Secrets in the Shadows

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Chapter 1

An old grandfather clock chimed in front of me as I watched it struck the start of the new hour, it was quiet in my home, silent from the main hall, to the balcony of my room. The clock was made of a dark oak wood and was gilded with dragon's gold in some areas. I simply sat there, waiting for my parents to return from work at the Canterlot castle.

My name, is Moon Solace, I am the son of Solace Eclipse and Sapphire Moon, although everypony calls me Solace. And yes, I'm a stallion, I might look feminine, but I'm a stallion, and thanks to the groomer I look more like a one. While my parents do have celestial names, they aren't related to the royal family. Instead, my parents work for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the castle as personal assistants. My father, a tan colored pegasus with a rust colored mane, gives directions on weather patterns and gives this information to each of the weather factories across Equestria, he also helps Celestia by calculating how far the sun needs to be from the earth for each of the four seasons. My mother, a royal blue unicorn with a 'youthful' colored silver mane. (she specifically says 'youthful' so she doesn't sound old) works with Princess Luna, helping her map out the positions of the stars each day and setting up specific dates for lunar eclipses and meteor showers. Now since my parents have such special talents for celestial study, I bet you think I have a talent that's really awesome right? Well you're about as wrong as can be, I have no talent, I have a cutie mark, but no talent. My cutie mark is the symbol of the family clan, the crest consist of a crescent shape, representing the moon, outside of a circle with three rays coming from it and extending outside the crescent, showing the sun, connected to the crescent was a line jutting out, my parents nor any of the staff in the mansion claim to not know what the line meant though. I've always had my cutie mark since I was small, although I can't remember how I got it. Still, there's another minor issue, I'm an earth pony, not a unicorn or a pegasus, a crimson red, brown maned, earth pony in Canterlot. A pony like me shouldn't belong in a city who's population consist of mostly unicorns, and I didn't feel like I should be here, it didn't feel natural for me being in this big mansion.

I sigh as I look down on the pristine marble floor, “What am I doing here, I don't belong in a city like this.”

“Is there a problem, young master?”, one of the house keepers asked, it was my friend Monocle, who was the chief butler. He was a charcoal gray unicorn with a golden monocle which he's never seen without, which is why I call him that.

“Oh, it's nothing”, I lied through my teeth, “I think I'll go read a bit, has my package arrived?”

“I believe that Miss Do is about to bring it here any moment”, Monocle said adjusting his eye-ware.

I gave a big smile as I rushed to the front door waiting for delivery mare to arrived. After waiting a few short minutes, the pegasus mare came to the front door carrying a decent sized package.

“Hey Derpy”, I smiled with delight, “it's really good to see you again. Did the delivery give you any trouble?”

“Oh, not at all Solace”, the cross-eyed mare said, “besides it's always good to see my friend here in Canterlot, it's like being home without actually being home. Maybe someday you can visit my home town.”

“Not very likely Derpy”, I groaned looking down at the floor, “even if I were to go, I would probably be mobbed before I get to the train station, and you know how the fanmares are when they see me.”

I looked over at the locked gates, standing there, were multiple mares watching and probably listening to the conversation Derpy and I were having. I could never figure out why they were such fans, I've never done anything amazing to leave a lasting impression.

“Oh, before I leave, I need to ask what's in that package, that package does have some weight to it and my curiosity needs to know.”

I gave a wide smile as I invited my pegasus friend inside. Once I close the door, I squealed with delight as I tore the packaging, revealing a medium-sized plastic chest. Inside the chest was a collection of one of the best selling books here in Canterlot, “The Adventures of Daring Doo: by A.K. Yearling”. I was a big fan of the author and loved many of her other books, but this one was the most exciting, especially the most recent one where a mare saved her from death and helped defeat Ahuizotl. My only complaint was that A.K. Yearling didn't give the side-kick a defined description, all she said in the book was that the pegasus was a cyan-blue color. I've read the series before, but due to my parents 'current opinion' of the book, they got rid of them, saying it was too exciting for a 'colt' like me, only problem is that I'm the same age as Derpy, heck I was around the same age as Daring Doo's friend in the last book. Wouldn't matter anyway since this was a fictional story.

“Thanks a lot for the delivery Derpy”, I said as I gave Derpy her pay, “I'm going to make sure this doesn't get into my parent's hooves this time.”

“No problem Solace, I hope I see you sometime again soon.”

Monocle helped me carry the chest of books up to my room where I created a hiding spot for this treasure, it was a trap door underneath the 2-inch thick rug that spanned across my entire room, I didn't like the rug very much since I usually keep tripping over the darn thing, it's like it had a mind of it's own and was purposely trying to prank me. This time though, I used the dreaded rug to my advantage due to the cushioning being able to block any hint that the trap door was there. Afterwards I asked Monocle to not tell my parents about the books, he accepted the secret while doing a series of strange movements. Said something about a Pinkie Promise.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye”, he said in his butler like accent. I stood there trying to figure out what he meant by 'stick a cupcake in my eye', why would anypony want to do that?

“I must inform you as well young master Solace”, he said once again adjusting his trademark monocle, “the princesses are coming to the manor for dinner, she also wishes to inform you that Princess Celestia shall be bringing her former student, Princess Twilight.”

Former student, from what I remember, Princess Celestia had a prodigy student that went by the name Twilight Sparkle, but I didn't know she became a princess. This should be interesting to say the least.

“Thanks for telling me Monocle” I said as I walked past him, “I'll personally tell the cooks that we are having an extra guest tonight.”

I trotted down into the kitchen, inside was a vast array of pots, pans, and many other cooking items being grilled, steamed, and broiled on top of professional looking cooking irons. It was absolute chaos down here, although somehow it always stayed clean. I scanned the room looking for the stallion I was looking for, among the chefs I saw one yelling at the others directions for food orders around the mansion.

“YOU THERE START GRATING THE CHEESE! YOU, GET THE NOODLES ON TO BOIL! YOU, GO AND GRILL THE BROCCOLLI!”

Found him.

“Evening Master chef Hot Skillet”, I greeted the salmon colored unicorn.

“SOLACE ME BOY, IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU!” he greeted me with a great bear hug as he lowered his voice so that my ear wouldn't start bleeding, “What brings you down here into my domain?”

“I wanted to inform you we'll be having an extra guest tonight, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” I explained to the hearty unicorn, trying to act as professional as possible.

“I see, well then we're going to need to pick up the pace if we are to get things ready. While you're down here, is there something specific you want for supper my boy.”

“Oh, just something simple, you know, like oatmeal.”

“OATMEAL, ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Skillet exclaimed, acting shocked by my dinner choice, “I know you enjoy being like one of the more common ponies, but seriously, oatmeal?”

I rolled my eyes, “Ok, how about a nice lettuce sandwich with carrots and tomato slices.”

Skillet grunted, “A sandwich it is then. I'll even make it myself.”

“Thank you Chef Skillet”, I smiled at the unicorn as he trotted off to fetch the ingredients for my sandwich.

Okay, so far so good, we got the dinner arrangements, and dinner for myself ordered, and there was about two hours to spare. Time for me to hit the books, I dashed into my room and quietly located the chest in it's location, I grabbed the last copy of 'Daring Do' and looked at the cover once again, it depicted a picture of Daring Do and her temporary assistant, although her mane's color seemed to be edited because the mane had no color in it, which is odd because most brightly colored ponies light her usually had a pastel colored mane to match. It would be so much fun to be on adventures like the ones Daring Doo had, or at least get out of this stinking house, being rich and famous without actually being famous isn't that fun, in fact it's quite boring, not like I could do anything about it. After I was done, I still had about a half hour until dinner, I decided to go into the library for something new to read.

The mansion's library was huge, expanded from wall to wall with shelves of pony history, spells, charts, and other boring things. The walls, floors and ceiling were made with marble and ivory. The shelves themselves were also made of a grayish marble. (Is it me or do my parents have a fetish for marble?) I decided to play Eany Meany Miney Moe to pick a shelf and dashed up the shelf I chose, I scanned the books as one particular book caught my eye. It was a Midnight-blue leather bound book with the lunar phases on the cover. Looks like a spellbook to me, not much of use since I'm not a unicorn, I did a quick scan of the Table of Contents.

“Lunar Spell Circles: An earth pony spell guide.”

Chapter 2

“Dinner, is served”, Skillet announced to the group of snooty ponies in the dining hall as other chefs levitated or carried the platters to our table.

“You never ceased to impress my sister and I with you're hospitality Mr. Eclipse.” Princess Celestia complimented to my father, “Thank you for this feast.”

“It was no trouble at all you're highness, it is an honor having you as our guest tonight.” my father replied with a fake europonyian accent.

I gave a smug look, he would of said different if he actually helped although I couldn't complain since I wasn't able to help either, I was enjoying my book.

“Oh, I almost forgot”, Celestia said as she turned to me, “young Moon Solace, this is Princess Twilight, she's a former student of mine and the bearer of the Element of Magic.”

I gave a short bow to the purple alicorn who smiled in reply, “It's very nice to meet you Princess Twilight....”

“Overlord Twilight Sparkle would be preferable thank you”, she said with a demanding tone, throwing her head into the air.

Snooty much.....

Shortly after she gives a light giggle, “I'm just kidding, you can just call me Twilight, I don't exactly prefer ponies using my title since I was one of them not too long ago.”

“Oh, ok”, I smirked, “I thought you were one of those annoying, snooty, and selfish kind of pony, there is way too many here in Canterlot.”

My father glared at me, too bad for him that he couldn't use the Stare though, it would have been very useful since I acted so smug towards my parents. It's not that I don't love them, it's the fact they never spend quality time with their only son for once. I understand that they do have important jobs, but I know they are allowed to take days off, they usually used those days on their private boat out at sea. For Tatarus' sake, I've never seen the sea myself, they just leave me behind.

“No, I wouldn't do something like that,” Twilight replied, “Although I might be like that around my books.”

“Books?” my ears perked up in interest.

“Oh no, here comes the book talk”, my mother said as she slapped a hoof to her face. I decided to talk to Twilight after dinner about her book interest. She might have some that I could find interesting. I faked clearing my throat to suggest to Twilight to talk about something else.

“So besides your apparent love for books”, Twilight quickly said, redirecting the topic, “is there any other interest you partake in?”

“Not much”, I replied, “I've been studying formulas based on a type of magic I might be able to use called Lunar Spell Circles.”

“Oh?” Twilight said raising an eyebrow as she looked at Luna. I bet you, Luna was the one who created them.

From what I studied in the book I discovered in the library, Lunar Spell Circles are spell types that are created by using the energy around yourself and the energy within you to mimic many of the spells unicorns can use, but there's a problem, well actually several. One, I'm far from being able to create such a spell, the spell circles you need to create are complicated and confusing sometimes, even for a simple jumping spell I found that allows me to jump higher and faster is difficult. Two, Lunar Spell Circles are mostly made for combat, healing, and enchanting. And three, just like a unicorn using a strong spell that they aren't used to, it takes energy from yourself and leaves you exhausted for a few moments. I explained this to the Princess as she and the rest of the group listened.

“Sounds very unique Solace.” Twilight replied, she seemed interested from what I could tell, maybe she would want to try it herself?

“I would never allow my son to go into battle!”, my mother gasped, “Something like fighting is not something we high class ponies should be doing!”

“Sapphire does have a point Moon”, my father never used my actual nickname since he had the same name as me, and to him it seemed off, “ponies like you shouldn't be doing adventurous things like that, it's undignified, which was why we got rid of those books you kept reading over and over.”

“Not much else to do here in this boring old house”, I grunted, he shouldn't have said that, I had a new collection of the series but that only put me on edge of punching him, I no longer cared if he was my dad, he deserved it.

“There's plenty to do here”, mom snapped, “what about the pool?”

“If I go outside of the fence or in the backyard I'll get mobbed, the hedge is easy to get through”, I replied, I'm going to enjoy this.

“The arcade?”

“Number one in the high score rankings on all the games.”

“The orchestral room?”

“I like listening to music, but I'm no good with any instrument.”

Got any better ideas so I could entertain myself around here grandma? I thought to myself as I gave a look of disapproval. Monocle, Skillet, and the rest of the house keepers here are more like family to me than you ever were.

I looked over at Celestia who shook her head in shame of how my mom tried to find something for me to do, when I looked over to Luna she looked back at me and gave me, a wink?

