The Lunar Rainbow: Part One

My Little Pony: FIM

The Lunar Rainbow: Part 1

(This is a several chapter long fan fiction focusing as an Applejack and Rainbow Dash pairing story)


The small town of Ponyville sat quietly beneath the setting sun. Twilight Sparkle, seated on a comfy chair in her library looked up out of the large windows onto the balcony, and watched the sun vanishing. Her horn glowed dimly, and the page of her book began to turn slowly, as though being idly handled by an invisible hand. Twilight enjoyed watching the end of the day, for she always tried to see whether Princess Celestia or Princess Luna were out in the sky, performing their duties. She supposed that they remained in the castle while doing this, but it never lessened her hopes, since it was such a serene view.
Listening to the night sounds, she could hear nothing more, except the occasional scuffle, or the odd grunt, as her assistant, Spike, replaced books upon their shelves. She also thought she heard a crunching noise, like precious gems being tentatively chewed by strong, sharp teeth. She decided to ignore it; Spike had earned the occasional gem. She just hoped it wasn't from any of her garments. Rarity would have a fit.
Having watched the moon rise, she returned to her book, A Beginners Guide to the Amazing Creatures of Equestria: Known and Cryptid Edition, where she had just found a fascinating passage on the creatures in the Dragon country. It was a few moments therefore, before she noticed the soft whooshing noise coming from her balcony. It was yet more time before she heard as well the hoarse whispering.

"Twilight. Hey, Twilight!"

Twilight was too engrossed in her book, but looked up when she felt a draft, and saw Spike opening the glass doors to the outside.

"Spike?" she said, a little irritably. "What are you-" she stopped, as from outside landed a blue Pegasus-pony with bright blue hair, and a dazzling rainbow mane.

"Geez, Twilight, next time I'll just bring a thunder cloud when I want to get your attention" grinned Rainbow Dash. Twilight stood up, politely.

"Sorry, Dash, I just found this really useful looking spell, and I-" Rainbow cut across her, hastily.

"I was wondering" she began a little loudly, but then she became suddenly much quieter. "I was wondering if I could borrow a book?" she said.
Twilight stared at her, a little unflatteringly. Rainbow Dash, borrow a book? To Twilight's mind that was frankly odd. Like Pinkie Pie developing an interest in macabre art, or Octavia suddenly developing a taste in hip-hop music. She hesitated for a second, then smiled.

"Of course! It is a library after all" she said, waving a hoof good-naturedly around the room. "Help yourself"

"Thanks, Twilight!" Rainbow said, leaping down to the lower floor to begin searching.

"Need any help finding anything?" Twilight asked, looking down after her. She found Rainbow's reaction to this a little odd. She froze for a second, turned her head intentionally away from Twilight, and made a "E-Er..." sound in her throat. Then she seemed to recover herself.

"Oh, no, thanks, you carry on with your... magic, stuff. I'll find it"

"You sure?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. "Spike or Owlowiscious can help you if you ne-"

"No, no it's fine, thanks Twilight" Rainbow Dash smiled perhaps a little wider than was necessary, but it was evidently meant to be reassuring, and she began scanning the book shelves. Twilight watched her for a few moments, slightly puzzled by this, but then feeling the attraction of her book overpower her curiosity, she went back to her reading. Sometime later, she heard dimly the sound of Rainbow Dash exclaiming in triumph, and felt the draft of her flying by.

"Thanks Twilight!" she called, zooming out of the window. Twilight's curiosity mounted again, and she looked up in time to see Rainbow carrying a modest looking volume with a red and pink cover.

"See you later" she called back, and then turned to Spike, who was holding a large stack of books, Owlowiscious perched on top, putting the books back on their shelves.
"Spike, did you see which book she took out?"

"No" the little dragon replied, straining under the books. "Couldn't see... had her back to me" Twilight's horn gave a flash, and the stack of books zoomed upwards, sorted themselves into the right order, and began arranging themselves upon the shelf. Owlowiscious gave a hoot and fluttered lightly onto his perch.

"Thank you Spike; I think you'd best get some rest though, it's getting late" Twilight said, kindly. Spike made no objection.
"And you can go hunting if you like" she said to the owl. Owlowiscious turned his head around 180 degrees, and ruffled his feathers a little.

"Yeah, early to bed and... however the rest of that goes. Anyway, have to break in that new blanket" Spike said.

"The one Rarity made for you?" Twilight asked, carelessly, trying to cover her smile by turning back to her book.

