Forgotten

Mare had been walking for some time now, and two things had become apparent. One, the two fillies on her back were not going to stop crying anytime soon, and two, she had gotten herself completely lost when she ran from that white fluffy creature before. Which way is home? she thought to herself. Which way is..?

"OOF!" One of the fillies, the white one, had thrown herself violently against Mare's back. Mare huffed through her nostrils once, and then decided to get them to stop, one way or another. She tipped the foals off of her back gently, and then turned to face them, bringing her face close to their own.

"Listen you two, I don't care if you grow up to be goddesses or princesses or whatever, your crying is really getting ON MY NERVES!" She hadn't quite meant to shout, but she had, and somehow, by some miracle, it had worked. Both fillies were now completely silent and staring at her. She drew her head back, and nodded once.

"Good." Was all she said before turning around and sitting back on her haunches, waiting for the fillies to climb up. Unfortunately, for Mare, she hadn't realized that the fillies' crying was a blessing in disguise. The light flapping sound she heard coming from behind her was enough to get her to turn around. What she saw was so frightening, and so dangerous, that her pupils reduced to pinpricks at the mere sight of it.

The little white one, Sunlight, was flitting through the branches of the trees, giggling merrily as her tiny wings somehow managed to lift her up. The black one, Moonshine, sat on the ground staring longingly up at her sister. She flapped her wings experimentally, and then began to flap them as hard as she could, but she couldn't get herself off the ground. It looked for a moment like she would start to cry again, but then Sunlight flew down to her, hovering a couple of inches in the air. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Sunlight giggled, and her little horn began to glow. Moonshine slowly lifted into the air, enveloped in the same color energy as was coming from Sunlight's horn.

Mare could only stand there, mouth agape, as the two fillies in her care flew about the forest in fits of giggles. How? How could they do these things? What had she gotten herself into? Eventually, she managed to pull herself together enough to talk.

"Alright you two, you'd better come down!" She said, without any real force to her voice at all. "We've got to get back to town, and tell them what's happened."

Much to Mare's surprise, the two seemed to understand, and came down, landing on her back in an only slightly painful manner. They liked to do what they wanted, but they also took direction. Interesting.

Mare breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't have to go chasing through the trees after two small fillies, one of whom would be nearly impossible to find if night fell.

As she walked in what she hoped was the direction of the village, Mare thought about what she had been told. Grass was edible, huh? She decided to stop and try it out for herself, so as soon as she spotted a patch of grass, she trotted over to it. She leaned her head down and took a bite, and was surprised at just how good it was, especially when compared to mud and pebbles. It was a little bitter, but it didn't taste like dirt, so that was a plus. Just then, a shout came from Mare's back.

"Wabbit!" One of the fillies shouted, and dove into the grass. Mare watched as one of the small white monsters skittered through the grass, fleeing from a laughing Sunlight. Mare started trotting at a faster pace to catch the filly, but the creature and the foal moved quickly, so she was forced to start galloping, and then yelled for the filly to stop. Once again, she obeyed. It was proving to be quite a nice aspect of these two's personalities, that they did as they were told.

Mare thought for a moment. Sunlight and Moonshine, the daughters of Night and Day. Ugh. Now those were some unoriginal names. Maybe not as bad as hers, but still undesirable. She considered changing them, but they were the names given to them by gods, and their parents, didn't they know best? Still, Mare couldn't keep herself from trying to think up knew names for the fillies. The sun was a celestial body, and the moon was a lunar one. Maybe she could work with those two words, and see what came of it.

After several more minutes of light trotting, during which the fillies scampered about and got distracted at least a dozen times, Mare found her way back into the clearing where her settlement stood. She walked to the Mayor's building, explaining what she had seen and heard and showing the fillies as proof. Obviously, Mayor Pebbles was skeptical, but after she took him to find some grass and he tried it, he agreed that it was better than rocks. Perhaps she was right, and they should let the trees grow in.

"Anyway," Mayor Pebbles started, after all of this had occurred, "I'm sure you are quite tired, after the day you've just had, and if you're right, then you won't have to go out and work at the trees anyway, so I think it would be best if you went home and got some rest." Sunlight chose that moment to fall from where she had been hovering and land solidly on the Mayor's head.

"Besides," he continued, picking the filly up and handing her back to Mare, "It looks like you'll be busy enough at home."

The Mayor was right about that, to be sure. It took Mare the better part of three hours to get the fillies stationary, and another one and a half to get them settled into her bed and asleep. Mare shook her head and crept under her covers, ending up between the two, and, just before she fell asleep, she thought of the two fillies' new names.

Celestia and Luna.