“Well I don't know about you dear, but I am awfully tired and need my beauty sleep”, how could mom need beauty sleep? There is no way she could be tired from loosing a argument to her son, I thought the parents were supposed to be the argument winners here?

“Excuse me your Highness, but I believe I should be getting to bed as well, must get up early tomorrow for the sunrise.” Great lie dad, I know you wake up after the sunrise to get to work.

The room was silent for a few moments, I was sitting with the most powerful beings in Equestria, and I had nothing to say. Great job Solace, you have bored the goddesses. After a dreadfully long minute, all three of them started, laughing? I don't understand royalty sometimes.

“I must say one who calls thyself Moon Solace”, Luna chuckled, “thine parents are wonderful assistants, but not so good of being parents.”

“I know”, my head sunk like an anchor onto the table, “I don't blame them, sort of.”

“Sort of?” Celestia questioned.

“Being in the mansion for so long allows me to snoop around the place unseen and unheard, something to satisfy my curiosity, my parents are very easy to sneak by and eavesdrop on them, I have learned about their work schedules and I know when they are able to get home, but they come home long after the moon rises, their shift ends right after the moon rise and it doesn't take long to get to the castle from here. I may be right, but I don't really want all of these fancy things, I just want my parents to accept me, and maybe some friends my age, the only pony who is closest to my age that is an actual friend is the mail-mare Derpy Hooves, but I don't get to see her much since this isn't her mail route.”

“Why not just go outside and meet ponies in Canterlot?”

“That's the thing”, I said, trying to prevent myself from sounding like I was whining, or complaining for that matter, “as I said before, whenever I go beyond those gates or into the backyard, fanmares will mob me because I'm the heir to the second most powerful 'normal' pony couple in Canterlot, Fancypants and his marefriend hold first”

“Well then”, Celestia said, “I'll see to some arrangements so you can see your mail-mare friend more often. And maybe you can meet some new ponies while you're at it.” Ok, what? How would I be able to meet more ponies other than Derpy if Celestia changed her mail route?

“I believe it is time for me and Twilight to get some sleep as well, it was good to chat with you.” the sun goddess gave a small nod as I bowed in response.

“Aww, but I wanted to see what kind of books he liked to read.” Twilight moaned, wait, princesses moan?

“I mostly read stuff from A.K. Yearling, especially her Daring Do series.” I told her.

“Oh, a fan of Daring, I have a friend who would love to meet you”, Twilight waved as she, Celestia and Luna left.

“Young master Solace”, Monocle walked up beside me, “I'd like to commend you on your efforts to entertain the princesses, especially since your mother and father retired early for the evening.”

“Thanks Monocle”, I replied to the charcoal colored pony, “I just hope I didn't offend them in any way.”

“I don't think you would be here if you offended them young master”, Monocle adjusted his eye-ware once again, “besides the point, I do think you can learn those spells that you mentioned during dinner. You were never like one of the ponies that liked the life of high-class ponies.”

I chuckled at my unicorn's comment, “I don't know, about that, but when I get the chance I could try and learn some non-combat spells to show off.”

Monocle smiled, which was rare, him being the type of butler who was usually well composed and serious. Learning those spells might be something I could do.

I decided to join the band wagon and walked off into my room to get some sleep. I jumped into my over-sized bed and slowly drifted into the dream world.

.o0O O0o.

I found myself wandering through something what ponies called the Everfree Forest, what's odd is that it wasn't as scary and fearsome as many ponies described, it was actually kind of nice and peaceful, unlike my house which was just a lonely and depressingly quiet. I walked along the path through the forest free from the rest of world, enjoying the strangeness of the Everfree, I felt like myself, which was about as rare as Monocle smiling, probably even more so. I soon came across a patch of blue star shaped flowers, I went to try and pick it up until a hoof stepped in front of me.

“I don't recommend picking that”, it was Princess Luna in her astral form, “those flowers have very strange affects on ponies.”

“Oh, hi there princess”, I greeted the goddess, “What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be helping ponies with their nightmares?”

“Yes, but that is not until later into the night. I am here to assist thee with thine studies in spell circles.” Princess Luna summoned the very same book I found in my library, and opened it to the first spell, “Let us try this one first, this is a very simple spell and it shall be good practice for creating thine spells.”

The spell described was an illusion spell, it made a astral copy of myself that looked and can speak like me or who ever I wanted to create, it seems though, once the action of the clone is complete though, it will immediately disappear and will take it's toll of energy if you perform the spell incorrectly.

“If I can learn this spell, I can leave the mansion without being attacked immediately”, I was squealing with delight at the idea of making copies of myself.

“Shall we get started then?” Luna inquired, I quickly nodded in excitement, “First, in order to create the spell circle, close thine's eyes and place the image into thine mind, once thyself has thine image, project the image onto the landscape.”

So that's how the spells worked, it makes sense since these spells were made for earth ponies. Ok, time to try it out.

I started focusing on as many details around me as I could, which was mostly the ground since I planned on putting the spell there. I began drawing the spell circle in my mind, it was a simple ring with a circle at the top to make it look like a full moon. I squinted seeing the spell in my mind, although I was nervous that the spell wouldn't look the same as what I saw.

“Not bad for thine first time”, Luna commented, she sounded pleased.

I slowly opened my eyes, to see the spell circle I was hoping for, it wasn't very big and the lines on the spell formula weren't perfect at all, but I knew that this was made for the clone spell. The spell glowed with a blue-ish aura as it floated just off the ground, just like actual magic from a unicorn.

I smiled with glee as I bounced around cheering with myself, my first Lunar Spell Circle. But the biggest question was, will it work?

“Um princess”, I stated, looking at Luna, “Now what?”

“Place thine hoof on the circle to activate the spell. Make sure thyself focuses, even though thine created the correct formula, that doesn't mean it will automatically be successful.”

Oh great, now to actually cast the spell. Does it actually need to be this complicated?

While focusing on how this clone should look, I stepped onto the circle, the spell glowed brightly as a pony figure emerged from below. The creature looked like an embodiment of space itself, there were stars inside the space of where the pony was supposed to be. Next, the creature's color and mane took form, soon I was looking into the eyes of my clone.

Ok, that is really cool.

I walked around the doppelganger as he stood motionless, much like the spell's construction, he wasn't a perfect copy. His eyes still had stars , his cutie mark was a ocean blue instead of black, and his mane and tail kinda levitated a bit, and his coat was much darker, other than that I did pretty good.

“This might be sufficient enough to fool those fanmares when I try to leave”, I thought out loud.

“Planning to go somewhere?” Luna inquired.

“I wanted to go and see where Derpy and Princess Twilight lives. If I manage to cast this new spell it shouldn't be a problem” I answered.

Soon after I learned how it felt when a unicorn would cast a new spell as my legs gave out and I flopped onto the dirt, being ironic since I was asleep.

“Seems that thine astral body has given out”, Luna chuckled under breath, “I shall put thee into a dreamless sleep, it should allow thine body to rest properly.”

“Thank you Princess.”

Author's Note

Note to self: New spell learned- Thanks to short lesson with Princess Luna, I now can use the Astral Clone Spell, allowing me to copy myself and have my copy complete a short task. Practice is needed.

Chapter 3

It was early morning as I lazily rolled out of my gigantic bed and accidentally fell onto the floor. My head was throbbing from the impact and I was still slightly exhausted from the lesson.

First things first: breakfast.

I trotted along past the grand hall where the entrance was, the entire floor was made of ebony and polished marble (big surprise there) and into the kitchen. It was much quieter now since my parents weren't planning dinner or some crazy party, I saw Skillet in his office or as he called it, the 'stallion cave', looking over some new recipes. I walked into his so called 'cave' as he looked up from his documents and smiled.

“Solace me boy, how are you this morning? Did you sleep well?”

I rubbed one of my eyes, relieving it from the sleepiness that remained, “More or less, Princess Luna paid a visit in my dreams, she wanted to help me get out of the mansion without 'attack on fanmares'.”

“And how did she manage to help?” Skillet questioned.

I had Skillet follow me out into the main hall, it had a bigger space and was more flat than the kitchen's chaos of ovens. When we got there I once again attempted then new spell I learned, drawing the image in my head as the spell circle glowed to life on the floor. I opened my eyes and saw my unicorn friend watch in awe.

He might enjoy seeing himself, I thought.

I took a small mental photo of Skillet as I focus and activated the circle, creating the astral pony inside to look like the salmon unicorn. Just like last time, the spell took it's toll as I laid on the floor, panting and watching the Skillet doppelganger take form. Just like last time, the clone's eyes and cutie-mark were midnight blue and looked like there were stars inside them, his coat was a bit darker as well.

“Wow”, was all that Skillet said as he inspected his doppelganger as it stood, not moving a muscle, having no emotion what-so-ever.

“It's not perfect, but it's a good start. I should be able to fool those stalkers outside as I either sneak past them or have our clone friend here lead them away to a location a good distance from here before it disappears.” I stood up weakly, the exhaustion from activating the spell still was making it difficult to move around, although it wasn't as bad as when I first used the spell, makes sense since I was using energy in my sleep.

“Well, it's certainly something I got to admit”, Skillet was still admiring his slightly flawed twin, “Maybe we should test run the chap.”

“Let's see if your loyal employees can be fooled”, I snickered as I released the spell as it dissipated.

“My staff aren't easy to fool, but let's give it a go”

I nodded as I performed the spell once again, making sure that I pointed out as many details as I could: brightening up his coat, and making sure his cutie mark actually looked like Skillet's, I even made sure his voice sounded similar. The doubled unicorn was still a little darker than the original but barely noticeable, and the eyes were still 'spacey'.

“Could you go into the kitchen and start yelling orders at the other chefs to make some salad for me and Skillet here?” I asked the Skillet copy, still concentrating on the clone's performance spell.

In response the clone gave a salute and spoke with a flat tone that sound very similar to Skillet, although his voice was a bit lower, “I'll get right on it.”

I collapsed onto the ground, out of breath once again, this took a LOT more effort than making a statue-like clone, and I almost blacked out from doing so. Luckily Skillet threw some water into my face from a bucket that was nearby, snapping me back to my senses.

“You okay there Solace?” Skillet asked, by the look on his face, he was worried about me doing this.

“I'll be fine” I lied as I muscled my way back onto my hooves. My legs were shaking and I felt weak, but I needed to learn to endure this without asking for help.

If I'm going to learn a new spell, I need to not only study, but I'll need to physically train as well so when I do cast a spell I don't lose my breath and fall.

Both me and Skillet poked our heads into the kitchen, a couple of chefs were running around frantically as the not-Skillet yelled out commands for the dish I asked for.

“YOU, GO FIND ME A BOWL, YOU OVER THERE, GO GET LETTUCE FROM THE GARDENS, YOU THERE, YEA YOU, GO BUCK SOME APPLES FOR THE SALAD.”

I'm impressed.

We waited quietly as the food was prepared, watching the not-Skillet giving orders to the staff, right before the clone's time was up, Skillet and I revealed ourselves telling the kitchen staff about the 'experiment' we were conducting, I decided that I should reward them and said I would give them a decent bonus on their next payday for helping me out with this, the reply I got from them was a loud cheering and “thank you's” from everypony.

I was out on the balcony of my room, enjoying my breakfast with Skillet when Monocle came out with his usual expression, difficult to determine.

“Young master Solace, Princess Celestia is is here, wishing for an audience with you.” He adjusted his eye-ware for no reason.

“A little odd, but ok”, I wasn't entirely surprised, Princess said she was going to make some arrangements for me to see Derpy again, it just seemed a bit early. Also, why would she be here when she was going to change her mail route?

I walked downstairs into the main hall, seeing the princess with a pair of royal guards.

“Good morning my little pony.” Celestia smiled seeing me, “I hope you are ready.”

“Um, ready princess?” I was a bit confused, it looked like she was ready to escort me somewhere, “I thought you were just changing Derpy's route?”

“I don't think you should just be friends with Ditsy Do, if you didn't know, my former student Twilight was much like you, having an extreme love for those dusty books and not enough friends. I already have planned a casual visit to Ponyville and I think you should come along.”

I tilted my head in curiosity, “Ponyville?”

“It's a small simple town, near the Everfree forest. There are many friendly ponies there that would enjoy meeting you.”

“I don't exactly prefer being attacked by ponies and I'd rather not kill myself from casting my new clone spell multiple times in one go.” I replied, imagining ponies tackling me as they pull my hair or tearing into my saddle bags. I've seen what happened to horse famous ponies and I'm not letting that happen.

