You don't have to read this, but you must still behold its MAJESTY...
In
a dimly lit laboratory, filled with bubbling beakers, crackling tesla coils, clanking machinery, flashing console lights, and glowing monitor screens, a
tall, rail-thin man in a white lab coat stroked his sliver mustache with the clawed fingers of a monstrous, bestial hand.
“Sooo… My arch-nemesis seeks to collect variants of Aigorost’s primary champion, does she?” he noted as he gazed into an ovoid holodisplay.
“Well, two can play at that game!” he declared, one enlarged, vein-covered eyeball seeming to bulge out of its socket.
“She thinks she’s soooo clever, procuring her little army of pathetic puppets to pit against me, but I shall beat her to the proverbial punch! Yesss… She’ll be in for quite the surprise when she sees what I have in store!” he continued, his mouth curling into a malicious smirk.
“I could, of course, simply gather a collection of the myriad iterations of Glexaroth’s champion, but why settle for such an uninspired knockoff, when I can assemble a multiplicity of my own greatest creation from across the multiversal continuum! There is simply no possible way she would EVER suspect an act of such fiendish brilliance as that, right?!” “Uuuhh… I guess…?” the chamber’s sole other occupant replied tentatively.
“This isn’t one of those trick question things, is it?”“Of course I’m right!” the mad scientist declared with a maniacal grin.
“I’m ALWAYS RIGHT!!! MAWHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!”
“That concludes my report on the battle of Nexustead,” Lunella Celestia told her fellow members of the Lunar Council with a respectful bow.
She stood at the center of a grand chamber, built of iridescent moonstone, which glowed with the ethereal light of the three moons. The rest of the assembled council sat in a semi-circle before Lunella, their faces illuminated by the soft, otherworldly light.
Councilor Astraeus, always a stern voice of order and practicality, was the first to speak.
“Councilor Lunella, on behalf of the Council, I formally commend your efforts in aiding the defense of Nexustead, alongside Orion Emberflare, Zephyr Thornweaver, and...Quincy Safehaven,” he began, speaking the last name with clear reluctance.
“Your intervention was pivotal in stopping the Abyssal forces, and we owe you a great deal of gratitude for that. However, we must now address the impending Full Moon Celebration of the Trilunial Convergence on morrow’s eve, and, more importantly, your impending transformation.”Yes, Lunella reflected, the upcoming Full Moon Celebration would be a most festive occasion, one that would gather revelers from all the lunar cities, as well as realms beyond. Lanterns would float above the streets, emitting a soft luminescence, and the air would be thick with the scent of moonblossoms and the sound of celestial music played by the most skilled lunar musicians. And the fact that it would occur during so portentous an event as a Trilunial Convergence only added to its grandeur. Yet, it was this very fact that served as the source for no small measure of concern, something the young astromancer was acutely aware of, especially in light of how
she was inextricably linked to it.
“I expected no less, Councilor Astraeus,” Lunella replied with a demure nod, her voice calm and measured.
“The convergence approaches, and with it, my metamorphosis into Queen Celestia. I understand that some of you have voiced concerns regarding this, and I am fully willing to address them at this time.”Councilor Syrena, a more whimsical and open-minded member of the council, leaned forward, her silver eyes gleaming with excitement.
“Concerns? Nonsense! Queen Celestia’s presence is an event most auspicious, a symbol of unity and hope under the full moon! And how much more so during the Trilunial Convergence?!” “Well said!” Councilor Chondonis added with his customarily jovial enthusiasm.
“I, too, am filled with great delight at the thought of having our Moonlit Monarch in attendance at such a momentous gathering! After all,” he continued.
“The Triluminum occurs exceedingly rarely, and to have our majestic and radiant Queen of the Full Moon among us at such a portentous time will greatly inspire the people!” “Yes, exactly!” Syrena agreed with a pleased grin.
“Just imagine it: the full moonlight shimmering on her regal celestial attire, her voice like the song of the stars, guiding us all toward a brighter future!”“Inspire?” Astraeus scoffed.
“Hardly. We all know of Celestia’s… tendencies. Her arrogance will completely overshadow the celebration. Need I remind you of her last appearance? She spent the entire night making grandiose speeches about her beauty and power, rather than focusing on the ceremony itself.”Councilor Callistio, an older and more jaded member of the council, nodded in agreement.
“Astraeus speaks true. Celestia may be radiant, but that radiance is blinding. Her vanity is legendary, and I fear she will be far too immersed in her own grandeur to manage the complexities of the evening, let alone deal with... other potential disruptions.”At this, the council shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Although Syrena tried to brush the alluded cause for concern off with a light laugh, the others exchanged grim looks.
“Indeed,” Astraeus concurred with a solemn nod.
“The presence of a Dreamweaver as infamous as Quincy Safehaven at a Celebration of such great import as this is, quite frankly, a catastrophe waiting to happen. He may be a well-meaning fool,” Astraeus continued.
“But his ‘antics’ can hardly be tolerated during such a significant event.”“Oh come now, Quincy is harmless,” Syrena gently chided.
“Harmless?!” Astraeus exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock.
“He’s infamous for turning delicate situations into total chaos. What if his ‘helpful’ ideas disrupt the energy of the Convergence? Or worse, draw unwanted attention from abyssal forces still lingering? The last thing we need is an abyssal creature summoned out of his whimsical nonsense!”“Councilor Astraeus makes a valid point,” Councilor Nyxiella, who had been silent up until now, observed in her typically quiet and reflective manner.
“The Abyssal threat has not been fully quelled, and their reach is long, even from afar. In addition, while our divination abilities may be greatly enhanced during the Trilunial Convergence, that same increase in mystic power shall also place the world in a heightened state of chaos, a kaleidoscopic maelstrom of potentialities that shall invariably render any insights we may glean about an impending threat virtually useless.”“Yes,” Callistio added.
“And allowing Quincy Safehaven’s presence at so critical a juncture makes such a possibility a thousand times more treacherous!” “The Full Moon Celebration is open to all,” Councilor Solonar noted solemnly, Lunella’s venerable mentor adding his voice to the discussion for the first time.
“We cannot bar him entry.”“Maybe so,” Callisto conceded while giving the renowned lunar sage a stern look.
“But you cannot tell me that Queen Celestia of all people will take responsibility for keeping him in line. When Lunella assumes that form, she will be far too self-absorbed to care about Quincy's mischief, or anything else, for that matter. Yes,” he added with a self assured nod.
“She will likely be far too busy basking in her own reflection to notice anything going awry.”“You underestimate her,” Syrena cut in.
“Our Lunar Queen may be grandiose, but her power is undeniable. She can rein him in if necessary.”“If she chooses to,” Nyxiella replied pointedly.
“But the question remains, will she even notice? Quincy is not a minor concern. His actions could spiral into disaster, especially with so much power in the air. Tell us, Lunella,” Nyxiella inquired, her sharp eyes fixing the young astromancer with a piercing gaze.
“Do you truly believe that you can prevent Queen Celestia’s arrogance from blinding you to the subtler dangers this potentiality represents?”For a moment, Lunella was silent, her mind quickly considering all the various concerns that had just been voiced, as well as her own uncertainties. The burden the moons’ had placed upon her was a heavy one indeed, yet, it was one she firmly intended to carry to the best of her abilities. Thus, when she finally spoke, it was with a well-practiced calmness and serenity.
“Esteemed members of the council,” she began.
“I fully acknowledge your concerns and I well understand the risks. My… exuberance when I take on the mantle of Queen Celestia is well known. I do not deny that. And Quincy Safehaven is undoubtedly unpredictable. But he is not malicious. I have journeyed with him, and I believe that, with the right approach, his most excessive frivolities can be contained. As for my own transformation into Queen Celestia,” the lunar mage continued, taking a deep breath.
“I will not pretend to have control over all aspects of my personality when I assume that form, and once the Trilunial Convergence completes, that queenly persona will have even greater dominance over me then ever. But even in that altered state, my foremost duty is to protect our people. I believe that, should danger arise, my regal power will not be squandered on vanity alone. I may become vastly more egotistical as Queen Celestia, but I am still bound by the will of the moons.”“And what if you’re wrong, Lunella?” Astraeus asked, not even bothering to hide his skepticism.
“What if the convergence leaves you too lost in Celestia’s regal indulgence to care about anything other than your own vanity?”“Then it falls to all of you to remind me,” Lunella responded, her voice unwavering as she resolutely held Astraeus’s harsh gaze.
“To remind your Lunar Queen of her duty, and of the reason we stand united beneath the full, majestic light of the three moons. We are not just protectors of our world,” she continued.
“We are protectors of each other. If I should falter in the face of vanity, it will be your voices that bring me back.”At this, the chamber fell into a contemplative silence, the tension still lingering but now mixed with a sense of solidarity. The council members exchanged glances, some more convinced than others, before Nyxiella finally spoke.
“Well said, Lunella,” she commended with a formal nod, the corners of her mouth curling in the faintest hint of a smile.
“We shall all endeavor to fulfill the unique responsibilities the moons have bestowed upon each of us, and so we must prepare for every potentiality.”“I have faith in you, Lunella,” Syrena told the young lunar mage with a soft smile.
