the 'scent' of Twilight's magic, Luna half-ran, half-flew to the very border of the ruins of the ancient castle, where Twilight's suitcase had firmly lodged itself into a tight space between two mammoth slabs of cut stone.

There is no way I am going to be able to move either one of those, not drained as I am and most certainly not without doing damage to the suitcase. Luna snarled mentally, stamping a hoof in frustration. Thanks to Celestia's drunken attempt to study the Sympathy between herself and Twilight, Luna now had barely enough power within her to perform simple spells such as levitation and telekinesis. Thankfully, her ability to raise and lower the night sky, and all it contained, was not tied to something as simple as her personal magic.

Back inside the tent, however, Luna found to her surprise that Twilight still shivered from the cold, despite being wrapped in some of Canterlot's finest sheep's wool blankets.

"There is ... nothing for it." The Lunar Princess sighed and began removing her crown, shoes and breastplate, before crawling into the cocoon of blankets, wrapping her wings around the slightly smaller, violently shivering Mare. "This will not become a habit, Twilight Sparkle ..."

And yet, within a few minutes of listening to Twilight's teeth stop their chattering and her whimpers becoming the deep, slow whisper of calm sleep as Luna's body-warmth helped restore Twilight's own body to its normal temperature, Luna found herself likewise drifting off to the realm of dreams against her best efforts.

"Preposterous ... I have already ... spent most of today asleep!" She protested weakly as her eyes closed with unusual heaviness.

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Morning, the next day

"And you're sure that Twilight said that she couldn't tell us where she was going?" Rarity asked, staring right at Spike, who shifted under that appraising gaze, feeling as if he was being interrogated for a crime, rather than obeying a Royal Command.

"Yeaaaah, she can't even tell her friends? What's the Princess thinking?" Rainbow Dash muttered, rubbing a hoof over the face of the latest release of Daring Do series. Which Princess that Rainbow Dash was referring to was ambiguous, however.

"HEY! Y'all know 'bout how them high'n'mighty Ponies in Canterlot twisted Twilight's letters!" The tan-coloured hoof of Applejack rapped on the floor of the library, drawing attention to the farm-Pony. "Y'all remember that poor Twilight got so upset! Spike says that Twilight's gonna be writing to us again, and she's off with Princess Luna too."

"Y-yeah! Twilight's really gotta focus on her training, or else she and Luna are going to be stuck training away from Canterlot for months!" The baby dragon capitalized on the opening Applejack had given him, puffing out his chest and trying to look imposing. "It's not her fault, or Princess Celestia's, it's those stuck-up Nobles and the gossip-Ponies that write the magazines! If not for them, Twilight and Luna wouldn't have to be away on their training trip!"

"Well ... I can't say I approve of Twilight not even leaving us a note, but if it was a Royal Decree, there's not much that we can do." Rarity sighed dramatically, but Spike could see the irritation in her, in the way her mane shook and her eyes twitched.

"Yeaaaaaaaah ... but it's not cool, not cool at all." The cyan wings of Rainbow Dash also gave an irritated twitch, before the Pegasus snatched up the new book and began stuffing it into her saddle-bag. "Twilight's going to majorly owe us for letting this go."

After several more exchanges of the same nature, finally Rarity and Rainbow Dash left the library, leaving Spike and Applejack alone to try and figure out what to do next.

"Now Spike, I'm sure you understand, but sure as shootin', you'll be giving us those letters, alright?" Applejack murmured as she helped the baby Dragon clean up the mess that Rainbow Dash's 'search' for clues had made of the public area of the library. "It's been such a long time since we heard from Twilight, and now she's come home and left without even leaving us a note. It's not something a Pony should do to her friends, and it's made us all mighty upset with her, you hear?"

"I hear you, Applejack. Twilight had her reasons, but I'll pass the message along. I'm sure Twilight will tell us all about everything that's going on ... and then write a report on it!" Spike added, making both Pony and Dragon chuckle. "Besides, she's with Luna ... what could possibly go wrong?"

