Written by RandomString Proofread by Knight of Cerebus

The smells that wafted into the study instantly attracted the attention of both mares. They followed their noses to the kitchen, where Spike was cooking a late breakfast.

"Oh Spike, that smells delicious," said Twilight.

"Absolutely," agreed Luna.

"The sooner you eat, Twilight, the sooner you shower, and that would be a good thing."

"Ouch. I don't smell that bad, do I?"

"You smell weird, and I'll be happy when you smell less like weird and more like Twilight," said Spike, laying a steaming plate of food in front of Twilight.

"What about me?" asked Luna indignantly.

"Oh, sorry, Midnight. Here you go," said Spike as he put a couple of slices of bread on a plate and put it front of her.

Luna was taken aback by the parsimony of the little dragon. She speechlessly looked between her crusts of bread and Twilight's cooked feast before she managed to choke out a weak, "Thank you."

Twilight was focussing so much on her plate that she didn't notice anything wrong.

"No problem," said Spike, as he absentmindedly took one of the slices of bread from Luna's plate before she could reach for it and set about idly tearing it to pieces and tossing them onto the table. Twilight finally noticed Luna's outrage as her lover sharply raised a hoof.

"Spike! What are you doing?!"

"Don't worry Twilight, the bread is stale anyway. I'll leave the crumbs out for the birds."

"Spike," said Twilight, carefully, "This is Princess Luna, my marefriend. She is in the form of Midnight Whispers in order to avoid attention and help prevent newspaper articles about me dating princesses."

A wide-eyed Spike span to face the irate goddess and tried stammering out an apology, "Pr- Princess Luna?! I- I- I thought you were an illusion! I'm sorry! Please don't smite me!"

The dragon tried to back away and bow at the same time, tripping on his tail and falling onto his rump. He then tried to scoot on the kitchen floor, desperate to get away and yet afraid to turn his back to her.

There was a brief moment before Luna laughed, "Dear Spike, do not fret. No harm was done. Please get up."

"Here, Luna, we can share my breakfast," said Twilight, moving her plate to an equal distance between Luna and herself, "Spike, would you kindly make up another breakfast for us? This one is delicious, but Luna has just flown us both all the way from Canterlot and must be famished."

Spike hurried to obey as the two mares shared their meal. He worked with his back turned so he wouldn't have to watch the hooves touching, the noses playfully bumping into each other, the long gazes into the other pony's eyes. He just wished that he couldn't hear his normally grounded 'sister' giggling.

Eventually, and three courses later, it was over. Luna had a massive appetite after such a long and powerful flight, and the kitchen cupboards were practically bare once she had finished eating.

"Spike, you are a champion. That meal was delicious, thank you."

"You're welcome, Princess Luna. I am very sorry for earlier. Twilight, would you please go and take that shower now?"

"Okay, Spike. I'll go shower if you open the library. We'll be down to help soon."

Once they were upstairs and out of the range of Spike's acute hearing, Twilight turned to Luna.

"Luna, what's wrong? What happened? You were shaking, earlier. Was it something Spike said?"

Luna hesitated before answering.

"I was hungry, a little tired. Spike's actions irritated me, and then I heard a voice at the edge of my mind. It sounded like the Other. Food drove the voice away, but I had thought myself free of the nightmare. That there may be some echoes remaining is disturbing to me."

There was a lot Twilight wanted to say, but she settled on hugging her friend.

"Thank you, Twilight. I know you have a lot of questions, but not now, please. Let us go and shower, to relieve your dragon friend's suffering."

--------------------------

Twilight looked regretfully at her bath. It had a shower attachment. It had an ample supply of hot water. It had no shortage of bottles of soapy liquids that would create slipperiness and mountains of fun bubbles. It was even already soundproofed to spare the world the sound of Spike's bathtime singing. Unfortunately it was also only big enough for one pony at a time.