“Which is why I devised a little plan to get you out of here.” she gave a mischievous smile, “First, before we go, you need to create a clone that will look like you, tell the clone to follow my orders until we get a safe distance from your home, then when they're gone, sprint for the train station.”

I nodded as I dashed up to my room to get my things into my saddle bags: my latest copy of Daring Do (of course), the Lunar Spell Circle spellbook, a couple of Bits for lunch, and the saddle bags themselves.

I looked behind me, seeing Monocle once again, “I hope you enjoy Ponyville, young master.” Seems he was becoming sentimental like I was leaving forever.

“Hey, don't worry Monocle”, I assured him, “I'm simply visiting, don't worry I'll be back.”

The gray unicorn simply nodded silently as he walked out.

I ran downstairs into the main hall, Celestia and her guards were all ready to go, and so was I.

“Let us proceed”, Celestia spoke, suggesting I cast the spell.

I went through the process of the spell creation. I looked on the ground and saw the beautiful moon-lit formula. In turn, I stepped onto the spell and created myself once more. This time though, not-Moon Solace's cutie-mark was black as it should be, and the stars in his eyes were dimmer although I could still see them.

“Ok not me”, I said to myself.....I think, “I need you to follow Princess Celestia's orders until you get to her castle and all the fanmares are inside.”

I gave myself a salute as the not-me walked over to Celestia and waited patiently for his first assignment, not a single emotion inside him.

“Let's get into the chariot 'Moon Solace'”, Celestia nickered, “we must lead them off somewhere else.”

The clone nodded as he followed his temporary master without question. The after effects of the spell started punishing my body with exhaustion as I endured the weight of myself walking to the window. I peaked outside, seeing about twenty or so mares at the gate, they were all cheering for my clone, desperately trying to break open the gates so they could meet him in 'person'.

Thank Celestia we enchanted those locks and chains from breaking.

Celestia guided the not-me into the chariot and had him take a seat, “You are invited to Canterlot Castle to meet Moon Solace, this is a once in a life time opportunity to meet the fine stallion.”

The crowd of overly adoring fans started cheering even louder than before as they chased the chariot to Celestia's home. Time to get a move on.

I carefully opened the front door and took a peek to see if there were anypony there, I found that Celestia's plan worked, not a single fanmare was here, although time was of the essence, I needed to get to the train station. I opened the gates as quietly as I could in case somepony was simply hiding, waiting for me to leave my home for the first time in years.

Chapter 4

I made it to the train station without too many problems, besides the fact I needed to ask a couple of ponies where the station was, to which I got some pretty dirty looks and rude remarks about me being a high-class earth pony. If I wasn't in a rush, I would have gave them a smack to the face.

When I got to the loading area, I saw Celestia talking to the conductor. Seems that she wanted to make this train a private trip.

“I understand Princess, and thank you for honoring us to be your transportation.” the conductor bowed his head, almost face-planting into the floor.

“You are very welcome”, Celestia chuckled under her breath, “I thought I would go to Ponyville in a more humble way, and excuse me for having the train being private, I have a friend who is visiting Ponyville for a day or two.”

I trotted up to the princess and the conductor, giving a small bow to the goddess.

“All set princess, seems that my sneaking ability is paying off.”, I smiled, being proud of my skill in sneaking.

{-------}

A short time later, we made it to the small town. We walked out of the train and saw two ponies talking, one was a light cyan unicorn with a Lyra for a cutie-mark and the other was a very light yellow earth pony with a purple and pink mane with a cutie-mark of three candies. Both of them saw the princess, gasped and ran.

Not the reaction I was expecting........

“Um, princess”, I asked, “what was that all about?”

“Oh it was just Lyra and Bon Bon”, Celestia replied, “they probably went to tell the mayor that I'm here. Although you might want to be careful.”

“Why's that princess?”

“There is a particular pink earth pony who enjoys making parties for all the new ponies of Ponyville, even if you're visiting, and don't worry, her parties are very fun.”

“A pink earth pony huh”, I said, “I'm going on a limb here, but is her name Pinkie?”

“Why yes”, Celestia was surprised by my guess, “how did you know?”

“Wild guess”, I shrugged.

As Celestia and I walked into the town square, the ponies managed to throw together a small celebration. Everypony welcoming the princess, and paying very little attention to me.

I'm starting to like this place.

One of the local guards came up to princess, and whispered something into her ear, after she turned to me.

“I'm sorry to tell you Moon Solace, but I can't stay for very long, the mayor wishes to see me in the townhall. Take a look around town, maybe you'll find Ditsy Do.”

“A princess needs to do, what a princess needs to do”, I replied, I wasn't really bothered by this, actually I was quite pleased so that I don't have a crowd following me, at least not until I've done something that deserves it.

I decided to go and look for Derpy since I saw her flying towards Ponyville on the train.

“Look out mister!” a small orange pegasus filly called, she and two of her friends riding in a wagon raced past me, ripping one of my saddlebags in the process.

“Damn it”, I cursed under my breath, annoyed by the large rip in the bottom of my bag that was holding my spellbook, which fell on the ground.

“Ohmygosh”, the orange one said as she turned around and zipped back to me, “I'm soo sorry about your bags mister.”

I wanted to be mad at her, yell in her face about how she should of looked where she was going, but she was too cute to be mad at.

“As long as you knew it was a mistake, I'll let it slide, but you are going to help me get it fixed, do you know somepony that can fix this?”

“Oh, my sister Rarity can”, a white unicorn filly said, “she's a dress maker.”

“Great idea ”, a yellow earth pony filly commented, “Ah reckon she can make can fix that bag lickity-split.”

Seems she's a country filly.

“Well girls, lead the way.” I trotted alongside the wagon so that I could talk to them. From what the white unicorn said, her name was Sweetie Belle, the yellow earth pony was Applebloom, and the orange pegasus was Scootaloo. They seemed to call themselves the “Cutie-Mark Crusaders.”

“It's good to meet you Cutie-Mark Crusaders, my name is Moon Solace, but you can call me Solace.”

“Hey Solace, how'd ya get your cutie-mark?” Applebloom asked, “It might help us earn ours.”

I shook my head, “I don't know, my parents said that I got it a long time ago when I was your age, but I have no idea what my special talent is.”

“A cutie-mark without a talent?” Scootaloo asked, she seemed confused by this fact, I simply nodded.

“Well, do you want to join the Crusaders?” Sweetie Belle questioned, “we have a lot of fun trying to earn our cutie-marks.”

“Don't you think I'm a bit old for that?” I replied with yet another question.

“No way, if you don't know what your super special talent is, you're more than qualified!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed

“Well first things first, you three need to lead me to Rarity's shop.” I reminded the trio.

“It's actually a boutique”, Sweetie Belle corrected.

“What are you, a dictionary?” I chuckled.

Soon after, the CMC guided me to a round building that had two small horses on top to look like a....

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique.” Sweetie Belle announced.

Yea, a Carousel.

Our small group walked into the boutique's door as a small bell chimed. Inside were several mannequins, dressed in elegant outfits, both complete and some in progress.

“Just a minute.....” a voice called with a slight melodious tone, soon a white unicorn walked out, her purple mane was much like the style that some of the mares wore in Canterlot, another visitor maybe?

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where all dresses are magnifique.” the unicorn chanted as she placed some fabric she was carrying onto the counter, as she turned around, she glared at the CMC, “What did you three do this time?”

“Well you see....” Scootaloo started, “we accidentally ripped a big hole in this pony's saddlebag and we were wondering if you could fix it.”

Rarity looked in my direction as I showed her the damage, I decided to carry my book in my mouth since I didn't want to worry about losing it.

“My my, this is some fine fabric you have here sir”, Rarity was examining it, “I'm guessing you're from Manehatten?”

“Hperlot hcuhly” my voice was muffled by the book, I placed it on the nearby table and spoke again, “Canterlot actually.”

“YOU'RE from CANTERLOT?!” the white unicorn's horn glowed as she fainted and slid a fainting couch underneath her.

Ok, that was pretty funny I'll have to admit.

Rarity quickly got off her couch and regained her composure “My name is Rarity, as owner I am honored to have you in my humble shop”, Rarity gave a worshipful bow in front of me. Dang it, not another fanmare.

“Look Rarity”, I facehoofed, “I might be from Canterlot, but I don't appreciate that somepony practically worships me just because I live there, it's unbecoming.”

“Oh, I apologize”, Rarity blushed by the fact she just made a fool of herself, I honestly didn't care, “let me see what I can do with that.”

“Actually Rarity, could I get something a bit sturdier, that thing is very easy to rip, it's practically paper.”

Rarity gasped, “Why would you want to get something of such a lower quality?”

“Sorry to tell you, but when it comes to things such as baggage, I prefer function over fashion.”

“Well, I guess that does make sense”, Rarity, “but honestly, this fabric is simply divine. Why would you want to trash it?”

“If you love that thing so much, you can have it.”

“Really?”

I shrugged, “Yea sure, it's not going to bother me.”

Rarity whizzed away into her back room squealing. I looked around the boutique's interior, admiring all the dresses and suits.

“Come on Applebloom, you can do it” , Scootaloo cheered behind me.

I turned around and saw Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, cheering their friend Applebloom as she was attempting to cast one of the spells in my book.

“Hey, what are you three doing with my book”, I questioned, I was a bit annoyed that those three took my book without asking, although I was curious to see if Applebloom could do it, and by the looks of it, their efforts weren't working out too well as Applebloom fails the clone spell.

“Sorry Mr. Solace”, the trio apologized.

I winced at the sound of that, it felt way to formal.

“Mr. Solace is is a bit too formal in my opinion, you guys can call me Solace”, I said promptly.

“Hey Solace, how do you cast one of these spell thingys?”, Applebloom asked scratching her head, “it looks impossible.”

“Well, it's not exactly worth casting if you don't know what you're getting into”, I replied, “the after effects are not pleasant. I could show you, but I only know one spell right now, and no I don't plan to be a one trick pony.”

The trio giggled at my remark as they searched through the book, they went through and found a spell to challenge me with.

“Try this one Solace”, Applebloom offered the book to me, showing the chosen spell.

“Telepathic Levitation huh”, I looked over the spell with curiosity, the formula was a bit different than the clone spell, it wasn't as complicated as the other spells I've seen though, but it looked like it will take some more effort to create. In order to cast this one you needed to cast it on the object you need to levitate, if the spell's formula was drawn correctly, the spell self-activates and you can move the object. Seems this one requires me to focus on where the object moves or if I need it to follow me. The circle had a picture of the new and full moon, with two half moons on opposite sides.

“How about you try it one something small, for starters”, Scootaloo suggested, pointing over to a quill sitting on the table.

I nodded as I walked over to the quill. I focused on the world on the world around me, centering it on the table top and the quill I plan to levitate, I slowly drew the spell in my mind around the quill, making sure I drew the lines perfectly, I almost had it finished when Rarity came in through the doors.

“Oh, there's my quill”, Rarity said as she grabbed the quill I was focusing on, my lost my focus completely and only managed to draw the full and new moon and only managed to finish one of the half moons. Suddenly the quill burst into light blue flames, freaking out Rarity as she threw the writing implement on the floor.

“Put it out!” she screamed as I quickly ran over and put out the fire. The flames were incredibly hot, even more-so than normal red and orange fire. I managed to singe some of the fur on my legs, leaving some black burnt marks when I finished stomping on the quill.

“Phew, that was a close one”, Sweetie Belle sighed in relief, “I think we need to try that spell on something less flammable.”

“Solace darling”, Rarity said with a forced smile, “could you explain why my quill suddenly turned into a floating inferno?”

I rubbed the back of my neck, “I was attempting a levitation spell on the quill, I almost finished the spell when you grabbed it and I lost my focus. It seems that I cast a inferno spell instead.”

Rarity stood there in shock.

I hung my head to the floor in shame, “I'll just be going then, sorry for almost burning down your home.”

I was about to grab my book until it was enveloped in Rarity's magic, she floated it towards her, opening it and revealing the contents, “Magic for earth ponies? How peculiar.”

Rarity placed the book on the counter and brushed a stray hair, “I'm not mad about you burning my quill, you should of told me that you were practicing magic and I might have had something you could use. Although I might charge a little more since you did almost burn my home down.”

Sounds fair enough, “How much?”

