Chapter 69: Of The Night

"So, unless I heard you wrong, Princess Luna will be coming here."

"Yes," Confirms Rarity, "You heard correctly Dusk."

"Sweet." A great big smile is plastered onto his muzzle, and his tone of voice became one of an excited fancolt. "I can't believe that Princess Luna is going to see me." He does a very unstallion like squee in delight.

"I'm eager to meet Luna as well, since I'm probably the only one in town who hasn't met her yet. Actually no, I'm positively thrilled to be able to meet her myself." She says with hints of anticipation and joy in her voice. "She came to Ponyville in the last Nightmare Night, in case you were wondering."

"Well, that answered most of my questions. Just... why didn't you visit her when she was there?" Asks Dusk.

"I had a rather large order from a very influential and famous client, and it just happened to be a day before the Night..."

While both Dusk and Rarity were both distracted by their own conversation, Fluttershy was trying to stop a possible disaster from occurring. She was trying to calm down the crazed and seemingly possessed Twilight Sparkle, who is becoming more and more stressed with every passing second. Her mane and tail had gotten into a messy state as she continued to clean her home. (which was already clean to begin with)

"Uhm, Twilight you don't need to worry about the house, it looks fine the way it is.”

“But that’s the problem!” She yells, bringing her shrunken eyes a few centimetres from Fluttershy’s, which forces the yellow pegasus into a near fetal position, “Everything can’t be ‘fine’ when royalty visits, it has to be absolutely perfect.”

Fluttershy had begun to cower under Twilight’s crazed stare, “I-I’m sorry...” She has started to cry under the unicorn’s influence. She was scared of Twilight, the way that she was staring at her, as well as her yelling at her like that. It frightens her, “I’m r-really, really sorry.”

There was a low growl emanating from the draconic resident in the room, “Twilight, what the hay is your problem.” Aggressively snaps Spike, who had begun to seeth in anger. There were small wisps of smoke escaping through the dragon’s open mouth as her continues, “Why did you do this to Fluttershy, look at what you’ve done to her!”

“Spike, do not-”

“I said look at her.” He retorts, while pointing a claw towards Fluttershy. Twilight turns her gaze over to the yellow pegasus, and immediately starts to regret her past actions. Fluttershy is curled up into a ball on the ground, and everypony in the room could hear her slow, sad cries, despite the fact that her face was obscured by her mane and body. With her is Dusk, who had knelt down to ground level, and us trying to comfort his marefriend as best as he could. She could tell that he was saying something to Fluttershy, but he was too quiet for Twilight to hear him. Even Rarity was giving the unicorn dirty looks. She felt horrible for doing this to Fluttershy. She never thought that she would do something so harsh to anypony, let alone Fluttershy. There was only one thing that she could do that could not only make Fluttershy feel better, but herself as well.

Twilight slowly walks up to the crying pegasus, and kneels down to (the equivalent of) Fluttershy's eye level. Dusk knew what Twilight was about to do, and so he stands up and steps back, to give the two a little more space. "...F-Fluttershy... d-do you mind i-if I c-can talk to you?"

There seems to be no response from Fluttershy, but her pained sobs have now receded. There was a dead silence in the room as Twilight tries again, “Fluttershy?”

“You s-scared me.”

“...” She could think of no cognitive response to her friend’s sudden comment. Fluttershy is looking at the unicorn, but was still in her fetal position. “...I-I didn’t-”

“I-I know you didn’t mean to scare like that, b-but..." She wipes a few tears off her face, which makes Twilight feel even more regretful than  before. "...Y-You... I... P-P-Please don't do that again T-Twilight.  You were... so f-frightening...”

"I'm so sorry, I just know what came over me. I won't do that again to you Fluttershy, I promise." She could feel her composure begin to slip, as her eyes begin to water. "Can you forgive me?"

Fluttershy, despite her tears, warmly smiles at Twilight. "Of c-course Twilight. We all have our good and bad days, a-and I know that you weren't um... normal at the time." She instantly regrets putting it that bluntly, but she still continues, "So y-yes, I forgive you."

Twilight smiles back at her friend, appreciative for the second chance. "Thank you Fluttershy." They both give each other a much needed hug, relieving all of the tension between the mares. There is a collective "D'aaawww." From Rarity and Dusk which drew the attention of the remaining three in the room.

"Jeez, get a room you two." Comments Spike, who is looking at the mare and stallion.

"Spike." Warns Twilight with an authoritative tone.

