A Journey through Memories

by Centauri

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Adventure, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Romance, Princess Luna
Length: 50036

Luna's lately been growing depressed, and manages to find some help from an unexpected source.

Ponies throughout all of Equestria have shown some resistance against Luna's return to her throne. She doesn't seem to blame them, and has lately been growing depressed. Some of the radical groups in the society have publicly protested, some rioted, and some may go that extra step further...

Comments may contain spoilers. You've been warned.

A huge thanks to Scipio Austra for the image (I don't think he's on this site, but I am open to corrections).

Published 2011-10-25 09:08:05 UTC
Last updated 2011-10-30 03:23:58 UTC

Prologue

A Journey through Memories

Prologue

I navigated the twists and turns in the tower leading to the closest friend I once had. We had shared many centuries together, but she could not see that time as something I cherished. I never wanted to forget this; I never wanted to forget her for who she was. She saw it as... a burden? A time of rejection from the subjects she loved as I did? As she was now, I had no way to tell. My sister had changed far too much for that. I closed my eyes as I contemplated what I wanted to do, as her sister; and what I should do, for all Equestria’s sake.

I was lost in thought, but so aware of the world around me. I realised that, after this hour, I may not appreciate any of my... or rather, our, creation again. Equestria was a beautiful country, as was the world around it. Still, after this endless night, I would have any other pony – even just one – appreciate our work. As I saw the door at the top flight of steps, I knew I was at the point of no return, but did I want to go on?

I had no choice.

I hated myself for it.

I was afraid. But I had to be ready.

I opened the door.

Inside the top room of the large keep, I saw a tall, midnight-coated mare. She had a blue mane, wings to rival my own and a horn to match them. Her back was turned to me. Despite the circumstances, this slight rejection pained me so much. In this mare, I wanted to see the alicorn I loved; I wanted to see a friend I laughed with, cried with, and shared many lifetimes’ worth of memories with. But I saw none of these in the mare in front of me. I only saw hatred in her cold demeanour towards me.

“Why are you here, Celestia?” My sister asked. She did not seem to be patronizing, nor, even at this point, angry.

“Can’t you guess?” I paused, and my sister did not answer. “You’re hurting ponies everywhere. Can’t you see the pain you are causing them? Can’t you see the pain you’re causing me? I remember that, once, my sister loved her subjects; she would do whatever they asked of her if it was meant to help somepony. Where has that friend of mine gone? I can tell you that she is in this tower, standing across the room to me. All she has to do is stop. Stop this pain; stop this madness. I beg of you that you stop. I beg this of you as your sister.” I did not dare acknowledge the tear threatening to crawl down my face. I wanted to be a role model for my sister, even now: acting in the best interests of the ponies you love even if it means you have to do something you may hate yourself for.

My sister had turned at my words. “All of my life, I was simply the ‘younger sister’; I was the princess who didn’t have the responsibility” – she hissed the word – “to watch over the day. All my subjects do is sleep through my domain. They live happily in yours, my dear sister; they refuse to acknowledge the beauty of the night.

“Look out this window. Can’t you see the stars, suspended in the sky? I gave a constellation to all the people I have met, known, and befriended. Look: Ironclaw, the griffin who kept peace between our nations; Orion, who helped both our domains out of his own kindness. I even made a constellation for the two sisters, Celestia. Just there, can’t you see? The two sisters who shaped Equestria together. Do you not want to be recognised and admired by the ponies who you so dearly love?”

“If you look at works of art for too long, then they lose their beauty, don’t you agree? I see the night’s beauty as something which should be admired sparingly. I encourage my students to watch the night, and I cannot tell you how many times they have thanked me for it. They see your hard work in every star, in every planet outside our own. In the moon, they see a calm sun which does not burn them. In every star shower, they know you shaped each one of those rocks for them and all of their friends.” Tears were streaming unbidden down my face, and I saw my sister’s expression soften. I thought that now we could escape without a fight. “Please, Luna, can’t you see...”

“That is not my name!” The mare that once was Luna raged. “Your students are few of many! How many ponies would admire my night over your own day?! How many would appreciate the night if it lasted forever?! I can tell you, my dear sister, that we are very close to finding out! I am Nightmare Moon, and I will hold the beauty of the night sky over their heads forevermore!” At these words, Nightmare Moon conjured a spear from the shadows and sent it flying towards me. It was only an attack out of frustration, but now I knew that my sister did not care whether it hurt me or not. As it was, I lighted my horn and deflected it easily. However, the pain inside me now pained me more than any spear could.

“My dear sister,” I began, my voice quavering, “I know what I have to do, for everypony’s sake, but that does not mean it’s any easier. Goodbye, Luna. I don’t know if I’ll see you again, but let us both pray I do.”

At these words, we readied ourselves for a battle which could take us both to the brink of an endless oblivion. I knew that after this battle, a scar would be left on the world by its two creators. I conjured a spear of light, and held many more at the ready using my horn. Nightmare Moon followed suit, and the battle began.

Nightmare was the first to move. She sent a dark spear flying towards me. It wasn’t frustrated this time, but very cold, and very calculated. I moved at the last moment, and knocked the spear down with one of my own, and proceeded to barrage her mind with magic, trying – not to kill her – but to knock her unconscious. As she sought to erect a defence for my new line of attack, I threw one of my own spears at her. Fear shook my aim, however, and the only surprise I might of gained with the mental attack was lost with a stray javelin. It flew out of the tower and into the city below.

I felt Nightmare trying to send an icy wind to bar my concentration from magic: it’s very difficult to perform any magic if you are frozen, quite literally, I might add, to the bone. I sent a hot air back to counter the chill and redoubled my effort as Nightmare persisted. She, however, had magic to match my own, and the power was increased on both sides, until fire met blizzard in a deadly display of nature’s dangers in an epic display.

Darkness enveloped the room. I had not expected this and so when I tried to conjure a light to counter this, I felt a piercing impact in my side. I screamed in agony, and far away I could hear a high, cold laughter, coming from a mare who knew that her attack had found its mark. On top of maintaining my fire for her ice, and the light for her dark, I managed to remove the spear from my side and quickly patch the grievous wound over. I would fix it later... if indeed there was a later for me.

I concentrated all the magic I could spare into a cone focusing onto one sharp point and threw it towards Nightmare. She was not expecting this, and it smashed through her defences with little difficulty. I heard her scream, and the magic she was performing lessened as she attempted to recuperate mid-battle. I saw my opening and concentrated all my power on the fire. The blizzard melted before the inferno and I formed a whirlwind to envelope Nightmare Moon in. I knew that this attack would have to pay out very swiftly, because I knew I could not maintain the writhing furnace around Nightmare for long.

While the attack was grievous, it would not be deadly to an alicorn with as much magical ability as Nightmare, and so she formed a protective barrier around herself. This protection, however, used massive amounts of energy. We were both tired out magically, but my magic gave out first. Nightmare sent one last gust at me before bucking me in the face. Through the ringing in my ears, I realised that this contest was one now of physical ability and endurance; thus, I lowered my head and charged Nightmare. She was recovering from her earlier buck, and so it caught her full in the side and we both fell over the tower railing and into the night sky.

Being an alicorn has its advantages; however, as I was focusing all my attention on trying to kick Nightmare, I only unfurled my wings at the last second. The jolt from stopping gravity’s work so quickly nearly dislocated my shoulders, but I had to keep flying and fighting. Seeing Nightmare rise from below, I took a chance: I swung my rear hoof wildly in an attempt to damage her wing. Feeling contact with something and the accompanying scream, I knew my objective had paid off. I had seen pegasi in the hospital during one of my routine visits which had fallen unconscious with the shock of having a wing broken, and I saw that it had the similar affect on alicorns as Nightmare fell below me.

I dove. I did not want her to die. She was far too precious to me for that. I caught up to her when it was almost too late, and carried her with magic back to the room at the top of the keep. I left her on the floor as I readied the Elements of Harmony. Before I was ready, though, Nightmare opened one of her eyes and launched herself to her hooves. I fired another psychic cone towards her, but this time she was ready: she threw a similar cone back at me, and a battle of sheer will commenced.

My mind strained against me. It recognised my sister for who she was to me.

I grunted with the effort I was exerting.

It was almost too much. My body was shivering violently and sweating beyond belief.

I could not hold onto the magic much longer, so I pushed with all my might and released the magic. Nightmare pulled the same tactic, and the resulting shockwave spread over the forest around the tower. I felt the many screams of the ponies that lived peacefully in this forest, and I knew that the animals and even the trees would run unchecked about their ways in this forest for as long as I could foretell.

Both of us lay on the ground, panting. I could barely bring myself to stand before Nightmare Moon. What I had, however, was the Elements of Harmony. They were encouraging me to do what I had to do. It was only this power which let me stand; I could not have done it any other way. Nightmare Moon was still on the ground, physically incapable of rising. I knew what I had to do. I readied the Elements of Harmony one more time. As Nightmare realised what I was doing, she knew she could not stop me by force. She did not want to resign, though. She staggered to her feet, to be banished with dignity. When she knew that I would not relent, the charade dropped, and she drooped as she realised her defeat was so close.

“Celestia...” At Nightmare’s frantic plea, I drew upon the power of the Element of Magic. A sphere formed around Nightmare Moon, swirling with the colours of all the elements. As I formed the spell to banish Nightmare to her namesake, the sphere settled upon an eerie, silver glow. I could see Nightmare Moon begging me to stop, but I could not hear her. With tears streaming down my face, I sent the sphere on its journey into the night sky.

“Godspeed, Luna,” I whispered as the sphere rose above me. “Return to your own world when you are ready.”

As the navy blue of the canvas above me flashed with the same light as the moon, I knew my work was complete. I curled up into a ball on the floor and mourned for the loss of a friend as the moon malevolently stared down at me. My sister was up there, and she hated me for what I had done.

It was that very moon I raised every night for the next thousand years, and every time I raised it, it stared at me with loathing.

Chapter One - Political Unrest

A Journey through Memories

Chapter One – Political Unrest

I wandered through the castle’s corridors. My behaviour had become a lot more like this, recently. I... returned about a year ago, word had spread and I heard of so many ponies who did not want me as one of the rulers of Equestria. I can’t say I blamed them: how many ponies would willingly accept the night princess as their ruler? The princess who turned against her sister out of sheer jealousy. That was who I was in their eyes. Those very words seemed to define me.

Canterlot Castle was spectacular: it had changed dramatically during my exile to the moon. My sister was right, though: if you admire beauty for too long, it loses its touch. That has held true for many aspects of the castle. The old corridors were the reason I stayed in this castle. The complex was so large that I would have to wander for many years before I could rediscover all its secrets. And then there were the other corridors: some that even the Royal Guard, an establishment known for its bravery, dared not follow down. It was such a corridor I was walking now. I could feel remnants of ancient magic which had been used in these halls. Canterlot had seen its share of battles, in the thousands of years it had stood on the side of the mountain, and even with the millennia passing after the battles, the dark magic was still evident; strong enough to cause even the second most powerful being in Equestria nerves.

I would pray to myself that these walks through these corridors would be enough to let my mind grow calm and let me ponder on how I could fix my standing within the many communities of Equestria and the surrounding countries. However, these walks only served to deepen my depression: I found, that even as I walked, I thought about the endless night I had craved so much; I thought about the devastation my sister and I caused in our battle a thousand years ago. I could not even look at the Everfree Forest without needing to be sick or wanting to buck whatever is nearest to me.

I also found I was becoming angry very easily. Even at my sister, and it pained me to no end whenever that happened; the slightest of words, even with the most insignificant of meanings could turn my temper to fire. I could not bring myself to violence, though: I would simply insult whoever offended me and storm off.

It’s not much of a surprise that Equestria did not seem to welcome me yet.

* * *

I entered the court looking rather bedraggled; I just found out exactly why those corridors were still forbidden. Celestia was standing by her throne at the head of the hall. A small amount of construction was happening in the hall, at that point. The Night Throne was being reconstructed and placed just off the centre of the head of the hall. Celestia’s throne was likewise being moved. My dear sister wanted to show that I had just as much power as her, and we again lived in harmony. I chuckled slightly at this thought: we may live in harmony, but many radicals, I had heard, wanted to overthrow Celestia and send me back to the moon... or kill me. It really was rather simple, yet so complicated. Celestia was busy trying to stop both of these things happening, but I could not bring myself to help her, as she had requested so many times.

Celestia aborted her conversation in short order and walked over to me.

“Follow me, please, Luna,” she was stern, but goodness knows I was, too, whenever I was worried, and Celestia was showing all the trademark signs. She led us towards her private rooms.

“What’s wrong, Celly?” I asked, after about three corridors. Anything which got Celestia worked up like this would have some considerable amount of trouble attached.

“Are you okay, Luna?” She answered. I sighed; I didn’t really like it when my questions were answered with nigh identical questions.

“Well... there’s one trap less on the third floor,” I gave Celly an answer which I knew would annoy her. I was right: I quickly got a disdainful look.

“You know what I mean,” Celly said, quite shortly. Celestia had been worried about what she saw as my almost relentless state of depression.

“I do, Celestia, but the honest answer is that I don’t know.” This reply surprised Celestia substantially. It was more than she usually got out of me. She paused outside her door, waiting for me to elaborate. “Celestia, I’m not well. I...” she cut me off.

“Cloudrunner, Starlight; you are now off-duty,” ordered Celestia, though not unkindly. “Head home to your families; I’m sure we’ll be safe here.”

The guards, knowing better to argue with the most powerful being in Equestria, gave each other a look which said ‘Should we be doing this?’ Celestia, noticing this, chuckled, and said, “Don’t worry about it; you both know we can take care of ourselves.”

Finding no obvious argument, the guards saluted and left the corridor to the two princesses. Celestia motioned for Luna to continue.

“Like I said, Celly,” I began. “I really don’t think I’m okay.” I had time to wonder about the question as we walked through the corridors, but I wasn’t able to elaborate further. I just didn’t know what was wrong with me, apart from the fact that it had something to do with my exile. “But I’m sure a thousand years would do that to any...” I came to an abrupt halt; it was a touchy subject, especially for Celestia. My sister, however, overlooked this and continued.

“You walk around the corridors during the day, and don’t think I haven’t heard you can’t sleep at night. If you can’t sleep in your own domain, then there is something wrong, Luna. Do you talk to anyone bar me if it’s not to do with matters of court?” I saw where she was getting at, and I didn’t like it. She had requested this of me many times, and every time I had declined very strongly. “I want you to...”

“I know what you want me to do!” I was very frustrated that she would ask this of me yet another time, and my voice showed this as I nearly screamed at my sister. “I know that you want me to talk to your ‘faithful student’ and her friends, but I’m sure that those six fillies would be the least likely of any pony in Equestria who would want to talk to me, let alone have me on my throne!”

“Luna, you underestimate their intelligence!” Celestia replied, just as loudly.

“Really,” I packed that single word with as much sarcasm as I could.

“Yes, Luna,” Celestia paused. A lot more quietly, she continued. “They, of all ponies, realise that you have changed. They will see you for who you are now. I can assure you that they will not see you as Nightmare Moon.”

“Celly...” I wasn’t sure how to phrase this question, so eventually I decided to put it simply. “How do you know?”

“Come with me,” she answered. She led me down corridors until we reached the library. “Here’s some light reading for you.” She handed me a pile of scrolls marked with the seal of the Ponyville dragonfire line.

“And these are...?” I asked. She had finally piqued my curiosity on the subject: I loved books and reading.

“Twilight Sparkle’s friendship reports.” She paused, and continued, quietly. “Luna, look at me. There are few ponies in Equestria whom you could trust, but Twilight is one of them. Her friends, too.

“I know you don’t want to hear this now, but I want you to read those reports. When you are finished, I want you to tell me what you think I would want you to do in the situation. I would not ask you to go to Ponyville if I believed for a second that they would not trust you.”

Realising I was backed into a metaphorical corner, I answered with a statement I hoped would not burn any bridges. “I’ll read over them, but I won’t make any promises. I’m only doing this for you, Celestia. You could have killed me, a thousand years ago, but you decided that I was worth as second chance. I’ll give the mares in Ponyville a chance, but I can’t tell you if it will pay off or not.”

“That’s all I would ask of you, Luna.” Celestia smiled, turned away, and left the library.

Chapter Two - Midnight Ponies

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Two – Midnight Ponies

I've learned that sometimes the solution to your problems can come from where you least expect it. It's a good idea to stop and listen to your friends' opinions and perspective, even when they don't always seem to make sense.

I finished reading the friendship report, given by Twilight to Celestia in person. I had to admit, I felt as if Celestia was dangling a string in front of my face, all the while knowing that I didn’t want to take it. It was only emphasised by this very friendship report.

The solution to your problems can come from where you least expect it...Celestia knew I would read that! It was probably the most affective of the friendship reports in getting me to visit Twilight Sparkle. But she had won... I was now seriously considering going to Ponyville after spending a week reading these friendship reports. Reading some of Twilight’s own words was helping show me what kind of pony she was: she was willing to accept ponies, even if others rejected them; she was able to sort out differences between two of her friends. The list was endless. At this stage, I wouldn’t complain if I had to go to Ponyville to see Twilight and her friends, but I don’t think I would have gone voluntarily. Still, hearing that she wanted to ‘learn who they are on the inside’ was a good encouragement for me.

I sighed. It was late at night and I was exhausted. Reading some more friendship reports could wait until tomorrow. As I staggered over to my bed, I decided what I would tell Celly tomorrow morning.

* * *

I woke up to a knocking in the door.

“Who’s there?” I called, slightly annoyed that I had woken up at this time.

“Your Majesty, Princess Celestia wanted to remind you of the official breakfast this morning. She also said...” The steward seemed very hesitant.

“Yes?” I prompted through the door.

“Her majesty also hoped that you didn’t stay up reading too late, last night.” The steward said this very quickly, but being court-trained, he managed to articulate perfectly.

Oh, horseapples, I thought. I completely forgot about that. Dismissing the steward, I moved quickly to my wardrobe. It was the last month of autumn, so it was fairly cold. It’s probably going to be apples for breakfast. Which cloak should I wear?

Upon deciding on a rather thick but suitable cloak – navy blue, adorned with stars and a moon – I galloped out the door, putting a small fright in the midnight-coated guard to my left. Ah, well, I thought. I haven’t seen him before, so he’s probably new. I didn’t have time to apologise, though, as I was racing towards the great hall.

I finally arrived, profusely glad that I wasn’t late. I may have been socially detached for the past year, but I was not going to let that intrude on my personal form. I walked up to Celestia and nuzzled her affectionately.

“Morning, Celly,” I greeted her, a bit out of breath.

“Hi, Luna,” Celestia began. “You forgot this breakfast was on this morning, didn’t you?”

“Strangely enough, yes,” I chuckled. “Thanks for sending that steward to my room, but try not to make them say something which scares them.” Celly openly laughed at this. “Hey, Celly, I was thinking about what you’ve...” I was cut off as a fanfare erupted around the hall. “Horseapples. It’s started.”

Celestia gave a slight grunt in agreement. We both hated such boring events as this. We had to act interested when the noble sitting across from us started talking about his shipping business. I mean, honestly, I thought. Who wants to hear about that? Nevertheless, I had to make a good impression, and so a long morning of conversation after conversation after conversation began. And not one part of it was going to be interesting. Or so I thought.

I was getting started on what looked like a very good apple pie when I heard shouting in the halls. The palace guards turned upon hearing the commotion, then drew their swords.

“Everypony stay back from the doors,” the guards shouted. Not ten seconds later, the doors splintered, and the midnight-coated guard from outside my door burst into the hall. He quickly dispatched the two guards at the entrance, and Celestia, beside me, gasped at the display. Two guards had just fallen before her and I could count on Celestia that she not only knew their names, but the lives they’d led and the families they’d had. She also knew that they were gone.

Nothing else happened for five seconds; after that, there was commotion outside as two squads attacked each other: the palace guards, with their shining armour; and more of the midnight ponies with conversely as dark cloaks. Swords sounded as they clashed against maces, and the armour rang with an ethereal tone as they were battered by the attackers. As I watched the battle, I noticed that the swords were not harming the attackers. Their cloaks must be enchanted, I realised. I held more faith in the enchantments on the guards’ armour, however: Celestia herself had utilized her own magic for each one of them.

“What are you doing here, Deforrest?” Celestia looked calmly at the unicorn. I realised that she was trying to intimidate the unicorn into turning away, or grasping for a peaceful solution.

“We both know that’s not my real name, Celestia,” he returned.

“It’s the name you gave me, and it’s name name I shall call you,” Celestia told him. Deforrest shrugged, unperturbed.

“As you will,” he continued. “As for why we’re here, I’ll tell you now. We,” he gestured behind him, “are here to stop this dangerous alicorn ascending to power. When she was last in this throne, do you remember what she did? She destroyed the lives of many ponies, and cared not for their losses.

“We are here to stop that from ever happening again.” At these words he looked behind him; the guards had finally advanced to the great hall and the attackers retreated inside. Deforrest, realising his companions were being routed, turned his attention above him and lit up his horn.

The mount for the great hall’s chandelier exploded, and chaos ensued. The dust from the ceiling was obscuring my sight, and my ears were ringing.

“Luna,” Celestia warned. “Run.”

I did not run, however. I lit up my horn and moved the dust from the broken masonry to form an angry cloud. As I saw the attackers converging in a circle, protecting each other, I sent the cloud towards them.

I turned to the few remaining nobles. “Get out of here!” I shouted at them. As I helped an elderly mare to her feet, a sizzling bolt of energy flew above my head. I dropped and rolled, only to find another flying straight towards me. I deflected it and pushed the mare on her way. I ducked behind a table until I realised that the cloud was still holding: the magic they were using could only have been fired at random. My luck did not last long, however, the dust cloud started settling and the magic bolts regained a sense of direction.

I saw more guards entering the hall, trying to detain the attackers, but they were persistent. As I noticed one guard dispatch a pegasus with the flat of his blade, I saw a midnight earth pony levelling a crossbow in my direction. I saw the bolt fly towards me and tried erecting a crude barrier, but I nearly failed. A crushing impact in my side knocked the wind out of me. I looked up and tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t obey me. Deforrest, seizing his chance, knocked the guard he was fighting out with a grievous swing of his mace and advanced towards me. I tried to send magic to stop him, but I was having trouble seeing, and he dodged the bolt easily. Realising I couldn’t stop him, I set up a barrier around me to protect me from any harm. I was only halfway through when he reached me, and he swung his mace. The ward protected me, but it was weakened now.

My sister screamed my name as Deforrest swung again, and the ward broke. The mace hit my head, and I fell away into unconsciousness.

* * *

I dreamed of the night on the tower.

I dreamed of voices near my bed.

I dreamed of a friendship that was broken.

I dreamed of the moon above my head.

* * *

I slowly opened an eyelid. It was really bright where I was. On that note, I wondered, where am I? As my mind moved slowly towards consciousness, I saw Celestia looking down at me. My head was pounding and any movement I made caused my stomach to churn.

“Luna?” Celestia called my name. She looked worse for the wear: one eye was bruised, and she had a cut across her mouth, but nothing a bit of alicorn magic couldn’t fix.

“Hi, Celly,” I said, really weakly. “You look like...” I couldn’t tell her what she looked like because I felt something coming up my throat. I threw up beside my bed, wherever that bed was, and was lucky enough to find a bucket moved there in just the nick of time, obviously by magical means. Celestia nuzzled the back of my head carefully.

“You’re okay, Luna,” she whispered into my ear, soothingly. “You’re in the hospital tower. You took a club to the side of the head but your ward took the worst of it.”

“What happened?” I asked, and regretted it. My throat felt as if it was on fire.

“How much do you remember?” Again, the answering-questions-with-questions horseapples, but I could see what she was doing this time.

“Official breakfast,” I began, trying to use my throat as little as possible while still persevering. “My guard. Oh hay! Celestia, my guard!” I hoarsely whispered, albeit urgently.

“I...” Celestia hesitated. “He’s been taken care of.” I gathered from this that Celestia, always trying to be the pacifist, did something which she could not convince herself was right. Myself? After our battle a thousand years ago, I could barely bring myself to violence anymore.

“Ah. I’m sorry, Celly,” I whispered. “I’m really sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Luna. I know that. Now try to get some sleep.” Knowing I was safe once more, along with my sister, I let sleep take me. I managed a natural sleep, this time; a sleep that would give me energy I was sure to need later on.

* * *

I woke up two days later, in my own room, this time. I was weary beyond belief, but the pain had deserted me thanks to the alicorn magic my sister and I performed on each other. We both looked like ourselves, but we didn’t act quite ourselves for the plain fact of being too tired. Court in Canterlot Castle had been cancelled for a fortnight so the engineers could rebuild their hard work in the great hall. At least they would be busy; I just had more time to ponder. Then I realised I didn’t have to wander the castle; there was one other option for me.

I got up off my own bed and trotted outside into the corridor. Navigating the castle was second nature to me, but sometimes I took a wrong turn when a passage had been changed while I was exiled. However, I managed to find my sister’s chambers without a hitch. I regrettably noted that her door was not being guarded. Celly, I scolded her mentally, I don’t need guards any more than you do, so stop being so overprotective. I understood Celestia, though. She didn’t want to lose me, and I was the radicals’ primary target. I knocked on Celestia’s door.

“Come in,” Celestia called, although more quietly than her usual self. “Hi, Luna. Up and about, I see.”

“So I noticed,” I said, and then paused. “Celly, I want to go to Ponyville to see Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”

“Luna...” She hesitated. “I’m not sure now is a good time to leave the castle.”

“On the contrary, Celly,” I objected. “Now would be a brilliant time.” Celestia simply raised an eyebrow. “How many of the radicals would expect me to leave the castle? I’m not completely dim-witted, Celly; I may be out of practice, but I am definitely not dim-witted. I’ll leave disguised as a pegasus trying to find her family in Ponyville whose house was recently burned down, hence the two saddlebags with my only possessions, I’ll then go to the library to ‘view the records’ and see Twilight Sparkle.”

Celestia looked as if this might actually work. “What are you planning on doing there?”

I thought about this question only briefly. “I could show them around Equestria. Only Applejack and... um... Fluttershy, was it? Anyway, only those two have travelled. It would keep us on the move, safe, and I would be able to tell them about the... side-effects of being the Elements of Harmony.”

I waited for Celestia to make a decision; I wanted us both to agree on this point.

“Fine. Go and pack your bags,” Celestia conceded. “I’ll not send Twilight a letter, in case the radicals are in the mailroom.” She chuckled, and then turned deadly serious. “I probably shouldn’t joke about that.”

Chapter Three - Pinkie Pie's Party

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Three - Pinkie Pie's Party

I left early that afternoon, feeling ecstatic and distraught at the same time. I was ecstatic because I could finally meet Twilight Sparkle; however, a week ago, that thought would have stopped me dead in my tracks. The only downside was that I may not be able to see my sister for a matter of weeks, even months; I would miss her greatly, and we both knew that. Yet I’d set the road beneath my feet, and now I needed to follow it through.

There was one other reason, unbeknownst to my sister, as to why I was leaving Canterlot. One thousand years is a long time, and I was sure there would not be anyone who could remember those days, but I still needed to make amends. How many ponies out there would try to kill me for what I had done? How many would hate my sister for forgiving me? I knew the only way I could even remotely make myself accepted would be by talking to the descendants of the people I betrayed: griffons, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies were all wounded by my actions, I wanted to talk to those communities, to ask them what they wanted of me.

I cleared my head of these thoughts; I had to get to Ponyville by nightfall and remain in disguise. I had enough magic to make myself look like any other pegasus pony, and as flying would be the fastest way to get to Ponyville, I simply chose to hide my horn from others’ eyes. I could see Ponyville from here, it was just a matter of getting there; my wings weren’t quite what they used to be, but I knew that, with even a small amount of exercise, they should return to normal alicorn strength, which was greater than most pegasi.

It was around mid-afternoon when I touched down in Ponyville’s town square. It was at that time I realised I had no idea where the library was; or, indeed, what it looked like. I stopped to take in my surroundings. I had been too far detached from society at these levels (which seemed to be much more complex than those of the nobility) that I was astounded by the trivial things which people talked about. Then I knew. I knew that life is so much more amazing and so much more interesting than I remembered. I had forgotten the niceties of society in my exile, having nopony but myself to talk to. I remembered this, and so with an earnest grin on my face, I walked up to a handsome red stallion who seemed to be selling apples. I walked over to him.

