Chapters Darkness Awaits
By BlueMoon6
Prolouge:
Phantasm
Silence hung over the Everfree, plunging the forest into petrified animation, the trees frozen in mid-battle, their bark scarred and twisted into agonised faces. The leaves whispered in the midnight breeze, glittering malevolently through the musky fog, cloaking the woodland in a stale veil of odour. Beneath the canopy, a smudge if grey quivered in the undergrowth, her blue mane riddled with twigs and leaves in an attempt to blend in with the shrubs. Nevertheless, her mane and tail stood out like light bulbs, glowing softly in the moonlight.
A raven cawed, erupting from the bushes in a manic frenzy. The filly caught her breath and drew more mud over her tail with a shivering hoof.
Whoever spooked the raven's still out there.
Her expression settled into a determined scowl as she held her breath, her ears pricked for the heavy breath of an Ursa Major, or the defining growls of a chimera...
She listed the monsters of the Everfree in her mind, trying to summon every scrap of knowledge of each and every beast.
Ursa Majors - they only wake every thousand years, wait, no, a hundred? Or is it the Ursa Minor who sleeps for a hundred? unless disturbed...
She recalled that irritating blue unicorn who claimed she had defeated one, only to be bested by the librarian.
What was her name? Pix- Dixie? No, Trixie!
She shouldn't have been surprised when Snips and Snails became so besotted with her. Rumour had it they still watched My Little Person, though she personally didn't think they would sink that low. She chuckled to herself. It was a welcome distraction from the menacing forest. Her chuckles weakened as she realised there was one creature she hadn't made allowances for. The Timberw-
Snap
The woods were plunged into silence, tension dripping from the air as the cloak of fear was cast upon the forest, choking the voices of the hunted. Tentatively, the little Pegasus unfurled her wings as the bushes ahead trembled. She bit her lip, holding back the tears. She doubted she'd be capable of flying high enough, quick enough, if it lunged. She could visualise her tiny form draped limply from slavering jaws, her eyes glazed and her face slack, her soul absent from the depths of her gaze, a mere shell awaiting collapse.
The filly wrenched herself from her rumination, and turned her glare the the shrubs, preparing for the worst. And there she met her tormenter's gaze.
They glowed from the darkness, gently bobbing orbs in murky waters, and they burnt pure amber, lit with sparks of intelligence.
This was no Timberwolf.
Those huge eyes regarded her with intrigued depth, as if that gently flickering gaze could observe her very soul and forge her fate from the depths of its' burning spirit.
They slowly progressed, straying nearer and nearer to the surface of moonlight. She gasped as it broke into the night, tasting the air as it's muzzle emerged. She crouched, splaying her wings and narrowing her eyes to harsh slits. It was the best she could to to ward of the creature lurking in the shadows. Her eyes widened in surprise as she spied the wolf's muzzle - it was a work of art. Inky blue with a flowing, paler aura. Pinpricks of light glimmered from its' fur - stars. This creature seemed to have been fashioned from the night sky itself, formed by the same astral magic that flowed through Princess Luna's mane.
"Lupus... Major?" The filly breathed, hardly daring to whisper.
"We're not as different as you may think, little one."
The minute pegasi withdrew with a small gasp.
It spoke with my voice.
It stole my voice.
She screamed, but instead of the raw, high pitched squeal of a filly came a strong, rich note, sliding smoothly from her throat and spilling into the night sky. The lupus major remained indifferent, as it began to speak once more.
"We're not as different as you think."
The filly's eyes widened in horror as her pelt began to darken, her mane becoming a coarse ruff of jet-black fur. Her muzzle elongated, finishing with a small black nose, and her wings became four turquoise streaks along her rib cage. The pitch wolf gradually raised her head, revealing a large blue teardrop marking her forehead as her turquoise irises glowed in the moonlight.
"We're not as different as you think."
Chapter 1:
The Equuleus Trinity
Blue Moon gasped as she shot upright, tearing through the duvet clinging to her tiny frame. She was trembling as sweat dribbled down the back of her neck. Usually the dream wouldn't have bothered her, yet a disturbing air rung around the memory and it wouldn't release its' clasp. She took a moment to calm herself, before stripping away her sheets and unfurling her wings, revelling in the cool night air soothing her wing tips. She released a troubled sigh, before trotting to the windowsill, where she placed her head on her hooves and gazed out onto the Everfree Forest.
"Blue! The pancakes are ready!"
The filly laid her ears back against her skull in annoyance, turning from her windowsill and quickly regarding herself in the mirror, smiling weakly to herself as she noticed the bags beneath her eyes - a common sight in the last few years. Her doppelgänger continued to gaze at her from the screen of glass, giving herself a puzzled frown. She had always wondered why The Voice hadn't appeared in her dreams - it was probably too preoccupied with its own.
[No, I wouldn't have that privilege, now, would I?] her conscience seethed.
Lucky you.
She had spent the early hours of the morning peering from her window, watching the sun envelop the canopy in peachy radiance, but all good things had to end sometime, and for Blue that was her mother's merry call.
Her stomach echoed her previous attitude, growling like a leashed hellhound. Suddenly, the prospect of missing the sunrise for pancakes didn't seem that bad.
"Blue?"
"Coming!" She called as she made her way down the stairs, wincing as the glare of the tiles singed her weary eyes.
"Hi honey!" Blue watched as the unicorn turned from her sizzling pan.
"Hi mum." She deadpanned, as her mother's zest dampened.
"The nightmares aren't real Blue. I had the same problems when I was... Younger... Younger than you." She admitted, immediately recoiling as Blue shot her a look.
Exactly.
"But still!" Her mother faltered "we all have nightmares when we're younger, but with time they will disperse. It was only a few weeks after I overcame mine that I got my mark!" She turned to fondly regard her flank, which was decorated with a small test-tube half-filled with simmering purple liquid and three little bubbles floating above. Morning Dew herself was a cream mare with a hazel mane and tail that fell in unruly waves, and tired eyes lit emerald by the unwavering bulb draped above their heads.
Blue Moon quietly sighed, for a moment considering telling her mother about her dreams, but immediately decided against it. It wasn't the dreams that frightened her. They disturbed her, and it was that sense that was her real fear.
She glanced across at Morning, who was tossing a pancake with severe concentration.
"So... Where's Dad?"
Her mother glanced over he shoulder as the pancake soared above the pan.
"Where do you think? He's off taking pictures of the sunrise, he should be back any minute." She regarded her pancake with chagrin as it flopped back onto the pan in a crumpled heap, as Blue trotted to the living room, her ears swivelling in annoyance as blasts of sound pumping from the TV grew more and more audible with every step.
"Quips!" She yelled, her unpractised throat cracking mid-yell from her awkward sleeping-position.
"Turn that down!" The din immediately receded as a tiny colt toddled sheepishly from the room, the TV remote hanging in the air by a weak red aura. Blue sidled past him into the lounge as the screen blasted an array of chromatic hues, heaving herself up into the sofa to snuggle into her favourite spot, only to shift uncomfortably as she pulled a DVD case from beneath her elbow. She held it up to Quips, one eyebrow raised in an accusing manner as he cowered under her glare, guiltily noting the '12+' rating at the bottom corner of the case.
He was the spitting image of his mother, having inherited her creamy coat, unicorn features and large, emerald eyes. His mane was fashioned like his father's and had adopted his grandmother's blonde mane and tail.
Blue Moon herself sported a storm grey pelt, with her mane swept behind her ear as a result of an old habit, though some managed to hang loose in front, framing her jaw. It was lucent turquoise in the centre, and rimmed with bright blue. The same applied to her tail, which jutted out at the top, then tucked inwards for the length and curled sharply at the tip. She was rather tall for her age, her long, spindly limbs supporting a slight, charcoal frame. Her wings were her most striking feature - her covert feathers remained patent grey, but her primary and secondaries shone a lustrous ebony, with a single bar of turquoise streaking down each feather, matching her irises that plunged into her deep blue pupils, glowering intensely from the tiny smudge of cream reflected on their glazed surface.
"I'll let you off this once." She muttered, before hopping off the couch and heading towards the aroma of flour and eggs.
Half an hour later, Blue emerged from the front door, her woven saddlebag sagging from its' depleted load. It was a welcome change to her hefty schoolbooks. She sang softly as she made her way through Ponyville, Concience relaying a silent backing track resounding in her head.
"No easy task to clear the ground,
Plant our tiny seeds.
With proper care and sunshine,
Everyone it feeds.
Apples, carrots, celery stalks
Colorful flowers too,
We must work so very hard,
It's just so much to do!"
She continued chanting the melody, neglecting the current season as her thoughts wandered to the original songster - Applejack. Despite her denial, she had the potential of a country singer if she put her mind to it, a genre that was often looked down upon for its' truthful lyrics that often defied the falsely cheerful guise of Equestria. However, chances of getting the humble apple-farmer to perform were thin, and foals were far too content with the likes of Saphire Shores for the ramblings of a salt-of-the-earth country singer.