He looks back at the embarrassed blush that spread across Dusk and Rarity's face, "Worth it."

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"Now Twilight, we are going to have to do something about that disaster of a mane. It's a mess darling, we need to fix it at once."

"I don't think I have the time to brush my mane Rarity, such it is just a casual visit." She watches Rarity as she begins to walk towards the staircase. "Where are you going Rarity?"

"To your room of course." Her tone of voice made it seem like the most obvious thing in Equestria. "We must brush that mane and tail back into that simple, yet elegant style of yours."

"Aww, thanks Rarity." She says after her friend's compliment, "But, I still don't have the time to brush my mane right now, I’ll do it later.”

“Nonsense.” She envelops Twilight in a levitational field and brings the mare up the stairs with her. “I don’t care what you say, I refuse to let you see the Princess while looking like that.”

“W-Wait.”

The remaining three in the room just observed as Rarity levitates Twilight up the stairs, and towards the bedroom. None of them did anything to help Twilight in anyway, since the two males were too busy laughing at the purple unicorn’s misfortune. (And Fluttershy was chuckling to this as well.) Twilight shows little to no resistance against her friend’s hold, since she knew that Rarity wouldn't do anything bad to her.

"Poor mare, Rarity is really gonna give it to Twi.” Says Dusk in a slightly humoured tone. “Trust me, I have first hoof experience of what happens when you defy her sense of fashion.”

“Umm... maybe we should go help Twilight.” Quietly suggests Fluttershy, who has now stopped laughing at the unicorn’s expense.

The dragon and the stallion took a few seconds to think of an answer, and in that time, they both came out with the same answer. “No.”

“I think I’ll pass ‘Shy. I’d rather not see Rarity in another one of her frenzies, if you know what I mean.” Dusk shudders at the thought of what Rarity could be doing to Twilight right now. "I think I'd rather wait for the Princess to arrive instead."

"Oh... I see..."

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Perspective: Twilight Sparkle

"R-Rarity, seriously, we don't have time to fix my mane. Put me down?!" Twilight was still under the levitational powers of her alabaster friend. She was now starting to get quite angry at Rarity, since she was too stubborn to listen to Twilight's requests. "For Celestia's sakes, just put me down."

"Trust me Twilight, it'll only take a second." She started to search Twilight's vanity for her brush. "You need to look your best when royalty visits."

"Yes, I know Rarity. You've already told me this." She says in a deadpan tone. She is instinctively fidgeting under the pressure of the levitational field, in the vain attempt of getting out of said field. She knew that she could escape with her magic, but it was quite magically draining ability, and was really just a last resort tactic. "And in case you are wondering, my brush is in the bottom draw to the left."

"Really?" Rarity starts to rummage through the drawer with the supposed brush in it, and surely enough, she finds the brush in the correct place. “Thanks Twilight, now, would you mind if you could hold still while I fix up your mane?”

“*sigh* I guess.”

‘It’s not like I have a choice in the matter. I suppose it's just a mane, no need to make a big deal out of it.’

Rarity had released her levitational field from her friend, and set her onto the ground. She then walks up behind Twilight, and starts to run the brush through her tangled mane. Each brush of her mane was done at a fast pace but it was surprisingly painless, considering how bad her mane and tail looked. It requires a certain amount of precision and concentration to do it this well.

That concentration was broken as they both heard hoofsteps walking up the staircase. They could hear Dusk and Fluttershy talk about something, "Fluttershy, I can't believe that you guilt tripped me enough to do this."

"I didn't mean to. It was an accident, I swear." She says defensively.

"If it were anypony else who said that, I wouldn't believe them. I can tell that you aren't lying to me. Anyway, I don't really see the point of 'saving' Twilight, she's probably fine."

Twilight and Rarity just turn to each other, and both mouth "What?" in confusion. Since when did she need to be saved? Eager to find out what they were talking about, they both stare at the stairs and wait.

Seconds later, when the couple walk into the bedroom, Dusk basically sums up the situation in a single sentence, "Huh, so Rarity isn't dooming Twilight with her brush. Who would've thunk it."

Rarity gives Dusk an estranged look "Wait, what?"

"Well, you see you seemed to be in one of those kind of moods where-"

"GOOD AFTERNOON TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" Yells a booming voice from the lower level. "Twilight?" It sounded like a mare's voice.

Twilight and Fluttershy immediately begin to walk down the stairs, signalling for Dusk and Rarity to follow. As he catches up to the two, he asks them, "Who was that?"

