Luna smiled. It was a beautiful night. The stars were all just right. There was a gentle breeze. The moon was high in the sky. It was fall, and there was a faint chill in the breeze. The smell of autumn leaves filled the air.
“Luna?” Ivy asked, looking up at the blue alicorn, scratching an antler thoughtfully.
“Yes Ivy?” Luna returned, looking down at Ivy, her ethereal mane whipping in some unseen breeze, blowing in an opposite direction.
“You think Brimstone really likes me?” Ivy asked, looking concerned.
Luna smiled, looking down, her eyes playful. She had watched Ivy grow and she loved Ivy a great deal. Luna took great joy in knowing that Brimstone had found a special somepony, given Brimstone’s peculiar problem… Even if Brimstone didn’t know that he was someone’s special somepony. Not yet anyway. He’d find out soon enough.
“Well?” Ivy asked impatiently, her grey eyes wide in the moonlight.
“Brimstone likes you a great deal Ivy. He blushes every time I mention you.” Luna said, her tone faintly teasing, a smile hinted at on her lips.
“I keep dropping him hints that I like him. He doesn’t respond. I don’t know what to do.” Ivy said, looking rather sad, her tail drooping.
“Brimstone is thick headed. You are going to have to be bold and direct if you want to get his attention.” Luna said, staring at the night sky all around her.
The pair stood atop a peak of the Foal Mountains, isolated, in the middle of nowhere. The hills and mountains beneath them would blaze orange, had it been day time. Rolling hills and valleys stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions. Ivy was sitting, the breeze ruffling her feathery mane, her mismatched wings occasionally fluttering.
“It was nice flying here.” Ivy said. “Even though I wasn’t really flying. But thank you for carrying me with your magic.” Ivy added.
Luna nodded.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fly.” Ivy said. “It makes me sad.”
“Why fly when you can swing through trees?” Lots of ponies can fly. How many ponies can swing through trees?” Luna said, her tone serious.
“Flying scares me. I don’t like it when I can’t sink my claws into things. But I like being scared.” Ivy said, looking upward at a large twinkling star.
“Such an odd little creature you are Ivy. I’m glad I know you.” Luna said, also observing the star that she made twinkle, just for Ivy.
“Ivy,” began Luna, “before we begin your voice lessons for this evening, there is a favour that I desire from you.”
“Anything Luna.” Ivy said, her grey eyes full of stars as she gazed upward.
Luna paused as she slipped something from her saddle bag.
“Ivy, there is a dangerous magical artifact that I have. It has resisted all attempts to destroy it. We have tried everything at our disposal, after recovering it from a very helpful zebra.” Luna said, looking at an amulet held in her magical grasp. “I believe that you should be able to destroy it.”
Ivy turned her attention to Luna, and then to the amulet Luna held in her magic. “Looks like a unicorn with wings. Like you.” Ivy said, staring at the rather tacky looking bit of jewelry.
“It is called the ‘alicorn amulet’ and it is very dangerous Ivy. You were able to dispose of the pig iron with no difficulty. This should not pose a problem either.” Luna looked at Ivy intently. “Celestia heated it to the temperature of her sun and then some. She could do nothing. We’ve both tried everything.”
Ivy snatched the amulet out of the air, looking at it.
“You have very special and unique teeth Ivy, even among dragons.” Luna grew grim. “That amulet has plagued ponies since Sombra’s time. It keeps popping up. Celestia has even dropped it into a volcano. I’ve dropped it into the ocean, and once flung it out into space. It always returns, drawn to the vainglorious dreams of those who would do evil. Holding on to it as long as I have has worried me, as it always seems to escape at some point. Some pony is always desiring power, and the amulet answers.”
Ivy nodded.
Ivy held it in her claws, looking at it intently, sniffing it. She poked at it experimentally with her claw. It sank into the metal, causing a strange black glow to radiate. Luna looked alarmed. Ivy tossed the amulet into her mouth and crunched a few times, chewing slowly, her eyes scrunching shut.