"Winter Wrap-Up
Winter Wra..."
The winter tune sank in her throat, rasping in the morning chill as her tiny hoofbeats ground to a halt.
The huge trunk of Golden Oak Library stood defiant to the suns' glare, it's weathered bark and aged sign mutinous in the midst of civilisation. Blue reached up to the door, and knocked three times, listening intently as there was a scuffle, the din of something thudding to the ground and hurried hoofsteps beyond the timber hatch. The door creaked open to reveal a disheveled Twilight Sparkle, her palatial wings trailing on the floor behind her.
"Welcome! What can I help you with?"
Blue released a silent breath of relief that the alicorn hadn't lost her mind... Again... She smiled weakly.
"Just a bit of research, thanks."
Twilight smiled warmly, cracking the door slightly wider.
"Come in, now, what did you say you were looking for?"
Blue frowned as she inspected the library; hoards of books were littered across the floor, and her desk was sheathed in paper with maps strewn along every available surface.
"I didn't."
Twilight's stride faltered as the stairs creaked on cue to the arrival of an earth dragon, his purple scales and emerald spines clashing irksomely.
"She's been up all night going overboard on a project for Rarity - trying to find the best Ruby Fields of something."
"It's a fascinating project; now I've just got to plan the quickest route to Sapphire Glade!"
Blue tipped her head quizzically, her brow furrowed.
"Wait - didn't you say you wanted ru-"
She was cut off abruptly as Spike scooped up a pony-high pile, before sprinting to the oaken door.
"I'mjustgonnagogivethistoRarityseeyalaterbye!" He yelled, as Twilight leapt to her hooves, frantically waving a map of the gemstone grounds.
"Spike, wait-"
The door slammed with a resounding crack as it shuddered on its' hinges, as Twilight slumped and allowed the map to sag in her aura.
"I give up!"
"Want me to go get him?" Blue offered, as the lavender alicorn shook her head with a smile.
"It's all right - I'll pass this to Rarity later ," she placed the sheet back on the table.
"Now - what were you going to say you were looking for?"
"Umm I..." Blue countered, caught off guard by the Princess' enthusiastic response. "I was wondering if you had anything on Lupus... Majors? Or any wolfy-star-thingies." She grinned sheepishly, her cheeks glowing as she mentally winced at her choice of words. To any of this Twilight was oblivious, running her hoof along the 'L' section.
"Lupus Majors? Are you sure your not getting confused with an Ursa Major?"
Blue firmly shook her head, as Twilight scanned further down the shelves.
"I've heard of Lupus, but never a Lupus Major... Ah!"
Blue leaped to her hooves as the alicorn let out a cry rivalling the Royal Canterlot Voice.
"This is the one!" She reached back further into the shelves, withdrawing a large, battered tome. The skin was boysenberry leather, and infested with coffee marks and stains. Across the front scrolled silver was engraved in the leather;
Ink Dip's
GUIDE TO CREATURES OF THE EVERFREE
& Equestria's woodland.
Twilight fired up her magic, lifting the book to her mouth and blowing across the cover, sending flurries of dust spiralling into orbit, suspended in the shafts of sunlight.
"This must be one of the oldest books in the Library - Ink Dip was a close friend to Starswirl the Bearded !" She gave a slight eep of delight, before turning to Blue, creases etched across her forehead. "Why would you need a book like this? You're not thinking of going into the Everfree, are you?"
Blue shook her head vigorously, taking a step back as Twilight's glare seared her scalp.
"No - why would I? It-it's for a school project!"
Come on, Twi, all librarians love school...
Blue's hopes fell flat as Twilight's frown deepened.
"That's strange - when Sweetie Belle came through earlier she said you were working on the foundations of Equestria."
The filly's mind raced, straining for a retort before she roused the alicorn's suspicions.
"Cheerilee mentioned it - she said I could do a project on it!"
Twilight's scrutinising glare relaxed, though an apprehensive light flickered in her gaze.
"Very well then! You'll find the cushions in the corner," she motioned to a jumble of pillows stacked against the wall.
Blue nodded and smiled meekly, as Twilight levitated the tome into Blue's hooves.
"Okay Blue, take good care of it! It's a very precious book and-"
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of it."
"I'm sure you will," a Twilight smiled warmly, before back to her paperwork.
"I guess I could plan an alternate route... Or..." She mused to herself, as Blue chuckled to herself. Princess or no, Twilight would be Twilight.
She scanned the shelves for any other books that could be of use, including 'Common monsters of the Everfree' and an atlas of Equestria. Blue tottered over to the pillow pile, the two books balancing tediously on her forehead and the tome resting on her hoof. She hunkered down on a felt green cushion, and prised open 'Common monsters of the Everfree,' it's compressed pages squeaking softly as she flicked through the with her wingtip. Each heading was met with a deepening scowl of disappointment .
Cockatrice, Manticore, Chimera, Timberwolf...
She paused and turned back a page, her eyes burning into the portrait of a huge beast completely fashioned from wood, it's mocking grin sending icy shivers ricocheting down her spine as she eyed the text below.
Timberwolves are known to be one of most relentless predators in Equestria and... extremely dangerous... nocturnal... nopony truly knows how they came to be, as it is believed the official documents remain sealed in Princess Luna's private vault.
Blue frowned.
What in the name of Celestia could Luna have to do with Timberwolves?
She shook her head to banish the thought as her subconscious kicked in.
[No way - what would be the point in creating a creature with no benefits, no hidden plots revealed over the last millennium, and only a body-count to show?]
She skimmed through the remaining pages with no luck, releasing a disappointed sigh as she turned to the rustic tome. She handled the pages delicately, browsing through the contents. Many of the creatures she already knew of, but several were completely foreign to her. Blue's eyes widened in bafflement as she spotted 'Merpony' and 'Equuleus Major/Minor' among the list. She continued descending down the ladder of species, anxiety staring to gnaw at her hooves. If she couldn't find a Lupus in the Princess' library she probably had no luck finding it anywhere else.
Blue skipped through the the remaining titles, passing Chimera, Kelpie... Pegasi? She slid her feather between the pages at approximately page 126, nipping through the remaining sheets until she reached a black and white photo of what seemed to be a ordinary Pegasus, trotting alongside an Earth pony. The filly narrowed her eyes and scrutinised the Pegasi mare. Her mane was slightly lighter than her pelt, though Blue couldn't be sure if the shades represented separate colours. She peered deeper into the photo, noting with surprise the eight-pointed star on her forehead. She glanced over to Twilight, her gaze immediately drawn to the lavender unicorn's mark - an eight pointed star.
"Are you all right there Blue?"
Blue snapped out of her rumination, and flashed an embarrassed smile to the concerned Princess.
"Fine, thanks!"
Oh dang it, she thinks I was looking at her flank.
[I didn't know you were into mares!]
Blue resisted the urge to facehoof, as she turned back to the tome, delving even deeper into the photograph. She squinted as she thought she saw - was that a star? Unlike the first that had been printed across her fur, the small chink of light was embedded in the Pegasi's neck. Blue turned to the rest of the picture, noticing pinpricks of light scattered across her pelt, and...
She grabbed a lamp from a nearby desk, softly placing it next to the tome. She could see the neighbouring pony's flank through the Pegasi. Was this some kind of Windigo? Or... She began reading the text below, eagerly sapping up the information.
The ancient Pegasi was a species of constellasia, a race created by magic within stars. These include creatures such as Ursa Minors/Majors, and Lupus, alongside the other Equine constellasia, Equuleus, which take the form of Earth ponies, and Equuleus Major - a taller variation which harnesses the power of both the Pegasi and the Earth ponies (See Page 200 - The Equuleus Trinity).
Breeding between ordinary Earth ponies and ancient Pegasi created the flesh-and-blood Pegasus we know today.
The filly stared at the pages in shock, her wings standing rigid from her shoulder blades. This was the complete history of Equestria! She doubted even Twilight had espied the very foundations of the three tribes!
[There's probably a reason for that]
I know... Celestia probably wanted it hushed up or something.
Blue sighed in annoyance - it would have made up for a lifetime of homework had she showed Cheerilee. She skipped to Page 200, an eager smile lightening her features as she began reading.
The Equuleus Trinity the three variations of Equine constellasia. These consist of the Pegasi (see Page 126), the Equuleus (see Page 127) and the Equuleus Major (See Page 147). They are a nocturnal species, preferring to carry out their lives beneath the moonlight, and it was their nation united with the Earth ponies that created Equestria as we know it.
The Unicorn
The Unicorn came to be around 3000 years ago, when the Equuleus Trinity and the Earth Ponies came together to form the Night and Day colony. This way, they were protected under the sun and moon by the nocturnal and sun-loving species. However, over the centuries more and more ponies and constellasia chose each other as partners. The combination of the Trinity's magic and the Earth pony's mortality resulted in foals of neither species, brimming with magic. Some of these foals developed horns to channel this magic, whilst others who did not have these growths were gifted with extraordinary strength and resistance, whereas those with Pegasi blood inherited their parent's wings and ability to manipulate the magic around them to remain airborne, despite their wing size.