"It's Princess Luna, she's here." She says in an enthusiastic tone.

'Thank Celestia that I remembered to soundproof the library from the outside.'

Perspective: Dusk Shard

Both Dusk and Rarity gasp in excitement, "She's here?!" He goes ahead of the other two, and is the first into the main area of the library. The alicorn has a navy blue coloured coat, and both a horn on the top of her head, and large wings on the sides of her body. She, like her sister, has a crown and regalia, but they were specially crafted to suit her body. Her crown was smaller than Celestia's but it was crafted out of pure ebony, and her regalia was made out of the same mineral, but with a silver crescent moon on the front. The moon on there is an exact copy of the crescent moon on her cutie mark, which was a moon on a black backdrop. The shoes that she wore were crafted out of the finest of moonstone. These items have been tailored to fit her smaller, thinner frame. He could see that she was looking directly at him.

"We presume that you are Dusk Shard?" She says in a more calmer, quieter voice.

Dusk kneels towards her in a sign of respect, and says, "Yes, I'm Dusk Shard, Princess. It's an honour to meet you."

The navy blue alicorn nods in response, and gives him a small, genuine smile, "We thank you Dusk, but hast no need to bow to us. Thou can just call-"

She stops mid sentence as she sees another one of her subjects bowing to her. It was an alabaster unicorn, "Good afternoon your Majesty."

Keeping her stoic visage, she welcomes her second subject, "Ahh, the Element of Generosity. Good afternoon to you too Rarity." She sees two more of the Elements enter the room, with Fluttershy bowing to her (and shaking slightly) and Twilight just standing and smiling at the Princess. Seeing that almost everypony still groveling to her, she issues a command with the accidental assistance of the Royal Canterlot Voice, "THOU DOST NOT NEED TO BOW BEFORE US!"

Dusk could feel his ears ringing after the verbal assault on his ear drums 'Wow, something stronger than my Royal Voice. I think I’d know who would win in a Voice fight.'

"Um... Princess," Quietly speaks up Fluttershy, "Remember, you need to-..." She trails off at the end.

"COULD THOU SPEAK LOUDER?"

"I said that you need to be-..."

"PARDON?"

"More quiet." She finally gets out.

She hears what the pegasus had said to her, "LIKE THIS?"

"Lower..."

"What about now?" Luna was really trying.

"Almost"

"Am I low enough?"

Fluttershy smiles at the ruler, "That's fine now Princess."

"Please, just call me Luna." She addresses to not only Fluttershy, but to the rest of the group as well. Dusk had noticed that her old Equestrian speech has stopped, as she starts to speak like a modern era pony.

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Perspective: Luna

After all of the introductions had finished, Luna had spoken to Dusk, Fluttershy and Rarity about the electric wings, taking in all of the information that she could get. While she couldn't be completely certain of this answer, she thinks that it may have something to do with magic. In her many years of ruling before the Nightmare Moon incident, she had heard of spells and runes that could do similar things to a pony. She started to try and piece together a connection, and to try and find something to prove her theory.

Supposedly in the early civilisation of Equestria, the pegasi had invented a magical rune which could charge a pegasus' wings in a similar fashion. It was used as a law enforcement tool, since it could both intimidate and stun a pony as well. These were outlawed about a decade after they first appeared though, after cases of deaths caused by said runes, from both victim, and user. Even though we found out that some runes had too much magical energies inside of them, and we could have safely

Also, there are certain spells that can get a magic user to experience the same thing. When Starswirl the Bearded figured out how to time travel, something that was consistent in his reports is that he was always pulsing with electricity for a few seconds after travel. Completely non-lethal electricity, but it was still visible.

‘Oh but that’s it! I believe his supposed lightning wings are actually magical. One thing I can say for certain, is that it that this lightning is caused by some kind of magical energy. (Since natural lightning would most likely kill him) Another thing that I can confirm is that this magical lightning can indeed course around a pony’s body. While that alone doesn't prove anything, this effect can be achieved with different spells. Some advanced spells can give the lightning effect as well, so I know that this magical lightning is possible.

But then there are the problems with proving my theory. Firstly, it is obvious that this lightning cannot be produced from natural energies in Dusk’s body, it can only be produced from an outside magical source, but where? Well, I suppose I could start with Rarity, ask her for more details of the incident.’