"Yes, that one" Spike said, quietly. "Well, goodni-urgh!" Twilight looked around in mild surprise, as Spike belched out green flame, followed by a tied scroll. Twilight blinked, surprised.

"Is that from the Princess?" she asked, as Spike undid the string and unfurled the paper. He gave it a quick look over, and nodded.

"Yeah it is" he said, looking slightly confused.

"Well what does it say?"

"It says 'Good evening, Twilight Sparkle, can you please open the balcony door?'" Spike read out, sounding rather bewildered. At the same time, both he and Twilight turned to look at the balcony. Outside on the decorative ledge of the library, against the solid night time blueness of the sky, stood a tall, white Pegasus-Unicorn, her pastel coloured rainbow mane streaming as though in a soft breeze, despite the night being windless. She was smiling through the window, and gazing down upon Twilight with a benign expression. Twilight got hastily to her feet, and with a flash of light from her horn, caused the doors to open. The doors blew apart as though from a sudden gush of wind, but Princess Celestia made no comment to this. She only smiled wider, and said.

"Thank you for agreeing to see me on such short notice, my most faithful student" she inclined her head, as Twilight sank to all four of her knees, and Spike tripped forward, trying to do the same.

"It's no trouble" Twilight assured her, getting up again at Celestia's gesture to be at ease. "Please think nothing of it. What may I do for you?"

"My apologies for calling at such a late hour, but Luna was most insistent that she perform her duties" Twilight did not quite comprehend this statement, and wondered why this information had prevented the Princess from coming earlier. Surely whatever she wanted to meet her about could have been said during the day before the onset of night, or put into a letter. She supposed that Princess Luna had wanted to be sure that Celestia was there to watch her; perhaps the mare that controlled the onset of the dark hours was uncomfortable performing her duties after 1,000 years out of practice.

"Is her Highness unwell?" Twilight asked, hoping to be polite. Celestia shook her head.

"She is in good health, but there is something that I should like your assistance with" the Princess said, sounding rather serious.
"While Luna has been cured of Nightmare Moon, she won't admit it, but I believe that she is feeling guilty about what happened to her. She will not speak to anyone but myself, and..." she looked behind her, Twilight supposed in the direction of the castle where the said lunar pony must even now be awaiting her sisters return.
"With all of your experience and knowledge of friendship, which you have been so kind as to keep me well informed on, I should like for Luna to try and make friends here in Ponyville, as you did"

"That's a great idea!" Spike said, eagerly.

"I'd be glad to show her Highness any such attentions" Twilight assured the Princess. "When can she come?" Celestia looked slightly confused by this question, and frowned slightly. She looked behind her again, and then back at Twilight, still puzzled.

"She is already here, Twilight" she said, quietly. "I brought her with me" Twilight's eyes followed the direction Celestia had looked, and saw for the first time, the outline of a velvety blue pony, standing behind her older sister. Twilight was not surprised that she had not perceived her before; she was standing almost entirely concealed behind Princess Celestia, in front of the open door, where her hair and mane blended only too perfectly with the night sky behind her.
Her mane, unlike her sisters, was light blue, and looked as though it were woven from moonbeams. Her cutie mark, a white crescent moon on black, shone just as the real moon would, and her hooves were encased in horseshoes that looked as though there were fashioned from stars.
However, despite possessing all of the majesty of her sister, there was a striking difference between them, apart from their colours. Whereas Celestia stood tall and regal, resplendent even in night time with the gleam and brightness of  daytime wonder, Luna stood looking awkward, shy and perhaps a little embarrassed. Her head hung slightly, and her great, midnight blue eyes full of stars, where half closed by some invisible weight, and were staring without seeing into a far corner.
Twilight turned a little red in the face, and bowed to her as well, but for all the notice Luna took of her, she might needn't have bothered.

"It is my hope that with your help, and with that of your friends, Luna may regain a little of herself" Celestia said, leaning her head against Luna's, comfortingly.
"I entrust this task to my most diligent and hard working pupil; you, Twilight Sparkle. Will you accept it?"

"Of course" Twilight said, bowing her head again. Celestia smiled, and lowered her head to be on a level with Twilight.