“Brilliant afternoon, isn’t it?” I asked. I only realised later that most ponies would think I was mad.

“Eeeyup,” the stallion answered.

I looked at the cart, and appreciated how much energy flying could take away from you. I saw the stock available. Apple pie, apple crumble, apple strudel, apple cinnamon crisps, red ladies, granny smiths and golden delicious were all on the cart. The many apples reminded me of the official breakfast not three days gone; I felt my grin suddenly fade.

“Are you okay?” The red stallion asked as politely as possible.

“I’m fine, sorry,” I answered, but the stallion gave me a look which showed he did not think I was fine. I changed the subject from my wellbeing, but he earnestly seemed to be worried about me. “May I please have a slice from the apple pie and three golden delicious apples?”

“Eeeyup,” the stallion answered, and handed me the appropriate stock. “That’ll be thirteen bits.”

I handed him fifteen bits; I had plenty to spare. “Keep the change, but can you please direct me to the town library? It’s my first time here in a long while.” Just how long, I didn’t let on.

The red stallion directed me down the right street. “You can’t miss it. Just follow down that road until you see a really big tree with a beehive on one of the branches.”

I thanked him profusely for his help and went about my way. As I looked back, I noticed he was watching me thoughtfully. No, I thought to myself. He’s an earth pony. There’s no possible way he could see through my disguise. Or... maybe he’s just more than he seems. He looked like a very wise stallion. This encounter lowered my confidence a bit, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me. I moved on down the street where I saw a very large tree, with a hive on its branch, just as the red stallion described.

I walked towards the base of the trunk where a red door with a candle on it was set. I knocked on the door and waited.

“I’m comin’,” a voice called from inside; a few seconds later, a small purple dragon opened the door. “Hi! What can I do for you today?”

“Hi!” I answered quite brightly, my good mood returned to me. “I was just wondering if you know where Miss Twilight Sparkle is.”

The dragon grew a bit skeptical. “What’s it to you?”

“We have a mutual friend who wanted a letter delivered straight to her hoof.” At this, I rummaged in my saddlebags and pulled out a scroll with Celestia’s seal on it. “Is that okay with you?”

Upon seeing the seal, the dragon replied, “Ah, I see. Well, Twilight’s gone to one of Pinkie Pie’s parties. It’d be a good idea to go over now if you want to see her.”

Oh, hay. A party. That’s the last thing I want to go to right now. While I was still excited about the bedrock of our civilisation, I didn’t think I would be ready for a party. Still, I had to be polite, and I had to follow through with what I promised myself. “Thanks. Where can I find it?”

* * *

Having been directed to the town’s bakery, Sugarcube Corner, I thanked the dragon and began towards my dreaded destination. I trotted along, munching on the slice of apple crumble. As I neared Sugarcube Corner, I realised that the party was both successful and in full swing. I cautiously neared the door and opened it.

I shut it again almost immediately. A game was underway where someone tries to pin something against a door. I thought so, at least.

“Oops,” a high-pitched filly’s voice called out. “I’ll remember to put my favourite game of pin-the-tail-on-the-pony on the wall, next time.” At these words, I inched the door open, and upon seeing nopony trying to pin a tail onto my face, rushed in and slammed the door after me. As I turned around, I saw two bright blue eyes inquisitively staring back at me.

“Umm...” I stammered, not sure how to proceed. “Good afternoon, Miss.”

Thankfully, the filly backed away, and I saw her body was composed solely of pink. Her mane, however, was a bit darker than the rest of her. She smiled a wide grin and said, “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and I threw this party because it’s someone’s birthday today.” Before I could get a word in, she continued. “I think it might be my birthday. Hey, Applejack! Is it my birthday today?”

The orange earth pony raised her voice to reply, “Yeah, Pinkie, it’s your birthday today a’right.”

“Ooh, ooh, ooh,” she gasped and turned towards me. “Did you hear that? It’s my birthday today! I’m so excited about my birthday!” She proceeded to bounce around me, stopping me from getting away from her. I found the whole experience quite unnerving.

“Hold on!” Pinkie Pie stopped dead, just before she jumped up. “I haven’t seen you here before, so that means you’re new in Ponyville, and I need to throw you a party because everyone gets a party when they arrive in Ponyville. I’m good at parties! When anypony goes to my parties, they have a great time, don’t they, Gummy?” She directed the last question to an alligator with no teeth beside her. Getting no answer, she asked me a question I hadn’t foreseen. “So what’s your name?”

Before I had time to think up a name in my head, she stopped (she seemed to have been bouncing uncontrollably) and listened. “Ooh, I love this song. See you later!” Pinkie Pie shot off.

Saved from an awkward conversation after an awkward pause, I proceeded to try and find my target. After a bit of fruitless searching, I decided I would try and enjoy this party. Pinkie Pie’s laughter seemed to be infectious, because I was earnestly enjoying an event which I would normally have hated to the depths of my heart. I went into the crowd, still in my disguise, and started dancing around with the rest of the ponies. Hay, I was having fun. Unfortunately, I was getting too thirsty to continue, so I moved over to a table where the punchbowl was stationed. After pouring myself a cup of the punch, I moved to a relatively empty area and leaned against the wall. Dancing was a tiring activity.

I finished my punch and as I put it on a table, I saw a purple unicorn mare making a beeline towards me. I had an idea who she was, but I didn’t want to offend her by greeting her by the wrong name.

“Hi there,” she said, brightly.

“Hi,” I returned. I found my mind wandering away from the party.

“I see you got ambushed by Pinkie Pie,” she said happily. I chuckled at her choice of words as she continued. “Don’t worry about it. She’s that way around anypony she hasn’t met before. Come to mention it, she’s like that around everypony. Twilight Sparkle, by the way.”

I hesitated. “Nice to meet you, Miss Sparkle, but I would rather find somewhere more private to introduce myself.” My words obviously intrigued the lavender mare, but she accepted this and walked away, motioning for me to follow. I did so, and I found myself outside the bakery. It had passed sunset, but I felt the party was far from over

“Is here okay to talk?” Twilight asked.

“I guess so,” I glanced around me quickly. Seeing that we were alone, I continued. “I’m Princess Luna and the reason I’m here, among other things, is to ask for your help, Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight was clearly unsure whether to bow or not as she saw one of the monarchs of Equestria before her in an alter ego but stopped her decision making upon hearing these words and asked, “Help you?”

“Yes, Miss Sparkle,” I answered. “And not just your help. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash would also be helpful.”

“Please, Your Majesty, call me Twilight,” the awestruck mare insisted.

“Okay, Twilight, but only if you stop calling me ‘Your Majesty’.” I felt that I knew her quite well from her friendship reports, and she seemed like the pony I read about, but I was certain that the feeling was not reciprocal. “Celly – sorry, Celestia – has been begging me for ages to visit you ponies. I haven’t been the same pony she knew before... you know what I mean. She thinks I’m... well, I don’t know... traumatised from the experience, and its affecting my behaviour. I have to agree with her; I haven’t socially spoken to anypony besides her for the past year. Celestia thinks that you can help me, and, after reading your friendship reports, I’m counting on it. I think you six fillies are the best chance of being the figurehead I once was for this beautiful country.”

Twilight paused, processing the information. “What do you plan on doing?” she asked.

“I assume you heard about the... assassination attempt two days ago in Canterlot?” I asked Twilight. She nodded, so I continued. “I think it would be best if I kept moving about, and I want you to come with me.”

“If we were to go,” Twilight began, “where do you think we’ll be going?”

“I want to visit some communities which are most likely to not want me on the throne. I want to convince them that I have changed and that I want to work for a better Equestria beside my sister. Along the way, I might just find these radicals who tried to kill me and talk to them. Look, I know that sounds reckless, but I fear that it is the only way that I’ll be accepted by everyone.”

Twilight paused yet again. “I’ll need to talk to the others about it, but after what we’ve,” – she meant me, as well – “been through, I think we should all do what we can to help each other.”

“Okay. Do you know where the town inn is?” I asked.

Twilight gaped at me. “I’m not going to make you do that, Your...” she cut herself off in time, receiving nothing but a raised eyebrow from me. “In fact, I would advise against it: if the radicals come around looking for you, then I think they’ll look in the inn first, and I doubt you can hold your illusion while sleeping. No, I insist you sleep in the library tonight. I’ll go and set up a bed for you.”

“See you there, once this party is over,” I told Twilight. As she ran off, I called after her. “And Twilight. Thank you.”

As the lavender mare rushed towards her home, I confronted what was niggling at my mind since I started talking to her. I wondered what it was which was bothering me. She’s a kind pony. I’m not sure who would give someone a roof above their heads for the night in less than two hours’ notice, I thought to myself. She’s kind, she’s fun to be around; she’s also rather pretty... I cut myself off mentally. No, Luna! No, no, NO! I reprimanded myself as much as possible. Celly would kill me if she found out I had a thing for her protégée.

Or... she would leave alone and let us do what we will. I didn’t know what to think, and I certainly didn’t know how I should act. Okay, Luna, see how it plays out, but don’t scare her off.

Chapter Four - Preparations

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Four - Preparations

I returned to the party, still slightly confused with my feelings concerning Twilight. Deciding I would try and talk to the other six fillies the next morning, I continued dancing with the rest of the ponies here. After sunset, it looked as if well over half of the town had turned up to the party. I saw the red stallion from the market talking to the orange mare that Pinkie Pie identified as Applejack. Sure enough, I saw a group of three apples on her flank. I smiled; I may be confused in my emotions, but I was certainly going to enjoy myself for the rest of the night, just like the rest of the ponies here.

Joining the crowd once more, I continued dancing. I noticed that Pinkie Pie was bouncing around with a tray of drinks on her back. Exactly how she jumped at that height without spilling a drop of punch, I would never know. Just as I watched Pinkie Pie bounce away, a pony caught my attention. She was sitting in a corner, half-hidden by shadows. I stopped dancing and trotted over, with a genuine smile across my face. She was a pegasus with a butter-yellow coat and pale pink mane. As I approached her, she seemed to shy away; however, trying to be polite, she stood.

“It’s a good party, isn’t it?” I asked her. She mumbled in agreement.

“I’m sorry,” I asked.

“I said, ‘it is a good party, isn’t it?’” She repeated, almost as quietly.

“What’s your name, then?” I encouraged her.

“I- I’m...” She trailed off, but, from the friendship reports, I already knew her name. This was obviously Fluttershy.

Pretending I heard her name, I continued, knowing a bit about Fluttershy from the friendship reports, namely how to get her attention. “Have you seen Pinkie Pie’s adorable little alligator?” Fluttershy’s ears perked up. “He is the cutest little lizard I’ve ever seen.”

“Oh, no,” Fluttershy objected, much louder than before, although still quietly. “Gummy’s not a lizard. He’s a really fierce alligator. Aren’t you, Gummy?” In response to this, the alligator, which was blinking irregularly beside me, opened his maw very wide to reveal pink gums. “Look at that,” Fluttershy said. “He’s really scary.”

“I guess so,” I agreed, realising that Fluttershy was not, in fact, scared of the alligator, just being really kind to it. “Anyway, I think I’ll go back to enjoy the party.” I turned to walk back into the crowd.

“Um, excuse me...” Fluttershy called me back, almost at an audible level. “I’m sorry, but w- what was your name?”

Having forgotten to create a name for my disguise, I made one up on the spot. “Cloudrunner. Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Fluttershy.” I quickly thought to use the name of one of the pegasus guards in Canterlot.

After about an hour more, I noticed that I was getting too tired to maintain my illusion, so I decided to call it a day... or night, as it were, and thanked Pinkie Pie for the party.

“Oh, that’s fine,” she said, still bouncing. “I still need to make a party for you, though, you’re new here, and I give parties to everypony who’s new to Ponyville.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll be staying here for long.” It was a bit of a relief to tell somepony something which was completely true. “Again, thanks for the party, Pinkie Pie, and happy birthday.” I turned and left as Pinkie Pie cried out cheerily that it was her birthday and she should throw a party.

I walked back to the tree which acted as the town’s library while struggling to keep my eyes open. I neared the door and knocked, and I was quickly admitted by an owl. Too tired to notice, I fell through the threshold and did a double-take. An owl was taking care of the library? How absurd, I thought to myself, but I was grateful for any creature that lived in my own domain. Seeming to know why I was here, the owl led me to a bed upstairs.

“Thank you,” I muttered, exhausted enough that I didn’t care if the owl was sentient or not.

“Who?” The owl asked, and I nearly answered when I realised he had just given me the extent of his vocabulary. Sighing, I let the owl out, locked the door (I didn’t want anyone noticing that Princess Luna was staying over in Ponyville) and let the disguise fall away. Content in being myself again, I lay on the bed and slept, knowing I’d need all the rest I can get after the party and before the day tomorrow.

* * *

I woke up to sunlight streaming in the window. Noticing I had forgotten to draw the curtains last night, I decided that I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep in this light, so I rolled out of bed and stood up. I quickly initiated an illusion to hide my horn and walked downstairs, yawning. I was greeted by a familiar purple unicorn reading a book who stood quickly.

“Good morning, Princess,” Twilight said, and I felt my heart flutter, but not enough to bother me.

“Morning, Twilight,” I greeted her. “And, please, call me Luna.”

“Okay, Luna,” she said pleasantly. “Spike’s made breakfast in the kitchen. Help yourself.” Spike, I thought. So that’s the dragon’s name.

“Thanks,” I replied. “Hmm... Last night, when I stumbled in here, I was shown to bed by an owl. Is that normal behaviour?”

Twilight chucked. “That’s Owlowicious. He takes care of all the night activities when Spike’s asleep. I think those two have their differences over each other, though.”

“Really,” I asked, rhetorically. “Anyway, what’s for breakfast?”

“Don’t ask me,” Twilight started. “The kitchen’s down that way, first door on the right.”

“And... one more thing,” I asked hesitantly. She motioned for me to go on. “Does Spike know who I am?”

“No, I should think not,” Twilight answered. “Makes life a bit easier, does it?”

“You could say that,” I replied, as I walked towards the kitchen. As I approached, I called to whoever was inside. “Hello?”

“Morning,” answered the purple dragon in a chef’s hat. “The apple crumble’s just finished. Can you take a slice out to Twi, please?”

“Okay,” it felt refreshing to have someone talk to me at face value, not as one of the monarchs in Equestria. “Smells really nice, thanks.”

Spike, not used to a compliment such as that, blushed. “Thanks- I mean, you’re welcome.” I smiled as I walked out the room with two plates on my forehoof. I reached the library again and handed one of the dishes to Twilight.

“Thanks, Luna,” she said, and kept reading.

“You’re more than welcome,” I told her, and proceeded to eat my own crumble. It was as good as I had anticipated from the smell. “Spike’s a really good chef, isn’t he?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Twilight. “I depend on him a fair bit. He keeps me sane most of the time and looks after the library with Owlowicious if I’m away.

“Speaking of going away, should I ask the others to come around so you can talk to all of us?” Twilight asked.

“Thanks, that’d be great,” I said. “I think I’ll keep the illusion up for now, though.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything else,” Twilight said. “And by the way, we’re in a library, so if you want to pass the time, there’s always a good book to read.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “One year of reading is not enough to catch up one thousand years’ worth of good literature.”

Twilight, unsure of whether to chuckle or not, remained silent.

“What are you reading, anyway?” I asked her.

“Oh,” she replied. “Just a quick guide to camping. I mean- there’s not going to be an inn for everywhere we stop, is there?”

“True enough,” I agreed, and thought about what she just said. “Hold on. You said that as if you knew that we would go.”

“Well, I can’t see of any reason why they wouldn’t,” Twilight seemed a little shocked in my lack of faith in her friends. “After all, we’ve saved you one, we should follow through with the deed, don’t you think?”

I had been touched by this reply, and felt tears forming at the corners of my eyes. “Excuse me,” I muttered and hurried outside. Twilight stood as if to follow, then thought the better of it; I would rather be alone until I calmed myself down.

I looked up at the sky. Celestia provided warmth and light in her domain, but little beauty. Although, I admitted to myself, warmth and light are more important to ponies than beauty. I did not begrudge Celestia her daytime skies and the happiness she provided for ponies, as I had once done; I was content in the way of things. It may have been a thousand years ago, but I remembered those hours on the top of the tower, and I had a whole millennium to ponder the words Celestia had given me. Yes, Celestia had saved me, but she was not the only one; I would still ask this world to be covered in darkness eternal if it was not for those six friends, and I thanked them for it. I did not want to tell them the price for being what they are: the Elements of Harmony.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” The red stallion from the previous day was walking by the library, a cart in tow, and saw me crying.

“I think,” I began, but I wasn’t sure how to finish it. “I think I am, thank you.” The stallion nodded, still thoughtfully, and moved about his way. I then walked back into the library, for I had not been lying with that answer; even if I did, I thought the wise stallion would have seen through it.

Twilight was still standing. She looked expectantly at me.

“I’m okay, just had a bit of a breakdown, there,” I wasn’t sure if I should trust my feelings to this mare, but I still felt a bit of a connection with her. Trying to lighten the mood, Twilight proceeded with small talk. It worked, for the most part. I spent the rest of that half hour wondering to myself why it was I liked this lavender mare. She was kind; she was accepting; she knew how to apologise. The only problem was that she was afraid of me. She certainly acted like it. She thought there was a massive chasm between the two of us which nopony could bridge.

I was still in thought when I heard a knock on the door. I double checked my illusion before I opened the door. It was Pinkie Pie, followed by a cyan pegasus mare with a rainbow mane and tail. I took the latter to be Rainbow Dash.

“Morning, ladies,” I said as politely as possible as I admitted them.

“Good morning,” returned Rainbow Dash, probably wondering who I was.

“Hey, Cloudrunner,” said Pinkie Pie. “I was talking to Fluttershy this morning and she said how there was a new mare in town and I wanted to throw a party and then I realised I didn’t know your name so I talked to Fluttershy who I noticed you were talking to at the party and she said your name was Cloudrunner.” I lost track of the monologue after something about a party, but I continued anyway.

“Well, about that...” I began, glancing to Twilight for some support. Thankfully, she quickly interrupted.

“Would you like some breakfast, girls?” She asked quickly.

“Oh, hi, Twilight,” said Pinkie, seeming to notice her for the first time. “What’s on the menu?”

“Apple crumble,” Twilight replied. “Dash?”

Dash nodded. “Thanks, Twilight.”

Twilight quickly led the two fillies to the kitchen, and I realised why Spike was making such a large apple crumble. True enough, the door swung open quickly to invite a white unicorn mare, who I guessed was Rarity, followed by the quiet Fluttershy.

“Morning, ladies,” I repeated to these mares.

Fluttershy mumbled something with sounded like “Good morning, Cloudrunner.” Rarity likewise greeted me, though without the use of my pseudonym. I directed them to the kitchen for breakfast, which, I assured them, was fit for a princess.

Finally, an orange pony, who I remembered was Applejack after the party, walked through the door.

“Good morning,” I said, as pleasantly as I could manage.

“Mornin’,” Applejack returned, with a very strong Southern accent. “Ah don’ mean to be rude, bu’ you are?”

“I’m Clo...” I realised that with Applejack being the Element of Honesty, she could probably tell I would be lying to her. In the end, I simply said, “I’ll tell you after breakfast. Which, by the way, is in the kitchen with the others.”

Applejack eyed me suspiciously, but went down the hall nonetheless.

* * *

Breakfast was finished, and we were all content. I had treated myself to one more slice of apple crumble. We had all retired to the main library, were the seats were just a bit more comfortable. It was Applejack who spoke up.

“Okay, sugarcube,” she began, content because she knew I didn’t mean anyone harm. “What is i’ you’ve got to tell us?”

I sighed, and stood. “Ladies, I must admit I don’t know how to say this, but I think I should start with an apology. I’m sorry, Fluttershy, and you, Pinkie Pie; my name is not Cloudrunner. To all of you, I’m sorry, but I am no pegasus.” At these words, I dropped the illusion. “This is me. I am Princess Luna.” They all stood and bowed. “Please, stand up. You six mares, of all ponies, do not need to bow to me. I would much prefer it if you would all take me for what you see of me, not as the princess of the night. After all, the only reason I am here is to ask you all for your help.” There were some confused looks.

“Help with what, Ah wonder?” Applejack spoke up.

“I haven’t been the same alicorn my sister knew after my exile, and while I would never want to go back to the way I was before – full of jealousy – I would ask that you follow me on... a journey, and teach me how to become a friend to all the ponies in Equestria once again.”

“Ooh,” Pinkie pie exclaimed. “An adventure!” Everypony else was silent. I guessed Pinkie Pie would be coming.

After a long pause, Rarity was the next to speak. “I think that we should do whatever we can to make Equestria a better place, so, while I may not speak for everyone else, I will go.”

Fluttershy also gave her opinion. “I’ll be more than happy to go, if that’s okay with everyone.”

Twilight simply said, “You know I’m already going.”

Applejack looked a bit uneasy, however. “What’s wrong, Applejack?” I asked her.

“It’s Applebuck season righ’ now,” she began, “and Ah don’ think Big Macintosh can do all the buckin’ and take care of Granny Smith all by ‘imself.”

“We’ll help out, if that’s what you need,” I assured her, willing to follow through with that promise all the way.

“If everyone else is going, there’s no way I’m gonna get left out,” said Rainbow Dash. “I just need to let the weather team know they’re not going to have their best flyer for a while. How long do you think we’ll be away, Princess?”

“Luna, if you will,” I replied, “and quite honestly, I don’t know. It’s likely to be more than a month, so pack warm for winter. We should be able to get food along the way. Does everyone agree with this?”

There was a murmur of assent from each of the ponies.

“Brilliant,” I said. “We’ll leave when everypony’s ready and Applejack’s sorted her affairs out.”

The group of friends left and consulted each other on what to pack. The only two left in the library were Twilight and me. “Is it okay with you if I stay here until we leave?” I asked her.

“That’s fine by me,” replied Twilight. “After all, it was Celestia who let me stay her in the first place; I should probably return the favour for her sister.”

“Thank you, Twilight Sparkle,” I said, earnestly. I then found the Geography section, pulled down an atlas and planned the route we would take. We’ll start in Anchorage, I thought. We’ll move southeast from there and see the griffins.

Chapter Five - The Road to Anchorage

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Five - The Road to Anchorage

I saw Applejack racing through towards the library. It wasn’t long before I heard a knock on the door. There was some hushed but excited conversation, until I heard Twilight’s voice ring out through the library.

“Cloudrunner,” she called, believing it would be best to use my alias until we were safe out of Ponyville. I agreed with her logic; it made sense that the radicals would still be looking for me, if not in Canterlot, then close by. I went downstairs to see Twilight and Applejack with wide grins across both their faces.

“So I guess you’re able to come, Applejack?” I asked. I actually hoped that Applejack could come on this journey. It wouldn’t be as entertaining or as useful without her.

“That’s right,” she smiled. “Damn near worked ourselves to the bone getting it done, but we did, in the end.” She paused, looking a bit uneasy... scared, even? “Ah’m really sorry, Luna, Big Macintosh asked why I was working so hard, and Ah couldn’t lie to him. He didn’t seem surprised, though; Ah think he already knew.”

“Big Macintosh...” I wondered. “Is he the really large, red stallion I’ve seen around town?”

Applejack paused to think, and she nodded. “He’s been selling the apples we’ve bucked for the last couple o’ weeks now; Ah’m sure he would’ve been in town.”

“He seems like a very wise stallion,” I told Applejack, “and I think he didn’t know who I was, but rather that I wasn’t showing my true self. I don’t hold it against you Applejack. I would’ve hated to lie to my sister in your situation.” Applejack smiled at this; I was guiding her to do what she thought was right. As a ruler of Equestria, I wanted to encourage ponies when they did something right, not discipline them for doing something wrong.

“Twilight,” I continued, “can you please make sure that the others know we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning, and stress that it will get cold.”

* * *

We convened the following morning in the library. Each of the ponies brought what they thought they would need: Applejack brought some apples, though she assured me they would be a luxury, aware that we could graze along the way; Pinkie Pie brought some sweets, also aware that we could graze; Fluttershy brought some bird feed (“We might find some nice ducks at a pond along the way,” she had said), along with some basic first aid equipment; Rarity brought a makeover set, which she promised would be used every morning, causing a lot of eye-rolling from the rest of the group; Rainbow Dash brought some Wonderbolt posters; and Twilight brought a miniature library in her saddlebags, including the atlas I borrowed earlier. Everypony brought some heavy cloaks, and Twilight treated them to be waterproof using her prodigious grasp of magic.

I took the atlas from Twilight’s bag, and studied the map. We wanted to go to Anchorage, in the west southwest, so I decided to take the southern exit from Ponyville. We turned right as we exited the library and we began the long journey ahead of us.

“Excuse me, princess,” Rarity began, “...sorry, Luna – but where are we headed to begin?” I was surprised that nopony had already asked this question of me. Did they just not care, I thought, or are they afraid of me? I felt frustration well up inside me. I'm trying as hard as I can to be a good friend to them, but they just don’t seem to be able to relate to me.

“We’re going to start in Anchorage,” I began. “It’s a port city and has an island nearby where there was a naval outpost. I’m not sure if it’s still there after what I’ve done, but I’m sure the area was damaged.”

“Damaged?” asked Rarity. “How do you mean?”

I turned towards the northwest. “The Everfree Forest is in that direction, isn’t it? Needless to say, it wasn’t there just over a thousand years ago.”

Twilight gasped. “You mean to say... that... the Everfree Forest... t- the whole Everfree Forest... that was you?” The six fillies stopped short and turned to me. I felt a jolt in my chest as some of the only ponies in Equestria I trusted were shocked by what I had done.

Twilight realised what she had said, and tears started forming in her eyes. “No, Luna, I- I’m really sor- sorry. That was blunt; I- I shouldn’t ha- have said it, I’m s- sorry that...”

I cut her off. “Don’t worry about it, Twilight. In answer to your question: yes. The Everfree Forest was caused by the battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon, that is to say, me.”

“No,” Twilight tried to remedy the situation, but I feared the damage was done. “You are not Nightmare Moon. You are Princess Luna, an alicorn who wants to fix what she has done.”

“Perhaps, Twilight,” I stated, “but I fear that what I have done cannot be repaired.” Until we reached the farthest outskirts of the city, nothing was said between us; even after, the conversation was kept to a minimum.

* * *

We finally reached a clearing in the light forest with a stream flowing through.

“Now would be a good time to have lunch, everypony,” I declared. I walked over to the stream in the clearing and dipped my face in. As I did, I dispelled the illusion so the group of friends would see me as who I was. I munched quickly on some grass; I didn’t need as much food as many ponies due to the magic which sustained me, but I still needed some. When I finished, I used my horn to retrieve some charcoal and parchment from my own saddlebags; drawing was another activity which I hoped would mitigate my depression, and I felt that, this time, it actually worked. I quickly sketched a scene with six fillies grazing in a clearing and drinking from a stream of water with a backdrop of a coniferous forest. I admired my handiwork. I could’ve done better by using magic to mark the paper, but manipulating the charcoal with magic used more skill and I felt it produced better results.

“Can we keep going now,” it was worded a question, but Pinkie Pie said it like a command. At this, I studied the six fillies in front of me. Pinkie Pie was bouncing, as usual, and it caused me to wonder what could ever dampen the pink pony’s spirits. Applejack and Rainbow Dash seemed to be soldiering on; it seemed friendly competition, in their case, kept them going even if they were sore and weary. Fluttershy seemed to enjoy the walk; she had commented on the various bird noises during the walk, so I had very few worries about her. Rarity was complaining about the state of her legs, saying that it was acutely mundane to have them covered in mud form the path. It seemed trivial enough that it did not worry me. Twilight, however, did. She was nursing a sore front hoof, so I trotted over to her.

“Are you okay?” I asked, hoping to sound genuine despite the earlier conversation.

“Yeah, my hooves are just getting quite sore,” replied Twilight, but she winced whenever she put one down, in particular.