She thinks back to when Rarity's perspective of the events, specifically when she was massaging the stallion's wings. Luna looks around for Rarity, but she couldn't find the mare. All she could see is Dusk and Fluttershy talking to each other about... something. After doing a quick check of the area, and not finding the mares, she asks the two a question. (As soon as there was a lull in their conversation.)

"Excuse me, but would either of you be able to tell me where Twilight and Rarity have gone?"

Dusk starts to look around the main room of the library for the mares, but Fluttershy beats him to it. "They are both making tea in the kitchen behind you, Princess."

She nods in response, and turns around to see the mares she was searching for. "Thank you Fluttershy. Also, you do not need to call me Princess or Your Highness if you do not want to. It's too regal for my liking."

"Okay L-Luna. I'll try." She timidly responds.

"Thank you."

'I've never remembered the Element of Kindness being this quiet and shy. I didn't see her that much when she saved me from Nightmare Moon, and while she was quite helpful with my voice during Nightmare Night, she didn't really seem like the quiet type. Maybe I'm missing something here.'

Just as she walks towards the kitchen, she is interrupted by Dusk, who has a question to ask the royal mare, "Excuse me Luna, but if you don't me asking, what were you doing when you were staring out to space before?"

"Thinking about your wings, and what could have caused them." She was well aware of her tendencies to become lost in her own thoughts, but she had forgotten that she wasn't alone this time. "I believe that it attributed to some kind of magical involvement, but I have been yet to prove if my theory is correct or not."

Dusk nods in understanding, “Oh, okay. Well good luck Princess, and I would just like to say how much of an honour it is to meet you.”

She smiles back at him with the slightest of red on her cheeks. “Why thank you. We- I am not used to such compliments from the public.”

Dusk looks at the alicorn with confusion, “Luna, why do you look nervous?”

“Do I really look nervous?” She is genuinely confused as to why she came across that way. “I guess I am just bad at accepting compliments.”

“Ah, okay then, I won’t keep you for any longer then.” And with that, he leaves the dark blue alicorn to let her continue with her original plans.

Seeing that Dusk had left to talk to Fluttershy again, she began to walk up to the mares in the kitchen, who were in deep discussion about... spa days? (It was a rather one-sided talk, with Rarity controlling most of the conversation.) Not wanting to interrupt their possibly important (?) conversation, she just looks around the rather plain kitchen as she waits. The kitchen looks more like an extension of the library, rather than a part of it. The floors were made of white tiles rather than wood, and the walls and ceilings of the three walls were painted in a similarly coloured white. She assumes that this is so the gas stove is much less likely to set the kitchen on fire. Even though the kitchen seems to be an extension on the interior of the library, she could tell that it actually isn’t, since it is still part of the main room, only separated by a medium sized counter. (Which was white on both sides) The kitchen itself contained the main essentials that any kitchen should have, the kettle and stove mentioned before, an oven, a toaster and several drawers filled with various cups, cutlery and cooking items. It had plenty of room for the three inside.

The kettle had started coming up to a boil, which grabs the attention of the two unicorns in the room. As they both turn around to see the boiling kettle, they end up seeing the dark blue alicorn, who was patiently waiting in the room for them to finish. Twilight expresses her surprise as she speaks, “P-Princess, I-I didn’t know you were standing there. How long were you standing there for?”

“Not too long.” She calmly responds. “I just came here so I could ask Rarity a few questions about Dusk's massage, if that's okay."

"Oh, but of course your Highness." Rarity notices the alicorn shift uncomfortably as her sentence finishes, but she pays it no mind as she continues, "So what would like to know Princess?"

'We would like to know why you insist on referring us by our royal title.'

"I would like to know of you used any kind of magic to assist you during the massage." Presses the alicorn, hoping that she could get a useful answer.

Unfortunately, much to the detriment of Luna, she shakes her head, "I'm sorry Princess, but I'm afraid that I didn't use any magic while I was doing the massage."

'Great...'

Not wanting to give up so easily, Princess Luna persists with her questioning, "Are you absolutely sure that you didn't use any magic on him recently?"

“Well...” She recalls the time when she had levitated him using her magic, after she had calmed down after that... incident. “There was this one time that I levitated him for a little bit.”

“Hmm... levitatation, I don’t think that this would be able to do anything to Dusk, in terms of magic. Are you sure that you haven’t done any other kinds of magic on him?" Her calm tone became one of desperation, since she is hoping that the tailor could give her more answers.