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For the second time in as many days, Luna found herself in the warm, embarrassing and very comfortable embrace of Twilight Sparkle, blushing furiously as she tried very hard not to think too much about the warm, firm body snuggled against her and the too-adorable-to-call-snoring noises Twilight was making with her muzzle lying on top of Luna's neck, half-buried in Luna's star-scape-like mane.

Despite the sun clearing the tree-line, the air still held the bitterly cold child of the Everfree Forest night, a chill that Luna's night lacked within more civilized areas, a side-effect of the 'Wild Magic' that ran rampant through the region.

I could wake her up ... or I could try to ... no, her wing's over my ... where are you touching, Twilight? Luna thought desperately, trying to not squirm as Twilight's wing, or more specifically, her primaries or flight feathers, twitched and slide across Luna's flank and cutie-mark, the pale purple Alicorn mumbling something unintelligible in her sleep. Mother preserve me! I thought Tia was bad enough! Twilight is molesting me in her sleep! Help!

However, neither Luna's long-vanished mother nor some other miracle occurred, and Luna found herself still entwined with the sleeping cuddle-fiend known as Twilight Sparkle. Not that it was an entirely bad thing, as that rebellious corner of Luna's mind kept remind her. Twilight, despite being a devout bibliophile, was in excellent physical health and the peak of her youth before becoming an Alicorn, and the transformation to the quasi-divine state was only accentuating her form.

Just a few more years, and she'll be as big as Cadence. Maybe, if she really is the Aspect of Magic, as big as myself ... Luna thought to herself, absently stroking Twilight's mane with one hoof as the younger Mare mumbled again, too low to hear, and shifted in her sleep, pushing her muzzle further into Luna's mane. If she's the Aspect of Friendship ... we're going to need to remodel Canterlot.

Although Luna would probably be mortified if anypony saw her right now, she felt ... happy in this position. This closeness, this warmth, was something that the Lunar Princess had craved while trapped on the moon in her corrupted form. No awkward titles to trip over, no political ambitions poisoning the friendships, just a simple, peaceful contact between herself and a pony she could call 'friend'.

Eventually, Twilight began to wake up, blinking blearily at Luna at first before returning to her sleepy snuggling, then the new Alicorn went rigid with shock.

Ah ... here it comes. Luna thought to herself dryly, using her magic without thinking to unwrap them both from the blankets, Twilight wide-eyed and pale-faced as she looked down and saw her wing resting possessively on Luna's cutie-mark.

Luna expected tears, maybe horrified denials or accusations ... not to have Twilight's eyes roll back in her head and the young Alicorn faint dead away! Still, at least it postponed the inevitably awkward conversation for a precious few minutes, giving Luna the chance to get away, splash her face with some water from the nearby stream and get a fire going, and the beginnings of breakfast started.

Twilight emerged, still blushing, from the tent and gave a shaky bow to Luna before rushing to the stream to perform her own bathing, missing Luna's sigh.

We are of equal rank now, Twilight. I had thought we had also solved this issue months ago, during the Nightmare Night ... Luna thought to herself sadly. Although after our last ... encounter, I can imagine neither of us is thinking straight right now.

Thinking straight ... no, perhaps I'm thinking ... Luna shook her head to dispel the thought, gritting her teeth in frustration as she stirred the oat porridge one final time before ladling it into two massive tin bowls. Even a full grown Stallion would have been challenged to eat the entire amount, but Luna knew from previous experience that an Alicorn that had exhausted much of her power could consume ridiculous amounts of food.

Twilight's return to the camp came with a clatter of stones, the younger, smaller Alicorn's face and neck dripping with water, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Good ... ah ... good morning, Luna." Twilight stammered, that too-broad smile still on her face. "I ... aaaah ... don't really remember much ..."