These three variations of pony grew to become strong nations, each with the blood of the Day and Night colonies, uniting them in harmony.
Modern-day unicorns with a high content of constellasia blood are said to have stronger magical abilities, and often include a star or a spark in their cutie marks - a visual trace of the varying stars found on the foreheads of the Equuleus Trinity.
Blue Moon slumped back onto her cushion, attempting to digest what she had just read. She peaked down at her flank, and sighed with disappointment as she was met with an abrupt grey patch. She had always wandered if she would get her mark for reading, it was her favourite pastime after all, but any pony could read a book. It wasn't what you'd call a 'special talent'. She balanced the tome on her head, discarding her earlier reads as she trotted over to her host.
"Um... Twilight? Can I borrow this for a while?"
The lavender mare peered over her shoulder at Blue, the book she had been reading still suspended by a stream of pulsing purple telekinesis.
"Feel free, just take good -"
"- care of it? "
Twilight nodded and smiled sincerely, before turning back to her book, and Blue placed the tome in her saddlebag, groaning as she did so.
It was the same weight of all her school books combined.
II - Thieves in the Night
Chapter 2:
Thieves in the Night
Darkness fell upon the hills of Equestria, the moonlight illuminating the landscape with a gentle glow. Luna drifted above the tower, her wings caressing the midnight breeze as a mother would her child.
She gaze upon the moonlit mantle with pride, a small smile lightening her features. Since her return, the night had once again bloomed, nurtured by her loving touch. In allowing Nightmare Moon to possess her, she had masked her witching hour in a sinister reputation that only now was beginning to fade.
The yowl of a Timberwolf interrupted her thoughts, leading her to narrow her eyes in anger. She found it simply disgraceful that Celestia would allow such a foul creature roam Equestria. A total of twelve ponies had been discovered over the last twenty years, savaged in the Everfree, the most horrific being the murder of two fillies strewn along the border of Ponyville.
There had been little to do since her return - her Night court was sparsely attended by nobles who refused to see past the shroud of 'Nightmare Moon', and Celestia denied the chance to relieve some of her duties onto her younger sibling for the fear of veering her back down the road from whence she came. That said, she had more than enough time on her hooves to deal with the monstrosities lurking in the woodland.
She dived, relishing the cool night air as the clouds steamed through her feathers before she flared her wings and settled on her balcony. She grinned lightly as she trotted down the stairwell - she hadn't practised an extermination spell since the ancient times, and she would need her personal reference if she was to recall it. That in mind, her horn flickered as a sheet of parchment rolled into existence beside her, a midnight blue feather poised above it as a personalised quill. It launched into action as Luna flowed down the steps, furiously scribbling a hasty message, before perishing in a burst of azure flame.
A Lunar Guard saluted her as she reached the door to the main palace, immediately swinging the door wide for his ruler.
"Could thou send for the vault keys?" Luna enquired. She tried to avoid using her authority with her guards to meet them on a 'friendlier' level - a system her sister obviously didn't approve of.
"It would be my honour, Princess."
She raised her hoof to stride through the door, but faltered and turned back to the stallion.
"Oh - and wouldst thou remove thy helmet?"
Each headdress had been charmed with a masking spell, which changed the appearance of those it contact with it. However, once applied it was near impossible to tell one pony apart from the other - a relentlessly irritating fact for the Princess of the Night.
"Princess Luna, by Celestia's decree we must not-"
"-Tia is not the ruler of Equestria," Luna retorted, examining the guard as his resolve crumbled beneath her critical gaze. He hesitantly removed his helmet, the metal clattering to the floor as he shuddered from the sensation. The hues of the Night Guard immediately fizzled out of his coat, revealing a russet thestral with a taupe mane and deep indigo eyes.
"Ah - Steel Clad?" Her suspicions were confirmed by a firm nod from her subject. "Spread the word, all Lunar Guards receive a twenty-percent pay rise!" Luna winked as her chaperon grinned, before nodding respectfully and heading off down the corridor. Luna chuckled to herself as she strode in the opposite direction. A pay rise had been necessary, as was her entertainment. She could picture Tia's bewildered expression as the Celestial Guard stormed into the throne room - during Blueblood's appointment - demanding higher wages.
The midnight-blue alicorn nodded to a pair of Lunar Guards situated beneath an imposing tapestry featuring Celestia, a gruelling expression emblazoned on her face as she stood triumphant over the broken body of Nightmare Moon. Celestia had assured her it was created against her will, though her lasting friendship with the artist stated otherwise. It was the perfect place to hide her vaults, as every pony considered her too fragile to face her past. Truth be told, she couldn't care less. She had no right to feel Nightmare Moon's pain, because she never committed her sins, though she had to agree with Nightmare on one occasion - her sister was an insufferable snob.
"Princess, the Vault Steward requests this be read immediately."
Clasped in his flaxen aura was a prim envelope, with a neatly tied bow obscuring the crimson wax seal stamped with an immaculate crescent.
"Wouldst thou bespeak that White Light uses less formality in casual matters?"
Both guards saluted in perfect synchronisation, before trotting back down the corridor, the clips of their gauntlets receding into the depths of the castle before she tore the seal, ripping away the envelope and dissolving it into thin air. The letter itself remained unharmed, if only slightly crumpled at the edges by its' masters' rough handling, and encased in Luna's magic as it unfolded itself to the Princess, insisting it be read.
Dear Princess Luna,
I have received your request to enter your vaults and remove 'Ink Dip's GUIDE TO CREATURES OF THE EVERFREE & Equestria's woodland' for the purpose of eliminating the Timberwolf by unwinding the enchantment that originally founded them.
However, it has come to my attention that this particular tome was removed 440 years ago in the period of your banishment. All evidence either suggests it has been purloined from your possession, or removed by Her Majesty, Princess Celestia.
I await your reply,
White Light
Luna gaped, allowing the parchment to drift to the floor.
"How didst she know?" She whispered. "HOW DIDST THOU KNOW, TIA?"
Immediately there was a blinding flash, announcing the arrival of the very pearly white alicorn she had yet to release her rage upon, the bags beneath her rose eyes sagging without their consistent layer of makeup.
"Luna, I know this portrait upsets you, but there is no need to use the Royal Canterlot Voice in the middle of the night!" Her tone took a darker turn, "And what do I 'know' Luna? No more secrets."
The midnight blue sister shifted uncomfortably, her horn briefly flashing as the letter evaporated behind her back.
"Hast thou retrieved anything from my vaults? My private vaults?" Luna's voice seethed with anger, as Celestia's expression flickered with guilt.
"Lulu, I'm so sorry, your vaults were burgled when you were... Away..." She smiled briefly, "These things slip your mind over five hundred years."
Luna's glare softened as she placed a hoof on Celestia's shoulder.
"I am sorry for doubting thee Tia, but the tome stolen contains the creation of the Timberwolves - thou hath no inkling to its' whereabouts?"
Celestia's eyes widened in dismay, before shaking her head in regret.
"No clue, sister, but do you know what this means? If they discover what really happened..."
"Tia, why didst thou allow the Timberwolves to remain?"
Celestia sighed as she met Luna's inquisitive gaze.
"I was awaiting your council - they are creatures of your night after all."
"They are not true creatures of my night, thou knew fully well they didst not belong in Equestria, and dost not to this day!"
Celestia nodded in agreement.
"Then we shall proceed with the search at-"
A Solar Guard marched into their midst, a vexed grimace scarring his primed features.
"-Ma'am, what is this I hear of a pay rise?"
Blue hefted the tome from her saddlebag, admiring the scrolled silver title as it glimmered in the moonlight filtering through her window, before placing it on her pillow. Two of her bedroom walls were a pale shade of bondi blue, with the remaining two glowing silver in her tenebrous perspective, illuminating the moss-green rug and wooden flooring. Above, glow-in-the-dark stars were plastered to the midnight-blue ceiling replicating various constellations. Blue crept back into her bed, wincing as the springs squealed beneath her weight. Her parents' murmurs immediately ceased downstairs, before continuing their discussion, oblivious to their daughter's night-time activities. She flicked through the pages, skipping the 'Equuleus Trinity' in search for something - anything to do with wolves. She came to a stop at page three hundred and twenty three - Timberwolf. The image portrayed a huge wooden canine with a stubbed tail and gleaming emerald eyes, surrounded by several smaller Timberwolves, their eyes glowering in the same inimical fashion. Blue turned to the text hungrily, the pages bleached by moonlight as she began reading.
