My Little Pony: Lunar Nights Collection

by A Derpy King Boo

Inside this collection is every story published that either has my OC Lunar Nights as a main character, or has an affiliation to him. Enjoy Lunar's adventures as he sets out from being the quiet unicorn he once was into the husband of Princess Twilight! Rated M for certain additions and mild language. Current word count: 285,538. Story count: 13 Note that not all stories are canon.

1. Under A Lunar Wing

Under A Lunar Wing

My name is Lunar Nights. I am a unicorn that is quite skilled in the form of magic and am a gifted unicorn, having two loving parents that push me beyond my limits. It is because of my parents that I can call the lovely Princess of the Night - Princess Luna - my teacher and mentor. She often tells me that I am her star pupil - much like how Twilight Sparkle was to Princess Celestia. I was granted an opportunity to enroll in Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, but chose to enroll under Princess Luna's version, having her as my mentor instead of Princess Celestia. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Princess Celestia; I simply like Princess Luna a little bit more.

Either way, I am a pony with an indigo coat. My mane is purely black, having little specks of white scattered throughout it. I was born that way - at least that's what my parents told me - and so I have considered them to be just like stars in my mane and tail. My cutie mark appears to be a white circle but, rest assured, it is not. It is actually a mark of a full moon. Around the moon are more specks of white, these symbolizing stars around the moon. My aura that surrounds my horn is a clear, soothing, and smoothly flowing white color and I absolutely adore it.

I have been studying under Princess Luna's wing for roughly three years now. Ever since she reverted back from Nightmare Moon, she has been running her own school. When I applied for enrollment, I was the only pony that applied. Nowadays, since more time has passed by, Princess Luna has had more students enroll in her school and make an impact. Because I was the one who got the hypothetical ball rolling, Princess Luna decide to teach me personally by taking me under her wing, teaching me the basics to magic and all it's history and worth.

I currently reside by myself in Baltimare, focusing primarily on my studies. I have no friends because my studies come first and I haven't really a need for friends or friendships. Princess Luna encourages me to change that, saying that studying all the books in Equestria will not allow me to advance to the next stage in my studies, but I highly doubt that. After all, knowledge is the foundation for a successful pony, right? The more knowledge one has, the more successful they are projected to become, sound about right?

I'm currently reading up on some of Star Swirl the Bearded's recorded spells and written notes, trying my best to grasp all that I can obtain from him. He is the most important unicorn when it comes to the history of magic. Without him, we wouldn't have a lot of the spells that us unicorns use each and every day. Reading his hoof-written work is truly an honor; I simply cannot believe that Princess Luna trusted me with them herself. Right now, I'm reading up on his final spell, but...in this book, either there is a page missing...or...it isn't finished. Odd...I expected nothing less than completed work from Star Swirl...

Suddenly, an indigo colored scroll appears in front of me. There is a seal with a moon on it on the rolled up scroll, telling me that this scroll is from Princess Luna herself. I take off the seal and begin to open up the scroll, wondering what Princess Luna has written to me.

Dear Lunar Nights:

I trust that you are studying very hard right now in your pursuit towards your destiny. I am writing this letter to you in regards to the Star Swirl the Bearded book, assuming you're up to, if not, past this book at the present moment. I also assume that you might be wondering why the final spell is left incomplete. The last spell in this book was Stars Swirl's final spell. He abandoned trying to perfect it because he did not understand friendship.

My sister, Princess Celestia, has given a copy of this book to her star student, Twilight Sparkle, who resides in Ponyville, a town located not too far from Baltimare. I want you to take this book to her and learn the wonders of friendship from Princess Twilight, in the hopes that you'll be able to further your studies.

Enclosed in this letter is a map to Ponyville. I expect you to travel there and learn the wonders of friendship and Princess Twilight is also expecting you to arrive shortly afterwards.

You have made me proud of all your accomplishments and all the progress you've made in your studies, but all of that will be for nothing if you cannot learn how to make friends. If you learn the wonders of friendship, then you will be ready to continue on in your studies.

Warmest regards,

Princess Luna

I take a closer look at the letter and notice that there is indeed a map that tells me how to get to Ponyville and the safest route on how to get there.

"Thank Celestia that I don't have to go through the Everfree Forest to get to this Ponyville and to meet...Princess Twilight? But, how can that be?"

I scratch my head, wondering if this was simply an accident - inputting the word "Princess" - or if Princess Luna actually meant that this Twilight Sparkle was a Princess. If I can recall correctly, on the entrance forms for Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, or even Princess Luna's School of Enchanted Unicorns, it clearly stated that only unicorns are allowed to enroll, which meant no Earth ponies, Pegasi, or even alicorns. The alicorns weren't really a big deal, considering that there are only a hoofful of them in Equestria. However, if this Twilight Sparkle character is a Princess, then that most likely means that they are an alicorn and, if they were an alicorn at birth, how they were allowed to enroll at Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns is beyond me.

I put Princess Luna's letter away on the desk I was at and soon began to pack my things so that I could head out to Ponyville. Retrieving my saddlebags, I put the letter in it, along with the map, the book with Star Swirl the Bearded's unfinished spell, a couple canteens of water, so snacks, and my good luck charm, which was a figurine of the moon. This figurine, however, does not work like any other figurines you may have seen in your life before, no sirree. This figurine changes between light and darkness in accordance with the actual moon, just in opposite phases. For example, as I look up into the sky tonight, I see that the moon is in a position called the "Waxing Gibbeous," which means that the moon is approaching being a full moon. My figurine, on the other hoof, is not in the same position. It's position is called the "Waning Crescent," which means that it is approaching being a new moon.

I gently place my good luck charm in one of the saddlebags and close it up. Glancing at the map, I determine which route to take and begin to visualize approximately how long it should take me before I see myself arriving in Ponyville, which, if I leave now, should be at around the sun starts rising.

Putting the map back in my saddlebag, I make my way towards the door and turn off all the light in my little apartment. I close the door behind me with my magic, also locking it as well, placing the key back in my saddlebag, next to my good luck charm. I then began proceeding towards the stairwell, primarily because the elevators that are in this building cannot be trusted, for they get jammed and stuck in between floors the majority of the time.

I don't mind taking the stairs - really, I don't. I mean, I'm not like somepony who lives on the top floor and has to climb twenty-one flights of stairs, that would be a workout in itself. I live on the seventh floor of this building, which, in itself, is another reference to myself as to why I love living here so much. The seventh floor, along with my apartment letter - C - all mean something special to me, considering the fact that I am the seventh grandchild in my family and the fact that my grandparents lived in a similar apartment - 7C - in another building in downtown Baltimare.

I get down to the first floor in a matter of minutes and begin exiting the building. Outside, it is a warm, breezy, Friday evening. This is the sort of weather that usually roams around towards the end of spring, but we are only about a week into it so far. Once again, I don't mind it, I just like to speak my thoughts through more internal thinking - if that makes any sense whatsoever. One problem I have - and I will be the first to admit it - is that I tend to speak my thoughts as they come to me. As I am stating a point, really, in my head, the rest of that point is formulating. My head is ahead of my mouth by about four or five words. It's this type of problem that forces me to suddenly stop and then think about what I am saying, what I have said, and what I would have said, forming a lot of sudden pauses in between sentences and during them. But, I'm getting a bit carried away.

As I look at the map, I notice that Ponyville is located a few miles east of here. Putting the map back into the saddlebag, I begin my pursuits towards Ponyville and towards this Twilight Sparkle character, hoping to further my studies even more and make Princess Luna proud of me.

---

"This pathway leads directly to Ponyville...all I have to do is follow it there."

I began trotting down the path in front of me, happy to know that my studies have been making Princess Luna so proud of me. As I trotted down this path, I looked up at the almost-full moon and smiled at the beauty of it, plus the beautiful astronomical stars that were elegantly lighting up the nighttime sky. I love the night; I love everything about the night, after all, I am nocturnal.

I'm not a dark kind of pony, truly I'm not. I love everything about everything in life, but simply choose to carry on in my own way, which has led me down the path of individuality. Clearly, according to Princess Luna, my decisions and actions, though they have brought much praise and acceptance to me from Princess Luna herself, aren't the true ways and paths that I should be on right now. My way of independence is simply the way I am but, for Princess Luna's sake and for mine, I will be more than happy to make some room for adjustments.

Up ahead in the path, I see a fork in the road. Taking out the map, I skim to where I currently am and notice that there is no fork in the road here, but the path does lead a bit to the left slightly. Looking back at the path, I take a heavier glance and notice that the path on the right is that of mud and flattened grass, meaning that this path was probably pony-made not too long ago. Looking over to the path on the left side, I saw that it was a continuation of the same path I was currently on – a dirt path. I put the map away and began trotting down the left pathway.

The moon was lighting up the pathway fairly decently, so I ceased the light that I was emanating from my horn. Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light. My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim, forcing me to stop for the night. It was odd, considering the fact that I was nocturnal, but nonetheless, I stopped on the side of the path and decided to set up a campsite for the night.

---

The next morning, I awoke fairly early so that I could make it to Ponyville on time and not disappoint this Twilight Sparkle pony. The more I thought about her name, the more I thought how familiar that name sounded. I remember reading somewhere in the newspaper about a mare from Ponyville being crowned the newest Princess in Equestria...could this Twilight Sparkle be that very same mare?

I thought nothing more of the topic as I started to enter into the limits of a new town. I pulled out the map from my saddlebag and noticed that this town was Ponyville. Putting the map away, I took out the letter to see where exactly I was supposed to go.

"Twilight Sparkle will be waiting for you."

"Is that it?" I flip over the letter, searching for something to help me try and locate Twilight Sparkle, but there was nothing more on the letter. I was searching blindly for a Twilight Sparkle in a town that I don't even know that much.

In front of me, there were ponies of all kind – unicorns, Earth ponies, Pegasi – and there were even more Pegasus ponies flying through the air. I noted one Pegasus that had a rainbow forming behind them as they flew, which I found pretty cool. I wanted to go introduce myself to that Pegasus, but first things first: finding one Twilight Sparkle.

I entered further into the town, trying to locate a pony that I didn't even know what they looked like. I'm not one for asking for help, but in this case, I have no other choice. I saw a little peculiar looking shop to my left and decided to go in and ask the proprietor if they knew who this Twilight Sparkle was. In this little, peculiar shop stood two Earth ponies – one blue, one yellow.

"Hello there, and welcome to Sugar Cube Corner." The blue Earth pony happily told me.

"What can we do you for?" The yellow one asked.

I felt a bit weird. Never before had somepony asked me or spoken to me like that, aside from Princess Luna and my own parents. Not wanting to be rude, I politely answered them back with a smile being worn brightly on my face.

"Nothing for me really, thank you. I do have but one question for either of you, if that is quite alright with you."

"But, of course it is." The blue pony smiled.

"What is it that you want to ask?" The yellow one questioned.

"Well," I chuckled, "I-I'm new to Ponyville and need to know if you know where one Twilight Sparkle may be."

"We most certainly do!" The blue pony stated.

"You do?" I hoped. "Well, that's most excellent!"

"Let me ask you this." The yellow pony began. "Why do you need to see Princess Twilight?"

So she is a Princess...I thought. I turned to the yellow pony, who was slightly shorter than I was. "My mentor requested that I meet her and learn from her."

"That's surely interesting." The yellow pony told me.

"Thank you." I smiled. "Do you know where Twilight Sparkle would be at this current moment?"

"Unfortunately not, dear." The blue pony glumly answered.

"Nor I..." The yellow one added.

I wanted to frown, but kept my smile up so that I would not be rude. I thanked the two for their help and started to take my leave. As I turned around, I was greeted to an immediate pink view, courtesy of a pink Earth pony that was standing right behind me, now in front of me. The pink pony must have heard everything that was just spoken and so, she pressed on to me, forcing me backwards a bit.

"Hi!" The pink pony shouted. "I hear you're looking for Twilight!"

"Umm..." I quietly replied. "Th-that's right...I'm sorry but, who are you?"

"I'm Pinkie Pie and I just love making new friends!" They replied, giving me a tight hug in the process, crushing my wind pipes slightly.

Wow...she sure gives strong hugs...

"I also happen to know Twilight personally." Pinkie Pie told me.

"You *cough* do?" I struggled saying, trying to ease my pain.

"Mhmm!" smiled Pinkie Pie.

"Would it be too much to ask if you took me to her directly?" I hopefully asked.

"Not at all, silly willy!" Pinkie Pie replied.

"That's perfect!" I smiled brightly. "Thank you very much, Pinkie Pie!"

"You're welcome!" Pinkie Pie responded. "I didn't catch your name. What is it?"

"My name is Lunar Nights," I answered, "and I am Princess Luna's star pupil."

"Princess Luna's star student?" Pinkie Pie repeated. I gave a simple nod. "Wow!" She continued. "So Princess Luna's star student is about to meet Princess Celestia's star student to become super duper, star-tacular, awesomerific, student-friends!"

"Uh...yeah..." I chuckled.

"Let's go see Twilight then, Lunar!" Pinkie Pie smiled, dragging me out of Sugar Cube Corner and through the streets of Ponyville.

---

"There! Over there!" Pinkie Pie happily pointed. "There's Twilight's house...or would it be a tree? Ooh, ooh! It's a tree house!"

"Twilight Sparkle lives in that giant oak tree?" I asked, scanning the gigantic tree in front of both of us. It was a peculiar looking tree and intriguingly placed, being in a town where the tallest building, minus the town hall, was only half of this tree's height.

"Yes in deedy dandy!" Pinkie Pie smiled in response.

"Well then," I continued, "shall we go see Twilight?"

"Sure!" Pinkie Pie replied, bringing me up to the front door of this giant oak tree. She then began knocking on the door in a sort of unusual pattern. "Twilight~"

Through the interesting knocking, I could hear some hoofsteps coming from inside the tree and, by the sound of them and by my assumption, I figured that this Twilight Sparkle was coming up to answer the door for Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie shifted back next to me and was bouncing up and down in place. I followed her pattern with my eyes for a few seconds before turning to see that the door was being embraced in a magnificent and lovely raspberry colored aura.

I quickly brushed my mane to the side, trying to tidy myself up a bit before finally meeting Twilight Sparkle first hoof. I wanted to look picture perfect before meeting my next mentor for friendship. Making Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle proud of me is my number one priority, no matter who my mentor may be. Pinkie Pie saw me brushing my mane and started giggling.

"Relax," she told me, "Twilight is just gonna absolutely love you!"

"I sure hope so..." I replied as the door opened up. In the doorway stood the most beautiful mare I'd ever seen. I was simply awestruck, putting this in other words. In the doorway, there was a cute, little, mulberry colored alicorn, whom has a moderately sapphire blue mane and tail, having streaks of violet and rose strands in them. I caught a glimpse of her cutie mark and noticed that it was a pink, six-pointed sparkle, surrounded by five smaller white sparkles. I turned my attention to her face and was drawn in by her beautiful, soothing violet eyes. I was baffled and could feel myself begin to blush.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie," the mare smiled. She had such a lovely and elegant voice and smile, it simply melted my heart.

"Hi, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie responded, bouncing up and down in place again.

The little mare turned her attention towards me now. She looked up, seeing how I was taller than her by a few inches and was staring at my mane. I managed to keep a smile the entire time as the mare gazed into my indigo eyes. I saw her crack a smile on her beautiful face as I started to blush slightly, causing her to giggle at my rosy colored cheeks.

"Oh, uh...m-my name is, uh, Lunar Nights." I said, having a hard time saying it. "I, uh, I'm Princess Luna's star pupil and I'm, uh, here to see Twilight Sparkle."

The little mare giggled again. "I've been expecting you, Lunar Nights." She told me. "I just wasn't expecting you to be so..." She appeared to lose her chain of thought for a quick second.

"So you must be Twilight Sparkle then," I assumed, "excuse me, you must be Princess Twilight Sparkle, Your Highness, correct?"

"I am indeed, Lunar Nights," Twilight Sparkle replied, "but you may simply address me as Twilight. You don't have to address me as Princess Twilight."

"Thank you very much, Princess Twi...I mean, thank you, Twilight," I smiled, "and you may address me simply as Lunar."

"Will do, Lunar." Twilight giggled. She then turned her attention towards Pinkie Pie, who was still bouncing up and down in place. "Thank you for bringing Lunar to me, Pinkie."

"No problem, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie replied.

"Now, if you'd excuse us," Twilight continued, "we must start the studying."

"Okie dokie, lokie!" Pinkie Pie said, turning around and galloping away, leaving me alone with Twilight.

Twilight turned back to me. "Shall we begin the studies then, Lunar?" She moved out of the way and motioned me to enter into her home.

"We shall, Twilight," I smiled, "thank you."

I entered the peculiar tree-home and turned around to await for Twilight and her guidance. She shut the door with her magic, then came over to me, bringing me to the center of the room we were currently standing in. She turned around and stared me right in the eyes.

"Okay, Lunar," Twilight softly spoke, "Princess Luna tells me that you are a skilled unicorn in the field of magic."

"That is correct, Twilight," I answered, "though it's nothin to brag about really."

