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Becoming One With the Night

by Spacecowboy

Chapter 3: Chapter 1 - That Awkward Moment When...

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As twilight quickly approached, loud knocks on the door of the library interrupted the six inebriated mares.. Twilight eagerly stumbled to her hooves and ran downstairs. That must be Luna! She opened the door, revealing the lunar mare on the threshold, devoid of all her regalia.

"Good evening Twilight, I hope that you are well. May I come in?" Twilight simply stood there, gazing into the multitude of stars within the alicorn’s flowing mane. She only caught the last bit of what Luna said, her mind unable to process the words.

"Yes, come on in. The girls are all upstairs! Pinkie threw a party when she found out! You should come and join us!" Twilight spoke with the faintest hint of a slur, feeling the effects of the cider. She swore that she saw Luna blush some before she stepped out of the way so that the taller mare could enter the library proper.

Luna widely smiled at Twilight. "I would be delighted to join everypony, Twilight! I always enjoy the chance to see the others!” She walked inside the library, following the bumbling mare up to the party. Twilight inebriated is such a sight to see! She giggled slightly as they came to the source of the party.

Opening the door to Twilight's room revealed the party. Inside the normally bare bones bedroom numerous streamers were hanging from the bottom of pink and purple balloons. Two tables had been set up on one edge of the room, refreshments of all sorts adorning the surfaces. A stout wooden keg was tapped, partially filled with the famous Apple Family Cider. Fives mares were gathered around in a circle in the middle of the room, their attention focused on the new occupant.

“Good evening, everypony!” Luna cheerfully greeted her friends as she entered the room, headed towards the cider. On the way to the refreshments table, she noticed Rarity give her a wink, but brushed it off, as the fashionista was well hammered. Grabbing a large mug of cider and a piece of cake with her magic, Luna walked over to the circle of mares and sat down between Twilight and Rainbow.

"So Princess, how has life been? Any juicy gossip that you can share with us?” Rarity, never one to pass the chance at learning the latest news, was the first to take Luna's attention.

"Well, I'm sure you remember Blueblood. I heard all about that incident at the Gala four years ago." Rarity let out an unexpected string of expletives, causing Luna to halt her narrative in shock. Applejack shoved a hoof into the fashionista’s mouth, causing Luna to chuckle before continuing on. "Indeed, that is how most ponies view him! Well, Celestia finally became tired of his foalish antics!"

"Oh, did the Princess banish him?” Twilight quickly chimed in, filling the small void created by Luna’s pause.

Luna humorously smiled towards Twilight. "Not quite. He had been chewing out another castle worker when Tia approached him from behind and cleared her throat. The foal snapped back at her without even looking to see who it was! When she found out that he had been chastising the employee for refusing his advances, she finally had a legal reason to bring him in front of the court!" Luna drained her cider, letting out a satisfied sigh as the soothing liquid ran down her throat as she set the mug down.

Twilight noticed Luna’s empty mug, and used her magic to refill it. “I recall when I was living at the castle, I ran into him a few times. I asked the Princess what a pompous windbag like him was doing in the castle. She merely laughed, and then told me not to concern myself over him.”

"You need not worry about running into that pompous windbag anymore. I insisted that Celestia should just banish him from the city and wipe our hooves clean of him for good, but she came up with a more subtle approach! Tia has him serving in the military as a low ranking enlisted guard! She announced that perhaps a good four years of service would do his attitude and outlook on life some good. Shining Armor was then called in to collect his newest recruit. To top it off, Blueblood is being personally seen to by Shining."

"Shiny is overseeing his training? I almost feel bad for him now!" Twilight loudly interrupted, slamming her empty cup of cider on the ground before marching it over for another refill.

"Indeed, and Blueblood was fuming! Luckily I got to see this next part as I was on the way to the kitchens and stumbled upon the scene. Shining appeared rather quickly, told Blue to stop his yammering, and then looked him up and down. Told annoying Bluey to his face that he might do, after a few months of training and exercise. He turned the color of his namesake when he realized Shining was referring to actually doing physical labor. I swear, my sister had the biggest shit eating grin you've ever seen on a pony!"

"My dear, I’m glad to see that karma has finally caught up with that limp-horned scoundrel. I simply can’t imagine what I ever saw in him." Rarity lifted Applejack with her magic and brought her over for a kiss, catching the farm pony completely by surprise. The girls, Luna included, all started laughing loudly at the two kissing mares, as the fashionista had yet to realize that she had her marefriend upside down.