"You were being chased by giant moths, and lost control of your spell." Luna sighed and telekinetically pushed the bowl of steaming porridge towards her 'student', looking Twilight dead in the eyes. "You were so cold that you wouldn't warm up, so I had no choice but to use my own body to heat you. I suspect you've never been this low on magic before, have you?"

Twilight took the large bowl in her hooves before settling down in front of the fire, shaking her head slowly. "Once, when I had to stop an Ursa Minor, but I've never ... it never felt like this. Like I'm about to fall over any second, I'm cold right in the core of my body, and my ... my everything feels like it's made of jelly."

"Well, some hot food will help with that. You know, of course, that Unicorns need to eat more than other Ponies because of their magic?" Luna added, honestly chuckling as she watching Twilight stare into the bowl of porridge with obvious hunger. "Well, as a newly 'reborn' or Ascended Alicorn, you will find yourself eating as much food as several ponies could, several times a day in fact, as your body turns the food into the reserves it will need when you start to become a true Alicorn."

"You know, I never really eat breakfast ..." Twilight murmured, staring into the porridge like it held the mysteries of the universe before starting to levitate 'spoon'-sized amounts of porridge into her mouth. "And I never thought it strange that Princess Celestia would finish off an entire buffet tray all on her own at every meal ... she would always eat so daintily that it seemed natural somehow."

"Ah that would be one of her charm-spells. Ponies would find such hunger to be strange, unnatural even, so Tia weaves a subtle charm about herself, a soft compulsion that makes Ponies ... lose track of time around her when she is eating." Luna explain, frowning slightly. "In the old days, we would just have food waiting for us in our private rooms and retire to them three or four times a day to eat until we were ready to burst, then go back to our duties ..."

"And Twilight? Eat. We will do nothing until that bowl is emptied fully." The older Alicorn added tartly as Twilight started to put her bowl to the side. "Not only will we both need large amounts of food to replenish our magical reserves, but you have weeks of 'starving' yourself to recover from."

"But Luna, I can't possible eat all of ..." Twilight began with a laugh, before looking down at her bowl in surprise: nearly half of the oat porridge had disappeared, and given the size of the bowl, that was enough to feed a Pony the size of Big Mac, let alone a slender Pony like herself. And she had eaten it that in just under a minute.

"Oh, we're will need to have a long talk about your new form, Twilight." Luna chuckled as she attacked her own breakfast with gusto. "But first, we eat, and then we go to recover your suitcase from the ruins."

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"...and she didn't even leave a single note as to where she was going! It's outrageous for Twilight to ... to just brush off her friends like this!" Rarity fumed, slapping a hoof down into the herbal bath at the spa, an unusually deep scowl marring her features. "I'm beginning to wonder if she even remembers she has friends in Ponyville, now she's royalty and all!"

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing like that Rarity. Don't you remember, Twilight has always been there for us, I'm certain Twilight is just so flustered that she forgot?" Fluttershy murmured in response, squeaking as a large 'wave' slapped against her chest and splashed cloudy, herb-scented water against her muzzle.

"Well, perhaps you're right, but still, it's been over two weeks since we last received any letters from Twilight, poor little Spikey-Wikey is having to run the library all on his own, and he's just a baby Dragon after all!" The white Mare muttered, still sulking. The lack of Twilight had affected them all in various ways, few of them pleasant.

Rainbow Dash had become increasingly surly as her attempts to teach Twilight how to fly had been lost under the swarm of etiquette lessons that Twilight had been forced to undertake, Applejack had stopped coming into Ponyville except to sell her farm's produce, Pinkie Pie was sulking of all things, Rarity had found herself without an equally cultured Mare to talk about Canterlot's latest trends and even Fluttershy had found it harder to mingle with the other Ponies of Ponyville without Twilight at her side.

"Oh, I'm sure Twilight will write to us again, maybe even visit us if she gets the chance." Fluttershy murmured soothingly, rubbing a hoof up and down Rarity's arm. "Twilight has never let us down, not ever. As her friends, we can wait a little bit longer, right?"