"Quite the contrary," Twilight continued, "not a lot of unicorns are skilled with magic the way you and I are. Now, since Princess Luna - and apparently you as well - claim that you are her star pupil who is skilled with magic, why not showing me a few things, that way, I can see where you currently are in your studies. Does that sound fair, Lunar?"

"I have no reason to object to such idea," I replied.

Twilight smiled at my response. "Such lovely manners."

"Thank you very much, Twilight." I said.

"You're very much welcome." Twilight continued. "Well now, let's see where you are in your studies."

"Sounds good." I smiled brightly, ready and eager to finally start my learnings of the magic of friendship under the guidance and teaching of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

She turned to me and smiled brightly, probably eager to begin.

"Okay," Twilight Sparkle started, "Princess Luna tells me just how skilled you are in the field of magic. So, let's start out with something simple."

"Seems fair." I replied.

Twilight giggled. I really loved that sweet and innocent giggle of hers. It showed character and a form of innocence within Twilight. She opened her violet colored eyes and half-closed them again as she glanced up at me.

"Show me a short distance teleportation spell." Twilight smiled.

I nodded, then planted my hooves firmly on the ground. I focused all the magic I had towards my horn and felt the magnificent and smooth white aura wrap itself around my horn and begin to light it up. I felt determined to perform such an easy spell, I foresaw Twilight Sparkle being very pleased with me.

For those who don't understand the way of magic and it's understanding, allow me to explain. For a magic spell to work - whether it be a teleportation spell, a levitation spell, or even concussive magic blasts - one with magic, whether it be a unicorn or an alicorn, needs to imagine what it is that they wish to do. Once they imagine it, the one performing the spell simply must make it a reality by casting the spell from their horn. To a novice unicorn or alicorn, a few spells can usually be their limits and, once a magic limit has been reached, a unicorn or alicorn cannot perform any other spells until their magic has been fully recharged. If they try to cast another spell after they have reached their magic limit, their horn will spill out sparks of magic, thus leaving the spell as an utter failure. I thought about the teleportation spell, plus the destination that I wished to teleport to - across the room - and began to cast it. I felt a magical sensation wrap itself around me and begin to transport me to my destination, give or take a few inches. A sound reminiscent of what a cork would sound like being removed from a bottle sounded and I was transported at light speed to my destination. I turned around and smiled at Twilight Sparkle, who, as predicted, seemed very impressed with my teleportation spell.

"Very good, Lunar," Twilight smiled, clapping her front hooves together.

"Thank you very much, Twilight," I replied, bowing to her in the process. Let's be honest for a quick second: she is a Princess after all.

Twilight chuckled. "There's no need for that, Lunar. It's perfectly fine."

"If you say so, Twilight." I said, raising myself once more.

Twilight smiled in response. "Now I want you to show me a levitation spell."

"Sure thing, Twilight," I replied, "what do you want me to levitate?"

"Anything will do, Lunar." Twilight told me.

"Okay, Twilight," I smiled, "hold on tight."

"What do y- whoa!"

I had casted a levitation spell and levitated Twilight in the air with my magic, which was something Twilight was absolutely not expecting. She began giggling because the magic aura around her was tickling her a bit - courtesy of yours truly - until I finally set her back down on the ground slowly and smoothly. I smiled at Twilight, whom had returned the favor. Collecting herself from an interesting flight, Twilight began continuing to test me.

"Well that was impressive," Twilight giggled, "now I want you to show me a light spell."

"A light spell?" I repeated.

Twilight smiled, then began to light up her horn a bright magenta color. She pointed to her horn and told me that what she was doing was considered a light spell. I understood now what she meant and began to light up my horn with a very bright white color, lighting up the room significantly. Twilight was once again impressed and clapped her front hooves once more. I dimmed the light from my horn and ceased it all together while Twilight continued on.

"Very good," Twilight smiled, "and very bright."

"Thank you, Twilight," I replied.

Twilight smiled bigger now. "Now, show me a halting spell."

"Halting spell?" I asked, shuffling one of my hooves around. "What's that?"

Twilight smiled, then casted the spell. I was wondering what exactly she was doing, then slowly found myself having a hard time continuing to move my hoof. I tried looking down, but found that I couldn't move my head at all. I looked back at Twilight, whom had begun giggling at my confusion.

"Alas," she spoke, "what you're experiencing is a halting spell."

Twilight then ceased the spell and I found that I could move myself once more. I was baffled by this spell; it is definitely one that I haven't learned just yet. I turned to Twilight, whom was expecting me to copy and cast the spell fully. I looked down in shame and admitted to Twilight that I did not know how to cast that spell. Twilight sensed my shame and walked up to me.

"Don't worry about it, Lunar," Twilight told me, placing a hoof on my shoulder, causing me to blush slightly, "you don't have to know every spell that I know."

"I just wanted to impress you with what I've learned thus far in my studies." I glumly spoke.

"And you have," Twilight softly replied, "not a lot of unicorns know such a variety of spells like you."

She wrapped a hoof around me and hugged me. I felt my cheeks turn pink as the beautiful Twilight Sparkle was pressed up against my body. I returned the hug, which felt much like years. I didn't want to let her go, but I had to. She pulled herself away from my body and looked at me affectionately in the eye.

"Not every unicorn is like you, Lunar Nights." Twilight whispered.

"Not every mare is like you, Princess Twilight." I replied with a volume as quiet as hers.

"Come, Lunar," Twilight told me, "I want to show you something."

"Lead the way, Twilight." I smiled as Twilight began taking me out of the front door.

---

As Twilight took me out, I noticed almost all the color in this quaint town. Slowly but surely, I continued following Twilight through the peculiar streets of Ponyville. Along the sides of the road stood plenty of ponies, all smiling and having happy looks attached to each and every one of them. A little bit further down the road, Twilight took me passed a marketplace and passed so many shopkeepers and ponies alike, all wearing smiles on their faces as well on this beautiful, sunny Thursday afternoon.

Twilight glanced back and saw my view of the scenery and how I was taking them in. I looked all around the area from top to bottom. The area was simply colorful, having colors that ranged from bright yellows to deep reds and from warm and inviting greens to cool and calm blues.

"Enjoying the sights, Lunar?" Twilight asked me as we continued walking along the road through Ponyville.

"It's beautiful, Twilight," I replied, "it's so much more colorful and welcoming than things are back home in Baltimare."

"I'm glad you are enjoying the sights, Lunar," Twilight continued.

"I'm much appreciative of you that you've brought me here, Twilight." I smiled.

"You're very welcome, Lunar," Twilight replied. Some silence fell between Twilight and myself while walking around the town, to where, I still wasn't quite sure. Finally, Twilight broke the intriguing silence. "Tell me, Lunar, how many friends did you leave back home when Princess Luna requested that you come and see me?"

"Umm...would you rather prefer the honest truth," I responded, "or a convincing lie?"

"The honest truth would be my preferred choice, Lunar," Twilight told me, "why do you ask?"

"Well," I continued, "since you've preferred the choice I assumed you were to pick, let me just say that I have left absolutely zero friends back in Baltimare to come here to Ponyville."

"Zero friends?" Twilight repeated.

I nodded. "I, uhh...wasn't one for making friends back home, Twilight. I lived alone and felt it best that I didn't make connections with anypony, thus, I have never made any friendship back home."

"But you've made a connection with me." Twilight spoke, causing me to raise my eyebrows. Twilight recognized the silence and continued with her explanations. "If connections are a problem for you, Lunar, I can say that you will easily be able to make a connection with somepony else. These connections are vital if you want to establish friendships with everypony and friendships are vital if you wish to continue your studies, Lunar."

Twilight then extended her wings and twitched them in front of me. I didn't understand what this meant, so I thought nothing more of it. Twilight then put her wings back by her sides once more and finally began to slow down after this refreshing walk through the town. I looked at the building we had slowed down in front of and noticed that it was the exact same building I walked into when I arrived here earlier today.

"You know of Sugar Cube Corner, correct?" Twilight told me.

"I've been here earlier today, Twilight," I replied, "how did you know that?"

"I saw you enter town earlier today and was following you." Twilight explained. "When I saw you enter here, I went home and decided to..."freshen up" a bit and make my appearance dazzling, if you will."

"Oh," I amusingly spoke, "so you were stalking me and were making yourself look attractive to me, were you?"

Twilight blushed, "I suppose so..."

"Twilight," I chuckled, "there's no need for that with me."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you already look stunning, my dear." I answered, causing Twilight to blush a brighter pink color.

"Thank you, Lunar," Twilight said, pulling her head away so that I would be unable to see the obvious blushing.

"You're very welcome, Twilight." I smiled.

Twilight rose her head and then entered into Sugar Cube Corner. Inside the facility, the same blue and yellow ponies I had seen earlier were still there, as well as Pinkie Pie.

"Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Cake," Twilight smiled, "how are you two doing today?"

"Oh, we're fine, dear," The blue pony, Mrs. Cake, responded.

"Perfectly fine, Twilight," The yellow pony, Mr. Cake, added, "how about you?"

"I'm feeling wonderful today," Twilight replied, "thank you for asking."

"Not at all, Twilight," Mrs. Cake told Twilight.

"I'm wondering if we can "borrow" Pinkie Pie for a while," Twilight requested, pointing towards me in the process, "it's for a lesson that I am teaching Lunar Nights, Princess Luna's star student."

"Of course you can, Twilight," Mr. Cake smiled.

"We aren't busy today and can take care of any customers ourselves today," Mrs. Cake added, "so you may indeed borrow Pinkie Pie."

"Thank you very much," Twilight obliged. She then called out to Pinkie Pie, who had walked into the kitchen to set down a few supplies. "Pinkie Pie? We need you for a while."

Pinkie Pie bounced out from the kitchen and bounced right in front of Twilight and myself. She hugged both of us very tightly, crushing my wind pipes again, before finally asking Twilight what she was needed for.

"You and Lunar may already be friends," Twilight spoke, "so I'm going to round up the other girls and see if he can't make connections with them as well. This will be a lesson on how to make some friends for him."

"Oooh, that sounds awesomely amazing, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie replied.

"I'm sure it does," I added, unsure if this was the right move for me so far.

"Come along, you two," Twilight smiled, "let's go see Rarity now and then Fluttershy." Twilight turned to Mr. and Mrs. Cake in the process. "Thank you again, Mr. and Mrs. Cake."

"You're welcome, Twilight," they simultaneously said as Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and myself walked out of Sugar Cube Corner.

"So, Rarity's next, right Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked, bouncing up and down still.

"She is, Pinkie Pie." Twilight answered, turning to me in the process. "Hopefully by the end of the day, you would have made a few new friends."

"I...hope so," I falsely replied.

Twilight didn't catch the pause I gave and thought nothing of it. We began walking in the northeastern direction so that we could go meet this "Rarity" and see if they would help out in this lesson of mine. I walked next to Twilight on her right side while Pinkie Pie was on her left, bouncing up and down as we went along down the road. Breaking some silence – yet again – was Twilight, whom was telling me something about this "Rarity" we were going to go see.

"You'll love her, Lunar," Twilight told me, "she's a very beautiful and generous unicorn, skilled in the field of fabric design and dress making. With your perfect manners and amazing..."

I noticed Twilight beginning to trail off, but decided to not say anything about it.

But if only I can get you to like me... I thought silently to myself.

---

"Here we are," Twilight smiled, "the Carousel Boutique, home of the one and only Rarity."

"Ooh, I'm soooooo excited that you're about to meet Rarity, Lunar!" Pinkie Pie shouted, wrapping herself around my neck.

"I...sure can't wait to see her..." I uncomfortably replied.

Twilight smiled at me, then approached the front door to this tall structure. She knocked on the door gently, then trotted back to my side, and in between Pinkie and myself. Moments later, the front door opened up and there, standing in the doorway was a very attractive looking unicorn. She had a royal purple mane and tail and had a very bright and cleanly kept white coat. On her flank stood three little blue gems and, when greeting Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, she had an upper class, English sounding voice.

"Hello, Rarity," Twilight smiled.

"Good day to you, Twilight," the white unicorn replied, "hello, Pinkie Pie." She turned her attention to me next. "Who do we have here?"

"This is Lunar Nights," Twilight explained, "he is Princess Luna's star pupil. I'm teaching him the ways of friendship."

Rarity was just about to say something to me before Twilight had interrupted both of us from saying anything.

"Pinkie Pie," Twilight interrupted, "would you please take Lunar to the edge of Ponyville, please? This friendship lesson won't work if he greets himself to all of our friends, you know."

"Okie dokie, lokie!" Pinkie Pie smiled, grabbing one of my hooves and dragging me someplace else.

I was being taken by Pinkie Pie somewhere else, probably to help Twilight shape up the lesson she had for me. I guess Twilight had a point when she said that this lesson wouldn't work if I met all of her friends prior to the lesson even starting. Either way, Pinkie Pie ran and dragged me to an area that I was around when I first arrived earlier today.

"So, Lunar," Pinkie started, trying to break some awkward silence, "hope you don't mind me calling you that."

"Not at all, Pinkie Pie." I replied.

"Oh please, Lunar," Pinkie Pie continued, "call me Pinkie...all my frieeennnnds do." Pinkie Pie then fluttered her eyes at me while saying "friends" the way she did to me.

"Sure, Pinkie." I played along, causing Pinkie to smile brightly.

We stopped right before this very late forest - the Everfree Forest - and Pinkie turned to me, asking me more about myself, like what I did and where I was from.

"Well, Pinkie," I smiled, "I am from Baltimare. I study magic at Princess Luna's School of Enchanted Unicorns, hoping to one day further my studies."

"That sounds exactly like Twilight with Princess Celestia!" Pinkie told me. "Twilight studied at Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns and was able to further her studies."

"I know, Pinkie," I chuckled, "Twilight is popular among the two schools for what she has done in Equestria thus far...it's a shame though that we don't know what she looks like."

"Now you do, silly willy!" Pinkie laughed.

"Well, yeah," I answered, "but not before today do I know what Twilight looked like...and boy is she stunning..."

"Ooh!" Pinkie gasped. "Sounds like somepony's got a crush on Twilight~!"

I blushed. "I do not! I'm just...admiring her honesty and dedication to teach me...yeah, that's it."

"Sure you are." Pinkie replied.

I shook my head slightly and looked over to my left, noticing Twilight coming in this general direction along with four other ponies - two of which were Pegasus ponies, one a unicorn, the unicorn I met earlier, and one orange colored Earth pony. I didn't recognize any of them - except Twilight and the white unicorn obviously - as they all approached Pinkie and myself. Twilight eventually stopped in front of us and the other four ponies had lined themselves up from left to right about a few feet across from where I was standing right now. She spoke up and told us why all these ponies were in front of me at the moment.

"If I may, Lunar," Twilight started, "do you recognize any of these four ponies that are standing before you this current moment?"

I took a long look at each one of them extensively. I shook my head no to Twilight when I found out that I did not know a single one of these ponies.

"No matter, Lunar," continued Twilight, "then this lesson will prove to be extremely helpful to your studies."

"What's the lesson, Twilight?" I asked out of curiosity.

"The lesson, Lunar Nights," Twilight smiled, "is to befriend each and every one of these ponies that are standing before us."

"Befriend them?" I repeated, taking one more quick glance at each pony. "Are you sure?"

"Positive, Lunar," Twilight smiled, "now hop to it. You've wanted to continue your studies, correct?"

"Of course, Twilight." I answered.

"Well then, let's first make some friends, then we can try to continue and further your studies."

I gulped, then turned my attention to each of the four ponies that were ahead of me. Twilight noticed the gulp and tried her best to ease my nervousness.

"Relax, Lunar," Twilight told me, walking up next to me, then wrapping one of her wings around my back, "since you already know something about each pony, use that to help you get better acquainted with each of them."

"I know something about each of them?" I repeated, pointing at each of them.

"Sure," Twilight smiled, "...wait...you do have the updated book on Equestrian history, don't you?"

"No," I replied, "I do not..."

"Oh," Twilight sighed, "then this might be a little bit more interesting with you."

"How so?" I asked.

"Well," continued Twilight, "since you know nothing about these ponies, you'll have to make connections with them if you wish to continue on with my lessons and studying."

I turned to the other four ponies, gulped, then proceeded to near the white unicorn from earlier. All that was racing through my mind was how I was going to connect with each of these ponies, not knowing a single thing about them.

This might prove to be a bit harder than expected...I thought to myself.

"Well, Lunar?" Twilight chuckled. "Go on..."

I gulped yet again, but made sure for it not to be completely obvious. I was indeed nervous as well, for I have never really made four friends like this on the spot, let alone one friend, or any friend, really. Twilight was expecting me to do something that I deemed as impossible, but apparently it was possible - at least it was to her. I approached the white unicorn first and started my worst attempt at making her acquaintance and earning her trust and friendship.

"He-hello there." I began.

"Hello, darling," the unicorn replied in her high societal voice.

"My name is Lunar Nights," I continued, "what's your name?"

"My name is Rarity," they continued, "and you may address me as such, Lunar."

"Rarity," I smiled, "well that's a lovely name."

