Desires and Expectations: Unreachable Dreams and Heavy Duties.

Day 8 (midnight)

It had all happened just too fast.

Somehow, I was now holding onto Princess Celestia's neck, who was flying at full speed. The princess's mane was all over my face, not that I minded; it had a nice, relaxing scent and that was precisely now that the same gigantic dragon from before was chasing us yet again.

No, I did not find the princess; the princess had found me instead, and it seemed like she was even better than before since she had leaves covering her wounds. She had probably bandaged herself... Our eyes met, and a second later...

"'Tia!" the indigo coated filly called her sister's nickname, filled with enthusiasm at finally seeing her sister again after a whole day of wandering through the jungles and tribes by herself. Sure, she wanted to be a big pony already, but that didn't mean she wanted to be away from her dear sister! She jumped on her big sister's bed to greet her.

"Lulu!" the tallest alicorn caught her sister in a feathery and warm embrace both had longed. She wasn't that tall; she was still considered a filly by her parents. Her mane was pink, lacking in the other pastel colors her future self had, and even though it wasn't flowing, it was still silky smooth and a sight to behold.

"So, how did it go?! Did you make it?! Did you make it?! Just tell me already!" Luna bounced up and down in the bed, and Celestia gave her little sister a sweet smile.

"Mom did not raise the sun today."

"Amazing! So that means you made it, right?!"

"...With dad's help... Yes." the soon-to-be ruler of the sun seemed crestfallen, disappointed with herself. "It was more difficult than I thought..."

"Hey! don't worry!" Luna hugged her, trying to comfort her "You're amazing, sis! You'll make it if you practice a lot!"

"Y-yeah. You're right!" little Celestia beamed once again thanks to her sister's positive attitude and cheerfulness. Her smile seemed to lit up all the room "Anyway, how was your day, Lulu?"

"Oh, it was okay..." Luna trailed off, until she remembered the highlight of the day "Oh! I rescued a mare named Lavender that was about to be eaten by the tribe nearby!"

"A mare? Could you tell me more?"

"She was veeery different. I mean, her coat wasn't painted with those weird drawings, and she spoke Equestrian!" the more Luna explained, the more concerned Celestia felt. She nodded, telling her sister to go on. "She was a... unicorn! Yes! And a researcher from the east!"

"A researcher?" She felt a little bit more at ease "There have been a lot of those lately. I just hope they don't damage the beautiful nature here." Celestia said calmly. "Anyway, well done, Lulu! And what did you do with her?"

"Well, Spike and I gave her food and--"

"You and Spike?!" she knew it was just a matter of time before the fatal mistake came.

"Yeah! What's the matter?" Luna asked, oblivious to the severeness of the situation.

"Spike is part of the tribe, right?"

"Yeah..."

"And that food you gave this mare came from the tribe's resources, right?"

"...Sis, you're scaring me." Celestia sighed and facehoofed.

"Luna, have you forgotten?" the indigo alicorn looked both confused and scared under her older sister's scolding gaze "Do you know why tribes prefer to eat visitors instead of helping them?"

"B-because... normally, visitors are low on provisions when they visit a tribe, and since the tribes have a hard time gathering resources they would rather barter with these visitors, but they don't have much to offer in exchange of the provisions... So... the tribes eat them to give their deaths some meaning, because without food they'll die eventually anyway?" Celestia just nodded and it all made sense to Luna...

"Probably this mare is far away now. The tribe won't bother in looking for her... so they will just eat the one responsible."

"...Spike."

"Twilight. You can open your eyes." The princess's soothing voice told me. I could feel she had lowered her speed considerably, her flight now reduced to a gentle glide. I still wondered how she could fly slightly faster than an angry dragon with her wings in such a condition... Speaking of dragons, I didn't seem to hear his roars anymore "He gave up on us."

"I-I s-see..." I reluctantly opened my eyes, and found a breathtaking, yet slightly scary sight. I could see the giant jungle that now looked like a green stain. There were a few mountains standing here and there, and I even could see more gigantic dragons flying below us. I just hoped they wouldn't see us. Above us was the night sky, that was as beautiful as in the future, and right in front of me I could see the princess's distant gaze...