“No matter what disruptions may occur, I believe that our majestic and radiant Queen of the Full Moon will rise to the occasion.”“As do I,” Solonar concurred with a sagacious nod.
“Lunella is my most prized student, and never once has she failed to uphold the trust I’ve placed in her. Thus, I am confident that this coming celebration shall be no exception.”“I only hope you’re right,” Astraeus begrudgingly conceded.
“But should things get out of hand, we will be ready.”“Of course,” Solonar acknowledged.
“As I have confidence in Lunella, so too do I have confidence that every member of this esteemed council will do their part to ensure the celebration is a worthy reflection of the moons’ glory.”“Even if, in Chondonis’s case, that’s eating his fill of moon cakes,” Syrena quipped with a teasing smirk, eliciting a hearty chuckle from the portly councilor in question.
“May the moons guide us all…” Callistio said with a weary sigh, signaling a conclusion to the meeting.
Lunella bowed her head slightly, feeling the weight of their concerns and hopes. As the council adjourned, she allowed herself one last glance toward the night sky, where the three moons hung in perfect alignment, their combined light already growing stronger.
“May the moons guide us all…” she whispered.
How could the moons not guide their most majestic and magnificent monarch? Queen Celestia mused, even her very thoughts suffused with an imperious arrogance that throughly swept away every last one of her earlier concerns.
Especially on an eve as enchanting and glorious as this?High above, the three moons filled the firmament with their full grandeur, allowing the
Lunar Cities’ shimmering towers, crystal pathways, and opalescent domes to gleam even more splendiferously than ever. Unsurprisingly, the fantastical festivities taking place within them were
also greatly augmented by the waxing orbs’ glamorous glow. The Moonlight Monarch herself had just taken part in a most splendid moonflower viewing with
Orion Emberflare and was now returning to the grand ballroom, her shapely hips swaying hypnotically as she strode down the gilded moonstone corridor. The tap of her bejeweled high heels announced her presence with each supremely confident step, while Orion and the rest of her entourage followed behind her. With her elaborate attire shimmering with the light of a thousand stars and her luxurious, azure tresses cascading like a celestial waterfall, her every aspect demanded awe and reverence. These were provided in abundance by the crowds of adoring subjects that lined the promenade down which she made her stately passage, bowing low and showering her with praise. As the light of the three moons sparkled in her azure eyes, the corners of Queen Celestia’s mouth curved into a self-satisfied smile.
This was what she craved, and indeed, what she
deserved. It was, after all, only natural for such beauty, such power, such
perfection to be adored. All was right in the world under her divine light, and it was her subjects’ great honor and privilege to bask in it.
Yet, this moment of sublime peace and perfection was shattered an instant later, as the air was rent by a shockingly discordant
squawk…Her azure eyes widening in a mixture of indignation and horror, Queen Celestia’s pace quickened, and upon reaching the ballroom, the Moonlight Monarch gasped as she beheld a scene of utter chaos.
A commotion stirred at the far end of the vast chamber, near where the lunar orchestra had been playing a serene moon melody on their celestial instruments. However, their once gentle and haunting notes were now drowned out by the shrill cackling of a...
giant chicken? Yes, towering above the fleeing revelers was a
colossal, clucking bird. Its silvery, metallic feathers glowed faintly with moonlight, while its bizarre beak resembled an enlarged and horribly misshapen lunar horn, from which spewed a stream of equally enormous and malformed prismatic musical notes. The panicked crowd parted as the monstrosity wobbled forward, its massive, metallic wings flapping wildly, creating gusts of wind that knocked over delicate decorations and trays of mooncakes. The absurd avian’s beady, confused eyes glinted under the three moons as it pecked aimlessly at some of the glowing lanterns surrounding it, the impacts snuffing out their illumination and rending the air with a cacophonous clang, which rivaled the most out of tune celestial cymbal.
Queen Celestia, who had been mid-step, came to an abrupt halt. Her radiant features contorted into a visage of supreme offense, her eyebrows arched so high they could have reached the stars themselves. Her gaze, sharp and filled with disdain, swept across the hall, moving from the panicking crowd to the clucking colossus that was utterly ruining
her perfect evening.
“By the Moons…” the vision of lunar loveliness gasped in utmost indignation, even as a
musician, his visage pale with panic, ran toward the Moonlight Monarch, clutching his chest.
“Y-Your Majesty!” he stammered, pointing at the giant chicken. “My Lunar Horn! H-He… H-He turned it into that
thing!”
“He?” Celestia echoed, fearing she knew full well who the musician was referring to.
“Who dares to tarnish our most splendiferous eve?!” she demanded, her imperious voice suffused with regal fury.
“Who dares to tarnish the most glorious night of the Trilunial Convergence, and to do so in our divine presence, no less?!”“I’m afraid this is Quincy Safehaven’s doing,” the weary voice of Solonar replied as he stepped beside her and gestured to where
the Dreamweaver was in the midst of a heated argument with his
Dream Familiar, Ennui.“Quincy…” Celestia seethed, her azure eyes narrowing. High above, the light of the three moons seemed to gleam even more brightly as if responding to the brewing storm within her.
“But… How was this allowed to happen?! We assigned Zephyr to keep watch over him!”“Unfortunately, Your Majesty, Zephyr Thornweaver appears to have been woefully unsuited to the task,” Solonar replied.
“I told you that menace would ruin everything!” Callistio roared as he rushed by, the blasts of mystic energy from his moonstone staff not harming the avian abomination in the slightest.
“And now it has come to pass!”“Guard thy tongue, commoner!” Celestia snapped as she fixed Callistio’s fleeing form with a stern glare.
“We shall abide no disrespect from our subjects! If thou hath nothing useful to contribute, then we bid thee be silent!”No sooner had this command left the Celestial Sovereign’s azure lips, then a shriek of terror snapped her attention back to where a young girl had fallen in the path of the trumpet-chicken’s wobbling advance. The Moonlight Monarch’s eyes widened in horror upon realizing that the endangered maiden was none other than…
“Eilidh!” Celestia cried, before swiftly conjuring a lunar eclipse shield above her imperiled
little sister, the barrier of celestial energy blocking the creature’s cymbal-like feet. No sooner had this celestial barrier been formed, then a barrage of shimmering moonbeams from the Queen’s raised scepter forced the absurd avian back. Rushing over with purposeful strides, the Moonlight Monarch knelt beside her sister and offered the girl her hand.
“Art thou all right?!” she inquired, her voice filed with urgency.
“I-I’m okay,” Eilidh replied.
“T-Thanks to you, sis!” the girl added with a bright smile as she was helped to her feet.
“You’re so amazing!” she gushed, giving her regal sister a big hug.
“Of, course we art, cherished subject,” the queenly beauty replied, smiling down at her sister with a supremely confident smirk.
“And thou art most welcome,” she added in a considerably more tender tone as she affectionally stroked Eilidh’s hair. Yet, as much as she wished to bask in her sister's reverence and admiration, Celestia knew the monster Quincy’s magic had given birth to needed to be dealt with, and quickly. Indeed, even now, it was bombarding her barrier with a torrent of prismatic musical notes.
“Solonar!” the Lunar Queen called to her sagely mentor, her voice filled with regal authority.
“Guide our dear sister and the rest of our treasured subjects to safety. Thou as well, Orion,” she added.
“Queen Celestia!” a young girl in extravagant attire similar to that worn by Celestia herself called to the Moonlight Monarch.
“H-How can I help?!” “Thou may assist with organizing the evacuation, dear regent,” Celestia replied.
“Thy most grand and glorious queen shall attend to this vile beast!” Pointing the glowing tip of her royal scepter at the enormous instrument-bird and striking an imperious pose, she declared,
“Royal guards! We call thee to arms! Remove this wretched creature from our sight at once!”At her command, a dozen Celestial Guardians, present in case of just such an eventuality, rushed into action, their armored forms gleaming with all the radiance of the firmament.
“Aw yeah!” a
female guardian with draconic features cried in exultation.
“Finally some action!”“Control yourself, Mayra!” their leader, the mighty
Paragon Portentia Parellis, commanded the overly energetic night dragon.
“We are in the presence of the illustrious Lunar Queen. Thus, we shall vanquish this foe, while maintaining the proper demeanor and comportment our Moonlight Monarch expects of us!”“Killjoy…” Mayra muttered.
“Despair not, young Mayra,” the mighty
Aetherion Avollonis intoned, placing a hand on the draconic maiden’s armored shoulder.
“Behold, the foe stands before us, and battle is joined! Come! With the Astral Sentinel’s guidance, may our blows strike true!”Empowered by both the light of the three moons as well as the commanding aura of their celestial sovereign, the guardians surged forward, their glowing weapons slicing through the stream of misshapen musical notes with effortless ease. Yet, just before they could strike the creature itself, the absurd avian employed a new tactic. With a mighty flap of its wings, it created a massive shockwave, a blast of air that sent the guardians pinwheeling backwards across the vast chamber. But that wasn’t all. The great gust also propelled a volley of razor-sharp, enchanted feathers that glistened with eerily warped moonlight. These perilous projectiles fell upon the fallen guardians in a fearsome torrent, piercing both mystic shield and enchanted metal to slice deep wounds into their stellar skin and scales.