That comment got Rarity to blush a bit. "Thank you, Lunar, for the adoring compliment. I simply admire the name "Lunar" myself. It matches your personality and your appearance very well."

"Thank you, Rarity." I obliged.

To tell you the truth, this actually seemed very fun and amazing. Twilight saw the fun I was having and decided that it best move on to the next pony in line, the orange colored Earth pony.

"Excellent job, Lunar," Twilight complimented, "same to you, Rarity. I'd say that you two are friends, which is a good step down the path of friendship for you, Lunar."

"Thank you, Twilight," both Rarity and myself replied in unison.

Twilight smiled. "Next up is this hardworking pony." She pointed to the orange Earth pony again. "Try to establish a connection with her."

I nodded, then began to approach the orange colored Earth pony. Before I started, however, Twilight told us both one more thing.

"Even though you heard everything Lunar had just said," Twilight told the orange pony, "I want you to make it seem as if you two were meeting for the first time."

The orange pony nodded at Twilight, then faced me and stared at me in my eyes. Clearing my throat, I began to try and establish a connection with this pony.

"Hello there," I began, feeling a bit more confident than the first time, "my name is Lunar Nights. What's your name?"

"Well, howdy do there, Lunar," the orange pony smiled, shaking hooves with me which, on a side note, really hurt.

Wow, I thought,this is sure one strong pony! And I'm not a pushover...

"Mah name's Applejack," they continued, still shaking hooves with me, "Ah jus' love makin' new friends!"

"Applejack," I smiled, finally having my hoof released, "that's an interesting name. I assume you work around apples or do something with apples, correct?"

"Sure as sugar, sugar cube," Applejack continued, "Ah work on an apple orchard wit' mah family, supplyin' Ponyville wit' apples an' other parts of Equestria."

"Really," I smirked, "that's very interesting, Applejack. I also assume it's hard and exhilarating work, correct?"

"Hard?" Applejack repeated. "Nah, but, that might jus' be me, since Ah've been buckin' apple trees since Ah was jus' a youngin'."

Twilight smiled once more as she determined that I have made a connection with Applejack, which was something I could sense as well. Before I could continue talking and conversing with Applejack, Twilight stopped us both and pulled me away from Applejack, thanking her in the process for her work.

"Now I want you to try and establish a connection with that Pegasus over there." Twilight told me, pointing to a cerulean colored Pegasus with a rainbow mane - the Pegasus I saw earlier today flying through the skies.

Confident as ever, I nodded, then began to approach the Pegasus. "Hi there," I began, "my name is Lunar Nights. What's your name?"

"Name's Rainbow Dash," the Pegasus told me, "and as you can see," she paused as she began performing some spectacular aerial motions before settling her hooves back on the ground in front of me, "...I'm one hundred and twenty percent awesome!"

"That was pretty cool, Rainbow Dash," I complimented, "it was like I was seeing a one-pony Wonderbolt aerial show."

"Well, I am awesome," Rainbow Dash bragged, "plus, I am training to be a Wonderbolt one day."

"I'm sure they would take you in a heartbeat, Rainbow Dash," I encouraged, "have you ever enrolled in their training academy?"

"Once before," Rainbow Dash told me, looking into the sky, "but it didn't really work out the way I had hoped for, so I'm looking for another way to join them, either by showing off my awesomeness at the Equestria games or by strutting my stuff to Spitfire, herself."

"I'm sure she would consider taking you in as a Wonderbolt if she saw you do stunts like that, Rainbow Dash." I smiled.

Twilight also smiled as she determined that I had made a connection with Rainbow Dash and pulled me away from her, also thanking her in the process for the work. Twilight turned to me one final time, then pointed to the last remaining pony - a cute, little, yellow Pegasus.

"You know what I want you to do, Lunar." Twilight told me.

I nodded once more, then began to approach the final Pegasus. "Hello there," I smiled, "my name is Lunar Nights. What's your name?"

The Pegasus simply his behind her long, pink mane and refused to talk to me. I took note of this and attempted to make a connection with her by complimenting her mane and tail.

"I, uh, really like your mane, Miss," I told the Pegasus, "it's very beautiful, but I'm sure you must get that a lot, right?"

The Pegasus still refused to speak. Instead, she gave off a little quivering sound and I backed away slowly. I turned to Twilight, whom was standing there, smiling at either me or this Pegasus. I turned back to the Pegasus and tried once more to make a connection with her.

"I really like your coat color," I told her, "such a smooth, flowing yellow color. I also like the way your wings look so very soft and smooth."

Still, the Pegasus hid behind their mane and refused to speak to me. Twilight noticed the struggle I was having, so she came up next to me and looked at the Pegasus, but spoke to me.

"This is Fluttershy, Lunar," Twilight told me, "and, as the end of her name suggests, she is a very shy pony."

"That explains it..." I softly spoke.

"Don't worry about not being able to make a connection with Fluttershy just yet," Twilight continued, "it took me a while for Fluttershy to open up to me, so there's no harm done if she won't speak to you just yet."

"I see what you mean, Twilight," I replied.

"Other than not being able to have a two-pony conversation with Fluttershy," Twilight smiled, turning to the other ponies, then me, "you did well in creating a connection with each of these ponies and establishing a friendship between themselves and you. You're definitely on the right path for learning the magic of friendship, Lunar, and hopefully, with the help of all of them and myself, you will be able to further your studies."

Twilight once again extended her wings as she finished up her sentence, which was still something I didn't get. What does her wings have to do with a regular old unicorn like myself anyway? She smiled, then proceeded to address me again.

"Well, Lunar," began Twilight, "for your first time trying to establish connections and build friendships with everypony, that was a spectacular first effort."

"Thank you, Twilight," I smiled, turning towards the others in the process, "and thank you for allowing me to do so."

The other four - Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack - simply smiled brightly in return, while Fluttershy hid behind her mane even further. Twilight was right; Fluttershy is indeed one very timid and shy Pegasus...I feel bad for her...that must be rough. Twilight looked over the hills behind us and noticed that the sun was setting and that the moon was slowly rising.

"Wow..." she spoke. "Nighttime is upon us already..." She yawned as she turned to face the rest of us. "I think I'm going to call it a day, everypony."

The others slowly and one-by-one began to agree with Twilight. Slowly but surely, each one of them went their separate ways and began heading back to their own respective homes. Twilight stood in the field next to me for a little while longer as I was looking up at the stars and admiring them. I loved Princess Luna's nights; I loved them more than Princess Celestia's remarkable days, honestly. Each of these stars and signs, then there's the moon...all this made me feel calm and collective on the inside and made me wonder what else there is in the infinite universe. Twilight came up by my side - I could feel her presence - and gazed up at the billions and billions of tiny stars that were in the sky with me.

"Beautiful," I smiled, "isn't it?"

"I have never really stood out and admired the night like this before, Lunar." Twilight replied.

"It's truly awe inspiring, Twilight," I continued, "it really is..."

"How so?"

"Well," I began, "for one thing, you look up and see all these stars and other signs...hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, even trillions of them in this infinite universe. You see them and think how small and fragile they are, but they're not...they're millions of miles away from us, shining so brightly that we can see them from here. To know that they're that far from us and we can still see them, that makes me wonder: what else is out there? What other planets are out there for us? Other life forms? What are they like? Are they thinking the same things we are right now? Are they just like us? Or are they simply ravenous or even playful?" I paused for a quick second. "That's what I think of when I look up and see this metropolitan of stars in the sky..."

"I...never thought of it like that before, Lunar," Twilight told me, hints of fascination luring in her voice.

I looked down and at Twilight. "It's exactly how Princess Luna feels and it's exactly how she wants her subjects to view the night, not a time to gather up on sleep. She understands that perfectly, much like myself. She simply wants her subjects to bask and enjoy the glory of the night and these stars that blanket across the sky, closely being watched by ponies like Princess Luna and myself..."

"That's a very unique view of things, Lunar." Twilight softly spoke, extending and wrapping a wing around my back. I slowly began to blush as I felt the smooth, soft feathers of Twilight's wing slowly encase my entire back. I felt her shift and adjust herself so that she was now only inches away from me, rather than around a foot.

"Why, Twilight?" I quietly asked.

"Why what?" Twilight smiled, equally as quiet.

"Why did you agree to help me?"

"Princess Luna told you that I had to help you." Twilight answered.

"She actually told me that she asked you and that you agreed to before she even finished with her request." I told Twilight.

Twilight blushed a bit, and I could see it as I looked down and saw a lighter shade of pink on her cheeks. "I...heard about all the achievements and progress you have made from Princess Luna and...I wanted to meet you face-to-face..."

"You wanted to meet me?" I repeated.

"Precisely..." Twilight trailed off, twirling a strand from her mane with her hoof.

"How interesting..." I smiled.

"What do you mean?"

"I actually wanted to meet you." I explained. "We at Princess Luna's school know so much about you and what you've done over the years, but there's no visual aid for us to see what you look like. I wanted to see you very much, just to get a glimpse of what you look like and how your personality is. Let me say that I was blown away by you when I first locked eye contact with you, Princess Twilight."

Twilight blushed harder this time. "Thank you for that very meaningful comment, Lunar." She rested her head along my side as she finished that sentence. "It means a lot to me..."

You mean a lot to me...I thought.

Twilight and myself continued staring up at the stars for a short while longer. Eventually, Twilight fell asleep on me and was deemed done for the night. I smiled, then used my magic to carefully place Twilight on my back and take her home for the night. I walked slowly back to Twilight's home - which I remembered was the giant oak tree from before - and made sure that she got home both safe and sound.

"Sleep tight, Princess Twilight," I smiled, "you'll be home soon..."

I approached her home and slowly opened the door. I had noticed that a light was left on inside Twilight's home and began wondering if we had accidentally left the light on before we left. There was some shuffling going on upstairs before I had begun seeing a shadow coming down the stairs. The shadow belonged to that of a tiny dragon, who had spotted me with Twilight notched upon my back.

"Umm...is there a reason why Twilight is on your back?" The dragon asked.

"Ye-yeah," I stuttered, "she fell asleep on me while teaching me the ways of friendship...I'm Lunar Nights, by the way, Princess Luna's star pupil and Twilight's apprentice towards friendship. Who are you?"

"My name is Spike and I'm Twilight's number one assistant." The dragon replied.

"Assistant?" I repeated, shifting Twilight slightly. "That's peculiar."

"Yeah," continued Spike, "it is. Would you like to hear my experiences about it?"

"Sure, Spike," I smiled, "just let me put Twilight to rest on her bed first."

"Sure thing, Lunar." Spike replied. "Twilight's bed is just up the stairs."

"Thank you, Spike," I answered as I began walking up the stairs to tuck in Twilight in her bed.

---

"So Spike," I began, slowly trotting down the stairs after gently tucking Twilight into her bed, "you told me that you were Princess Twilight's number one assistant. How'd that come about, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Not at all, Lunar," replied Spike, whom was sitting on a chair, sipping something from a little cup, probably hot cocoa, but I wasn't too sure, "where to begin is my only question..."

"Begin from when you first met Twilight." I suggested. "I'd like to hear your whole story with her."

Spike chuckled, "Well then, that narrows it down to pretty much my whole life."

"Really?"

"Yeah," answered Spike, "I was hatched from a cute, little, purple-spotted egg by Twilight. That was her test in order to get into Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns. But, that's besides the point. I've been living with Twilight in Canterlot and here in Ponyville for my entire life. She is my family and means the world to me and I'm certain that that feeling is the same for Twilight when it comes to me."

I was amazed by Spike's synopsis as he looked up towards the area where Twilight's bed was on the second floor. He sighed, then began continuing with his synopsis.

"Over the years," Spike continued, "I've felt much love coming from Twilight. She doesn't have to take care of me, but she chooses to. I sometimes feel bad because I don't have much to offer back to Twilight but helping clean this place up, re-shelve and restock the books on all these shelves, and helping by running some errands for her and her friends. She would do just fine without me here, but I wouldn't. Like I said before, she is my only family." Spike paused for a quick second as he turned his attention back towards me. "I may have been born and hatched a dragon, but deep down, I really consider myself to be a pony, true and full."

"That was deep, Spike," I quietly replied, "really, really deep."

"Thank you, Lunar," Spike obliged, looking back up at Twilight's bed location on the second floor, "What I would give to be a pony for one day though..."

I smiled, "Tell you what, Spike, and you can trust me, for I am a pony of my word: if I find a spell that can transform anything into a pony, I will help you realize that dream of what it would be like to be one for you. That sound good, my friend?"

"You'd do that for me...?" Spike hoped.

I nodded my head in response as Spike began thanking me for my true, true statement.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Spike happily said.

I chuckled, "You're welcome, my friend."

---

Shortly after Spike and I engaged in conversation and got to know each other better, we had both decided to call it a night. Spike showed me a spare bed that was located right across from Twilight's bed. I was astonished to see that he offered me this bed and he went over to sleep in a little basket.

"Don't you want the bed, Spike?" I asked, unsure if I should rightfully accept the bed.

"Nah, it's okay, Lunar," Spike replied, "I never sleep in it, anyway. I always sleep in this little basket. It's more comfy for me."

I felt touched by the generosity Spike was showing. I thanked him for letting me sleep in the bed and used my magic to pull the covers over my body. Immediately thereafter, I fell soundly asleep and started dreaming within no time at all.

---

I saw myself in a little black void, the usual greeting I always get when I fall asleep for the night and dream. Normally, the void would disappear and I would start dreaming about something but tonight, that wasn't the case. Usually when this happens, it means that Princess Luna was about to visit me and see how I was "holding myself up," so to speak. I have a fairly decent track when it comes to being right, and this scenario was simply helping me prove that case true as I saw Princess Luna fly in from the dark void and position herself next to me.

"Good evening, Princess Luna," I smiled, hugging my mentor in the process.

"Lunar Nights, my star student, how are you?" Princess Luna asked, exchanging my hug with one of her own.

"I'm doing fine, Luna," I replied, "how are things between you and Princess Celestia?"

"Things between my sister and I are getting better," Princess Luna told me, "she is learning slowly to not overshadow me and how to share the popularity among the subjects, but this is something that simply must be learned over time, not only in a few measly days."

"I'm glad to hear that, Princess," I smiled, "it's nice to know that you and Princess Celestia are learning how to work things out together."

Princess Luna smiled. We've known each other for such an extended period of time that we pretty much trust each other by telling our hardships and tough items to each other, often times working them out together. This problem that Princess Luna is telling me about happens to be something of a behavioral issue between her and Princess Celestia. Apparently, Princess Celestia has been neglecting Princess Luna and her doings as of late and Princess Luna has been trying to resolve the issue herself. It isn't too often Princess Celestia does this kind of thing to Princess Luna – the night of the banishment of Princess Luna was the last time this has happened to be exact – but, rather than anger, Princess Luna is using her words to try and help diffuse and adjust the situation, with little tidbits of advice coming from yours' truly.

Princess Luna smiled, then proceeded with our conversation. "And how is Princess Twilight treating you, Lunar?"

I blushed as I began telling Princess Luna everything that Twilight has taught me thus far, even though we were only one day into the teachings. It only has been one day, but this has been the single most greatest day I've ever lived.

"So, Lunar," Princess Luna continued, "how is Princess Twilight treating you? I assume that she is treating you well and her lessons are informational, correct?"

"Princess Twilight is treating me fine, Princess Luna," I smiled, "and her lessons on friendship are truly inspirational."

"Oh?" Princess Luna smirked. "How so? Would you care to provide a demonstration for me?"

"I'd love to, Princess Luna," I replied, "but how would I go about that if we are the only two ponies here?"

"Try your studies on me," Princess Luna smiled, "I may already have your friendship, but I'd like to see first and foremost what Princess Twilight has taught you thus far."

"Okay, Luna..." I quietly responded. "Um...g-good evening, Your Highness, my name is-"

"Treat me as if I were any other pony, Lunar," Princess Luna told me, "if you treated me as a royal pony, then this might be a tad harder than what it really should be."

I studied Princess Luna's features and appearance, stopping squarely on her eyes. I chuckled a bit before bringing up my opinions once more.

"I don't think I can do that, Princess Luna," I spoke, "your wings and your horn, along with beautiful, flowing mane, is making me want to address you with royalty. I know I can do this if you hadn't requested me to do it – I probably was doing this without even noticing it – but I simply can't see myself do this, now that you've requested it and that I'm actually trying to do it. If you were perhaps a different pony, not including Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance, or Shining Armor, this might have worked out a bit better."

Princess Luna smiled. "Would it work better if I changed my appearance? We are in your dream, you know."

"I...guess so...maybe?" I said, unknown if that would actually work or not.

Princess Luna chuckled a bit. "Close your eyes for a quick second, my star student. Allow me to get into character."

I obeyed the request given to me by my mentor and did shut my eyes. I then heard Princess Luna's magic activate and heard a sound that was closely reminiscent of that of a cork being removed from a bottle. I didn't know what that was, so I kept my eyes shut. Shortly thereafter, I heard Princess Luna's magic slowly begin to cease and desist. Still, I kept my eyes shut. I kept them shut up until the point where Princess Luna told me that I could open my eyes.