"Father and mother used to be in charge of raising and lowering the moon and sun respectively." she muttered, though I didn't know if she was actually talking to me "Lulu and I only had to study, practice, obey father and mother, and... have fun, I guess..." even though she chuckled, I knew she actually felt lonely. "No princesses, kings, or queens. The different tribes took care of themselves, and we would intervene if there was a threat that involved the other, more powerful species."

"So... there was no Equestria..." I muttered, and finally understood how much we had gone back in time.

"I am very old, Twilight." The princess said, still with her lonely smile. It at least told me she was actually speaking to me "But that is not the case here. Actually, this world is very young. Very. And I know less than what you think." she paused to take some air "I presume this is the time I began to learn how to raise and lower the sun... without frying everypony."

"So, you actually had to control its temperature?" probably this whole 'raise and lower the sun' thing had more to it than what it seemed... The princess actually made it look pretty simple. But, again, it was very foolish of me to think this would be easy. After all, it was for something that not anypony could carry out this task...

"There are many vital factors to take in account, yes." She smiled serenely "These factors are what make the day and night different. Luna has to be careful of things I don't when she brings the night forth and vice-versa."

"But, wait... with 'the other species' do you mean the dragons and griffins?" unconsciously, my grip around the princess's neck had relaxed and I had completely forgotten about our current situation.

"Yes, there are many more, of course... but the dragons and griffins are special for.. certain reasons. Though I think the griffins still hadn't arrived in this time..."

"Wait. 'Arrived'?" wasn't she supposed to say, 'appeared', or something like that? Unless she refered it as in arriving in what was going to be in the Equestrian territory in the future.

"Twilight, dragons, griffins and some other creatures are alien species." The princess was basically saying dragons, griffins and who knows how many other creatures had come from other planets in the early stages of ponykind development? If it were anypony else telling me this I would just... I don't know what atrocities I would have done to them, but this was the princess... I trusted her. "Hold on." She warned as we began our descent and I reaffirmed my grip. The area we were going to land on did not seem much different from the one we were previously on; jungles and a couple of mountains.

Once the princess landed, I began to debate how I should dismount myself without falling and looking like a total idiot... Right, levitation. Why hadn't I thought about that before? I tried casting the spell... but I met pain once more. I winced and the princess seemed to notice this and I was soon enveloped in a golden aura... a warm golden aura. Memories of my days as a filly, studying until midnight, flooded my mind. I remembered the princess scolding me, but I was too sleepy to listen to her properly. The last thing I remembered was that warm golden aura, cradling me sweetly into sleep...

"Th-thank you" I sheepishly told the princess, who just gave me one of her sweet smiles in return. My heart warmed, so I quickly turned my attention to the improvised saddlebags to see if anything had spilled out during the... during the flight. I almost panicked until I saw nothing had been lost or damaged.

"Where did you get those?" I froze. The world crashed into pieces. Probably I was overreacting, but... Yeah, I was going to tell her that her sister's younger self and a native named Spike gave these to me. And then she would ask, how did you find them? And I would tell her that I had gone searching for her and that gigantic dragon began chasing after me. I tripped and fell and a bunch of natives found me and locked me up to eat me later until your sister rescued me. Yes. I would tell her that with all the calmness in the world...

"Twilight?" I couldn't hear her calls. I just stared at her. Her coat was white once more, and the places with wounds now had a healthy rosy color. The more severe or deep wounds were covered by green leaves. Even her wings looked better. The wound in her head looked almost as if it had never been there in the first place.

I could just stare at her. Contemplating how foolish she'd think I was if I told her the whole story; because I had gone out to look for her, thinking she might be in trouble, thinking she might need me... But she didn't. I had gotten into trouble because of my foolish ideas. She was a princess that has probably gone through more hardships than I could ever imagine; of course she was going to survive this wilderness that she had already lived in thousands of years ago...

"Is something the matter, Twilight?" I didn't realize I was staring into empty space until the princess's words brought me back to reality. I didn't realize she had come to my side and wrapped a wing around me until I met her eyes. I didn't realize I had been crying until she wiped my tears away with her bare hoof.