Twilight explained all this to Luna, who simply smiled understandingly and acknowledged that it was unfortunate that they had not taken proper advantage of Luna's far more generously proportioned shower whilst they were in Canterlot. She furthermore insisted that Twilight take the first shower, refusing point blank to accept guest-right of the first turn.

Reluctantly, Twilight got in the bath and began washing herself as Luna waited outside. She started humming to herself as she briskly scrubbed herself down, using her magic to make the best use of her loofa. With her eyes closed, she heard the change first. Her humming was rising in pitch without her control.

Surprised, she opened her eyes to find the stall getting bigger and bigger around her. No, I'm getting smaller she thought. She spun around in the stall (itself a feat that was far easier than it should have been) to find Luna looming above her in full alicorn form, horn aglow.

Once Twilight had been shrunk to the size of an irate house cat, Luna stepped into the stall and shrunk herself down to be just a little bit larger. Rather than standing in the cramped bath tub, they were now standing hoof deep in warm soapy water in a porcelain canyon. A steady warm rain fell down upon them as Luna playfully sent a wave splashing into Twilight.

Twilight yelped and kicked a wave back in response. They were soon laughingly splashing water at each other in sheets, Twilight trying to run circles around Luna as she dodged the other's watery attacks.

Most foals know not to run in hoof-deep soapy water, even when shrunk to a quarter of their normal size. Twilight hadn't learned this basic life lesson, but she learned it now. Trying to turn too quickly, her hooves slipped out from under her and she fell. Thanks to her small size and the cushioning of the water, she wasn't the least bit hurt by the fall.

In fact, it turned out to be a sound strategic move, her body sending a great wave of water to overwhelm Princess Luna, leaving her drenched. Twilight watched Luna try to shake the water off as Twilight slid out of control into the sides of the shower stall.

Laughing, she scrambled unsteadily to her hooves.

"Wretched unicorn, laughing at my misfortune! I shall have my revenge!"

With that, Luna's horn glowed with power. Twilight looked around wildly, but could see nothing under its influence. Like most non-pegasi, she didn't often look up. She didn't notice the lid coming off the big bottle of bubble bath, or the bottle tipping over. She only noticed when the thick stream of cold fluid landed on her back.

"Eeek!", she shouted, and swiftly ran from the stream as Luna guided the falling fluid onto her. Twilight countered this by charging Luna, and throwing two hooves around her on contact. Luna struggled free from the slippery embrace, but not before getting thoroughly covered in suds.

The bottle was soon empty and both mares slick with soap. Twilight took good advantage of the slipperiness to wrestle a protesting Luna to ground, where their legs and tails became entwined in a game to see who could stay on top. Slipping and sliding across the bottom of the stall, their playful struggles and thrashing around quickly surrounded them in a mountain of bubbles.

Luna had Twilight on her back, panting heavily, as Luna caressed her. Luna's hooves traced out Twilight's cutie marks, slid along her flank and across her belly. Twilight had stopped struggling at this point and was gasping from the sensations.

Luna leant forward and kissed Twilight full on the lips, and Twilight closed her eyes. Luna tried trailing nibbling kisses down Twilight's neck, but stopped after the first one.

"Ugh. Your bath liquids taste foul."

Twilight giggled and began caressing Luna again. As Luna relaxed, Twilight pushed her to the ground and slid on top of her with a grin.

"Ha! Criticising my choice of soaps? Some guest you are!", said Twilight before kissing Luna. Doing so was a mistake, however, and she pulled back, "You are, however, correct."

"Well, did you learn nothing from your lessons last night?", asked Luna with a grin, "Your classmates had no problems bringing you pleasure without the advantage of a tongue. Consider this a test."

A gleam lit up in Twilight's eyes at the word 'test'. She set to proving her abilities to her teacher with a will. Slipping and sliding over each other, the entwined ponies rolled in the bubbles. Twilight twisted around mid-roll and ended up on top of Luna, face to tail.

She started caressing Luna's cutie mark with a circling motion and then drifted her hoof to Luna's inner thigh. She felt a tingle of pleasure as Luna mirrored the motion. Soon Luna was copying every motion that Twilight performed, until it felt almost as though it was her own body she was caressing.