I paid Rarity the money, fifteen Bits, not bad from what I saw from the luggage she brought out, the bags looked much stronger than my old bags, the straps were encrusted with two opal gemstones with one on each side, and the bag itself was a much darker red than my coat color, and on the side was a locket of my cutie-mark, which was made of some sort of charcoal gray steel.

I never really liked jet black items, they felt a bit cliché against my red coat. As if the universe hated red and black ponies.

“Thanks a lot Rarity, these feel much better than those flimsy things.”

“Oh it wasn't a problem at all dear, besides the incident”, Rarity flipped her hair out of her eyes, attempting to impress me. She's pretty and all, but I'm used to seeing ponies like that, “Before anything else though, let me get you something to practice that spell of yours.”

She went into the back room as the CMC and I saw flying objects fly out of the room she was in, after a few minutes of us dodging UFOs, Rarity came back out with an empty metal spool for ribbon, she set the object down, and suggested to try it on the small item.

Ok, let's try that again.

I closed my eyes focusing on the object, then, I drew the ritual circle with all four moons, luckily I've been getting better at doing this circle drawing.

As I completed the formula, I felt magic reaching out and grabbing the spool, like a griffin's claw grabbing it.

“Yea, go Moon Solace!”, Scotaloo cheered along with her friends.

Ok, now I should try and lift it, that shouldn't be too difficult.

I used the magic connection between me and the spool to lift it into the air, it floated a few inches off the ground, shaking like mad before the spell imploded and the object fell to the ground.

Not bad for a first time. Although I noticed that the spell didn't make me exhausted, I was a bit dizzy from trying to focus, and the fact I wasn't breathing during the process. But regardless, not bad for a first time.

“It seems you were trying too hard dear”, Rarity said, “Try and relax, allow the magic to move freely, let the energy flow from you, to the object instead of forcing it.”

“How would that help?” I asked.

“Trust me on this. I am a unicorn. If you want an explanation, you could go ask my friend Twilight”

I looked at the white unicorn mare, and then looked at the spool, taking a breath I closed my eyes, relaxing and taking in my surroundings. I traced out the image of the spell in my mind into the real world on to the top of the item. I released my mind's drawing pen and the spell activated, the magic reached out for the spool, grabbing it in the a gentle envelope of magic. The spell was quickly losing it's grip as the spool started shaking. I poured a bit more energy into the spell to strengthen it's grip.

“Excellent work”, Rarity said smiling.

“Yea! Way to go Moon Solace!” the fillies cheered, “The first earth pony to use levitation ever!”

“I don't think I'm the first earth pony to do this girls”, I corrected, “If there was a book, that most likely means somepony before me has cast this spell.”

“Reguardless darling, you are doing well”, Rarity saw me still lifting the item next to my head, “Now try and use it on the book.”

I walked over to the spellbook and cast the levitation spell, it was a bit more difficult since it was larger, but I didn't have too much trouble. I lifted the midnight-blue book and placed it into my new saddlebags, along with my Daring Do book.

After about an hour or two of helping Rarity around the boutique my energy was slowly leaving, I guess if it's something like levitating, it takes time for my magic to exhaust itself, thankfully the objests didn't take much magic to carry around. It also seems that CMC left too since they were no where to be found.

“Thank you for all your help darling, it was very generous of you.”, Rarity complimented, “It also seems you're learning that new spell of yours quickly.”

I looked at the levitating roll of fabric next to my head, she was right, my skill in levitation is growing quickly. That would make sense since a spell like takes less effort than creating a clone of yourself.

“No problem Rarity”, I replied with a grin on my face, “it works well for practice, although I might need to take a small break, still not used to this magic concept.”

“I actually was thinking the same thing darling”, Rarity replied, “I'm meeting my friend Rainbow Dash for a spot of lunch if you care to join.”

“Sure why not, it's just about lunch time anyway.”

Author's Note

Note to self- New spell learned= Levitation: with the help of Rarity and her teachings in unicorn magic I've learned how to levitate small to moderately sized objects such as bags, fabric rolls, and Opal Essence (not recommended to pick up Opal). I should try and use this spell to train my endurance in magic so I can use the Cloning spell more efficiently.

Chapter 5

Rarity and I trotted over to a small cafe in the middle of town, it was small and simple, but it was nice. As Rarity was chatting up a storm about her latest fashion designs, I noticed a burnt up looking tree not far from the cafe. It

“Hey um....Rarity, what's with that tree over there”, I pointed to the said location, Rarity stopped her rant immediately, the smile from her face was erased and replaced with an expression of pain and sorrow, her voice growing dark.

“That used to be the Golden Oaks Library, it was Twilight's home and our favorite meeting spot, although recently, it's been sitting there, a blemish to this town, and a grim reminder to what Tirek has done.”

Woah, I didn't know her voice could become so dark, this Tirek guy must have been one evil dude.

“But, that is all in the past, Twilight has a beautiful new home, a castle in fact, and now she can have more books and records than her heart can desired.”

“Ugh books”, a new voice called out, “those books are for egg-heads.”

I searched for the voice, I didn't see a single pony anywhere. I think that spellbook is making me hear things.

“Hey buddy, up here”, the voice called once again. I looked up and saw a tuft of cloud floating right above Rarity and I. A head suddenly popped out of the cloud, revealing a light blue mare pegasus, her mane had seven different colors in it to looked like a rainbow.

I'm guessing this is Rainbow Dash.

“What, you've never seen a cloud this low to the ground before?” the pegasus asked. I promptly shook my head in response.

“I'm new here”, I replied, although I wasn't looking at the cloud, I thought I've seen her somewhere before but I can't put my hoof on it.

Rainbow Dash jumped off the cloud and gave it a good kick to have it dissipate into thin air.

“Name's Rainbow Dash.”

So called it.

“I'm the weather manager here in Ponyville, although while I'm not doing weather jobs, I'm in the sky, training to become the best Wonderbolt there is....”

“What's wrong with books?” I interrupted her, not very polite if she tries and gets off topic.

“Well duh, books are for egg heads, like Twilight.”

“If I remember correctly Rainbow Dash darling”, Rarity smirked, “don't you read books as well, which means you are calling yourself an egg-head too.”

Rainbow Dash blushes, I don't think she likes the fact that she was embarrassed in front of me, but it could be the fact she just got told by Rarity.

“I mean books made for egg-heads, I read awesome and action-packed books, like Daring Do.”

Oh, a fan of Daring, I have a friend who would love to meet you.

“You must be the one Princess Twilight was talking about”, I didn't exactly imagined her to be an athlete, although it is encouraging to see ponies like this enjoy a good read.

“Twilight mentioned me? Not exactly surprising since I'm so awesome.”

“Actually, she said nothing about you being awesome.”

The look on Rainbow's face was.... priceless. I couldn't help but laugh, falling over in my small mushroom chair as I almost cried in laughter from her reaction, even Rarity chuckled some as well.

Lunch was pretty short, although quite boastful since most of the conversation was Rainbow Dash yammering on about her great feats of action. She also mentioned something called a Sonic Rainboom.

“I've heard of a Sonic Rainboom before, but I've never actually seen one”, I mentioned.

“Well then......um, what's your name?”

“Moon Solace”, I replied.

“Well then Solace”, Rainbow said confidently, “you're about to see one.”

Rarity chimed in, “I need to go get a order filled so I'll see you two later.”

“See you later Rarity”, I waved to the white unicorn, whom returned the fare-well.

Rainbow Dash and I walked along the path towards a huge field, the Everfree loomed in the background, it's mysterious vibe emanated like radiation. I decided to strike up a conversation and told her about my life in Canterlot, the fanmares, the inattentive parents, my magic studies, she just hovered above me, listening. And for some reason, I trusted her, she didn't geek out about the fact my parents are so close to the princesses, I simply continued about how things came to be, and how I got here.

“Hey Rainbow Dash, what is Ponyville like exactly, Celestia didn't give me an actual tour of the town, and her description was a bit vague.”

“It's a nice town, small, quiet, and simple. Although it's had it's own fair share of catastrophes and mishaps. Other than that, it's a great place to live and full of friendly ponies, why do you ask?”

“I was thinking of coming here more often, maybe even live here. It's not exactly fun to live in a big house with nothing to do as fanmares attempt to break in and wreck the place.”

“So, a place of escape?”

I nodded.

“I understand about ponies hurting you, but you need to be loyal to your parents, they might be total jerks, but you can't turn your back on them. They might know more than you think.”

Not exactly the answer I was expecting, in fact, that was pretty wise coming from a pony who was pretty boastful, I guess she's not always like that. She's right though, I need to be more loyal to them.

“Ok then, I promise that I'll be more considerate and loyal to my family.”

“You need to Pinkie Promise.”

“What's that?” I asked, Monocle said that before while he did a little dance, but I didn't understood it.

“It's a promise to a friend that you can never break, and losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.”

Suddenly we heard off in the distance, it was faint but I could hear it, “ForEVERRrrrrrrrrr.....”

I mimicked the ritual that I saw Monocle do along with the chant, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, that I will stay more loyal to my parents, and I shall put this promise in risk of losing your trust.”

“Why me?”

“Honestly, I have no idea.” I responded as I shrugged, “It's some gut feeling I have, you seem like a good pony, and one who knows much about not letting people down.”

I looked at the color mare with a sheepish and slightly embarrassed grin, in return Rainbow Dash smiled back, bold and confident.

“Well, I promised a Sonic Rainboom and you're going to get one.” Rainbow Dash bolted into the sky, a rainbow colored trail behind her as she got to her peak and began plummeting to the ground with great force, the air around her front hoof was forming the barrier she needed to break. Faster and faster she flew as the barrier tried as hard as it could to repel the mare's speed until it finally gave up.

I didn't care if I was deaf for a few moments, I didn't care if my ears were bleeding, for Tartarus' name I didn't care about anything that happened around me. I was focused on the most amazing, beautiful, and inspirational thing I've ever seen, a Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow Dash returned right next to my side and said something, but I could hear her, I was deaf at the time so of course I couldn't hear her. What have I been missing? Living in a virtually colorless home where everything is adorn in white marble or dark ebony or obsidian, who knew something like this exsisted. I stood there, watching the display of color until it finally dissipated into thin air. I don't know how, but something about that blast reminded me of something, everything felt familiar, even though I can't remember where or how.

“Hey, Moon Solace!” Rainbow Dash was screaming in my ear, it was still ringing a bit, but I could hear her now.

“Sorry, I forgot to cover my ears.” I rubbed the back of my neck as I chuckled. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

I looked over at the town and saw Celestia waving, suggesting it was time to go back to Canterlot. Looks like she had somepony send for her coach since it was in the background. I waved back and nodded, it was getting late and I needed to get home before dinner or my parents would kill me.

“Hey, thanks for comin' to Ponyville, it's good to meet new ponies who aren't like the others here.”

“Not a problem Rainbow it was fun hanging out with you and Rarity, and thanks for showing me the Rainboom, it was certainly life changing.”

I trotted over to the Princess and gave a short bow, she smiled as she motioned me to hop into the chariot so we could get home. Celestia entered the carriage across from me and requested them to take us to my home first.

“So Moon Solace, how was your day in Ponyville?”

I looked below as I saw Rainbow, waving good-bye with a big grin on her face.

“It was life changing. I wasn't able to see Derpy though, and now that I learn another new spell that's not so energy consuming, I might be able to go back tomorrow and find her.”

“That is very good to hear, did you learn anything about friendship?”

I looked at Princess Celestia in confusion, “'Learn anything about friendship'?”

“When my former student arrived in Ponyville for the first time, she met five ponies that displayed the true meaning of friendship, with a spark of magic, they became the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and returned my beloved sister to me.”

“If I learned anything from my visit princess, I learned that friends can come from places that you could never expect. From being boastful yet loyal, to being high strung yet generous. You can never exactly find out where your friends can come from.”

The Princess nodded in approval, proud I learned something.

“And I learned about the sacred Pinkie Promise.” I laugh, recalling the silly ritual of the soul-bound promise.

“Oh, I see you learned about that, did you make a promise to somepony?”

“Yea, I promised to be more loyal to my parents to Rainbow Dash.”

“Rainbow Dash is a good pony to promise something to, she bears the Element of Loyalty.” Celestia looked to the castle on the mountain-side, lost in thought.

“The Element of Loyalty.....” I said.

The princess dropped me off on the balcony of my room, I turned and waved good-bye as she flew back to the castle. I took a deep breath as I strolled into my room with a big smile on my face, I've never been so happy in so long it felt unnatural, but it wasn't, I had the most amazing day in my life, I met a kind unicorn who is very generous, and a pegasus who is fun, silly, and as loyal as a soldier to their ruler, she was somepony who knew how to live life.