"...Your sister and a native named Spike gave these to me." I simply muttered, looking into the princess's eyes. I did not see her crown, or her regalia. I could just see her smile, and her alabaster coat, illuminated by the moonlight. It gave her a surreal aura... Until she exploded in laughter.

"So it was you!" my tears ceased, but I still looked at her with confusion "So, Lavender, the japanese researcher, right?"

"Wh-what?" It was pretty obvious; I had told this information to Luna... which would be also told to her big sister, Celestia... But then, this means...

"Anyways, Lavender" she began walking, her head high. I immediately dried my tears and followed her. "I have to admit I feel like I could eat a mountain of doughnuts right now. So as soon as we find where to camp you should start preparing something to eat."

"P-princess!" blushing a little, I joined her melodious laughter. I enjoyed seeing this side of her.

"My name is not 'princess.'" She stopped walking abruptly and turned her head slightly to look at me from the corner of her eyes...

"...Celestia"

Princess Luna sat in front of the 'tee vee' that hung on the wall, and a strange device that weird, probably fake goddess who called herself Mello called a 'control', in her magical grip. One could tell by her expression that she was not amused.

So far she felt annoyed at this thing. The characters kept yelling at her (as if they had any right to do so), while Mello kept telling her to stop yelling back at the 'tee vee'. She seemed to be controlling this weird coat-less thing with four limbs, yellow mane and strange green clothes. Mello called them 'humans'. Somehow, Luna felt she had heard this name somewhere.

This 'human' she accidentally named 'Luna', was actually a 'boy', or the equivalent of a foal or colt in ponies. Ironically, she was riding a horse. Suddenly, two parasprites, though Mello called them fairies, startled the horse and the boy fell to the ground. Another strange creature made of wood appeared, called a Skull Kid (he wore a rather strange mask), took away the boy's strange musical instrument, a blue ocarina, and started playing with it.

Anyway, suddenly the boy woke up and started chasing the Skull Kid that ran away with his horse, and it took some minutes for Luna to figure out which buttons to press. Then, she found the Skull Kid, and the foolish thing turned the boy into some... woody creature that looked like a deformed mannequin! It even tried to get him stuck there forever! Then one of those stupid parasprites came and started making fun of him. But the princess laughed maniacally when it got stuck with the boy because of its own foolishness, left behind by the Skull Kid and the other purple parasprite!

However, the yellow parasprite had the nerve to ask her help! The game didn't give poor Luna another choice though (she couldn't kill the annoying thing anyway). She had to go through and help this annoying fairy.

After half an hour trying to get across that cursed cliff using those annoying flying flowers, she finally arrived to some strange building, but before she could get out, she met another 'human'. It- he requested the boy to find his 'mask' in three days in return for turning him back to a human. Though he first had to find his 'precious item'. Probably that instrument that foolish kid stole him.

For some reason, when this strange, and rather scary human said the word 'time' and it was boldfaced, she had a bad feeling. It wasn't surprising though, after all the time related problems they had now...

Luna left the building. After more ranting from the paras- fairy, Luna was finally able to move freely... She was inside a town with more humans in it, and an annoying dog that kept attacking her! There seemed to be some construction in progress. She walked a few steps forward.

"Hey." Mello suddenly said "Press the yellow 'up' button." Luna began searching the device in her grip until she found the yellow button. The screen suddenly 'zoomed in'. "You're now in some sort of view mode. Now, move the analog stick to the left... There" She turned around, now she was looking at the tower she had just come out from; it looked like a clock tower.

"What's the purpose of this?"

"Just follow me. Now, move it down..." She did as she was told; she looked up... and the atrocity, the insult she saw couldn't be explained with words.

"Just... WHAT. IS. THE. MEANING. OF. THIS?!" The mighty angry princess yelled with her Royal Voice, throwing the controller across the room "Who dares insult the beauty of my moon with this atrocity?!"

"The Zelda: Majora's Mask creators."

Day 9 (morning).