The Timberwolf is an extremely dangerous inhabitant of the Everfree forest, originally created by a miscast spell I myself was witness to. In an attempt to recreate a common dog from the average Grey Wolf (also known as a Timber Wolf) Starswirl -
Blue blinked in astoundment, dubious to whether she had read it correctly. Starswirl the Bearded? The one Twi was always going on about? He made the Timberwolves? She dug her head back into the tome, her brow furrowed.
- attempted to reform the particles of the wolf, whilst performing a positivity spell. He hoped this would alter the subject's characteristics and unravel part of the ancient dog's evolution process. However, the sheer complexity of the spell induced Starswirl to experience a magical overload, increasing the strength of the spell drastically. The following fulmination merged the matter of the wolf and the surrounding woodland, forming the creature now known by the name of the Timberwolf. The nature of the spell allows them to dissipate once defeated into a smoke-like substance before combining with numerous other Timberwolves, creating a larger, stronger variant.
Blue stared at the pages in fascination, marvelling at the expanse of knowledge held within the ancient sheets. She continued skimming through the pages; she had one objective now.
Lupus.
Chapter 3:
Incertitude
It was staring at her.
Watching her.
It was exactly as she remembered it - pulsing with an anemic rhythm as it's molten gaze burnt with the luminosity of the evening hearth - warm, enticing, yet licked with the feral beauty of fire. The image peered at her from it's papyrus prison, as her breath caught in her hollow chest, fluttering irrationally as it's' scrutiny continued bore into her from the confinement of the page.
With a hesitant breath she peeled her gaze from the photo, the very essence of her fears, and turned to the text, fearing what the ancient passages would hold for her but driven on by a compelling curiosity.
Lupus were ... rare species of constellasia ... a race created by the astral magic within stars ... known to co-exist peacefully with equines as do more common species such as the Griffon or Minotaur...
Blue hastily scanned the page, lightly skimming the 'identification' section with grim accord and completely skipping 'eating habits' as her mother yawned below.
"Come on Hun, let's get to bed."
Moon hectically shaved the remaining text, her breath hitching in her chest as her hope sputtered and died in the dredges of disappointment.
...Unfortunately * extinct.***
The Voice urged her to hurry as her father hauled himself from the sofa, the squeal of springs announcing his imminent arrival. Above, his daughter's eyes widened in panic, before hurriedly sealing the pages together, all too aware of the approaching hoofsteps making their way up the stairs - and her open doorframe.
She jammed the book beneath her stomach and clamped her eyes shut, slowing her breath to a lethargic pace and hoping her guise would hold.
Muffled light flickered through her furred eyelids as Morning Dew floundered past Blue's bedroom, obscuring the outlook of the lit corridor. She was closely trailed by a taller, heavily built stallion, his silhouette revealing an unkept mane and tail, rumpled after a hard day's work. He lent into her room, a knowing grin barely exposed in the poor light.
"'Night Blue - get some sleep!" He retreated back down the corridor, his hoofsteps strictly followed by a squall of squealing springs as her parent's bed developed a large stallion-sized crater in the plush mattress.
Moon gritted her teeth in annoyance. It was way too risky to continue reading with her parents slumbering in the next room along. With a silent sigh of regret, she removed the the tome from the sheets, regarding it lovingly before leaning over the side of her bed and placing it beneath.
She would read it tomorrow; a thought that collapsed in its' ashes as she facehoofed.
I've got school tomorrow.
The Ponyville Schoolhouse loomed on the horizon, red banner fluttering in the light breeze. It was met with varying reactions, most foals eagerly grinning with delight, whilst the remainder's faces were set with glum anticipation as they eyed the approaching building, its' amaranth walls glaring merrily in the morning glow.
Blue trudged alone in her solitary march, her expression mutual as the bustling group ahead of her chatted excitedly of what the day had in store for them. They paraded up the white marble steps, the occasional foal or filly bouncing with glee. It was beyond her how they managed to maintain such a positive attitude after four years of entering the same classroom, with the same teacher and, worst of all, the same students.
As she entered, she was immediately ushered to her seat by a mulberry mare with a pearl green gaze and an expression continually fixed in a state of cheer, as the trio of ridiculously chipper flowers on her flank implied. Moon had no idea how they were meant to represent teaching, but her talent with colts and fillies was unquestionable. In her hoof sagged a stack of papers boldly titled 'Literacy Test: 1A' . Blue grimly clutched a sheet and slapped it onto her desk as she settled down in her seat at the rear of the classroom.
"Today we'll be testing our skills with a little story writing!" Cheerilee waved the remaining papers for emphasis. The class sat in flawless silence, the colts in particular masking horrified expressions with flimsy, spurious smiles whenever Cheerilee's watchful eye came their way. "You have five minutes to plan your stories, and forty to write them! Good luck!" Their teacher smothered her subjects with an unwavering simper, one eye twitching as she observed their distress. In truth, Cheerilee disliked tests just as strongly as her pupils, loathing the severe lack of enlightening games and fun quizzes. Instead, only the rasp of pencil on paper vandalised the silence.
[You better read it before she finds you snoring all over her test papers!]
Not. Helping!
[Seriously, though, you better read it.]
Moon eyed the instruction sheet with disgust; the topic was 'The Holiday', and required her to write about a group of foals on vacation. It was a pretty dumb idea, as most colts and fillies had never been beyond Ponyville, let alone Canterlot or Prance.
She twiddled her hooves, attempting to conjure a story that would hopefully keep her awake through the treacherous minutes of silence. Her feathers itched as she shifted her wing uncomfortably, sending her bag toppling to the earthen floor as her prized possession clattered to the ground - Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet. The cover displayed a heroic tan Pegasus in a dark olivine jacket beside a gleaming, silver cup. Behind her rose a huge, dusky griffon, eyes glowing malevolently from a shroud of mist.
Blue nudged the novel back into her bag with her wingtip, kicking it back under her desk with an aggravated snort as she chewed her pencil, glancing up at the clock as she did so. She had already wasted five minutes. Her somber expression lightened to a friable grin as the image on the cover clung to her mind, the final puzzle piece in her troublesome predicament. The Pegasi filly adjusted her pencil in her mouth and began furiously scribbling onto the empty page.
Forty minutes later...
"Oh my! It seems you've written quite a lot!"
Moon smiled at her teacher's praise, blushing meekly as Cheerilee raised her muzzle slightly higher.
"However, it's all about quality, not quantity!" She proceeded to read her charges' work, her frown deepening at an alarming rate as she skimmed through the text. "Blue, I'm afraid I can't give you any marks for this; you were supposed to write about a holiday, not a griffon!"
"What?!" Moon gaped at her teachers' scorn, immediately flicking back a page and pointing to a single line of rambled text. "Wait - look, see? 'The griffon soared past four fillies, bawling on an abandoned island after their disastrous holiday, however, he payed them no heed as he sailed towards the lonely mountain' " She plopped back in her seat, grinning in a weak attempt to rejuvenate her teacher's previous good mood.
"That's the only sentance featuring a holiday in the whole story!" Cheerilee retorted hotly, giving Blue a challenging stare."I'm afraid you will receive no marks for this exercise, and I will not be the one telling your parents."
Blue gulped.
Her parents were waiting expectantly beneath the weakly fluttering banner, her mother smiling and waving to the various mares and stallions deserting the school with their foals as the pathway gradually drained of occupants. Moon hovered down the white marble steps, her lip throbbing from the pressure of her teeth clamping down in volatile apprehension.
"How did the test go?" Morning Dew enquired, her smile slightly tugged at the edges, her false tone faltering as she processed her daughters downtrodden demeanour.
Blue narrowed her eyes, buzzing up to her parents with a furious glare. "You mean you knew? You knew I had a test to day and you didn't tell me?"
"Why, didn't it go alright?"
Moon paced her frantic wingstrokes, fluttering them anxiously as she touched ground and twisting her expression to match her mother's. "Fine, actually! Yeah, I think it went really well!"
Her father eyed her suspiciously through pale blue eyes, his hulking stature casting his aphotic shadow over his filly. Flash Light was a durable stallion, heavily built from decades of rugged labour. He had a tufty, cyan mane and a coarse, pale coat, with a flash containing a camera spread across his flank. Despite this, he had been coerced into the trade of a plumber, fixing leaky pipes and household appliances to support a growing family as his beloved's talent was also put to waste as a housewife, and his foals searched for their designated slots to define them in the mundane swell of the commonplace. Morning caught her husbands' eye, a little frown denting her manufactured smile.
"I'm sure it went fine, Flash Light." She aimed the comment directly at the stallion; there was no hostility between the two, but her message was clear: innocent until proven guilty.
Blue broke the silence, her youthful voice dissolving the crackling tension.
"So what are we doing now?"
Her mother smiled sweetly, unable to keep the subtle excitement from her voice. "We're going to see some friends of ours!"