“Such prodigious power!” Aetherion exclaimed in horrified astonishment.
“This malign creature is truly a foe most formidable!”“Yeah, he sure does pack a wallop!” Mayra agreed with a chuckle as she staggered to her feet, arcs of blue lightning crackling around her clenched fist.
“But I’m ready for round two!”Yet, such a rematch was not to be…
“Remain where thou art!” Queen Celestia commanded in an icy tone filled with annoyance.
“It hath become quite clear to us that thou art no match for this abominable beast.” Raising her chin in a most haughty manner, her voice dripped with disdain as she declared,
“It would seem that once again we must take matters into our own supremely capable hands. As usual, the Queen must restore order when lesser beings fail,” she added, casting a disparaging glare at the defeated Celestial Guardians.
“Yet, perhaps this outcome is indeed for the best,” the vision of lunar loveliness mused, giving her cerulean tresses a dramatic flip, while her azure lips curled into a cocky smirk.
“For it shall allow us a most fitting opportunity to display the full majestic might of our most grand and glorious self!”However, even as this pompous proclamation was uttered, the trumpet-chicken slammed its celestial cymbal feet into the hall’s polished floor, creating a massive shockwave that not only shattered Celestia’s mystic barriers, but even sapped away some of her own lunar energies. This last aspect was an indignity the Moonlight Monarch refused to abide, an aura of shimmering moon glow forming around her as she regathered her profound power.
“Foul abomination,” the royal beauty declared in a voice so cold and regal it could have frozen the oceans.
“We hath tolerated thy antics long enough! Thou hath dared to interrupt our moment of glory, to usurp our rightful position of primacy, and for that, we shall not be merciful! Now thou shalt face the unbridled fury of Celestia, Queen of the Full Moon!”With an imperious flick of her wrist, Celestia summoned a dazzling sphere of moonlight, the light of all three moons swirling and concentrating into a glowing orb of pure energy. The sky above seemed to tremble as she raised her arms high, the moons' radiance reflecting off her in all her glorious splendor.
“Behold the unmatched power of our eternally exalted and manifestly magnificent self!” she proclaimed.
“Let all witness how we bend the very cosmos to our will!”With that, the waxing energies of the glowing sphere shot forth as a massive beam of concentrated moonlight, one which seemed destined to utterly annihilate the abominable avian. Yet, just before the radiant lance could strike its target, it vanished into the depths of a hastily-erected wall of darkness, formed by the twisted creature’s widely-spread wings. At the sight of her foe’s umbral barrier fully eclipsing the moonlit might of her stupendous attack, Celestia’s haughty visage shifted to one of utter revulsion.
Such effrontery! To so comprehensively negate an attack of such majestic magnitude… It is simply inconceivable! Yet, even with her overwhelming arrogance, Celestia was forced to concede that the same lunar energies that had elevated her to new pinnacles of power were also providing that same empowerment to her abhorrent adversary.
No matter… It is still a creature of chaos. As such, it shall not employ that ability again, a failing that shall be its undoing…Even as these thoughts raced through the royal beauty’s mind, the source of her ire began bouncing closer, its metallic wings flapping wildly, while its cymbal feet filled the hall with a discordant clang after every hop. At the height of its fourth bounce, the creature unleashed a rapid fire hail of glowing eggs upon both Celestia and the wounded Celestial Guardians.
“Dare thee approach us, insolent vermin?!” the regal maiden demanded with imperious indignation.
“Doth thou not perceive the crown adorning our most resplendently regal self?! The testament of our divinely-appointed dominion?! No mortal monstrosity shall ever be permitted to touch our flawless form, nor shall any harm be allowed to come to those we deem worthy of our protection!” With a wave of her royal scepter, she conjured a veil of shimmering moonlight, which nullified the attack with contemptuous ease.
“Know thee that this veil is woven from the perfection of our own divine essence!” Celestia informed the abhorrent avian.
“Thus, no force shall be allowed to pierce it!” However, while the eggs indeed shattered against mystical shield, a flock of smaller trumpet chickens emerged from their remains. Although, if anything, this latest development served only to amuse the Moonlight Monarch. Raising an elegant hand to cover her smirking azure lips, she unleashed a peal of haughty laughter.
“Oooohhh ho ho ho! How utterly pathetic! Thy pitiful attempts to cause harm to our cherished subjects and glorious self amuse us greatly, foul creature! In our most beneficent munificence, we shall provide thee with a display of true power!” Raising her gleaming scepter towards the heavens, Celestia unleashed a barrage of shimmering moonbeams upon her massive foe and its smaller “children”, the scintillating lances moving with elegance and precision to strike their targets despite any attempts at evasion, while leaving dazzling trails of moon dust in their wake.
“Now, face the consequences of thy insolence!” Each of the smaller instrument birds were swiftly vaporized by the beams, and although their larger sire survived the attacks directed against it, the demented creature was still staggered by the rapid succession of blows, its bulbous body sent reeling backwards.
“Yes!” the regal beauty exulted.
“Bow before our incomparable brilliance! Verily, the divine energies of the very moons themselves dance at our command! Let these beams remind thee of thy proper place: beneath our feet!”Yet, despite this minor setback, the feathered fiend was far from finished. Raising its misshapen head, it unleashed an otherworldly trumpeting caw that echoed across the ballroom-turned battlefield, a sound wave of warped magic which summoned a torrent of other mystical anomalies. Celestia watched in mounting fury as a cavalcade of lesser trumpet chickens, meteor-like eggs, and even rogue star fragments shaped like malformed musical notes rained down around her.
“Vile abomination…” she hissed, even as her shimmering celestial shield prevented any aspect of the bizarre barrage form striking her august personage or her fallen guardians.
“We art the Queen of the Full Moon! Our regal splendor shall not be diminished and our divine dominion shall not be denied!”Striking a dramatically imperious pose, the royal beauty raised her scepter high, mystical power swirling around its bejeweled tip. Glowing with redoubled radiance, the three moons bathed Celestia in a cascade of combined moonlight, enhancing her already magnified powers a hundredfold.
“This eve is ours to reign over with unparalleled splendor!” she declared, pointing her astonishingly augmented scepter at her defiant foe.
“Thou shall grovel before our imperial majesty and submit to our royal decree! Thus is the command of Queen Celestia!” Even as she uttered these words of command, a cage of gleaming moonbeams formed around the trumpet chicken, the enchanted enclosure amplifying the mighty beam of raw lunar power Celestia subsequently unleashed from her royal scepter. This, coupled with the imperious power of her words, forced the malign monstrosity to submit to her regal decree. The abominable avian let out one final, pathetic squawk before it began to shrink, its massive wings collapsing inward as the lunar magic inexorably dissolved it back into its original form. In a final, blinding flash, the moonbeam cage dispersed to reveal the inanimate form of a humble Lunar Horn laying on the ballroom’s moonstone floor.
“As if we could lose!” Celestia boasted as she struck a triumphant victory pose, her azure lips curling into a supremely smug smirk.
The crowd, until then huddled at the hall’s entrance in hushed awe, now erupted into cheers and applause, showering Celestia with praise. The radiant queen soaked in their adulation, raising a hand to silence them only after she felt sufficiently lauded.
“As thou can see,” she said, her voice echoing with regal arrogance.
“There is no challenge so dire, no threat so seemingly insurmountable, that it cannot be overcome by our most exalted and magnificent self!” Raising an elegant hand to cover her mouth, she gave voice to a peal of haughty laughter.
“Oooohh ho ho ho hooo! Now that the abominable monstrosity hath been vanquished by our most incomparable hand, this celebration shall continue,” the Moonlight Monarch announced with a majestic sweep of her royal scepter.
“And we shall ensure it is without any further interruption,” she added, casting a pointed glare in Quincy Safehaven’s direction. Then, turning to where the lunar orchestra had just reassumed their positions, she raised her arms grandly, commanding their attention.
“We bid thee play on, for this evening must continue to be as magnificent as we art! Verily, the Trilunial Convergence is not a night to be sullied by foolishness,” she continued in her usual melodramatic fashion.
“But one to honor us, the Queen of the Full Moon!”With her regal composure restored, Queen Celestia smiled to herself, confident in the knowledge that both the night and the people's hearts undeniably belonged to her. She had vanquished the threat to her rule and ensured that the celebration would continue with renewed splendor.
As if there was any doubt, the regal beauty thought to herself as her azure lips formed a cocky smirk. Indeed, it was an utterly indisputable fact that her radiance and power were unmatched by any who would seek to usurp her rightful place of primacy.
“You were absolutely incredible, Queen Celestia!” her regent gushed, the excited maiden’s eyes seeming to sparkle with awe.
“It pleases us that thou hath noticed,” Celestia replied with smug self assurance, before allowing a degree of warmth to enter her tone.
“And we art also most pleased at how admirably thou hast carried out thine own assigned duties, dear regent,” she added, placing an elegant hand upon the girl’s shoulder.