"I thank you for this. I hope that you will take things gradually with her, and try to introduce her to society when she feels ready. If there are any problems, just have Spike send me a message, alright?" Twilight nodded, and Celestia turned.
"Try to have some fun, okay?" she said quietly to Luna. Luna looked up at her, a rather sad expression on her face. Celestia smiled sadly back at her, and then spread out her great white wings, and flew gracefully away.
Twilight watched her go, and then turned to Luna. Despite her reassurances to the contrary, Twilight felt particularly awkward about the situation. The last time Luna and she had been in proximity to each other, Twilight had just used the most powerful magical objects in all of Equestria to stop her as Nightmare Moon. She had some idea that, maybe, the Princess might feel resentful towards her for it. There was a long and somewhat awkward pause between the two ponies.

"Well..." said Spike, in an obvious attempt to break the tension. Princess Luna looked around at him, and he seemed to lose his nerve.
"Good night Twilight" he said quickly, turning around and tottering off to his bed. Twilight opened her mouth in shock at the suddenness of the movement, but stopped herself saying anything. Instead she looked back at the Princess, who was looking down at the floor again.

"W-Well..." Twilight began, uncomfortably aware of how Spike's previous sentence had begun like this.
"Shall we, um... adjourn?" she said, feeling uncomfortably hot. Luna looked at her directly for the first time. Twilight was suddenly overtaken by a great wave of sadness to look upon her. She looked so downcast, that it seemed to her that only the cruellest of ponies could look upon her with indifference. She seemed lost, perhaps even afraid, and weighed down by heavy thoughts. The Princess, looking timid and reminding Twilight forcefully of Fluttershy, nodded.
"You can have my bed, your highness" Twilight said, trying to sound robustly cheerful, and gesturing to her decently sized one-pony bed. The Princess looked, if possible, even more troubled than before; Twilight supposed she was scrupling with the idea of taking another Pony's bed.
"It's no problem, really" she assured the Princess. "I need to do more reading anyway, so I'll just sleep in the library" feeling that remaining might cause the midnight blue mare to continue to waver in accepting her offer, Twilight made her way downstairs into the main library, her book hovering along after her, and settled herself on the comfortable sofa. She pretended to read her book, but out of the corner of her eye, she watched the silhouette of Princess Luna make its way slowly across the upper floor, making as little noise as possible, and settle itself on Twilight's bed. Twilight smiled to herself.

"Really" she thought "That was less awkward than I thought it would be" and with that comforting thought, she settled down to read properly.

-

Twilight awoke, her head on her book, page forty two stuck to her face, and a beam of purest sunlight filtering in from the upper balcony doors down into the library. She yawned, and raised herself to stretch, when no sooner had she moved, she felt herself fall into shadow. She looked up, and saw Princess Luna sitting in front of the doors, watching the sun rise. Twilight sat for a while, and then decided to get up quietly, so as not to disturb her. This endeavour instantly failed, as Twilight took one noiseless step from the sofa, and the Princess' head turned.

"Good morning, your highness" Twilight said, respectfully. Curiously, whereas most people would be difficult to make out through bright sunlight, Princess Luna was perfectly visible. Just as her sister was simply radiant and unmistakable at night, Luna seemed to exude a natural aura that made her stand out, like a solid colour amongst pastels during the day.
The Princess smiled at her, faintly, and then turned back to the sunrise. Twilight suddenly had a mental picture of herself doing the same thing last night, and half wondered if Princess Luna was trying to see her sister raise the sun. If she could see this, she had better eyesight than Twilight did. Twilight wondered what they should do today. Thinking on Princess Celestia's words, she thought the first step would be to introduce her to some of the ponies of Ponyville. But then she imagined that royal etiquette might interfere with this a little. Then there was the fact that Luna being royalty, she would garner a great deal of attention, which would conflict with Celestia's request to take things slowly. It might well be that a large crowd would startle Luna, which Twilight did not want to happen. This must be done properly.
She looked speculatively up at Princess Luna, but then was distracted by a grunting snore, and a wide yawn.

"Good morning, Spike" she said, as the little dragon appeared on the upper floor. He rubbed his eyes, blinked a few times, and then waved down at Twilight.

"Morning!" he called. "Well, I'm off to do my chor-" he was brought up short. He had just caught the eye of Princess Luna, and apparently forgetting about their regal company, Spike froze, momentarily transfixed.
"I'll just... start downstairs" he said, lamely, and marched a little stiffly down the stairs.