I began to open my eyes slowly, having to blink a few times so that my vision would adjust to the light and surrounding scenery around me. Around me, Princess Luna was completely gone. Instead, there was a pony who matched my height – probably to the exact inch – that was standing right before me. This new pony – who I could only assume was Princess Luna...kind of – was a black colored pony with a black mane, having little white specks in their mane and tail. I couldn't get a glimpse at the cutie mark, but, to my best assumption, this was a pony Princess Luna transformed into in my dream (weird dream, right?).

"Is this better, Lunar?" 'Princess Luna' asked.

"Much better, Princess Luna," I replied.

"Please," 'Princess Luna' continued, "call me 'Luna.'"

"Will do..." I softly answered.

Luna smiled. "Good, now show me what Princess Twilight has taught you thus far."

I nodded at Luna, then clear my throat. "Hello there," I began, "my name is Lunar Nights. What is your name?"

"My name is Luna, Lunar." Princess Luna greeted herself. "It's very interesting how we share similar names."

"It is interesting," I smiled, "do you have any fascination of the night, Luna?"

"Why yes, I do, Lunar," Princess Luna answered, "the night is simply breathtaking and it is my job to settle in the weather during the night. How about you? Your name is Lunar; surely you must enjoy something about the night, correct?"

"You're right, Luna," I continued, "I like studying astronomy and the way constellations move within the sky. I also have been enrolled at Princess Luna's School For Enchanted Unicorns, having the lovely Princess of the Night as my mentor."

"Really?" Princess Luna gasped. "You know Princess Luna personally?"

I was just about to answer back, but Princess Luna held out her hoof and stopped me from continuing.

"That's enough, Lunar," Princess Luna told me, reverting back to her beautiful, original form, "I can see that Princess Twilight's teachings are indeed working out thus far. You have made much progress in the matter of only one day."

"Thank you, Princess Luna." I smiled.

"If you keep this pace up," Princess Luna continued, flaring her wings out for me, much like how Twilight did, "you'll be ready to continue on with your studies in no time."

I felt the void begin to shake, which meant that my "real life self" was just about to wake up for the day. Princess Luna hugged me one final time as we went our separate ways for the time being.

"Remember that you always have made me proud, Lunar." Princess Luna told me as she disappeared into the void.

I smiled and waved back at Princess Luna as she began to slowly disappear. It had been such a long time since I've physically seen her and not in my dreams, but even in my dreams did I always cherish the time Princess Luna and I had spent together. That time would truly be cherished for a long, long time, much like the time I'm currently spending with the very beautiful and very charming Princess Twilight, being taught the magic of friendship in the process, something I am sure to come to learn in full eventually. What I would like to know though is why Princess Luna and Princess Twilight always flare their wings at me when they tell me about continuing on with my studies. What does their wings have to do with my continuing studies?

I tried to put that thought away as I started to wake up back in the real world for the long and exhilarating day that was just ahead of me. A pair of wings is probably going to be the least of my worries for the time being...

---

The next morning, I was fast asleep. Normally, I would still be asleep but, Twilight Sparkle thought otherwise apparently. I don't know if she is an early bird or something, but she had woken me up at a much earlier time than I normally would wake up.

"Wake up, sleepy head." Twilight called with a soothing and elegant voice.

I didn't want to wake up, but I also didn't want to displease my new mentor. I figured that if I showed a positive attitude, perhaps Twilight would allow me to sleep to a later part of the morning in the days that were to come.

"Wakey, wakey," continued Twilight in her soothing voice.

I smiled brightly as I kept hearing her voice. Truth be told, hearing her voice actually was putting me back to sleep, but I found enough strength to overcome my heavy head and climb out of the bed I was in.

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times in order to obtain my focus in them. I rubbed my eyes with my hooves and then began to stretch out while getting out of the bed. Looking out the window, I saw that the weather outside was very, very poor. Outside, there was a heavy storm that was ongoing. Torrential downpours and high velocity winds were causing for a very long day for staying inside, which is exactly what Twilight said we were going to do.

"I did have a few plans for you on how to learn the magic of friendship outside today but," Twilight pointed to the window and the weather that was ongoing outside, "for the sake of our safety, how about we take a day off and just relax? Does that sound good to you, Lunar?"

"It sounds wonderful, Twilight," I smiled.

"Excellent," Twilight replied, smiles as bright and as wide as ever, "do you know how to play the game of Chess, Lunar?"

"Very much so."

"Would you like to play then?" Twilight asked me.

"I'd love to, Twilight." I answered.

---

A while later – about five minutes, to be exact – the board and the Chess pieces were all set up. I allowed Twilight to go first, being the gentleman that I was. Twilight smiled, then began moving one of her pawns two spaces forward with her magic. I performed the same act, opposite side of the board and mirroring Twilight's play, with one of my pawns with my magic. This went back and forth for a while – my mirroring of Twilight's moves, that is – while Twilight started stirring up some conversation, probably trying to get to know me a little bit more. I didn't really tell her about myself that much – my name, my place of origin, my occupation – and so I wanted to change that while I was staying here in Ponyville.

"So, Lunar," Twilight began as she moved her knight, "how did you learn about Princess Luna's School For Enchanted Unicorns?"

"Well," I began, mirroring the way Twilight moved her knight, "I learned about Princess Luna's school from herself actually."

"What do you mean?"

"As I was registering for Princess Celestia's school so many years ago," I answered, "I saw Princess Luna and saw how sad she was. I approached her and asked her what was bothering her and she answered back, 'All the unicorns in Equestria would rather enroll in my sister's school than in mine.' I remember feeling extremely bad for her and opted to enroll in her school instead, claiming her as my mentor. Since then, many more unicorns have chosen Princess Luna's school instead of Princess Celestia's school."

"So," Twilight smiled, moving another one of her pawns, "you're the one who got Princess Luna's school on the hypothetical ball and caused it to become what it is today then, right?"

"I mean I guess so..." I blushed, moving one of my pawns, "I wouldn't say that entirely, though. Her school was bound to gain popularity eventually, right?"

"I don't know, Lunar," Twilight responded, moving her Queen, "no disrespect to Princess Luna, but she isn't really understood well by everypony. They still fear her for being Nightmare Moon, not embracing her for being Princess Luna."

I was shocked. I could never guess that Twilight would say anything like that, especially about Princess Luna. So what if Princess Luna has issues with gaining everypony's trust. It's not her fault. So what if she may be misunderstood. It's not her fault either. I think I may be starting a tear on ranting...rather be better to stop myself now rather than to continue with saying and doing things that I'll soon end up regretting...

I put the ranting aside for now and moved my Queen just like how Twilight did. Things felt a bit odd with the amount of silence there were between Twilight and myself so, in an attempt to "break the ice," so to speak, I began asking Twilight another question that had no relation to Princess Luna or her school.

"So, Twilight," I spoke, "tell me, how is it like being a...umm..."

"An alicorn?" Twilight finished for me, moving her bishop three diagonal spaces towards the left.

"Yeah, an alicorn." I responded, mirroring the same exact move again.

"Being an alicorn is fun, Lunar," Twilight answered, moving her other knight, "granted, there are days where I miss just being a unicorn, but having wings isn't all that bad."

"What do you mean?" I asked, mirroring Twilight's move yet again.

"Well," Twilight smiled, moving another pawn, "having wings makes things easier when it comes to traveling...now I can fly anywhere I wish to go."

"That sounds interesting," I replied, moving a pawn myself, but not mirroring Twilight's move, "tell me more."

"Sure, Lunar," Twilight obliged, moving her rook, "being an alicorn means I have some royal duties to perform myself. Those royal duties are classified information – security purposes – but, nonetheless, my life hasn't really changed all that much. I still adore the friendships I have crafted with everypony here in Ponyville and I still manage to find time to spend with them. I guess...I'm content with my life thus far."

I smiled, mirroring Twilight's move and capturing one of her pawns, as Twilight spoke very faintly under her breath something else.

"Especially now that you're here." She faintly whispered, not raising her head while saying that. I pretended not to hear that comment as the rousing game of chess stirred onward.

She feels the same way, then...I thought as Twilight captured my rook.

We continued chatting and smiling, breaking silent stints with our words and small talk. It was extravagant to finally get a chance to actually get to know Twilight and an honor, really.

---

"Checkmate." Twilight told me, moving her final rook in front of my king piece, trapping me from doing anything else.

"So it seems, Twilight," I smiled, looking up into her beautiful violet eyes, "'twas an invigorating match, Twilight, and I thank you for it."

"The pleasure is all mine, Lunar." Twilight replied, using her magic to put the board and the pieces away.

I smiled again as I looked around the room. Outside still had a storm that was brewing, appearing to not want to stop at any point in the near future. Twilight put the box away with her magic, putting it on a shelf next to some of her other books. She looked back into my eyes as I did to her and we began stirring up some more conversation.

"May I ask you another question, Twilight?" I asked.

"You most certainly may, Lunar," She soothingly replied back.

I absolutely loved the way she answered my requests with plenty of sophistication and a very soothing and elegant voice. She was perfect in my eyes and I cherished all the time we had spent together, especially today while playing chess. I blushed very slightly, then proceeded to ask Twilight my question.

"You keep flaring your wings at me when saying 'If you wish to further your studies,'" I began, "what do wings have to do with my studies? I am a unicorn, not a Pegasus or an...alicorn, like yourself..."

"Well," Twilight smiled, "you'll find out soon enough," she flared out her wings at me once more, "when you have proven yourself that you are ready to move on."

I chuckled a bit. "You purposely did that, didn't you?"

"Perhaps," Twilight buoyantly smirked, "I am not allowed to tell you what lies ahead in the path of your studies. I am only supposed to guide you to that path and that is that."

"I guess that seems fair..." I smiled, locking eye contact with Twilight, mesmerized by her beautiful, beautiful eyes.

Twilight blushed, as did I, as I slowly began to let a hoof approach Twilight's hoof and touch it. Twilight looked down at my hoof, which was now resting upon her own hoof, then back up at me. We stared at each other for a few moments, then slowly began to lean in towards each other. We slowly approached each others' heads and closed our eyes just as slowly. I puckered up my lips, prepared to kiss Twilight, but the moment was cut off when Spike came down the stairs.

"Hey, Twilight," Spike called.

Twilight became surprised, as did I, causing us to bump each others' heads in the process. I rubbed my head, as did Twilight, as we tried to ease the piercing headache we just gave each other. Spike was confused and began asking Twilight another question.

"Was I, uhh, interrupting something?" Spike questioned, heading straight for the kitchen.

"Uhh, n-no, Spike," Twilight uncomfortably answered. "You're fine...we weren't doing anything."

Twilight looked back into my eyes and blushed slightly again. I did the same and blushed slightly, forgiving Spike for interrupting the one perfect moment Twilight and I had shared while I had been here. Twilight got up and went over to check on Spike while I got up and proceeded towards one of the shelves that was next to me.

I skimmed the shelf for a book to read. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just for something that had captured my attention. Along the shelf, I noticed a diary type of book that appeared to be fairly new. I was about to pull it off the shelf and look at it when Twilight had trotted back into the room at approximately the same time. She noticed me looking at the shelf and noticed that the diary had caught my eye. She approached me and stood right next to me, explaining the origins and the details about the diary that was on the shelf.

"That book," Twilight spoke, "we found it inside Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's old castle within the Everfree Forest. Along with myself, the other five ponies – Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy – all write down our learnings inside of it for others to learn from us, even generations from now. Right now, only the first few pages have lessons in them but, in the future, I really hope that these pages are clustered with lessons upon lessons for future ponies to read and learn from...that's my dream someday..."

"That sounds like a very positive dream, Twilight," I smiled, "my dream is to one day find the mare of my dreams and start a family with her..."

"That sounds like a wonderful dream, Lunar," Twilight blushed, "and...you may not have to travel far to fulfill that dream..."

Twilight looked back into my eyes and blushed slightly. I looked into her eyes and blushed as well, locking eye contact with her once more. We stared into the depths of our eyes for a few more moments, then slowly began to lean in towards one another once more, slowly closing our eyes again. Once more, I puckered up my lips, prepared to kiss Twilight, but was once again cut off. This time, a knock from the door ruined the perfect moment.

Twilight looked towards the door, as did I, as we began to wonder who could be at the door during a storm such as this one. She walked over towards the door and began opening it up, revealing a familiar face to the two of us that was standing in the doorway.

"Oh," Twilight smiled, "I didn't know you were coming today! You rarely come to visit, Princess Luna."

In the doorway stood the Princess of the Night herself, an act that surprised both Twilight and myself. She came inside, courtesy of Twilight, then turned to us both.

"I just thought that I would see up front and close the two of you..." Princess Luna smiled, turning to face me. "My star pupil," she then turned to Twilight, "...and my sister's used-to-be star pupil...two star pupils whom were destined to be together this very moment."

That last thing Princess Luna said got me to blush a bit. I knew what she meant, but I took it in an entirely different way...

I don't know about that, Princess...I thought. I'd like Princess Cadance to say so herself...

"I just wanted to see my star pupil and my sister's former star pupil together in the act." Princess Luna smiled, repeating herself again.

"That's quite a surprise, Princess Luna," smiled Twilight, "but I've opted to take a day off, considering the conditions outside are too poor for us to proceed in the learnings." Twilight turned towards me. "Besides," she continued, "I wanted to get to know him a little bit better."

I blushed a bit, rubbing the back of my neck with my front hoof. "I'm not all that, Princess Twilight, really, I'm not. I'm just your average, run-of-the-mill type of unicorn."

Twilight came up next to me and wrapped one of her wings around my body. "You are anything but a regular unicorn," she told me.

I looked down towards her and smiled. I so desperately wanted to kiss her this very moment - and I could tell that she wanted to do the same - but I restricted myself from doing so while Princess Luna was in our presence. Instead, Twilight and myself exchanged some smiles before separating ourselves from each other. Once she did, I turned my attention back towards Princess Luna.

"So, Princess," I started while Twilight excused herself for a second to check up on something in the other room, "did what I recommend work out between you and Princess Celestia?"

"At this current moment, things look to be fixing themselves just fine." Princess Luna responded. "I figured that I give her time to think about it, which is why I came here." She then checked to see if Twilight had come back yet, which she had not. Princess Luna then neared me and began whispering to me. "How are Princess Twilight's teaching methods? I know we talked about them last night, but I want to be sure of myself."

"Her teaching methods are superb and inspirational." I whispered in reply. "I was but a shy and independent pony before I met Twilight and, in only one day, I've been able to make such a big jump down the right path in my studies."

Princess Luna smiled. "I see you both are taking to a liking for each other as well." I blushed a bit while Princess Luna continued. "I may not be able to do what Princess Cadance does, but I can see it based off of how both of you act towards each other."

"I don't know, Princess," I continued, looking back to see if Twilight was still absent, "she's a Princess and I'm a just like any other subject."

"And that has to do with what, exactly?" Princess Luna asked. "That's just status ranking in society. Take those away, and she's no better than you are and vice versa. Perhaps you should go see Princess Cadance and get a better understanding of the magic of love, which could help your studies as well, seeing how one must have some sort of love in order to develop a bond in the magic of friendship."

"That sounds like an idea, Princess Luna," I smiled, while Twilight came back from the other room, "but how will I get her to agree to that?"

"Agree to what?" Twilight smiled as she approached Princess Luna and myself. "And what were you whispering about?"

"Oh, nothing, Princess Twilight," Princess Luna smiled, "I was just telling Lunar here that he should seek Princess Cadance's advice on friendship as well. You're a wonderful mentor, from what I've heard Lunar tell me about you, but I believe that to experience the love of friendship truly, you both should pay Princess Cadance a visit. I'm sure she'll show you something that will prove to be helpful to both of you."

"You know, Luna," Twilight smiled, "that sounds like a magnificent idea." Twilight turned to me. "And I'm sure our friends would love to take a trip to the Crystal Empire, wouldn't you say?"

"I think a trip to the Crystal Empire would be beneficial to only you two, Princess Twilight," Luna offered, "I'm sure your friends would understand."

"Only visit the Crystal Empire with Lunar, Luna?" Twilight asked, chuckling a bit after saying our very similar names, back-to-back. Luna replied with a simple nod. Twilight then turned towards me. "Does that sound fine with you?"

"I don't have a reason to object, Princess," I replied.

"Then, do you want to visit Princess Cadance now?" Twilight asked me. "We're not really doing anything today, so why not visit her to spend the day together?"

I turned to Princess Luna, whom had replied with a silent nod. I turned back towards Twilight and answered her brightly. "Why not?" I answered. "I could use a little walk to dust off these old hooves. Plus, I've never physically seenthe Crystal Empire before, so why not?"

"Well then," Twilight continued, "to the Crystal Empire!"

I smiled, as did Luna, who had seen the excitement both Twilight and myself had about going to the Crystal Empire. I was excited because, like I said earlier, I've never physically seen the empire before. I've heard numerous rumors that it is the brightest, most fantastic and stunning place you'll ever see, so I would like to see that for myself. Princess Luna thanked Twilight for letting her come inside and visit us, then excused herself with an excuse stating that Princess Celestia is requesting her. It was most likely a little fib, but nonetheless, Twilight bought it. Princess Luna then left afterwards, leaving only Twilight and myself preparing for our trip to the Crystal Empire.