“Naturally, we were quite correct in choosing thee for thy most distinguished role,” the regal beauty continued, before dramatically sashaying away.
“After all, our judgement is as flawless as our beauty! Verily, we art the most magnificently majestic being to ever grace the moonlit night!” she assured herself, while admiring her reflection in an ornate gilded mirror to make certain that the recent battle had not negatively affected her immaculate appearance in any perceivable way.
Once she was satisfied that her perfection had been preserved, the Moonlight Monarch turned to the task of ensuring that the potential for any further disruptions would be thoroughly curtailed. Setting into motion, her imperious strides delivered her to where Quincy Safehaven was surrounded by the recovered Celestial Guardians. Yet, before she could question the Dreamweaver, Solonar approached her.
“Your Majesty,” the lunar sage began.
“It should interest you to know that Zephyr Thornweaver has been located, and the most skilled healers are currently ensuring their full recovery.”“Whatever hath happened to them?!” Celestia inquired, her azure eyes widening at the implication of her mentor’s words.
“It would seem their elemental affinity was somehow shifted to paper,” Solonar replied.
“Poly-plenumic paper, at that. After which, something apparently caused them to combust…”At this, the queenly beauty’s head whirled around to glare sharp daggers at Quincy.
“I-I assure you, Your Majesty, I had absolutely nothing to do with that!” the Dreamweaver pleaded, falling prostrate before the Moonlight Monarch.
“I-I didn’t even realize they were unwell!” he added, while bowing repeatedly.
“It’s the truth,” his Dream Familiar, Ennui said in a tired voice.
“When we last saw Zephyr, they were going to watch some fireworks with a very… animated young woman.”“Yes!” Quincy agreed.
“She had the most lovely pink hair,” he added.
“It perfectly complemented her aquamarine skin!”Aquamarine skin? Celestia reflected.
Pink hair?“Starling…” Solonar muttered with an annoyed scowl, voicing the name that had already entered Celestia’s mind.
“I should have known…”“Be that as it may, it still doth not explain why the two of you were separated,” Celestia noted pointedly.
“Zephyr was tasked with keeping watch over thee by our own most magnificent self,” she added.
“We should think they would not so readily disregard our orders!”“The amplification of chaotic energies, due to Luminara’s waxing, may have had something to do with it, Your Majesty,” Solonar postulated.
“And, well, they thought we would be going with them,” Ennui added.
“But Quincy ended up getting distracted…”“Why does that not surprise me?” Solonar sighed wearily.
“I was only trying to be polite!” Quincy protested from where he knelt prostrate.
“One of that pink-haired young lady’s sisters suggested we might enlist some members of the orchestra to provide ambient accompaniment for the fireworks display, and then her other sister told me about a joke she found rather confusing, at which point, I—”“Wait, did you say sisters?” Solonar asked with a puzzled frown.
“Yes, they were quite clearly triplets,” Quincy confirmed.
“They even sounded alike!”“But Staceella Starling doesn’t have any siblings…” Solonar murmured.
“Actually, I believe they said they weren’t exactly sisters,” Ennui spoke up.
“But rather—”“I saw them, too!” Eilidh chimed in as she hurried over, inadvertently cutting off the dream familiar’s revelation.
“They were asking about Staceella. I guess they found her…” she added, her voice trailing off as the implication of what that discovery had apparently led to fully sank in.
Celestia’s eyes had continued to narrow with each new piece of information revealed. Placing an elegant hand on her shapely hip, while pointing her royal scepter at the still groveling Quincy, the queenly beauty’s voice finally rang out.
“We command thee to cease thy pathetic display of obeisance and rise, Dreamweaver. Now then, cherished subjects,” she added, pointing her bejeweled scepter’s gleaming tip at Quincy, Ennui, and Eilidh in turn.
“We bid thee, tell us everything…”
An hour earlier, Eilidh was watching in rapt awe as Queen Celestia gave a truly captivating performance on the dance floor, the Moonlight Monarch gliding through even the most complex movements with effortless grace while clearly reveling in the attention being lavished upon her.
“Your sister is so beautiful…” Eilidh’s friend,
Celinde, sighed blissfuly, while placing her hands over her heart.
“I could watch her for hours…” the soft spoken girl added with a dreamy smile.
“She truly is incredible,” Eilidh agreed.
“And I couldn’t be more proud of her,” she added.
“It’s just so inspiring how she can make everyone so happy that they forget all their troubles!”“Well, almost everyone…” Celinde corrected as she nervously glanced to where her elder sister,
Caleena, was watching Celestia’s performance with an annoyed frown.
“I simply can’t understand how anyone could admire such a preening prima donna,” Caleena scoffed.
“All she cares about is stroking her own over-inflated ego. Her so-called ‘subjects’ exist to serve her, not the other way around.”“That’s not true!” Eilidh shot back in defense of her beloved sister.
“Lunella may become more arrogant and self absorbed when she transforms into Queen Celestia, but she still cares deeply about others! Look at what she just did for Lunette!” she added, gesturing to where Celestia’s newly-appointed regent sat bedecked in regal splendor atop the Moonlight Monarch’s gilded throne.
“Yes!” Celinde agreed with an eager smile.
“She looks so happy up there!”“Oh, please. That was obviously nothing more than a patronizing favor, given out in response to how shamelessly Lunette was fawning over her earlier,” Caleena retorted with a dismissive hair flip.
“I imagine anyone could receive such treatment if they debased themselves a sufficient amount. Not only that, but her vaunted mystical abilities provide nothing more than flashy spectacle, devoid of any practical value whatsoever. Still, I suppose someone who only employed her own magic to entertain children with insipid displays of glowing colors would find it appealing,” she added, while giving Eilidh a derisive sneer.
Although the accusation stung, Eilidh chose to ignore it. As far as she was concerned, helping others was the primary purpose of mystical abilities, no matter how they were employed, but she knew Caleena didn’t see things that way. For her, it was just a means of gaining respect and renown. In fact, Eilidh strongly suspected that the
real reason for Caleena’s enmity toward her royal sister was due to jealousy at the fact that Celestia’s dazzling presence had completely eclipsed any celebration, or even recognition, of Caleena’s own recent prestigious induction into the Astromancers’ League. That said, the queen’s kind-hearted little sister wisely decided not to voice this sentiment. Indeed, even as these thoughts crossed Eilidh’s mind, Caleena’s embittered rant had continued unabated.
“In fact,” Caleena was saying.
“It is my honest opinion that, while she is under the effects of this absurdly ostentatious transformation, Lunella is only marginally less annoying than that utterly insufferable dimwit, Sta—”“Hey! Hey!” a new voice called out with eager excitement, cutting Caleena off mid-sentence.
“Do you guys know Stacy?!”At this, the trio’s attention snapped to a strangely familiar pair of pink-haired young women who were rushing over to them with a severe lack of dignity or decorum. The
first seemed to be an odd patchwork of various disjointed pieces and parts, while the
second looked as if she were composed of some form of translucent, gelatinous slime. Even so, the pair shared enough similarities that Eilidh wouldn’t have been surprised if they said they were sisters, and twins at that. Or maybe, even
triplets…“U-Um, do you perhaps mean Staceella…?” Eilidh asked, recoiling slightly when the pair stopped only after they’d thoroughly invaded her personal space.
“Uh, yeah!” the patchwork girl confirmed with a big grin.
“That’s totally who I meant!”“Oh, wow! That’s crazy cool!” the gelatinous girl added.
“Her name’s, like, all super fancy and stuff!”“I know, right?!” the patchwork girl agreed.
“So, uh, do ya know her?!” she asked Eilidh again.
“Y-Yes,” Eilidh confirmed.
“She’s a fellow student at the Lunar Academy.”“Don’t remind me…” Caleena muttered.
“She is, without question, the absolute worst student in the academy’s history,” the silver-haired stargazer went on.
“It is truly a riddle for the ages why she hasn’t been expelled yet…”“S-She’s not that bad…” Celinde whispered.
“Um, do you happen to be… related to her, by any chance?” Eilidh inquired of the pink haired pair.
“Yeah, I guess ya could say that!” the patchwork girl replied with a laugh.
“So, what’s this Stacy, I mean, Staceella, like?!” the gelatinous girl asked.
“I bet we’ve got lots of stuff in common!”“Like using the farm strategy in chess!” the patchwork girl added.
“Well…” Eilidh began hesitantly.
“Why don’t you ask her yourselves?” Caleena cut in.
“That’s her over there,” she added, pointing to where
an animated girl with teal skin, pink hair, and a star-tipped antenna sticking out of her head was chatting with a considerably more subdued young lady with dark hair, pale skin and distinctive red eyes. “The one with stardust coming out of her mouth.”“Oh wow!” the patchwork girl exclaimed with a big grin.
“That’s crazy cool!” the gelatinous girl added with an equally delighted smile.
“Like, thanks a bunch!” the pair called back in unison as they raced over to the girl that could very well have been their sister if Eilidh didn’t know any better.
“Gosh, they sounded just like Staceella…” Celinde murmured.
“And acted like her, too,” Caleena muttered.
“They really did…” Eilidh agreed, unable to keep a twinge of worry from creeping into her thoughts.