After setting up the library for public use, and leaving Spike with some clear instructions for the day, Twilight went upstairs, and inquired of the Princess if there was anything in particular she wanted to do. Luna glanced out of the window again, still looking rather dejected and unhappy, but shook her head as though clearing it. She turned back to Twilight, and gave a nervous smile, as though to say "whatever you suggest".
This required some thought. Twilight wanted to take the Princess first out to breakfast, since her own food supply was rather low. She didn't like the idea of taking her out in public for any long amount of time, in case of being seen, but wanted to give her something half way decent to eat still, as Twilight assumed she would have a naturally royal taste palette. None of the known establishments would do, since they were all in the middle of the town.
Twilight opened a book, intending to think while she read. No sooner had she done so, then the door to the library opened with a tinkle of the bell. Then it did it again, and then again, and again. Twilight looked towards the door, and saw a violently pink pony opening and closing the door, giggling as the bell chimed continuously.

"Hey Pinkie" Twilight said, cheerfully. But then she realised who she was talking to. If any of her friends were to meet the Princess first, she would not have chosen Pinkie, who would surely be the first to blab such a secret. Twilight could just imagine it now: Pinkie's overawed surprise, her very loud exclamations of surprise and joy, and then a furious declaration that she would throw a party, and invite the entirety of Ponyville. Twilight turned pale, her lavender body seeming to turn parma-violet. Spike, apparently noticing this and determining the reason, ran at Pinkie just as the party pony let the door close behind her. She looked around, and though drawn by some magnetic force, spotted Princess Luna upstairs. To Twilight's horror, Pinkie's eyes widened in wonder, and she opened her mouth to exclaim aloud, just as Twilight had imagined she would, when she was suddenly bowled over by a streak of purple. Twilight leapt up from the sofa and sprinted to the spot, where Pinkie and Spike were wrestling. Spike managed to fit both of his hands around Pinkie's mouth, and kept it held firmly shut. Despite this Pinkie was still managing to utterly muffled words, and no sooner had she gotten to her hooves in this position, then she started gesticulating forcefully while frowning in indignation. Twilight couldn't make out the words exactly, but told her gently to shush. Eventually,  Pinkie calmed down, and placed both front hooves on the floor slowly, as though to mutely show that she was calm enough. Twilight waited a second.

"Pinkie" she said, clearly. "I need you to not shout, cry out, jump around, or announce that you're going to throw a party, okay? You understand, don't you?" Pinkie looked up at the Princess, then back at Twilight, and a flicker of understanding seemed to cross between them. She nodded, cheerfully, Spike wobbling on her back as she did so.
"I'm going to ask Spike to let go of your mouth now, okay?" Pinkie nodded.
"And you're not going to make any noise, are you?" Pinkie shook her head. Twilight nodded, and carefully, tentatively, Spike let go of Pinkie's mouth, wiping the spittle discreetly on Pinkie's curly mane. Twilight contemplated Pinkie for a few moments as though she were a bomb about to go off. After about half a minute however, Pinkie seemed to be keeping to the agreement. Twilight looked up at the second floor, where Princess Luna had been looking down in mild interest at what they were doing.

"You know who that is, right?" Twilight asked Pinkie, quietly. Pinkie nodded, eagerly. "Princess Celestia has asked me to introduce her slowly to my friends, so that she can make friends as well. But" she lowered her voice even more,
"I think she's a little shy, so the Princess asked me to not do it all at once. That means no parties yet, no loud noises, and absolutely, utterly, and in no way possible, must you even think about telling anyone that she's here. Okay?" despite the fact that all of these things seemed to Twilight, inherently the opposite of what Pinkie would usually do, Pinkie seemed to grow only more excited as each new admonition was relegated to her. She hopped on the spot, as though shaking with all the things she wanted to shout out. But then her eye twitched, her head gave an odd jerk to the side, and her hair frazzled for a second as though electrically charged. Twilight stared at her.
"What was that?" she asked. Pinkie raised her front hooves and began gesticulating forcefully again, but said nothing. Twilight sighed.
"Pinkie, you can talk, just be quiet" Pinkie made a comical "oooh" face, and opened her mouth wide. Twilight flinched.

"I came to tell you that my Pinkie-sense is going off again" she said in a stage whisper. Twilight relaxed from her muscle clenched state of anxiety, and sighed in relief. Then she frowned slightly.

"Your Pinkie-sense?" she asked, looking quickly up at the ceiling. "Nothing's about to fall on me, is it?" she asked, returning to her state of flinching at slight noises.

"No" Pinkie continued to whisper, loudly. "It's completely different from anything I've felt before" her flank gave a shudder.
"It's a big one, whatever it is. Just thought I'd tell you"

"Oh, well... um, thanks Pinkie" Twilight said, unsure exactly what to say.