The destination in question was a small, rather regular house, the prim bushes decorating the front lawn neatly trimmed and the drive swept of any fallen, autumnal hues. It was a pleasant little place - despite being in the roughest area in Ponyville. It was cramped between two of the grimmest places in town - incidentally the very ones rented out by the FlimFlam brothers. Ivy crept from the earth, suffocating the crumbling brickwork in a virulent clamp and steadily claiming an assortment of faded Hearths Warming decorations, hackneyed from decades of blistering summer heat. Their front gardens were littered with grizzled statues of anything and everything - even Celestia Herself peered at Blue with sanguinary malice. The splotches of crimson mould didn't remedy her rapacious complexion.
Quips seemed to be taking Pinkie's example, bouncing merrily behind his elder sister who clipped in the shadow of her parents. She could almost taste their relief as they approached the well-presented home. Flash Light rapped on the knocker, cutting short a wisp of birdsong trailing from the roof. Moon took an anxious step backwards as a flurry of yaps bombarded the door, followed by a furious scrabbling and a muffled exclamation as a shuffling of hooves signalled the arrival of their host.
The latches squealed a pitiful note, before the door opened to reveal a dusty brown pony, with a faded black name and tail and... Stripes.
Ok... How can a pony have zebra stripes?!
His eyes weren't the exotic, thickly-lined shape typical for zebras, but Moon's focus was wrenched towards his foreleg, which was wrapped around a small black lhasa apso with a white bib and dipped paws, squirming and barking maniacally in her owner's embrace.
"Never mind Sisa," the stallion rumbled, his rich Zebrican accent welcoming as his dark brown eyes glimmered with humor, "she's all bark and no bite."
Flash Light leant forwards to shake hooves. "Lumber Weld! Looking younger than ever I see."
Lumber raised his hoof to his neck, ruffling his mane with an incredulous look. "Nah - Ah' feel as old as Celestia!" He chuckled "even the old stripes are fading!" He raised a foreleg, clearly exhibiting his once-black markings, bleached over time to a liver brown. He smiled warmly, retreating from the doorway as the family tentatively entered his home.
To the right rose a stairwell leading to a pair of bedrooms barely visible from below. To the left lay the entrance to what she supposed was a living room, and the hallway was bathed in a warm, homely light. Ahead lay the the glaringly white cupboards of the kitchen, the scent of lavender barely discernible as Lumber Weld progressed into the blare, his tread confident as he proudly displayed his humble abode. A striped mare was bustling to and fro, her creamy fur and beige markings complimenting her blonde mane and startling silver irises.
"Zusie? Have you got the tea brewing?"
Zusie threw open a cupboard, drawing out six mugs balancing dangerously apon her right hoof as she skilfully prepared the kettle with her left.
"It'll be ready in a-" her accent was drowned out by the blustering kettle as Lumber snatched the opportunity to murmur into his wife's ear. Moon strained forwards, ears twitching as she caught brief snippets of the conversation.
"Give her... Quite small... Prove... She's a w..." Blue frowned, grappling with the remaining letters. It had sounded like w... Would? Or... Wolf? She froze. How could they know about her dreams?
Come on Blue, as if a pony... Zebra... With a hammer and a pair of tongs as a cutie mark is going to go prancing around the dreamscape.
It was a rumoured speculation that Luna not only ruled over the night, but the ethereal plane, and after both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo's experiences, she had no reason to doubt the Night Princesses' abilities. For years Moon had hung to the frail hope that she would be visited by the Princess of the Night to soothe her of her reoccurring nightmares... Her gaze strayed to Zusie's mark - a pair of scissors intwined with a lock of red mane.
A hairdresser reading my mind? Buck up Blue, As if-
"You all right there?"
She jerked, cheeks blazing beneath her coat. "Yep, uhm... Fine, thanks?" Moon shied away as Lumber peered at her intensely, hurrying out into the conservatory as her blush dimmed, and her hoofsteps loitered, her eyes widening in awe. The room was a far cry from the pristine surfaces of the kitchen. Instead, thick, gnarled beams lined the rim of the ceiling, from them hanging a variety of ancient Zebrican weapons of every description. Spears, axes, even a crossbow dangled ahead. The very sight of the dyed leather strips wound decoratively around the handle would have sickened the most sturdy of stallions.
In the corner rose a small-scale Zebrican hut, transfigured into a bar beneath a thatched roof, sporting a china gecko, petrified mid-scrabble. Tiers of herbs and spirits inhabited the shelves, some bottles crafted from wood and carved into intricate designs. Opposite, the phthalo-green couch was lit with a fierce sheen of gold. The lion's pelt was flung over the back, shining with a regal air in the diminishing sunlight.
Foal-sized timber statues populated the crevices on either side of the couch, the moulded giraffes standing almost to the height of her father, whereas she could more relate to the mass of hippos at the forefront of the collection. Behind them huddled an array of exotic plants, and in the centre of the room lazed a dining table completely fashioned of driftwood, in keeping with the Zebrican approach.
She turned back to the crossbow, eyes sparkling with admiration as the arrowhead glinted, daylight glossing the lethal edge, sharpened to deadly precision.
"Ah' see you like my crossbow." Lumber's rich, gravelly timbre tore her from her ruminations, jolting her back to reality as she pivoted to face him. Any remarks immediately crumbled on her tongue as her eyes met his intrusive stare. Her ears flickered nervously, and she wrapped her tail around her legs in discomfort. Instantly, his demeanour shifted, his attention drawn elsewhere as she grasped for a slit in the airless silence. She fleetingly glanced back at the crossbow.
"So... Have you used these? For killing... Stuff..." She stuttered as Lumber Weld stared at her incredulously, before breaking into a booming laugh, muzzle facing the floorboards as he hollered his amusement.
"Me? Use these? You must be joking."
Blue frowned as he launched into a string of his native tongue, pointedly addressing her as 'honiahaka'. Moon shrugged. It probably meant 'filly' or something unsurprising.
At that moment, Zusie trotted in, grasping two mugs of tea as Blue heard the appreciative comments of her parents from the room beyond. Lumber took his graciously, whereas Blue's callow limbs struggled to keep hers upright in one hoof, a sigh of relief escaping her lips as she squatted on her tail and raised a second hoof to support the trembling mug. The charcoal filly peered deep into the translucent amber liquid as it sifted alarmingly close to the rim.
"Drink, dear, before it goes cold!" Zusie beamed as Moon took a sip, wings fluttering in shock as the heat scolded her tongue.
"Erm... Zusie? Could I... You know... Wait a minute for it to cool down?" Blue cringed. She was awful at speaking at the best of times. As she did so, Lumber choked, resting his mug on the table as the arrival of her parents was exposed by a clopping of hooves accompanied by a quicker, lighter rhythm as Quips toddled in their trail. Morning Dew hesitated as she raised her own cup, before catching the moist eyes of her friend and daughter, their mouths draped open as the cool air diffused the scorching sensation, and lowered it from her pursed lips.
"So... Zusie, how's work at Carousel Boutique?" Morning queried, mitigating the pressing tension.
The pale zebra emerged from the kitchen grasping her own mug. "Well, now that you ask, ah'm actually running the place! Rarity's absent so often now with all of her elements whatnot, ah've become her right-hoof mare! To be honest, ah' don't know how she keeps it together!"
Moon withheld her chortle. Rarity had hardly 'kept it together' over the past few months, but it would not bode well for Zusie to speak ill of her employer.
"Ah' must have at least twenty customers a day, demanding dresses and whatnot..." The two mares babbled contently as the stallions discussed the last few months.
"So, how did you end up with Rarity?" Morning enquired, Zusie frowning as she grappled with the memory, struggling to recall the incident.
"Well, it began when we first moved to Ponyville, just after we unpacked, when Lumber decided to go for a bit of a stroll to familiarise with the locals. When she first laid eyes on Weld and ah', she muttered something along the lines of 'garish stripes' before fainting dead in the town centre!" Zusie chuckled, scratching the back of her neck as her gaze grew distant. "Soon after that Apple filly was found with Zecora she insisted-"
"-No, honey, she dragged us," Lumber rectified, rolling his eyes in an amused fashion.
"Yes, yes - she dragged us to the Boutique and fitted us with enough kit to burst our wardrobe as a 'token of apology'. She kept describing her behaviour as a 'horrendous breach of social etiquette' and shooed us off whenever we offered payment. Ah' couldn't believe it when she offered me the job!" Her gleaming silver eyes dimmed, and her ears flattened.
"Very few would hire a zebra-hybrid."
Lumber Weld glanced at her in concern, silently urging her to continue, for both her morale and the tale's sake.
"Trust me, ah' wasn't a mite surprised when she was revealed to be the element of Generosity." Zusie smiled, mostly to herself, releasing a light, content sigh as she reclined into her seat and taking a sip of tea. "Ah'... Think it's not too hot now. Drink up!"
Blue gratefully reclaimed hers from the table, a herbal aroma drifting from the mug, before taking a tentative sip, anticipating the searing heat. She had long learnt an adults 'drinkable' was all to often still too hot for her sensitive mouth, still smarting from her earlier taste. To her fortune, it was only mildly warm, and she licked her lips as she attempted to define the flavours.