“Well, at least they’re no longer bothering us,” Caleena declared.
“Although I don’t even need to employ divination to know that their little meeting will result in absolutely nothing good,” she added, gesturing to where the uncanny pair had begun chatting with their look-alike.
Although Eilidh remained silent, in the depths of her heart, she couldn’t help but feel with dreadful certainty that Caleena was right…
This would be the night, Ramona Redmoon swore to herself. The night that all her painstakingly prepared plans would at long last come to fabulous fruition. The night on which she would
finally remove the most agonizing aspect of her young life once and for all. Yes, this would be the night she would finally
kill Staceella Starling…
To say Staceella was annoying would have been the understatement of the millennium, but to make matters even worse, the girl was utterly oblivious to anything that might conflict with her own deranged worldview. In fact, she was so delusionally dense, she still had yet to realize that her “best friend” Ramona actually hated her with such a blazing passion that she had tried to end their “friendship” (by ending Staceella’s life) no less than
six times already. First, Ramona had tried to simply poison her, but the Dreamer’s Moon had been in its Nightmare Phase, and instead of making the poison more nightmarishly effective, it had made Ramona’s
own nightmare a reality, by turning the poison into a panacea that would provide Staceella with a complete immunity to all poisons for the rest of her life. Next, during a trip to the Eternal Carnival, she had tricked Staceella into challenging the Grandmaster of Games to a duel in which the loser would be transformed into an inanimate playing piece. However, Staceella had been allowed to choose the game, and after picking one of her own warped design, it was unsurprising that she had emerged victorious. Then there was the time Ramona had led her to the Divergent Peaks and into a cavern filled with Cacaphonian Shrike Bats, creatures whose sanity-shredding screeches could burst apart an unprotected skull in mere seconds. But, somehow, Staceella had been entirely unaffected (Ramona would later discover that the blissfully ignorant girl had been trying out a medicinal goblin earwax sample provided by a traveling alchemist). In fact, rather than suffering a fatal cranial detonation, Staceella had actually joined in on the bats’ “song”, her tone deaf affront to music instead causing the screeching scourges themselves to burst apart in a “show of appreciation”. After that, the fact that Staceella was able to navigate her way out of the cavern’s labyrinthian paths was practically a forgone conclusion (it didn’t hurt that the mountain itself had agreed to serve as her guide after she’d happily befriended it).
Yet, still Ramona pressed on undaunted, even as the Riddle Regent of the Nomadic Wastes’s puzzle contest was solved thanks to the ill-timed appearance of the Shifting Moon, and the visit to the House of Doors had merely caused Staceella to travel to her own bedroom closet. Finally, at the last Full Moon Celebration, Ramona had tricked Staceella into purchasing (and eating) a Stellar Shimmerling Swarm Sphere from a visiting merchant from the Celestial Archipelago (not to be confused with the
Harmonious Archipelago). However, instead of devouring the ditzy girl from the inside out, the Shimmerlings had bonded to her, transforming Staceella into a bizarre Lunatic-Shimmerling hybrid/fusion…
thing… As if she wasn’t annoying enough, she now sported bright teal skin which clashed horribly with her already eyesore-inducing pink hair, suction cups on her fingers that made unwanted hugs even more inescapable, and a single, star-tipped head antenna that at least served to alert anyone nearby to her presence. That is, if they hadn’t already
heard her coming from miles away…
“Hey, Ramona!” Staceella called out, waving her hand enthusiastically as Ramona made her way over to where her “best friend” was practically bouncing up and down with excitement.
“Isn’t this, like, the crazy coolest Full Moon Celebration ever?!” she asked, a stream of glowing, five pointed stars flowing from her mouth to join the cloud of shimmering luminaries that seemed to constantly envelop the bubbly girl.
“It’s… certainly something…” the famously anti-social Ramona replied with a slight scowl as she glanced around the crowded ballroom.
“And I have a little present for you that’s sure to make it even cooler,” she added with a knowing smile as she produced a small package from the folds of her robe, her composure now fully restored in the wake of its momentary lapse.
“Oh wow! What is it?!” Staceella asked, her already star-filled eyes seeming to sparkle with even greater intensity as she fixed her full, hyperactive attention on the mystery package.
Ramona’s grin became even more mischievous as she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone.
“Fireworks,” she revealed.
“And not normal ones, either. These have some very… special properties.”Indeed they did, Ramona reflected with a mental smirk. In fact, she had purchased them from the same merchant that had sold Staceella the Stellar Shimmerling Swarm Sphere. While that attempt had ended in failure, in the most delicious of all ironies, it had led Ramona to an even
better plan. After making a long and detailed study of Shimmerlings, she had discovered that their most rapacious natural enemies were the Crimson Flareites, energy beings that could utterly incinerate an entire swarm of Shimmerlings in mere seconds. As such, what better way could there be of eliminating the hybrid host of such a swarm then gifting her with a case filled with an entire hive’s worth of Flareites disguised as innocuous fireworks? There would, of course, be a full, spectacular display of
actual fireworks later that evening (indeed, the location of Queen Celestia’s opulent throne had been chosen precisely so that the grandiose display would serve as the perfect backdrop to her own magnificent splendor), but Staceella was blissfully ignorant of that fact. Thus, with her present promising to be the
only fireworks the easily captivated girl could possibly see, the prospect of her making use of them this very night became an absolute certainty…
“Oh my freaking moons! That’s, like, totally super awesome!” Staceella cheered, sending a stream of glittering stars spilling over her “friend”.
“Thanks so much, bestie!” she added, giving Ramona a very tight (and very unwanted) hug.
“You’re the greatest!”“U-Uh, yeah…” Ramona replied, cringing as she did her best to endure the bone-crushing hug.
“O-Of course I am. Now, why don’t you go try them out?” she suggested.
“As it happens, I know the perfect place for you to laun—” “Hey! Hey!” a disturbingly familiar voice called out, cutting her off mid-syllable.
“You’re Staceella, right?!”Turning to face the source of the excited call, Ramona was horrified to see a pair of young women rushing toward her, each of whom bore an uncanny resemblance to Staceella. Although one seemed to be a patchwork of parts and the other some form of gelatinous slime, they both had the same unmistakeable pink hair as Staceella. And, far,
far worse, they also had her
voice…“Oh, wow!” the gelatinous pinkette exclaimed, her eyes wide as saucers and her delighted grin spread from ear to ear.
“And you’ve got your own Ramona, too!”Her own Ramona?! the red-eyed girl in question wondered, her thoughts a frenzied maelstrom of confusion and terror.
N-No… I-It can’t be possible! One Staceella was awful enough, and now there’s three of them?!Yet, while Ramona was having her mental freak out of soul-crushing horror, Staceella was having a freak out of a vastly different kind…
“Holy freaking crap!” the star-covered girl exclaimed with a level of exuberance to mach that displayed by her two uncanny doppelgängers.
“You guys look just like me! Well, kinda.”“That’s because we are you!” the patchwork lookalike replied.
“We’re both Stacy Sterling!” her gelatinous companion added.
“Which is sorta like your name but waaay less cool!”“Oh, but to make things less confusing, you can call me Stacy Stitches!” patchwork Stacy announced.
“And you can call me Cyberslime Stacy!” the gelatinous Stacy added.
“I mean, I’m technically made of nanoslime, but that doesn’t have the same crazy cool alliteration thing goin’ on!”“No way!” Staceella exclaimed with a gleeful smile as yet another torrent of stars spilled out of her mouth.
“So you’re, like, other ‘me’s from other universes?!”“Yeah!” Stacy Stitches confirmed.
“I’m from Gizmotropolis! It’s full of mad scientists and stuff!”“And I’m from Neon York!” Cyberslime Stacy added.
“It’s like this crazy cool cyberpunk megacity place!” Stacey Stitches explained
“Oh wow!” Staceella cheered in delight.
“That’s, like, the crazy coolest thing ever! Even if I have no idea what some of those words mean, it’s still, like, totally lunar! Oh gosh!” she added a moment later, her star-filled eyes widening as a thought forced its way into her hyperactive brain.
“If there are other ‘me’s… well… other uses, does that mean there are other Ramonas?!”At the sound of that inquiry, the girl in question’s crimson eyes widened as a realization of her own suddenly dawned…
Wait… This could actually be a good thing… If these Staceys, or Staceellas, or whatever have Ramonas of their own, then those duplicates of me probably want to be rid of her just as much as I do! And now I have the opportunity to make that happen…“Yeah! There totally are!” Cyberslime Stacey confirmed happily.
“She’s totally our BFF!” Stacey Stitches added.
“My Ramona’s a crazy cool hacker who can do all kinds of awesome things with computers and stuff!” Cyberslime Stacey explained.
“And my Ramona’s a crazy cool witch who uses super spooky shadow magic, and puts curses on people!” Stacey Stitches added.
“Wow! That’s, like, super gibbous!” Staceella replied.
“Ramona’s my BFF, too! I don’t know what computers are, so I can’t say if she’s good with them or not, but she can do some cool shadowy type spell things during eclipses,” the star-covered girl added.