Rarity broke away from Applejack after quite some time, then blushed a deeper crimson as she noticed why all of her friends were laughing. She set the tan mare down, right side up, and gave her a weak smile as she stood there, wobbling slightly from the blood that had rushed to her head. The laughing slowly came to a stop, but the merriment continued.

The time slowly passed, and the cider flowed freely. Luna soon joined her friends in their inebriation, thoroughly enjoying herself with these mares she had come to know as friends. Eventually a lull came up, which Fluttershy of all ponies broke.

"You. Dance. Now!" Fluttershy demanded of Pinkie Pie as she grabbed her marefriend and dragged her into the middle of the room by a hoof. "Twilight, I need some music, and quickly please." The dominant side of the usually timid mare was finally making itself known to the party, and Twilight quickly looked around the room for a potential source of music, while Pinkie was hopping up and down in excitement.

Having found the phonograph hidden away in a corner of the room, Twilight started a record. As the needle dropped with the help of her magic, quiet vocals began to rise with stringed instruments in the background as the ballad began. Although the music didn’t really fit the occasion, Fluttershy didn’t seem to mind as she began to hold Pinkie and dance.

The dancing started out simple and slow, but quickly progressed into something more as the song progressed. The duo's dancing became boisterous, and the rest of the mares soon moved to the edge of the room to give them more space for dancing. It didn't take long for the first song to run its course, and as it ended Fluttershy brought in her lover for a tender kiss. Luna smiled at the open display of affection while Twilight smiled with her eyes closed, having replaced Fluttershy and Pinkie in her mind with herself and the mare sitting next to her. Rarity seemed to have finally succumbed to the cider she had drank, starting to lightly doze off, while Dash and Applejack had started hoof wrestling.

As the next track came on, Twilight still had her eyes closed and began to softly sing alongside the ballad. She was still imagining herself and Luna gently holding each other, sharing an intimate moment. She was forced to open her eyes as a stray pink hoof found its way to her nose, smartly clipping her and then retreating back to the middle of the room. Having been knocked from her daydream, she let out a sigh then began to sing again. After a minute another voice joined in, breaking her concentration, as it turned out to be her crush easing in on the song.

"So, Rainbow, darling, you crushing on anypony? You're the only one right now it seems that isn't. I mean, even dear Twilight is—" Rarity began talking, but Applejack jumped up from her hoofwrestling and shoved a hoof into her marefriend's mouth. Luckily for her, it looked as if Luna had neither heard nor seen what had just transpired, as she was still singing alongside Twilight.

"Well, it was nice girls, but I think it's time I got going and put this here mare to bed." Applejack spoke loudly to ensure she was heard over the music, pointing a hoof in Rarity's direction. "It was a lot of fun fer sure, we gotta do this again sometime soon, Pinkie." She removed her hoof and wiggled beneath Rarity to carry her home—she was in no state to be walking anywhere. Everything came to a halt as they began to realize just how late in the day it was.

"Yeah, it's about time I called it a night, too. We're supposed to have some clouds to move in from Cloudsdale tomorrow. It probably wouldn't be cool to sleep in... again." Dash got up and said her goodbyes for the night before walking out the door behind the duo. Fluttershy and Pinkie finished out the song, then also left the library, leaving just Luna and Twilight remaining.

Luna turned to Twilight. "That was most enjoyable; I am glad that I decided to show up early. Well, shall we quickly clean up and then move to the balcony for the stargazing? But first, I must raise the moon. I shall be right back."

Twilight watched as Luna moved to the balcony and then sprung up into the air, hovering in place a few feet off the surface of the balcony. Her horn lit up in a blue so dark it was nearly black as she gently flapped her wings to hold herself in place as the last vestige of the sun dipped below the horizon, soon followed with the white moon, a stark contrast against the dark sky. A few seconds later the stars slowly twinkled into existence in the night sky completing her work. She gently floated back down, hooves making contact with a solid surface yet again, and then walked back into the room.

"I don't think I can ever get tired of seeing that! It's just so... majestic." Twilight exclaimed as she refocused on cleaning up. Luna let out a chuckle at the cheer that her voice had held. It always brought her pleasure when her night sky was complemented and, even though Twilight made similar comments every time she came down for her visit and was witness to her raising of the moon, it was always gladdening to hear.

"Thank you, Twilight. As always it is nice raising the moon and stars when I visit. I can see the night sky so much better from here than in Canterlot; there are just too many lights in that confounded place."