* * *

The next morning, Mare awoke slowly, just as she did every day. It took her a moment to remember what had happened the previous day, and even longer to realize she had slept for fourteen hours straight. Yeesh, she had been tired. That was when she noticed she was alone in her bed, and she heard frantic giggles coming from the main floor of her house. She rushed downstairs and spotted Moonshine, who she had now dubbed Luna, staring out the window with a broad smile on her face, laughing like she was watching a circus act. Mare walked over to her and looked out the window herself. Her heart jumped into her throat and she ran outside as fast as her hooves could carry her.

The entire town, minus Mare's house was floating in the air. Four ponies, Clay, Rock, Weed, and Mayor Pebbles, were standing on the ground, awestruck by what they saw. Clay's house floated over and nearly smashed into Weed's, but they just managed to miss each other. Mare thought she knew what was happening, and before she knew it, her thoughts were proven right. The little filly Mare now called Celestia was standing in the middle of the floating buildings, giggling with glee. Granny Boulders was among the objects floating through the air now, and was laughing as hard as Mare had ever seen her.

"Celestia!" Mare shouted at the filly. The small pony looked over to her, smiling, but then stopped when she realized her caretaker was not happy.

"Put all those things back where you got them this instant young lady!" Celestia pouted for a moment, but then complied, returning every house and every object back to their former places. The only problem was that she put all the houses back upside-down. The filly trotted over to Mare, smiling once again, but Mare could only frown at her and say, "Put them back right-side up, Celestia." The filly tried. Her horn glowed for a moment, and then sparked and went out. The filly then yawned and lay down in the mud to take a nap.

Mare turned to face the other townsponies, each and every one of whom were now glaring at her.

"Heh. It's a funny story." She started, and began to explain where the fillies had come from.

Once she was finished, Weed, Rock, and Clay were thoroughly convinced that the fillies were dangerous, and had to go. Mayor Pebbles was fine with them, as long as they behaved, and Granny Boulders was simply ecstatic that there were real, magic-using ponies in their humble little village.

"See? See? I told you they could use magic! I told all of ya, but ya didn't believe me did ya? Thought I was just a kooky old lady didn'tcha? But now the evidence is right in front of yer faces! And not just magic users, but ALICORNS no less! But PRINCESSES no less! And such sweet little girls they are, aren't dey?"

"Oh, stow it Granny!" Rocks said. He had always been the rudest of the villagers. "Those... those... things don't belong here! They're dangerous! We've got to get rid of them!"

"Nonsense! They'z just cute little fillies who don't understand their own powers yet! Can't blame 'em fer that!"

"You just watch me, Granny! They turned all of our houses upside-down! Except for hers, of course, since she's raisin' 'em!"

"Well, technically, only Celestia turned the houses upside-down." Mare interjected, ignoring the obvious insult Rock had made towards her.

"Even worse! What if they work together to do something like that? What if they kill somepony? Will you keep defending them then?"

"I'm not defending them, Rock, I'm just being sensible. What Celestia did was wrong, and she knows that now. As soon as she's got her strength back I'll make her fix the buildings, I promise."

"Oh yeah? Well what about that other one? Why can't she fix the buildings while her sister's restin'?

"I don't think Luna is as strong as Celestia yet, if ever. She can't fix what Celestia did."

"Then make her lift one building at a time, I don't care! Just get my house and our town back to normal!"

"Rock, I don't think Luna could lift any of these houses, and even if she could, I don't know how many she could do before passing out. I was tasked with taking care of these fillies, and I'm not about to force them to work just because their sibling did something wrong!"

"And why not? You saw her! She just sat by that window, LAUGHIN' as her sister messed with our homes!"

"It's not Luna's fault, and I'm not going to make her struggle just because you hold a petty grudge against an innocent filly."

"INNOCENT?!" Rock spluttered, obviously losing control of his anger, "Mare, have you even looked around you?! That 'innocent' filly just RUINED OUR TOWN!"

"It's not ruined, it's not even damaged, just turned upside-down, that's all."

"I'M TELLING YOU MARE, IF YOU DON'T DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW, I'LL..."

"You'll what, Rock?" Mare asked, getting right up in Rock's face, so their muzzles were almost touching. "You'll beat a defenseless mare? You'll hurt, maybe even kill, fillies?" Rock was left with no words, just his mouth hanging open as Mare backed away.

"Now, if you would all excuse me, I'm going to go inside and scold the fillies in my care, as I should." And she did. The others, who had been silent all this time, began to disperse, but not before looking at Rock, some with anger, and others with fearful respect. Soon, only Rock was left, staring at the only right house left.

"If that's what it takes, Mare." He mumbled to himself, as he turned back to his own, upside-down, house. "If that's what it takes."