“It is very bitter.” Ivy said, her mouth full of alicorn amulet. “And tastes a lot like soap. Trust me, I know what soap tastes like. I ate a bar of my mama’s soap because it smelled like flowers. Didn’t taste like flowers.” Ivy swallowed, gagged a little, and let her tongue dangle out. “Bleh!” She said, causing her tongue to flap in the breeze. “Blech!”
Ivy drew in a deep breath, her slender body filling with air, and belched.
It echoed through the mountains, a thunderous sound shattering the stillness of the night. Smoke poured from her open maw as the belch continued, a small eternity of belching in the span of a few moments.
Luna nodded in appreciation, of both the belch and the destruction of the hated amulet.
The echo of the belch resonated for several minutes, bouncing from peak to peak.
“Show off.” Luna said, looking down at Ivy.
“I learned from the master” Ivy said, giggling faintly. “My mouth tastes awful.”
“Are you ready for your voice lessons Ivy?” Luna asked. “Have you been practicing your breathing? Stretching your lungs? I’ve been coaching you for a long time Ivy. On this night, do you believe you can make me proud?”
Ivy sat there, unsure. “I’ve been trying Luna. I’m just a little dragon pony bird creature. But I’ve been practicing. And I sing in the bathtub!”
Luna nodded. “Very good. I have faith in you little Ivy. A voice can be a powerful weapon in both war and politics. It is an unexpected weapon, one of surprise and concealment, and one you always have with you. Your dragon heritage allows for exceptional volume…”
Ivy listened as Luna continued, on and on, the same speech given at every voice lesson. These lessons had started a long time ago, and, tonight, Ivy planned to graduate. She allowed Luna to continue her spiel.
“Remember, deep breaths. Open throat. Push from the belly. Feel your inner dragon. Channel all of your emotion.” Luna said, her voice gentle and patient, sounding remarkably like her sister’s.
Ivy nodded.
“Once again, I shall demonstrate with my battlecry.” Luna said. She took a deep breath.
“HUZZAH!” Cried Luna, her voice a crackling note of thunder that reverberated through the hills and mountains. The echoes lasted for several minutes. It was an impressive display of vocal warfare.
“There.” Luna said. “Try it. With feeling tonight. I want to hear emotion in your voice, little Ivy Dragon-kin.”
Ivy nodded, taking a deep breath, and feeling a little scared. Not of Luna’s disappointment, no, not that. Luna had been instructing her for a long time, and had always been careful and considerate. Ivy was afraid for other reasons.
Ivy drew in her thoughts. She thought of her hoard. Her treasure. Other ponies. She thought of Brimstone, wondering for a brief second if he would ever notice her special affections. She thought of everypony she knew and loved, and how much they loved her, and then she thought of something hurting them.
A seething fire of rage ignited down in her belly. Smoke poured from her teeth. She sucked in a mighty breath, feeling the fires in her belly being stoked. She channeled every bit of rage outward, she felt something in her throat crack.
“HUZZAH!” She roared, imitating Luna’s battlecry, being a born mimic.
The sound sundered the air, becoming a supersonic crack. The ground before her split, cracking, the granite splitting from the force of the sound. The very air around them fled from the noise, creating a vacuum that Luna was forced to fill before Ivy suffocated. Down the mountainside trees cracked and split, an invisible wave of destruction smiting them. The sound echoed, not for a few moments, or minutes, but for at least a half an hour, at Luna would swear later, when telling this story to her sister. Below them, the soundwave struck a river and created a wave, sweeping the river from its bed momentarily.
Far in the distance, lurking monsters urinated themselves and huddled in the dark places in which they dwelt, fearing whatever horror that lived in the night capable of making that sound.
Leaves swirled and blew from the trees a great distance away, many trees suddenly finding themselves completely naked, and feeling slightly embarrassed from the sudden undressing.
After a long, long time, the night grew silent.
“How’d I do?” Ivy asked innocently.
Luna grinned, looking pleased.
Author's Note
Ah yeah, something heart warming and sappy, enough to make Rainbow Dash melt.
Just imagine what will happen when the shockwave hits a major city, like Manehatten.