With a moan, Twilight finally brought her hoof to Luna's sex and began by tracing a path around her flower. Already fully aroused and seeing that Luna was likewise the same, she started pressing harder, building up speed and pressure until she was rubbing furiously. Breathing in short, sharp gasps, she brought her other hoof to Luna's nub and teased it as delicately as she was able. After a few more seconds work, they climaxed together.

Twilight slumped onto Luna, breathing hard, and then twisted over the slippery mare until they were again muzzle to muzzle. Twilight lay her head on Luna's shoulder until their breathing slowed.

Luna shifted a little under Twilight and Twilight was now no longer straddling her barrel but rather just straddling one of her legs. Twilight sighed as Luna' prehensile tail gently trailed up her back. Normally Luna's tail was practically ethereal in nature, but now waterlogged it could be felt as it firmly stroked Twilight's behind.

Twilight shifted again and slid down Luna's body a little until her marehood was pressing against Luna's thigh. Her tail wrapped itself around Luna's. Twilight began nibbling on her lover's neck as her hips began to gyrate. Luna giggled and ground her own hips in reciprocation, her own sex pressing against Twilight's leg.

Moving to a more upright position, the two mares embraced tightly as they drove each other towards another climax, trying to make the physical distance between each other disappear. Already sensitive from their previous actions, they were soon writhing against each other with gasping breaths. This time Twilight orgasmed first, throwing her head back with a cry, but Luna was close enough behind.

They fell apart onto the floor of the bath and slowly rose to their hooves, covered in bubbles. Twilight's aura reached out and concentrated the shower water into a narrow torrent and used it to hose herself down. Luna nodded and Twilight turned the flow to her as well.

Once both mares were very clean, Luna took the flow of warm water from Twilight and pulled from it five tentacles which waved in the air directionlessly. She turned to Twilight and cocked her head askance.

Twilight hesitated, swallowed and then regretfully shook her head, "Um, that looks, um, intriguing, but we really need to head down and help Spike."

Luna nodded and let the aqueous fingers collapse with a splash. She tried to fly out of the bathtub, but her wings were as drenched as her fur, so in the end she simply teleported to the other side. There was the briefest of pauses and then Twilight saw the tub and stall shrink around her as she returned to her normal size, squeaky clean. She turned off the shower to save what little was left of the hot water.

She could barely follow the complex mechanics of the spell that Luna cast to dry them both due to the speed of casting, but it seemed to be an advanced variant of the spell Twilight had dug up from the Mrs. Beastson book. She was amazed what use could be made of that old housewife's spell and made a mental note to read the book more thoroughly when time allowed.

"We’ve discussed this before, but you will have to teach me your magic. I haven’t seen that shrink spell before and that drying spell looks more complex than any I’ve seen up until now. Maybe this evening?"

"Gladly. It will be interesting to compare spells."

Twilight deposited the bubble bath bottle to the bin. As she was heading downstairs into the library proper, she mentally added the magic study session to her plan for the day. There was a lot to remember, so she was grateful-

"Li'l Twi!"

Luna face-hoofed, "I am sorry, Twilight. I had completely forgotten. One moment."

Li'l Twi was angry when she was extracted from Toyland.

"You did it again! You went out and did pranks without me! And you didn't invite me to your air-chariot escape from Canterlot! That would have been really fun!"

Li'l Twi threw her blue ball at Twilight, which bounced off the apologetic mare's head harmlessly.

"And you dumped me in Toyland and forgot about me! Which admittedly isn't surprising because you created me to help you stop forgetting stuff. And then you yanked me out of Toyland just when I was having fun!"

"I'm sorry, Li'l Twi. Things just got rather busy this morning," apologised Twilight.

"Grrr. Just for that, I'm not going to remind you of something you've forgotten. Something big."

"Oh dear. What have I forgotten now? Is it- Ha! We have our pony pet play date this afternoon. You didn't need to remind me, Owlowiscsious wouldn’t have let me forget that."