“Although what she’s really crazy talented at is blood moon magic!”“Um, what exactly brings you two here?” Ramona spoke up in an effort to divert the conversation away from herself.
“Oh, right!” Stacy Stitches exclaimed her single eye going wide.
“I totally forgot!”“Yeah, and so did I!” Cyberslime Stacy added.
“We’re here because my boss, Doc Zinestine, wants me to find as many different versions of me that I can from across the entire freakin’ multiverse so we can all go on a crazy cool super important mission together!” Stacy Stitches explained.
“That sounded crazy awesome, and totally the sorta thing a super cool hero like me would do, so I joined up right away!” Cyberslime Stacy added.
“Then we went to find you, but it was really tough searching through this crazy cool party ya got goin’ on!” Stacy Stitches noted.
“Yeah!” Cyberslime Stacy agreed.
“This is the crazy coolest party I’ve ever seen!”“And you’ve got crazy awesome food here, too!” Stacy Stitches added.
“Especially those glowy moon pastry things!” Cyberslime Stacy chimed in.
“We both love those!”“Yep! Yep!” Stacy Stitches concurred with a few rapid nods.
“They were super yummers!”“Aren’t they great?!” Staceella said with a jubilant grin.
“Oh, and this is our monthly Full Moon Celebration!” she explained.
“It’s aways super fun, but because all three of the moons are full, it’s even more awesome than usual! That’s because all of the moons have crazy powers,” she explained.
“And when they’re full, their powers get even crazier and make all sorts of amazing stuff happen! I mean, just look at tonight! Not only did I get to meet the two of you, I get to go on a crazy cool adventure with ya, too! Oh, and I also got these super awesome fireworks from Ramona!” she added, showing off the box.
“I’m sure if this was just a single full moon dealie, none of that would have happened!”“Wow! So what you’re sayin’ is, we were only able to find ya cuz of the moons?!” Stacy Stitches asked.
“That’s, like, all kinds of nuts! But, like, in a good way!” she hastened to add.
“Totally!” Cyberslime Stacy agreed.
“But wait a minute! Did you say fireworks?!”“That’s right!” Staceella confirmed.
“And they’re supposed to be waaay cooler than normal fireworks, too! But I have no idea how, which just makes it even better!”“Why don’t you shoot them off together?” Ramona suggested with a smirk, having heard enough “crazy cool”s and “super awesome”s in the past several seconds to last her several
lifetimes and desperately wanting to move the rambling conversation in a more productive direction.
“You know, to celebrate this big adventure you’ll be going on?”“That’s a great idea!” Stacy Stitches declared.
“Yeah!” Cyberslime Stacy agreed.
“You’re just as crazy smart as my Ramona!” she told the crimson-eyed blood moon mage.
And you’re just as annoying and stupid as my Staceella…“Naturally,” Ramona replied with a facade of easy nonchalance that was growing ever more difficult to maintain.
“After all, she and I are essentially the same person, correct?” And we probably both hate you just as much… “Now, it just so happens I know the prefect place for you to launch them,” she continued.
“There’s a nice secluded little balcony on the edge of the Lunar Gardens that overlooks the moonflower fields. Their soft luminescence should create an ideal ambiance for your display,” she explained.
And it will keep anyone from stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your lives…“Holy freaking crap! That place sounds crazy cool!” Stacy Stitches declared with her typical exuberance.
“It totally does!” Staceella agreed.
“And I think I even know how to get there, too!”“I’m glad I don’t need to get you a map,” Ramona quipped. Even then, Staceella was hopeless when it came to reading them.
“And even if we get lost, I can stretch my neck like a periscope and totally find out where we need to go!” Cyberslime Stacy added.
“I have no idea what a periscope is, but I’d still love to see that!” Staceella declared.
“All right, guys!” Stacy Stitches announced, thrusting her fist into the air.
“Let’s get goin’!”“Have fun,” Ramona bid the trio with a sly smirk as she watched them depart.
Being devoured by Flareites…Yes, even if the two Stacys
weren’t hosts for Shimmerling swarms as Staceella was, the rapacious Flareites would almost certainly consume them in their ruinous flames as well. After all, the only thing the crimson-hued energy insects were attracted to more was poly-plenumic parchment, and even then, one would need to gather a stack of the exceedingly rare material at least six feet tall for them to take any interest. What were the chances of
that happening? No, this
would be the night she finally claimed victory over Staceella. Ramona was certain of it.
With their lush greenery, colorful bioluminescent flowers, softly glowing lanterns, and ornate moonstone arches,
the Lunar Gardens were the perfect place for those seeking serene seclusion. Yet, while they would have almost certainly been filled with several dozen meditation circles during the Darkmoon Contemplations, on the night of a Full Moon Celebration (and one occurring on a Trilunial Convergence no less), everyone would be far too busy making merry to bother with taking even a peaceful stroll, to say nothing of engaging in deep meditation. This was something Ramona had been banking on when she suggested the location to Staceella. Unfortunately for the blood moon mage, she was not the
only individual to get such an inspired idea that enchanted eve…
“Truly this is a garden of delights to rival any in the Elemental Enclave!” Zephyr Thornweaver marveled as they strolled beside Quincy Safehaven, while the Dreamweaver’s gloomy familiar, Ennui, trailed dispassionately behind the pair, her arms crossed over her chest as she gave voice to a tired sigh.
This is such an annoyance, but I suppose it can’t be helped, Ennui reflected as her small form lazily drifted through the air between the branches of ancient moonwillows and whispering glowvines.
After all, I’d rather not think about the alternative…In an effort to ensure that Quincy would be unable to disrupt the auspicious evening’s festivities, Lunella had suggested that her other traveling companions take turns in watching over the infamous Dreamweaver in a suitably out-of-the-way location, like the Lunar Gardens, a course of action Ennui had conceded was probably for the best. At first, the fiery Elementalist, Orion Emberflare, had taken up the responsibility, but when Lunella, having transformed into the haughty and imperious Queen Celestia, demanded his presence for a moonflower viewing, the task had fallen to Zephyr Thornweaver.
An Elven Elementalist chosen to be the next guardian of the Elemental Enclave, and one who possessed abilities exceeding even those of the prodigiously skilled Orion, it seemed perfectly reasonable to expect Zephyr to be more than capable of serving in such a role. However, as Ennui quickly discovered, the Elemental Guardian was also highly inquisitive, always on the lookout for new elementally significant experiences, and unfortunately for all concerned, the chaotic energies accentuated by the Trilunial Convergence meant that this particular eve was replete with them.
“I’m told these charming flowers only bloom during a Trilunial Convergence,” Zephyr was saying as they gracefully crouched to inspect a cluster of moon orchids, Ennui’s sigh having gone unnoticed by the fascinated Elementalist.
“Their petals shimmer with all four elements. See the way the edges curl? Fire. The softness in the stem? Water. The pale dust they emit is air. And their roots have burrowed so deep they hum with earth’s pulse,” they concluded with a smile as they traced glowing veins along the flower.
Meanwhile, Quincy was spreading out his Oneiric Gauge in order to measure the arc between Zephyr’s hair and a floating leaf.
“Mmm… 37 dreamspans,” the Dreamweaver noted, his head tilted in thought.
“Fascinating!” he suddenly exclaimed, his hunched over form shooting upright in a burst of motion.
“You and the orchid are harmonizing on a metaphysical chord! Do you often commune with nocturnal vegetation in such a marvelously poetic manner, or is this the beginnings of a budding romance?”At this, Zephyr couldn’t help but chuckle.
“My feelings for this flower are certainly infused with love, but not of the romantic kind,” the Elven Elementalist replied.
“I simply prefer my metaphors grounded in the elements, but I do admire the way you blur lines, Quincy. Your unique way of perceiving the world is truly a gift, even if your musings seem like nothing more than utter nonsense to the unenlightened.”“Why thank you!” Quincy beamed, honored to receive such high praise from such an esteemed elementalist.
“I work very hard to make no sense at all!”“No, Quincy,” Ennui corrected in a flat deadpan.
“You really don’t. It genuinely just comes naturally,” she added, turning to Zephyr.
“So I am beginning to learn,” the Elven Elementalist replied.
Meanwhile, Quincy was studying a nearby plant, his countenance filled with joyous wonderment.
“How delightfully cryptic!” the Dreamweaver marveled.
“This flower’s beautiful blossom is completely hidden by this veil of mystifying moss growing out of it! I think I shall call it The Verdant Vaguery!”“Oh great, he’s naming things again…” Ennui sighed, the tiny dream familiar’s soft mutterings unheard by either of her larger companions.
“This can only end well…” As she listened to Quincy’s continuing rambles, images of what had been conjured into existence the
last time he’d had a burst of that
particular sort of creativity entered her mind unbidden. Floating cake towers that were deathly afraid of heights. Sentient picnic blankets that were terrified of food. And with the mystical energies of the Trilunial Convergence waxing their strongest, Quincy’s dream magic was now more potent than ever…
At least no one else is around to complicate things even further.Of course, it was at that exact moment that the relative peace of the small alcove in which the trio currently resided was shattered by a jubilant greeting.
“Hi! Hi!” a cheerful voice called.