All alone...by ourselves...in a magical place...

Next to being enrolled at Princess Luna's school, this is a dream come true!

"I don't think we'll need to pack anything, Lunar," Twilight told me when she noticed me putting on my saddlebags.

"I'm not packing anything, Twilight," I replied, revealing my lucky charm to her – the moon figurine, "I'm only taking my good luck charm."

Twilight idolized the moon figurine I had revealed to her. "That's a very beautiful carving of the moon, Lunar!"

"Thank you, Twilight," I smiled, "I always carry this around because, when I do, good things always happen to me, like when I met you..." I slowly blushed before continuing on a bit further. "...That wasn't just a stroke of luck, you know..."

"Oh," Twilight giggled, melting my heart a bit, "I know, Lunar, and I feel the same way."

This trip to the Crystal Empire was definitely going to be worth it if it meant I got to be alone for real with Twilight, spending the day with only her and whatnot.

---

"Look, Lunar," Twilight told me, "there's the train that leads to the Crystal Empire."

"Boy," I chuckled, "the Friendship Express sure leads everywhere in Equestria, doesn't it?"

Twilight turned to me. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well," I continued, looking back at Twilight, "the Friendship Express runs all the way from the Crystal Empire to Manehattan and from Baltimare to San Franciscolt. I'd say that's a pretty large range of Equestria, wouldn't you?"

"I guess so..." Twilight replied, scratching her lovely chin with her hoof. I smiled in response before the train had stopped in front of us. The doors to the coaches opened up, letting off a few ponies, before Twilight and myself stepped into the coach ourselves.

"Where do you want to sit?" Twilight asked me, showing a bunch of seats in front of us.

I smiled and "shrugged" my hooves. "Wherever you want to sit, my...I mean, Princess Twilight..."

Twilight giggled yet again. I honestly loved it when she giggled...it showed her sweet and innocent self. "You know you don't have to call me Princess, Lunar," she told me, "just Twilight is fine enough."

I rubbed the back of my neck with my hoof. "Yeah," I blushed, "I kind of forgot about that..." I gave off a sheepish chuckle as Twilight tilted her head slightly and smiled brightly, showing me her beautifully white-toothed smile. She turned towards one of the seats about midway into the coach and sat down next to the window. I followed her lead and took a seat right next to her. Looking around the coach, I noticed that we were alone and that there was no other pony around us at all. I looked back at Twilight, then looked down at her lovely purple hoof. Twilight was looking out the window, and I began motioning a hoof slowly over towards her's.

I gently touched Twilight's hoof, getting her to look into my eyes and blush very slightly. I felt myself begin to blush and lightly chuckle a bit. We stared into each others eyes for a while. I became lost inside her luscious violet eyes and became shrouded with happy thoughts, all of which were about Twilight.

I felt myself begin to lean in to Twilight's face. I slowly began to close my eyes and began puckering up my lips. I wrapped a hoof around Twilight's neck and slowly began kissing her on her lips, a moment that was truly greatly lived. It has felt like time simply had come to a halt while I passionately kissed Twilight on her beautiful lips. I did not want to pull myself away, but after about a minute of exchanging meaningful kisses between Twilight and myself, we had finally pulled ourselves away from each other, slowly opening our eyes.

Twilight was blushing a little bit brighter rose color. She began twirling one of the strands in her mane with her hoof, lightly giggling a bit. "That was magical, Lunar..." she told me. "Where did you learn how to kiss like that?"

"A lifetime of waiting for the right mare made that kiss a bit better than expected, Twilight." I replied.

Twilight blushed an even brighter rose color as I finished that response. "You are something else, Lunar," she smiled, half-shutting her eyes and sliding closer to me, "you do know that, right?" She then began to wrap a wing around my body as she leaned in on my body, resting against it.

"How so?" I smirked.

"You are the nicest unicorn I've ever met, Lunar," Twilight continued, "you know just what to do to make me happy, even when you don't say anything."

"Maybe you'll get to see some more of the kindness later on..." I replied.

"What do you mean?" Twilight quietly asked.

I looked down at Twilight and rested my head on top of hers, mainly around her horn. "You may be in for a surprise later on, my pretty little Princess."

"Mypretty little Princess?" Twilight repeated.

I lightly chuckled again as the train continued puffing down the tracks. Twilight was still resting herself against my body as I began to pay attention to the scenery outside that was passing by. Eventually, Twilight fell asleep against my body and I prepared myself for something very meaningful that I was planning on doing a little bit later, after I had a little talk with Princess Cadance.

Prepare yourself, Princess Twilight, I told myself, looking down at her, you'll be in for a surprise later on today...

I looked out the window and saw that we were entering the Crystal Empire. From afar, I could see the luxurious Crystal Castle, a sight that was truly one to be seen. I had never seen anything like it before, a tall and well architected chrome building, and was ready to see Princess Cadance. I looked back into the coach and laid my eyes on Twilight, whom was still fast asleep against my body. Twilight looked so peaceful sleeping against me, I truly did not want to wake her, but when the train came to a stop at the station, I gently and smoothly began to wake her up.

"Princess Twilight," I whispered in her ear, "we've arrived at the Crystal Empire."

I saw some eye blinking, then a little bit of yawning as Twilight slowly woke up. She rubbed her eyes gently for a couple of seconds, then looked out of the window.

"Well what do you know," Twilight smiled. She turned back to me, "we are here..."

Twilight took her wing away from me and put it against her side, getting up and standing before me, stretching a bit. She turned to me, cocking her head to the side and showing me her beautiful smile at me.

"Come along, Lunar," she softly spoke, "let's go see Princess Cadance and Shining Armor."

"After you, Twilight," I smiled in response, holding out a hoof to her.

Twilight smiled a bit brighter as she took my hoof and helped me up off of the seat. We exited the train car and walked through the station to the exit into the Crystal Empire.

"Have you ever met Princess Cadance before?" Twilight asked me as we walked trough the station.

"Only one other time," I replied. "She was in Canterlot visiting while I was taking a test for Princess Luna."

"Have you ever had a conversation with her?" Twilight continued.

"No," I answered, "I haven't. I've only seen her but have never had a conversation with her. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Twilight responded.

I chuckled a bit as we came close to the exit to the station. I grabbed a hold of the door with my magic and opened it up for Twilight. Twilight smiled, thanking me for my kindness, and exited the station with me following closely behind her. Outside the station, I saw that the streets of the Crystal Empire were filled with tons of the legendary Crystal ponies, all of them happy and beaming with such delight. I have never seen real life Crystal ponies before, only in my books that contained the history of this fascinating empire, dating way before King Sombra's rule of it. I looked around high and low and admired every little detail about this place. Twilight looked over and chuckled slightly as she saw my face of excitement and my sporadic movement, in terms of my eyes and head.

"These Crystal ponies all use their happiness and love that's inside each one of them to power up the Crystal Heart," Twilight told me.

I looked down at her. "What's the Crystal Heart?" I asked.

"The Crystal Heart is the only item for defense for the Crystal Empire," Twilight continued, "without it, anypony could simply come in and try to take over the Empire, much like how King Sombra tried doing. If love and happiness is what fills up the Crystal Heart, then that feeling is spread throughout all of Equestria."

I smiled and began wondering how something like the Crystal Heart could transfer over happiness and love throughout all of Equestria. That truly boggled the mind.

"However," alerted Twilight, "if hatred and fear take over and dominate the Crystal Heart..."

She never truly finished that sentence and statement, but I could only imagine what would happen, should hatred and fear consume the Crystal Heart. We turned down the main road - which led all the way to the Crystal Castle - and saw many other happy Crystal ponies filling the streets and shopping around in one of the nearby marketplaces. The Crystal Empire was a luxurious and beautiful place, I'm glad I was getting the chance to see it, and I'm especially happy that I'm getting to see it for the first time with Twilight.

As we neared the Crystal Castle, I noticed a little column that dropped down from the bottom of the castle, to the street, containing something in the middle between two spears. Twilight told me that that was the Crystal Heart that was on display in the middle between the two spears and told me that the love and happiness of the Crystal ponies was making it glow brightly at the current moment.

"You know a whole lot about the Crystal Empire, Twilight," I said to her, "would you have ruled it if Princess Cadance didn't?"

"I don't know about that, Lunar," Twilight blushed, "Princess Cadance is a great leader, but I don't think I could rule this place like she does now."

I smiled, cocking my head slightly to my right side, as Twilight began to bring me to the entrance to the Crystal Castle. Before we could go inside the castle, however, the doors opened up and there, standing in said doorway, was the lovely Princess Cadance herself.

"Cadance!" Twilight called.

Princess Cadance smiled and looked over towards Twilight. "Twilight!" responded Cadance, stepping outside and hugging Twilight. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake."

"Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Twilight laughed as she performed a little fiasco in front of me with Princess Cadance.

"I had heard from Princess Luna that you were probably going to pay a visit." Princess Cadance remarked. "The train must have come early today too. I was just on my way to go meet you at the train station but, here you are." She turned her attention towards me. "You must be Lunar Nights," she continued.

"That is right, Your Highness," I replied, bowing in the process, "and it is an honor to rightfully meet you this time."

"The pleasure is all mine, Lunar," Princess Cadance continued, "Princess Luna has told me a lot about you. Perhaps we can chat a little bit later about your learnings."

"That would be wonderful, Princess Cadance." I smiled as I replied with confidence.

"Do you know where Shining Armor is, Cadance?" asked Twilight. "I need to ask him something about our parents' anniversary that's soon coming up."

"Shining Armor is inside his room in the castle." Princess Cadance replied. "You can head in there if you want while I have a talk with Lunar here."

"Sounds good," smiled Twilight as she disappeared inside the Crystal Castle, leaving only me and Princess Cadance together. Princess Cadance then paid her attention towards me.

"So," she began, "the infamous Lunar Nights, star student of Princess Luna...I can sense a great amount of care and affection towards a certain somepony you know...somepony you met mere days ago, no less."

"You're good," I chuckled.

Princess Cadance smiled. "I'm the Princess of Love, Lunar," she told me, "I can see this easily."

"So who's the somepony that I have a great amount of care and affection towards?" I challenged, half-knowing that Princess Cadance already knew that answer.

"The very special somepony you show much care and affection to happened to be the last pony that walked through those doors behind me, on her way visiting her older brother and my husband." Princess Cadance told me.

"You're good," I commended again.

"Like I said earlier, Lunar," Princess Cadance continued, "I know these kinds of things and, simply only letting you know, you both seem like a perfect match together."

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about, Your Highness," I replied, twirling one of my hooves on the ground in front of me.

"You can call me Cadance," Princess Cadance said, "it's okay, Lunar."

"Well Cadance," I continued, "I wanted to talk about Twilight with you..."

"What do you want to discuss about her?" Cadance asked me, cocking her head slightly towards her right side a bit.

"I...uhh..." I troubled. I couldn't seem to find the way I wanted to say this towards Princess Cadance at the current moment, but she knew exactly what I wanted to say, and she knew it before I did.

"You want to proclaim your love to Twilight, but aren't sure of how to do it, sound right?"

"Right on the nose, Cadance," I chuckled, looking over towards the recently met Princess.

"Come, Lunar," Cadance smiled to me, "let us both take a walk. I have something important to tell you along the way."

With that being said, Princess Cadance began walking along one of the crystallized streets. I followed alongside her, prepared to have a chat with her as well. Cadance smiled, looking slightly up to the brightly colored sky, then back down to me.

"How much do you like Twilight, Lunar?" Cadance asked me.

I gulped. "Uh...a-a lot, Cadance..."

"What exactly do you like about her?"

"What isn't there to like about Princess Twilight..." I smiled. "She's smart, funny, charming, innocent, beautiful, petite, and caring of her friends and everypony..."

"And now, describe yourself before and after meeting Twilight."

"Before meeting Twilight," I began, looking slightly down in the process, "I was a shy, independent unicorn that refrained from making contact with anypony else as much as I could. After meeting Twilight, I learned that that wasn't the way to go. Twilight has taught and has been teaching me the ways of friendship and has brought out my true potential."

"What do you mean?" asked a bewildered Cadance.

"I now know that friendship and being social is one of the many joys of life," I answered. "Had Twilight not shown me that or had Princess Luna not sent me to learn from Twilight, I would still be back in my home in Baltimare only reading and studying my books."

"I'm sure two ponies would love to hear that from you themselves." Cadance told me.

"Twilight and Princess Luna, right?" I asked, making sure both Cadance and I were on the same page.

Cadance replied with a simple nod. "Precisely. And perhaps you should tell Twilight your true feelings for her."

I blushed very slightly. "Do you think she'll feel the same way back?"

"Lunar, love isn't about thinking," Cadance advised, "it's about feeling and doing. If you think about it, you'll start getting plenty of negative moods and reactions that will put you down. But, if you feel confident that she'll feel the same way and do ask her, then there's only one way to find out."

I took Princess Cadance's words of wisdom into consideration. Perhaps I was overthinking this entire process. I held my head up high, thanked Princess Cadance, and turned back towards the Crystal Castle.

"Going to go tell her?" Cadance asked me.

"Precisely that, Princess." I replied.

"Then allow me to accompany you and show you where she is." Princess Cadance smiled.

"Thank you very much, Cadance." I said, looking up towards the top of the Crystal Castle.

Princess Cadance smiled brighter, then escorted me inside the castle.

---

"This is Shining Armor's private room in the castle. Most likely, Twilight is in there as well. I'll get Shining Armor to leave the room, leaving only you and Twilight to talk about how you both feel."

"Thank you, Princess Cadance," I smiled, watching Cadance open the door to Shining Armor's private room, revealing him and Twilight talking to each other.

Cadance entered into the room, and approached Shining Armor, kissing him on his cheek. She pulled herself back, softly asking if he could assist her with something else elsewhere in the castle. Shining Armor gladly agreed to help Cadance out as both ponies turned around and began walking out of the room. Before leaving us, Cadance looked over towards me and winked at me. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance then left the room, leaving only Twilight with me. Twilight smiled at my presence, then began to approach me.

"I wonder what that was about..." she smiled.

"I don't know." I replied, losing myself inside Twilight's beautiful purple eyes.

"So..." Twilight continued, slowly losing her chain of thought as she stared into my eyes.

"Uh...Tw-Twilight?" I began.

"Yes, Lunar?" Twilight smiled, half-shutting her eyes and fluttering them at me.

I loved that about Twilight. She always knew just how to melt my heart and make me happy about everything about anything. I collected myself, then finally continued talking to Twilight. "Umm...there's something I've been wanting to tell you, Twilight."

"Oh?" Twilight said, raising an eyebrow. "And what might that be?"

"Uh...P-Princess T-Twilight," I stammered, "I...uhh..."

Twilight came up to me and wrapped a hoof around my head, bringing it down to her lips. She then kissed me with the utmost of affection, catching me a little off guard, but, nonetheless, having me follow in her lead. I closed my eyes, which were temporarily stuck in a shocked matter, and wrapped a hoof around Twilight's body, bringing her a bit closer to me and pressing her body up against mine. We had exchanged meaningful, and heavily lovable kisses between each other and, by my standards, sparks were flying the entire time. I almost didn't want to pull myself away from Twilight, but after about a minute of us exchanging kisses, we finally pulled away from each other. I opened my eyes slowly as Twilight did the same. She looked up at me with half-shut eyes as I looked down into her beautiful purple eyes.

"Princess Twilight," I softly spoke, "will you make me the happiest unicorn in all of Equestria?"

"What do you mean, Lunar?" Twilight giggled, melting my heart even further.

"Twilight," I continued, gently resting my head on Twilight's head, "will you be my mare?"

"Are you asking your mentor out, Lunar?" Twilight giggled some more, melting my heart a bit more.

"I most certainly am, Princess Twilight," I replied, snatching a kiss upon Twilight's forehead.

"In that case," Twilight said, fluttering her eyes at me when I pulled myself back, "I'd love to be your mare. Just one thing, Lunar."

"And what might that be, Twilight?" I asked.

Twilight smiled, "I want you to be my colt."

"Consider it done, Your Highness," I joked, bowing to Twilight in the process.

"So I guess that means we're a legitimate couple, Lunar," Twilight chuckled as I got up from my bow.

"I guess so, Twilight," I replied, "just one condition, though."

"And what might that be, Lunar?" Twilight replicated, matching the way I asked my question moments earlier.

I chuckled. "I get to be the coltfriend."

Twilight smiled, then gave me a kiss upon my lips, which I exchanged for one on hers. "Then I guess that means that I'm the marefriend, Lunar."

"Which is fine by me, Twilight," I smiled.

Twilight turned towards the door and wrapped one of her wings around my body. It was a bit weird, seeing how I was taller than Twilight and that her wing didn't fully reach around my body, but I enjoyed its presence there. Twilight motioned towards the door and I took the hint. Twilight was suggesting that we leave the room and go meet up with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. I guess she didn't get to finish her conversation with Shining Armor from earlier.

