She knew she should have declined Pinkie's party invitation. She knew it would put her behind schedule. But oh, how the pink pony's blue eyes had swelled with tears at her hesitation, how could she resist? Of course, as soon as she had accepted, Pinkie's solemn attitude flopped back into an extremely happy one, and Twilight was left with only regrets and a desire to never see a cupcake ever again.
Twilight had rushed home from the party as quickly as possible, eager as ever to study and write down what she had observed that day. Early in the morning Zecora had invited her to a sunrise ceremony native to her culture. It had been like nothing Twilight had ever seen, and her thirst for knowledge led to a bombardment of questions towards the frazzled zebra. Of course now she was regretting the delays as she wrote in her book. Already the moon was high in the sky, and she was crammed into a small, dimly lit area as she attempted to write her message to the Princess. Spike had literally shoved her out of the room, desperate for sleep.
Late nights weren't a problem for the unicorn; stargazing was one of her favorite past times. It was just remembering every little detail that Zecora had told her that was proving difficult. She let out a huff of frustration, mentally cursed Pinkie Pie and her parties, and began to pace.
"You know my sister does not read your letters at night, right?" The unicorn jumped, twisting back towards her desk. A dark blue alicorn was sitting next to it, peering at the letter curiously. When Twilight didn't approach her, she shifted uncomfortably. "Ah. Have I done wrong?" Her voice sounded so innocent and naive. Twilight recalled herself, bowing stiffly. The alicorn nodded at her to rise, ears pulled back and mouth twisted into an uneasy expression.
"Well, Princess Luna, it's just, um, a little bit rude to look at letters that aren't meant for you. Or to, you know, break into some one's house without asking." The princess sighed, lowering her head, her face torn between guilt and pain. "Oh, oh, it's fine, Princess. It's, ah, I just wasn't expecting you. I should have had Spike tidy up while I was gone today." The purple unicorn coughed, moving some of the fallen books back to their shelves. Luna watched the action was such rapt attention that Twilight almost felt creeped out.
"So, um. What brings you here, Princess?"
"Luna. Luna will be fine."
"Sorry. What brings you here, Luna?" The princess waved her hoof dismissively, peering around the library. Again the unicorn felt uncomfortable, almost as though she was being soul-searched. While the princess was kind enough, she came off as both overly demanding and overly critical of herself. It was jarring to see her go from a pony that everypony respected to a sniveling mess in the corner of the room. Not that she wasn't getting better. With Twilight's help, she was beginning to show the ponies of Equestria that she was no longer Nightmare Moon, but rather just their Princess.
Finally, after what seemed like eons, the princess answered. "I am looking for your help, Twilight Sparkle, in teaching me the modern ways of Equestria. My sister says I am catching up with the times, but she is too busy to teach me everything I need to know. I remembered your Nightmare Night costume, and I decided that you were well-read enough to know how to help me. After all, who still remembers Star Swirl the Bearded?" It sounded like some sort of joke, but Twilight could tell from the look in her eyes that she was serious. With a sigh, she sat down.
"What do you need to know?" Luna blinked, confusion settling on her face.
"Was I not clear? I need to know everything. Is this hard to comprehend? Even Celestia gave me a peculiar look when I said as much."
"Look, can we do this in the morning? I've had a long day and I just need to get this entry done, it's about-"
"The zebra sunrise ceremony, I saw. You wrote down the wrong color of face paint. It is yellow, not blue. The blue comes later, after the-"
"First sacred fire dance! Yes! Thank you, Luna! Oh, you've saved me a lot of embarrassment." She quickly scratched out the wrong information, replacing it with the correct color. "How did you know? Ponies haven't been close with the zebras for nearly seven hundred years!" Luna rolled her eyes.
"Do you not remember how old my sister and I are, Twilight Sparkle?"
"...Oh, yeah, right, sorry." The unicorn nervously giggled. "I, uh, forget sometimes. But anyway, can your lessons wait until morning?"
The alicorn pondered this before shaking her head. "Morning and day are Celestia's domain, not my own. I may not wander freely by myself until it is dusk and night. The balance would be offset, and the world could come to ruin."
"Oh. Wouldn't want that, would we?"
"No, Twilight Sparkle, we would not."
They sat there in silence for a few moments. Luna had seemed to slip into another world, one that was quiet, thoughtful, perhaps chaotic. She finally moved her gaze back towards the unicorn, eyes bright. "Well?"
"Um, we can't start tonight. How about two days from now, meet me here? Near dusk." The alicorn nodded slowly, rising from her sitting position.
"Yes. Two nights from now. I will hold you to this, Twilight Sparkle." With her mane of stars streaking behind her, the princess seemed to vanish from sight. Twilight sighed, finishing up her letter before gently folding it and tucking it away.
The next two nights were going to go too quickly, she could tell.
A/N: The coming chapters will be longer, I swear =P Anyway, I really do like Luna. She's an interesting character that I wish would show up more often. And I think that Twilight Sparkle is a bit underrated compared to the others (though nopony can compare to the adorable that is Fluttershy). So I decided to write a story with them together. It'll probably be a slow paced, not very action heavy story, more of a playing-off-each-other one. Though the other ponies will probably appear eventually.
Anyway, this is my first time writing for My Little Pony, so I apologize if anything is out of character. I promise I'll try to improve D8 As such, reviews are much appreciated, and double the fun.