“Oh wow! There are actually other people here!” Another, nearly identical voice added.
“That just makes things even better!” a third voice chimed in, sounding almost exactly the same as the first two.
Spinning around with far greater speed than she usually employed, Ennui saw that the voices belonged to a trio of eerily similar young women, all three of whom were grinning with delight.
“Yeah!” the girl with the star-shaped antenna agreed.
“You’re totally right!” Then, turning to Ennui and her larger companions, she added,
“Hey! Do you guys wanna see some fireworks?!”Fireworks?This was bad.
The last time Quincy had crossed paths with fireworks, the resulting fiasco had nearly caused no less than three entire kingdoms to go to war against each other. Indeed, keeping the Dreamweaver away from, and ignorant of, the fireworks display occurring later that evening was one of the principal reasons for bringing him to the gardens in the first place. Yet now, in a perfect case of atrociously bad luck, the fireworks had simply been brought to
him instead…
“Fireworks?!” Quincy exclaimed his eyes seeming to twinkle with glee.
“Oh, how exciting! I do so love fireworks! Do you remember the last time we saw fireworks, Ennui?!” he asked his dream familiar.
“Wasn’t it remarkably grand?!”“That’s certainly one way to describe it…” Ennui replied in her trademark deadpan, having already resigned herself to what was surely to result from this latest development.
“But why would you wish to shatter the tranquilly of such sublimely serene surroundings?” Zephyr inquired, gesturing towards where the various nocturnal flowers bloomed with an otherworldly luminescence, while ethereal petals drifted through the air like stardust.
“Because these aren’t ordinary fireworks!” the patchwork pinkette replied.
“Yeah, they’re super special crazy awesome fireworks!” the gelatinous pinkette added.
“With all sorts of crazy properties and stuff!”“And one of those crazy cool things might even be that they’re completely silent!” the antenna-sporting pinkette noted.
“Wouldn’t that be so freaking cosmic?!”“Silent fireworks?! Oh, the artistry! The paradox! The splendor of watching the sky bloom without so much as a whisper!” Quincy marveled, clasping his hands together with childlike excitement.
“It would be like if the stars themselves were shy… And yet eager to show off! Oh, I simply cannot wait to behold such a wondrous sight!”And there it is… Ennui sighed, squeezing her eyes shut as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
Stage One: Enthusiastic fixation. We’ll be dealing with some deranged dream magic disaster in under an hour.Zephyr, meanwhile, hesitated for a moment as their gaze shifted between the alcove’s glowing flowers and the trio of energetic pinkettes. It was clear that they were torn between their duty to stand guard over Quincy and their immense, Trilunial Convergence amplified, curiosity.
“You… said these fireworks have unpredictable elemental properties?” the Elven Elementalist inquired, their silvery, cerulean hair having turned a more fiery fuchsia hue as their elemental affinity subtly shifted.
“Yeah!” the pinkette with the star-tipped antenna confirmed with a rapid series of enthusiastic nods.
“At least, that’s what my best friend Ramona said when she gave them to me! But she wanted to leave exactly what they did a surprise!”“They could grow pizza trees out of the sky!” the patchwork pinkette suggested.
“Or make robot pancakes that are also pigeons that can still fly and even spit syrup!” the gelatinous pinkette chimed in.
“Or maybe even make thunderclouds that rain cinnamon meteors!” the antenna-sporting pinkette added, a spray of stars spilling out of her mouth.
“But oh gosh!” she exclaimed, placing her hands over her cheeks.
“We totally forgot to introduce ourselves! I’m Staceella, and my two friends here are Stacy Stitches and Cyberslime Stacy!” she explained, gesturing to each of the other two pinkettes in turn.
“They’re other ‘me’s from other universes! Isn’t that crazy cosmic?!”“Oh, yes!” Quincy agreed.
“It’s an absolutely splendtastic novelty! In fact, I would love to experience something similar, myself!”I can guarantee you that no one else would… Ennui reflected.
“Other… universes…?” Zephyr murmured, having been awed by the revelation, their hair now turning a more prismatic hue.
“That’s… extraordinary…”“Sure is!” Stacy Stitches agreed.
“But back to the fireworks, we’re lookin’ for a super awesome place to launch ‘em!” she added.
“Only, we kinda got lost, so, uh, do you guys know a spot like that?!”“I believe we passed just such a spot only a short time ago,” Zephyr replied.
“A most splendid overlook with a panoramic view of the moonflower fields.” “That’s totally the place!” Staceella cheered.
“Would ya mind leading the way?!”“It would be my pleasure,” Zephyr replied, their robes shifting toward a deep, harmonious indigo as their elemental affinity began to favor the breezy qualities of air.
“Yes! Let’s all go!” Quincy declared.
“Oh, this is going to be so very exciting!”“I would have picked another word for it,” Ennui muttered as she hovered along beside him.
“You know, during the last fireworks display I attended, I briefly turned into an exceptionally tall version of myself,” the Dreamweaver told Stacy Stitches and Cyberslime Stacy as he strolled along with the two cheerful pinkettes on either side.
“I found the new perspective it provided to be most invigorating!”“I know what that’s like!” Cyberslime Stacy replied.
“One time, I stretched my neck so high, my head got hit by a hover car!”“Me, too!” Stacy Stitches chimed in.
“One time, some cyborg troll guys detached my head and played basketball with it! The hoop was super high up, and I got stuck in it for a whole day!”“Now that I think about it, that last fireworks display also featured a musical performance…” Quincy noted, so lost in thought that he’d completely tuned out the two Stacys’ responses.
“In fact, I distinctly recall that every time I’ve ever seen fireworks, music has always accompanied them. And why wouldn’t it?” he inquired of no one in particular.
“Fireworks and music are lovers, eternal companions! One explodes in the heavens, the other in the heart! Together they create a symphony of light and sound!”“Hey!” Cyberslime Stacy exclaimed, her eyes gleaming as an idea popped into her hyperactive brain.
“There was a big orchestra thing back in that ballroom place, so, like, maybe we can get some of those musician people to come play for us!”“Holy freaking crap! That would be crazy awesome!” Stacy Stitches agreed.
And so, as expected, things go from bad to worse… Ennui sighed internally.
As it happened, keeping Quincy unaware of the lunar orchestra’s existence was yet another of the many reasons the Dreamweaver was meant to remain in the lunar gardens for the duration of the evening’s festivities. After all, Quincy was exceptionally fascinated by music of all kinds, and that fascination inevitably resulted in dream magic fueled catastrophes of particularly cacophonic natures.
“An… orchestra?” Quincy inquired, his eyes widening in astonishment, while the Oneiric Gauge being employed to measure the distance between two fireflies fell limp in his hands as though the revelation struck him like a bolt of lightning.
“Yep! Yep!” Stacy Stitches confirmed with a grin.
“A Lunar Orchestra!” Cyberslime Stacy clarified excitedly, even if she didn’t know exactly
why that was significant.
“They’re playing in the main ballroom right now!” Stacy Stitches added.
“And they’ve got some crazy cool instruments, too!” Cyberslime Stacy noted.
“The Lunar Orchestra?!” Quincy gasped, clutching at his chest as he staggered backward in melodramatic awe.
“Here?! Tonight?! And no one thought to tell me?!”“There was a very good reason for that…” Ennui sighed, while pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Oh, glorious crescendos of moonlit majesty!” Quincy gushed, his words pouring out in a breathless rush, while Ennui’s commentary went completely unnoticed.
“Oh, celestial harmonies cascading like silver rivers across the astral veil! Can you imagine, Ennui?!” he asked as he grabbed the familiar’s tiny hands and twirled her in dizzy circles, much to her annoyance.
“An orchestra conducted beneath a Tri-Lunar Convergence! The music must be simply transcendent! No, supra-transcendent! It will shatter the boundaries of sound, of space, of dreams themselves!”“That’s precisely what I’m afraid of…” Ennui muttered in a tired deadpan, her tiny body floating limply as she continued to be twirled around.
“So ya wanna go?!” Stacy Stitches asked with a broad grin.
“Yes! To the Ballroom!” Quincy declared with a dramatic gesture of a pointing finger, his sudden stop in mid-spin causing poor Ennui to fly off and collide with the twisting branch of a nearby moonwillow.
“Lead me to the music, fair heralds of serendipity! For tonight, dreams shall dance with song!”As she clung to the leaf-covered bough, the dizzy dream familiar’s vision cleared just enough for her to see Zephyr and Staceella having an animated conversation about all the myriad ways the fireworks might interact with the Tri-Lunar Convergence’s ambient magical augmentation as they walked on ahead, completely oblivious to the disaster unfolding behind them. Just before the pair rounded a moonstone archway and slipped out of sight, Ennui thought she saw Zephyr’s green skin begin to take on the texture of paper…
By the time Ennui had recovered enough to follow after Quincy and the two Stacys, the trio had already entered the grand ballroom. The vast chamber shimmered with radiant moonlight filtering in through its high-arching, crystalline windows, while the very air hummed with the resonance of the Lunar Orchestra’s symphony. Indeed, the celebration of the Tri-Lunar Convergence was in full, radiant swing, and Quincy was utterly transfixed by it.