"Let's go meet up with them, Lunar," Twilight told me.

"After you, my pretty little alicorn." I smiled, using my magic to open the slightly heavy door to the hallway. Twilight smiled, thanked me for my kindness, then walked out into the hallway, closely followed by me.

In the hallway, towards our left, Twilight and I both saw Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. The two of them began approaching us, which is what we were also doing, thus, meeting them halfway. Twilight asked Shining Armor if he was able to help out with what Princess Cadance needed, which he replied positively, as they continued on with their conversation from earlier. I, on the other hoof, looked at Princess Cadance and had nothing but positive looks on my face, which Princess Cadance could read like a book. She gave me a smile in return and could tell that things had worked out, seeing how we were both happier than when we went inside the room earlier and by Twilight's visible wing trying to wrap itself around my body. Soon enough, Shining Armor asked Twilight to assist him in his private room alone for a quick moment, leaving me alone with Princess Cadance. Once the door to Shining Armor's private room had shut, Princess Cadance and myself began engaging in conversation once more.

So it all worked out then?" Princess Cadance asked me.

"Twilight just made me the happiest unicorn in Equestria not too long ago," I smiled in response, "so I'd say that everything worked out swinningly, Princess Cadance."

"Glad to hear that, Lunar," Cadance continued, "you two seem like a perfect couple and are sure to be very happy for a very long time."

"Thank you, Princess Cadance," I smiled as I turned back to face the door that housed my beautiful little alicorn marefriend.

---

~Meanwhile, in Shining Armor's private room~

"So what is it that you needed help with, Shining Armor?" Twilight asked her BBBFF.

Shining Armor turned to his younger sister after locking the door behind him. He had a discerned look in his eyes and appeared to have something bothering him. He wasn't like this before when he spoke with Twilight no less than fifteen minutes ago, but within those fifteen minutes, a lot has happened and it was perfectly visible to both him and Princess Cadance, with Cadabce having accepted what had happened - as the Princess of Love always would - but him not sure as of now.

"I don't know, Twily," Shining Armor quietly spoke, so that Lunar and Cadance couldn't hear them.

"You don't know about what?" Twilight asked, cocking her head to the side slightly.

"You had your wing wrapped around that unicorn, Twily," Shining Armor claimed, walking right up to his younger sister, "I think I know what that means."

"What?" Twilight said, shuffling backwards slightly. "Lunar and I? Yes my wing was around him...I'm sure once he gets his - whenever that may be - he would have done it to me. Cadance does it to you all the time, Shining Armor. What difference is it if I do it to Lunar?"

"That's because Cadance and I are married," Shining Armor asserted, "it's different when you're married, Twilight."

"So," continued Twilight, taking and handling the ropes here for a moment, "you don't approve of what I am doing, is that so?"

"I...I just want to make sure that you're okay, Twily," Shining Armor defended himself, "I'm not too sure about this unicorn."

"What's not to be sure about, Shining Armor?" Twilight asked. "He's Princess Luna's prized protégé. I'm more than certain you can trust him."

"Anypony can be a prized protégé, Twilight," Shining Armor said.

"Not exactly," interrupted Twilight.

Shining Armor rolled his eyes slightly, "Nevertheless, certain ponies can only be trusted. I know as a Prince that this is something I shouldn't say, but it is the harsh reality that not everypony can be trusted and, to me, I'm not sure if I can trust that unicorn just yet..." Some eerie silence fell after that for a quick moment before Shining Armor continued. "What do your friends think of him?" He asked.

Twilight turned her head slightly, trying to fight back some ghoulish tears. "They all like and trust him, Shining Armor," she finally answered back, "he earned all their trust on the first day he met them. They like him and he likes them." Twilight turned back towards her older brother, still answering his question. "For somepony who has never really had a friend in their life, he made five of them on the spot, making it look ever so easy...I predict that he will be able to move on in his studies very soon..."

Twilight sighed slightly, looking towards a nearby bookcase On that bookcase, there stood a book. Twilight had recognized this book and remembered something about it. The book she was looking at was Princess Cadance's version of Star Swirl the Bearded's spell book. She took it down, then flipped open the book to the last page with her magic, noticing that the page was empty and did not contain the spell Twilight had completed, thus transforming her into an alicorn and giving her her very own set of Pegasus wings. Shining Armor came up next to Twilight, bringing her closer to his side. He looked down at the page, then smiled.

"I have no doubts that he'll continue his studies," Shining Armor softly spoke, "he truly is a smart and outgoing pony. I'm just worried about you, Twily, that's all."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, still looking at the incomplete spell.

"I guess it's an older brother kind of thing," Shining Armor chuckled, "but I care about how happy you are and I care about your safety. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I won't get hurt," Twilight said, looking up towards Shining Armor, "he's different. He isn't like any other colt I've met before."

"I'm sure he isn't, Twily," Shining Armor smiled, hugging Twilight in the process.

Twilight paid her attention back towards the incomplete spell in the book after the hug, slowly sighing.

"...from all of us together, together we are friends." Twilight reiterated, reciting the rest of the spell that wasn't inside this particular book. "With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end."

Shining Armor looked away while Twilight placed the book back on the shelf. She turned to him, not a smile on her face, but nary a frown neither.

"I do hope he understands friendship like that." Twilight heeded.

"What makes you say that?" Shining Armor replied.

"I sense that he doesn't trust ponies the way a true, true friend would," answered Twilight, "possibly from lack of friends and acquaintances from his earlier years."

Shining Armor chuckled. "Sounds like a certain somepony I know." He playfully shoved Twilight in the process. Twilight chuckled, turning around to her BBBFF.

"Hey now," smiled Twilight, "I trust everypony."

"Now you do." Shining Armor teased. "When you were only a filly, that was a different story."

Twilight blushed slightly, thinking back to when she was a mere filly.

---

"You really should make some friends, Twilight. You know I won't be here for you forever, nor will mom and dad." A young Shining Armor spoke from wisdom.

"Why?" A young Twilight stubbornly asked. "The only friends I need are my books and you, Shining Armor."

"All those books won't help you when you're feeling down or when you want to talk to somepony. It's best if you make some friends."

"But I don't want to make friends. I'm happy just the way I am."

"Then why do you attend Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, Twilight?"

"To learn about magic, silly!"

"You know there's more to magic than just spells, books, and history, Twilight."

"What do you mean?"

Shining Armor chuckled. "You'll find out eventually."

---

"I'm sure he'll figure out the spell soon." Twilight told Shining Armor as they both started making their way out of Shining Armor's private room and into the hallway to go meet up with Princess Cadance and Lunar.

---

~Back with Princess Cadance and Lunar~

"Explain to me what friendship means to you, Lunar." Cadance told me.

"Friendship is magic," I replied, "it is the way of life that I have been introduced to and can solely say that it is truly magical. I have seen the light of way and am truly blessed that Twilight has opened myself up to friendship. It is now what I strongly believe in and what I will strive for for the remainder of my days. I thank her for showing me it, and I thank Princess Luna for suggesting that I travel to Ponyville to see and meet Princess Twilight. If not for me receiving the letter, none of this would have ever happened."

I felt a sort of white light begin to consume my body shortly thereafter. I wasn't too sure what that was all about, but Princess Cadance seemed to know. She was all smiles, overlooking me, but when Twilight and Shining Armor came into the room Cadance and I were in, the light that was consuming me had vanished. Cadance was shocked, as was Twilight and even Shining Armor. I didn't see the need to be so alarmed, so I thought nothing more of that light, quickly moving on from it. The other three, however, couldn't get why the light disappeared.

"What's the big idea?" I asked them. "It was only a light; nothing special really. What gives?"

The other three simply exchanged looks with each other, giving me a slightly cold shoulder. I looked at Cadance, then shifted my attention over towards Shining Armor. The two of them exchanged looks before I turned my attention towards Twilight. I tried my best to not let not knowing what had happened to me not bother me, but my voice said otherwise.

"Twilight," I spoke with no emotion, "what was that light? Why are you three ogling over that light. What was that?"

Even Twilight stood silent, but not for long. She finally decided to answer me back, looking back at Princess Cadance for some slight support.

"I...I'm not supposed to tell you, Lunar," Twilight quietly answered, "If I do tell you, it might...alter the way you pursue your studies."

"I don't understand..." I slowly responded, "how does that light tie in to my studies?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that question either, Lunar," Twilight told me, "It would go against the policy that Princess Celestia told us we had to follow." Twilight looked behind her and eyed Princess Cadance. "Could I tell him this?" She asked, walking up to Princess Cadance and whispering something in her ear. Cadance smiled, nodding her head, then eyed me as Twilight turned back around and faced me.

"Tell me what?" I eagerly asked.

"About that light," Twilight spoke, "do you remember how it came about?"

"Of course," I replied, "Princess Cadance asked me what I thought about friendship. I told her my opinion on the subject, then the light appeared and began consuming me. It finally disappeared once you walked in with Shining Armor."

Twilight nodded her head at me, then began rubbing her chin with her forehoof. She appeared to be up to something, but I was not too sure what it was. Finally, Twilight had begun her pursuits towards whatever it was she was trying to pursue. She smiled at me, then asked me what Princess Cadance had asked me earlier, which was...

"Tell me what you think of friendship, Lunar."

I cocked an eyebrow, but answered Twilight's question, nonetheless. "Friendship is magic," I replied, "it is the way of life that I have been introduced to and can solely say that it is truly magical. I have seen the light of way and, like I told Princess Cadance earlier, I am truly blessed that you have opened myself up to friendship. It is now what I strongly believe in and what I will continue to strive for for the remainder of my life."

Twilight smiled at my response, as did Princess Cadance and even Shining Armor. I was expecting to see the light again, but nothing happened this time around. Twilight looked down out of discouragement, as did Cadance and Shining Armor, while I approached Twilight, resting a hoof on her shoulder. I looked down at her, then rose her lowly head with the hoof that was resting on her shoulder, smiling at her in the process.

"Something magical will happen soon enough, Twilight," I quietly told her, "I'm more than sure of it."

Twilight looked at me in my eyes, slowly modifying her frown into a smile again. "I know, Lunar, I know." She told me. "It's just that...I want to see how you'd react to what will happen in the future."

"Does it have anything to do with a set of Pegasus wings?" I asked.

Twilight shrugged her hooves. "I don't know, " she playfully replied. Princess Cadance giggled while Shining Armor neared his wife.

"It's getting a bit late," he told us.

"Why don't we show you the room you'll be staying in while you're here, you two," Princess Cadance said, leading us both out of the room we were in.

I had a lot of thinking to do tonight while Twilight slept her pretty little head away. One of those thoughts was how I was going to get the light back again. Apparently, that light is the key to me continuing on in my studies. I've got to see how I can get it back again.

Princess Cadance and Shining Armor led both Twilight and myself out of the room and down one of the nearby hallways. At the end of the hallway stood a staircase that they brought us up. On the next floor above us, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor led us down yet another hallway and stopped right in front of a door located at the end of this hallway. He opened up the door for us, revealing a king sized crystallized bed and a bookshelf that had plenty of books lining up the shelves. The room also had a plentiful amount of plants, all of which made the room even more dazzling. Twilight entered the room first, closely followed by me.

"This is the room you two will share," Shining Armor smiled, "it isn't much, but it still is something."

"It'll be just fine, Shining Armor, " Twilight replied, paying her attention towards the bookcase.

"Anyway," he continued, "it's a little late. I'm going to go rest up for the night. Sleep tight, you two. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

"Goodnight, you two, " Princess Cadance added.

"Goodnight, Cadance," both Twilight and I spoke simultaneously, "Goodnight, Shining Armor. Sweet dreams."

With that said, Shining Armor closed the door, leaving only Twilight and me alone in a room together.

What could go wrong?

I looked at Twilight, who was completely mesmerized by the bookshelf that was located near our bed. The room only had one crystallized bed, but it was large enough to slumber us both. I walked up to Twilight and stopped next to her, looking at the bookcase that was filled with books, hundreds upon hundreds of books. One book seemed to draw the most attention to me, not because it was flashy or anything like that, but because it was so familiar looking to me. I pulled the book down with my magic and began to examine it.

"Caught your eye?" Twilight smiled.

"What do you mean?" I asked in response.

She pointed to the book. "The book, did it catch your eye?"

"Oh," I chuckled, "uhh...y-yeah. It did."

"I remember seeing that book the first time too," Twilight began, taking over the control of the book as I voluntarily gave it up. She turned to the last page in the book. "This is Star Swirl the Bearded's masterpiece. This was his final spell and he spent numerous hours on it, but could never quite get it right, and thus, he abandoned it."

I read the portion of the spell that was written on the page aloud, but did not cast it. "'From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.'" I tried flipping the page, but noticed that nothing else was written. I looked at Twilight with a befuddled look. "Is that it? Is that all that is written?"

Twilight replied with a simple nod. "That's all that is written for the spell."

"That doesn't even rhyme!" I claimed.

"This is what happens if you cast only his portion of the spell." Twilight told me, casting the spell on me.

I hadn't noticed anything, but began the need to pursue the field of magic and try to practice everything that I could about it. I looked at Twilight, asking her what had happened. Then, with a giggle that still melted my heart, she told me to look at my cutie mark. I turned around towards my back end and noticed that my cutie mark was a pink, six-pointed sparkle with five smaller, white sparkles surrounding it. It was the same as Twilight's cutie mark! I couldn't understand how or why that was even possible! I looked over towards Twilight, expecting to see my cutie mark on her, but she also had the same cutie mark I now had. I looked back into Twilight's eyes with a slightly shocked look.

"How did you...what happened to my cutie mark?" I asked, traces of panic showing in my voice.

Twilight smiled, trying to calm myself down a bit by placing a hoof on my shoulder. "Relax," she told me, "this is only what happens when you cast Star Swirl's portion of the spell. I assure you that I can fix this."

"How?" I spoke. "It's an incomplete spell, meaning that there is no counter spell to counteract what was just casted."

Twilight chuckled, kissing me on my cheek. That kiss got me to calm down slightly, but I was still worried about my cutie mark, my real cutie mark. Twilight shut her eyes, then began to silently cast another spell. Again, a white light shone around me and began to consume me, this one feeling just a bit different from the last one. Once the light dissipated completely, Twilight pointed towards my cutie mark again. I looked back towards it and it was what it was supposed to be, a full moon with some stars around the moon. I was relieved, but more than that, I was amazed. I looked back at Twilight, both with relieved eyes and an amazed look.

"How did you do that?" I asked. "That was an incomplete spell. How did you fix it?"

Twilight smiled, twirling one strand from her mane with her hoof before stopping and answering me. "I cannot tell you that. You have to figure that out yourself. All I can say is that together, we are friends - you, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and myself, especially myself - and that together, their is magic without end."

I hung onto those words that Twilight told me and kept them for consideration. I then thought back to the incomplete portion of the spell and tried connecting the two to my studies. Looking back at Twilight, I asked her if this was part of my studies.

"It is, Lunar," Twilight said, flaring her wings at me, "and only when you finally understand it will you be able to move on in your studies."

Twilight rapidly motioned her wings at me as she completed her sentence, hinting at something towards me. I finally managed to put two and two together, despite the fact at how long it took to get it.

If I can cast the counter spell towards Starswirl's incomplete spell, I will finally be able to move on in my studies, receiving a pair of Pegasus wings as a reward for all my accomplishments I guess. Now I'm more excited than ever before! To know that I will be rewarded with a set of wings for all my hard work made me want to try and counter the spell even quicker now. I was now going to dedicate my time to fix the spell and understand it to the full extent. I smiled at Twilight, then gently ran my hoof along her mane, moving it behind her ear.

"Will you help me, my darling Twilight?" I softly asked.

"I'm afraid I cannot assist you in any way in casting the spell," she told me. I looked down in discouragement while Twilight kissed my cheek. "I can, however, provide you with subtle hints that you may or may not be on the right path. I had to do this myself, but it was excruciatingly tiring, trying to figure it out...well, actually, Spike helped me realize it. Who's to say I can't do the same?"

"Then let us get to work immediately, my dear." I smiled, holding out a hoof to Twilight.

Twilight gladly took my hoof and smiled at me as well. "Let's get to work, Lunar."

---

"So, friendship means what to you?" Twilight asked me.

"Like I said earlier, it is magic to me and I am blessed that you showed me the true light of way towards it. Without it, I would still be an independent pony, living alone, which I now know is not the true path that I should have been on. Now I know that making friends, meeting acquaintances, and being social are all just a few of the things that shape a pony into being a better, brighter, more likable one."

"Very good, Lunar," Twilight smiled.

We were both sitting on the crystallized bed, facing each other. We had spent nearly the last five or six hours just trying for me to understand how to fix Starswirl the Bearded's long time spell, but so far, everything we have tried has ended up producing nothing. Outside, the moon was still shining, so we still had some time left before we had to call it a night and head to sleep. Twilight yawned a bit, rubbing her eye with her hoof, before continuing on in assisting me. I yawned a bit too, but made sure not to show it to Twilight, though that was proving to be hard by itself.