"Nuh uh. Not that. This is something you've already messed up. She's going to be sooo mad at you."

"What? Who?"

"Nope. Not telling. Maybe next time you'll invite me to the fun. Come on Bally, let's go play outside," Li'l Twi marched through the door, nose held high in the air, her blue ball obediently bouncing behind her.

Twilight turned to Luna with tears in her eyes, "She's fading, isn't she?" she whispered.

Luna spread a wing over Twilight's back in a wordless hug.

--------------------

"Is everything okay, Luna?"

Luna looked up from her preening and sighed, "While our liaison in the shower was delightful, my use of the soap liquid was ill-advised. I shall have to spend most of the day preening to restore the oils to my wings."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear it. Don't worry though. You'll be stuck in the library all day today anyway. We probably won't have too many patrons, so you'll have time to preen between chores."

"Would you care to explain why you think I shall be stuck here?"

"Gladly. As a reward for managing so well in my absence, I shall be giving Spike today and tomorrow off. As it is your fault that I was not able to relieve him yesterday, I've decided that you will serve in his place. Today, you are my number three assistant."

"Number three?! I am a Princess of Equestria."

"Yesterday, you were a Princess of Equestria. Tomorrow, you will be Princess of Equestria. Today, you are my slave," Luna face became flushed at Twilight's expression, "and number three because Spike is number one and Owlowiscious is number two and seniority matters."

"I am being outranked by a bird?!"

"Yes. Don't worry, he probably won't give you too much of a hard time. At the end of the day I'll give you a performance review and we'll see if you are to be rewarded or punished."

"Hmm. I see. I, *ahem*, I agree to your terms."

"Excellent. Now as you have a researcher secret identity you should know how libraries work, so I don't need to tell you all that. Grab a quill and parchment and I'll give you some extra chores to do to keep you occupied."

Twilight gave Luna a list of truly demeaning chores to do around the library (moving every book, by hoof, so that all their spines were flush was one of the more practical ones) and then went to break the good news to Spike.

Once the cloud of dust had settled from Spike's enthusiastic departure, Twilight went shopping. Li'l Twi gladly helped with the shopping list, but still refused to divulge who Twilight had wronged.

With Li'l Twi's help the shopping didn't take long. Once done, they headed to the Sugar Cube Corner bakery for a takeaway lunch. As soon as Twilight stepped through the door, she found out who was upset with her.

"Twilight!", shouted an uncharacteristically irate Pinkie, "I get that you've got a new marefriend and want to help her relax as often as possible, but could you please help her relax outside business hours?"

"Oh dear. Your Pinkie sense went off."

"There I was, minding my own business. Well, minding Mr and Mrs Cake's business, well minding the counter of Mr and Mrs Cake's business, when suddenly I felt it coming on. I thought, 'No! Twilight wouldn't be so inconsiderate as to help her marefriend relax in the middle of the day! Not Twilight!' but I was WRONG! There were cupcakes everywhere! Think of the cupcakes, Twilight. Think of the cupcakes!"

"I'm so sorry, Pinkie. I completely forgot about your new sense. How can I make it up to you?"

"Sweet Factory dream, tonight," she said said without hesitation.

"Um, okay, I'll have a chat with Princess Luna. Can I get something for lunch, to go?"

"Sure thing, Twilight. Ooh, we have a special on dented cupcakes today. Would you like to buy some dented cupcakes?"

Twilight brought the cupcakes back to the library to share with Luna, along with Pinkie's request.

"So," said Twilight, munching on a cupcake that had clearly not had an easy life, "if you let Pinkie back into the Sweet Trouble factory, she'll forgive us."

"That sounds like reasonable recompense for our indiscretion," said Luna, nodding.

"Now, I finally have time to plan my day and it's already half-over. This is terrible! If I knew that falling in love would cause this much havoc to my schedule, I'd... I'd... I'd plan it better! What?"