Mint? And... Is that hay or oats? And honey? Since when does honey go with mint?
She shuddered at the thought, yet took another gulp as she ruminated.
[Maybe... Oh, I don't know, Luna help you if you get a cooking mark!]
At least I'll have-
"You're being quite quiet there, don't you like your drink?"
The pegasi's former discomfort had returned under the pressure of the hybrid stallion's glare, and she ruffled her wings stiffly. "No, I, um, I... Really like it, thanks!" To prove her point she downed another gulp. And another. Eventually the last of the liquid drained from the mug, the pallid china dampened to a soft grey as the sun began to dip below the hedge line silhouetted through the lucid glass of the conservatory. Lumber Weld retained his ardent eye, observing closely as she felt a torpid bulge rise in her throat.
[No... Don't you da-]
The room descended into silence as the muscles in her jaw tightened, wrenching her mouth open to release a strangled yawn. Morning chuckled, melting the tension with a motherly smile.
"Are you getting tired of our chatting?"
Moon groaned. She hated it when she was referred to like a filly.
[Which you are.]
Blue shook her head. It felt light and airy, and not entirely under her control. It was as if exhaustion was manipulating her very breath. "No, I'm fine-" her sentence was severed as a second yawn clambered from the reluctant filly's mouth. Morning Dew glanced up at the clock, gasping theatrically. "It's that time already!? We better be getting back before dark."
Blue was hustled out into the corridor, her eyes throbbing as they rolled tediously in their sockets. She recoiled as she collided with a writhing, furry cannonball, tail lashing frantically and its white-tipped paws scrabbled at her shoulders, its moist tongue lapping at her cheek. Lumber Weld immediately fastened his hooves around Sisa's middle, lifting her into a cradle as he tapped her nose teasingly. "You're a little too excitable for your own good, pup!" He then turned to Zusie, who's pupils had reverted to alarmed pinpricks. "Ah' thought you kept the dog in the living room?"
The striped mare cringed, an apologetic smile prising her lips apart. "Well... Ah' think she might have sussed out how to work the doorhandle." She whipped her tail towards the door to the left, as Blue smirked.
Heh. 'Thought it was a living room.
Lumber Weld frowned, peering at Sisa as she whipped her tail apologetically.
"But why would she-"
"She's got a jaw infection."
Everypony in the corridor turned to face Blue. Her mind lagged with exhaustion, her face slack as she struggled to remain conscious in the midst of the five ponies and dog - the latter eyeing Moon intently, her tail lashing Lumber's leg in a rhythmic beat.
Lumber turned to his wife with a questioning gaze. "Honey, did the dog eat all of her food today?"
Zusie pursed her lips, before hurrying back into the kitchen and grabbing the dormant bowl of pet kibble. "She hasn't touched it!" She exclaimed in shock, turning to Blue with a bemused sigh. "How did you know?"
"I... I smelt it on her breath..." It was the slender filly's turn to frown, wavering slightly on charcoal stilts as her weary mind struggled with the predicament.
[Yeah... She's got a point. How did you do that?]
I recognised it like... Like a would with a pony.
She flared her wings in irritation.
And I can only read emotions off ponies because I've spent my whole life around them. Maybe it's a Pegasi thing?
That couldn't be it. A creature of the air would not harbour instinctual knowledge of an earth-bound species. Moon's frown deepened.
So I've either spent my whole life around dogs...
Nope. She had always pined for a dog, but to no avail, and occasional encounters in the park weren't enough to substitute that deep an understanding.
...read about it somewhere?
Blue mentally shrugged, lacking the drive to focus her efforts into the tiny act in her foggy state.
[Probably]
She strained to recall where she had read it, discarding the notion when she couldn't and turning to her weary mind's last concept.
...Or I am a dog.
She glanced down at her hooves, fur bristling as she folded her wings, inwardly chuckling.
'Don't think I've heard of a dog with wings before... Ok, maybe Fluttershy, but that's her special talent-
Her thought path abruptly screeched to a halt as she spun round to face her flank, futile hope illuminating sagging eyes, only to flicker and fade to a dim glow as her stare met a blank canvas of storm grey fur.
Zusie broke the tension with an impatient cough, tearing Moon from her revere as she turned to face her host.
"I think I must have read it somew-" She broke off into a yawn mid-sentance, leading the adults to chuckle. Morning stepped forwards, laying a hoof over her daughter's withers and guiding her to the door, as Flash Light shook hooves with Lumber in farewell.
"It was good to see you again, Weld, and I can't wait to meet your granddaughter!"
Lumber chuckled, the bags beneath his eyes and slightly-thick middle sliding away in the vast waters of good old-fashioned cheer.
"It's still a few months until she's due, but ah'll send over some photos." Lumber Weld raised his hoof in parting as Flash Light joined his family out of the pocket of civilisation and onto the dingy streets of derelict Ponyville.
Chapter 4:
Blue Humour: Part 1
The charcoal filly's wings drooped from her sides as she battled the exhaustion threatening to consume her. Her hunger was sated by the consistent repetition of her hooffalls thwacking the cracked and beaten tarmac, slick from an earlier onslaught from the heavens. Her head throbbed, as if an unknown force was prising her brain from her skull. The pressure was unbearable.
Maybe I was allergic to something?
She strongly doubted the possibility. She had never been diagnosed with any allergic reactions of any kind - not even hayfever. Anyway, was there anything to be allergic to in Lumber Weld's home? She wouldn't be allergic to fur, so the lion was out for the count. The weapons were polished to an exquisite sheen, so wouldn't have carried any traces of exotic Zebrican plants, and anyhow, the only thing she had actually touched was the t-
Blue's pupils shrank to startled pinpricks by her revelation of sluggish thought.
"Tea."
"What was that, filly of mine?" Flash Light chimed. He seemed to be in a rather jubilant mood, the spring in his step prominent in stark contrast to Moon's lethargic stumbles.
"'Just a bit tired," she mumbled, the mild converse beginning to fracture the shell encasing her in languor. Her breath was laboured as she sighed, glancing up at her mother, striding in the lead with Quips in tow like a besotted puppy. Her exhaustion had faded to a lulling drowsiness, not quite vigorous enough to tow her into the depths of slumber, yet forceful enough for her steps to falter, and her eyelids to flutter closed for a few moments as her thoughts drifted, before she came to her senses and continued the arduous trek home.
Flash Light pressed to pace beside his daughter as she pottered along, occasionally breaking the silence with a muffled yawn.
Sweet Celestia, she must be tired!
He had never known his filly to be this weary before the 12'o clock mark.
They must have been playing some pretty intense hoofball at school Flash pondered, or maybe she was reading at night agai-
"So, Dad, how long have you known Lumber Weld?"
He glanced down at his little pegasus, noting with surprise the bleary, vacant glaze over her eyes had somewhat cleared. He blamed the fresh air. "Well... I think I've known him since college? Why do you ask?"
Blue peered at the tarmac, deep in thought. "Well, I think I recognise him... But I don't know..." She scrunched her brow as she scoured her earliest memories.
"Lumber was the one who got your mother to hospital so you could be conceived!" Flash ruffled her mane fondly, as Moon tipped her head in confusion.
"Conceived? What does that mea-"
"Born," Flash cut in, before his daughter could explore that part of the dictionary. "Anyway, it was a blue moon, and everypony was out stargazing with the Mayor in the town centre. Even Celestia was there! But Morning was already overdue and we couldn't risk it. So we stayed at home and watched the fireworks from the window. Then your mother started getting stomach pains, so I rushed outside to get the cart, but some bast- bad pony, had stolen it. At that time Lumber lived just down the road, and thank Celestia he was home with Suzie. He let us borrow his cart, and he helped me pull it to the hospital. Weld was one of the first ponies you met, save your mother, myself and the nurse. It was a hectic night - apparently there was an accident with one of the fireworks and about half the crew were strewn across the beds. We took a little while trying to decipher your name-dream, but we worked it out in the end."
He smiled warmly, nudging his daughter closer to ward off the nighttime chill, heating a rosy blush on her cheeks, barely visable through her dusky coat.
"We did consider 'Moon Beam', though I liked the sound of 'Moonshine' until Morning protested it was too similar to the drink. Anyway, without Lumber, it would have been chao-" he paused abruptly, scuffing his hooves slightly as they both descended into silence. Discord was still a sore subject for many.
Blue smiled reassuringly to herself. If her father trusted Weld, she would follow his example. She turned back to her father, an impish grin splashed across her features. "So... Are there any other stories about Weld?" It wouldn't hurt to ask.
Her father playfully nuzzled her. "Don't you go round calling him Weld - that's a well-earnt privilege! Now, I know Shining Armour had a best mare, but at Morning and I's wedding, we actually had Lumber as our 'best stallion'. You should have heard the speech..."
The filly and stallion wove their way through the cobbled streets, chatting contently in hushed voices as darkness descended upon the four ponies and they wondered deep into the cradle of the night.