"So can I meet-Mmph phmm mm mmmm!" Spike re-wrapped his hands around Pinkie's mouth as her voice rose to its usual volume. She stopped, and made a "Whoops" face. Spike let go again.
"So can I meet the Princess?" she said, again in her stage whisper. Twilight hesitated, glancing up at the Princess, who was still watching them, looking curious.

"I suppose" she said, uncertainly "But just be-" she was cut off as she felt the gust of wind from Pinkie zooming passed her. Spike fell off her back with a flump, and Twilight sped upstairs after her. Pinkie screeched to a halt in front of the Princess, who almost took a step back in surprise. Pinkie opened her mouth wide again, took in a great breath... then stopped herself, and went on in her loud whisper.

"Hiiiiiiii!" the greeting went on so long that it ended in a raspy hiss. The Princess stared at her, and blinked, apparently quite taken aback.

"Pinkie!" Twilight hissed. "You have to kneel to her!"

"Oh yeah!" Pinkie whispered loudly back, and sank to her front knees. Then she sprang up again, quite literally, and began talking incessantly.

"Hi there, so do you remember me? I was there in the forest, remember? Huh? Remember the forest when you tried to scare us all with the tree faces!?" Twilight's heart jumped in her chest. How could Pinkie even imagine this was a good topic of conversation!?
"They were hilarious!" Pinkie laughed, also in whisper. "I thought they were just so funny, they made me laugh! Can you do that with other stuff? Like walls? I always wanted to see a funny wall! Or maybe you can make Twilight smile, she needs to laugh more" she said, giving Twilight an innocent grin. Twilight was speechless. Just how insensitive could one get!? Reminding the Princess of her time as Nightmare Moon... and saying that she, Twilight, didn't laugh a lot? Ridiculous! She laughed all the time... she was just having difficulty remembering the previous occasion, that's all.
She banished these thoughts with difficulty, and looked at the Princess. The Princess had not moved at all, but was staring at Pinkie's wide, toothy grin in no little astonishment. To Twilight's great consternation, she thought she saw the Princess shudder slightly, as though about to cry.

"Oh no!" Twilight thought "What will Princess Celestia say if on the very first day, we made her sister cry!?" she thought quickly of something to do, something to say that might distract the Princess from Pinkie, but then the Princess' lips curled upward. Slowly but surely, she began to smile, wider and wider, shaking all the time, but not with tears; with laughter. Quite suddenly, she let out a genuine, heartfelt laugh. Pinkie began to laugh too, louder and more exuberantly than the Princess' more Fluttershy-like laugh, and out of sheer relief, Twilight began to laugh as well. Seemingly at a loss to account for the sudden outpouring of mirth, Spike, who had sprinted up the stairs after Twilight, began to cautiously laugh too.
After the laughter had stopped, the Princess smiled fully at Pinkie. Pinkie smiled back, and turned to Twilight, again speaking in a loud whisper.

"See, laughing cures everything!"

"Yeah, yeah" Twilight said, amused.

"You guys hungry?" Pinkie asked, voice rising excitably. Twilight shot the Princess an inquiring look, but she was too busy getting over her giggles to notice.

"Uh, yeah, I was thinking of somewhere to get breakfast before you arrived" Pinkie Pie gave a joyful hop, then at a warning cough from Twilight, froze, and carried on in her obvious whispering.

"Then come to Sugarcube Corner! I just finished baking a few things that I know you guys will just love"

"Well that's very good, Pinkie" Twilight said, kindly "But I can't let the whole town see the Princess walking over to the Sugarcube, they wouldn't leave her alone" Pinkie waved a hoof, dismissively.

"Twilight, Twilight, I thought you were the smart one" she said, adopting a light, condescending tone that frankly got right on Twilight's wick. Twilight gave her a cold look.
"Just get her a disguise!" Twilight blinked. That did, now that she thought about it, seem to be the obvious thing to do.

"Oh. Well, do you have an recommendations?" she asked. The pink pony put on thoughtful airs, tapping a hoof on her chin and looking around the library.

"I think I could put something together" she said wonderingly, then suddenly giggled "I sound like Rarity" she chuckled, suddenly taking an interest in the curtains and prancing over to them in a manner quite reminiscent of Rarity.
As she watched Pinkie prancing over to the curtains, Twilight had an ominous feeling, as though she would probably later reflect on what she was getting into.


- To be Continued