Luna shook her head, laughing at her.

"Hmph. All right, Li'l Twi, let's plan my day!"

"Yay!"

"One, get kidnapped from Canterlot and used as a pony shield in brutal sibling prank warfare, becoming an accomplice in embarrassing my beloved mentor."

"Check."

"Two, publicly humiliate one of my friends whilst she's at work and damage a couple of trays of cupcakes."

"Check."

"Three, completely lose track of time and fail to schedule day until it is half over.

"Check. You're not doing well today, you know. You could try again."

"We're doing fine. Those were just slight hiccups. Four, study Li'l Twi."

"Check. Wait, what?"

"I need to reread my notes on the spell that made you, that's all."

"Okay. Just keep the funny hat with all the electrodes away from me."

"It'd pass straight through you, Li'l Twi. Five, Pony-Pet Play Date with my friends."

"Aww, now I want to wear that funny hat," Li'l Twi sighed, "Pet play date, Check. That's going to be fun, Bally's been looking forward to it all day."

"Do you want to come too, Luna? It's a little chilly outside, but still pretty nice."

"Twilight, I'm happy that you will share your lunch with your 'slave', but back in the years around the griffon wars, which were the only times slavery actually existed in Equestria, slaves were not as a rule invited to pony pet play dates. In addition, I do not have, nor have I ever had, a pet."

"Never? That's terrible! I mean Princess Celestia has Philomena to keep her company. I thought you'd have something too..."

Luna sighed, "Most immortal creatures that have a nocturnal lifecycle do not make good pets."

"Hmm, good point. Item six, consider options of a pet for Luna in time for the next play date. Consult with Fluttershy about options."

"Thank you Twilight, but I do not want a pet. It would be a constant nuisance to feed and care for it and I don't have time for one."

"Pet for Luna, got it," said Li'l Twi, "Item seven, punish Luna?"

"Watch yourself, little mnemonic! I have yet many hours to prove myself worthy of my lady's reward."

"Wow, you're really taking this seriously," said Twilight.

"I saw your expression in the schoolroom, Twilight. There are some things that should be done properly, even in play."

"In that case, slave, you've been idling over lunch for too long. Get back to work!"

Luna grinned as she rose to comply. It was probably pure coincidence that when she turned, her rump wiggled delightfully close to Twilight's head. Twilight was tempted to give it a slap, but felt it would be too daring and the moment of opportunity passed. She didn't see Luna's slight pout.

Twilight headed to her study followed by Li'l Twi who was in turn followed by Bally. Twilight had studied the notes on the spell that had created Li'l Twi several times and practically knew them by heart, but she read them again, hoping for a revelation.

This new review had one advantage: she was looking up how to extend the spell now, rather than cancel it. After interrogating her notes, she questioned Li'l Twi.

With some prodding, Li'l Twi reluctantly admitted that her access to Twilight's memories was slowly fading, but insisted that this was just because they were too boring.

She also mentioned that originally she had been tightly tethered to Twilight and could not move far away from her. Over time, the distance she could move had increased, to the point where she could enter others' dreams and appear in Sugar Cube Corner whilst Twilight remained in her library. She declared that this was a very good thing.

"It seems as though our psyches are diverging," said Twilight, "Previously your personality matrix was a subset of mine and you were easily sustained by a natural power bleed from me to you. As the differences between us increase, the bleed becomes less efficient, causing the fading bonds between us.

"The divergence can't be stopped easily, but if I tweak the spell a little, I think can put a bit more of my power into the bleed. That should keep you going for a while."

Twilight's horn glowed as she made some delicate adjustments to the spell. Fine tuned work like this was always hard for her, and she overshot a little, but Li'l Twi's fading was now gone completely.

"Aww. You've made yourself all 'sticky' again," said Li'l Twi as she tried and failed to leave the room, held back by an invisible tether.

"I'm sorry, but I needed to stop the fading. It's for your own good."

"But I want to go visit Pinkie Pie! And play outside with Bally. I don't want to be stuck in this boring old library."