“My goodness!” the Dreamweaver gasped in wide-eyed awe, clutching his Oneiric Gauge to his chest as he took in the various sights and sounds, his visage filled with profound wonderment.
“It’s more beautiful than I ever dreamed! A thousand notes weaving together like threads of silver and gold, a tapestry of sound stitched across the moons themselves! To think such a fabulously festive gathering was taking place only a short distance away!”“Yeah, it’s totally crazy ya didn’t know about it!” Stacy Stitches noted.
“It’s a good thing we ran into ya when we did!” Cyberslime Stacy added, before gesturing to the food covered tables piled high with cosmic-themed confections, the dozens of dancers in gleaming silks that twirled beneath the garlands of glowing moonflower petals, and, of course, the deep blue and silver robed musicians of the Lunar Orchestra.
“Otherwise, you’d have missed all this crazy awesome stuff!”“Yes, it was certainly a stroke of luck,” an exhausted Ennui muttered under her breath upon finally catching up with the eccentric trio.
“Bad luck…” That said, even the morose dream familiar had to admit, the moonlight musicians were rather captivating as they played their enchanted instruments that seemed half-woven from starlight itself, their melodies rising and falling like waves across a cosmic shore. Yet, she also knew that she had to at least
attempt to keep things from spiraling any further out of hand, even if it was almost certainly a lost cause.
“So, um, why don’t we ask a few of the musicians if they’ll help us out, once they’ve finished their current song?” the dream familiar spoke up.
Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that Quincy wouldn’t be giving a reply, as the Dreamweaver was already drifting forward, weaving between the guests with his typical obliviousness, his attention having been claimed by a far more fascinating sight than his boring, omnipresent familiar.
“Oh, look!” he called out, while pointing with childlike excitement to a figure in a flamboyant, motley outfit, bells tinkling at the end of a tall hat as they bowed dramatically to a laughing couple.
“A jester from the Eternal Carnival! They tell the most delightfully amusing jokes, always twisting reality into riddles of laughter! Why, I once heard one ask, ‘Why did the moonbeam fall from the sky?’ And when no one could answer, they said: ‘Because it lost its balance!’ Oh-ho-ho-ho, positively brilliant wordplay! Or ‘What do you call a dream that won’t wake up? A nap-ocalypse!’ Absolutely hilarious!” At this, he doubled over with wheezing giggles, while clapping his hands.
“Uh… I don’t think I get it…” Cyberslime Stacy replied with a confused frown while tilting her head in puzzlement.
“Yeah, me neither,” Stacy Stitches agreed.
“Y’know, that reminds me of a joke I’ve always had a problem with,” The patchwork pinkette noted.
“That one about why the chicken crossed the road.”“That one always confused me, too!” Cyberslime Stacy chimed in.
“Like, everyone says it’s because he wanted to get to the other side, but I don’t really think that’s much of an answer. I mean, why did he wanna get to the other side?”“If it perplexes you so, why not simply ask a chicken?” Quincy inquired.
“Ask a chicken?” Cyberslime Stacy echoed.
“Yes!” Quincy confirmed, his face lighting up like the full moons themselves as he spun around to face the orchestra with a grand flourish.
“Why should we be limited by riddles when we can conjure answers?!”“Holy freaking crap!” Stacy Stitches exclaimed.
“Why didn’t I ever think of that before?!”“Y’know, I think they actually might be extinct on my world…” Cyberslime Stacy noted.
“Well, we could always try to find one here!” Stacy Stitches suggested.
“But, like, where would we even start looking?” Cyberslime Stacy asked.
“Looking?” Quincy repeated, his voice filled with playful glee.
“Oh, my sweet stars! There’s no need to look for one…” the Dreamweaver continued, his grin growing impossibly wide as he unfurled his Oneiric Gauge in a sweeping gesture, before measuring the air in diagonal spans.
“Not when one may simply be dreamed into being!”“No. No. Absolutely not,” Ennui told him, shaking her head with a surprising level of rapidity for the ordinarily languid dream familiar.
“The last time you did this, a teapot tried to annex an entire kingdom!” Yet, despite her protests, she knew it was already far too late. Indeed, before she had even finished speaking, a torrent of dream magic surged forth, submerging the lunar orchestra in waves of whimsy. From the heart of that shimmering whirlwind a spectral outline emerged, feathered and beaked, swelling larger and larger until, suddenly, the air was rent by a screeching squawk that sounded uncannily like a trumpet’s blaring, discordant note.
“Here we go again…”
“How utterly appalling!” Queen Celestia exclaimed, completely aghast at what she’d just been told.
“Verily, if not for the most sacred and ancient traditions of our people, we would expel these wretched miscreants from our realm at once and bar them from ever setting foot in the lunar cities for the rest of their pitiful lives! Doth anyone even know where they art at this moment?!” the lunar sovereign inquired, her imperious voice filled with royal outrage.
“Moons know what horrid mischief they could be conjuring as we speak!” “Worry not, my Queen,” Solonar bade the Moonlight Monarch, his eyes aglow as he gazed into his shimmering crystal star sphere.
“According to what insights I’ve been able to divine from my astral auguries, Staceella and her two doppelgängers have since departed this plenum, and shall cause no further disruptions to our celebration.”“That is indeed fortunate,” Celestia agreed, taking a deep breath to calm her righteous fury.
“For their sakes most of all. Daring to disrupt this most august eve with their insolent idiocy…” the royal beauty continued to seethe in her typical melodramatic manner.
“It is simply unforgivable!” “U-Ummm… I know they caused a lot of trouble, sis…” Eilidh spoke up tentatively.
“But I don’t think any of it was done intentionally, and your awesome battle against that giant trumpet chicken allowed everyone to see how absolutely amazing you are! So, uh, it really wasn’t all bad, right…?” she inquired with a hopeful smile.
At first, the Moonlight Monarch glared at her younger sibling, her visage one of regal fury, but its harshness quickly softened into a more affectionate countenance.
“Thou art well spoken, dear sister,” Celestia told Eilidh with an approving smile, which glowed like a shimmering moonbeam as she affectionately tousled the girl’s hair.
“Verily, it was indeed a gift from the moons that our subjects should behold the glorious greatness of our most magnificent self in its full, radiant splendor!” Turning to face the rest of her gathered subjects and striking a dramatic pose, she continued,
“In light of these profound insights, which our most cherished little sister hath so graciously provided, it now becomes clear to us that this disruption was not a blight, but a blessing! One, which hath elevated this most sublime of evenings to a pinnacle of perfection which mirrors that of our own most splendiferous self! For art we not perfection personified?” the royal bombshell inquired, her azure lips curling into a supremely arrogant smirk as she struck an even more glamorous pose and admired her queenly visage in a newly conjured, jewel encrusted mirror.
“Art not our power and beauty unparalleled in all the world? Doth not the very heavens themselves stand in awe of us? It is only right for the moons to provide us with a suitable stage upon which to display our flawless majesty!” she declared, her regal voice loud and bombastic. As the preening Celestia ran her fingers through her silken tresses, while thrusting out her ample chest, it was clear to all present that the Moonlight Monarch had become fully consumed by her overwhelming vanity.
“And displayed it hath undeniably been! Let none harbor even a single doubt that our supreme triumph over that abomination most vile shall be remembered for eons to come!” Raising an elegant hand to cover her smirking mouth, the royal bombshell gave voice to a peal of shamelessly haughty laughter.
“Oooohh ho ho ho hooo-oh?!” Celestia’s laughter abruptly ended in a startled yelp as
a pink-haired young woman wearing a witch’s hat suddenly fell on top of her, sending the lunar sovereign crashing to the moonstone floor in a distressingly undignified heap.
“Sis!” Eilidh cried in alarm.
“Your Majesty!” Solonar exclaimed.
“Queen Celestia!” Lunette gasped.
“Oh my! New friends!” Quincy cheered.
“Woah!” the new arrival yelped.
“I’ve never fallen out of a portal so high up before! It was super awesome this cushion was here!” she added with a pleased grin, before looking around with wide-eyed wonderment.
“Holy freaking crap! The snowplow museum’s a lot bigger than I remember, and it looks like you’re havin’ a crazy cool party, too! Oh! Are ya celebrating the big remodeling?!”“I’m just going out on a limb, here,” a second newly arrived young woman who’d managed to land far more gracefully replied in a tired deadpan.
“But I’m pretty sure this still isn’t the museum, and I’m positive that’s not a cushion,” she added, pointing to Celestia’s squirming form.
“Wretched heathen!” the Moonlight Monarch shouted.
“We command thee to remove thyself from atop us this very instant!”“O-Oh, uh… Ooops…?” the pink-haired witch awkwardly apologized, slowly climbing off of the Lunar Queen’s back, even as the nearby battalion of Celestial Guardians surrounded her with their glowing weapons drawn.
Or at least,
most of them did.
Perhaps surprisingly for one so eager to do battle, Mayra, who had been observing proceedings with an equal mixture of intrigue and confusion, chose that moment to give voice to what she believed was the most pertinent of all possible questions,
“Uh, what’s a snowplow?”
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