Monocle knocked on the door as he walked in, “Young master Solace, it is good to see that you have returned, how was your day?”

“Amazing, I've never felt so alive.” I used my new spell to levitate my new saddlebags off of myself and set them onto my bed, seems the spell has been getting easier to use, it just came to me where the spell should be and how to balance the magic so that the spell doesn't lose it's grip, although I still needed to focus on keeping the spell in check some-what.

“I see you learned how to use the levitation spell, and you've certainly got some practice in.” Monocle grabbed his eye-ware and cleaned it some before returning it to it's previous location.

“Thanks Monocle, my friend Rarity taught me a few tricks about how to balance the amount of magic going into the spell, although I still need practice since I can only carry small or decent size objects, not to mention that I can only carry one thing at a time.”

“Well, I hope you can improve on your new found skills young master Solace. In the meantime, I suggest you go see Chef Skillet, he's been worried about you all day sir.”

I thanked Monocle for the suggestion and trotted off towards the kitchen, I bet Skillet was chomping on his hooves most of the time, he's like a body guard that cares about his client so much that, if he allows the person to be gone for too long, they become an absolute wreck.

“Hey there.....” I was about to finish my sentence before I was attacked by a huge bear hug from Skillet, something tells me he was happy to even hear my voice.

“Solace me boy, you made it back!” his embrace was starting to crush my lungs, “I thought those damn mares followed you to Ponyville and I would never see you again.”

“Skillet........you're........choking me.” I gagged, gasping for air.

“Oops, sorry Solace”, Skillet released his death grip from me.

After a few moments of much needed breathing I told him about my visit in Ponyville, I told him about meeting Rarity, the CMC, and Rainbow Dash, along with telling him about Rainbow's love for Daring Do, and the Sonic Rainboom. I even showed him the levitating spell as I grabbed a spatula and waved it about in the air.

“That Rainboom you were talking about must have been a real wonder Solace.”

“You have no idea, I've never seen so much color in one place in my life, swear I saw the entire color spectrum in the few moments of the blast.” I was bouncing about the room in pure joy.

“Haha”, Skillet laughed seeing me acting so silly, “maybe I'll try something to make something based off your description.”

I turned and raised an eye brow, “A dish inspired by the rainbow? I don't know about the idea of being able to taste the rainbow Skillet, seems a bit weird.”

“I shall make something personally for you my boy, I'll even make it something of a surprise.”

“Ok Skillet, just don't go over board, you know how I am.”

Skillet gave a salute as he ran off to get the items for this “surprise dish” of his.

I was walking down the hall towards my bedroom as I passed the grandfather clock with it's dark oaky color. I stared at the clock for a few moments reading the time.

“Mom and Dad should be home by now.” I muttered to myself. Suddenly, my ears picked up on what sounded like the front door opening. I sprinted to the main hall, hoping my parents finally decided to come home on time. I reached the staircase and saw I was wrong, standing there was Monocle and....Derpy!

“Hey Derpy, what are you doing here?” I asked, I haven't sent for a package so she shouldn't be here.

“I heard that a new pony came into town with the princess, so I thought it was you. When I got to the town hall No pony else was there except Princess Celestia and Mayor Mare.”

I chuckled a bit before I explained, “It was me actually, although I was only with the princess until we made it to town square, from there I just walked around and met some new ponies.”

“Well I met a white unicorn that went by Rarity, and a blue pegasus that called herself Rainbow Dash.”

“I know Rainbow Dash sort of, I kinda destroyed Town Hall after I was bouncing on a thunder cloud, I just don't know what went wrong there.” Derpy shrugged.

“Well for one, you shouldn't bounce on a cloud, especially a thunder cloud since they tend to, you know, shoot lightning.”

Derpy put her hoof on the side of her face, smiling and giggling, “Makes sense there.”

Once again the door opened, who I saw entering made my heart explode twice, Mom and Dad came home on time.

“Mother! Father! You're home early!”, I went to embrace them in a hug until my mother caught me in her magic.

“Solace, who is this?” mother said looking at my derpy friend.

My heart dropped like a rock, this is not going to end well.

“Well Solace?” my father followed up, “Care to explain?”

“This is Ditzy Do, and before you say anything, no, she isn't related to Daring Do, she's the mailmare that brings the packages here. She's my first friend who's outside of Canterlot, heck, outside of this mansion.”

My father glared at me, “You allow a retarded pegasus to deliver our packages? Are you mad?”

Shock entered both me and Derpy's eyes, did my dad just call somepony retarded? Ok, that is a bit out of line there. But I can't break my Pinkie Promise, never ever. I need to find a way to convince them that Derpy is as good as any other pony.

“Dad, she isn't retarded......”

“Then what is she then? Mutated? Altered?”

“I apologize sir, I was just leaving”, Derpy walked past me, I saw a tear in her eye as she looked at me and whispered something to me.

“I'll see you tomorrow with RD.” Then she turned to my father's glaring eye.

“I do not want to see you in this house hold ever again.”

“yes sir” she whispered as she slowly walked outside and took off in a flash. Then as my father returned his gaze of death back to me.

“I don't know where you got the idea of letting a pony who is so....different, than the rest of us, that you allowed her to bring our mail and actually became friends with her. HOW DARE YOU.”

I hung my head, I couldn't say a word about who Derpy is to him. If I did, then I'd break my promise, and breaking a promise is the fastest way to lose a friend's trust, and losing a friends trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.......forever.

“I'm going to my room”, I trudged up the stairs onto the second level, I swiveled my ears, hearing my parents talking.

“Do you think that was a good choice darling?” Mom asked, she sounded a bit worried, “We just got rid of his first real friend, probably forever. And Solace looked like he was going to explain everything before you interrupted him.”

Wait, since when did Mom start caring about me?

“I could care less about his opinion, think honey. What will happen if he left this place? What will happen is he learned what his cutie mark meant? I don't want to lose our son, he's too young to understand the family secrets.”

Wait a second, Dad cares about me too?

“Yes, but we're going to need to let him go someday, you know we can't keep him here forever.”

“I know, but not today, or someday soon for that matter. I think our son is hiding something and I want to know what. I need you to stay home tomorrow and when Solace leaves his room to go see the chef, I need you to search his room for anything that would make him crave adventure.”

I think it's time to put my two new spells to the test tomorrow.

Author's Note

I just want to apologize for any grammar errors in the story, I have a lot on my plate recently and I wasn't able to get this edited properly.

Chapter 6

I woke up the next day bright and early, I got out of bed and sneaked over to the balcony and saw my dad kiss mom good-bye as he took off.

Time to put my plan into motion.

I closed the balcony doors and curtains as I walked over to the center of my room. I closed my eyes and relax remembering Rarity's advice as I cast the clone spell.

An almost perfect copy of me stood there, he was a tad lighter but barley noticeable. My strength dropped big time, but it seems that Rarity's tip on relaxing helped since I didn't collapse.

“Okay Solace, I need you to go the kitchen and tell Skillet to keep you there for about 30 minutes, then return to me. If mom sees you tell her good morning and tell her that you are going to kitchen, if she says anything else, disregard it and say, 'I'm just going to get something to eat.' Got it? And no using our powers.”

My doppelganger nodded, “Got it.”

Not-Solace trotted out the door, making sure he closed the door on the way.

Ok, next is a hiding spot.

I looked around and quickly jumped into my closet and closed the door. Thankfully it had slits so I could see who was entering and leaving. Not even five minutes later, I heard the door open as a pair of royal blue hoofs entered.

“Now, if I had an item that my parents didn't want me to have, where would I hide it......” Mom was using her normal voice, when ever she had guest, she would use a terrible Prench accent, makes me cringe every time I hear it.

This is too perfect.

I drew the circle for the levitation spell on my mom's foreleg, I connected my magic with the circle and lifted her into the air.

“Wha....HEY”, Mom was freaking out, seeing the unknown aura carrying her did not settle with her well.

I pushed open the closet door, “Looking for something, Mom?”

“Solace! Oh thank Celestia, go see if there's a stalker around here, he seems to have me.”

“But why? I mean if they wanted you to move left......”

I moved Mom to the left a bit, “they would, and if they wanted to move you to the right......”

I moved my mother back to her original position, “they would.”

“You, cast this?” mom sounded shocked, “But how?”

“The same way I cast that clone of mine, with magic. Now, I'm going to put you down, and I want to know what you and dad are protecting me from, I am trying to trust my parents a bit more, but you need to tell me what's going on.”

Mom lowered her head, “Fine.”

Wow, that was easy.

I set my mother down as she brushed herself off, ridding herself of any 'dust'.

“But I can only tell you what I know, the rest you'll need to get from your father.”

Ok, fair enough.

“Do you have that book? Lunar Spell Circles: An earth pony spell guide?”

I went over to my saddlebags and grasped the book in my magic, then I walked back and showed her.

“This book, has been in your father's side of the family for many generations. So many I couldn't name anypony in the family properly without saying ten or so “greats”. When Princess Luna had to battle King Sombra with her sister Celestia, she needed a way to fight more efficiently, and more elaborately. With the help of Star Swirl the bearded, they created: 'Lunar Spell Circles: An alicorns spell guide'. This book contained numerous combat spells that her and in some cases Celestia used while fighting the horrible tyrant. After the war, Luna wanted to present this spell type to ponies, but unicorns already had magic, and pegasi used the magic in their feathers to keep them flying as long as they were flapping their wings. So she turned to the earth ponies, after hundreds of failed earth pony test subjects, she came upon one who was able to use it. He was the first of what they called, 'earth pony sages,' after years of practice and skill, he was a powerful stallion, capable of doing great things. His family clan was called, the Shadow Wing clan, although I have yet to figure out why they are called that.”

Woah, this is amazing, an earth pony as powerful as the princesses when it came to magic.

“Ok, but what about this book, the earth pony spell guide.” I asked.

“Well, from my guess, this is a collection of the spells you can use as an earth pony. And it seems your wandering eye has picked up on two.”

“Actually Mom”, I wasn't sure about how to explain this, “the clone spell I learned from Princess Luna herself in one of my dreams so I could leave the house. The other one.......I learned in Ponyville so I could move things around more easily since I didn't want to hold the book in my mouth constantly.”

Mom stared at me, she looked shocked and a bit amazed, suddenly she burst into laughter, “I'm impressed that you were able to leave the mansion. That crowd is always blocking the gates during the day. That's why your father and I leave so early, we don't need to go until about lunch time”

Okay, that one was excusable.

I chuckled a bit, “You have no idea.....”

Mom closed the mystic book and returned it to me, “Well, I still need to find something that would make you crave adventure so that your father doesn't go on a rampage, if you give it up now, I might return it later when your father doesn't know about it.”

“Well.....”, I looked over at the rug where my hiding spot was for my small collection, ”Remember those books that you took from me a while back? The Daring Do ones.”

“Let me guess”, Mom said, she had a bit of a 'I'm-annoyed-but-I'll-let-it-slide' tone in her voice, “You ordered another full set and hid it somewhere. And I'm guessing it was a reason to see your retarded friend as well.”

I sighed, “Mom, Ditzy isn't retarded, she's actually very smart and one of the best mail mares in Canterlot and Ponyville, she got hit by lightning when she was a filly and it messed up with her eyes. The doctors said it was called 'strabismas' meaning her eye alignment is off, giving her a 'derpy' kind of look, which is why her nickname is Derpy Hooves. She doesn't mind if her friends call her that, but she doesn't like it when it's used as an insult.”

Mom smiled, “Putting those closest first, you certainly have your father's loyalty, maybe even Rainbow Dash's.”

“How did you know about Rainbow?”

She chuckled, “Don't forget Solace, I work with the princesses, I do get to meet the bearers of the Elements every once in a while. Now, about those A.K. Yearling books.”

I sighed and nodded as I walked over to the spot in the rug and lifted it revealing the trap door.

“A secret compartment, clever”, Mom used her magic and reveal the contents inside, “and you even have it in a treasure chest. Where did you manage to get a chest?”

“It came with the collection.” I replied, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Mom laughed at the idea, she picked up the box with her magic and used her fake Prench voice that she uses most of the time, “These books are simply too exciting for my son, they are not something we Canterlot pony folk should be reading. We should be enjoying things like Sherclop Pony, or the Reigner Witch Hunts.”