Eight years back.
Morning Dew sighed softly, eyes flickering wildly beneath their creamy lids as she pawed at the duvet in her slumber. She could smell a rich assortment of flavours drifting from the forest, weaving into a subtle, woodland aroma, carried by the gusting wind to the ledge upon which she perched. It spun the whirling leaves into oblivion, their tattered, quivering flaps of membrane buffeted by the forthcoming storm. Below, seas of swaying emerald splendour grasped for her in vain, their song but a whisper as their branches grasped the fringes of sky. At the brink of the landscape rose an illustrious bravura, the mountains pale and phlegmatic and the clouds wreathed from their summits.
Morning inhaled, her flanks heaving deeply as she gazed out onto the idyllic scene. If this was to be her daughter's destiny, it sure would be halcyon.
And then the ledge began to splinter.
She gaped at the rapidly spreading fissures, scuttling along the earth like tendrils of shadow, the shock ringing in her ears drowning out the resounding crack as the earth gave away.
She flailed wildly, tail streaming like a russet ribbon as she plummeted towards the glinting canopy, now a prophet of certain death as a tide of panic surged up to meet her.
And then, she spotted a glint of black; the flurry of feathers was her only warning. She was flung into a tumult of ebony as thousands of crows erupted from the canopy, flocking around her, screeching, batting their wings and scraping her hide with their talons as they shrieked and hollered to the moon. Morning paused in her hysteria, gazing up at the softly glowing, blue-tinted orb, devoid of the Nightmare's silhouette, before her head jerked back and she shrieked in panic as a radiantly-hued fiend, blazing like the winged incarnation of the sun, dove for her eyes, it's own glinting coldly in the moonlight...
Morning awoke from her dream with a trepidatious gasp. A name dream. She was sure of it.
Her gaze rested on her husband, resting dormantly in his own wreath of covers, unawares to her panic. She slumped onto the headrest - her daughter was to be named after the moon. That was certain, but the crows? The very thought made her shudder, chills trickling down her spine. They foretold danger, by wings... By flight. If her daughter was to be born a pegasi as had her great-grandmother, she could not leave the ground. For her own good. Morning sighed and lidded her eyes, sinking deeper into her bed. A flightless pegasi - it wouldn't be too much of a problem. Her father would teach her the ways of the earth pony, and Ponyville was a haven for the strange and unruly anyways. That contended with, she dug her skull into her pillow, releasing a contented sigh. Time to get some shut-eye.
Blue groaned. Her quilt was suffocatingly sultry, and yet she did not strip away the covers. She simply lay, cocooned in her sheets, gazing at her cieling in a dreamy state, her mind drifting in no particular direction. It merely bobbed, a pristine, immaculate sphere, all of her frustration coiled inside, almost peaceful in a troubled, somnolent way.
Whenever she had time to think, the coils binding her to her mask tightened, and she was beginning to struggle to breathe through a mendacious guise of cheer. She took the plunge into all her vexes, worries, doubts, confusion, despair, and yet she felt no water. The depths of her own mind had become as familiar to her as her own hooves.
Purpose. That was what truly disquieted her. Or her severe lack of it. No matter how much philosophising, pondering or reading she did, she could not satisfy the sickening cavern in her self. She was a snake eating it's own tail - a never ending cycle of torment, drawn on by the futile hope that tomorrow would be the day that it finally could rest - only to be eclipsed by the reality that tomorrow would never see the end.
She never had time to herself, to uncoil. She was never alone. Somepony was always around the corner, anticipating the slightest slip in her sanity as she withheld all of her frustration and isolation from the world beyond the softened crevice of the world her parents allowed her to explore. And yet, she was as isolated as she'd ever be, caught between an antagonising loneliness and a desperate need for reclusion.
Her 'friends' laughed and chided at her when she fell, her classmates bore no loyalty, and her family? She paused, before shaking off the futile fantasies like splatters of rain on her hide. Her family didn't get her. They never understood.
She was suspended between the spider and the web; release her woes, and she would stand naked of the disguise she had so carefully crafted, or surrender to the clasp of her emotive prison, only to burst in time and allow the arachnid to feast on her pains exposed.
Moon clenched her eyes shut. Every morning. Every night. It was the same cycle that ground down to the same, harrowing foundation. She had no sense of self. She needed to know who she was, and yet it always seemed to elude her. She shifted her head to gaze into the mirror. Those eyes that glared back knew her better than anypony. Even herself. She clammed her eyes shut, and with them, all that troubled her. They would have to wait for tomorrow.
"Blue! Wake up!"
She groaned, plunging her head into her quilted cocoon.
"Blue, wake up!"
There was a brief, heavily muffled mumble from beneath the sheets that vaguely resembled, 'givemeaminute.'
She heard a light tip of hooves approach her bedside, as she clamped her hooves down of the rims of the duvet so it would be near impossible to prise it from her clasp.
"There's something I wanna show you!" He chimed, as Moon harrumphed within her plush igloo, driving her face into the covers in a half-hearted attempt to blotch out the frustrating, tinkling, squeaky voice now hovering unbearably close.
She shifted slightly, clamping her body weight onto the frill of duvet nearest to her brother as she felt a slight tug on the sheets. "What is it?" She droned, eyelids drooping lazily as her brother strained to dissemble her foal-proof retreat.
"I won't tell you unless you get out of bed!"
She groaned. He wouldn't, as well. Unless he became bored, which, for a colt, usually took approximately a minute.
Blue lazed dolefully in her sweltering confinement, sweat beginning to gather on her forehead as she huddled beneath her duvet. The heat was insufferable, but the squeaks and grunts of her sibling were well worth her endurance and she grinned beneath the quilt. Any moment now...
"Alright..." Quips panted, as Blue smirked, "I think... Princess Luna's in town and-"
"What!?" Blue erupted from her bed, eyes twinkling with satisfaction when she noticed her brother's umbrage as he shook his head in disdain.
"You wait until I'm bigger! You're only stronger 'cos you're bigger than me!" He pouted, earning a jesting grin from his sister.
"Don't try the baby face - we all know you love your big bestest sister," she squished his blubbery cheeks in her hooves, still recovering from a siege of baby-fat, and spoke with sarcasm, adopting her baby-voice for the occasion. Quips had his little muzzle scrunched into a indignant growl that had Blue chuckling as she shooed him down the stairs. "Go get breakfast, I'll be down in a minute."
She winced as she teased the door latch closed, the resounding click irritating her ears as she retreated back into her room, her curtains choking what little light cascaded onto the well-worn floorboards, scraped and pounded after many years of shifting furniture and pestilential, childish trouble only a foal could conjure.
Moon was painfully aware of her hooves clacking on it's surface as she turned to face the mirror. The filly who returned her gaze was silent, impassive; her glare cold and impenetrable.
"What I wouldn't give to know a little of what you do." Blue muttered, gaining a weak smile from her doppelgänger. A pitiful, knowing expression, projected by a weary, calculating stare, her pupils like new moons; devoid of light or substance.
Moon pivoted, and clipped back towards the door, before turning to once more glance at her reflection in remorse. "One day..." She slipped open the door as her face settled into an adequate smile. Few would spy the churning storm brewing within.
Moon hummed a mellow tune as she trotted down the stairs, stealing a glance into the kitchen before fluttering her wings to descend the last few. Thankfully, her parents were out and Quips was preoccupied with breakfast, so she could get away with stretching her wings now and then inside the house without parental sanction.
She trotted into the kitchen, glancing towards her brother, who was concealed by a selection of cereal cartons, flashing their vibrant dashes of colour in the subdued little household. Most portrayed Celestia, Twilight or Cadence. Blue sighed. No Luna.
One in particular pictured Celestia and Cadence munching from two bowls, both ecstatically labeled 'Foal-Bran!' Both Princesses seemed ready to implode, Cadence in particular sporting a sickeningly green tinge on her cheeks.
Blue withheld a laugh. Why sign up for such a stupid photoshoot? The Voice, as always, was prompt with an explanation.
[Bits.]
Fair enough.
She slammed a bowl down onto the desk, grabbing the milk absentmindedly whilst gazing out of the window, into their humble little garden. The bird feeder, though sparsely equipped, wavered slightly beneath the weight of it's occupant - a plump, rounded bird with a peachy red breast and a distinguishable black face.
"Erm... Blue? You're pouring the milk..."
"Of coarse I am! For Lu-" She froze as she glanced down at the milk bottle in her hoof. Although her cereal remained bone dry, her apple juice was a billowing, yellow-white mess, with the milk bottle poised at it's rim. "Yeah... I'm not thinking straight. Don't tell mum." She drained it into the sink, before pausing yet again. "Or Dad."
Quips nodded, batting his hoof over his eye in an abbreviated 'Pinkie Promise' before returning to his cereal, prodding and teasing the crumbling shapes in antipathy, his hunger sated.