"Yeah, I remember when I was just a filly and Celestia gave me my first telescope after I showed an interest in the stars. I would sit in the tower at night and just gaze till dawn sometimes. I never knew what I was missing out on until I moved here and looked at the night sky for the first time. There’s just so much more to see here, since Ponyville gets so dark at night."

"I recall back before my banishment... My tower had a balcony that led to the roof and gave me a full, unimpeded view of the night sky. Not even lanterns were lit once the sun fell most evenings, there was only my moon and the stars providing their light to the night. It was a most wondrous view to behold." Luna began a trip down memory lane, a habit she had fallen into when thinking about her pre-banishment time.

Twilight allowed Luna her moment as she finished the last of the cleaning, moving furniture back to their proper places. With one last use of her magic, a telescope marched its way from her bedside to the balcony where it settled down, quickly joined by a small stack of books, some parchment, and an inkwell and quill. Satisfied that everything was now in place, she softly nudged the alicorn to break her from her thoughts.

"Oh, I apologize. It seems, yet again, I got lost in my thoughts... Well, are you ready to step outside then? I made sure to focus on increasing the brightness of the Milky Neigh Galaxy for tonight so that we could get a clearer image of it, as well as a few other stars. Plus, I think there is something else that you will enjoy in the sky tonight." Twilight perked up, any drowsiness from the cider instantly forgotten as soon as Luna mentioned the stargazing. It was one of the few things that she would put above sleep on her scale of priorities, and it was doubtful that that would ever change before she passed.

"Yes! And oh, remember how the last time you visited we had looked at the potential application of illusory magic and projections? Well, I managed to find a way to apply it to stargazing! You see, by taking the projection aspect of the spell and then changing out the illusory aspect with something more along the lines of divination, the two properties combine to project what you are looking at! And then, with some trial and error, I managed to get it to project what an object was looking at, more specifically my telescope! So now when we look, it actually projects what the scope is looking at in front of us in a somewhat three dimensional image! Still haven't figured out how to fix the color though, for some reason the red and blue are swapped... Maybe if I—" Twilight was cut off by laughter flooding off of Luna, and she fixed the alicorn with a confused stare.

"Oh, I am so sorry Twilight, it is just that you went from tired to wide awake in a mere matter of seconds! And then you began talking so fast, hehehe. That is an interesting application of that spell though. I had considered using it to somehow aid in my next the next meteor shower, but your method and changes might actually make it much better! Shall we go to the balcony? I'd love to see this spell firsthoof."

The two mares walked out onto the balcony into the summer night, closing the doors behind them. Twilight took her time letting her magic flow through her and build up in her horn so that Luna could see what she was doing and then replicate it herself. With a final thought, she let the power coalesce in the air, a circular projection forming in front of them.

"Well, did you catch everything? Like I said, for some reason the reds and blues are swapped, but besides that it is a completely accurate depiction. It's been really useful these last few nights."

"Indeed, I saw the form it took. Thank you, Twilight. Now, let's see here..." Luna trailed off as she fiddled with the telescope, moving it on the tripod it rested on to fall upon a large cluster of stars in the sky that did indeed shine much brighter than normal. "Here we are, the Milky Neigh Galaxy. So, tell me what you know of it so far, and we can make observations from there."

"Well, it is a spiral galaxy that contains a very, very large amount of stars in it, I don't think any astronomers have put an approximate number to it. You can faintly see the spiral from the university telescope; it shows itself as just one star from any other though due to the distance it is from us. Beyond that, not much is really known. Only idle speculations. I always like to think that there is another planet with somepony thinking the same things and looking in our direction."

"Hah, sometimes I think you know more than I do about my stars, Twilight! It is indeed very far away from us." Luna closed her eyes and her horn faintly shone in the dark night air. "It contains three hundred and twenty two billion stars, give or take a few million." She opened her eyes again as the aura persisted in the night air, and an image slowly began to overlap on the projection created by Twilight's magic. "There we go, how about a close up? This is probably my most complex creation, I don't even recall exactly how long it took to complete anymore. Would you believe me if I said I got the inspiration from a foal's playground piece?"

"Really? Something from a playground? Hmm, let me see." Twilight began to examine the close up image of the Milky Neigh Galaxy, studying it from numerous angles. Silence held for almost five minutes before she suddenly burst out laughing, one hoof moving to her forehead. "Luna, seriously? You based this off of a merry-go-round?"