"Little Twilight! Libraries are not boring! There's lots to do in here. Just look at all these books, each one a world waiting for you to explore."

"Booooring! And I can't touch the books. And you've already read all the good ones anyway, so I already know them. I want to go and play with Bally!"

"Now, behave. This is just temporary until I can come up with a more permanent solution. You can play outside and run around during the pet play date."

"That's not for hours!"

The argument between Twilight and Li'l Twi ended when the name-calling started. Li'l Twi ended up sulking on the windowsill, looking longingly outside, while Twilight reread sections of a book on illusions.

No revelation came from Twilight's studies, and despite Li'l Twi's moaning, it was soon time for the pony-pet play date. There was little danger of Twilight forgetting as Li'l Twi reminded her several times, Owlowiscious flew in at the right time and even Bally was bouncing enthusiastically. Luna was helping a customer when Twilight left, so they simply waved to each other as Twilight's strange entourage passed by.

----------------

The play date went well. Twilight had enchanted a ball to fly around, leaving a colourful contrail, to be chased by Owlowiscious, while she discussed immortal, nocturnal pet options with Fluttershy. Owlowiscious was happy chasing the ball until it got too close to Tank, who decided to join in. This soon caught the attention of the other pets, and soon the ball was flying at a breakneck pace through the park being chased by an owl, a flying tortoise, a dog, a rabbit and a phantasmal ball.

The owners were chasing after the ball too, shouting encouragement to the pets. Gummy and Opal watched all this with amusement and then agreed to have a sun-bathing competition instead.

The race ended with laughter and jokes and, like the sunbathing standoff, it was impossible to decide on the winner, although this didn't prevent Li'l Twi loudly proclaiming to Twilight that Bally had clearly won by a mile.

The light had begun to fade by the time Twilight had led her retinue back to the Golden Oaks Library. She did stop off at the pet shop, just before it closed, to make a quick purchase on the way.

When she got back, Twilight found that the library had closed early. Muttering about the poor work ethic of alicorn slaves, Twilight looked through the library before finding Luna in the kitchen, clutching a mug of coffee.

"Luna? Why did you close early? If you just wanted to be punished, you only- wait, why are you trembling? What's wrong?"

"I have failed at your task, Twilight, but I would like to suspend our game for now. I am feeling out of sorts."

"What happened?"

"I was helping an elderly patron who was very polite but very slow on the uptake. I was trying to explain to her that she could not borrow a dictionary, but she didn't understand. A queue was forming behind her and I was running out of time to do my chores. I did not want to disappoint you and was getting increasingly frustrated at the delay.

"I- I felt the other returning. I got angry. I wanted to shout at her. I wanted- Eventually, she left. I quickly dealt with the other patrons and then ejected everypony from the library and closed up. I am afraid, Twilight. I could hear the other's voice..."

Twilight was hugging Luna tightly now, but remained silent and allowed her to talk.

"I thought she was gone, Twilight. I thought I was free. Silent for two years and now, and now that I'm starting to live again, she's back."

Twilight was silent for a long while, holding Luna and thinking. Finally, carefully, she began to speak.

"When you were helping the old mare, what did the other want?"

"She wanted to hurt her, to make her go away," choked out Luna.

"How did you feel?"

"I was angry."

"Luna, the nightmare is gone. We banished it. The other, as you describe her, sounds like anger."

"No no no no. I wasn't like this before. I wasn't..."

"Did you keep your anger bottled up before? Were you afraid of getting angry before?"

"No, I... What are you saying?"

"Luna, I don't think it's the other that's returning. It's your bottled up anger breaking free."

Luna was silent for a while, and finally sighed, "Maybe you are right. I worry so much about the nightmare's return that I may be overlooking more obvious, and humbling, alternatives."

"Well, it's a hypothesis. Let's test it; maybe you're worrying over nothing. There's a book in the library that offers advice on anger management, let's go and get it and see if those techniques help the other at bay."

