Half the Day is Night, Chapter 3

I'm doing so much writing, it's starting to back up! But here's the next chapter of my MLP novel! Before it, though, is the Prologue, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

     "I don't like this, Twilight."  Spike poured tea into her 

cup, Twilight Sparkle watching through bleary eyes as he 

squeezed in exactly the right amount of lemon.  "Princess 

Celestia says she's passed all my questions on to Princess Luna, 

but I haven't got a single answer yet!  Not one!"

     Nodding, Twilight activated her horn and raised the cup to 

sip from it, Zecora's special blend just exactly what she needed 

to perk herself awake at five o'clock on a Monday morning after 

two of the most hectic days of her life.  But she'd gotten 

everything checked off her list: all Fluttershy's blankets had 

gotten unpacked, Rainbow Dash had made arrangements with the 

weather crew, Applejack had left at least 50 pages of 

instructions for her brother and sisters, Rarity had dropped a 

hissing box of Opalescence off at her parents' house after 

locking up her boutique, and Pinkie Pie had put together a 

Sunday night 'going away' party with a speech from the mayor and 

apple pie all around.

     Twilight took another sip of tea.  "I'm sure Princess 

Luna's made arrangements."

     A clatter from the library's front door, and Pinkie Pie 

came bouncing in, her panniers flapping against her flanks.  

"This is so exciting!  I mean, I didn't even know there was a 

five o'clock in the morning!"

     Whooshing up behind her, Rainbow Dash snorted.  "Reminds me 

of dawn patrol at flight school, getting the sky ready for 

sunup."  A single battered bag strapped to her side, she landed 

beside the table, clamped her hoofs around one of the cups Spike 

had set out, and sucked it dry.  "Not my favorite thing."

     Another snort, and Applejack sauntered in, her packs not 

nearly as bulging as Pinkie's.  "Some of us're up this early 

ev'ry day."

     "Yeah?"  Dash gave her a toothy grin.  "Well, some of us 

are crazy."

     "Girls!  Really!"  Rarity swept through the doorway, a 

simple but elegant traveling cloak thrown around her shoulders 

and draped across her back.  "We've a very long day ahead of us, 

and I fully expect our nerves to be completely frazzled long 

before we manage to lay our weary heads down upon whatever silk 

and satin finery the palace manages to put together for us."

     "Silk?"  Fluttershy peered around the doorpost, her eyes 

wide.  "And satin?"

     Rarity nodded firmly.  "At the very least."  She shrugged 

her cloak open, her horn glowing, and eight small golden brown 

muffins, shiny with glaze and each wrapped with a red ribbon, 

floated out to settle themselves among the tea cups.  "So I had 

these specially prepared by Mrs. Cake last night to strengthen 

us for the journey."

     Fluttershy drifted over to join the group, her one bag even 

smaller than Dash's.  "Oh, Rarity!  They're beautiful!"

     Pinkie Pie dived face first into hers and came up chewing, 

the ribbon stuck to the pink forelock of her mane.  "Tasty, 

too!"

     Dash laughed, spun her muffin on the tip of a front hoof, 

and bit its head off.  "Not gonna eat the ribbon, Pinkie?"

     "What??"  Pinkie looked shocked.  "Don't you dare, Rainbow 

Dash!  Those are totally our totems!"  She touched the little 

bow.  "We wear them in our manes as long as we're in Canterlot.  

So anytime we're feeling icky or sticky, woozy or bluesy, one 

look at that ribbon, and bam!  We'll know who we are, where we 

are, and what we're do-do-doodly doing!"  She gave a massive 

grin, her eyes curling shut, bits of muffin clinging to the 

corners of her teeth.

     A shiver iced down Twilight's spine like she sometimes felt 

when she'd unraveled a particularly knotty magical problem.  

Which was odd; why would--?  

     But she stopped that line of thought.  She'd learned the 

hard way that it was sometimes best not to question things when 

Pinkie was concerned.  "I think you're right, Pinkie," she said.  

A flicker from her horn pulled the ribbon off her own muffin, 

and she turned to Rarity.  "Could you please do it for me, 

Rarity?  I've never been much good with bows..."

     The white unicorn blinked, then smiled, her eyes and horn 

lighting up to tie the ribbon in Twilight's hair just behind her 

right ear.  Chattering and laughing, the others quickly finished 

their muffins, and Rarity fitted their ribbons in among their 

manes as well.  "You, too, Spike," she said over her shoulder, 

swirling Applejack's ribbon around the band already holding her 

pony tail together.

     "Me?"  Spike looked from Rarity to the other two muffins 

and back again, and Twilight couldn't keep from smiling at the 

astonishment spreading over his face.  "You made one for me?"

     "Well, of course!"  Rarity cocked her head at him.  "You're 

part of our little ensemble, aren't you?"

     The dragon picked up a muffin, undid its ribbon, and gave 

it such a reverent look, Twilight was surprised hearts didn't 

burst into the air around him.  "But I don't have a mane..."

     Rarity puffed a breath that ruffled the ribbon she'd used 

to partially tie Fluttershy's straying strands away from her 

face.  "Oh, let me!"  She aimed her horn at him, the ribbon flew 

from his claws, and in less than an instant it had wound itself 

around the spikes above his right ear hole, the red standing out 

against his green scales.  "There!"

     Spike touched it with a claw.  "I've gotta look in a 

mirror!"  He turned, took half a step toward the library's 

foyer, and stopped, his eyes going wide.  "Princess Luna!"

     Twilight felt her ears fold back, and she looked over to 

see the co-ruler of all Equestria standing still as a statue 

just inside the front door, something almost bottomless in those 

dark eyes.  "I--"  The princess stopped, then started again.  "I 

didn't want to interrupt...."