“Oh Celestia, the Witch Hunts, I hate that story.” I cringed and laughed.

“Don't worry honey, I hate it too.” Mom said, using her normal voice.

I never thought of my mother being like this. I always thought of her as a snooty, rude, annoying show off, but now that I've actually spent some time with her, she's no where like that. Mom is kind and caring, and she isn't afraid of getting in trouble with Dad. Rainbow was right, they know more than I thought, although I might have more trouble getting Dad to talk to me. I know him well enough to know that he is a much tougher shell to crack.

“Hey Mom.” I started.

“Yes Solace?”

“I kinda promised Derpy that I would meet her with Rainbow Dash in Ponyville, may I?”

Mom gave a warm and welcoming smile, “Well I can't keep you here forever, but make sure you get back well before your father gets home. I don't want him going on a rampage.”

“Not a problem, I'll make sure of that.”

Some sneaking around and a train ride later, I was back in Ponyville being greeted by Derpy and my two new friends. Rarity had a big feathery hat made of peacock feathers, Rainbow and Derpy were deep into a conversation.

“Oh, come on Derpy”, Rainbow argued, “how could a hot air pocket be helpful? They put a lot of wet air onto the under side of your wings, and that causes more weight.”

“Updrafts”, Derpy corrected, “help you rise into the air more quickly and efficiently, and it only adds weight if you're too close to the ground, where the cool water particles are instead of warm dry air that lifts you. Try and fly over the Everfree, that place is full of natural and powerful updrafts.”

“I still think it's a hindrance.” Rainbow hufted, being told by Derpy.

“Hey everypony”, I chimed in, “what's up?”

“Oh, just these two going at it over weather patterns and flying techniques. I honestly think that the checker board design I created with the sky was simply amazing. Even if it was too out of season.” Rarity flipped her hair.

“Um Rarity, that was a bit too 'all season'.” Rainbow frowned, facehoofing herself.

Derpy shrugged, “I wasn't there for that. I had to go to go north for the year to help some family. I was able to stop by for a little bit, but only if I needed something urgently.”

“You're lucky then, that was a complete disaster, although the results were simply fantastic.” Rarity squealed slightly.

“Yea, who knew Twilight was going to be a princess, and the Princess of Friendship at that.”

“Sounds like it was some event”, I stated, “speaking of events, if I remember right there's a lot of festivals here in Ponyville. Anything going on?”

“As a matter of fact”, Rainbow replied scratching her chin, “the Running of the Leaves is today, me and AJ were going to try and make first place this year.”

“Running of the Leaves?” I tilted my head in curiousity.

“It's when a bunch of ponies run by the trees and make the leaves fall down because of the shaking of the ground”, Derpy explained, “Anypony can join, but earth ponies are best at doing it since they're more connected with the land.”

“Hey maybe I can join, I might not be as athletic as you, but I'll be happy to help anyway I can.” I offered.

“Sounds like a great idea Solace, the exercise can help with you endurance too.” Rainbow said as she flew over and landed next to me.

“I would join, but I'm not one for running, I might chip a hoof.” Rainbow and Derpy rolled their eyes at the unicorn's remark, I covered my mouth as I snickered.

“Well, I think we should get going, don't want to be late”, Derpy led the way to where the competition would take place.

“Hey Derpy..... I'm really sorry about my dad, this is the first time he's done something like that, and don't worry, things will be back to normal, be sure of it.”

“It's ok Solace, I've gotten used to it.” Derpy's reply didn't sound convincing at all, but I couldn't say much else about it.

“Speaking of your parents, your keeping that Pinkie Promise you made right?” Rainbow gave me a raised eyebrow of interrogation.

“I'm still here and alive, so yea.” I said.

I explained to Rainbow the series of events that happened the night before and earlier this morning as she, Rarity, and Derpy were listening to the tale.

“See, what did I tell you”, Rainbow grinned, “your parents do know more than you thought.”

“Yea, and I'm happy to hear that conversation before, or I wouldn't very pleased that my books were gone again. Thankfully, Mom said she'll sneak them back into my hiding spot soon as long as we keep it a secret from Dad until he thinks it was time to tell me everything.”

“Yea, I don't think I would want to carry a package like that again”, Derpy laughed nervously.

“Speaking of mail, shouldn't you be on your route today?” I asked.

Derpy shook her head in response, “I got the day off today for the race, I'm not the only mail mare in Ponyville you know.”

“Touche.” I rolled my eyes.

We strolled along through the town until we got to a field where the starting line was for the race. Rainbow flew ahead and got the attention of a orange pony with a 'cowpony' hat, she had a blonde mane and tail, and her cutie mark showed three apples.

“Hey Solace, this is my friend Applejack”, Rainbow introduced the pony in question, “she's running the race too.”

“Well howdy there partner, Ah'm mighty pleased to see a new pony in town”, Applejack said, grabbing my hoof and violently shaking it, I was practically bouncing up and down in the air due to the pony's strength.

“Good to meet you too Applejack”, my eyes were spinning for a few moments, I refocused and gave the earth pony a smug look.

“Oh, sorry there partner”, she said apologetically.

I brushed it off, accepting her apology, “It's fine AJ.”

I decided to look around to see the competitors, many of them were earth ponies like Rainbow said,with the occasional pegasus or unicorn. I heard some trumpets as I turned to see the Princess and.....my father.

My heart dropped like an anvil, this is going to end very, very badly. I sprinted to my group as quickly as I could, I drew a levitation spell on my hoof and tagged Rainbow's tail with it as I dragged her into the edge of the forest behind some shrubs, in turn the rest of the group followed.

“Hey! What was that.....” Rainbow started but stopped as soon as I saw my panicked state.

“My Dad is here”, is all I could say, and it was enough for everypony to know why I freaked.

“Well, is there something we can do?” Applejack said, she didn't seem to know what was going on. Great job on not filling AJ in guys, gold star for all.

“Solace darling, is there a spell you could try?” Rarity suggested.

Hey, that's not a bad idea.

I grasped the book with my magic and pulled it out of the saddlebag, the look on AJ's face was hilarious.

“How in Equestria is he able to do that?” she gawked.

“I got a knack for it”, I replied as I scanned through the Table of Contents, “Let's see: Summoning, Traps, Enchanting, Illusion...... ah here we go, Alteration.”

I turned to the page as I flipped through and picked a fairly simple looking spell as I read it out loud (more or less)

“Changling Spell: this spell allows the user or the target to become another, the time length depends on the amount of magic used. Requirments: in order for the spell to work, the caster needs to have a vivid image of the pony he/she wishes to become, in the situation with a different species of pony, you will not be able to use the talent of the other pony. Warning: casting another spell will cut short the current spell's effects.”

I closed the book and looked at the group, “So who should I turn into?”

“Well it can't be Rarity 'cause she ain't one of dem runnin' types”, Applejack said. Rarity hmph'ed in response.

“I can't be Rainbow or you either because you two are entering, what about you Derpy?”

“I'd be happy to help, but will it hurt?” Derpy asked.

“Nope, all I need is a good mental image. If you could, spin around slowly a couple of times.”

Derpy nodded as she turned about, I took mental notes of her coat color, mane color, and other essentials, I avoided trying to be too detailed or I'll probably get smacked, I would deserve it too.

The spell consisted of three moons: one new moon and two crescents. Inside the circle was a triangle connecting the three moons together. I drew out the spell below me, I had to act quickly but I needed to make sure I drew this correctly. After drawing the spell, I stomped a hoof to activate it, poring in a large portion of my magic. While doing so, I place the mental image of Derpy into my mind, including her voice and derped eyes.

I opened my eyes, seeing in two completely different direction. I knew that this is what would happen, but it's difficult to imagine it and wow is it difficult to see. I started waving my hooves around feeling for something to hang onto. I managed to grab something soft.

“Hey, that's my tail!” Rainbow yelped, snapping back her tail.

“Oops, sorry Rainbow”, I apologized, I wasn't even used to my new voice, it was much higher and sounded more innocent, this isn't going to be an easy spell to learn.

“Derpy, how do you see with these, no offense but this isn't easy.” I walked around trying to figure out my surroundings.

“Pick an eye, any eye.” Derpy said laughing in my expense.

Left eye since I'm left-hoofed.

I focused onto my left eye and ignored the other more or less. Everything refocused into my left eye, I was now able to see everypony in front of me, looking slightly annoyed since I may have smacked a pony or two.

“Hehe, sorry ladies”, I said, trying to act as adorable as possible, which was easy since Derpy's voice was high enough to do that.

I went over to the real Derpy and stood next to her, “How does it look?”

“Lookin' good Solace”, Applejack remarked, “I mean the accuracy of course.”

“Hmm, you're an inch taller and your mane is a bit more saturated than our friend here, other than that, you'll pass as our friend here.” Rarity commented.

“Well it's time to test it”, I smirked as I looked over the bushes to see Celestia and my dad.

“Good luck y'all, may the best pony win”, Applejack said as she went for the starting line.

“You too”, I replied as I refocused on the royal family.

I jumped over the bushes and walked over to Celestia so I could greet her, I bowed to the princess and she gave a small bow in response.

“Hello there Ditsy Do, it is good to see you racing today, and if I understand correctly, this is your second year running?”

“That's right Princess, and I'm really happy to be back for this year.” I smiled to the princess, happy to see her.

“Princess, you know this pony?” Dad questioned accusingly, “Why would you even care to know her? She's not like the other ponies.”

I hung my head in shame, now I know how she feels when ponies act like this to her. It's cruel and horrible, it must have been worse when he called Derpy retarded. Maybe I should have Skillet bake some muffins for her, I heard she likes them.

“Well Mr. Eclipse, I do not value a pony for who they are, but what they have done and how they are able to change Equestria for the better.” Celestia glared at Dad, that must have been painful, being stared down by the princess.

“My apologies princess, but I've met this pony before with my son, and she didn't seem to be somepony to trust.” Dad replied.

My anger was broiling, I know that he was being overly protective, but come on, this is ridiculous.

“Maybe next time, you should take a look, before judging the cover of the book.” Celestia sounded like she was quoting somepony, and she was very right. I mean look at my current position.

Dad huffed as he walked away to talk to the pony who was announcing.

“Princess....” I called.

“Yes Ditsy?”

I showed a small Lunar spell circle to show Celestia my identity.

“Ah I see, avoiding your father from finding out?”

I nodded.

“Well your new spell is certainly doing it, I'm guessing it has a timed effect?”

“The spell should last until I get out of the forest, before then I'll switch out with the real Derpy and she'll cross the finish line so I can re-transform into another pony.”

“Sounds like an excellent plan”, Celestia grinned slightly.

“Last thing princess.”

“Yes, my little pony?”

“Thanks for telling my dad not to judge a book by it's cover, it'll give him something to think about.”

“Not a problem.” Celestia turned around and walked up to the hot air balloon telling a small baby dragon something in his ear so that my dad couldn't hear her.

I smiled as I walked over to the starting line, and what I heard as I got there erased that smile immediately.

“Hey look, it's Derpy Hooves.”

“Look. It's 'navigational issues'.”

“Don't get lost, Derrrpy.”

Next time I visit, I got some choice words for those ponies.

A loud intercom sounded as a high pitched voice came on. It sounded joyful and very bouncey.

“Hey everypony! Welcome to the Running of the Leaves! I'm your announcer Pinkie Pie, and with me is my co-host, Spike the Dragon!”

Another voice sounded off, it was child-like and equally optimistic.

“We got a good line up this year, many of our usual pony folk have returned to race, that even includes Rainbow Dash and Applejack.”

“Now last time they were in the race, they were in a competition on who was the most athletic in Ponyville! Unfortunately, they were so caught up with themselves, they managed to tie for last!”

“That was a sad year for them.”

Pinkie Pie pulled onto the ascension rope as the balloon flew up into the air.

“Will our friends make last place one again?! Or will they boop each others noses like in that one video?!”

“Um Pinkie, what are you talking about?” Spike asked, I was actually curious to know what she meant as well.

“Ok everypony! Let's get this show on the road! In 3!”

Everypony lined up at the starting line, Rainbow and AJ stood next to me as Applejack tied a rope around Rainbow's wings.

“Just in case Rainbow, don't want you pullin' any funny business.”

Rainbow glared at the orange earth pony.

“2!”

I got into a running position, this isn't going to be easy with my current vision, I'll need to make do though, and probably apologize to Derpy about anything rude I'll most likely say.