"That sounds like a good idea. Thank you, Twilight."

"What else is a marefriend for?"

Luna laughed.

"I will show you later. Give me the book, though. It will set my mind at ease."

"Certainly. As it happens, I need to do some studying too. Oh goodie! Study date!"

Twilight bounced delightedly to the library, followed by Luna.

Li'l Twi gave out a long-suffering sigh and followed after.

---------------

Spike came back to the library after nightfall, tired and covered in tree sap. He went to bed after dinner, but the mares stayed up reading. Li'l Twi had fallen asleep long ago, curled up on a chair.

Eventually, Luna stretched and sighed, catching Twilight's attention and causing a sleepy Li'l Twi to stir.

"Have you learned anything, Luna?"

"Some things, thank you. I have some ideas to try the next time I feel angry. How about you?"

"Well, I was looking up possible pets for you, to be honest. It's slim pickings, I'm afraid."

"As I said, I would find caring for a pet to be a nuisance and a burden, Twilight. I appreciate the thought though."

"I took that into consideration, Luna. Fluttershy didn't have anything appropriate, so I was just looking for low maintenance pets in the library. Now I did find one: a barghest. They’re dogs native to Trottingham. They're nocturnal, and as they're undead they don't need much care and they won't be dying of old age. Again."

"A pet dog? Hmm. I'm not sure..."

"Mmm, a barghest pet would be cool. They've got big red glowing eyes," mumbled Li'l Twi before slumping back into a doze.

"Aheh, there is one tiny disadvantage though. They're harbingers of death, so a pet one might not be too welcome in Canterlot."

Luna laughed, "No thank you then. I would never hear the end of it from Tia."

"All right then. Next option is the firebird; it can be found around Horsecow. The books aren't clear, but it seems to be immortal and nocturnal-"

"And a breed of phoenix. I love my sister, but the teasing would be unbearable."

"Possible sisterly bonding over similar pets? No? Okay. We’ll discount the olm straight away. While it is immortal and nocturnal and possibly affectionate, they are amphibious and you don’t really have much cool, dark water in Canterlot, so they probably wouldn’t really feel at home."

"Well, some of the cooler pools in the Royal baths might do the job, but I think the other ponies might dislike finding one while bathing. Slimy?"

"Very slimy. Moving on, how about a strix? Basically vampiric owls. I can testify from my experiences with Owlowiscious that owls are loyal and very intelligent."

"They sound wonderful. But Twilight, vampiric?"

"Um, yes. They would need feeding."

"Twilight, contrary to the rumours that I know abound, neither my guards nor I are vampires, nor do I have a ‘fountain of blood’ hidden away on castle grounds."

"Okay, no strix. Got it."

"And whilst we’re on the topic, if there were any ‘midnight orgies of the flesh’, I assure you that you would have been invited. About the most exciting that happens around midnight, most nights, is finding out what will be for lunch. At present I am encouraging the kitchens to experiment with sandwiches, a wonderful invention. Daisy and dill work very well together."

"Right, no midnight orgies. Touchy topic?"

Luna sighed, "Sorry, yes. This world is still very futuristic to me. Trains and sandwiches are good. I am less sure about tabloid journalism. Forgive me. Please continue."

"I was pretty much done, I’m afraid. The last option I was chasing was a shadow phoenix. A dark counterpoint to Philomena. Immortal, nocturnal, intelligent, elegant," Luna was looking up hopefully, "unfortunately it has one big disadvantage: I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist."

Luna's head slumped back down.

"I haven't given up, but it doesn't look good."

"Thank you for trying, Twilight. Now, I am tired and eager to put today behind me. I shall retire for the night."

There was a weariness to Luna's step that showed that she was still rattled from earlier.

Twilight laid down her book and gently picked up Li'l Twi and Bally before retiring to bed with Luna. Twilight was concerned about her marefriend, and coaxed her into a tender cuddle that soon slipped into sleep. Li'l Twi formed an adorable lump at the foot of the bed, curved protectively around her pet ball.