"And what does it mean when you're together with your friends, Lunar?" Twilight asked.

"Together, I am one with my friends," I replied, "all of us, we come together, and together we are friends; one friend, truly united by all the common bonds and problems that we all share."

"Excellent," Twilight smiled, looking a bit more eager than before, "and when the marks of friends' destinies are made one?"

I chuckled at Twilight's eagerness, then answered her question. The answer to the question I had long been searching for for the last four hours. Now, it had come to me, like an answer comes to somepony after thinking about the question and working on it for some time. This answer clicked to me, and I finally understood the spell and knew immediately what to do!

"There is magic without end!" I eagerly answered, realizing what the true meaning of friendship was.

"Now cast the spell." Twilight told me. "Cast it, and you will be able to further your studies."

I surrounded my horn with my smoothly flowing white aura, then began to cast the spell. "'From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled. From all of us together, together we are friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end.'"

I correctly casted the spell and began feeling a white light shine from inside me. The light engulfed my entire body, managing to engulf Twilight as well. I felt a sort of magic blast afterwards and could sense that I was teleported away. To where I was teleported, that I did not know. How? Not a clue either. All I knew was that I had been teleported to a place I had not seen before.

Around me stood constellations and memories of my life, the high points of my years on this planet. I could see myself from when I was but a young colt applying to Princess Luna's School of Enchanted Unicorns. I saw when I met Princess Luna for the first time. I saw when I met my friends for the first time when I arrived in Ponyville. I saw when I met Twilight. I saw when she told me yes to "the question." I saw all my accomplishments from the day I enrolled at Princess Luna's school and saw all the happiest of memories in my life, none more notable than when Twilight and I became a couple.

"Are these...moments in your life?" A voice spoke.

I turned around and saw Twilight walking up next to me. I was shocked. I thought I was here alone but I guess the light was powerful enough to bring Twilight here as well. I smiled at her presence, then turned back to face the memories.

"These are," I replied, "these are my most memorable moments I've experienced in my life." I pointed to one frame. "That's when I enrolled in Princess Luna's school." I pointed to another. "That's when I met you and all the others only days ago." I pointed to one final frame after that. "And that's when we became a couple, my dear Twilight."

"And you can add one more to that memorial basket." Another voice said.

I turned around, as did Twilight, as we both saw Princess Luna approach us from an unknown location.

"Luna!" I shouted, happy to see her. "Where are we? I don't understand..."

"You have made me proud, Lunar Nights," Princess Luna began. She never called me by my whole name unless it was really important. "Throughout the years, I have watched you grow into a smarter, brighter, more compassionate, devoted, heart warming unicorn. Your studies have brought you here and you managed to do what only one other pony could do before."

Twilight blushed slightly as Princess Luna finished up her sentence and brought the book that contained the unfinished spell into my sight.

"You created magic that only one other pony, Princess Twilight Sparkle here, has managed to do thus far," continued Princess Luna. "By casting that spell, you have proven to myself that you understand friendship to a valiant extent. You have come such a long way, and I've watched since that very first day to go where you will go, to see what you might see, and to do what you will do. You have proven that you're ready to move on in your studies."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Just then, a sort of gray blob poked out from my chest and started surrounding me. The blob managed to pull me up into the air and I was growing more and more surprised. Finally, the blob engulfed me entirely and I began to feel some changes begin happening to my body.

I looked back down at Twilight and Princess Luna to notice that they were both gone and that I was back in the crystallized bedroom by myself. I ran up to a nearby mirror and turned towards my side so that I could see it, revealing to me that I had grown my very own set of real life Pegasus wings! I was so shocked and amazed by them. Honestly, I felt a mixture of a ton of emotions currently.

"Are these...actual wings?" I asked myself, surprised and excited tones sounding in my voice.

I tried flapping them and tried flying, but I didn't know how to do so. Just then, I heard two other sets of hooves behind me. I turned around and noticed that the sets of hooves belonged to Princess Luna and Twilight. They both wore smiles on their faces and Twilight ran up to me and wrapped her hooves around me.

"Congratulations, Prince Lunar Nights," Twilight told me, kissing me on my cheek.

"Prince?" I repeated, looking towards Princess Luna.

Princess Luna smiled, then nodded her head at me. "Since I've taken you under my wing, you've showed plenty of times the characteristics of a true Prince - kindness, understanding, leadership, devotion, and, most recently, compassion. Because you've shown these characteristics and have been able to execute them perfectly, you have proven that you are able to finally move on in your studies."

I looked back at my new wings and then at Twilight. I looked down out of discouragement while telling Luna my next thing.

"This means that I won't be your student anymore now," I replied lowly, "doesn't it?"

"Not in the same way as before, Lunar," Princess Luna answered, "I'll be here to help and guide you, but we are all now your student."

"Sounds like you and Princess Celestia are one in the same," Twilight chuckled, "like two sides of the same bit."

"What do you mean, Twilight?" I asked, unsure of what exactly she meant.

Twilight giggled, melting my hard heart at that moment. "In case I never told you, or in case you found out - which I'm more than certain that the second option rings truer because I remember Princess Luna saying something about this, but that's besides the point."

"You were Princess Celestia's student, if I remember correctly," I spoke, "right?"

"Precisely," Twilight continued, "and when I was in the position you yourself are currently in, I realized too that Princess Celestia would no longer be my mentor. I realized that and Princess Celestia told me that she would be there to help and guide me along the way. She told me that I would no longer be her student in the same way as before, but that they were my student, exactly what Princess Luna told you just now."

I looked back at Princess Luna and felt a tear begin to leave my eye. I approached her, then wrapped my hooves around her, giving her a nice, big, warm hug.

"Thank you, Princess Luna," I said, "thank you for everything you've given me over these last few years. I...I don't know what else to say but thank you..."

"You're quite welcome, Prince Lunar," Princess Luna told me, giving me a hug in response.

"And I presume that there will be a coronation for Lunar," Twilight rang, "right Princess Luna?"

"Precisely," Princess Luna answered, pulling herself back to look me in the eye, "I must go and tell my sister about this. Hopefully we can have your coronation within a few days."

"Do what you need to do, Princess Luna," I smiled, looking back at my wings, then at Twilight, "I have some learning that I need to attend to."

Princess Luna smiled, then positioned herself for a teleportation spell. Before she casted the spell and left Twilight and myself alone, Luna looked back at me and smiled, shedding a tear from her eye.

"Congratulations, my star student," she mouthed. "I am so proud of you..."

Princess Luna then teleported out of the room, leaving Twilight alone with me. Twilight ran up to me, throwing herself around me and hugging me tightly.

"I'm so proud of you, Lunar," she told me, burying her face in my shoulder, "you did it."

"I guess I did..." I replied. "Now, all that is left is for me to learn how to use...these." I turned to my wings, which were still being flared at Twilight, trying my best to tuck them in around my sides.

Twilight pulled herself from my body, looking at my struggling. She began chuckling, then put a hoof on my cheek and turned my head so that, now, I faced her. I looked into her eyes - her lovely violet eyes - and expected her to tell me something.

"Just relax," Twilight chuckled, proving my assumption true, "don't overthink about it. It'll happen."

I stopped thinking about putting my wings away and it became much easier to put them away, though I do not know how I managed to do it. All I knew was that I managed to put my wings away by my sides. I looked out the window to notice that the sun was rising and that meant a new day was upon us. It also meant that I had spent all of last night studying and trying to fix Starswirl the Bearded's spell with Twilight.

"Thank you, Twilight," I smiled, kissing her on her cheek, "thank you for helping me realize my destiny."

"I didn't do anything," Twilight smiled in response, "you did it yourself. All I did was guide you down the right path."

"And it was enough for me to further my studies." I said, nuzzling Twilight with my muzzle.

I saw Twilight blush and then suddenly stopped once I heard the door to our room begin opening up. I pulled myself from Twilight and looked up at the door to see Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor standing there, looking at us. The two of them entered into the room and I was so startled that I had flared my wings without recognizing it, receiving positive feedback from Cadance and Shining Armor.

"Congratulations for realizing your destiny." They both told me.

"Thank you very much, you two," I smiled in response.

"I always knew you would do it," Cadance told me, "since I laid eyes on you yesterday I knew it was close to happening."

And boy, am I glad that it did happen.

"I was thinking about showing him and teaching the new Prince how to fly later today." Twilight spoke. "Would you care to help me, Cadance?"

"I'd love to help." Cadance replied, flaring her wings at me. She chuckled a bit. "You can put your wings away, Lunar, it's okay."

I chuckled back. "I, uhh, I don't know how."

"Not a problem at all," continued Cadance, turning to Twilight, "then I guess our lessons start now."

"I guess so," Twilight smiled, wrapping a wing around my back.

---

"Okay, so the first thing we'll teach you about your new wings is how to control them."

I was out in a field with Twilight and Princess Cadance. We were all by ourselves, nopony else around us for a while, not even a set of royal guards. Twilight and Cadance had their wings flared at me, as I did to them, but the only difference between my flaring wings and their flared wings was that they were voluntarily flaring theirs. I, on the other hoof, wasn't flaring mine voluntarily. Twilight and Cadance both smiled at me as I was taking in their advice.

"Now if you think about trying to use your wings," Princess Cadance began, "you will find that you won't be able to use them properly."

"Okay." I nodded.

"So," added Twilight, "the best way to use your wings is to use them with feeling."

"Feeling?" I repeated.

"If you feel through your wings rather than think about them, you'll find that it will be much easier to fly or do whatever you need to do with your beautiful set of wings." Twilight explained.

"Feeling your actions rather than thinking about them is the most productive method." Princess Cadance added. "Trust me, I was a Pegasus before I became an alicorn. If there's one thing I know about, it's flying and how to fly."

I chuckled a bit, then nodded at Cadance. "I know, Princess, I know. If you don't mind me asking, how did you gain your horn?"

"I don't mind at all, Lunar," Cadance replied, "but that's a story meant for another time."

"Of course," I smiled back.

"Now, let your mind wander." Twilight told me. "Clear your mind and think about absolutely nothing."

I ceased thinking all around inside my head and allowed my mind to wander. I found myself to have complete inner peace and could feel myself slowly enter into nirvana. As I entered into nirvana, I could slowly feel my wings and could feel them retract and retreat back to my sides. I felt the feathers lining up along my sides and knew that they were properly put away. Princess Cadance and Twilight both clapped their hooves together and praised me for my fast learning.

The clapped hooves startled me a bit and troubled my feeling. My feelings and concentration was disturbed and I lost control of my wings which, once again, flared all by themselves to Cadance and Twilight. The two of them chuckled, as I began to feel myself blush very slightly.

"Don't worry, Lunar," Twilight told me, "it does take some time to get used to. Remember, you've only had these wings for a few hours now. Baby steps now, then you'll be set to go. I was in your hooves before, but look at me now. Not an alicorn for a year yet and I have learned much about my wings to get them to do what I want when I want them to do it."

"As long as I do eventually learn how to control my wings and get them to do what I want them to do when I want them to do it, I'll be fine," I replied, nuzzling Twilight with my muzzle.

"It'll come eventually," Twilight smiled, "time will tell you."

Cadance nodded as well, "Now, we shall teach you how to fly."

"Perfect," I chuckled, "for what is a Pegasus that is unable to fly?"

"Never met a Pegasus who couldn't fly," Twilight joked, "but you'd be the first alicorn I met who couldn't fly if we don't teach you."

"Funny, Twilight," I smirked, "very funny. Maybe later I can show you something that you might not even know."

"Which is hardly anything now," Twilight responded, "but you can try as hard as you'd like, Lunar."

Cadance giggled, "Alright, you two lovebirds. Let's learn how to fly."

"Alright," I gladly heeded, "I've been waiting for this lesson."

Twilight chuckled, "Good, then that means that you're ready to fall down plenty of times."

"Oh, I doubt that." I cockily replied.

"So then, flap your wings." Cadance challenged me.

"With pleasure, Princess Cadance." I smiled.

I firmly planted my hooves in the ground and tried flapping my wings. Trying to fly was a lot more difficult than trying to cast a spell. Obviously it's two different things, but flapping a pair of wings is a bit tougher than casting a spell. I can only imagine what Cadance went through when she became an alicorn and obtained her horn. I would've loved to see her reaction to the magic that flows through every unicorn. It tickles just a bit, but unicorns tend to get used to it. When a Pegasus gains a horn and becomes an alicorn is just a little bit different.

Either way, I flapped my wings as hard as I could, resulting in no luck and a tired self. Twilight came over to me and gently placed one of her wings on mine. I looked at her, still panting from lack of air, and she smiled at me, giggling very slightly.

"That's just a biiiit too hard, Lunar," she told me, "try flapping them gently, like so."

Twilight then pulled herself back and began flapping her wings very slowly. Compared to my flapping, I would say that for every flap of her wings, I had probably done about eleven or twelve. Nevertheless, Twilight's incredibly slow flapping resulted in her being lifted from the ground. She hovered in the air, as did Princess Cadance, as they both looked at me.

"Strength does not matter when it comes to flying." Twilight told me.

"The stronger you are as a pony," Cadance added, "the longer you can stay in the air. That's the only part strength plays with is endurance."

"So gently then is what I'm getting from this," I said, "right?"

"Precisely, Lunar." answered Twilight.

So I planted my hooves firmly on the ground again and tried flapping my wings again, this time, significantly more gentler. This time, my gentle flapping resulted in me being lifted from the ground. I had to work to find my center of balance, so I wobbled a bit here and there, but I managed to find it and gently hover in the air.

"I'm doing it," I panted, "I'm flying!"

I lifted my front hooves up in the air, terminating my center of balance and causing me to fall flat on my face on the ground. I felt a bit embarrassed and was immediately tended to by Twilight. She helped me up and offered me some compassionate words.

"It's okay, Lunar," she told me, "it happens to us all from time to time. Let's go back up there and do this together."

"Thank you, Twilight," I thanked as Twilight pulled my hoof while I stood up. I started gently flapping my wings again and started attacking my challenges head on with Twilight.

---

It's been about nine or ten hours since I've started learning about how to control my wings and how to fly. I've made plenty of visible progress and have come a long way. Now, I am able to fly with a little more ease and have learned to control my wings a little bit better now. I'm actually flying in the skies with Princess Cadance and Twilight right now, showing them the improvement I've made since we first began the lessons.

"Very good, Lunar," Twilight called, "you've sure come a far way in the field of flying."

"You sure have," added Cadance, "now, as all good flyers do, we should give our wings the rest that they deserve, don't you think?"

"I couldn't agree more, Princess," I panted, "I am a bit weary from all this learning and flying that we've done today. I'd sure love to give these two a rest."

"Not a problem at all." Twilight spoke as well.

Turns out, we were all tired from the continuous flying for today. We had touched base back in the field we were in earlier and had rested up a bit. I looked up at the clouds and smiled. It was a gorgeous Friday afternoon here in the Crystal Empire and the sun was reflecting off of the Crystal Castle so elegantly. I began hearing Twilight and Cadance have a small conversation, but I tuned them out and began thinking about some vital items that were sure to be put on my agenda at some point in the near future.

What do I do from here,I thought, where do I go? Since I'm no longer Princess Luna's student, what happens now? I flapped my wings slightly before gently putting them away by my sides. And now that I'm a Prince, does Princess Luna expect me to lead a kingdom of my own?I turned to Twilight, showing a smile in case she was watching me. And Twilight...does me being a Prince mean that I won't be able to see her anymore? Can't I stay with Twilight and assist her with her ruling of her kingdom, just like Shining Armor assists with Princess Cadance?

Turns out, Twilight did manage to sneak a peek over towards me. She looked into my eyes and could sense that I was feeling some disarray inside of myself. She approached me and positioned herself next to me, leaning against my side.

"Is everything alright, Prince Lunar?" Twilight asked me. "You seem to have something bothering you right now."

I looked down into her beautiful violet eyes and saw all the memories I've shared with her through them. I felt a tear trying to break free from my eye, but I managed to put a stop to that by rubbing that eye with my hoof. I leaned my head against Twilight's head, making sure not to harm her horn, as I answered her back.

"It's just...a lot of things are whizzing through my head." I answered.

Princess Cadance turned around and approached both Twilight and myself, setting herself down some one or two yards away. She heard my answer and decided to help with my uneasiness.

"Like what, Lunar," she asked, "if you don't mind me asking, that is?"

"Well," I began answering, pulling my look away from Twilight and focusing in on both of the princesses before me, "for one thing, now that I'm a Prince, does Princess Luna expect me to lead a kingdom of my own now?"

"Who's to know?" Twilight replied.

"If that's the case," added Cadance, "I'm more than certain that she will allow you to rule alongside Twilight here. If not, I can pull some strings for you and make sure that you two stay together."

"Well that answered one of my next hardships that was bothering me." I smiled. "Thank you, Princess Cadance."

Cadance chuckled. "You know, Lunar, you don't have to call me that. We're all royal ponies here and I have a fun motivation and character. While you're with us, you don't have to call me Princess, kind of like we forget that Shining Armor is a Prince, just like you, Lunar. But, nopony ever calls him Prince Shining Armor and I'd hate to feel above him if everypony I knew called me Princess in front of him. I like being called just Cadance. Truth be told, my actual name, Mi Amore Cadenza, is something that I hardly like, which is why I have ponies call me just Cadance. You're following me, right Lunar?"