“1! GO!!!”

I used as much energy I had left in me to throw my body forward in a full sprint, I was dodging other ponies to prevent any chaotic collisions, but with the amount of ponies in the race, and my current sight, this is going to be a challenge in itself. Everypony steadily came together and created a huge cloud of stomping hooves, wings and heads.

I finally managed to jump out of the cloud of hooves and heads and ran ahead, my right eye was bobbing about so it became a bit distracting, I decided to switch eyes so it would stop bothering me, thankfully my left eye was still somewhat focused, after that whole event I managed to catch up to Rainbow and Applejack.

“What's up Solace, nice job getting out of that mess back there.” Rainbow complimented smirking, “maybe you'll make third, just maybe.”

“Aw come on RD, give the kid a chance.” Applejack argued.

“I'm not exactly trying to win here Applejack”, I replied, “I just want to see the leaves fall.”

“Well that's not a problem there sugar cube, look behind ya.”

I looked back past the chaos of the pony cloud and saw hundreds of colorful leaves falling, browns, reds, yellows, and every color in between. So this is autumn in Ponyville, amazing.

“Eyes forward kiddo”, Rainbow warned as we came to the mountain area, “we get a lot of falling rocks around here because of the hoof stomping.”

“You do know I'm the same age as you right?” I corrected.

“Yea, but when it comes to this race, I beat you by experience.” Rainbow snickered as I rolled the eye I was using, speaking of which I need to switch again.

We came into a large valley in the mountains, small rocks and gravel falling everywhere due to the rumbling of the ponies behind us, Rainbow, Applejack, and I were dodging many of the slightly larger rocks that could actually hurt us. After about ten minutes the rocks started becoming larger and more lethal.

“Woah!” I screamed as I dodged a large boulder, “These things are getting bigger, much bigger.”

Rainbow barely managed to dodge another boulder, “Yea, rocks like these bad boys don't usually fall.”

“Applejack, you doing ok up there?” I called, but Applejack was too far ahead to hear us.

“Horse feathers”, I cursed as I jumped over a boulder. Rainbow glared at me as she moved her trapped wings, “Oops, sorry.”

Rainbow Dash and I were dodging through large boulders that were steadily getting larger as we were getting to the end of the valley, I looked back behind me seeing the pony cloud somehow dodging the boulders with great ease.

Ok, how in Luna's name is that possible.

Suddenly the ground below me started shaking violently, I looked up on the side of the mountain, a giant boulder came rolling down towards Rainbow, my instincts took over immediately as my eye-sight was restored, and I felt a huge blast of magical energy rush through my body. I jumped over Rainbow Dash and kicked the large object above her, the impact sent a wave in agonizing pain through me as the boulder bursts into thousands of pebbles, the magic left my body as quickly as it came and I collapsed.

“Ohmygosh, Solace!” Rainbow Dash reached back and bit the rope off her wings, “cheating shmeating, I need to help my friend!”

Rainbow Dash started flying towards me, grabbing my tail and dragging me out of the way of the pony crowd rushing towards my previous location. I got back to my full senses and looked at my rescuer.

“Thanks for getting me out of the....OW” Rainbow Dash slapped me across the face, leaving a burning sensation.

“What were you thinking?!” Rainbow yelled, she sounded scared, “You almost died! And now, you're out of your shape shifting spell, meaning your father is going to find out!”

Damn it, she was right. I looked down and saw my crimson coat. My leg was throbbing, crying out for a healing spell or a cast. But now that I think about it.....

“Then I made the right choice Rainbow.” I struggled to get up onto my hooves, another wave of pain got me from the leg I used to vaporize the rock, “That means I can come clean and face my father properly, and I can keep my promise while saving my friends.”

“You are one crazy pony, you know that right?” Rainbow commented as she helped me up, “Come on, we got a race to finish.”

Author's Note

Note to self:New spell learned- Changeling spell: this spell allows me to transform into another pony, although while I'm in disguise I cannot use any other spell. Another thing to note is that I take on the traits of the pony I become.

Chapter 7

Rainbow Dash and I slowly trotted through the mountains, my crying leg settled down some from the strike but was still reminding me it was there, I was limping slightly as we made it back into the forest, the leaves on the trees were already scattered across the ground, creating a vibrant path of colorful autumn leaves. I looked over at Rainbow who was looking ahead, deep in thought.

“Hey Solace”, Rainbow said.

“Yea Rainbow?”

“I'm really sorry about what happened, if only I released my wings before then you wouldn't need to risk your life to save mine.” Rainbow started tearing up, feeling ashamed that she allowed somepony else to get hurt.

“Hey, don't worry about it, sometimes it's okay to let others help you.” I tried to comfort her self-downfall, although that didn't seem to help.

“Yea but, I don't leave other ponies behind like that, it's not in my nature”, Rainbow argued.

“You did save me from getting stomped on, I consider that equal pay right there”, I replied smiling, “Sometimes, you need to allow others to help you, even if you don't think they could.”

“Yea, I shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.” Rainbow blushed some.

“Especially if it's a good book like Daring Do”, I joked.

“You think you'll be okay facing your dad?” the mare asked.

I nodded reassuringly, “I don't think he'll be yelling at me when I tell him I managed to obliterate a two ton rock with a rush of adrenalin.”

“Speaking of which, how did you do that, the only other pony I've seen capable of doing that is my friend's sister.”

I stopped, she was right. How in Celestia's name did I do that, unless my talent is smashing rocks (which I highly doubt) I shouldn't have been able to do that.

In response I shrugged, “Only the heavens above would know.”

“Oh! Speaking of my friend.” Rainbow and I looked up, seeing a huge, pink, hot air balloon, she waved her hooves in the air as the vessel floated down, revealing a bright pink earth pony popping out of the balloon.

“Hey Dashie what's up?” the pink one said.

“Solace here got hurt, I was wondering if we could get a ride.” Rainbow asked.

“You better not be using this as an advantage to beat Applejack.” the mare replied.

“Nah, I'm out of the race, we just need to get back to the starting line so we can get Solace's hoof fixed up.” By the sound of it, Rainbow was not pleased that she willing forfeited.

“Okie dokie lokie”, the earth pony said, “By the way, I'm Pinkie Pie.”

“Moon Solace”, I replied.

“Well, let's get you back Moonie.” Pinkie chirped.

“Moonie?”

“Pinkie comes up with a nickname of her own for her friends.”, a child like voice said, I turned around to see a small purple and green dragon.

“I just met her though, why would she think of me as a friend?” I asked, I would be geeking out about a tame dragon speaking to me, but I was in a lot of pain, and the nickname caught me off guard.

The baby dragon simply shrugged, “That's Pinkie for ya.”

We slowly drifted over the transforming forest as the trees went from Fall to Winter in the matter of minutes. I've always enjoyed watching the seasons change, but this felt so much more natural then how the unicorns did it, it felt like this was the Everfree instead of a hundred or so ponies galloping through a beaten path. After floating in the sky for several hours, we landed at the finish line (which was also the starting line conveniently), and Rainbow Dash and Pinkiepie assisted me out of the aircraft, I was still limping some as Celestia turned and swiftly walked up to our group, with Derpy and Rarity following behind. I was pleased that my friends came to support me, but something was off, very off.

“Excuse me princess, but where did my dad go?” I asked the goddess.

“Your mother sent a letter saying that it was urgent, your father flew off to your home as soon as he finished reading.”

Something didn't feel right, why would Dad ditch the princess to see Mom? Did he catch my rouse and was so angry that he left? No, that's not it, Mom said it was urgent. I looked off into the distance of where the mountain-side castle was, there was smoke coming from the middle.

“Oh, no.” I was speechless, “Pleased tell me that is a bonfire or something festive princess.”

“We didn't have anything of the sort scheduled today”, the princess replied. This only heightened my suspicion and fear.

“Princess, do you know a healing spell to fix my leg?” I asked.

“Yes, but why would you need a healing spell so quickly?”

“No time to explain, can you please heal it?”

The princess nodded as her horn glowed and lowered her head to heal my wounded hoof. The magic felt bright and pure, makes sense since she is the sun goddess. I gave my hoof a couple of taps to test the strength. Back in working order no surprise since Celestia healed it.

“I need a mode of transportation to get me home too. Pinkie's balloon is good, but it isn't fast enough.”

Celestia nodded as she flagged her two pegasus guards, they both came running and saluted as they stood in attention.

“I need you to take Moon Solace here to his home, something is troubling him and he needs to see if something is amiss.”

“Yes ma'am, we shall fly with the wind.” one of the guards replied.

“I'm coming with him”, Rainbow announced, “I'm not letting you go there by yourself.”

“I don't know Rainbow.....”, I replied, although I got the look of I'm-not-taking-no-for-an-answer from the blue pegasus.

“Okay Rainbow, you can come”, I sighed. She immediately took response to that and flew next to the chariot, ready to take off.

“Do you need me to come with you, my little pony?” Celestia asked, she looked concerned as well.

“Optimistically speaking, I should be fine”, I levitated my saddlebags onto my back, pulling the strap tightly.

“And if not optimistically speaking?”

“Then my current fears will lash at me and give me one hell of a beating.”

Celestia knew what I meant as she nodded.

“Okay Mr. Pegasus guards, let's get back to the mansion.”

We zoomed off towards the castle, every fear that latched a hold of me grew stronger as we approached my home. When we made it, every ounce of terror was confirmed, the entire estate was now a smoldering ash pit, with some astray flames here and there. All the marble pillars were now an ebony black and the library was nothing but burnt books and scorched shelves now. We landed and I broke into a sprint, making my legs carry me faster than they would allow.

“Mom?! Dad?!”, I was freaking out and I had good reasons, “Monocle?! Skillet?!”

My entire body went into a mental break-down as I collapsed and burst into tears, everypony that I cared about, dead.

“Solace....” a voice called out, “Solace, over here.....”

I followed the voice to it's location. I stopped on a dime to discover it was the very pony I was avoiding all day, my father.

“Dad”, I teared up, I was standing in front of my dying father, “I'm so sorry.”

“It's not your fault........ I should have allowed you out of the....... house a long time ago.....I just didn't want to see you risk your life for nothing.”

I stood there, I was still crying, my dad had finally let up just before he died, he must have wanted peace with himself for treating me like how he did.”

“Solace......take these........they shall answer as many questions as they contain......” my father held out a enchanted bag, it was scorched and singed but in good enough condition to hold the contents.

“Can you keep a promise.....?” he asked. I nodded as I sniffed up my pride and pulled as much of myself back together as I could.

“I need you to promise me......to protect everpony you care about......they will be your closest allies.”

Whimpering I chanted, “Cross my heart...Hope to fly.......Stick a cupcake in my eye.”

This promise, I'm going to keep to my own dying breath, I vowed not only to him, but myself, that I'll protect everypony I care about. Derpy, Rarity, Celestia, Luna, Pinkiepie I guess, and Rainbow Dash.

“Solace are you....” Rainbow ran up next to me and just like my reaction to the leveled area, she was speechless, “Solace, I'm so sorry.”

I ignored her, I was too lost in my own thoughts to think about anything else but the contents in the bag, eight silver gemstones, each labeled and numbered, along with a scrap of paper.

“These gemstones....will help you......” my father said as he drew his final breath. Solace Eclipse was no more, along with the rest of my family and caretakers.

Rainbow came back to her senses and looked at me, “Are you going to be okay?”

I wiped the tears from my face, “I need to find out what happened here, who started the fire, what my special talent is, and why I can't remember anything from when I got my cutie-mark.”

“Well then, I guess I got to help you make it to your goals, no pony should go alone”, Rainbow said confidently.

“Thanks Rainbow”, I smiled weakly, then I turned back to my deceased father,“I'll find residency in Ponyville where I'll continue my studies, and where I can keep my promises, to my parents, and to you.”

But the problem is, where would I live? I need somewhere to stay. I can't come back here, the idea of sleeping where my entire family and childhood friends died seems a bit disturbing and shameful.

All of a sudden, Rainbow embraced me in a hug, it caught me off guard, but it felt nice. It was like a lit candle in a dark room

“Um, Rainbow?” I looked at the mare with some disbelief.

“You'll figure this out, you and all of your friends.”

{-----}

It's been several weeks since the fire, the funeral was small, and Rainbow Dash and I were leaving the Shadow Wing crypt to see my parents being buried. I haven't gotten the chance to look at the gemstones that my dad gave me yet, I was still depressed that everything I knew simply disappeared off the face of Equestria, leaving nothing but a black scar on Canterlot. Thanks to Princess Twilight, I now live in a small house just on the edge of town, with the Everfree forest in view.