All hope of this was stopped when the white unicorn shook her head a second time. “I’m afraid that was the only time I remember ever using any kind of spell on Dusk. Sorry.” Her apology sounded genuine, as if it was all her fault.”

“There is no need to keep apologizing for something you didn’t do.” The alicorn knew she did it out of respect, (and possibly not to anger her) but it was getting too frequent for her liking. “You cannot control how these circumstances play out.”

“*gasp* EUREKA! I have the answer!” Yells out Twilight, who had a very satisfied grin on her muzzle.

“Answered what darling?” Questions Rarity who, along with Princess Luna, was curiously staring at the purple unicorn.

“I think I know why Dusk has these electric wings.” She says excitedly.

‘Yes!’

Luna, who was equally as excited with this discovery says for her to, “TELL US, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

She begins to eagerly listen to the... silence in the room, as Twilight and Rarity try to recover their hearing after Luna’s accidental verbal onslaught. Even Dusk and Fluttershy needed a little bit of time to recover their hearing, but with considerably less time. They had diverted their attention to the three mares in the kitchen, where two of them have just started to get their hearing back.

After assessing the damage she had just caused to her subjects, she utters a simple apology. “Um... sorry for that everypony, I got excited. Anyway, Twilight, you were saying...”

“Forgiven. Now, this happened about a week ago when I was testing the magical effects of pegasi wings...”

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Twilight tells Luna about the unsuccessful experiment and what ended up happening that day. She briefly tells Luna about the EEG, what she was testing for that day. She then skips ahead to the magic the magic transfusion, "And at the end of the testing, due to certain circumstances, I had to transfer some of my magical energies over to Dusk."

"Ah yes, the Magic Transfusion spell, "I thought only sister and I knew about that spell." Says Luna, who knew a, few ponies who had learnt about the spell, most of which were long dead. "Apparently there was a variation on the spell that was supposed to take away the life energies of a willing individual, and move them onto another individual, to either extend a pony's lifespan, or to cure an incurable sickness."

The three mares (especially the unicorns) look at the Princess with shock and horror, "But, surely such a spell cannot possibly exist." Quietly says Twilight, hoping for it not to be the case.

Luna dismisses their fears, "It was just a rumor from a few millennia ago, we quickly got rid of such lies before they spread to the public."

"Oh that's good to hear." Responds the purple unicorn, thankful that something so horrible is just a made up rumor.

'If only that was the truth. I won't forget the night when we discovered that cult. Their damn leader, I cannot believe she killed all of those ponies for her own personal gain. I enjoyed dragging her to the jail cell. I'm sure she liked those 120 years of isolation.'

She could feel her eyes flash white in anger, just before Twilight finishes her recollection of the past events. "So I transferred a tiny bit of my magic into Dusk's body, and well... that is pretty much it.That's all that I can tell you Princess."

"Ahh okay..." She is quite confident that the magic transferral is probably the cause of Dusk's electric wings. 'Excess magical energies have been known to cause similar things to magic users, with some cases of magical lightning occasionally coursing around the bodies of unicorns, with more stored magic than their bodies can handle. While this is rare for unicorns, this is a first for pegasi.'

Luna then continues to speak, "Well then, lets see if the magic transferral really did cause the supposed lightning wings.” The alicorn had a plan, “Now for the first step. Dusk, do you mind if you could stand still for the moment?”

Dusk then does absolutely nothing as Luna continues. “Okay, good, now for the next step...”

There is a small silence in the room as the other four in the room wait for her to continue. “...So what is the next- *zap* AHH DAMN IT!"

Luna,  who had cast the surprise lightning spell on Dusk, wore a satisfied grin as she faces Dusk. "Sorry that I had to do that to you, but for the second and final step to work, you weren't supposed to know that it was coming." After seeing his annoyed look, she points out something that would probably brighten him up a bit. "And just in case you haven't noticed yet, look at your wings."

Hearing this, he automatically assumes that the experiment was a success. As he looks at his wings, he just says, "Oh sweet merciful Luna..." His stunned expression turn into a look of awe. "Ha hah~ I can't believe it! How did you do that?"

"Well I just shocked you with a simple and relatively harmless lightning spell hoping for some kind of reaction. It was a bit of a stab in the dark really." She admits to him.

"You don't say..." He says in a very uncomfortable tone.

'I'm not sure if I should be worried about her methods or...' Next Chapter: Chapter 70: When You Were Young Estimated time remaining: 25 Minutes