"I'm following you, Just Cadance," I joked.

The two other princesses chuckled a bit before Cadance continued on. "A good sense of humor, too." She eyed Twilight. "He's a prankster, so watch out."

"Not a big a prankster as Pinkie Pie is," Twilight smiled, kissing me on my cheek, "but he is still my prankster."

Some time had passed with all of our small talk before we saw something up in the skies come towards us. It was a pony, an alicorn more specifically, that was coming down towards us.

"Princess Luna!" I smiled, happy to see her again.

"Prince Lunar," Princess Luna obliged in return, "I have wonderful news."

"Wonderful news?" I repeated. "What is this wonderful news, Luna?"

"It's in regards towards your coronation," continued Luna.

I smiled, ready to finally listen to some of the most important news that I would receive in my lifetime. "What about it, Princess?" I eagerly asked.

"Princess Celestia and myself have set up your coronation, which is to be held tomorrow in Canterlot!" Princess Luna told me.

"Tomorrow?" I repeated.

"Precisely, Prince!" Luna smiled. "I'm so proud of you...all of this...it's just happening so quickly. Your destiny is slowly coming together..."

"We should be getting to Canterlot if the coronation is being held to tomorrow," Princess Cadance suggested, "shouldn't we?"

"We don't have a lot of time to get you prepared, Prince Lunar Nights." Princess Luna continued. "We should follow Princess Cadance's suggestion and head to Canterlot to get yourself ready for tomorrow."

---

"...and that's when you'll come through the large doors to this room, followed by some other ponies. You'll come to the base of this altar and turn to the crowd for a few seconds, then turn back and step up the altar and in front of me. I'll place your crown atop your head, then you'll face the crowd of ponies one last time. They will cheer and applaud you and that's when we'll walk over to that balcony to the right of us. More ponies will be out in the field and you'll stand before them - you can wave to them if you like - and that's when you'll give a little speech on what you have learned. After that, you'll be set and you would have officially been crowned a Prince within Equestria. Does that sound fair?"

"It sounds completely fair, Princess Luna," I smiled.

"Then you should get some rest." Princess Luna suggested. "You've got yourself a long day tomorrow."

"Will do, Princess." I agreed, turning around and being led out of the Canterlot throne room by a royal guard pony.

We had arrived in Canterlot as quickly as possible after Princess Luna had told Twilight, Princess Cadance, and myself the wonderful news that my coronation was being held here tomorrow. Princess Luna just finished explaining to me the procedures for tomorrow and walking me through them. From what Princess Luna told me, and from what Twilight had shared with me, it almost sounds like Twilight's princess coronation. The only difference would be that Princess Luna would be the one introducing me to Equestria for the first time, not Princess Celestia. It didn't matter to me who introduced me. All that I knew was that I was feeling much excitement about tomorrow, but at the same time, I was feeling just a little bit nervous.

The guard pony showed me out of the throne room and into one of the hallways. He took me someplace to the left of our location and up some stairs. I was looking around and admiring the scenery of the Canterlot Castle. I had never actually seen this area of the castle before and it looked a little bit different that the area I've seen. The guard stopped in front of a door and opened it up with his magic. Inside the room was a bed as well as Twilight.

"This will be your room, Prince Lunar," the guard told me. "If you need anything throughout the night, I will be here guarding you and Princess Twilight."

"Thank you, kind sir," I replied as I entered into the room to the excitement of a hug by Twilight. The guard kindly closed the door slowly, leaving just Twilight alone with myself. "Twilight!"

"Lunar!" Twilight smiled, wrapping her hooves around me. "I still can't believe your coronation is tomorrow. I remember when you came over to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship from me and now look at you...you're just about to be crowned Equestria's newest Prince...it's all happening so fast! I...I'm so proud of you."

"I don't know what to say, Twilight," I replied, nuzzling her with my muzzle, "it did all happen so fast...I've studied friendship for Celestia knows how long and now look at me..." I approached the window with Twilight to gaze out towards the setting sun, continuing to answer Twilight. "...now I'm being crowned a Prince...and not just any Prince; I'm being crowned Prince of the Night, which is a big honor for me, seeing how Princess Luna is the Princess of the Night...so we have Princess Celestia, the Princess of the Sun, Princess Luna, the Princess of the Night, you, the Princess of Magic, Princess Cadance, the Princess of Love, and now me, Prince Lunar, the Prince of the Night...I'm so excited, but at the same time...I'm so nervous..."

Twilight comforted me as best as she could, trying her best to calm and ease my nervousness. She wrapped a wing around my body, as I did to her, as she began telling me something else...something that would calm me down very slightly.

"You'll be perfect tomorrow, Lunar," she started, "I just know it. With your confidence, I'm sure you'll be just fine when you walk through the doors to receive your new crown tomorrow. Remember, I'll be there waiting for you, as will Princess Cadance, Princess Celestia, and my older brother. Princess Luna will say a few words about you and your accomplishments, then introduce you. We'll all be waiting for you at the altar to receive your crown, so you won't be alone up there."

"I know, Twilight..." I smiled.

Some silence fell afterwards. Twilight sensed my uneasiness was still in tact and decided to help me out further.

"If it helps calm you," she began, kissing my cheek in the process, "I was like this before my coronation..."

"I'm sure you were," I replied.

"Don't worry though," continued Twilight, "you'll be fine tomorrow, I just know it."

I have a feeling that my nerves will kick in and say otherwise, but for the time being, all I can do is to agree with Twilight and assume that nothing bad could happen or will happen tomorrow. Besides, what's the worst that could happen, right?

I looked up at the sky and saw Princess Luna raising the moon and decided to calm my nerves before the big day tomorrow. Looking back at Twilight, I told her that I was going to take an evening stroll around Canterlot to calm myself down. She smiled, kissing my lips, then told me to be careful as I flew out the window and glided down to the streets of Canterlot.

Along the streets, there were hundreds upon hundreds of lights. The majority of them were streetlights, but there were a few lights coming from some homes. The time had to have been around seven or seven thirty at night, but there were still so many ponies that lined up the streets. I guess this pleased Princess Luna to an extent, up until each pony went home and slept through her gorgeous nights. I always preferred the night to day, but that's just me.

One of the more notable ponies that was trotting down the side of the road was Vinyl Scratch or, as she's known in Baltimare, DJ-Pon3. She was walking with a gray colored mare, but I couldn't place my hoof on who exactly they were. Vinyl was about to walk into a night club when she pulled down her trademark shades and noticed me.

"Yo," she called, "check out this crazy dude!"

She began walking up to me as I stopped in my tracks, wondering who she was talking about. Turns out that she was talking about me, seeing how she stopped in front of me and began admiring my mane and coat color.

"Really diggin' the colors man!" She told me.

"Thanks." I replied back.

I guess she noticed my horn and wings next because that's what came out of her mouth following my thanks. "And you got a horn and wings. You're like one of the princesses...uhh, what were they called again...?"

The grey mare from before approached Vinyl and excused her for her behavior to me.

"Please excuse my friend here." The grey mare told me. "She can be quite a hoofful..."

"It's okay, miss," I smiled in response.

"Oh, please, do call me Octavia." The mare replied back.

"Sure thing, Octavia." I answered.

"Octy, look!" Vinyl called. "This guy's got a pair of wings and a horn. Whatcha say those ponies are called again?"

"Those are called alicorns, Vinyl," Octavia sighed, "and I've told you numerous times not to call me...Octy."

"Lighten up, Octy," Vinyl laughed, giving Octavia a playful shove, though it looked to be a strong one, "it's all in good fun!"

Octavia looked at me with slightly pink cheeks. "Please excuse Vinyl, um..."

"Lunar...Prince Lunar Nights." I replied. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to talk about my new title yet, seeing how I wasn't introduced to Equestria quite just yet as a Prince, but I took the liberty to do it myself anyway.

"Prince Lunar Nights?" Both Vinyl and Octavia questioned at an almost identical time.

"Yes." I answered.

"Well, pardon me, but I'm afraid that I've never heard of you, Prince." Octavia kindly told me.

"Yeah," added Vinyl, "what are ya? A Prince in another country or somethin'?"

I chuckled, "I assure you that that is not the case. Come by the Canterlot Castle tomorrow and you'll see."

"If you say so, dear," Octavia awkwardly said.

"C'mon, Octy," Vinyl anxiously spoke, pulling Octavia away to somewhere, "they're lettin' us in!"

"Whoa-," Octavia gasped, "it was nice meeting you, Your Majesty!"

Before long, Octavia and Vinyl were gone, back from where they once came from. For me, I continued on with my walk, trying my best not to get spotted. I didn't want to make a scene around myself, you know; it's not very often one meets an alicorn and when they do, they usually make a big deal out of it.

The night was perfect tonight. It wasn't too hot, but it also wasn't too cold. The atmosphere felt just right, and the wind - the very minimal wind that there was - was soothing, brushing some of the strands of my mane away. I approached a nearby park and decided to walk through it. Inside the park, there was a lovely fountain with a statue of both the sun and the moon. There was also an inscription written below the stone sun and moon - which replicated that of both Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's cutie marks.

The inscription under the stone read: "When one ends, another begins. When the other begins, one ends, but they never meet each other." I didn't really understand what exactly that meant, but I kind of linked that to what I was going through right now.

"When one ends, another begins," I repeated. I linked that part to my life as a regular unicorn ending and my life as an alicorn beginning. "When the other begins, one ends, but they never meet each other." I continued, linking that part to my two lives - unicorn to alicorn - and how it corresponds with it. Truth be told, my unicorn self and my alicorn self have never physically met. Unicorn me just happened to transform into alicorn me, ending my unicorn life and beginning my alicorn life.

I was overthinking things, something I tend to do a lot, especially when something fairly large is scheduled to happen. I remember feeling this way the day before important tests with Princess Luna and I slightly felt this way when Princess Luna requested that I go and see Princess Twilight, which was honestly the best decision I've ever made. I mean, I could've easily chose not to go, but if I did that, then none of the events that occurred the last few days would have happened and I probably wouldn't have been crowned as a Prince. I probably wouldn't have even received a crown of a pair of wings at that!

I chuckled a bit, reminiscing about all of the events that have occurred in my lifetime, especially that of recent moments. Twilight and all of her teachings...I'm so grateful for all of that. It is because of her that I have my wings. It is because of her that I was introduced to the magic of friendship. It is because of her that I am a very happy uni...alicorn this very moment!

I decided to finally head back to the castle and see Twilight. The walk back wasn't very long, but it was enough for me to settle my emotions down before tomorrow's coronation. I told my parents about the coronation and heard from them almost immediately later in the day. They told me that they will leave for Canterlot immediately and I requested that Princess Luna save a pair of spots for them in the front row. I want them to get a good look at me receiving my crown tomorrow morning.

Looking up, I saw the castle and only one light on coming from a window. The window the light came from happened to be the window I flew out of earlier and so I thought that Twilight was reading up on something important. I flew up towards the window, landing on the balcony just outside the room. I saw Twilight laying on the bed and reading a book and, from the looks of it, it seemed pretty interesting. I entered into the room and saw Twilight look up from her book, smiling at me from the bed.

"Good evening, Prince Lunar Nights," Twilight chuckled, "how are you on this glorious evening?"

"I'm feeling pretty good after my walk, Princess Twilight." I playfully answered back.

"Well that's good to hear," Twilight continued, moving herself so that I could lay upon the bed, "care to join me?"

"I'd love to, Princess." I happily obliged, slowly moving towards the bed and resting myself next to Twilight.

Twilight rested her head against my body, smiling at me and looking up at the ceiling of the room. She gave off a content sigh, then nuzzled me with her muzzle.

"You should get some rest, Lunar," Twilight whispered, "you have yourself a long day tomorrow...Prince."

I smiled, agreeing with Twilight that I should indeed get some rest. I did have a long day set up tomorrow, but, by this time tomorrow, I'll be forever known as Prince Lunar Nights to all of Equestria.

---

Well, the day has finally arrived. Today is my coronation, and I'm just as excited as ever, but at the same time, I'm also very, very nervous. I put on the royal outfit that was given to me by Princess Luna, which resembled my personality and character perfectly. As you know, I am a dark colored unicorn with specks of white in my mane and tail. The outfit Princess Luna gave to me to wear today focused on my personality. It was a suit that resembled the night itself, to be more specific. I put on the suit that was given to me and looked in the mirror. I was all by myself right now, waiting to be called and introduced to everypony out there as a Prince for the very first time.

"Not bad at all," I smiled, looking over my appearance. I flared my wings and began to take a professional stride, practicing one last time to keep the wings flared like this. Suddenly, a knock came at my door and soon after, a guard came inside my room.

"You're time is almost here, Your Majesty," the guard spoke, moving out of the doorway so that I could walk through, "you're needed in the hallway in about two minutes."

I walked out of the room and was guided to the door to the coronation hall by another guard. The first guard was a unicorn guard while this second guard was a Pegasus guard. Not that it mattered, but I just wanted to point that out. We had arrived outside the door to the hall and I could hear Princess Luna saying a few words about me. The guard bowed to me, giving me congratulations about my accomplishments. I thanked him, then focused in on what Princess Luna was saying.

---

"...my star pupil, doing many a great thing since I took him under my wing," Princess Luna said, "he's made me very proud over the years. Since my return and transformation back from Nightmare Moon, he has taught me how to cope with feelings and emotions better than I knew before. It is because of him that we are all here today. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce to you, the citizens of Equestria, to him. Fillies and gentlecolts, allow me to present for the very first time: Prince Lunar Nights!"

The doors to the hallway opened up and there I stood, glancing from back to forth, looking at all the faces of each and every pony. I began walking slowly down the center aisle, followed by the sound of a horn behind me. I had reached the end of the aisle and stood before he base of the altar, turning around and flaring my wings to everypony, receiving an excruciating amount of cheers from them. I looked over and saw that my parents had made it and saw my mother crying tears of joy. I smiled at them, then turned around and began walking up to Princess Luna. Behind her stood Princesses Celestia, Cadance, and Twilight, as well as Shining Armor. I stood before Princess Luna with nothing but smiles on my face - on both of our faces, actually.

"You have made me proud, Lunar," Princess Luna told me, using her magic to reveal a crown to me. She placed it atop my head as I tilted it for her. "Now I want you to share my pride all over Equestria, Prince Lunar Nights!"

I nodded and smiled, then turned back around towards everypony else, receiving more cheers. I looked down towards my parents and motioned to my crown, then to them.

"This is for you." I mouthed at them.

Soon after, Princess Luna took me over to a balcony. We stepped out onto it and I saw thousands of ponies lining up the streets below us. I began waving at the ponies below us as they cheered on, slowly being walked to the end of the balcony by Princess Luna.

"Now it's your turn," she smiled, "go on, say something to them."

"Right," I replied, clearing my throat as the crowd got enormously quieter, "not too long ago, my mentor, Princess Luna, requested that I go search for the benefits of having friends. Prior to me doing so, I really had no friends. My daily routines just required me trying to further my studies and make Princess Luna happy and proud of my accomplishments. Now, I stand before you, not as a lonely unicorn with no friends, but as an alicorn that has touched some lives and has been touched by many ponies. I can honestly say that if it weren't for the assistance of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadance, I would not be standing here before you right now. So, I just want to say thank you, not just to the friends that have helped me further my studies, but to everypony as well. Thank you for everything."

I turned around as the crowd cheered and was greeted with a hug from Twilight. I saw tears falling from her eyes and wiped them away with my hoof.

"Thank you for all you've given to me, Prince Lunar Nights." Twilight smiled, kissing me on my lips.

"Thank you for everything you've done, Princess Twilight." I replied, returning the favor to her. I looked towards Princess Luna, who greeted me with a hug.

"You've made me so proud of you over the years, Lunar," she told me, "and there comes a time where everypony has to let their own go into the world themselves, whether they are star pupils or children to parents. I must do the same and let you go into the world to do good. I may not be your mentor anymore, but I will be here to help and guide you if you need me to."

"Thank you for your guidance, Princess Luna," I smiled, hugging her in response, "thank you for everything that you have done over the years. I promise that I will not let you down and that I will help make Equestria a better place..." I pulled Twilight over with my wing very gently and continued answering Luna. "Especially with her by my side."

"Oh, Lunar," Twilight giggled.

"Always remember how you got here and always remember that you have done good to everypony, Lunar." Luna smiled. "Now go...go out there and make a difference."

"With pleasure, Princess Luna." I obliged.

---

All of us travel under the same path and are all taken under someone's wing in our lifetime. We all are under the wing of our parents as a child and all know that when we, the child, grow up and are ready to move on in today's world, the parents must come to realize that it is time to release the child. But always remember where you come from. You are the world to your parents. They have taught you all that they can (or currently are) and want nothing but the best from you. So remember, when the time has come for you to spread your own wings and fly, always remember where you came from and who helped you get there, for without them, then we would all be struggling to move on.