     Parts of her brain finally unfreezing, Twilight bowed to 

the floor, saw the others doing the same, heard Rarity saying, 

"Oh, not at all, your Highness!  Please, come in!  We've a 

muffin for you, if you're feeling peckish."

     Silence, and Twilight straightened, afraid they'd somehow 

insulted her.  But the winged unicorn seemed to be blinking more 

in surprise than anything else.  "For...me?" she asked after a 

moment, and Twilight remembered what the princess had said the 

other morning during her first visit.

     "Of course!"  Twilight stepped forward to stand beside 

Rarity.  "Because that's what friends do!"

     For a moment, Twilight thought she saw a shimmer at the 

corners of the princess's eyes, but then she was tossing her 

head, her mane flying like a pre-dawn breeze.  "Thank you!" she 

said, almost leaping across the room, every bit of her shyness 

gone so suddenly, Twilight couldn't help smiling.  "Celestia 

says that breakfast is the most important meal of the day," the 

princess went on with a grin, "but I've always been more partial 

to supper myself."

     Pinkie gasped.  "Dinner muffins!  That would be so great!"  

She bent around and started rooting through her panniers, 

streamers and glitter flying in every direction.  "I've gotta 

make a note for when we get back!"

     Applejack and Rainbow Dash shied away from the sparkling 

shower with a "Hey!" and a "Watch it!", and Twilight sent a 

quick shield spell from her horn to keep the stuff from falling 

into the cups.  "Do you have time for some tea before we go, 

your Highness?"

     Princess Luna was unwrapping her muffin, both the ribbon 

and the pastry floating in the air ahead of her.  "I'd better 

not."  She give the muffin a nibble and nodded toward the 

darkness outside the window.  "It's only an hour and a half till 

sunup, so it might be best that we get to the palace for 

Celestia's ceremony before she begins to worry."

     Fluttershy gasped.  "Ceremony?  At the palace?  What do we--?  

Are we supposed to--?  I thought we would just..."  Her 

voice trailed off, her wings quivering.

     Twilight found her heart speeding up a bit as well.  She'd 

attended any number of ceremonies at both the Day Palace and the 

Night Palace during her years in Canterlot, and knowing how much 

pomp and circumstance tended to surround them...  "Excuse me, 

your Highness, but--"

     "Yes, I know."  The princess sighed.  "If it were up to me, 

Celestia would simply give me her power, head off on her 

vacation, and that'd be it.  But Sister seems to have become 

very fond of ceremonies during the last thousand years."  She 

finished her muffin, and the ribbon darted to the base of her 

horn, tied itself there in a flowery knot.  "We have our 

ribbons, though."  The taller pony smiled and bent to touch the 

tip of her horn to the ribbon in Fluttershy's mane.  "I 

certainly know I'm going to need mine."

     Fluttershy blushed so red, Twilight was sure she could feel 

heat from it.  "Oh, princess," the pegasus whispered, peering up 

from behind the locks of pink hair her ribbon held together.  

"What if I trip on some stairs and run into a pony carrying a 

pitcher of water and that pony spills the water all over another 

pony and ruins that pony's gown??  What if that??"

     Princess Luna blinked, and Twilight opened her mouth--but 

Rainbow Dash spoke out first: "If that happens, Fluttershy, 

we'll deal with it!"

     "Exactly!" said Pinkie, sliding over and bumping her 

shoulder against Fluttershy's side.  "Like my uncle Yorick used 

to say: if you're gonna make a mistake, make it a good, loud 

mistake!"

     Applejack gave her a sideways look.  "Since when d'you have 

an uncle Yorick?"

     Pinkie put a hoof in front of her mouth.  "Shhh!  Don't 

tell Fluttershy!"

     "And don't worry."  Princess Luna's smile made Twilight 

think of a summer night under the stars.  "Don't any of you 

worry."  She turned that smile on each of them in turn, and 

Twilight could almost smell the tension in the room dissolving.  

"Your only job this week will be keeping an eye on me."  Which 

brought some of the tension back to Twilight's shoulders.  "But 

with my ribbon here--"  The princess touched one silver shoe to 

the bit of red around her horn.  "I'll remember you're watching 

me, and that'll make me watch myself."  She blinked again.  "If 

that makes sense."

     Pinkie nodded briskly.  "Perfect sense!"

     "Uh-oh."  Dash gave another of her grins.  "If it makes 

sense to Pinkie..."

     The others laughed, and Princess Luna joining in made 

Twilight's breath come a little easier again.  Maybe this would 

all work out after all.  "Well, Spike."  Twilight tapped a hoof 

against the table.  "If you'd kindly put the dishes away, we'll 

be ready to go."

     The little dragon had been stroking his bow, a dreamy 

expression on his face, but he snapped out of it, gathered up 

the tea things, and carried them away.  A moment of clattering, 

and he returned brushing his claws together.  "Fastest dish 

washer in Equestria," he said.

     "All right, then."  Princess Luna looked around.  

"Everypony has everything she's taking?"

     Twilight patted the satchel beside her, and Rarity gestured 

toward the front door.  "Well, my luggage is in the cart 

outside, but I wasn't sure how we'd be traveling, so--"

     "Traveling?"  The princess's horn flared so bright, 

Twilight had to squint and look away.  "Like this, of course!"

     The light faded almost immediately, but it took Twilight a 

moment of blinking before she could make out her friends, 

standing beside her and doing their own blinking in the middle 

of a vast, dark, cold, and empty chamber.  "Welcome to 

Canterlot!" Princess Luna's voice called, the words echoing 

strangely in the darkness all around Twilight.

And then comes Chapter 4!