Rarity's response was an unhappy sniff, but for now at least, the problem had been put aside.

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"Oh wow, it’s so tight..."

"Wait, don't push it that way!"

"I don't think I ... I can't ... aah!"

"Just ... hold on, I'm almost ... almost there!"

Sweating, trembling, the two Alicorns swayed in unison, their legs on the verge of buckling, their wings hanging limply with exhaustion, horns pulsing with magic.

With a final cry of effort, the two reared back, their horns flaring with magic one last time as the two giant stock blocks ground against each other, the gap between them opening slightly and Twilight's much-abused suitcase popping out and landing on top of its exhausted owner.

For several minutes, both Alicorns lay on the dusty ground of the ruined castle, panting and trying to recover their strength. Both blocks of stone were massive, easily three times the size of a pony and made of granite, and drained as they were, both Twilight and Luna had struggled to move the blocks enough to release Twilight's luggage.

"Well ... I think we have ... solved two issues." Luna gasped as she struggled to her hooves, plodding over to the prone Twilight, who was still smushed under her suitcase. "Our magic does not cause the 'resonance' effect unless we are physically touching our horns together, and we are going to need to eat constantly to replenish our magic. I fear we drained all of our reserves recovering your luggage."

"Mrrfff..." Twilight groaned under her suitcase before Luna dragged the heavily scratched and dusty suitcase off her 'student'. "I can't possibly eat any ..."

Twilight's protest was cut off by a chorus loud growling coming from the bellies of both Alicorns, and the embarrassed giggling that followed.

"Trust me on this, Twilight. Until we return to our full strength, you will find yourself eating more food than a regiment of Canterlot's finest soldiers. In your case, you must eat constantly to help fuel the physical aspects of your transformation, or you may end up stunted or even crippled as your body draws upon itself to fuel the changes." Luna explained again as Twilight slowly got to her hooves and managed to throw a weak levitation spell around her suitcase, making it hover a few inches off the ground.

"Hopefully more than just porridge?" Twilight half-joked, half-pleaded as they walked slowly back to camp.

Luna didn't know about Twilight, but the thought of flight right now made her want to lay down and cry. Walking was one thing, but ponies without wings didn't know how tiring flying could be.

There was a reason that there was no such thing as a fat Pegasus ...

"I'm thinking a round of mulberry jam sandwiches, followed by as much hot tea as we can drink, and then more sandwiches." Luna replied in an impish voice, grinning as Twilight groaned behind her, either in defeat or longing for the food. "Tia promised she would be sending more food to us later, but certainly she will understand that we need more now."

"Uhm, how will Princess Celestia be doing that? I thought teleportation magic didn't work at long ranges within the Everfree Forest?" Twilight asked as the two weary Alicorns trudged back to their campsite. "If she sends ponies out to deliver the food, they'll just tell the Nobles where we are, and the Princess can't just duck out of Canterlot with a few dozen bags of shopping for us ..."

“There is a Pony that my sister suggested we could rely upon, but it will take a day for Tia to get the message to them, and then another day for the Pony to get the supplies to us.” Luna replied, looking in the direction of Ponyville with concern. “Tia also mentioned a stranger in these lands, somebody you know? A … Zebra, I think they are called?”

“Oh, Zecora! Yes, Zecora knows a lot about the Everfree Forest, and magic … her people use magic through alchemy, rather than horns like Unicorns do.” Twilight said brightly, her good humour returning rapidly with the recovery of her luggage and a safe topic to discuss. “Her people dwell in a land on the far side of the Everfree Forest, a place of savannahs and tropical jungles, and there’s only Zebras there. No Pegasi, no Unicorns, only Earth Ponies called ‘Zebras’.”

“Alchemical Magic? Huh, I wonder if that’s … no, they would never teach their secrets to outsiders. Still, at least we know there’s at least one friendly face out here to rely upon.” Talking softly to herself, Luna led the way back to camp, and yet another meal.