She frowned, once more attempting to aim the milk where it was supposed to go. This time she succeeded, though her hooffalls were now weighted, her eyes half-lidded in deep rumination.
[That's the third time in two days.]
I really didn't need to know that.
Sensing the uneasy silence, Blue cast a frail thought, the comfort it instilled as futile as her faith.
Well... You don't see bullfinches very often.
[You're not thinking straight.]
Moon sighed, sliding her bowel from her wing onto the table and claiming a cereal carton.
I never am.
She glanced at Quips, noting with relief he was still unawares to his siblings' interior addling.
Better stop now. Don't want a place in an asylum just yet.
The joke was a fruitless endeavour onto crumbling grounds, benefitting only the souring silence smothering her thoughts. She chuckled grimly, recalling the previous night's ruminations, before The Voice cracked down on her thought path.
[Not now. Later.]
Later.
Both siblings ate in silence, the scraping of metal on china the only relief in the desolate silence. They discarded their empty bowels in the sink, and made their way to the door, the clip of their hooves coupling in an inconsistent metronome, echoing in the sparsely occupied house. A room without her fathers' gravelly voice or her mothers' flustered demeanour seemed to become a whole lot bigger in the few hours they had been away.
"Where did Mum and Dad say they'd meet us?"
Quip's tongue jammed from the corner of his mouth as his eyes narrowed in intense focus. Blue had to refrain from giggling as it wiggled slightly.
"Wait - I think Mum left a note!" He chirped, before darting back into the kitchen.
Blue spread her wings, shaking her feathers into place and rolling her eyes, yet smiling all the same. "Do I look like I'm going anywhere?"
He returned a second later, a powder blue sticky-note drooping in the crimson haze of his magic.
"Right... We're meeting them at- wait, Sugarcube Corner? But Dad's on a diet! Surely..." She shook her head in mock shame, before sparking an impish grin from beneath her mane. "Milkshakes!"
The voracious procession charged into Sugarcube Corner, the door hinges yelping indignantly as they were flung open by the tiny parade bouncing cheerily into the cafe, their eyes flickering hungrily between their mother at the counter, and the milkshakes balanced upon it. Morning Dew hurriedly levitated them to the colt and filly, both immediately jamming the straws in their mouths as Carrot Cake smiled from behind an assortment of foodstuffs and treats.
Her father was perched at a small table in the corner on a stool notably many sizes too small for his considerable bulk, hoof cradled around a large mug of coffee as they made their way towards him.
Morning drew a stool from beneath the table for herself, her movements achingly slow to the hyperactive filly as Blue demolished the remaining milkshake in a concluding slurp.
"Erm... Mum, if you don't mind, that is... We're going to miss Luna! She could be in town this very moment and we'll be here in a cafe missing out on everything!" Blue winced as she spotted Carrot Cake lending her an intolerant glare from the counter.
Morning Dew simply levitated her tea to her lips, sipping daintily whilst regarding Moon's outburst with amusement.
"We have plenty of time - the Princess is arriving at noon, why, that's in about... Twenty minutes?" She took another sip as Blue chewed her straw to plastic pulp. "Just long enough to drink my tea."
More like an hour at your pace.
Moon gave her mother a dark look, and continued solemnly grinding her straw between her molars.
"Well missy, you're going to have to start writing a birthday list soon! We were thinking you could do with-"
"A dog?!"
Her father, having been submitted to this particular plea on numerous occasions, hardly flinched as his daughter fixed onto him with huge, turquoise cockatrice eyes.
"Please?"
He shook his head, cracking a slight, stressed smile, a bead of sweat sheening his forehead as she continued to fixate him with her stare. She wasn't so much cute as intense.
Morning pierced Moon with a rivalling glare, her composure smooth as she splintered the little filly's inspirited smile.
"Maybe... another time."
"Okay," she muttered dejectedly. "What about the zoo? The aviary? The... Adoption centre?..." She cracked a winning smile; her father, however, was not convinced.
"No! Damn it, Blue! We're not getting a dog! One more time and you get no presents whatsoever." She knew they wouldn't carry it through, but dipped her head submissively anyhow, seeming to catch a sudden fascination with the honeydew tablecloth. "And that counts for flying too. If I catch a single feather into the air..."
"Yes, Dad."
This was the trouble being the only Pegasi in the family - she was quite literally grounded. Her parents were deathly convinced that she would fall from a cloud, forget to flap her wings, or something only a paranoid parent could ever dream of... Or stress over. What seemed to plague them the most was that their daughter would be out of sight, and beyond their overly-protective clutches.
It didn't help that she was probably insane. Maybe.
She sighed, grinding her hoof into her forehead.
Am I the only one here with a conscience?
[Probably.]
So I'm some kind of lunatic.
[Probably.]
Blue glared at the tablecloth in frustration, frowning as a minute tear in the seams caught her interest.
"Now don't go moody on me, otherwise their is no chance of us getting a dog." Her father growled, only serving to darken her mood.
Right. And that was supposed to cheer me up?
Morning's cup descended in a green haze of telekinesis as she glanced from the window at the gathering crowds on the streets. "Luna should be arriving in about... Fifteen minutes?"
"Can we get going?" Moon was once more peering at her parents, hooves planted on the table in enthusiasm.
"Blue..." Her brother wavered "your tail's wagging..."
"What?!" She spun round to face her tail drooping, inanimate, from the stool. "Nice one, Quips. As if my tail's gonna start randomly waving about."
He murmured something illegible as they evacuated the cafe, Carrot Cake glaring at them reproachfully and Moon glancing back at her tail with a confirming snort.
"Not. Wagging."
[It would be kinda nice if it did though...]
What?!
Moon's pupils rolled tediously - she had long since gotten used to her concience's abstract wanderings. But it worried her. It worried her far more than she was prepared to let on.
Ponies were already beginning to cluster further down the street, conversation burbling from the pooling streams of vibrant pelts and brazen cutie marks. The air was dampened by the rallying storm clouds, pivoting around the sun's rays in a knotted flurry of dusky shades. Blue but her lip.
A tempest of such vibrancy could only mean one thing - the Moon princess was near. Flash Light had pressed the pace to hastened trot, Quips settled happily atop his broad withers as the light breeze strengthened, now a noticable gust as it tore stray leaves into the air, spiralling into the broiling, though harmless, turmoil.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts, I am honoured to present... Her royal highness, Princess Luna!"
The sky cackled with lightning as an in iconic, turquoise, slitted eye gleamed in the shadow of the impending clouds, welded into the slipstream silhouette of a deeply accented chariot. At it's lead fought pair of thestral stallions, both armoured in the livery of the Night Guard, brows furrowed and fangs gritted in obstinacy as they battled the buffeting gusts.
And then... Blue caught her breath. Her eyes glowed from the sanctuary of a shaded hood, gleaming in a serene repose, soothing; yet frighteningly intense, a charged whisper of moonlight' radiating an atmosphere of subtle tranquility - and otherworldly power. Luna had arrived. Blue giggled in feverish anticipation, eyes never leaving the cloaked figure as the chariot touched ground, dipping below the bustling skyline of manes and tails, obscuring her view.
Singular whispers merged into a hearty applause, whilst Blue tottered on her back legs, catching a minute glimpse of the princess before wobbling and toppling back to all four hooves.
Flash lent down to whisper in Moon's ear. "I don't think anypony would mind if you squeeze down to the front - you won't exactly be blocking their view." He chuckled, patting the disgruntled filly on the head before allowing Quips to slide down his shoulder. "You go with her - I don't want either of you getting lost."
Blue shrivelled slightly under his glare. She had only wondered off once ; sure, she was gone for two hours, but that was besides the point.
Blue glanced back to her father, before trotting a little less confidently into the rapidly condensing crowds, her younger brother in tow.
"Citizens of Ponyville!"
Blue's ears perked, her eyes sparkling as she broke into a canter.
"I approach Ye in a matter of great importance."
The crowds shifted excitedly, scores of piqued murmurs spreading like fever throughout the villagers.
It has come to my attention that Ye has been terrorised by the monsters of the Everfree for over a thousand years! And one in particular has long since proven worthy of that title. This creature is known as the Timberwolf."
The residents of Ponyville silenced, though a lone, derp-eyed pegasus mare whooped in approval.
"And it is this creature that shall be exterminated under the rule of Celestia and I!"
The bustling crowds roared their approval, hooves clattering upon the streets, their abetting cries of encouragement subsiding as Luna raised her hoof for silence.
"However." Luna's grave tone dimmed the remaining applause. It seems the spell required to proceed the extermination is held within the pages of one of the oldest tomes in Equestria, dating even before my banishment." She smiled in amusement as a theatrical gasp, hushed, but still quite audible, emanated from... Daisy and Lilly. Roseluck simply clamped her hooves over their mouths in aggravation. "The tome I require is titled: Ink Dip's Guide to Creatures of the Everfree & Equestria's woodland."