Beginning Recovery

“Moonjumper, can you hear me?” a familiar voice seemed to call from all around. Moonjumper wanted to respond but for some reason she couldn’t make a sound.

“Moonjumper, Celestia is here, you need to wake up, please” The voice called again. Twilight’s voice, Moonjumper recalled. She tried again to do anything but met with the same result, she couldn’t move at all.

“Please wake up, I need to know you’re okay. Please come back to me already.” Twilight’s voice pleaded with her. Moonjumper wanted so badly to comply. She had to get out of whatever this void surrounding her was. She started trying to move, speak, do anything to let Twilight know that she was trying to come to her.

Nothing was working but that wasn’t going to stop her, she put her all into trying to call out to Twilight. She pushed all her thoughts and memories of Twilight into the forefront of her mind and mixed it with her desire to see her again.

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Twilight watched as Moonjumper’s eyes fluttered open. Moonjumper’s wings ruffled slightly as she slowly regained consciousness.

“Moonjumper, you’re awake!” Twilight exclaimed, happy that her marefriend seemed to be okay.

“Twi...light?” Moonjumper said groggily, opening her eyes to see Twilight in front of her.

“Yes, I’m so glad that you’re finally awa-” Twilight started before she found herself on her back, with Moonjumper’s lips firmly planted on her own.

“Well that was… unexpected.” A regal sounding voice from the other side of the room suddenly called out.

“TIA!” Moonjumper yelled when she realized there was a audience to what she had thought was a private moment. Suddenly she became acutely aware of an acute pain all over her body that nearly caused her to fall over again.

“Calm down Moonjumper. You’re still in no shape to be moving around.” Twilight scolded. Moonjumper steadied herself, looking at the ground in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, Twilight.” Moonjumper said. Twilight gave Moonjumper a small smile, showing that she wasn’t angry with her.

“Well, now that everyone is calm, would you two mind explaining what happened here?” Celestia asked, trying her best not to make things more awkward.

Twilight cleared her throat, but she couldn’t think of how to say what she needed to.

“Um.... well.... the thing is.” Twilight began but couldn’t get anywhere.

“Twilight and I have decided to become a couple, Tia, we-” Moonjumper began.

“I can see as much Lulu, and while I am happy for you two, I am more concerned with the Nightmare Moon problem.” Celestia interrupted. Twilight looked a bit shocked at what Moonjumper had started sharing.

“Oh! Of course.” Moonjumper stammered, relived that Celestia was not pushing into more personal grounds. Moonjumper Looked to Twilight to start them off.

“So it all started when I woke up, Moonjumper seemed distressed. When I tried to approach her, Nightmare Moon was speaking through her. She threatened me but Moonjumper seemed to take control back for a second.” Twilight began to explain.

“I have a quick question Twilight. Why do you keep calling Luna Moonjumper? I could understand doing so in public but surely privately there is no reason for it.” Celestia asked.

“Oh, well it started out as a way to prevent slip ups, we didn’t want anypony to find out that she was actually a princess. It's strange but I honestly can't think of her as Luna anymore. She just became Moonjumper after the time we’ve spent together.” Twilight confessed.

“I see, I guess that it is harmless for as long as Luna is recovering. At this point in time Nightmare Moon is the biggest concern.” Celestia relents, motioning for Twilight to continue with her story. Twilight nodded and continued, despite the small blush now present on her face.

“Moonjumper and Nightmare Moon both started fighting for control, culminating in the two of them magically ripping themselves apart. When the two separated Nightmare Moon, looking like a regular unicorn, teleported away to an unknown location.” Twilight concluded. Celestia considered this for a few minutes before she spoke.

“Luna, do you still have access to your unicorn Magic?” She finally asked. Moonjumper seemed to startle for a second.

“I… I don’t know, let me try lifting something.” Moonjumper said, before closing her eyes and concentrating. Rather unexpectedly Twilight’s horn flared up and a book across the room was raised into the air. When Moonjumper opened her eyes she was as stunned as the other two mares in the room.

For a few seconds no one spoke.

“Twilight… am I... correct in assuming that you are not currently in control of that book?” Celestia finally asked.

“No princess, I mean it is my horn doing this but I didn’t even think about moving the book.” Twilight explained, her face torn between curious and terrified.

“Luna can you please drop the book now?” Celestia asked her sister. Moonjumper complied and the book fell to the floor, Twilight’s horn no longer glowing.

“I- I don’t understand what this means.” Moonjumper finally said.

“It would appear that when you split from Nightmare Moon she took your physical conduit for magic, your horn, and now it has to work through an alternate source.” Celestia said, shaking her head at how strange her day had become in the last few minutes.

“So if I want to use magic by myself, it has to activate through Twilight, because of our magic being linked.” Moonjumper stated, looking at Twilight apologetically.

“Hey don’t look at me like that Moonjumper,” Twilight began, “this is not your fault, so there is no reason for you to apologize. It is a bit strange, but I’ve been dealing with strange since I moved to this town.” Twilight explained, after which Moonjumper seemed a bit relieved.

“If you say so, I just don’t want it to feel like I’m using you as some tool for performing magic.” Moonjumper said. Celestia had a contemplative look on her face, she got to her hooves.

“Well, I best be off to Canterlot. The guards will not deploy themselves. Luna, please let the guards handle this, we don’t yet know the full extent of how this has affected you and I don’t want to take chances with your well being.” Celestia explained as she began walking toward the door.

“Alright Tia, I promise. But if they find anything I want to be the first to know. Nightmare Moon may have separated from me but she is still my responsibility.” Moonjumper asserted before Celestia was fully gone.

“Of course, sister.”

Author's Notes:

Hopefully this chapter is good. I wrote most of it on my phone and then spent a little while editing and moving stuff around on my computer. The beginning of this arc is what I decided to leave mostly free form so i don't have much set in stone for what I want to do with Moonjumper and Twilight. Hopefully things go well.