“I think there’s a reason behind that. Let me see,” I commanded, and saw that a pebble had been lodged into the bottom of her hoof. “Fluttershy! Can you please bring the first aid things?” I called over my shoulder. Fluttershy complied and proceeded to remove the pebble from Twilight’s hoof. Thinking it would be prudent to check on the others, I asked how Applejack was. Seeing she was fine, I directed the same question to Rainbow Dash. She was also well, so I waited for Fluttershy to finish her work.

Once Fluttershy declared she was finished, I picked up my saddlebags and moved back onto the track, Fluttershy helping Twilight along; the pebble had nearly caused an infection, apparently. The rest of the day proceeded without any major incidents, and we eventually set up camp in a similar, but larger, clearing. Applejack and Rainbow Dash gathered wood for a fire and set it up in the middle of the clearing. After many failed attempts at rubbing sticks together, Twilight intervened and created a spark which set the fire going. Applejack looked a bit sheepish as to why she didn’t think of that before.

I set up a ward which would protect them from the worst of the wind and the possible rain, figuring that it would be a useful skill to employ later in the year, during winter. Deciding it would be best for them, I employed one of the powers granted to me as the night princess; I delved into the ponies’ dreams. I wanted each of them to be sleeping peacefully tonight.

I started with Applejack. She was dreaming about home, feeling slightly worried about her granny and Big Macintosh, along with her little sister, Applebloom. She was sleeping peacefully, though, so I decided to leave alone. Rainbow Dash was dreaming about flying, and the stunts she would perform for the Wonderbolts when they finally gave her an audition. I wondered if I could pull any strings in that regard when we returned home. Fluttershy was dreaming about birdsong, and dancing with all the animals in the palace gardens. I smiled as I remembered Celly telling me how that fantasy had played out. Rarity was dreaming about a fashion show she hoped she would get in, displaying all her works. I had to give her credit: she certainly knew a thing or two about fashion. Pinkie Pie was dreaming about Gummy; the pet alligator I had met at Pinkie’s birthday party. She seemed to be worried that he would get a stomach-ache.

I finally delved into Twilight’s dreams, and stayed longer there than in any of the others’. Twilight was worried about Spike; she felt a certain attachment to that dragon. Curious, I gave the dreams a slight nudge in the direction I wanted. In Twilight’s mind, I saw the magic that Twilight had at her disposal, and I realised exactly why she was the Element of Magic; some of the alicorns (back when they were uncommon but not near-extinct) would have great difficulty performing such feats of magic, and Twilight was barely a foal at the time. This small piece of her character intrigued me. How could anypony have such magic at their disposal? I questioned myself, believing that a nigh-theological discussion with myself would take my mind off the troubles everypony at Canterlot Castle had to face because of me. The Elements of Harmony can only aid the ponies so far, so... was this planned? Did Celly know that I would come back and fashion six ponies and bring them all together? Maybe it’s just how the world ran: pure coincidence. Or... there’s something else out there. Realising I wasn’t getting anywhere with my debate, I retrieved my charcoal and parchment and drew the trees and the stars above them. I kept the moon behind me; if I was asked, it would be so I could see my parchment, but I knew it was because I couldn’t bear to draw it.

I sighed. My insomnia was quite irregular, and when I knew I needed sleep, it never came. It was two hours past midnight when I finally felt my eyelids droop. I walked over to the fire, laid down beside it, and let sleep take me.

* * *

I woke up with Celestia’s light shining through the trees and onto my face. I was comfortable, but I knew I had to get up. As I brought myself to my feet, I saw Applejack sitting at the edge of the clearing, looking towards the forest, apparently deep in thought. Worried for her, I moved over to her.

“Are you okay, Applejack?” I inquired, hoping to shed some light on the subject.

“Yeah, Ah’m fine,” Applejack assured me. “Ah’ve gotten used to gettin’ up at dawn ev’ry mornin’ so Ah can buck apples...” She trailed off. “Ah worry ‘bout them sometimes. Granny Smith, Big Macintosh and Applebloom. I don’t know how they’re doin’ withou’ me.”

I paused while I thought of how I could cheer Applejack up. “Applejack... I’ve got some parchment and charcoal in my bag. When we reach Anchorage, I’m sure there’ll be a post office so you can write a letter to home.”

“That sounds mighty nice, Luna,” Applejack thanked me. “But how are they goin’ to send a letter back?”

“I’m quite sure that Spike will be able to send the letter on to Twilight, wherever she is,” I assured her. “That is, if Twilight’s happy to help.”

“Ah’m sure she will be,” said Applejack, noticeably lightened. “Should we wake the others up now?”

“You go, I need to check the map,” I stated. I checked the atlas and marked where we were now, and did some rough calculations. I guessed that we would be at Anchorage in about a week, and no more than ten days unless something happened.

* * *

We covered a good amount of ground that day, Pinkie Pie managed to keep the mood light with numerous songs, sometimes in harmony with Fluttershy’s imitation of birdsong. I found many of the lyrics which Pinkie Pie sang amusing; it seemed there was a good reason that this party pony was the Element of Laughter.

We continued walking for another five days. I managed to get some sleep through the nights, but they were mainly spent drawing pictures of the landscape around me. We arrived at the entrance to Anchorage at mid-afternoon on the sixth day of our journey, and I was pleased with the progress we had made. As we neared the outskirts, I saw one of the town guards. I decided that it would be better to adopt no disguise, so when the guard responded to my call, he saluted very sternly.

“Please, officer,” I began, trying to sound kind. “There is no need to salute. Can you kindly direct us to the nearest inn, please?”

“Yes, your majesty,” he answered. “That would be the Forecastle Inn, but the guard is aware that the area is dishonest. I would suggest, for a safer night, that you retire to Comet’s Bed and Breakfast.”

“Thank you, officer,” I replied. “But I feel we are too hoofsore to carry on much further. Which way is the Forecastle Inn?”

The officer gave a dubious look before showing us the street to go down. “Follow that one, take a right on the next main road and you shouldn’t miss it.”

“Thank you, sir,” I smiled.

“My pleasure, ma’am,” the guard responded, holding back a salute. I turned down the street and the others followed.

There was silence between us until Rarity nearly shrieked at me. “Why would you take us there?! It’s full of common scoundrels and- and riff-raff!”

“Oh, Rarity, that’s exactly why we’re going there,” I began, very calmly, and Rarity shrunk back as she remembered who she was shouting at. “I could go to the rich quarters of the town, indeed. But why should I? Do I need to please the rich? It seems to me that they are already happy enough with their lives.”

“Umm... Rarity... Luna’s right,” said a small voice behind me. “She needs to take care of everyone, not just the rich ponies. It might even be a nice...” Fluttershy trailed off. “Anyway, I’m sure they’re really, really, friendly there.”

Rarity had the good grace to blush at her outburst. “Okay, I guess that makes sense.”

As we reached the inn, I noticed it looked serviceable, but slightly run-down. Removing the hood of my travelling cloak, I walked inside, the rest of the group following suit. The noise coming from the common room was less than I expected, but it was still loud. As the numerous colts saw us seven mares enter the room, some wolf whistled. I grinned inwardly; I was wearing my cloak so it covered my wings, but I knew they could see my horn. I glanced behind me. The other six looked trapped, Rarity especially so. Wasting no time, I went to the barkeep.

“Excuse me, sir,” I asked politely. “How much would three rooms for the night be?”

The innkeeper, ignoring the misbehaving patrons, answered. “Three rooms for a night... that would be twenty-four bits. If you all want breakfast in the morning, then it’s thirty.”

I handed him thirty bits. “Just the rooms, thank you. Please keep the change.” I paused, and then continued. “Is there a place where we can hang our travelling cloaks?” I asked. The innkeeper pointed me towards the coat-rack in the corner of the common room. I led the way for the six fillies to the corner where the rack stood. I took off my cloak and hung it up.

A shocked silence from the common room met my actions. I walked over to the bar and raised my voice. “Mares and gentlecolts, treat yourself to a round of cider from me!” At this, I handed the innkeeper a small pouch of coins. Quietly, I said “That should cover the cost of the drinks, shouldn’t it?” Stunned, all he could do was nod. As I was wandering towards the stairs, a nondescript brown stallion unicorn stopped me.

“Excuse me, your majesty,” he began. In no rush, I motioned for him to continue. “I’m not sure that you know how much you did for this city in that action. Felix Star, I’m Captain of the Guard in Anchorage.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Captain,” I said, genuinely, “but, please, call me Luna. I dislike all the ponies who think it’s best to bow and grovel at me.”

“Well, as I was saying, Luna,” the Captain continued. “I’ve been a regular in this inn for well over a year now, and I keep it relatively safe for visitors such as your friends. I must say that I have not been able to get them that quiet in all my time here, and that is saying something. What you did by ordering drinks was show that the two Princesses of Equestria still care for the lowly. That innkeeper is going to have good business for the next few months, and he should then be on his way to making a really good business. I’ve known Hearth for a long time; he’s got a good heart, and I don’t think any of the money he earns will be put to trivial waste.” I smiled. This stallion was a message to me that I was doing the right thing.

“Thank you, Captain,” I replied, and I meant it to the depths of my heart. “I may come back here, sometime; I guess I might see you then.” At these words, I walked up the stairs to the rooms we paid for and climbed into a bed in a room with Pinkie Pie and Applejack, feeling very heartened.

Chapter Six - The Lost Island

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Six - The Lost Island

I woke up. It was the first time since my exile that I had been blessed with a long and sufficient night’s sleep. I noticed Applejack had already woken up and left the room; that was no surprise. Pinkie Pie was twitching in her sleep, probably dreaming about a party where there was a lot of dancing. I brought myself to my feet and quietly walked downstairs. The common room was empty given that it was morning, except for Applejack, who was drinking some apple juice, the innkeeper, who was cleaning dishes, and me.

“Good morning, your majesty,” the innkeeper – Hearth, I remembered – greeted me as he saw me walk down the stairs.

“Good morning, Heath,” I returned the greeting. “And please just call me Luna.” I felt as if I was repeating those words too many times, but I preferred that to the alternative.

“Very well, would you like some breakfast?” offered Hearth.

“No, thank you,” I declined the offer graciously. “I think we’ll be going to the docks later today. There’s something I need to check.” Hearth looked a bit interested.

“What are you going to do at the docks?” he asked.

“Hire a boat for the day,” I said this in such a way that showed that I didn’t want to continue the matter. I turned my attention to Applejack.

“Did you sleep well last night?” I asked, and then hoped I didn’t sound as if I was being patronizing.

“Yeah,” replied Applejack. “Ah’m curious, though, Luna. Where’re we goin’ after the docks an’ the boat?”

“We’re going to the southeast. The mountain ranges there are quite tall, so they get to freezing temperatures even in summer.”

“An’ what are we goin’ to do at the mountains?” Applejack prompted me.

“I’m going to talk to the griffins there,” I declared. Applejack breathed in sharply. “Is something wrong with that?”

“Well... let’s just say that my dealings with griffins haven’ gone well,” Applejack replied, hesitantly. “I think the rest of us would say the same, as well.”

Seeing that Applejack didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t press the topic. I asked Hearth for an apple juice, just when Pinkie Pie bounced down the stairs. Applejack looked up and sighed. “Ah guess that everypony else is gonna wake up soon, then.”

“Morning, Luna,” Pinkie Pie greeted us loudly. “Hi, Applejack!”

I heard some distant groans from upstairs as the other four ponies were woken. I heard one of them – probably Rarity – exclaim, “Now, really!” One by one, they came down the stairs: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight and Rarity.

“Morning, everyone,” I called. “I think we’ll be leaving for the docks in an hour, so now would be a good time to pack. Hearth, can we please get fourteen apples to share for breakfast?”

Everyone acquiesced going back up to their rooms, or down to the cold cellar, and I sat in front of the bar, knowing my things were in my room and ready to go. Half an hour later, I had retrieved my saddlebags and was again sitting at the bar, Hearth having handed out the apples to everypony, when the others started trickling down the staircase. I singled out the purple unicorn.

“Hi, Twilight,” I began, “Can I please borrow that atlas off you again?”

“Sure,” Twilight retrieved the appropriate book. “What are you looking for? I might be able to help.”

“I’m looking for the best road to Highridge,” I told her.

“Highridge... That would be...” She looked on the map. “There. There’s a merchants’ track along the way, but it stops about ten miles shy of the foothills. From there south, it would be... Hold on. Highridge is the griffins’ capital, isn’t it?”

“That would be the one,” I told her, and she slumped. “Applejack said you had a run-in with a griffin, once.”

“You could say that,” Twilight began. “Or rather, she had a run-in with us. It didn’t end well and I have no desire to see her again. Mind you... Dash never said where she lived. Was it in Highridge?” She had started thinking aloud.

Deciding we were all ready, I called out to the ponies: “Okay, everypony. Are we all ready to go?”

Hearing a murmur in the affirmative from the assembled ponies, I walked out the door and followed the streets towards the docks. Some ponies who were going about their business noticed me and bowed as I passed. I greeted each of them in turn, kindly, and continued on towards the docks. When we arrived, I was surprised by the smell. I had forgotten what sea salt smelled like during my exile and I was sure that none of the ponies accompanying me had been to the coast before. Each of them was surprised by the sheer size of the sea; even Twilight, who had certainly read about it at least once before.

I looked around in search of the harbourmaster. I found the guard standing at the head of the jetty so I walked over to talk to her. “Excuse me, ma’am,” I started, “Do you know if there are any boats available for hire at the moment?”

The officer turned and I saw her eyes widen. “Yes. I mean- maybe. I don’t know at the moment.” She stammered for a bit longer before regaining her composure. “How far do you want to go, your majesty?”

“Please, just ‘Luna’,” I repeated, yet again. “There’s an island about five miles out to sea towards the west.”

The mare’s face blanched. “Do you mean Lost Island?”

“I’m sorry?” I requested clarification. I hadn’t heard of Lost Island.

“There was a lighthouse there a thousand years ago, befo...” the mare broke off and paled even further as she considered how touchy a subject it might be for me.

Disregarding the slip, I continued, not offended. “That would be the one.” The harbourmaster trotted promptly to her office and looked through some recent records.

“There should be a hundred-ton Ballinger which would be about...” she calculated mentally, “Fifty bits for the day, and another twenty-five for a crew to man it.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll take the ship and the crew for the day.”

“Okay,” replied the harbourmaster. “I’ll send a runner to get the ship’s captain. It’s a patrol flagship, so the crew should be well-behaved. Look for the R.E.F.S. Watson.”

I thanked the harbourmaster and motioned for the six fillies to follow on. We moved about the mazelike dock, sometimes asking sailors for directions towards our patrol ship. I did not know much about naval travel, preferring to fly, myself, but I guessed that it would take three hours to get there from the dock, once the crew arrived, of course.

* * *

It did not take long for the sailors to arrive; once they did, it was not long before we were underway. As the princess and her companions, we were allowed on the quarterdeck, a gesture which did nothing to lower Rainbow Dash’s already highly inflated ego.

“So we’re this important because we’re with you, Luna?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“I guess you could say that,” I answered, amused.

“We should hang out more often, then,” she said, clearly only half-joking. It worked: I openly laughed. “I’m going to stretch my wings for a bit. How long until we get there?”

The boatswain came up behind us. “About two and a half hours, unless the weather’s bad.”

“Two hours is plenty of time to practice some stunts,” Rainbow Dash smiled. “Hope you don’t need me for a while.”

Thinking that I should stretch my wings for a bit, I unfurled them and joined her in the skies. Rainbow Dash sped towards me.

“So how good are you with your wings, Luna?” she inquired.

“Oh, I’m out of practice, truth to tell,” I replied. “Show us some of your tricks, then” I encouraged.

Rainbow Dash and I spent the rest of the boat trip talking about different stunts and how to do them, mainly for my benefit. The boatswain shouted up at us when we had half an hour to go. Exhilarated and exhausted, I touched down on the quarterdeck and studied the others: Rainbow Dash had just finished her stunts and wanted to take a quick nap, so she was laying down in the sunlight; Applejack was looking unwell, standing near the port railing. Fluttershy was offering apples to the sailors who were not actively working, while Rarity was covertly eyeing some of the sailors as they went about their work. I let her drift into whatever fantasy she wished for the time being. Pinkie Pie was simply... being Pinkie Pie: she was bouncing around the deck, hiding under coils of rope and jumping out at unwary sailors. The sailors, however, found this to be hilarious, so I let her continue. Twilight was talking to the boatswain about life on the sea as he steered the ship, but I felt as if she would not like it; you run out of books at sea if you stay too long. I wondered after the bookish unicorn. I stilled liked her, and if anything, it was growing stronger, but I wasn’t sure that I was ready to admit it to... well, anyone, really. Maybe my sister, but she was far away and I wouldn’t see her for a long time.

“Land ahoy,” called the pegasus colt from the crows’ nest.

“Where away?” called back the boatswain.

“Twelve degrees starboard,” replied the watch. The boatswain altered his course so as to reach the island and I descended the quarterdeck to proceed to the bow.

The first mate, standing beside me, called out to the crew. “Weigh anchor at a hundred and fifty yards out. Too much closer and we run aground.” Very soon, the ship was stationary, and I got a good look at the island in front of me.

I remembered a similar scene from a very long time ago...

* * *

The tower shone with an orange tint on its dark grey stones from Celestia’s light, low in the sky. The tower itself was set upon the peak of the mountain protruding out of the sea, giving it good height to light the way for the ships sailing nearby. It was a marvel of engineering and showed how much dedication a group of ponies could put into one structure; the tower had survived many a storm and still stood proud above the waterline.

There was a landing jetty at the foot of the island, small but sturdy. It had an ever-present flame above the walkway, encased in a beautiful sphere with carvings of a boat tossed about in a stormy sea, showing whoever sailed there the way to go safely towards the lighthouse. It had been added to the docks later, and kept alight by one of the unicorns who were watching over the lighthouse in their shifts.

The island itself: one of the most beautiful displays that nature could offer to anypony. The undergrowth was a lush green; it refused to trip anypony over and provided a shelter for the animals that lived there, from the rabbits that supported their families without letting themselves lose control of their population, to the eagles that foraged for food in the bushes which held sustenance that they could forage without harming any other animal. The trees: a coniferous forest, capable of providing shelter from the sun and a place to live for the robins and sparrows that lived and sang in the trees.

The view from the top of the tower was amazing at every time of the day: at dawn, the sun was shining above the city of Anchorage, showing the feats that ponykind were capable of: building houses, organising infrastructure, trade, commerce and every other kind of trivial brilliance that ponies partake in. At high sun, the forest was illuminated and sunrays shone through the canopy of the trees, casting a light show for every living creature in the forest. At dusk, the orange glow from the setting sun reflected across the water, turning the sky and the island beneath it a burnt orange. During the night, the moon reflected its silvery glow on the water, giving another light display to the ponies and critters living on the island for a glorious night-time gaze at the sky. The noises at night were amazing: the harmony of the creatures who did not wake during the day filled the air, the prettiest of all being the nightingales’. Their song could be heard at any time; even the fierce cats silenced themselves to hear their song.

* * *

As I looked towards the island today, all I could do was break down and weep.

I saw none of the island’s former glory. The tower had fallen into a state of disrepair, with nopony to care for it, and barely half of it was standing upright. The jetty had rotted and fallen away, leaving only the posts in the water to show the damage I had caused. The forest, once abundant with playful life, was in a constant state of imbalance: the rabbits had bred too much, and had killed the undergrown which once hid them; the foxes and eagles all killed other animals to survive, as that was the scarcity of food. Even the trees were poisonous to all the ponies; the conker trees had spread and were polluting even the grass so we could not graze there anymore.

I do not know how long I stood there for; I do not know how long until the tears subsided. I simply could not tell. I do know that even when the tears stopped, the sobbing continued. In those tears, I relieved the result of my jealousy; I relived the anger I had once felt towards my sister; I relived the resentment I held to myself for the thousand years I was trapped in the moon. I stood there and wept for seconds or hours, I could not tell; but what I do know is that, by some miracle, it stopped. I looked out to the island and I knew that I had to accept what I had done, and move on.

How I wished it was as simple as that.

I turned towards Twilight, standing beside me. She looked as if she had shared my sadness. “I think,” I began. “That it’s time to go.” I finished in a whisper. I could not bring myself to speak up. I turned wistfully towards the island once more as the sailors prepared to return to the docks. I finally turned my back to the island and resumed my post on the quarterdeck.

* * *

As we made port, the six fillies and I alighted the ship and left the sailors to finish their jobs. I gave the captain his due fee plus a ten-bit tip from my purse in my saddlebag. As we walked towards the Forecastle Inn, for it was nearing sunset, I turned a corner and I saw a midnight-coated mare in a familiarly designed cloak. I tried to stay calm as I stopped and started performing some magic. Twilight obviously sensed what I was doing, and turned.

“Luna,” she began, worriedly, “what are you doing?”

I tried strengthening my spell while explaining. “It’s a wall charm. Remember that assassination attempt? I saw a dead ringer for... well, most of the assassins. I have a feeling that they started a cult against me.” The assassination attempt was news to Applejack, and she gasped. Twilight hurriedly filled her in on the missing pieces, and I finished my spell.

“Run,” I commanded. “If we get split up, meet just outside the gate. Rainbow, Fluttershy; try and figure out where the assassins are. They’ll be in black cloaks. Everypony, I will make this clear: do not return to the Forecastle Inn. Hearth can take care of himself, especially if Captain Star is with him, so do not worry about them.” I heard an impact against the charm, but did not turn. “RUN!” I shouted, this time.

So we ran. I ran from the ward into alleyways. I sent magic signals flying ahead of me so I knew I wouldn’t come up against any dead ends. I felt one rebound and took the next turn. I found myself on a crowded main street and looked up to notice Rainbow Dash being pursued by two pegasus assassins. I smiled, despite the circumstances; I had flown with Dash for two hours and knew that she could probably outfly the Wonderbolts. Fluttershy, on the other hand...

“Guard,” I shouted at a nearby white pegasus in golden armour. “See the yellow pegasus up there? I need you to protect her at all costs. The cyan mare is also a friend, so take care of her.” The guard nodded grimly and rose into the sky. I saw another pair of guards walking through the main street, and gave them the same instructions. I was about to run when one of them was hit in the breastplate by a crossbow bolt. I gasped in horror.

“Your majesty, he’ll be fine,” the guard assured me, and pulled his sword from his scabbard. “Our armour is much better than it looks. Now, run!” I ran down the main street and saw Twilight create a crude ward not dissimilar to mine behind Rarity, except undoubtedly less efficient. As it was, the pursuer tripped head over hooves. Now is not the time to be critical, Luna, I thought to myself as I continued running. I did a quick head count. Rainbow and Fluttershy are in the sky above me. Rarity is here, and so is Twilight, thank goodness for that, but where’s Pi- just as the thought entered my head, the sun was momentarily blocked. I looked up, fearing it was an assassin, but it was Pinkie Pie, bouncing from roof to roof. How she got up there, I had no idea, but it seemed to be working: the assassins simply did not know which roof she would jump to next.

As I neared the outskirts, I risked a look behind me. Seeing that nopony was following, I slowed down, erected a crude disguise and walked calmly towards the city edge. In the jostle of the crowd, I found Rainbow Dash next to me, looking around and above her.

“Dash,” I hissed, “it’s me, Luna.”

“How far away do you think they are?” she wondered.

“Where did you lose yours?” I asked in return.

“I bucked one of them in the head and dove down to the streets. I don’t think they’ve found me since,” she replied. We continued down the streets until Applejack joined us.

“Dash,” she whispered, not knowing it was me under the disguise. “Is there anyone behind me?”

“You’re fine,” Dash assured her. “How did you lose them?”

“Ah bucked them in their faces,” Applejack told her. “They didn’ want to follow me after that.”

As we exited the city, I double checked there was nopony following us. There wasn’t so we continued. As we reached our rendezvous, I noticed Pinkie Pie was already there.

“Are you all okay, Pinkie Pie?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Pinkie Pie replied. “They couldn’t catch up with me. I’m the best at tip.” I wasn’t sure if she thought this was a game or if it was actually real to her.

Eventually Rarity cantered up the slope. I was curious as to how she lost the assassins. “Well, I followed your example and called the guards for some help,” she told me. I couldn’t find any problem with that. Fluttershy also joined us after a stressful wait.

“When Rainbow Dash distracted them,” Fluttershy began as Dash fluffed her feathers, “so I dove and started sneaking through the city. I don’t think they saw me.” Fluttershy finished, quietly.

We waited for another fifteen minutes, and my heart was aching as I thought what could have happened, when I saw the purple unicorn trotting up the hill, apparently out of breath. Fluttershy raced over to her and nuzzled her in a friendly way. I smiled as I knew that everypony was safe.

“I made a strong ward with the help of one of the unicorn guards,” she told us. “It stopped all of the ones chasing me from getting through. I didn’t know you were all out here; sorry to keep you waiting.”

“That’s fine,” I assured her. “We’re just glad to know you’re safe.” The others nodded. “So...” I continued. “Can I borrow that atlas again, Twilight? I fear we may have to change some of our plans.”

Chapter Seven - Changed Plans

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Seven - Changed Plans

I had marked out our new route on the map; the massive change in journey I had anticipated was not required; instead, we detoured on a road to a small village slightly north of our track, leading for an extra four or five days on our thirteen-day trip. As I saw the hamlet, I doubted that there would be a shop where we could buy rations for our journey towards Highridge. My fears were quickly allayed, however. There were some apple orchards not a mile from the centre of the settlement. I walked over to what I took to be a farmhouse and politely knocks on the door. A cheerful-looking earth mare answered it.

“Mornin’, folks,” she began in an accent to rival Applejack’s. “Is there anything Ah can do for you...” she trailed off and realised who was before her. “Your Majesty,” she bowed.

“Please, ma’am,” I told her. “I really do prefer Luna. Now, my friends and I had a small situation in Anchorage and we couldn’t get any food for a journey we’re undertaking. Do you have any spare food we might be able to buy?”

“Of course,” she replied. “We have some travelling bread, because my husband often has to take our stock to Anchorage or Cooperton, to the north. Ah think we’d be happy to sell you some of that, Luna. Ah’ve got some apples, as well... Can’t you graze where you’re going?” she asked, curious, but polite.

“I’m afraid not,” I chucked; it was a perfectly reasonable question. “We’re heading towards the south, to Highridge.” The mare gave me an inquisitive look before she went to get some rations.

“Is there a problem with griffins around here?” I directed this question to Twilight, thinking she would know most about geography and interracial relations.

“Not a bad one,” Twilight answered, always a source of knowledge. “It’s mainly to do with the griffins being...” – she broke off quickly, looking at Fluttershy – carnivores¸ she mouthed to me. I nodded, knowing full well the love of animals that most, if not all, ponies held. To us, the idea of eating something which once was living was abhorrent; to the griffins, however, it was survival. Grass does not grow high in the mountains where the griffins live, so they hunt for their food.

The mare returned with some loaves of bread and dried apples. “Ah figured they would last you longer on the road,” explained the mare.

“Thank you very much... I’m sorry, what was your name?” I asked, a bit sheepishly.

“Oh that’s no problem,” the mare graciously accepted the thanks. “My name’s Apple Brown Betty.” She told us.

“AH KNEW IT!” Applejack exclaimed. The rest of us jumped two hooves into the air. Quietening down, Applejack continued, “Ah’m sorry everyone. Auntie Brown, Ah haven’ seen you in ages!”

The mare looked a bit quizzical, and then it dawned on her. “Applejack! When Ah last saw you, you were a filly up to my own knee! Goodness, how much you’ve grown. How’s the Apple family up in Ponyville?”

As the two relations shared stories, we packed the rations we were given into our saddlebags. I thanked Brown Betty and handed her twenty bits in a small pouch; she didn’t accept it until I gave her a raised eyebrow, knowing that it would be useless to resist. We said our goodbyes to the brown mare and left the hamlet via the south-eastern road.