After a while walking, I began feeling how exhausted I actually was; probably adrenaline from the persecution had made me feel full of energy for a brief moment. I could also sense that the princ- Celestia was feeling weary as well. So, as soon as we found somewhere to camp, we ate some simple fruit and went straight to sleep.

The next morning, I couldn't have felt more pain in all of my body. I just couldn't stand up; it hurt as much as if... I can't even compare it. I wasn't really used to all the physical activity I had done the day before... I made a mental note to help Applejack in the farm more often when we made it back.

I looked at my surroundings and... the princess was nowhere to be seen. Again. It was both good and bad that the pain was holding me back from running to look for her. On the other side of things... at lest I wasn't about to panic. I was about to explode in rage. How could she be that insensible? She knew that if she suddenly disappeared I would obviously worry.

"Oh, you're awake." I yelped in surprise when I suddenly heard the mare in question. I wanted so badly to get up and confront her; no matter how much I loved her this was annoying. But even the smallest twitch from my limbs could make it hurt.

"Prin-Celestia!" I began my protest. It wasn't easy to get used to call a princess by her name, but I felt like it was somehow considerably easier for me since I could see her in a new perspective "W-why do you leave like that?! I-I mean... you know I get all scared and-"

"I was exploring the terrain, Twilight. I apologize. It was unexpected that you woke up this early." Her horn lit up. "If it can make it up, then..." a basket with fruits I couldn't name, but that looked appetizing levitated from the princess' back towards me "I hope this will suffice." I stared at the plate, searching for an answer. I have to admit I was tempted to pretend to be 'difficult', but my stomach decided to answer for me.

"...Yes." The p- Celestia chuckled and put the plate in front of me. My first instinct was to levitate the fruit into my mouth... "Ouch!" I was never going to get used to not having my magic. Ever. I was fearful of the look Celestia had, but before I could protest, or even plead... fruit was shoved into my mouth.

This.. is so... humiliating...

"Don't worry, Twilight" Celestia said between giggles; it just made me feel worse. Useless and pathetic. I, a grown mare, was being fed by the Princess of Equestria herself. "In the mean time, I have a story to tell. Would you like to listen?" My interest had been piqued, so I nodded as I munched on some fruit. Probably this would distract me from my embarrassing situation.

"Yesterday I left for almost the same reason as I did today; to explore. It wasn't supposed to take me too long since I only had to remember the lands I had walked through long ago. But I also went out to look for some herbs and food. I managed to get some herbs to treat my lighter wounds and was even planning to stay out a while longer to gather some fruit... Until, well. I remembered something amusing. I had- oh, don't worry Twilight, I already ate. As I was saying, I had come across those territories in the past and discovered dragons were rather protective with their possessions. That mountain and anything surrounding it belonged to one of them, and if you have noticed it already... they can be almost twice as big as the dragons in our future."

"B-but... why?" I asked "I mean... if they are so big does this mean the planet they came from was much bigger than ours? That would actually explain why they are smaller in the future, right? But wouldn't this process take millions of years?"

"I am not sure myself, Twilight. This universe is bigger than you think, and there are higher powers pulling its strings. It is better if we stop talking about this, alright?" I nodded and another piece of fruit levitated into my mouth "Good. Now, I returned to the cave and saw you weren't there so I went to look for you." If I hadn't been eating, I would have exploded in laughter at the irony of our situation "I could hear the dragon's roars so I decided to follow them and I almost stumble upon one of Luna's favorite tribes. It wasn't a bad idea to search for you there first since the natives could have caught you. I decided to disguise myself with a spell, knowing it was dangerous if I suddenly appeared as an alicorn.

"I made myself a pink maned earth pony and tried to imitate the paintings on the native's coats. Also, I was quick to remember Luna's lessons on their language, but I wasn't quite fluid on it. I had to be careful of what I said; ancient ponies took things very seriously. When I stepped into the village, they mistook me for the leader's daughter, who was a fierce and exceptionally beautiful warrior. Her name was Sun Rays." I could only think that it was not surprising that they had mistook her for that native... My ears began to twitch, distracting me from my thoughts.

Probably it was me, but as Celestia was telling her story I could hear somepony screaming in the distance...

"Lavendeeeer!"