Luna put up an air of mock hurt as she rounded on Twilight, who was near to rolling on the ground in laughter. "You mock me? It was a most inspiring thing to witness! A unicorn had put their foal onboard, and then used her magic to make it spin. The real inspiration did not strike until the poor foal let loose his lunch, the way it spiraled outward was most unique!" Unable to hold a straight face anymore, Luna joined Twilight in laughter.

Their mirth slowly petered down as the two mares found themselves upon their backs, gazes raised towards the night sky. "I remember when I would do this, just lay down on my back, looking up at the stars and the moon. Before I knew what it meant, I would always look at the silhouette of the pony on the moon. I would look up and be amazed at how the stars themselves seemed to conform to the moon’s contours." Twilight let out a very long sigh, causing Luna to move her gaze from above to the mare next to her.

"I had always thought that Celestia had put it there, but I never could have guessed how. Luna, I'm really thankful that my friends and I were able to save you and then get to know you. Only Discord made for a scarier day, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in Equestria." Luna looked on in silence, as Twilight's tone becoming oddly serious. She began to formulate her response. Silence lingered for a few moments after Twilight had stopped talking before it was broken.

"I want to say that I am most thankful as well. I know that I have never really discussed my time whilst up there, and I am most thankful that you stopped pressuring me for that knowledge. Something tells me that if it had been any other pony, that even were I still saved that night, I would be different from how I am today. You and your friends showed me how to live again, one of the few things that Tia was unable to do herself. You specifically made a large difference, and I owe a large debt of gratitude to you that I do not think I will be able to pay in a single lifetime, and not even a dozen could possibly suffice."

Twilight had met her gaze during this time, and as the last word lingered in the air, her mind worked as hard as it could given its drunken state. She had talked with Luna on multiple occasions, but this was the first time that she had admitted such a thing. Usually she was extremely defensive and evasive when it came to the issue of anything related to her banishment. Hesitantly, she broke her gaze and let it settle back upon the stars, letting her sight focus on nothing specific. They laid there for an indeterminable amount of time. Seconds, minutes, hours, neither had a clue as to how much time truly passed, content to simply lay down on the balcony.

"So..." Twilight began, voice extremely low, barely able to be heard. "You made mention of wanting to ask something specific tonight?"

"Yes, I did." Luna flipped herself over and tucked her hooves underneath her body as Twilight followed, facing each other. "Now that you are no longer considered my sister's student, would you like to— "

Twilight jumped forward, unfolding her hooves and putting both of her front ones on either side of the alicorn's face as she moved her lips forward, meeting the opposite pair. She held Luna there for a few seconds, then backed away just as quickly as she had moved forward.

"Yes! Yes!" Twilight stammered out, noticing a look of shock as well as a slight blush forming on the lunar mare's face as a blush of her own began to form. Whether it was the cider from earlier that night, or the admission Luna had given her, it had emboldened her to do something that she would not normally have done. "I've always admired you Luna, and as we spent more and more time together, it only got stronger. It took me awhile, but it seems, that is... I love you Luna."

Twilight sat there, awaiting a response. The alicorn remained rooted to the single spot, mouth partially open and her eyes currently going in random directions. The only movement that came from her was her mane and tail which continued to move as if a slight breeze was blowing across the balcony. After a minute, she finally let out her response.

"—become my student."

~{B}~{O}~{W}~{T}~{N}~

Author's Notes:

Author's Note : Well, here is the last bit of comedy you will see for a little bit, on to the slightly more serious side of matters. Yet again, it is a blast writing this story, and I thank all of you who have Favorited/Commented/Thumbed Up this, it really means a lot to me to see this being received so well. Work on the next chapter has already started too. A quick word from my editors below!

Editors’ Notes:

Weeeeee~ Cliffhanger! Good thing I’ve got sturdy fingers from all the hanging I make everybody do on my own! Anyhoof, twas a simpler thing to edit this time. Much less ouchies than the last. Not much else to say, though so.... Peppy out~!

Jekyll here and you two seem to be slacking. I had to fix some things too and I’m not even that good with grammar and spelling. Oh well. If there weren’t mistakes, I’d be out of the job. Anyway, this chapter was really good. Ciao!

q97randomguy here. Do you guys know what this story needs? More chapters! Luckily, there seem to be more currently available. Go read them. I command you!

thefirewarde: Chapter 1 revision notes complete! I just wish I could preread as fast as spacecowboy writes. I guess that’s a good thing, though - it means you all get your updates faster.

Next Chapter: Chapter 2 - Back to the Flashes! Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 7 Minutes
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