* * *

The trail was dry and composed primarily of gravel; as such, I stopped frequently to make sure everypony’s hooves were free from infection from the pebbles. I was extremely glad I did on numerous occasions, having removed pebbles from everypony’s hooves except for Applejack, who had work-hardened legs from working in the fields for long hours, and didn’t need the attention. We covered many miles that day as our endurance had been significantly strengthened by the journey to Anchorage, and when we finally set up camp, it was at the edge of the forest on the top of a hill. I could see the foothills and judged that they were twenty miles away. I groaned inwardly; we would get there at about mid-afternoon the next day, but from then on, we would only over about two-thirds of the distance in a day, and once we reached the mountains proper, we would cover half that distance again. I borrowed the atlas off Twilight yet again and double-checked my calculations. Yes, I thought to myself. Another fifteen days sounds right. Being perfectly honest, I was not looking forward to the journey ahead of us, but I was glad to be doing it now, in mid autumn and not in midwinter.

As the others rolled themselves up in their travelling cloaks, I stayed awake and performed a weather ward such as the one I practiced on our first leg of the journey; the stakes were getting more serious, and if I did not get this ward right every time, I feared for the ponies I travelled with. It worked tonight, and I stood by the camp, mulling over when I should tell them about the Elements of Harmony. I felt very close to the six mares sleeping behind me: not only had they saved me from Nightmare Moon, but they had also shown themselves to be very strong friends with each other, and with me. I would happily call each one of those ponies a friend.

Two hours later, I noticed that Rarity was restless. Hoping that I could help, I delved into the dream. I kept a “distance” from the dream so that Rarity would not know I was there. I saw the dream from her perspective.

I ran through the alleys, hoping that I could lose them. The city was deserted but for myself and the cloaked assassins hard on my hooves. I ducked behind a door, hoping to hide from them and regain my breath. I recognised this building as the one where we had stayed last night. Do not return to the Forecastle Inn, I heard Luna’s voice inside my head. As I turned, I saw the common room was roaring with business. Thinking I was safe, I then noticed what all the patrons were wearing: the same uniform, black cloak. I backed out of the door as every single pair of eyes turned towards me, but I could not see their faces. Back in the street, I found that the assassins had gained on me so I ran away. I thought I had to leave the town. Yes, that would be the right option. I galloped through the deserted streets, trying to stop the two ponies behind me from following me. My muscles were hurting and I was slowing down. I chanced a glance behind me, and I saw the midnight shadow leaping forwards just as he was about to...

I yanked myself out of the dream; it would have been awkward to explain why we had both woken up at the exact same moment. Rarity woke up violently and gave a small shout a few seconds afterwards, looking around to find the assassin who caught her.

I walked over to her and whispered in her ear. “It’s okay, Rarity,” I reassured her. “We’re here for you, and we are never going to let them catch you.” Slowly, Rarity calmed down, and she gave me a curious look.

“How did you know what I was dreaming about?” She inquired. I thought up a lie based from the truth.

“You were very restless, Rarity,” I began with a truth. “And given what we’ve been through recently, it wasn’t hard to guess what you were dreaming about.”

This seemed to placate Rarity. “I guess so,” she began. “And you’re right: I was thinking about the chase.” There was a long silence between us.

“Anything you want to talk about?” I asked her. I knew that talking about worries often helped the pony who was experiencing them.

She hesitated, and I looked at her, calmly. We locked eyes and something she saw made her trust me. “I was running through the town, with two of those assassins chasing after me. I tried hiding from them in the Forecastle Inn, but it was full of them, there, as well. I remembered hearing your voice, warning us to not go back to the Inn, but I didn’t know I was going and it was all so confusing. I wanted to see someone else, but nopony was there. Not the guards I called for yesterday, nor any of you.”

“Rarity,” I fixed her with a calm and level gaze. “We are here for you. Do not ever forget that. Look around you; there are the others. They have not left you by yourself, and nor have I. If you want to talk to me, then don’t be hesitant to just say what you need to.”

She nodded, and, saying no more, returned to where she was sleeping. I watched after her, slightly worried that I had pressed too far, but worried for her, as well. Eventually, I turned back to watch the mountains. I wanted to draw, so I levitated the parchment and charcoal out of my bag, but instead of drawing the landscape, I turned towards my six friends sleeping on the grass and started drawing. I finished their basic shaped and highlighted the shadows cast by the fire. When I had finished them, I turned my attention to the charcoal itself: I lit up my horn and used it to shape the charcoal to a point, allowing me to add the fine details in my friends’ cutie marks and faces. When I finally finished, I judged it to be four hours until dawn. Relaxed and content, I lay myself down to get what sleep I could.

* * *

Three days later, we had reached the mountains proper. Traversing the steep mountainside was no easy feat for the unicorns and earth ponies, so I stayed with them to help. I found it difficult to get tired physically, and now was no exception, so I was more than willing to carry others’ saddlebags.

“Everypony take the next junction to your right,” Rainbow Dash was guiding us from above, and Fluttershy was hovering nearby us, occasionally landing on a sturdy tree to rest. I followed the directions Dash gave us, trusting her enough to not lead us astray. As I looked behind me, I noticed that the two unicorns were tiring and falling behind quickly. The earth ponies, however, were going well: Applejack was used to strenuous work and travel, while Pinkie Pie seemed to enjoy everything about life, including the heavy activity of traversing a mountain.

“Dash,” I called out above me. “We need to rest. Can you scout around the mountain, quickly, and check that we can’t go around the peak.” She gave a childish salute and darted out of sight. I moved back down the slope to ask the others if they were okay.

Rarity nodded. “Can I just- get some water- please?” she panted. I complied, conjuring her waterskin from her saddlebags on my back. I stopped her after a few sips.

“Don’t drink too much at once,” I warned her. “If you do, you’ll get bloated and travelling will become a lot more difficult.” She complied, but looked as though she would happily empty the waterskin right then and there.

Fluttershy alighted on a nearby tree; we were not so far up that it was impossible for plants to grow. She also consumed a few sips of water, but she wasn’t as tired as the rest of the ponies. Twilight also looked as if she needed water, but was perfectly capable of retrieving it herself: Applejack was carrying their collective saddlebags behind Twilight. As we rested, some ponies (that is to say, Pinkie) tried to initiate conversation with the others, but most of us were so tired that we couldn’t spare the energy required to speak. We waited for Rainbow Dash to return.

“We can head around the mountain,” began Rainbow Dash. “We just need to turn left at the junction twenty yards forward by air. You’ll climb about 3 yards in that distance, so rest well. After that, we turn southeast and follow the mountain around until you hit a ridge. Follow that ridge up, and eventually you’ll find a plateau about three miles south. It’s a gradual rise, so you should be able to handle it okay. It’ll be a good place to camp, but it’s starting to snow, so get your cloaks on now, everypony.”

Realising that I would have given them the exact same advice had I been blessed with the knowledge, I donned my own cloak and followed Dash’s lead, checking that the others were following on behind me. As I saw the others catching up, I stepped aside to let them last, making sure that nopony was going to get left behind. I would hate to lose any one of these ponies: I may have been well on my way to becoming universally accepted, but if I lost one of my friends, then I don’t think I would have wanted to continue with my life. Even alicorns have their limits, I thought to myself as I pondered this. These ponies’ limits may even be greater than my own. I might need to push those limits soon, given that they don’t know the responsibilities given with being the Elements of Harmony.

I followed on behind Applejack, burdened by my knowledge of the weight they would one day have to carry.

* * *

We trudged along the oppressive path. It was becoming difficult for anypony to find laughter in the winding, forbidding road; even Pinkie Pie’s jokes fell on flat ears. All of us wanted to simply arrive at the campsite, fall into their sleeping bags, and be taken by the blissful void of sleep. It was not to be, however; we still had two miles to go up the slope, so all we could do was persist. It was another two hours until we reached the plateau, but it felt like almost triple that time. By the time we reached the plateau, the other mares were almost dead on their feet. I let them care for themselves; they wrapped themselves up in their cloaks and slept close to each other to keep warm. I decided I would help their comfort by performing the weather ward. It was a successful attempt, so knowing they would be safe, I scouted nearby mountains: there were some animals which would be very dangerous to six unwary, sleeping ponies.

In could see easily in any light conditions, but I much preferred the comforting cool light of the moon; the sun rose and burned with the more light it gave, but the moon gave its light without any repercussions. I noticed some life on a nearby peak: a mountain lion was sleeping restlessly because it had not eaten in a few days. I cast a spell to keep its sleeping relaxed, and to stop it from waking before morning. Finding no other threats to the sleeping ponies, I flew west, clearing my mind of distractions. I flew with the increasing wind, and let my body follow its instincts in the air. It took a lot of cold for me to become uncomfortable, and even in this quasi-blizzard, I was fine.

I stopped short. I had just heard a magical cry for help, and the only pony I knew could reach me from this distance from any sort of civilisation was either Celestia, but I would’ve recognised her magic, meaning the only other option was...

Twilight.

I gasped and I started to race back towards the east, but now the blizzard was against me. I strained my wings to try and fly through; I even used magic to conjure wind from the other direction, but it was not enough. I hastened through the night, trying to reach the source of the distress call before it was too late. I dreaded what could have happened. My wings burned in the freezing night; my head hurt from the overload of magic; but I knew I had to continue. If I didn’t get there in time, then I feared that I may have lost one, or all, of my closest friends.

I saw a familiar peak about a hundred yards away: it was where I sedated the mountain lion earlier that night. I knew I only had five hundred more yards to fly, so I redoubled my efforts. As I neared the plateau where my friends had slept, I noticed that a party of griffins was encircling it. Noting their aggressive demeanour, I swore inwardly. I flew closer just in time to see Rainbow Dash squaring up to a griffin inside the circle. The griffin lifted its talons.

I gasped as I saw what the griffin was about to do. I lit up my horn and sent a furious bolt of magic towards the griffin, and I hoped with every ounce of my being that it would stop the griffin from hurting Rainbow Dash.

The griffin’s claw fell.

The bolt hit.

Somewhere distant, I heard a scream.

Chapter Eight - Secrets Told

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Eight - Secrets Told

The griffins turned in shock and saw me in the night sky, horn still bright from the power I had just unleashed. They shrunk back from my fury; all they could see was a mighty alicorn suspended in the air above them. I remained silent, however, and did not attack them further. I already despised myself for incapacitating the griffin who slashed Rainbow Dash. Nobody – pony or griffin – moved as I landed and walked over to Dash. Fluttershy was sobbing quietly, and Pinkie Pie simply looked... empty. She wasn’t laughing; she just had a deadpan expression, as if her body had simply shut down. I barely noticed, and registered it even less. I was looking at Dash, and nobody else.

I saw Dash’s face, and grimly checked over her. She was unconscious, so I continued to check for life signs. I sighed in relief as I noticed that she was breathing.

“Fluttershy,” I called emotionlessly. There was a job to be done, and I wouldn’t rest until it was. Emotions would only get in the way at this point. “Bring your saddlebags here.” She complied quickly, still sobbing. I retrieved the bandages, along with some different herbs. I did an inventory on the herbs and quickly selected the ones I could use. I chewed on them, cringing at the bitter taste, and spat them back out. It was a primitive method, but I wasn’t certain that I could perform healing magic in my current state of shock, fury and despair; it was efficient, however, and I was glad I had remembered some skills from the past thousand years.

I rubbed a small pad of bandage in the paste and wiped it on Rainbow’s wound. I was extremely glad that she was unconscious, for if she wasn’t, she would have surely been screaming in pain; I did not want any of us to endure that.

“Fluttershy,” I summoned the butter pegasus once more. “Hold those bandages against the scars. She will stay alive, Fluttershy.” I knew that these words fell on deaf ears; any sane pony would be able to realise that Rainbow Dash was wounded so severely that she should already be dead: the claws had raked across her face and damaged her skull, but that was not the worst part. Dash’s neck had been scraped deeply, and she had been bleeding profusely from the slash. The herbs I used had been a minor disinfectant but mainly were used to thicken the blood on the surface, helping it clot. I stood and turned to the griffins standing around us.

“Griffins!” I called to them collectively. “Who among you is leader?” One griffin edged forwards hesitantly. “And what should I address you as, sir?” I asked, noticing his gender-specific feather patters.

“Swiftpaw, your maje-” I cut him off.

“Spare me those horseapples,” I spat at him. A bit more calmly, I continued. “Your griffin will not wake up for a while, but she won’t die.” Swiftpaw looked as if he would say something, but I stopped him mid-breath. “Seeing as you’re here, I would request that you assist my friends and me to Highridge. We would take ourselves, but we can only go as fast as the slowest walker.”

The patrol leader looked stunned by the order. “Um... well, yes. Okay.” He trailed off, too scared to say anything which would offend me.

“I will carry Rainbow Dash. Swiftpaw, get your griffins to each choose a pony to carry, and I warn you: if any of them fall, I will view it as an international offence against a royal party. Understood?”

“Y- Yes,” the griffin stammered. He then confidently looked towards his patrol party. “Okay, everyone, choose a pony. Heavywing, you take Gilda; you’re able to carry the most.”

One of the younger griffins walked up to Fluttershy. “It gets too cold for ponies’ wings to work where we’re going. It might be best if I take you.”

“Oh... y- yes, thank you,” replied Fluttershy, a bit surprised by the offer. “But, um... c- can we please st- stay close to um... Rainbow Dash?” The griffin nodded, not unkindly and I watched this exchange. I knew Fluttershy worried about Dash; they were best friends since fillyhood, after all.

I walked to Applejack. She was crying, but didn’t want to show it. She felt a lot more affection to Rainbow Dash than she let on: they shared the same competitive nature and both had similar athleticism. Believing it would be better to leave her undisturbed, I turned and walked away.

“Will she be okay?” Applejack whispered behind me. I turned; she had not even moved. “I know what injuries can kill a pony, an’ that was one of them. Ah think you know more than you’re lettin’ on, so tell me: will Rainbow Dash be okay?” She hissed the last words.

“I am certain that she will be okay,” I whispered in reply. “But now is not the time, nor the place to talk about how I know.” Applejack didn’t like this response, but she was smart enough to know it was the best she was going to get from me; I was also damaged by the whole affair. I hated myself for attacking the griffin – Gilda, I thought I heard – but I knew that it was the best thing to do for my friends.

Very soon, when all the griffins had chosen which mares they would carry, we set off. I had slung Rainbow Dash over my back, behind my wings. It was uncomfortable to fly, but this way gave least chance for Rainbow Dash to fall off and would not jostle enough to damage her.

We flew on.

* * *

As we neared on our fifth hour of flight, I saw a cliff face with caves carved into the surface at numerous levels, spanning from about seventy yards short of normal cloud level, to the top, at about a hundred yards above the normal cloud level. I only knew this from the last time I came, however, and it had probably changed in the past millennium. The griffins seemed to be getting slightly tired, but I guessed that they had endured a solid morning of patrols, and that was without the burdens of five ponies. I barely cared though; I only wanted... needed to get Dash to a warm bed.

We drew nearer, and if the sight of a patrol party carrying five mares and a comatose griffin was not enough to intrigue them, then the sight of the Night Princess of Equestria carrying a wounded pegasus was. We finally landed and the ponies dismounted the griffins.

“Heavywing, go up to Command and tell them we’re back in some... unusual circumstances,” Swiftpaw ordered. In an aside to me, he hissed, “Heavywing is my third in command.” I glanced at him briefly, but was too world-weary to care for his opinion of me.

Bypassing the insult-trading, I simply told him to take us to the hospital. He complied, grudgingly, and led us down a set of caves into the centre of the mountain. “It’s warmer underground, and so we thought it would make sense to keep the sick patients here,” he explained to us as we reached a door in the cave. He led us in and conducted a whispered conversation with one of the griffins in charge if the hospital. The attendant took us to a room with a single bed. It looked comfortable and had enough blankets, so I lay Dash down on the mattress and pulled the blankets on top of her. I gave Swiftpaw one last command.

“Swiftpaw,” I said quietly. “Take the others to somewhere they can sleep. Close by, if you will. After that, I’ll let you go, and if I go to the griffins’ Command, I’ll tell them about how you helped me in difficult situations.”

The griffin nodded, now aware that he would get a favourable recommendation for future promotions, and led the six mares away. I stayed by Dash’s bed. Eventually, I realised that I wanted to know what happened. She would be reliving her dream time and time again in her comatose state, so I delved into her dreams.

I woke up. There was a scuffing of something on the hard ground of the plateau. I opened my eyes and saw a griffin’s face hovering two hooves above my own. I rolled away from my sleeping position quickly, and leapt to my hooves, adrenaline coursing through my veins. My heart was pounding as I recognised the griffin who woke me.

“Gilda,” I growled. The other ponies also woke from the griffins’ presence.

“What the hay are you doing here, mule?” the griffin spat the insult at me, and my pride got the better of me.

“What did you call me?” I walked up to her. I heard somepony stumbling over behind me and I glanced to look. Twilight looked weary, but otherwise undamaged.

“A mule,” she repeated. “Useless unless you need something to carry your load.”

“Are you calling me useless?” I hissed. “At least I don’t run at the mention of a prank.”

“What,” Gilda said, devoid of emotion.

“Hey everybody, look here!” I called to the griffins surrounding us. “This is Gilda. She couldn’t take a joke for her life. I bet she runs away and cries each time you trick her, doesn’t she?”

“Shut your mouth, Rainbow” she whispered menacingly at me.

“Or what?” I asked her, innocently. “You’ll cry to the griffins around you? You’re outnumbering us, two-to-one. You must be feeling so brave, Gilda.”

She lifted her claw. “I’ll show you what’s going to happen.” She hissed at me. I knew griffin claws could kill a pony in a single swipe, but that didn’t cross my mind at the time.

“I bet you’re only doing that because you’ve got an army behind you,” I told her. In my peripheral vision, I saw Luna in the night sky. “Is your mummy one of the-”

The claw slashed at me as Luna released her energy.

Pain exploded across my face as the claws raked across.

I fell into darkness.

I pulled myself from the dream, knowing that nothing else would happen which I could see without possibly damage her. Waking an unconscious pony before they were ready was a sure way to make the injuries worse, and possibly lead to them completely and irrevocably forgetting about what had happened to them. I examined Dash’s scars; they were deep and very raw. I had made sure they had been cleaned and cured, but I was still worried about it. I could not remove the scars with simple unicorn magic, and nor could I remove them with simple alicorn magic; I would have to use very complex and gruelling spells to make Dash look the same again, and I could not do that with her unconscious or anywhere near sleep. If she fell asleep during the spell-weaving, it would be impossible for me to fix them with my own magic, and I could only hope that Celestia could save her image then.

Not completely trusting of the griffins, I barred the door to the room where Rainbow Dash was staying using magic. I knew it was a useless move; no-one would dare try to harm a friend of the Night Princess when she was right beside them. I removed my saddlebags and left them by the corner of the room; I thought that I might be staying for a while. Noting Dash’s condition, I guessed that she would be comatose for anywhere between one and ten days. Any longer than ten days, I feared that she would not wake for many months, even years. I prayed that this was not the case, for every single pony’s sake: I would not be a good ruler if I lost one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, primarily because I would blame myself for it.

* * *

“Luna,” a hoarse voice whispered my name as I was dozing off. My head snapped up as I remembered there was only one other pony in the room. I galloped over to Rainbow and nuzzled her affectionately. “Hey, get off me,” she complained as I barraged her. I complied quickly.

“I’m sorry, Dash,” I apologised. “But we’ve all been so worried about you recently.” I was surprised that Rainbow had taken her bearings so quickly. Or she was just too tired to care, came a small voice inside me.

“Can you please get me some water?” Dash asked, her voice still hoarse. I ran quickly to the nearby underground stream and conjured a small glass to carry the water in. When I returned, Dash was waiting patiently, but quickly gulped down the water I had provided.

“So,” Dash began, after a few more glasses of water in a similar manner. “Where are we?”

“We’re in the hospital in Highridge,” I told her. She started. “Don’t be alarmed. I told the party of griffins to take us here, and I carried you to the hospital so you could rest. I stayed here with you while you were asleep.”

She seemed slightly shocked. “Speaking of... How long was I out for?”

“Three days and a night,” I answered. Dash seemed to accept this as fact.

“Only that long?” Dash asked. I nodded. There was a silence between us as she attempted to recall the events that led her to her presence here. “So... I was sleeping, and I got woken up by a noise. That was... Gilda, I think. Yes, that’d be right.

“So, what after that,” she continued the train of thought. “When I got up, Gilda and I were squaring up to each other, and she was about to slash me... I saw you in the corner of my eye, and then I said something which snapped Gilda... What happened to her, anyway?”

“Well, I uh...” I didn’t feel comfortable talking about it. I hated myself whenever I hurt somebody. “I attacked her. I didn’t mean to kill her though, and I only kill if I really want to and am trying pretty hard. I just sort of... lashed out at Gilda. Is that the griffin you had problems with, before I came to see you?”

“That’d be the one,” said Dash. She was looking very tired.

“Maybe you should get some sleep,” I suggested. Dash nodded and rolled over. I told her I would put a spell on the door so it only opened with her permission. I turned to leave and get some food.

“Luna,” Dash called me back. “Just one thing... That slash. It should’ve killed me. So... how am I still here?”

I smiled haggardly. “I know, Dash. But don’t worry about it. You’re here, and you’re safe. That’s all that needs to worry you now.” I gathered up my saddlebags and left, leaving a weary Rainbow Dash behind me. I made up my mind. I’ll tell them when Rainbow’s stronger. I can’t put it off any longer.

As I exited the hospital cave, I rediscovered the feeling of a hungry stomach. I could survive without food for longer than all ponies, but it was very uncomfortable. I took an apple from my saddlebags and proceeded to munch on it. Will they still trust me after I tell them? Are they going to believe me? I asked these questions of myself, but I naturally found no answer.

Over the next few days, the other mares came to visit Dash in the hospital. I didn’t answer Dash’s question, and, to her credit, she didn’t ask again. I was still sleeping in the hospital room, on a cushion that the griffins had provided me with, but I had been able to explore the caves and talk to the others after Dash had woken up the first time. I was still worried about Dash’s scars, but she seemed resigned to the fact that they would stay with her together. I still felt guilty; until I fixed them, I would be worried that they would ruin her life forever.

The others seemed to be a lot more relaxed around the griffins after Dash woke up, and Twilight was fulfilling her need for new knowledge by talking about griffin society.

“It seems very military-based,” Twilight explained to me, after I had expressed an interest; society did change over a millennium. “The rank structure is similar to our own, they just have different names. Swiftpaw is a sergeant of a dragoon; Gilda was his corporal. The list goes on. I found that griffin society is extremely regimented, and many of the griffins would prefer to live another way.” This news interested me.

“Are there any plans for change?” I asked. This hierarchical structure could easily go wrong, and the upper classes had to be very wary of revolt. The system in Equestria was similarly hierarchical, but we listened to the citizens’ complaints and tried to resolve them. If either my sister or I decided that a noble was not acting in the best interests of their area, we would tell them to change; if they did not, we replaced them. “I fear that this society could go wrong very quickly.” We continued this discussion, and I found it very entertaining, but also very serious to the wellbeing of griffins. Twilight knew what she was talking about, and she tried to act in the best interests for the griffins, as well.

* * *

We all met up in Rainbow Dash’s room. I had called them there so I could tell them the truth, but first, I wanted to give Dash a gift.

“Hi everyone,” I began. “You may have wondered why I called everyone here. Well, I guess there are two reasons. First of all, I would like to ask you a question, Rainbow Dash.” She looked up at the mention of her name. “If I could remove the scars from your face, would you want me to do it?”

Dash thought for only a moment. “I had sort of resigned to the fact I would have these for life, and... you’re saying I don’t need to?” I nodded. “Well, then. I would like to get rid of them. Does anyone not agree?” She directed the question to the whole room. Nopony objected.

“I guess that settles it,” I said. “Now, Dash: I need you to stay awake while I do this. Are you ready?” Dash nodded.

I drew a mental breath and began. I lit up my horn and started to enter Dash’s mind. I felt an obstacle I forgot to warn Dash about: her own instincts.

Dash, I thought, no need to speak aloud. I need you to let me in. It’s instinct to not let anything into your mind. Just picture an open door. I heard a mental grunt of acquiescence and the barrier melted away. I dove deeper. I found the processes which ran the body: the beating heart; the breathing lungs; the ever-working brain. It was into these processes that I set myself.

Now came the difficult part. I opened my eyes in the physical world and sent some magic to the part of my mental being in Dash’s mind. It was not easy, being in two places at once, but for this magic, it was required. I felt the magic connect on the other end and chose the processes to change. I sifted through the many functions that the body made, until I found the repair process. I directed the power into this and manipulated the area it worked for. The skin on Dash’s face started returning to its normal cyan colour, but it was still visibly scarred. I added some more magic to the process and it sped up. The skin was returning to normal and I heard a gasp behind me. It nearly broke my concentration, but I managed to shut it out. The skin looked perfectly normal again, so I moved to the next step.

I withdrew some of the magic I was using, and once again sifted through the processes until I found the one which grows hair. I added a slight amount of magic to this and watched as the coat on Dash’s face returned. As it finally reached the equal growth stage as the fur around it, I halted the flow of magic. I withdrew my mental being inside Dash and slumped on the floor behind me. Twilight looked astonished, but managed to conjure a mirror to show my handiwork to Rainbow. She looked at herself.

“I’m still awesome, though,” she said, extremely happily. “Luna... thanks so much for that. I just...”

“Don’t worry about it,” I panted. “I could have stopped it from happening in the first place.” There was a pause as I regained my strength.

“Luna,” Applejack began. “You said there was somethin’ else to it.”

“That I did,” I responded. I paused again before continuing. “Many, and I would guess all, of you are thinking that Rainbow Dash is lucky to be alive, even Dash herself. I need to tell you why, because it affects all of you.

“Gilda’s slash should have killed Rainbow Dash, and I daresay if it was any pegasus, unicorn or earth pony outside this room, it would have. You are all extremely special; you’re the Elements of Harmony, but you need to know that a title isn’t all to go with it.

“How have Celestia and I stayed alive for millennia? I’ll tell you: an ancient magic is there, protecting those who protect the world as it is. I am one of those protectors, and so is my sister. You are all protectors of this earth: you saved the balance from Nightmare Moon, and I feel that you may need to do something similar again, though I pray against it.

“I do not know the origin of this magic, nor anything else except that it is extremely powerful. It can save you from the brink of death: even as you teeter on the knife’s edge, it pushes you in the right direction. It saves you from many dangers in this world, even from those of time. You will not age, and it will take extreme power to bring death to you.”

There was a deathly silence as the six ponies before me digested what they had heard. Rarity was the first to speak. “That means... we’re not immortal, but we are close to it?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

There was another pause, and then the purple unicorn stood up and left the room. “Twilight,” Pinkie Pie called, “why are you leaving?” I thought I heard a sob from outside the door.

“Twiligh’, sugarcube, what’s wrong?” Applejack expressed her concern.

I hesitated. “I need to go and talk to her,” I told them. “It took me a very long time to get used to, and you’ve only just heard.” They nodded, understanding, and I pursued Twilight down the corridors of the mountain. I finally found her standing outside on a wide cliff edge.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” I asked her, cautiously.

“Is there anything else you’re not telling us?” She cried. “We have tried trusting you all this time and you can’t bring yourself to tell us the most important aspect of our lives? You might not tell us something until it suits you, but hurts everyone else. Do we even have proof that we’re immortal?”

“Dash is still alive,” I tried desperately. “Any other pony would have been killed by that wound. You know that, Twilight, you just need to see it.”

“I just need to see it,” Twilight echoed. “And why the hay should I trust you?!” She screamed at me.

“Because I love you,” the words slipped out of my mouth and I regretted it almost instantly. The emotions crossing Twilight’s face were shocked, confused, intrigued and angry, and they frightened me off.

I saw Twilight about to speak, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what she had to say. Instinct reigned and I bolted into the sky, where she couldn’t follow me.

I flew away.

Chapter Nine - Griffins' Fury

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Nine - Griffins' Fury

I flew above the cloud layer, where the sky was clear and Celestia’s light was strong. I admired the patterns the clouds took, and welcomed the cold daytime air; the sky was a pleasant distraction to the friend I just lost. Twilight’s going to hate me now, I despaired inwardly. Why did I say those words? What drove me to admit it? I flew as hard and as fast as I could, trying to set my wings and lungs burning. My hair billowed out behind me in my slipstream, and I marvelled at the pleasant sensation. I needed to be alone with my thoughts, and here I was, with no other soul in sight.

I saw a nearby peak and alighted on it. I sat in the freezing wind, and enjoyed the rays of the burning sun. I sat on the mountaintop and tried to clear my mind. It might not be a total waste, I prayed to myself it wasn’t. She might accept it and move on. The darker part of my mind moved in. Or she’s going to reject you even as a friend. I despaired even more at this thought, and the more I pondered on it, the more certain I became that it was the truth. I started crying for the loss of a friend. I shed tears at the friendship we could have had for many lifetimes, and the relationship that might never have been.

I heard a magical cry on the air, pleading for me to return to Highridge. Twilight. I sighed as I realised that the others were worried about Rainbow Dash’s condition and convinced her to call me back. As I neared the tall cliff, I saw a familiar mare with a cyan coat and chromatic mane. I sped down to meet the party of ponies around Rainbow Dash. I examined the group of mares. Applejack was standing nearby Dash, looking ready to catch her if she stumbled. Fluttershy was looking at her hooves not wanting to face any griffins who might see her. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around the group in double time, almost emitting light from her demeanour. Rarity looked extremely glad to see Rainbow Dash up and well.

I glanced at Twilight. She was simply staring straight ahead, possibly – hopefully – lost in thought. She briefly regarded me, but said nothing, and my heart fell.

“Are you okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. I glanced once again at Twilight; she had at least done me the courtesy of not telling anypony else.

“I... um... Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied, trying to sound convincing. Applejack simply regarded me, with a look telling me that she didn’t believe me. I sighed. “Dash,” I scolded her. “You really shouldn’t be standing, let alone outside. You all let her do this?”

Pinkie Pie spoke up. “Dash said she would’ve gone outside anyway.” I rolled my eyes.

“Okay, fine,” I conceded. “But as soon as you lift a wing, Dash, I’m tying them behind your back.” Dash laughed, knowing I wouldn’t follow through with the threat, but also knowing that she should listen to my advice. We wandered around the griffins’ city as a group, admiring some of the artworks. As I walked past them, I noted that none of them could be any younger than four hundred years; most of them looked at least six hundred years old. That settles it. I need to go to the griffin Command and talk to their leader. I decided that this would be the only course of action I could take which would lead to any sort of improvement in griffin society.

We returned to the hospital two hours before sunset, Rainbow Dash having defied all predictions and managed to walk all the way without needing to rest. We sat by her bed and spoke with each other, about griffin society and what pieces of art they liked. Eventually, conversation was wearing thin, and the ponies were getting thirsty; I left the hospital to get some water. I conjured some glasses at the spring and levitated them back to the hospital. I handed out the water, and they each thanked me in turn, including Twilight. Although she was polite to me, I felt that she was very distant. I sighed inwardly; she may yet come to trust me again. The other mares left as I remained in Rainbow Dash’s room for the night.

“Are you okay, Luna?” Dash asked me, concerned.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” I answered. “Just a long week.”

Dash nodded. “Do you know if Gilda has woken up yet?”

A jolt hit me, and I bucked myself for not thinking of it sooner. I was the one who put her there. “No,” I replied. “Do you want me to check for you?” It was Dash’s turn to nod.

“Check to see what’s happened to her,” she requested. I complied, leaving the room to ask one of the medics where Gilda’s room was. Having been directed there by a young griffin, I knocked on the door.

“Come in,” a familiar male voice answered. I entered to find Swiftpaw sitting by Gilda’s bed. “Oh... Umm, wh- why are you here?” He asked hesitantly.

“I came to see how Gilda’s doing,” I replied. “Has she woken yet?”

“No,” said Swiftpaw, sounding very worried for Gilda. I performed a quick diagnosis on Gilda’s condition, and saw what stage her state of unconsciousness was at.

“Three days; that’s your deadline,” I told Swiftpaw once I had finished. “If she hasn’t woken in three days, she will probably not naturally wake up for a year or more. If she was woken by force or magic, I cannot predict how much it would harm her.”

“Is there anything you can do?” He asked me, his tone accusatory.

I turned to face him, and he reciprocated. “I am not sorry for what I did; Gilda was trying to kill one of my friends. I do, however, hope for her health. In answer to your question: no, there is nothing I can do which will not damage her, so please, accept it and move on. There is a chance she will wake up within three days, but if she doesn’t, then you would be wasting your time.”

Swiftpaw looked thoughtful. He seemed to agree with what I was saying. “I think I understand you,” he told me. “And I agree. There isn’t anything in my power I wouldn’t do for my dragoon. They are my closest friends in this world, though the officers would have something to say about it.”

Again, this topic intrigued me, so I motioned for him to go on. “I think you’ve heard this form Twilight, but I’ll recap it quickly. Griffin society is very regimented: we have our Command, and that encompasses the four battalions we have. In each of those battalions, we have three companies, and each of those companies has four dragoons. Each dragoon has between fifteen and eighteen griffins in it.

“First to third battalions are normal cavalry, they do normal operations such as hunting and patrol; whereas fourth battalion is support, scattered around the other battalions or at home. Each of the battalions’ companies are not sorted, they are just the way they are. I’m in charge of the third dragoon in the second company of third battalion. Gilda was my second-in-command.

“Fourth battalion has three companies: the medics, that you see here, in the hospital, and around the city; the runners, who communicate between the sections; and the clerks, who decide who gets what and why they should give it to them.”

“I take it you don’t like this structure?” I prompted him. Swiftpaw paused, not sure he could trust me. Eventaully, he decided he could.

“No, but I can’t complain,” he admitted. “If anyone complains, they and their subordinates get punished for malcontent. I can’t do that to my dragoon, so I have to keep working with the way it is.”

That’s all I had wanted to hear. “I think I’m going to talk to the Command. You’re welcome to come with me, but I need to talk to your commander in regards to the way his society runs.” Swiftpaw paled. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to start a revolt, merely... encourage all the griffins who do not want to be here to leave for Equestria, where they should be welcomed.”

Swiftpaw realised that he wouldn’t be able to win an argument with me. “Okay... When are we going there?” He asked me.

“Tomorrow, I should think,” I answered. “If you’re going to leave, I suggest you set your affairs in order.” At this, I glanced at Gilda, still comatose. He nodded, and I returned to Dash’s ward.

“How was she?” Dash asked me.

“Still unconscious, but she’ll probably wake up within three days,” I told her. Dash seemed to relax when I told her this. “Are you able to fly tomorrow?”

“Only if you don’t tie my wings,” Dash answered, a glint in her eye. I grinned, and then suggested we both get some rest.

“We may need to do some running tomorrow,” I told Dash as left and trotted up to the others’ rooms. As I knocked on one of the doors, I heard a voice acknowledge me before Pinkie Pie opened the door.

“Hi, Luna,” she said brightly.

“Hi, Pinkie,” I returned. “Listen, you may want to get as much rest as you can tonight, because we’re going to the griffin Command tomorrow and I’m going to have a... diplomatic chat with the commander.”

“Okay,” Pinkie Pie smiled brightly.

“Can you make sure to tell the others in your room?” I requested.

“Sure thing,” Pinkie acquiesced. “It’s just Applejack and me.”

I moved on to the next door and knocked on it. “Come in,” I heard Rarity’s voice answer. I admitted myself and saw Rarity brushing Fluttershy’s hair.

“Hey, girls,” I greeted them. “I just need to let you know that you should really get some rest tonight. It’s going to be a big day tomorrow; we’re going to the griffins’ Command so I can talk to whoever leads this community.” Fluttershy looked quizzical. “It’s just that I’ve heard too many complaints about the structure to overlook it.” They both nodded and I left the room.

As I neared the final door, I realised who it would be residing in there. Oh, horseapples, this is going to be awkward. Disregarding my thoughts, I braced myself and knocked on the door. The familiar lavender pony opened it. She had clearly just been reading, judging by the books left on her floor.

“Hi, Twilight,” I mumbled. “I just needed to let you know that you should- you should get some rest t- tonight. W- We’re going to the griffins’ Command tomorrow, so... just be ready for it.” She gave a single nod in acknowledgement. As I turned to the corridor, I noticed her giving me a curious look. I walked back down the tunnel, all the while feeling Twilight’s gaze boring into my back. I wanted nothing more than to just gallop down the hall, away from the guilt I left there; instead, I took a deep breath and managed to maintain my composure until I heard the door close. I relaxed and chanced a glance behind me. She wasn’t there, so I moved on down the tunnel system.

When I finally returned to the hospital, Rainbow Dash was asleep. I crept quietly to the cushion I normally slept on and lay down upon it. I closed my eyes and tried to let that blissful oblivion take me, but it never came. I was troubled by Twilight’s curious stare. Does she think me some kind of alien? Possibly. Is it because I might still have a chance? No. These questions circulated my mind until I quelled them. I lifted myself off the cushion and stole out of the caves, leading out to the cliff face. I brought some parchment and charcoal with me so I could draw the landscape, but my concentration evaporated for no apparent reason. Despairing, I simply sat and watched the stars move about the night sky. I tried to breathe deeply, but I couldn’t seem to relax. A thought crossing my mind, I levitated my parchment and charcoal, reversed the parchment and began to draw. As the charcoal curved across the paper, I saw my drawing take shape. Twilight was sleeping by the fire, the flickering light causing a black shadow to trail out behind her. She looked totally peaceful as she slept. Finishing my work, I admired it for a few seconds. I then lit up my horn and cleared the paper. I did not want anyone to find the picture I had just drawn, else it could ruin my reputation.

“Oh... I- I’m sorry,” said an almost insubstantial voice behind me. I leapt a hoof into the air and turned to see Fluttershy in her cloak.

“That’s okay, Fluttershy,” I replied, trying to recover from my near heart-attack. “Having trouble sleeping?”

Fluttershy nodded. “I’m just so worried about Angel. He’s just such a good bunny. I’m not sure he’s being well looked after. You know how animals are.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I assured her. “I’m sure they’ll be okay. Now, we need to go back to bed, but before you do...” I broke off and lit up my horn once more. The spell I cast on Fluttershy was to give her a dreamless sleep, so she would be well rested tomorrow. We followed the cave system until we reached the fork which led to our respective sleeping places.

“See you tomorrow,” I told Fluttershy, and we went our separate ways. As I walked towards the hospital, I thought about the day to come. I would have to convince the commander that many of the griffins disliked life under the current regime, and I would be happy to accommodate them in Equestria; however, I needed to do this in a way which would not offend him, while still making it clear that it is mandatory to continue an alliance between our nations. I groaned. I despised politics.

I crept back into Dash’s room and curled up on my pillow. Sleep did not take me for a long time, and when it did, it was filled with restless dreams.

* * *

I woke up feeling terrible. I recalled that current state of affairs: Twilight, the griffins and the radicals which I needed to face down in due course. I rolled over and wanted to get back to sleep, but something inside me insisted I get up. I complied with the nagging voice in my subconscious and looked around. Rainbow Dash was still in her bed, snoring softly; her saddlebags were emptied all over the floor, so I proceeded to pack her things into their rightful container. As I left the hospital ward, I heard a voice behind me.

“When are we going up?” Dash asked me.

“As soon as we’re all ready,” I told her. “Head outside and stretch your wings, if you’re ready. We’ll see you on the cliff edge.” Dash nodded and rolled out of bed. Knowing she could full well take care of herself, I followed the caves to the others’ rooms. As I neared the doors, I heard Rarity fussing over the state of her mane, and I wagered that Fluttershy was standing quietly in a corner, offering help in her tiny voice. I knocked on their door.

“Come in,” Rarity imperiously admitted me. “Ah, Luna. When are we going? I need to fix up my mane before then.”

“Just pack your things,” I told her. I turned my attention to the yellow pegasus behind Rarity. “Fluttershy, are you willing to help Rarity with her mane? After you feel ready to go, of course.” Rarity realised that the only other pony she would turn to for fashion advice was behind her, so she turned and smiled. I left the room to the two best friends, and knocked on the next door. Pinkie Pie answered it brightly.

“Good morning, Luna,” she greeted me loudly. “When are we going to go? I’m so excited for this!” I smiled; Pinkie’s laughter was indeed infectious.

“As soon as everyone’s bags are packed,” I told her. “We’ll meet out on the cliff edge. Wear your cloaks.” Contrary to any predictions I may have had about Pinkie Pie, her saddlebags were tucked neatly in the corner of her cavern, with none of her inventory visible. She shouted out my instructions to Applejack as I made for the dreaded third door. I raised my hoof to knock on it when I heard a nearly silent sob. Instead of knocking and possibly embarrassing Twilight or myself, I chose to call through the wood instead.

“Hey, Twilight,” I began. I heard an insubstantial gasp as she answered.

“Yeah?” Twilight asked, and I could tell that she was holding back tears, but was doing a valiant job at it.

“I just needed to let you know that we’re leaving as soon as everybody’s packed. We’re meeting out on the cliff edge. It will be cold so wear your cloak.” I saved her trouble of replying by walking down the corridor. As I left, I wondered what could possibly have made Twilight cry like that. Eventually, I settled on the theory that she had just had a really bad dream about Spike, or her parents, or one of her friends. I probably would have cried in a situation like that, and not wanted anypony else to know.

I walked back to the hospital ward to collect my saddlebags, and noticed that Rainbow Dash had already left. I picked up my things and trotted outside to the cliff edge. Dash was flying around above the platform. She was not quite her graceful self in the sky, but was perfectly capable of flight over long distances, judging by the stunts she was capable of at the present time. It was not long before Applejack and Pinkie Pie joined me. They greeted me and followed Dash with their eyes. Applejack simply noted that Dash was better than she had expected. Soon, Rarity and Fluttershy exited the cave to the platform outside. Rarity was still fussing over her mane (she was keen to impress the griffins’ royalty, to which I simply raised one eyebrow), and Fluttershy was insisting that it was fine. We waited for a few more minutes until Twilight emerged. Her eyes were dry, and I guessed that she had been crying for a long time. I hoped she had gotten enough rest, but seeing her face, I doubted it.

“Okay, everyone,” I called to the assembled ponies. “We’re going to Command, which is up at the top of Highridge. Rainbow Dash, you can fly up there if you want and you know you can handle it; Fluttershy, you’re welcome to, as well, but don’t worry about it if you don’t want to. When you get up there, wait for us in the main square. Don’t start any fights.” I ended the instructions on a lighter note, and I hoped Dash didn’t need the advice, but you never know.

We – all of us except Rainbow Dash – proceeded up the slope to the peak. As we neared the twentieth yard of elevation, I saw a dragoon of griffins surround us. I looked up and squared my footing, until I noticed the sergeant of the dragoon. I smiled warmly.

“You know, Luna,” Swiftpaw scolded me playfully. “You could have simply asked us to carry you.” The griffins around us smiled as they tasted freedom on their tongues. I counted fourteen griffins. “I left Gilda a note by her bed; she’ll what to do when she wakes up.” I thanked the griffins collectively for their help and let my friends be carried up. I flew by my own means, and it was not long before we alighted on the peak of a mountain on one end of Highridge. The Command was obviously the large building at the northern end of the quadrangle. I walked purposefully towards it. The others caught up with me after hesitating for a moment. As I reached the doors, two griffin guards attempted to block our path. Realising that fourteen griffins under a sergeant, along with two unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, all headed by an alicorn may pose a threat.

“Sergeant, leave your dragoon outside; we may not all fit in there,” it was a dry comment, we would surely fit in easily, but Swiftpaw took my meaning anyway. He ordered his griffins to stand easy by the doors. “Now, stand aside,” I turned calmly to the two griffins barring the doors, and heard my voice come out as confident and collected. The two guards regarded me, and then looked at each other and collectively realised they could not do anything about it. They simply moved out of the way, and we all entered.

The first this I noticed in the great hall was that griffin guards lined the walls, all in armour which, I wagered, was enchanted. The guards looked at us and readied their weapons.

“Please, guards,” I called to them. “I do not intend to harm anyone here. Lower your weapons.” They did not lower their weapons, however, and I heard a middle-aged griffin call out.

“They shall only do that, Princess, on my command.” I guessed this griffin was the Commander. I could tell by his mask pattern: many of the officers had masks with rank-dependant markings on them.

“Greetings, kommendátor,” I addressed him informally. The griffin only nodded in acknowledgement, clearly disappointed by my lack of court manners. I continued. “I have heard some complaints of your society’s structure, sir.” His head snapped up and he ripped off his mask in rage.

“I beg your pardon, Princess,” he hissed at me, “but I think it is my choice to see how my domain is run.”

“As it is ours, kommendátor, but that does not mean you can freely enslave – yes, I mean enslave – griffins by your own whim,” I retorted.

“I fail to see how I am enslaving them,” the griffin scoffed. “I do not have control over how the daily aspects of their lives are run by a whim.”

“That’s a lie and we both know it, Hawkeye,” I used the Commander’s name and omitted his title, showing I had no respect for his rank. “I have been talking to some griffins during my stay here, and they are all disappointed by your methods of leadership: reaping the rewards while others toil. You give them nothing; you do not even look them in the face. You simply stay here in your court and order griffins to do your bidding.” At my words, he saw Sergeant Swiftpaw standing behind me, and his features contorted with rage.

“Kill him!” Hawkeye screamed at the guards. He clearly guessed that Swiftpaw was my informant.

“Stand down!” I bellowed, and the guards cowered in fear. The magical force glowing on my horn was not a fury attack; it was calculated and exact. I could have killed every griffin in that room, and the guards could see it. Instead of using it to attack, however, I used it to form a very powerful ward around us. Hawkeye winced as he felt the power emanate from me. To the ponies and griffin gathered behind me, I simply whispered: “Stay close to me.”

Hawkeye attempted to regain his composure. He was undoubtedly still furious with me, however. “Griffin society had been victorious in every encounter it has had in the last five hundred years. I cannot see how this is a problem. You don’t like my leadership methods; what’s wrong with them? More importantly, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to kill me? I would like to see you do it, Luna.”

I smiled. “One of your grievous faults: you always turn to violence as an answer. I am not going to kill you. Instead, I’m going to make an offer to your people.

“One and a half thousand years ago, I knew the griffins’ leader. I say ‘leader’ and not ‘kommendátor’ intentionally, Hawkeye: the society then was as successful as Equestria’s own, and almost all of griffin society was working and happy.” I noted his glance at ‘almost’. “I will not deny that every system has its faults, Hawkeye; my sister and I simply try to reduce them to a minimum. We succeed, on the most part. You are victorious on the field of battle, Hawkeye, but that is not what life is all about. When did you last enjoy a piece of music? When was the last work of art made? Not in five hundred years, I would guess.

“Life for griffins was good, back then. They were called into battle and military only when it was required. Today, every griffin must hunt for food so they can sustain the whole of their society with little return. Griffins today cannot experience the joy of art and music because it simply does not exist. Do you ever admire the night sky, Hawkeye? I made a constellation for their leader. Look there, tonight, when every griffin who wants to leave has left. Tell me then that you do not see the brilliance I reflected in Ironclaw.”

Hawkeye was humbled by my speech, and he could not think of an argument. As he tried to protest, I exited the hall with my friends behind me and walked out to the cliff’s edge. I lit up my horn and projected my voice so every griffin could hear it, not loud, but unable to be ignored.

“Griffins, please hear me! I am calling to you today to give you a preposition. I have found griffins are finding the current state of society lacking in culture. Thus, I am willing to provide a place for griffins to live in our domain of Equestria; it will be a place with music, with art, and equality between all you griffins. I shall see to it that you are treated well, that you are given shelter, and you are accepted.

“In two hours, I will be leaving Highridge. I implore every griffin to fly with me, but if you felt inclined to stay, you will not be treated unfairly in the future. Every griffin who flies with me today will be given protection from weapons for their flight; no-one, griffin or pony, will be able to harm you. For those who do not fly with me today, I wish you the best of luck in your future life, should you stay or leave.

“Every griffin is welcome at any time to Equestria, and I thank you all for your decision.” I released the magic for my voice, and turned towards my friends. Each one of them was looking at me with awe.

“Luna...” Applejack stared at me with wonder. “What did you just do?”

I looked towards Hawkeye, who looked shocked and defeated. “A liberation.”

Chapter Ten - Resolve

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Ten - Resolve

I stayed at the top of the cliff. Hawkeye had returned to his palace, accepting that he wasn’t able to do anything about his current situation. However, I had left him with some final advice.

“Do not linger,” I had told him. “There is nothing you can do about this. What you can do remains in the future; dwelling on the past will achieve nothing.” I hoped he would take this advice to heart, because griffin society could once again be rebuilt if everyone was willing. Meanwhile, I glanced at Celestia’s light. Ninety minutes had passed and the first griffins had flown out to meet the convoy. These were mainly young revolutionaries, most with no families of their own. I flew out to greet them all personally. The first ones to arrive seemed very pleasant to be around, although they were eager to leave Highridge. I asked them collectively if any of them could carry my friends, and then thought the better of it. Instead, I asked them to come to the top of the cliff to introduce the griffins and ponies.

Different griffins with different personalities found good friends in the six mares. Not five minutes after I introduced them, Pinkie Pie and one of the young female griffins were taking turns in telling jokes to the crowd around them, and every single punchline received a hearty laugh. Most of the younger griffins gravitated towards Rainbow Dash; after a short time, she had acquired an audience to applaud her many airborne stunts, and even started teaching some of the simpler ones to the griffins. Fluttershy had managed a crowd of griffins which was more than large enough for her. A single griffin was talking with Fluttershy quietly, and in a broken conversation. I felt that the two personalities would have a few many differences in upbringing: griffins were carnivores by nature, and seldom ate plants. Applejack, however, had amassed a small crowd who had all seemed intrigued when I spoke to them about the concept of agriculture; some griffins did not want to offend ponies by killing creatures that they loved for their food. Rarity was speaking loudly to a group of griffins who wanted to know more about art and music.

Only one griffin was left out. I saw him reading under the shadow of the cliff. Twilight trotted over to the griffin, who I recalled as scholarly and studious. I smiled; soon the pair was latched in a deep conversation about... well, it would be a lie to say I knew what they were talking about, but I guessed it was something to do with books. I sorely wanted to join, but I knew that Twilight would not want the attention from me. I glanced once more and guessed that the two hours were up. Some more griffins had joined, but I had guessed there would be more.

“Friends, please hear me!” I called as I rose on my wings. “Do any of you have friends you think want to fly with us to Equestria?” One griffin signalled to me. “Then we shall wait for them.” Some of the young griffins groaned, but I knew that they would understand.

Fifteen minutes later, a family of griffins arrived, carrying a baby among them. I smiled warmly and introduced myself to them. I asked the griffins if they were waiting on anyone else, and we took to our wings. It would be a long flight, and it was already midday, but I felt that they were all ready. We soared into the night sky and, true to my word, I cast a ward around the group, as we left Highridge, I noticed that we didn’t need it. I would much rather have been safe than sorry, however.

We were going to be flying north until nightfall, at which point the six mares and myself would set up camp to continue on our journey, and the griffins would vote on whether to continue on with their journey throughout the night or camp with us and reach Canterlot on the evening of the next day. Until then, we simply flew on. The griffins were constantly ecstatic: they were leaving the lifestyle they had come to despise over the years, and going to a new life with the blessings of a princess behind them.

I glanced around at my friends; they all seemed to be happy with the current state of things. Pinkie Pie was riding on her griffin friend, exchanging joke after joke in a tireless supply of humour. Applejack was giving some advice to one of the griffins she had earlier talked to about farming. If they didn’t want to eat meat, then they needed to know which plants to grow; Applejack also stressed that life in that matter would be difficult, because it defied the griffins’ natural instincts. Fluttershy was quiet, being carried by the griffin she was talking to earlier. There was little conversation between them. Rarity was talking seriously with a griffin about art and fashion, giving her strong opinions on what fashion is, and what fashion should be. She was also trying to teach the griffin about sewing, which was difficult because she wasn’t able to demonstrate effectively behind the griffin’s head.

Rainbow Dash was flying with her own wings, weaving in and out of the loose formation, occasionally chatting to a griffin or one of her friends. I looked towards Twilight; she was still deep in conversation with the scholarly griffin about some topic or other. I was glad that she just wasn’t releasing any anger she surely held for me. I really hoped that the situation would improve; I didn’t want to lose her as a friend completely. After three hours of arduous flight for the griffins, I saw a familiar plateau in the landscape.

“Okay, everyone,” I shouted over the wind. “We’re going to head down to that plateau there, and we’ll just quickly eat something and have a quick drink.” Most of the griffins did not want to stop, but the new family looked extremely relieved to hear this news. They had been trying to teach their baby to fly, but had needed to carry him most of the way; griffin offspring was by no means light. We landed on the plateau and the griffins started resting. I scouted to the east where I knew there was a mountain with a spring at the bottom of a natural reservoir. I conjured two buckets and fashioned a shoulder yoke from a branch of one of the trees downhill. I filled the buckets with water and attached them to the yoke, then carried the yoke towards the griffins at the plateau. As I arrived, most of the griffins gave way to the young family, letting the child drink first, and then its parents quench their thirst. After them, the younger griffins allowed the older to go through, trying to hold off, as they knew that they would not need as much. Swiftpaw came last after the crowd, allowing some other dragoon sergeants in front of him.

“It’s customary for the rank to eat and drink after their subordinates,” he explained to me, and I smiled; he would have a good chance in this new life. I was prepared to make him the honorary mayor for the griffins’ new town, and let him lead the flight after the ponies left. Swiftpaw had a good heart, and I knew he would not mistreat his comrades.

The water had run out, and Swiftpaw did not have a chance to drink. He waved my help away, but I insisted that he should have some water, as it would risk his health severely if he did not drink. He did not give in, saying that it would do no good to return to the reservoir. This argument caused a thought to cross my mind. I closed my eyes and lit up my horn. I sent my mind flying across the mountain ranges until I found the lake, and formed a magical sphere around a small portion of water.

I opened my eyes, and the water appeared in front of me in a small sphere. I was panting: it was a miniscule amount of water, but teleporting an object from far away was very difficult. Swiftpaw looked at me, and he realised my resolve: I was not going to risk him. He drank the water and thanked me quietly, and then walked away to care for the others. He asked about the griffins’ conditions, and eventually, I heard his raised voice.

“Can anyone here bear to carry some more weight?” Swiftpaw called to the griffins on the plateau. Several griffins signalled the sergeant and he distributed the weight from the family’s packs between them. He felt it was prudent to care for the young, and caring for their families was a good step in the direction of achieving that. I looked towards Swiftpaw and I realised that the griffin was a good friend, and a good leader.

* * *

We were flying again, and it was about four hours past noon. Given that it was winter, I knew that Celestia’s light would set early today, and we needed to reach our planned campsite soon, else we would be having a cold and uncomfortable night; it may have been a dangerous experience for the young griffins. As I started to doubt my navigation skills, I picked up some green on the horizon, and I knew we were getting close.

“We’re nearly there, everyone,” I called to the party. “It’s about half an hour to go if we travel fast.” This news seemed to put renewed vigour in the griffins and the pace quickened. In about two hours, we were flying above the foothills of the southern mountain ranges. I found a relatively flat area and instructed everyone to land there.

As we landed, the griffins instinctually started scouting the area, until they realised that they didn’t need to anymore. Feeling safe with the presence of the Night Princess, they started hunting around the mountains for wild game, much to the distaste of the ponies.

“It’s natural for them,” I had told them, “and there is no way we can expect them to eat the wrong things for their body after that flight.” Everypony seemed to understand, except for Fluttershy, who retreated into a stony silence, as opposed to her usual shyness. She snapped at any griffin who tried to talk to her for the rest of the night. The only one who could get through to her was Rarity.

“If you flew a very long way,” Rarity tried to assure Fluttershy, “you wouldn’t want to be eating conkers, would you? That’s how it is to these griffins; they only see it as a natural cycle.” Fluttershy was largely unresponsive, though. When the quiet griffin tried talking to Fluttershy, the butter pegasus did not say anything, but rather stared at the griffin. I had heard about the Stare from friendship reports, and I immediately felt sorry for the griffin; he was only trying to understand Fluttershy’s love for animals, as was against griffins’ instinct.

After satiating their hunger, the griffins washed off in a nearby ravine and started to turn in for the night. I walked by the campsite, dipping quickly into their dreams and checking that they were sleeping well; if they wanted to make it to Canterlot tomorrow, it would be an arduous flight and a bad night’s sleep would hinder them significantly.

I found that all of the griffins were sleeping well, dreaming good dreams about the lives they were about to lead. I was heartened by their confidence in a better life – I had guessed some of them had doubts, after their previous life under Hawkeye – and could only hope that Celestia and I could deliver on that. I sat down on a patch of grass and retrieved some parchment and proceeded to burn words onto the surface:

Dear Celly,

You’re probably wondering why a host of griffins is waiting outside your palace. Don’t worry; they came with me after I found some issues with Hawkeye’s politics. Don’t worry, I still hate court, but going to Highridge showed me that our system is working better than theirs.

It’s a very hierarchical society, strict and regimented. I was talking to Swiftpaw (he should be the one to give you this letter) and he talked to me about the system Hawkeye employed. It has been used for the past five hundred years, and a lot of the griffins did not like the way society was run. When I finally confronted Hawkeye, he tried to act innocent. As you can guess, that strategy didn’t work. Suffice to say, he didn’t like the methods I used to let him know. He thought that society was all about winning the battles he fought, and not about culture. I did explore the caves, more than once, and every work of art was at least six hundred years old.

Many of the griffins who are flying with me as I write this are interested in the concept of music, and some with art. I was surprised to find that some of the griffins are interested in agriculture, but you won’t see me complaining. I think it’s going to be difficult for the griffins to live on beans, though; they still need to hunt for their food.

All I want you to do is give them a place to live: I promised that I would do that for them. Somewhere near the Everfree Forest, as I don’t think many ponies would miss the creatures that live there. Also, try and give them somewhere to stay in Canterlot for the night, because where I’m planning for them to go is quite far away.

Love you,

Luna

I smiled as I finished this, hoping that it would allay some of Celestia’s surprise. I stole over to Twilight’s saddlebags and borrowed the atlas. I found a page with a map of Equestria, and copied it over to the bottom of the parchment. I burnt a red cross in the area where I thought the village should be, to the east-northeast of Canterlot, along the north-eastern border of the Everfree forest. I rolled up the parchment and sealed it closed with magic; any guard at Canterlot Castle should be able recognise my magic from a sealed letter. After thinking for a short while, I set a ward on the parchment so it would protect all the griffins while Swiftpaw was carrying it; that way, I could fulfil my promise of safety in my absence.

I sighed; I was tired, and I needed some rest. I stumbled over to my saddlebags and flopped onto the ground next to them. I closed my eyes, and let sleep take me.

* * *

I woke up to a bright light shining on my face. I marveled at the warmth of it and smiled. It took a long time for me to work up the motivation to rise from the ground. When I did, I saw that many of the griffins were already walking around the area. Some had gone hunting, and were now washing themselves at the ravine. I walked over to Swiftpaw, blinking the sleep out of my eyes as I did so.

“Good morning, Swiftpaw,” I greeted the former sergeant cheerily.

“It is, isn’t it,” he returned the greeting with similar cheer. “Is this where our journeys part?” He asked me.

I nodded. “I think we may meet again quite soon, though. Here: take this letter to Celestia in Canterlot, about a day’s flight directly north of here. That will tell her what I want her to do for you. I also put a spell on it so all you griffins will be safe.” I swallowed as I realised that I was saying goodbye to a good friend for a long time. “It was nice to meet you, Swiftpaw. I hope that the day we meet comes soon.”

“It, reciprocal, Luna,” he also seemed slightly sad. “I never said; thank you, so much, for all the help you’ve given us. I d- I don’t think you know how much it means to me.” At these words, he turned and started gathering his things and helping the other griffins pack. Before long, they were in the air, soaring away. Swiftpaw turned and gave one final wave to the six mares with me behind them as they transformed into a cloud speeding towards the north. Feeling slightly heartened, and slightly heartbroken, we started packing our own belongings as we prepared to travel towards the east. I had an idea to visit one of the villages in the plains south of the mountainous forests. It was named Cadmos, and I had once known a mighty warrior to have been born there. We packed our bags and started walking east.

I borrowed Twilight’s atlas so I could double-check the route we were taking. It seemed very simple: follow a relatively flat dirt track to the village, going through a forest along the way. As I read over the conditions for the journey, I noticed that the forest was very thick, and camping in there would be difficult due to a lack of space. I decided that we would hike to the forest (I guessed that this would take us until late afternoon that day) and then set up camp at the entrance. If the track was in good condition, I knew that we would be able to make it through the forest in a single day. We started hiking as I told everypony where we were going that day and the rest of the week.

Rainbow Dash was in the air, occasionally landing to tell us how far we had to go. It was hard work, but everypony was getting fitter due to the constant hiking we had undertaken; even Rarity hadn’t complained during the day-long hike to the forest. I could see the forest on the horizon after we had travelled twelve miles, but I guessed we had that distance again to cover in the rest of the day. I groaned inwardly: we had left late so as to farewell the griffins, but I was starting to regret it now. We walked for another hour until I called a temporary halt.

“We should have something to eat now,” I told them. “We still have another two hours to go, so hold tight.” It was about two hours after noon, and the sun would probably set an hour after we got to the forest. If one of us got injured, then we would be cutting it very fine. We each grazed on the new winter grass and started to walk the rest of the distance.

I was holding up well, but that was mainly due to my natural alicorn fitness and endurance. The others seemed to be getting very tired, and it was to mutual relief that we found the border of the forest, and the six mares lay down on the ground in relief. As I was not tired, I decided to venture into the forest and collect some water, along with some firewood. I found a stream about twenty yards into the forest, and there was dead wood all around the area. I returned to our campsite laden with some buckets of water, some tinder, and some plants I knew to be edible. I left the tinder in the centre of the campsite as I proceeded to retrieve some larger firewood and the various herbs and fungi that I had seen; I was planning on making a quick soup for our dinner. As I returned a second time, I saw that Twilight had set her horn onto the twigs, and I put some larger sticks onto the quick-burning flame. It was not long before a soup was simmering happily above the fire.

There was little conversation as we drank the soup, and one by one, the ponies retired for the night. Feeling that I would not be able to sleep well for another night, I walked about the campsite, until I settled about ten yards into the forest. With charcoal at hoof, I started drawing a stylized scene of the trees. It had an eerie mood, the forest; it could show you things which weren’t there. As I thought this, I felt a memory cross my mind as if it was a dream: the six mares outside the forest – younger than today – walking through a thick forest. They saw horrible disfigured faces in the trees, and they huddled closer to protect themselves from them, bar one; Pinkie Pie was laughing at the faces, and she sang. It reminded me of the songs she sang during our journey, and soon all the mares were cracking up laughing.

I gasped as I realised where this quasi-memory was from. I only remember some of the experiences of Nightmare Moon, and none of them are pleasant; this was one of them. I had once tried to kill these ponies, yet they still trusted me. I could only wonder why.

“Luna,” a familiar voice broke me out of my reverie and I leapt half a foot in the air. Gathering up the scattered charcoal, I looked behind me. It was Twilight. I stood up hastily. “Look... I- I’m sorry, but I don’t quite know how to say this...” she stammered.

My heart fell to my hooves. She wants to leave. She doesn’t want to follow me anymore. She doesn’t want to be with me anymore. These thoughts rushed through my head, and I struggled to not break down into tears. “Look, Twilight...” – still trying to keep the tears away – “why don’t you just go ahead and say it?”

Twilight also looked as if she was choking back tears. “It’s just... I’m not sure if y- you’re going hate me... Not af- after what I’ve done to you.” I glanced up. What she had done to me? I didn’t say anything as she continued. “I- I haven’t been sleeping well, and I- I wasn’t sure... sure that this is what I wanted.”

Everything she said made me believe that Twilight wanted to return to her quiet library in Ponyville, to stay warm and comfortable every night. What she said next, though, surprised me.

“I just wa- wasn’t sure whether I could do it... I mean, look at Rainbow Dash, sh- she took so mu- so much... shit from the other ponies as Flight Camp for being bi, and I wasn’t sure I could handle what other ponies would say.” As I realised what she was saying, my heart leapt back to its rightful position, and further. Twilight paused, not sure what to think of my silence. “And... well... eventually, I realised that... that I jus- just didn’t care about what they said... what they said about me... b- because I love you, Luna. I really do.”

My heart was fluttering and my breathing heavy. Twilight didn’t want to leave me – quite the opposite; I was overjoyed by this. I nearly couldn’t believe it, but, there it was, right in front of me. I drew myself to Twilight and wrapped my forelegs around her. “I love you, Twilight,” I whispered into her ear. “I still do.” She gave my neck an affectionate nuzzle as we walked back to the campsite, and we lay down on the grass, side by side. Our sides were touching, but all we did was talk, watching the night sky above us. I could feel her warm body beside mine, heart beating and lungs breathing with my own.

“I drew these stars, you know,” I told Twilight; I was content with enjoying her company, so I offered her a topic which I knew she had an interest in, such as astronomy. She listened to what I had to say, often asking more, or offering her opinions. I told her one of the things which few ponies knew: I drew these constellations for people of all races whom I had known, leaving recognition for them so the whole of Equestria could see them: Orion, the warrior; Ursa Major, for the Ursas’ ancestors had once been sentient, and good friends to many races; the black wolves, which had since died out; and Ironclaw the griffin. She asked me about the latter of the constellations: Ironclaw.

I started telling her a story of when griffins were a very cultural race, making music and art; but that had been eradicated from life by the regimental setup by some of the more recent generations. When Equestria’s diplomatic relations with the northern Amaltheatic Empire had degenerated into a war, Ironclaw, the leader of the griffins, saw the need to drive off the Amaltheans from Equestria, hoping to restore the Empire to its former state. The Equestrians with the griffins from the south quickly overcame the Amaltheans, where it had formerly been a stalemate; eventually, a diplomatic society was founded in the former Amaltheatic Empire, and has since run successfully to this day, Equestria an ever-present commerce partner.

I finished the story, only to notice that Twilight’s eyes had drifted closed, and she had fallen asleep. I smiled at her, seeing the unicorn I had come to love in serene innocence. Looking at the moon, I realised that I no longer harboured any hate against it: I had made this moon, and ponies could enjoy it. I felt that I had discovered sufficient reasoning to justify the moon; I had played my part in the tale, and it had played its own, for which it had no guilt. Content with life all over again, I rolled over, lay a wing over Twilight, and fell asleep, her heart a reassuring metronome on my side.

Chapter Eleven - A Radical Turn

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Eleven - A Radical Turn

I felt the sun on my back and my love under my wing. I did not want to move from this spot, but I knew I must, for fear of awkward questions from the others. I lifted my wing off Twilight and she stirred, but did not wake. I looked at Celestia’s light hanging low in the sky, burning the clouds a deep orange, and guessed that it was half an hour past dawn. Applejack woke up a few minutes after me, momentarily scared that she’d overslept.

“Good morning,” I greeted her. She returned the greeting with a smile, looking well-rested. We waited around the camp for another fifteen minutes, chatting idly, until we decided we should wake the others. I went to Rarity first, deciding she would need the most time to get ready. I nuzzled her shoulder gently.

“Hey, Rarity,” I woke her. “Rise and shine.” She opened her eyes and gave me a mild glare; she, especially, hated being woken up before she was ready. Her glare softened to a resigned look before long, however. Next I moved to Pinkie Pie. Before I could wake her, she bounced up.

“I’m awake!” she exclaimed. “My Pinkie sense was telling me that I’m about to be woken up, so I woke up before you could.” I marvelled at Pinkie Pie’s acute sensitivity to her own instincts even in her dreams, but left alone, taking the advice from reading Twilight’s friendship report on the subject; I knew Twilight well enough that she would have tried very hard to find any scientific reason, and I doubted my own ability to outdo her.

I decided to wake up Twilight next. I nuzzled her tenderly on the neck. “It’s time to wake up, dear,” I whispered in her ear. She smiled, and opened one eye.

“Can’t it wait?” She asked, half-heartedly.

“Sorry, no,” I replied, smiling at her. “Not unless you want to skip breakfast; we need to get through this forest today.” She grunted and stood to her hooves. She stopped short.

“Should we tell the others?” She asked, slightly aghast. I turned to see the others’ reactions to our exchange, but I was relieved to realise that nopony else had noticed the exchange. I was shocked with myself that the thought had not crossed my mind. I thought about the problem at hand.

“No...” I wondered aloud. “Not yet, at any rate.” I was glad that Twilight agreed with my reasoning. “Rest assured that we will tell them, though.” She nodded, and we returned to the others.

“Do we all have enough apples left for the trip through the forest?” I asked the assembled mares. They all nodded. “I might be able to find some fungi, though, if you want to use them in cooking.” Rarity nodded at this; she had a prestigious knowledge of cooking and could make a simple forest fungus seem like a royal feast. “Is everyone ready?” I asked, to another round of nods from the mares. “Then let’s go.”

I led the way into the forest by the dirt track. When we reached about a hundred yards in, the air started feeling very close and I could not see the sun through the dense trees. Twilight, Rarity and I lit up our horns to cast a white light around us to dispel the darkness that we were engulfed within. I was forced to remember the scene that I had rediscovered in my memories as Pinkie Pie pulled faces at the trees around us.

“Hey, Fluttershy,” Pinkie called. “Look at this one.” Fluttershy responded to the summons and broke down into a fit of quiet giggles as she looked at the tree.

As we neared our third hour of walking, I saw a fungus which I knew could be cooked with ease and gave an interesting flavour. I knew we could all appreciate some change in the normally dull routine of our trudge around Equestria. I gave the mushrooms to Rarity, who stored them in her saddlebags for later.

* * *

We continued along the track, listening to the silence around us, hoping for the slightest sign of life in the foliage. It was a monotonous day, and conversation was low. We all wanted to be out of that forest promptly; Pinkie Pie was the only exception, who found the humour in the trees to be infinite and always changing. It was, however, to a communal sense of relief that we emerged from the trees at the other side of the road. It was past sunset, but it was difficult to tell time in the forest, so nobody cared. Rarity could not summon enough energy to cook the mushrooms I had collected throughout the forest, so we all had to graze on the grass around the forest.

Twilight lit up her horn and started reading one of the books she had brought with her, and, one by one, the other ponies fell asleep. I walked up to Twilight and examined what she was reading, and she allowed me to drape a wing over her back, offering some meagre warmth.

“I’m just brushing up on long distance teleportation,” she told me. “I always had a bit of trouble with that.” Twilight stopped reading and nuzzled my neck; I smiled at the contact. “When do you think we should tell them?” She asked, worriedly.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It just seems so complicated.”

Twilight nodded. “I feel terrible about lying to my friends...” she began, “or, at least, not telling them the full truth.” I could feel the pain she was going through as if it were my own.

I nuzzled her in return. “I know, dear,” I assured her. “We will tell them in due course. In the meantime, however, I think we shouldn’t trouble them.” Twilight lay down on her side and I reciprocated, hooves touching.

“I’m just not sure what they’d think,” Twilight said. “What with you being a princess and me being your sister's stu...” she broke off suddenly and blanched. “Oh, hay. How are you going to let Celestia know?”

My heart fell; that would be a very difficult bridge to cross. “Not easily,” I replied after a pause. Twilight grunted lightly in sympathy.

We spent another hour chatting idly with each other, about teleportation, stars we could see now, and numerous other frivolities. Eventually, I suggested we should get some sleep after the late night we had received the day before. I laid my wing over Twilight again tonight, for it was winter and getting very cold at night, and tried drifting off to sleep, watching the moon along its path.

* * *

There was some conversation throughout the journey over the next five days. Pinkie Pie had started to sing again; her songs were gradually becoming more absurd throughout the hike. Fluttershy joined in, sometimes adding a beautiful descant on top of the lyrics. The rest of us predominantly stayed silent, or laughed as the lyrics called for. Twilight was walking with her book in front of her, trying to pick up tips for long-distance teleportation, and I offered her advice when I could. We continued our conversations often deep into the night, enjoying one another’s company immensely, and praying that none of the other mares found out.

It was now the mid-afternoon of the seventh day of our hike from the crossroads north of Highridge, and Cadmos was in sight. It was not a large town; consisting of about fifty buildings, none of which were more than two storeys above ground. It had a village square with a fountain in the centre near the southern entrance, where we were approaching from. The whole settlement was surrounded by a fifteen-hoof palisade, and only three points of entry into it. It looked like a town with few passers-by, and I guessed that there would be few inns there.

As we neared the southern gate, the three stallions guarding it bowed to me. I bade them stand and thanked them for the welcome, denying any offers to alert the town mayor to our presence. I asked them for the way to the nearest inn, and they obliged happily, directing us to the right turnoff from the main square. As we entered the square, I saw some golden-armoured town guards leading off stretchers covered with white linen. Noting that there were many stretchers and too little disruption for this to be an accident, I walked up to one of the guards.

“Excuse me, sir?” I asked, and he saluted. “How did this happen?”

“I’m afraid we have no idea, your majesty,” the guard returned.

“Please, just Luna,” I requested for the goodness-knows-how-many time. “May I please see one of the bodies; I may be able to shed some light on the subject.” The guard complied, motioning for one of the stretchers to be brought over. He gingerly lifted the linen, and I gasped at what I saw.

A midnight-black mare was lying on the stretcher, looking at peace. She was wearing a familiar dark-grey cloak. I examined what had killed her, and a guard, noting my interest, told me. “She was killed by a rising stab wound from the diaphragm. The blade pierced her heart, so it was quick.” I hoarsely thanked the guard, and returned to my friends.

“We had better sleep with our doors locked tonight,” I told them, and they stared at me in horror. “I think the assassins know that I’m here.” Fluttershy made a tiny noise akin to a gasp, Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s jaws set, Rarity’s mouth hang slack open, Pinkie Pie was not smiling; in fact, she was deadly serious, and I knew Pinkie Pie well enough to know that it was a grave issue. Twilight looked at me in shocked horror. “We had better go; we need to get somewhere remotely safe before nightfall.”

We started down the street, jumping at any slight movement in the shadows, until we finally reached the inn. We walked in and I found it was covered with an undertone of conversation. We kept our cloaks on, for it was cold, and we moved to the bar. I ordered an apple cider, knowing I could hold my liquor better than all; the others ordered something without alcohol. I looked up and down the bar, looking for any midnight-coated ponies, but I found none. I did find a brown unicorn stallion drinking a full bottle of whisky. I saw that he was not overly intoxicated yet and walked towards him.

“That amount of whiskey could kill you, you know,” I told him, half conversationally, half seriously worried for his health. He stayed silent for a short time before he finally turned to me.

“I’m beyond caring, right now,” the unicorn told me, and I was shocked. I was about to ask him why, but a small voice stopped me.

“Luna,” Fluttershy caught my attention. When I regarded her, she simply pointed to the coat rack; a dark grey cloak was hanging from one of the hooks. I stifled a gasp as I double-checked the room. But... there are no assassins here, I thought to myself, also feeling extremely glad that we had kept our travelling cloaks on: my wings were well concealed under the thick fabric. I needed to check something, and I walked over to the barkeep.

“Has anyone ordered a room for tonight?” I asked the barkeep politely. He grunted in affirmative. “Are we able to rent three rooms for the night?” I continued. The barkeep looked up from the glass he was cleaning.

“Fifteen bits,” he said, simply. I paid him and he handed me three keys. They had the rooms’ numbers on them, and I recommended to the others that they go upstairs. I gave another cursory glance around the common room before I followed them up. As I walked the first step, I passed the coat rack. It had no cloak on it, and I paused. They either must’ve left, I thought, or they’re upstairs. I shivered, noting that the cold wasn’t the cause to any degree.

When I got to our rooms, I noticed that Twilight had already sorted the five mares into their respective rooms: Rarity with Fluttershy; Pinkie Pie with Rainbow Dash and Applejack; and... her with me. I shrugged: she made her choice, and I was happy with that. I advised that we all stay in our rooms until dinner, at sundown. I stayed with Twilight until then, talking about different academic topics. We reached the topic of ecology, one which I happened to be an expert in for the fact of being a co-creator of it. This had apparently slipped Twilight’s mind, as I found when I casually stated that fungi had been my idea.

“Celestia’s flowers grow in the sun,” I explained to her, as she remembered that I had helped shape Equestria as ponies saw it today, “and I felt it prudent that we should have a plant that grows in contrast to them, in the night. They’ve become a lot rarer in the past thousand years, after...” I stopped; I did not want to enter that topic with Twilight. Sympathetically, she moved onto the subject of chemistry, to which I happily obliged.

It came to dinnertime, and we convened in the common room. The brown stallion from before had left, leaving a nearly-full bottle of whiskey on the bar where he had sat. I ordered some hay and grass seed salad, and sat by a table in the corner. As I munched on the assorted leaves, I noted that while the establishment looked untidy, the cook certainly knew their craft. Twilight sat down opposite me, and I smiled briefly at her, stopping when the others sat down. We finished our food and moved upstairs to our beds. I checked that everypony was okay, and discreetly cast spells for deep sleep on each of them, knowing that with my plan to go to the tropics in the north, they would need all the rest they could get tonight. I moved to our room and lay on the bed opposite to Twilight’s.

“We should get some sleep, dear,” I recommended, looking at Twilight. “We’ve a long fortnight ahead of us.”

“Where’re we going?” Twilight asked.

“Up north, to the tropics,” I replied. She groaned: it was a long way to the tropics, and the trip was not always easy; bandits also frequented the paths, knowing that unwary travellers were very far from assistance.

We bade each other goodnight and Twilight snuffed the candles with her horn. It was not long until the steady rhythm of Twilight’s breath sent me to sleep.

* * *

I didn’t know what woke me up an hour past midnight, so I assumed that the lavender pony across the room had stirred enough to wake me. I smiled and delved into her dreams.

She wasn’t dreaming. She couldn’t have moved.

I quickly checked the others’ states of consciousness. In the room next to us, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were all sleeping, though the latter a bit restlessly. I doubted that Applejack could have woken me from the other room, even if she was stirring. Fluttershy was dreaming about her bunny, Angel; Rarity was dreaming about... I left that dream hurriedly, wanting to observe the rights she had for her privacy.

None of those mares could have woken me. So... what had?

I heard a noise from the room across the hall. What was it? I quietly rolled out of bed and stole to the door, closing it behind me. As an afterthought, I barred it with magic, so nopony except for me could pass through it. I moved to the room across the hall and quietly opened the door. The brown unicorn stallion from the bar earlier was sobbing on the floor of the room. From the situation of the bedcovers and the seat, he had been crying there, as well. He had not noticed me yet and I studied the room: he had an assortment of weapons with hoof attachments lying on the desk, which also had a dark grey cloak folded neatly upon it. It then clicked in my mind. Of course! The cloaks have a disguising enchantment. It’s difficult to identify any animal if you can’t name the colour of the coat.

“What are you doing here?” The brown unicorn had lifted himself to his hooves. I could see on his face that he had been openly crying, but the only thing I saw in his eyes now was suspicion.

“Why are you crying on the floor of your room?” I retorted.

“Get out,” he spat at me, slumping onto his bed. I did not get out, but rather just held my ground. “GET OUT!” He roared the words at me this time, but again, I did not move. He saw this, and started moving towards me. He knows he can’t take me on, I knew this. I could kill him.

What if that’s what he wants? This thought stunned me. I then realised that it was probably true. He told me that he didn’t care if he drank himself to death. I resolved my mind: I would not let him go before I understood. I squared my stance and lit my horn, draining the energy out of the unicorn. He tried to defend himself, but his movements were quickly becoming lethargic. Soon he was struggling to stay awake, let alone standing. I stopped absorbing energy, letting him fall properly asleep.

I levitated him to his bed and let him down gently. I then prepared myself to enter his dreams. As I entered his mind, I noticed that he wasn’t dreaming; I let myself form a presence in his mind and he instinctively responded in kind. We stood there, two ponies in a world of black.

“What are you doing here?” The dream-unicorn asked me, but now he seemed calm and inquisitive, much unlike the self-hating pony I had seen in the inn.

“I sent you to sleep,” I told him. “This is your dream, by the way. I am here because I want to understand what you could do so wrong that you have decided to end your own life. You virtually said that you wanted to die, but why? I don’t know, and I am not going to let you pass before I understand. But let’s start with the important things: what is your name, unicorn?”

“I’m Dietrich,” he told me. “I don’t need to ask your name, but how would you like to be addressed?”

I smiled: for once somepony didn’t immediately call me ‘your majesty’. “Luna. So, let me ask you: why do you want to die?” He seemed very rational in this current dream, and I wasn’t sure that somepony in his state within the dream would want to kill themselves.

Dietrich nodded sadly, as if he had been waiting for this question, knowing that it wouldn’t be easier to answer no matter how long he waited. “I just killed all the members in my syndicate. They were my friends; I could talk to them about whatever I wanted. I promised that I would care for them when I became their sergeant!” He had started screaming at the darkness around us. “Why did I make the wrong choice?! They were my best friends – my only friends!” He continued shouting at the empty world around us until he found nothing more to say.

“If you love your friends so much, why did you kill them?” I asked him, trying to sound calm, but slightly afraid that Dietrich would kill himself after this rage. He did not respond for a long while. When he finally spoke, what he said surprised me.

“Let me show you,” I frowned, slightly confused. “Come with me.” When he said this, I felt a tendril of magic extend, as if it were a handshake. Warily, I took it.

The black world around us dissolved, and we disappeared.

* * *

My syndicate stood in front of me, all wearing their cloaks. Each of them was brilliant, in their own way; we stuck out for each other. My syndicate came from all around Equestria: three from the wooded regions in the northwest, three from the villages not too far south of Canterlot, and another two from the city itself. I had noticed that one was missing from our ranks. I turned to my corporal.

“Cosme,” I caught the middle-aged stallion’s attention. “Where’s Quinn?” Cosme looked fairly distant as he replied.

“I sent him to scout the area.” Cosme was brilliant at stealth and climbing: he had developed a knack of being able to navigate walls with barely any hoof-holds; Cosme was definitely the best choice for a scouting mission. And yet... something wasn’t quite right. The seven ponies in front of me were all quiet. They were standing easy: they were all allowed to talk, but even Michel had nothing to say. While that was a pleasant change, it was abnormal, even unnatural.

“What’s wrong, Michel? Another filly let you down?” I joked. Michel shook his head; he didn’t even laugh.

Now I knew that something was wrong.

We waited in silence for Quinn to return from his scouting mission. “How far did you send him?” I asked Cosme. “Not all the way to Canterlot, surely?” Cosme finally looked me in the eye, and I could see that he was distraught.

“He’s not coming back, Dietrich,” Cosme looked confused, not sure what to do: what I had told him, or what somepony else had told him. “Sir,” – I noted that he still called me by my title – “w- we...”

“Spit it out, corporal,” I told him, now feeling worried, but also knowing what was coming.

Cosme sighed. “We have orders to kill you.”

I had known this was coming; I was surprised that the rank hadn’t ordered it sooner. It was then I saw something move in my peripheral vision. “So that’s where Quinn went, is it?”

In answer, a crossbow bolt shattered against the side of my cloak. I bellowed with pain and tried rolling with it, barely able to breathe. I raised my hood, and curled into a foetal position. Discreetly attaching my dagger to my right hoof, I looked up. Aurelius and Cosme had taken to the skies and Horst charged me. Horst was strong, and I knew I couldn’t take him in fair combat. As he raised his mace, I drove my dagger up into his diaphragm, piercing the skin and moving directly to the heart.

Horst started convulsing as I knew my poison was doing its work. On one of my friends, I added as an afterthought. These were my comrades, but they had to follow orders. I expected them to follow orders; else they never would have been in my syndicate.

Michel was the next to engage me: as I stood, hoof upon hoof descended on me in a random and deadly combination. I tried raising my forehooves to block, but I knew that Michel was faster than me at hoof-to-hoof combat. Left with no choice, I sent magic jolting through his body, and Michel fell, features contorted with pain as the magic ate away at his insides.

Another crossbow bolt shattered against the flagstones beneath me as the others moved away, to let the two pegasi and the earth pony on the building do their work. I cast an orb of light and sent it above the buildings surrounding the town square until I saw a black figure on one of the houses. I drew my own crossbow from beneath my cloak, steadied the end with magic, and let fly a bolt.

I heard a scream as the bolt found Quinn’s face; I was the best shot in our syndicate. The two pegasi started swooping me in turn, slashing at me with their long swords. I blocked one with my crossbow, which shattered and I dodged the other as I pulled out my long sword in turn. As Aurelius swooped another time, I slashed and caught him on the wing. He ploughed into the hardened wood of the palisade, and lay there, stunned.

Cosme stayed in the air to recuperate, and a vial shattered at my feet. The smoke was thick and poisonous. I coughed and a long sword battered the side of my head. The enchanted hood stopped most of the blow, but I was nevertheless seeing double from the attack. I saw Cosme coming around for another pass and I judged that he was in front of me when I stabbed.

The pegasus’s momentum wrenched my arm to the floor, painfully jerking my shoulder, but at least I knew that Cosme was dead.

Aurelius had recovered, but could not fly given the state of his wing, and I soon found the remaining four ponies surrounding me.

I heard a hoof on pavement behind me and jumped to the left. I grabbed somepony’s wrist and hyper-extended the elbow over my shoulder, breaking the arm. I heard Matryona scream as I turned and ducked, stabbing her upwards from the liver to the heart. Blood spurted from the wound and I turned to the other two.

Sherwood and Aurelius attacked at the same time. I blocked the swords as they came, but I was losing ground fast. I charged my horn and sent a bright flare into their eyes, closing my own just in time. Blinded, they swung their swords randomly, and it was not difficult to dispatch them.

Knut was the only pony left, and I waited warily. Knut was known for his concoctions which could do all manner of unpleasant things: poison smoke, which I had just endured; potions which flashed and made a thunderous noise whenever the containers broke; and liquids which burned long and hot in contact with the air.

He threw a vial at me and I rolled to one side, dodging the vile smoke that rose from it. He threw another to where I was and I caught it telekinetically. I threw it back at him and he was engulfed in a flame almost immediately.

I gasped as I saw one of my best friends dying in unendurable agony in front of me. Saving myself and Knut the pain, I walked over to Aurelius’ body and picked up his sword. I walked over to the pyre and beheaded the stallion I had once known as a friend. I extinguished him before his carcass was disfigured beyond recognition, saluted to my friends’ memories, and walked away from the town square.

* * *

I gasped as Dietrich drew both of us to reality. Neither of us said anything for a long time; I was feeling the very pain that Dietrich was going through.

“W- Why did they have to kill you?” I finally asked. This I could not understand.

“Because I didn’t think that killing you was the best option for us,” he replied, dully. “When I first joined, yes: I thought that killing you would make Equestria a better place. Now, no.”

“Why not?”

“I wasn’t in the great hall during the attack, but I could see it,” Dietrich explained. “The one thing which changed my mind is something I am guilty of, many times over.” We both waited for the other to say something. It was at least a minute before I asked him.

“And what is that?” I realised later that I sounded extremely blunt, but he did not show it in his reply.

“You didn’t fight back.” I looked at him, and nodded slowly. I turned to walk away as Dietrich lay on the bed. I didn’t think he would kill himself; in fact, I was sure that he wouldn’t.

I crossed the hall, silently dispersed the magic I had put on the door and walked inside. Something barrelled into me and I nearly fell over. The next thing I knew, a pair of forehooves were wrapped very tightly around me.

“Don’t – ever – do – that – to – me – again,” Twilight was sobbing hard against my chest. “I th- thought that they... they had killed you.” She was sobbing harder than ever. I whispered reassuringly into her ear, telling her that I was there and I was safe, until she finally calmed down.

“What were you doing then?” Twilight asked me. She still was annoyed with me for not telling her I was going, and I felt guilty for the worry I put her through.

I paused. I knew what I did, but why did I do it? Eventually, I settled on an answer.

“Saving a life.”

Chapter Twelve - Moving On

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Twelve - Moving On

I stood at the base of the guards’ barracks in Cadmos. They were holding a funeral for the eight ponies they had recovered the day before; it was customary to respect the dead, even if they remained unknown. I had stayed a few more hours for the burial, along with the six mares I journeyed with and Dietrich. He did not cry during this funeral, he simply gazed at the graves, lost in thought. Not many ponies attended the funeral: by tradition, the guards who were involved with moving or finding the bodies attended, but seldom any visitors. It was normal for the priest to invite anypony to speak for the dead, but, as the guards often did not know the dead, it was more of a formality. It came to this point in the service and Dietrich stepped up.

“These ponies were once my friends,” he began. “But for various religions’ sake, I daren’t name them.” I doubted this was true, but conceded his reasoning. “I knew them well, and I’m sad to see them pass on. I pay my respects for the dead: not to do so would insult their dignity. They fought for what they believed in, part of the minority who felt so strongly that they should step up.

“Some would want me dead for saying this, but I care not: these ponies were my friends and colleagues, and I am proud of what they did for what they believe in. I am proud to name them as my friends.” He stepped down; the guards looked as if they should stop him, but funerals are one place in Equestrian culture where one can speak their mind in respect for the dead without incurring the wrath of the Guard. The priest looked stunned and curious as to what the deceased ponies could do that was so bad that it would cause the death of another. He did, however, continue the service.

It was not long before the service finished, and we walked away from the barracks while the guards lowered the eight coffins into their respective graves. As we walked away from the barracks, Dietrich spoke up. “Do you mind if I travel with you?” He asked. I didn’t reply. “There are going to be bandits on the road north, and don’t deny that that’s the way you’re going.” I sighed.

“Okay, Dietrich,” I told him. “On one condition: change your cloak back. Oh, by all means keep it protective; simply make sure you are seen as yourself.” He nodded and pulled out his cloak, lighting up his horn to banish some of the enchantments on it. I moved close to Twilight and talked to her in a whisper.

“Are you okay, dear?” I asked. She seemed distant from me since the night before. Either she was sulking, or something was troubling her.

“Hmm?” She seemed to break out of a reverie. “Oh, yeah; I’m fine.” So she’s sulking, I thought, but I didn’t say anything for fear of offending her. I borrowed her atlas and looked at the close map around Cadmos. We would be taking the north-bearing road towards the tropical forests, and then we would follow a track to the northeast, towards the Daydream Outpost. Dietrich finished his disenchanting, and we started walking towards the city gates at around mid-afternoon.

As we neared the wooden constructs built into the palisade, I saw a guard talking sternly to two colts who were trying to enter the city with a canvas wagon in tow. I walked up to the guard.

“Is there a problem here?” I asked pleasantly. The guard turned, and saluted. “And before you speak, please call me Luna.”

The guard nodded. “I’ve got a feeling that these two gentlecolts are bandits, yo- Luna. I checked a list of all outgoing wagons and this fits a description of one which left a week ago. I just need to verify that this isn’t the same wagon, then they can go on their way; the trouble is, they won’t let me.”

I turned towards the two colts, who suddenly looked quite uneasy. “Look at me. Are you bandits? And think very carefully before you answer me.” Neither of the colts answered. “Guard, check the inventory of the wagon.” He saluted once more. The colts looked as if they were about to protest, but they closed their mouths without speaking.

“It matches,” the guard called from behind the wagon. The two colts hung their heads and sighed. I looked of them.

“What of the merchant who drove this?” I asked them, worried. They did not answer for a long while. “Answer me!” This shocked one of the colts into answering.

“Dead,” the red colt on the left said, simply. I swore under my breath, and I barely restrained myself from bucking the one who spoke. After a deep breath, I continued, trying to stay calm.

“Are you sure?” I asked simply, quietly. I prayed that there would be a chance I could save the merchant’s life.

“We beat them,” the other colt said. I sighed; many may have died. “That was two days ago. They probably froze since then, and even if you get there tomorrow, I don’t like your chances.” I hated to admit it, but neither did I.

“Guard,” I called the stallion. “Take these two to court.” At these words, I turned to the colts. “Plead guilty. It’s the only chance you may have to get out of prison before forty years have passed.” I walked away from the group and heard the guard give the colts their rights. I looked at the six mares and stallion now in front of me. They had not heard the exchange.

“Follow the road north; I shall see you there,” I told them. “Dietrich: do whatever is in your power to protect them should the need arise. Understood?” He nodded grimly. “I’m sorry, everypony, but I have to do this.”I glanced at Twilight. She stared stonily ahead. I hoped she would understand in due course, but I didn’t have time to explain now.

I turned and ran through the gates. As soon as I was clear of the city, I spread my wings. I had a fifteen hoof wingspan which helped greatly on long distance flights such as this. I picked up my altitude, trying to fly high enough that I would not attract attention from unwanted eyes, but low enough to see the detail of the road. I picked up speed, and soon my wings were burning with the exertion of flying at such speeds. I panted as I watched the ground move below me. Two days on hoof, I calculated mentally. That’ll take me about three hours to fly, maybe two.

I saw a group of ponies travelling south, towards Cadmos, and I prayed that they were benign. I could not stop, however, so I kept flying.

Eventually, I saw a group of ponies who were not moving on the side of the road. Realising that this group was my quarry, I dove to the road. I nearly threw up at what I saw there: it was a middle-aged unicorn family, two adults and a colt barely out of foalhood. I grimly went about my work, checking which of them was still alive. I listened to the stallion’s mouth. No breath came out. I checked his pulse with my muzzle. No response. I sighed and closed his eyes with my hoof. I moved along to the mare. She had also died; however, probably at least early this morning. As I was closing her eyes, I heard a hoarse whisper behind me.

“Bastards.” I turned to see the young unicorn colt looking at me. His face was bruised, and it looked as if one of his forelegs was broken. He coughed, and I saw flecks of blood fly from his mouth. “They killed my parents.”

“They were caught at Cadmos,” I tried to console him. He only looked at me, a complex array of emotions over his face. “What’s your name?”

“Jesse,” he replied, trying to stay strong.

“And what was your family doing on this road, Jesse?” I asked, trying to distract him from his nigh-inevitable death.

“Moving away from Cadmos,” Jesse said. He tried to continue, but he started coughing violently. I lit up my horn and siphoned off some of his pain into my body. He relaxed slightly. “Thanks. We were heading towards a village near the Daydream Outpost; it’s good business around there, being a major seaport.

“Life in Cadmos was getting difficult for us; nopony was visiting given the bandit situation. As you can guess, I’m aware of it.” He chuckled lightly, and gave a slight gasp at the pain in his ribs. I guessed that he was ready to move on if that was nature’s call, given his dry sense of humour. “So dad decided to cut our losses and take mum and me north. We got to here, and then these two colts stopped us. Wanted our stuff. Dad said no and they hit him. They didn’t care if we died.” Jesse looked to his parents next to him. “And look where it got us.” He waited, probably looking back on his life; I didn’t know. “I tried to keep myself alive. I was always better at magic than mum and dad. I kept myself warm, b- but I couldn’t do the same for them. They would’ve hated me for doing that, and I loved them. I couldn’t let them watch me die.”

I knew what he was thinking: I had seen parents who had lost a child, and they gladly would have changed roles. But nature didn’t let that happen.

I made up my mind: I lit up my horn once more and tried entering Jesse’s mind. He was, however, a unicorn, and they held natural mind defences.

“Let me in,” I commanded. “I can still save your life.”

“No.” Jesse looked at me sternly. “I have no idea when I’m going to die – oh, I know I will – and if you’re in my mind when that happens, you probably won’t survive. There’s nothing you can do which will change my mind.”

I sighed. I guess I couldn’t save his life, after all. “If you can do two things for me, though, as a dying colt’s request?” I looked at him.

“Yes?” I prompted.

“Bury us,” he told me, almost a command. “The dead are to be respected, and I will hold you to that even after the end for me, your majesty.”

I didn’t even bother correcting him. “And the next thing?”

Jesse hesitated. “Don’t let me... don’t let me die a- alone.”

I nodded. “I won’t, Jesse.” I sat by his side and offered him my hoof. He took mine in his and closed his eyes. Soon, he slept, and dreamed his final dream.

It was nightfall when Jesse’s breathing finally stopped. I let my tears flow freely then; I simply couldn’t hold them back. I held true to my promise, however, and dug a grave for the three unicorns who had died before their time. As I covered their bodies up once more, I conjured a marble grave from the world around my and carved an epitaph upon it. It was simple, but I did one more thing for Jesse: I was going to let him be remembered.

Here lies the family of Jesse,

Three of many, with cruel chance thrown against them. Let their memories help others in their struggle, knowing that they held through to the end.

Rest in peace, dear friends.

I secured the grave firmly to the ground: many bandits would want to have that quality stone in their possession. I looked one last time upon the grave, tears rolling down my face. I finally turned away from them and flew back south along the road. Even when I was in the air, tears were flowing down my face.

I saw a group of ponies sleeping next to the road. I couldn’t see what colours they were, so I drew closer until I recognised the strong build of Dietrich, the largest of the ponies there. I alighted just outside the camp and I slumped where I was sobbing.

I had just lost a good pony. He was just a kid, barely a colt by any stretch of the imagination; I cried all the harder as I remembered this fact. I heard a hasty trot nearing me. I didn’t care who it was. I just wanted to forget the past four hours.

“It’s okay, Luna,” I was not expecting to hear Dietrich’s voice, and I looked up. “They don’t need to worry anymore. Worry, pain, fear; it’s all behind them now. It will get better.” Eventually, my sobs subsided. I still felt terrible, however. Then it occurred to me that I hadn’t told anypony where I was going.

“How did you know what happened?” I asked him. He smiled briefly.

“I didn’t. I saw the two colts being led away and the wagon left where it was. I guessed that they were bandits or thieves, otherwise the Guard would be obliged to move the wagon to their property,” he said, with surprising accuracy. My mind wandered and I wondered what he had been before an assassin.

I bade Dietrich go back to sleep. I, myself, waited for a few minutes, and then slowly walked over to Twilight. She was shivering, and sleeping restlessly because of this. I lay down beside her and draped my wing over her. She stirred and woke momentarily.

“Go back to sleep, dear,” I told her, and soon we were both sleeping, the world revolving around us. Ponies lived; ponies died.

So why had Jesse’s passing affected me so much? I may never know.

* * *

I woke up without Twilight under my wing. I glanced up and around the camp, only to find that I had slept in; it was at least midmorning now. I leapt to my feet and apologised profusely to Rainbow Dash, who I could see was itching to keep going. Judging that I didn’t need breakfast – I was an alicorn, after all – I called out to the others.

“Are we all ready to go?” There were a few, half-hearted murmurs of agreement and we started walking. It was after we were walking for an hour that I realised that I needed something to eat. I levitated an apple out of my saddlebags and proceeded to munch on it thoughtfully as I walked. I had buried away the pain I felt when I thought about Jesse, and managed a good conversation with Fluttershy about the herbs which she used to cure her animals’ ailments. It was an uneventful journey, although Dietrich seemed quick to jump at anything which might be a threat, thinking that there were bandits hiding in every nook or cranny.

We stopped for lunch; it was quickly getting warmer as we progressed northwards, and Celestia’s light seemed to be scorching at high sun. We each retrieved some apples from our saddlebags and started eating. There was a quiet conversation between Rainbow Dash and Twilight, but I decided to leave it be; Twilight still seemed to be sulking around me. I sighed: I hoped she would come around soon. I was missing her company, and wanted to have a quiet conversation with her without any of the others listening in.

We continued walking along the road, and we eventually saw a wagon following the road down towards Cadmos. The atmosphere quickly grew tense, and Dietrich took it upon himself to protect us.

“Ho, there, strangers!” He called out to the wagon, whose atmosphere seemed equally as tense as our own. The wagon slowed and eventually halted.

“Who calls?” They inquired. I guessed that it was common for such exchanges to take place in this hazardous road.

“My name is Dietrich, and seven friends of mine travel with me,” shouted the brown stallion towards the wagon. The wagon had still not moved. “We are journeying towards Ennisfall, where we are going to seek out the family of one of our own.”

The leader of the wagon paused for a second before answering. “Are you carrying any weapons? We must assure our own safety.”

Dietrich nodded. “I understand, comrade, but I feel uncomfortable answering you question. After all, you may be the bandits.”

“Granted,” the leader of the wagon conceded. “We shall pass. Stay where you are, if you please.” Dietrich acknowledged the request and the wagon slowly trundled forwards. As they passed, I saw glares of suspicion from the wagon team, and I guessed that some in the back were holding weapons for fear of their own lives. I watched them move on, and soon we were about our own way, continuing along the road to the north.

* * *

It came to about an hour before sundown before we made camp. We mutually agreed that journeying at any time near dark on this road would be a very bad idea, probably leading to one of us being hurt, badly. With the little sunlight we had left, Dietrich started practicing some of the hoof combat I had seen him use in the dream I watched. Applejack was watching with curiosity; Rainbow Dash was simply gazing at Dietrich. I smiled, slightly bemused, and then my heart dropped. I really hope that I haven’t been that obvious, I prayed, but I realised I could do nothing about it if I had. It was not long before Dietrich caught Applejack’s stare and invited her to learn. Rainbow Dash, refusing to be outmatched by Applejack, joined her, and they started practicing. It was incredibly amusing at first; neither Applejack nor Rainbow Dash could stand up on their hind legs for more than a second. After Dash finally managed to stay on her feet for five seconds, Dietrich walked over and pushed her lightly in the chest. Rainbow Dash fell over and complained playfully about how unfair Dietrich was being.

“You’ll have to handle more than a light shove, in these parts, Rainbow Dash, if you want to stay alive,” Dietrich told her. “You’ll need to move your feet to be a bit wider than they were before. Helps you balance.” He moved to Applejack and gave similar criticism to her.

I looked away from the group, glancing at our surroundings. As my eyes wandered over the road and the mountainous forest around it, I saw a familiar copse of trees. I silently stood and walked towards it. As I neared the corner of the cliff, I felt a drop in my chest. There was the marble slab, marking the grave of three ponies whom I barely knew. I stood by the grave, but this time I did not shed tears. I simply stood there, devoid of emotion. Equestria could use me, this time, I thought. I am not going to make the same mistakes as last time; I’ll fix what was broken in my absence. There were no roads with bandits when I ruled with Celly, and it will return that way once again. As I made this vow within myself, I heard the thud of a pony’s hooves on the spruce needles behind me. I turned to see Twilight, simply walked beside me and read the epitaph I had engraved on the stone.

“So...” Twilight began. “This is why you left in such a hurry?” I simply nodded; she stayed silent for a while longer. “Please, come with me,” she requested of me. I followed her deeper into the forest. As we reached a small clearing, she turned and wrapped her forelegs around me. I was slightly stunned at the contact; she had been sulking over me the past few days. I returned the gesture, glad to see that Twilight was able to trust me again.

“You cared enough to chase after a single pony,” she began. “You didn’t even know if they were alive any more, but that didn’t stop you. You cared enough for a group of strangers that you gave them a gift many were denied: you let them be remembered. You cared for them so much, so you went to such great lengths as to that.” She motioned back towards the grave. “You cared for each of them. And that... that’s why I love you.” At this, Twilight hesitated. I gave her a curious look, wondering what she was about to do.

Twilight, still embracing me, leaned forwards and pressed her lips against my own. Realising what she was doing, I pressed against her in turn. I wanted to lose myself in the moment. I could feel the warmth of her body against mine; her breath, flaring out of her nostrils; her heart, beating erratically against my chest. I never wanted this moment to end, just me and my beloved, alone in a forest. I closed my eyes and simply let myself enjoy the many sensations coursing through my body at that moment.

A feeling of contentment flowed within me, engulfing my entire being, until a not entirely unwelcome thought crossed my mind. I let Twilight go, both of us panting, out of breath. “Follow me,” I told Twilight. “There’s something I ought to show you.” Puzzled but seemingly playful after our kiss, Twilight giggled and nodded. I turned and started galloping up the slope. I knew I wasn’t exerting myself, but I worried for Twilight; I cast my mind out behind me and fed her some of my energy. She graciously accepted it and galloped all the faster to catch up with me.

It was not long before I stood on a high cliff, overlooking the forest around the base of the cliff, admiring the beauty of the trees and lakes around me. Twilight caught up with me promptly. “This may take a few minutes,” I warned her. “But it is going to be worth it.” I smiled and turned towards the east. Spreading my wings, I prepared a piece of my alicorn magic which had been left unused for a thousand years. Reaching out, I felt the presence of a silver orb, hanging below the horizon of the world. I took a firm hold of it, and waited; I knew I had to try and clear my mind of Twilight, because Celly and I could literally see into each other’s thoughts if we were both holding the sun or the moon.

I felt another presence firmly grasp the moon. It nearly lost its hold as it recognised another consciousness there. Luna, Celly thought. What in Equestria are you doing here? I hoped that my self-discipline had paid off as I answered her.

Hi, Celly. Nice to see you here, too. I remarked, dryly. Celly was always the more... immature of us, but it was often a close match, and I was winning at this point.

Well... yes; you, too, Celly thought. I could tell easily that she was flustered as to why I was doing this. But my point stands: why are you here?

My body, on the heights of the cliff range, felt a gentle nuzzle on its neck. Oh, horseapples, I thought, as my as-of-yet impenetrable self-discipline finally broke. I could feel the memories flowing through me and into Celestia: memories of disappointment, joy, fear, worry, happiness and finally euphoria. At the centre of it all was a young lavender mare, well known to both myself and my sister.

Oh... I- I don’t thi- Celly was stammering enough to rival Fluttershy. I really must have flustered her, and I wasn’t sure how she would take it; she felt a very strong maternal love towards Twilight, often treating her as she would have her own child. Eventually, Celestia managed to straighten out her thoughts. Look: I know that you can’t do anything about it at this stage; but for goodness’ sake, take care of her. Make sure you’re both happy, because if you make a mistake, you’re going to have to live with it for a very long time.

I mentally shrugged. I think we’re both pretty adamant on this, Celly. Now, I’m going to raise this moon. Celly graciously stepped back, but stayed there in case I had any trouble. It was, after all, the first time I had done this in over one thousand years. I pulled with a great heave of mental strength; raising the moon was a lot like exercise: the more I did in the future, the easier it would become. I soon felt that the moon was over the horizon and it would continue along its path throughout the rest of the night independently of either Celestia or me.

I opened my eyes to see the forest below me lit by a silver glow in the sky. I just raised the moon, I found the concept a bit difficult to get my head around, but there it was, in front of me. I turned away from the cliff edge: I was feeling slightly dizzy after the mental exertion. I leaned slightly against Twilight for balance as she stared into the sky with awe. She nuzzled me affectionately and we started down the slope, back into the forest. I let her take herself to the camp while I collected some fungi which we could eat for dinner that night. I soon found some edible mushrooms and trotted back to camp. When I arrived, I saw Twilight in a conversation with Fluttershy, and Dietrich was still teaching Applejack and Rainbow Dash the hoof combat. Applejack was falling over occasionally, but Rainbow Dash had to use her wings to steady herself on two hooves, much to Dietrich’s chastisement.

“Keep your wings against your back,” he scolded her. “They’ll just slow you down, and – such as I know of pegasus biology – if somepony hits you in the wing, it hurts.” Dash succeeded in keeping her wings in, but was now falling over much more than Applejack, to the latter’s amusement. There was friendly competition between the two mares, and they had so much in common, that I thought that that particular friendship could last as long as they lived.

I gave the mushrooms I had collected to Rarity and soon the smell of cooking wafted throughout the camp. Soon, bowls were handed out and we enjoyed a meal which few could have rivalled with a proper kitchen.

“Wow,” I stated as I finished my first mouthful. “Where did you learn to cook, Rarity? Canterlot Castle could use a chef like you.” I was joking, but Rarity nonetheless blushed.

“Oh...” she stammered. “Here and there, just... you know... experience.” I wondered if she was flustered by being complimented by a princess, and, after a short time, figured that it was probably the case. Everypony in the clearing was content and wanted rest. I knew that one in our number was going to have a lot of trouble sleeping. I lay down on the pine needles and let my cloak cover me. Twilight lay down a few metres away, having drawn the same conclusions as me: Dietrich was unlikely to sleep tonight, given what he had been through during the past week.

* * *

I woke up early the next morning, before dawn, and I walked around the camp. I looked over the ponies in the camp: Pinkie Pie was twitching in her sleep, Applejack was as still as a log, Rarity was mumbling quietly, but otherwise peaceful; Rainbow Dash and Dietrich were lying next to each other, their hooves touching; Fluttershy stirred, but did not wake; and Twilight was snoring softly.

I looked once again at Rainbow Dash and Dietrich. What could she see in him? I daresay that she doubted he was a killer, but I guessed I could do nothing about it, only hope for the best. This was not a bright prospect: Rainbow Dash was immortal, and Dietrich would inevitably die. I wasn’t sure Rainbow Dash would handle it well, take it in her stride; or if she would decide to end it for herself, causing the rest of us great grief and pain. I knew little on the subject, but I hoped it would be somewhere between the two; otherwise, she would never learn from her mistakes.

Applejack soon woke, followed closely by Pinkie Pie, who proceeded to bounce around the camp. As Pinkie bounced past him, Dietrich woke with a start. “I really wish she’d stop doing that,” he muttered, but softly enough that Pinkie couldn’t hear. “What’s for breakfast?” He asked so everyone could hear.

Pinkie Pie was the first to answer. “We’ve got apples,” she replied, happily, and proceeded to munch on one from her saddlebags.

“I was hoping nopony was going to say that,” he groaned quietly, and I was forced to agree: it was arduous having apples for the better part of our diets. Only Pinkie Pie could find enthusiasm in the mundane, a gift which I envied her of.

* * *

We walked for another ten days. I guessed that we had that again and more to go before we reached our next stop. The pine needles were bitter, arguably worse than the apples, and the fungi Rarity normally cooked were getting scarce and extremely difficult to find. Twilight and I were growing closer, and many nights were spent in each other’s company, sometimes kissing, but mostly enjoying a conversation about many different subjects. I noticed that Rainbow Dash and Dietrich were both spending a lot more time together, but I had not found the resolve to talk to Dash yet. Despite the food we had to endure, the forest offered sights which few in Equestria could rival: cliffs topped by spruce and pine trees and sometimes passing by sparkling blue lakes in valleys or ravines between the cliffs and slopes.

Dietrich was walking alone at the head of our convoy, while I was holding a largely one-sided conversation with Pinkie Pie, which involved me asking a question, and then waiting out the next five minutes before I changed the subject. Somehow, she always seemed to relate any subject I might have to parties.

We were walking along the road, a lake on our left, and a jagged cliff about twenty yards away on the right. Pinkie Pie was talking about candy (consistently one step away from parties), when I felt a niggling at the edge of my consciousness. I bade Pinkie to be quiet momentarily as I tried to identify the feeling in my head. I confronted it, but it constantly evaded me. Something was wrong.

“Dietrich...” I called, wanting to warn him about my feelings. He didn’t even have time to turn.

A crossbow bolt shattered against the side of Dietrich’s head.

Chapter Thirteen - Confessions

A Journey through Memories

Chapter Thirteen - Confessions

Rainbow Dash tore through the air to see if Dietrich was okay. Applejack was hard on her heels, trying to stop her from going into harm’s way. I stared at the scene unfolding in front of me in shock. What had just happened? Applejack was now trying to haul Dash away from Dietrich so we could all get out of there. I could not do anything; my legs had simply stopped obeying my commands. Dietrich was lying on his side, unmoving. I could not fathom the situation.

Behind Applejack and Rainbow Dash, I saw two stallions with swords at their sides standing on the road, having come out of a hiding spot at the base of the cliff. I heard a gasp from Rarity and I guessed that there were more behind us. Soon, we were surrounded by no less than ten stallions, all of whom had swords or maces on their saddles. They were tall, and very strongly built, very different to Dietrich’s wiry frame. A navy blue earth pony started walking towards the prone figure of Dietrich, presumably the ringleader for these bandits. I prayed that they were only bandits and not anything worse.

He looked at Dietrich and bent over him. The earth pony rifled through the brown unicorn’s saddlebags, and eventually found the purse he carried, and the substantial array of weapons under his cloak. “Looks like we could’ve used this one, lads,” he called to the stallions around us, a couple of who laughed. Rainbow Dash finally looked away from Dietrich and stared at the blue stallion with loathing.

“You bastards,” she growled at them.

“Oh, yeah?” The stallion taunted, cockily. “And what’re you going to do about it?”

“I’ll bucking show you what I’ll do about it.” What Rainbow Dash did next was stupid, dangerous and extremely foolhardy: she tried to attack the ringleader.

While Rainbow Dash had spent two hours each day for eleven days practicing hoof combat, and she was able to throw an above decent punch, she was not adept at it. The ringleader, however, was. As Dash threw her punch, the stallion ducked the attack with surprising agility for his build and slammed a hoof into Dash’s stomach. As she doubled over, the stallion slammed an elbow down onto her wing.

Rainbow Dash screamed in agony. Something in this cry spurred Applejack into action and she turned to the nearest stallion and did what was second nature to her: bucked him. The red earth pony had not seen it coming, and was soon on the ground, winded and favouring his ribs where Applejack had kicked him. Before she could do anything else, however, two stallions grabbed her and held her up by the forelegs. The red stallion recovered his breath and stood to face Applejack.

“You bitch,” he snarled at her. “You’re going to pay for that.” Applejack locked gazed and stared unyieldingly at the stallion; she was not showing fear, but I knew she must have been feeling it. The red stallion walked up to Applejack, held by two of his companions, and slammed a hoof mercilessly into her stomach. As she raised her head, another hoof came in an arc into the side of her face. She gave an almost inaudible whimper as the blow landed, but did not want to show it.

It was after about a minute of torturous beating that the ringleader spoke. “Enough,” he commanded. The red earth pony looked at the leader and then back at Applejack. He readied himself and gave one final buck into Applejack, straight to her front, and then the two stallions let her fall to the ground in a slump. I had felt every blow land on Applejack, and knew it was at least ten times as worse for her than for me. My body was still not obeying me; all I could do was stand and watch. I saw all that I had designed in ponies channelled into violence, and I felt as if my world was crashing around me. How could anypony do this? I questioned myself, but I could not find an answer.

The ringleader addressed us. “Now: what are seven pretty little fillies doing on a road like this?” He looked at Fluttershy, who was trembling wildly.

However, it was Rarity, in an amazing display of cavalier attitude and dignity, who spoke up. “Minding our own business. It would do you good to follow suit.” The navy blue ringleader’s attention was drawn to Rarity, and he sauntered up to her casually. Rarity gasped, realising how reckless she had just been, but tried to appear strong and unfazed in the face of an act worse than any beating.

My mind started racing. How can I stop this? I need to stop this from happening. I knew that Rarity’s life could well depend on it. As the ringleader raised his hoof to Rarity’s face, I finally found my voice. “Do not touch her,” I growled at the navy blue earth pony. He turned to regard me.

“Or you’ll do what?” He walked over to me, still casual. “You want to end up like your rainbow friend over there? Maybe you’ll be able to end up like Blondie right there, and we’ll see how you take that.” He scoffed. “Hay, maybe I’ll even give you a go before the little white snowflake just behind me.” He said all this in a cocky and arrogant way, but I could see that he was watching my horn carefully, ready to punch me at the first sign of magic and break my concentration. Making up his mind, he lifted his hoof to rip my cloak off me, but before he could tug, I brought my own hoof around in a devastating punch which him to the ground in a heap. It took a second for the rest of the group to process what had happened, and then one foolhardy pegasus tried to tackle me and send me to the ground. I evaded the pegasus and bucked him in the side. He rolled away from the blow, saving himself from grievous damage. As I regained my balance, another stallion tackled me. This time, he succeeded and I was brought to the ground. I jumped away but he held on to my cloak, which tore off me and was left in his hooves.

Everypony stopped, then and there. They were able to see my wings now; along with my horn, they marked me as a princess of Equestria, and each of the eight conscious stallions around us could see that.

“Shit.” It was the red stallion who beat Applejack that spoke. “Get out of here!” Chaos ensued as the eight stallions fled the scene. There was only one I wanted to stop. I lit up my horn and sent magical coils towards the red stallion, binding him and causing him to trip. Soon, the road was clear but for the six mares, Dietrich, the red earth pony, the navy blue ringleader and me. I knew the ringleader would not wake for a long time after I punched him, and the earth pony was well under control. I looked in horror at what I had done, and all the emotional centres of my brain shut down; I simply became a machine, surveying the scene around me.

I cantered towards Dietrich; the crossbow bolt had hit his enchanted cloak, but the force of the shot to the head did some serious damage. I surveyed his condition thoroughly: his skull had been fractured, but it had not yet splintered, meaning that he would have a very strong headache, but would not damage it more unless he applied pressure to it.

I rolled him carefully onto his back. In the interest of reducing the movement of his head to a minimum, I lifted a hind leg over his chest and straddled him, gripping tightly. In any other circumstances, I would have paused given the awkwardness of the position. I used my forehooves to hold parts of his head which were not damaged. Feeling as though I was ready, I sent a jolt of magic coursing through him.

Dietrich’s body went into hyper-drive, and it was only my vastly superior strength that stopped him from smashing his damaged skull against the ground. As he awoke, I let my mind drift against his. Dietrich, listen to me: you must not move. You have a fractured skull and a serious concussion. I need you to let me in so I can fix it. Dietrich was confused, but understood well enough to lower his defences. Working quickly, I dug through the processes until I found his heartbeat. I left a piece of my mind to monitor that. I soon found the process for breathing and did the same.

I now had some time to work at the cost of separating my mind into four parts, demanding a lot of concentration on my part. I found processes for healing muscles, organs, and skin until I found the process for healing bones. I concentrated it on the skull at the point where it was fractures and the body started to multiply the bone material and fuse it together with the rest of the skull. Soon, that piece of healing was finished and I moved on to fix his concussion. Finding the right processes here was difficult, because of the sheer number of them in the brain. I found the right one and, as I finished my work, I knew that Dietrich would be able to walk around as if nothing had happened.

I let my scattered mind return to its host as I opened my eyes. I looked around the area: Rainbow Dash was moaning in pain, but Applejack was silent. Knowing that the quiet ones are more likely to be in danger, I moved towards Applejack, mentally fatigued. My fears were realised as I surveyed Applejack’s condition: a broken jaw, five broken ribs from the buck and internal bleeding near the stomach; not counting anything on the surface, which included serious bruising and swelling along with both black eyes. If she was not an Element of Harmony, she would be beyond my help in her current state. Fortunately, I could enter her mind with little fear of her dying and taking me with her. However, as I tried to enter her mind, I realised that I had neglected to ask her permission to let me in, so the natural barrier was still there around her mind. She barely had the willpower to picture an open door when I asked her to, but eventually I could enter.

I looked for the process for mending internal organs, knowing that the internal bleeding was the most serious ailment in Applejack’s wide array of injuries. Fixing the tissue in the liver (not the stomach, as I had guessed earlier), I set my mind to banishing the blood where it ought not to be. I looked at her abdomen and saw the blood from the internal bleeding. I concentrated on it and set my mind to removing it from the body; a complex and delicate process, in which I eventually succeeded. The blood now banished, I found the processes for fixing the ribs, ignoring the fatigue messages from my brain. As I fixed one of the broken ribs and moved onto another, the energy I was using simply ran out.

I fell backwards onto the ground, and I heard Applejack gasp loudly as my mind was yanked from hers and restored to my own. I saw black at the corners of my vision and soon heard Fluttershy land beside me. “Four broken ribs,” I breathed to her, the blackening in my eyes threatening to take over, “and a broken jaw.” Fluttershy nodded grimly, knowing what she had to do, and I let myself fall away from consciousness, adrenaline running out to be replaced by pure peace.

* * *

My body slammed against a hard surface, causing me to wake abruptly; I knew that it was alicorn instinct to wake up if its instinct guessed that its life was threatened, even if they passed out previously. I rolled over and groaned, causing a stir among the ponies accompanying me. I was surprised to find that it was Fluttershy who spoke first.

“Take one more step towards her, Rainbow Dash, and you will regret it,” the sudden outburst was a show of passion for her patients, but otherwise uncharacteristically loud for the normally timid pegasus. Soon, her once again quiet voice was directed to me. “I’m just going to get some water,” she assured me. “I’ll be back really soon.” I nodded, not wanting to speak.

True to her word, Fluttershy returned with water caught in a bucket. I could almost smell the magic on the bucket and guessed that it was in existence thanks to Twilight. Fluttershy tilted the liquid into my mouth; I drank greedily, but it was not long before the flow ceased, causing me to complain quietly.

“You mustn’t drink too quickly,” Fluttershy told me. “Twenty seconds before you get any more.” I sighed, knowing that Fluttershy was right and resolute in this matter. “Here you go,” she tilted more water into my mouth. The process was repeated a few more times until I waved off more water.

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” I said, weakly. I gathered my hooves under me and pushed, standing. Fluttershy tried to protest, but I quickly waved her off. After a bit of stumbling, I finally regained my balance and looked at the ponies in the camp. Dietrich looked haggard: I guessed he had carried me, given that we had moved from the road where we had been confronted. Everyone else looked normal, bar two.

I gasped as I saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash looked relatively well, except for seeming slightly… stir crazy, I mentally decided. I guessed that she had not been able to fly because her wings were bandaged tightly to her sides. Fluttershy was amazing at basic medicine, but nopony would be able to fix Dash’s broken wing on the road. Applejack’s appearance was frightening. She was bandaged around her side, as was Dash, but her jaw was bandaged as well, trying to stop her from moving it. Applejack was also severely bruised, although most of them were yellowing, leading me to guess I had been unconscious for about three days. The only thing worse than Applejack’s physical condition was her demeanour: she was downcast and drained of all humour. I feared for her then, and hated myself for not being able to fix her.

“A- Applejack…” I stammered. “I- I really am sorry.” She simply nodded, remaining silent. I looked towards the moon. A waning half-moon, I thought. I should be able to do this. I sent my mind out to the moon. I had not done this for a very long time; thus, it felt strange to know that something so far away could feel so close, as was my relationship with the moon. I drew on its power, using the magic to strengthen me for what I was about to do.

“Are you ready, Applejack?” I asked her. She looked up, puzzled, then comprehension showed on her face; she sighed, and I knew she was opening the door to her mind. I entered it thankfully, knowing I could fix what I hadn’t been able to before.

Feeling alive with energy, I found the processes to fix her bones. As I did, I noticed something odd: even her subconscious thoughts and processes were jumbled. I feared for her mental health, and I knew she would need to talk about it. I poured energy into the bone process and soon her ribs were mending quickly. I moved on to find the other bone process I needed, and soon her jaw was also on the mend. I finally turned my piece of mind to the many bruises about Applejack. I realised that the tiny blood vessels that caused the minor internal bleeding were all fixed naturally, so I stepped out of Applejack’s mind and focused on banishing all the blood where it shouldn’t have been. It was more difficult this time, as there were trace amounts of blood throughout Applejack’s entire body, but I eventually managed to complete the task.

Weary after such a complex healing, I drew more energy from the half moon and moved on to Rainbow Dash. I bade Fluttershy remove the bandages around Rainbow Dash’s midriff, and Rainbow Dash let me into her mind. I dove into Dash’s subconscious and looked for the bone repair process. It was slightly more difficult than Applejack’s ribs: wings were a complex bone structure; and the bones’ composition was different, so as to make them lighter than bones in the rest of the body. I knitted them together delicately and started the healing process. It was not long before the broken bone had become an unnoticeable scar, and I knew that it would not break while Rainbow Dash was flying. I rose to the surface and finally returned to my own body.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack both thanked me, but I could barely hear them. I moved to a soft patch of pine needles and lay down so I could finally sleep properly.

* * *

I felt a nudge against my shoulder and saw Twilight nuzzling me awake. “You need to get up now, Luna,” she whispered. “It’s two hours past dawn.” I gasped slightly, wondering how I could sleep in for so long. At the same time, I realised how hungry I was, and how little I had eaten in the past four days in my comatose state. I found my saddlebags, which had been carried by Pinkie Pie, and retrieved an apple from them, starting to munch on it. As I did, I noticed something strange: there were two ponies being tended to by Fluttershy. It was then that I remembered.

It seemed that, after I had bound the two stallions, the others had dragged them with us on our journey. Every morning and night, Fluttershy had ungagged them, given them an apple to eat and water to drink, and rebound their gags. I was surprised with their resolve in keeping them alive, but was glad they did. I also knew that having them with us would slow our progress dramatically. I had an idea of what I should do, and I thought I could put it into action.

“I’m sorry, everypony,” I called to my friends, “it might take a bit longer to leave than you first thought. Rainbow Dash, go and fly now, or we’ll never hear the end of it.” Dash snapped a salute and started to zip around the skies above our heads. I conjured some parchment and proceeded to burn letters onto its surface.

Dear Celestia,

In ninety seconds, you’re going to have two stallion guests. Don’t mind the binds: we felt they were necessary. Ask them for their stories, and how they came to be there. I assure you that they are to go to prison for what they nearly did to us, and what they undoubtedly did to others; however, if they tell you everything without trace of deceit, shorten their time.

I pray you have greater self-control then your sister. I would have happily killed them should I have a chance, but I trust you, Celly. Do what you think is right.

Love you,

Luna

P.S. I have an idea for when I get back. Start sending out job vacancies for the Equestrian Royal Night Guard. I feel there are some things in Equestria which could do with our collective help, don’t you?

I finished the letter and rolled it up. Soon, it had disappeared, on its way to Canterlot Castle. I turned towards the two stallions, and started walking to them. They struggled to get away, but the bonds were sufficient to stop them. I removed their gags, but they remained silent in fear. I placed a hoof on each of their sides and sent my mind roaming. It was not long before I found Canterlot Castle once again, and I poured massive amounts of energy into transporting two rather large stallions to a hall at least a hundred miles distant. I stumbled over as they disappeared from under my hooves, and I knew that they had found their mark. I smiled as I contemplated the possible reactions of any unwary nobles in the hall at the time, but quickly turned serious.

“Now: we should keep walking,” I told the six mares and stallion in front of me. “We’ll be going a lot faster now we’re no longer burdened.”

* * *

The walk that day was largely uneventful; however, Rainbow Dash had a good chance to stretch her wings and Applejack was regaining strength. The latter was worrying me: Applejack hadn’t talked to anypony for the whole trip, and only responded sullenly and quietly to any questions put towards her. Nopony was able to talk to her, to try and help her; she just wasn’t listening. My mind was clouded with what she might do with herself if there was no intervention; I also prayed that she wouldn’t do anything to herself even after somepony intervened: problems of the mind would often get worse before better.

We eventually made camp in a nondescript clearing. The forest was starting to thicken, but the mountains and cliffs were getting shorter, although barely. We managed to get a fire going, and soon the smell of stewed apples wafted throughout our camp, courtesy of Rarity. I ate the food greedily, tired from the past week’s endeavours, and so did many of the others; Dietrich claimed he didn’t need to eat as much as the next pony, while Applejack only stared sullenly into her bowl, occasionally prodding her stewed apple. I knew I would have to talk to her that night; otherwise, Applejack might do something which would hurt herself or the others.

Despite the sun still hanging in the sky, Rarity sent herself to bed, followed closely by Pinkie Pie. I had to admit, Pinkie Pie’s ability to have endless energy and then still be able to fall asleep on command was astounding, and I envied her of it. Fluttershy was next to drift away and Rainbow Dash not long after that. I lay on the ground, waiting for the time to raise the moon, and looked at Twilight. The sun was setting through the trees, bouncing off her deep purple mane, throwing the pink streak in her hair into sharp detail. Her violet eyes were quickly scanning the book in front of her, trying to absorb some knowledge in the final rays of light. She glanced up from her book and saw me gazing at her. Even from a distance of ten yards, I fell into her eyes, trying to see what she was thinking. She smiled at me, and I eventually broke the eye contact to look around the camp.

I stood up suddenly, frightened. Twilight looked around to see what had startled me. “Where’s Applejack?” She asked, worried as I was.

“I don’t know,” I replied, and sent my mind out to scan the forest around us. “Oh, please no.” I said to nopony in particular. Twilight turned to me.

“Where is she?” Twilight repeated, also worried.

“Up a cliff,” I told her, and snapped out my wings, trying to get there before Applejack did anything. “I’ll take care of it, Twilight; don’t worry.” I flew away from the camp, and soon found myself overlooking a large expanse of forest. I saw a fleck of orange on the tallest cliff around and flew towards it. Seeing that Applejack was simply sitting there, and not about to jump, I slowed my advance. She was watching the sun set, and I landed beside her, saying nothing.

“How do ya handle it, Luna,” Applejack simply said the words; I wasn’t even sure if it was a question.

“I haven’t had to,” I was honest in my reply. “Before I was Nightmare Moon, this didn’t happen. We kept all the roads safe, Celestia and I. The Royal Guard patrolled the roads regularly, and helped anypony who needed it. Right now, their horsepower is stretched too thin to do this anymore. I told Celestia about that: I asked her to set up the Night Guard once more.” I sighed. “A thousand years ago, it was the Night Guard who patrolled the cities and fending off crime, acting as the simple law enforcers for the ponies of Equestria. They were abolished when their princess left her duty to others. The Royal Guard had to handle two organisations’ work, including the out-of-city patrols and fighting battles for Equestria they did before. It became too much: they couldn’t do what they needed to do and some of the land fell into what you had to endure back there.

“I had never experienced the worst of ponykind a week ago,” I told her. “Forgive me, but I daresay that it affected me a lot more than you: remember that I helped shape how ponies are today, and seeing my work put into that was a very harsh wake-up call.” I did, however, know that it had affected Applejack greatly: she was the Element of Honesty, and never would do something to harm another pony like that. Seeing that some ponies were willing to do something like that had placed a magnet next to her moral compass, and she wasn’t sure what was right, only that what had happened was wrong.

“Yeah, Ah guess it would be, at that,” she grunted, and paused. “After seeing what happened there, Ah feel mighty ashamed to be a pony anymore. If Ah had to make the choice you did, Luna, Ah’m not sure what Ah would’ve…” she looked towards the sun. “The sun looks like its dying to me. Everything looks dead now.” I sighed.

“The forest is alive, Applejack,” I reassured her. “It is only sleeping, resting so it can be ready for the year to come. And this sun is not dying: turn around. Look behind you. It’s going to come back tomorrow morning, Applejack, but something needs to take its place in the sky in the meantime.” Once again, I opened my wings to their fullest extent, and sent my horn out to the silver light beneath the horizon. I grasped firmly, and instinct told me exactly when I was to raise it. Applejack was staring in awe at the moon as it edged up the sky. The sun’s rays died behind us, allowing the stars in the night sky to shine. I finally let the moon continue along its course independent of me, and closed my wings. The mental strain was less, this time, but it was still tiring.

“Those ponies were a vast minority,” I told her. “And that minority is going to become smaller over the next few years, I assure you of that. Yes, it will be difficult, but it will get done.” I looked back at Applejack. She was still looking at the moon. “I’ll leave you with your thoughts,” I started down the cliff into the forest, and Applejack didn’t follow. By rights, I should’ve been worried, but I knew I had done all that I could do, and if what I had just said to her didn’t help her, than nothing would.

I found my way back to the camp, and walked over to Twilight. I wrapped my forehooves around her. “I’ve done all I can. Pray it was enough.” She held me all the tighter at that point.

“I am,” she returned to her spot on the soft pine needles, curled up with her cloak around her, and slept. I smiled at her and found my own patch of pine needles and curled up. I closed my eyes and slept.

* * *

After a very long fortnight, we finally found ourselves walking into an inn at the crossroads from Cadmos, the Daydream Outpost, and the many tropical settlements towards the west. Applejack had brightened up especially in the past two weeks, basically back to her old self; the rest of us were content to simply leave the matter behind us. It was only another four or five days until we reached Daydream Outpost, so we were content to stay and rest for two or three nights at the inn. From popular choice, we chose to stay for two.

“Evenin’, fillies,” the barkeep greeted us pleasantly. “What can I do for ya?”

Rarity stepped up to speak. “Can we please get four rooms for the next two nights?” She requested of the grey colt. “And some dinner.”

“Eight bits per room per night,” the colt calculated, “so that’ll be sixty-four bits. Anything ya want for dinner in particular?”

“Nothing to do with apples,” Dash piped up, slightly obtuse. The barkeep nodded understandably.

“Forgot to pack some variety, did ya?” He scolded us playfully. “Well, I hope you mares learned your lesson from it.” Rarity nodded, slightly abashed. I payed the grey colt seventy bits for the rooms, plus the forty for us eight ponies’ dinners.

“What was your name, sorry?” I asked him.

“Woodcutter,” he answered. “Yes, you’re allowed to laugh. I still don’t know what my folks were thinkin’, but they sure as hay got it right: I made this inn from some trees in the forest. Mind, it did take a while to cut them down in the first place.” I congratulated him on this feat, as the establishment looked like it took a lot of horsepower and professional architecture to design and build.

We moved up to our rooms. Fluttershy was once again with Rarity, Pinkie Pie with Applejack, Twilight with me, and finally Dietrich and Rainbow Dash in the same room. I sighed: I really needed to get around to telling Dash that she was going to get hurt. I removed my cloak and lay on one of the beds in the room. It was very comfortable, I noted, and the design was sturdy but elegant. Twilight nudged me, and I budged across the bed so we both had room to lie down. I conveyed my worried about Rainbow Dash to her, and she nodded understandingly. I rolled onto my side and we looked at each other.

A hoof rapped the door smartly, and Twilight rolled off the bed to answer it. It was Rarity advising us that dinner was ready, so we left the room and proceeded downstairs. As we descended into the common room, I remembered Woodcutter; more precisely, Woodcutter not knowing who I was. This was shown when his mouth dropped open and he stared at me openly. Before he had time to process my arrival, I simply gave him some commands.

“Don’t bow, don’t grovel, and treat me like any other customer,” I told him, and he nodded dumbly. “Also, don’t call me ‘Your Majesty’: I much prefer Luna.” Another nod and he finally shook himself awake.

“Sorry, yes,” Woodcutter started thinking. “Hmm… Dinner! That’s what you need.” He turned away into the kitchen and I finally surveyed the common room. Twilight and I were the first ones there, except a couple in the shadowed corner that was clearly enjoying their time together. It didn’t take long for me to notice the polychromatic mane of a familiar cyan mare.

“Dash!” I exclaimed, and the couple broke apart, both of them blushing. “Dietrich! What on Equestria are you doing?” Dash mumbled something inaudible. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I said, ‘I thought that should’ve been obvious’,” Dash replied.

I was a bit flustered by this. “Yes, but…” I stammered. “Well… why?”

“That is even more so,” Dash told me. “Anyway, what business is it of yours?” The cyan mare had turned defensive.

“Dietrich,” I addressed the brown stallion. “Step outside for a minute.”

“Sorry, Luna,” he told me, “but I’d rather stay here.”

“Your loss,” I didn’t press the matter; he would undoubtedly learn what I was about to say eventually. “Dash, I’m sorry. I should’ve warned you earlier. You’re going to get hurt.”

“Do you doubt my honour?” Dietrich cut in, clearly offended by the remark.

“Not at all,” I allayed his fears, but he ended up confused. “In fact, it’s because of your honour that you’re going to hurt Dash.” This caused him a lot more confusion than my last comment. Dash simply looked furious.

“What do you want, Dash?” I asked her aggressively. “Grow old together, have kids, be happy, die, and get buried in the same grave? Well, we both know there’s a problem with that. You’re not going to grow old, Dash, and it will hurt you when he moves on. You can’t do anything about it, and don’t even consider asking me to change either you or him.”

Tears were forming in Dash’s eyes, but she didn’t want to shed them. Dietrich had slumped into one of the chairs, realising what I had just said. “That is what I want, and you can’t do shit about it!” She was shouting at me in frustration now. Woodcutter had walked in with our dinners in hoof and saw the scene playing out in front of him. He quickly thought up an excuse to get him out of the room politely.

“I’m going to get the cider,” he announced to everypony in the room.

“We’re going to need something stronger,” I told him, before he could leave, not breaking eye contact with Rainbow Dash. He obviously thought it was a bad idea, and hesitated. “What have you got?”

Woodcutter clawed feebly for any excuse, but couldn’t find one. “Um… we have scotch?”

“Perfect,” Dietrich and I both told him in unison. Woodcutter scurried out of the room without delay, trying to leave before it got out of hand.

“It’s not as if it affects you,” Dash continued. “And don’t you think you might be being hypocritical? You get to live forever, both you and Twilight. You don’t have to wor-” Dash broke off and her face drained of colour.

“What did you say,” I heard my voice as if from another pony, very soft and icy cold. How does she know?

“I- uh… well…” Rainbow Dash tried to stammer a response, and only was saved by Applejack stepping in to defuse the situation.

“Well, Luna, sugarcube…” she paused, phrasing her next words carefully. “Ya haven’t been too subtle about it. Ah have to admit, it was rather obvious.”

This caused me to splutter slightly. “B- but… how?”

“Let’s just say that Ah haven’t been sleepin’ in this gone month,” Applejack told me uneasily. Oh… that’s why, I thought to myself. She had obviously woken to find Twilight and I sleeping next to each other in the mornings, and only ‘slept in’, so she could let us continue our relationship without worrying about the others.

“Okay…” I let that go; she couldn’t well help it. “Anypony else known?” I asked to the crowd of my friends, and every one of them nodded. “You told them?” I inquired of Applejack, who shook her head.

“Luna, dear,” Rarity spoke up. “I think we all found out for ourselves. I, for one, found out because, quite frankly, I’m good at identifying the signs.”

“And… you don’t hate us?” Twilight finally spoke up, slightly worried.

“Of course not,” Rainbow Dash answered the question, despite my glare at her. “Nopony in this room cared when I told them I was bi; I can’t see why they wouldn’t do the same for you.” She gave a small giggle. “It’s gonna be a good conversation starter, I bet you: ‘I knew the princess when she became a fillyfooler’.” I simply glared at Dash all the harder when she said this.

“And the rest of you?” I asked.

Dietrich answered first. “I’m an insomniac: it’s not as if I didn’t notice at one point or another. For the record, I really couldn’t give less of a damn.” I nodded towards him, understanding.

Dash answered for the party pony. “I think you also made the false assumption that Pinkie Pie actually sleeps.”

“Well of course I sleep,” Pinkie Pie reprimanded Dash happily. “Everypony needs to sleep, silly filly.” I shook my head at Pinkie Pie, giggling despite everything.

Fluttershy mumbled something about seeing it all the time in rabbit families, and I figured that she, like Rarity, had seen the signs all too well. Well, what can I do? I thought with resignation. They had all found out for themselves, and I couldn’t do anything about it.

I sighed and walked towards the bar, sitting on one of the stools. “Can I have that scotch now, Woodcutter?” He poured me a glass, and another one for Dietrich. The atmosphere had quickly quietened.

Dietrich drained his glass in one gulp, motioned for another, and brought a plate over to eat. “That idea is going to take some time getting used to,” he told me. I grunted in question. “Well, getting it through my head that my marefriend’s not going to die is a bit difficult. How did you find that out, anyway?”

I drained my own glass and started eating the dinner, not even wondering what it was. “A griffin slashed her across the face six weeks ago.”

“Really?” Dietrich was astounded. “Not a scar on her.”

“Thank you,” I told him, and he sighed. I hesitated before I continued. “Take care of her, Dietrich, or I will haunt you for the rest of your life.” He smiled and grunted with the affirmative. I drained another glass of scotch and walked across the room to Twilight.

“I’m going to go to bed now, dear,” I said, nuzzling her lovingly. “It’s been a bit of a long month.” As I walked upstairs, I wondered idly how long we had been travelling for. Doing some rough calculations (which I nevertheless knew to be correct), I figured that we had been on the road for the past two months. It was just after midwinter now, and the days were warming up either to the season or travelling closer to the tropics.

I lay down on my bed and let sleep take me for the night. Realising how much scotch I had drunk also made me realise how I would feel in the morning.