Rainbow and I walked into my home, it wasn't very big, but it was comfortable, it had two floors, the first floor for the kitchen, living room, and dining area, the second floor had a guest room, master bedroom, two bathrooms, and a small office with a miniature library. We walked in and Rainbow flew over onto the couch I got from the store, for some reason the owner also sells quills along with couches.

“Are you sure you're going to be okay Solace?” Rainbow asked once again. This was the twelfth time she's asked.

“Don't worry Rainbow, I'll be fine.” I replied grabbing an apple from a basket that Applejack brought from her farm as a gift.

Rainbow walked over to the table and grabbed the bag that contained the heirlooms.

“Well I think you should start that journey of yours”, Rainbow grabbed the bag containing the gemstones, “and I have a feeling your story starts there.”

I looked at Rainbow, then at the bag, she had a point, I've spent enough time being depressed and I think RD is getting sick of seeing me like this. Using my magic I levitated the bag towards me, I went through it and grabbed the scrape of paper.

My son,

There is much I need to tell you about your family's history, although I wasn't able to make enough Soul Crystals to tell you everything. These crystals are very special, they contain the souls of several family ancestors,(not including your grandfather) they shall guide you on where to find the information you need. You are a very special pony that made me and your mother very proud to call 'son'. Even though we have made the mistake of keeping you in this mansion, we do care about you. You remind me of when I was young, loyal, stubborn, clever, and a thrill seeker (yes I knew it was you in the Ditsy Do disguise, your eyes still had some stars inside the pupils). I know that I have missed many of your birthdays, and hearth warming gifts, but thanks to your mother's sacrific, I have contained her soul in the final crystal, although the stone is a bit cracked so you can only see her for a couple of minutes and only a few times before it breaks. Before you start on the crusade of your life, I have one thing to say, and it is the same thing that my father taught me. 'One's skill is not always about natural talent, but the determination of the pony'. I love you son, and I bet that your mother will say the same.

Love,

Your father, Solstice Eclipse.

P.S. To activate the gems, place the desired gem on the formula on the back and inject some magic into the gemstone.

Tears poured from my eyes, dripping onto the paper. My dad was a douche bag, he never cared about me, he with-held so many secrets from me that I didn't trust him. And now he wants to fix everything in the after life?

I turned over the paper to see an extremely complicated Lunar Spell Circle. Inside the ring where the moon phases go were a series of confusing runes, and instead of eight phases, there were sixteen. How in Luna's name are you supposed to have sixteen moon phases?

“Okay, here we go”, I grabbed the eighth Soul Crystal and placed it in the formula, “If I'm still here and I go limp or something Rainbow, make sure my body stays safe.”

Rainbow nodded, getting off of the couch and saluting.

I closed my eyes as I poured some magic into the gemstone. Everything around me melted into a world of stars, I was floating above a path of stars, I assumed that it was stable and I threw myself onto the path with a thud.

Yep, it's solid.

“Hello?” I called out, “Anypony here?”

“Solace?” a familiar voice called. I turned to see my mother, she was out of her overly extravagant retire, she looked so much better than when she wasn't wearing that blinding clothing.

“Mom!” I cried throwing myself into her hooves, “I've missed you so much.”

“I know Solace, your father wanted me to be with you whenever you felt alone, he didn't see himself as a very good influence as a father.”

“You weren't much better”, I giggled, although Mom gave me a good thump on the head.

“At least I didn't go crazy like your father when he learned that you were learning the Lunar spells.”

“He went crazy?”, I replied, rubbing my head from the newly forming lump, “Was it him that started the fire?”

“No, he was throwing things across our room, the fire didn't start until after I calmed him down.”

“So that means you don't know who did it.” I didn't like the sound of that.

“Solace, I know I wasn't a good mother, in fact I confess I was a horrible mother, but it doesn't mean I didn't love you. You are a talented stallion, you are capable to live your life instead of staying in that dusty old mansion.”

“Yea, but I didn't want to leave my home like this, I didn't want to see my family get burned alive. This isn't fair.”

“I know love, but the world isn't going to be fair sometimes, you just need to learn how to face with it.”

Gee Mom, thanks for the advice.

“Now, the spell is about to wear off, make sure you keep your promises, got it?”

“Wait how did you know about the promise I made to dad?”

“I might be stuck in a rock now, but it doesn't mean I don't know what's going on in the outside world. Before you go, I suggest on looking at the first crystal, you might find it useful.” Mom smirked as she and the rest of the world faded back into reality, and whoa did I feel light headed.

“Solace?” Rainbow asked.

“Sorry, got dizzy for a second there.” I said as I recollected myself from the dizziness.

“So who was in the crystal?”

“Mom....”

Rainbow Dash jumped off the couch, “Whoa whoa whoa, your mom, the one who is supposed to be dead, is in that crystal. That. Is. Awesome.”

“It came to me as a bit off a surprise as well.”

I explained to Rainbow how the crystals worked, and about how Mom's crystal is cracked.

“So what happens if it breaks?”

I sat there silent.

“Oh, I see. Well let's not let that distract us, did your mom say anything else?”

“Yea, she said to look at the first rock.” I reached into the bag and grabbed the gemstone that was labeled '#1' on it,“Remember, keep an eye on my body when I go in.”

Rainbow nodded once again as I cast the spell going into the next stone. Everything around me faded again, as I returned to the world of twilight.

“I wonder who I'm meeting here?” I asked out loud.

“That would be me.”

I turned around and saw a huge icy white and gray dragon. It looked friendly, but my reaction said otherwise.

“Sweet Luna! A dragon!” I scrambled onto my hooves and made a run for it. The dragon somehow managed to freeze me in mid-air, he turned me around to show me what's keeping me from moving. It was a Lunar Spell circle.

“Wait, how can you make one of those, you're not even a pony.”

“I am Las-Mir, your grandfather and I shared the same body for a long time, we combined our forces to defeat the Corrupts.”

“Corrupts?”

“Evil creatures that take the lives of ponies, when not possessing somepony, they are dark clouds of energy, feasting on those who have corrupted minds.”

“Wait, so you and the grandfather I have never seen, worked together to kill these things?”

“That is correct.”

Okay, I need to know more about this guy who used to be my grandfather, he sounds awesome.

“So, what exactly is your role in fighting Corrupts?”

“I became his blade, far more powerful than the spell sword he owned..”

Wow, a dragon that could become a humble sword. I wonder how that works.

“So, does this work with everypony?”

“No...”

Damn it, I seriously wanted a dragon blade.

“I met your grandfather while attempting to kill him actually.”

I stared at the dragon, not surprising that this reptile would try to kill him, “Okay, so how did you two become good friends?”

“It was long ago, your grandfather was attempting to take down some Corrupts when he wandered into my cave, I was much younger then, and my anger had gotten the best of me on multiple occasions, after evaporating the dreaded things with a Flash Fire spell, I went after your father next, thinking that he was going to steal my gem collection that I have been hording for years. Your grandfather was faster than anything I have seen in my life, many other ponies called the move Flash Skip. I continued to claw at him, trying to slicing him into thin strips of skin, blood, and gore. Alas, I could not, he was too fast for my reactions and eventually defeated me. He came up, looked me in the eye, and nodded. 'For someone who knows the same magic as I, you fight like a champion', he said. I became honor bound as a dragon, to assist the earth pony and fight along side him, becoming his blade and extinguishing those horrible creatures.”

Yea, I really need to know more about my grandfather, he sounds like a badplot.

“Flash Skip.....” I told myself, sealing the word into my mind for future reference.

“That spell is called a 'Spell of Birth', it is a spell that only one Shadow Wing knows, and can only be passed on by the same pony who owns it.”

“Does that mean I have my own spell, that only I know?”

“It is very likely, but you must learn the spells in your book, and stay alive in battle. Your ignorant friend, Rainbow Dash I believe she is called, can't be relied on all the time.”

My anger broiled at the comment, “Hey, watch it there Las-Mir, you don't want me leaving this gemstone and smashing it now do you? If I'm right, if the crystal breaks, you die, soul and all.”

“So the whelp knows his Soul Crystals, commendable to say the least. And it seems the child cares for the mare outside this world.”

I blushed, “She's my friend, why wouldn't I care about her.”

The dragon was not amused, “Well, if you ever need my help with learning Lunar Spells, feel free to come back.”

Wait, why did the dragon go from wise and friendly, to rude and annoying? Was he trying to learn about something?

I gave the dragon one last dirty look before the world around me returned to my home, I was on the ground, and I was light headed again.

“By Celestia's mercy, I think that's enough Soul Crystals for today.”

“Who was in that one?” Rainbow Dash asked, “You look like you lost an argument to a dragon.”

“That would be because I did lose an argument to a dragon.”

“What? How did your dad fit a dragon's soul into this little thing?” Rainbow grabbed the rock with her hoof and examined it closely, although it's kind of pointless.

“No idea, but I do know one thing for sure. I need to learn more about my grandfather.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Rainbow flew up into the air, excited to begin the adventure, “Come on, we got no time to spare.”

I grabbed Rainbow's tail with my levitation spell, yanking her back, “Actually, we aren't on a time stamp right now. We can get started tomorrow, but first, I need something to get rid of my headache and lingering depression. You know anypony that has something?”

“No, but I do know a zebra that can help.” Rainbow said as she raced off into the Evefree.

“Wait up Rainbow I can't run that fast!” I called running into the forest.

Author's Note

Thanks to all who are reading my story, I'm currently working on chapter 8 but I have some other things to work on so the Chapters may not come out as often as they are now. Please have some patience and once again, thanks for reading. :)

Chapter 8

You know, the Everfree was certainly different than the last time I was here, makes sense since I was asleep last time I was here, the forest was still peaceful and quiet. But it had a eerie vibe to it, as if danger was lingering.

“Hey Rainbow, what are those flowers that are scattered about here and there?”

“Poison Joke”, the mare replied, cringing at the flower.

“What's that?”

“They're a special type of plant with, I guess a personality, they somehow can hear you, their leaves and petals pull pranks by altering you size, shape, color, it could be anything, as long as they think it's amusing.”

“That is very odd”, I said looking at one of the mystic flowers.

“You can say that again.”

It wasn't long until we reached the destination. There was a large tree with several windows in it's side, hanging from the branches were several masks and bottles of various shapes and sizes. It looked a bit creepy, although Rainbow said there's nothing to worry about.

“Zebra culture is very different than ours, when we first met her, we thought she was a witch of some sort, soon we learned that she wasn't a witch at all, and we shouldn't reject a book by it's cover. In fact, that Poison Joke we talked about, was the reason we found out about who Zecora really was.”

“So what does she do? I mean, like an occupation.” I questioned.

“She's a master herbalist, she knows lots of different recipes for different things, she even knows a thing or two about magic.”

"So she is a witch?"

"She knows a lot about magic, but I don't know about her being able to use it."

We approached the wooden door to the zebra's home as Rainbow knocked, “Hey Zecora, you here?”

“Who has come to pay me a visit”, a voice called, “it sounds like Rainbow Dash, is it?”

The door opened as Zecora pops her head from the door way, “It is Rainbow Dash and friend, how about you come in.”

Is she speaking in rhyme?

“What's up Zecora?”

“What is up, not much in news, I am simply making my usual brews.” Zecora chanted.

Rainbow Dash looked into the cauldron, she took a sniff and cringed, “What kind of brew is that?!”

“That is not a brew for ponies that you wince at”, Zecora replied, “it is a special fertilizer inside the vat.”

“Okay....” Rainbow backed away from the vessel, “I know that your busy, but could you make a pain relieving brew for my friend over there.”

Rainbow pointed towards me, I was sitting on a chair on the other side of the room. My mind was still lingering about what happened a while back. I don't even think I'll be able to get over the whole 'everypony you cared about in that house is dead now', well, except Mom. But it still felt like she's dead, I only have her soul-bounded crystal in my saddlebag.

“Hmm, I shall see what I can do”, Zecora responded, “but I think you should leave for a bit too.”

“Okay, no sweat. Come on Solace.....”

“I actually wish to speak to your friend who is over there, before I mix my brew, I shall set some time to spare.”

“Um...okay”, Rainbow sounded confused, Zecora gave her a look and RD quickly understood as she zoomed out the door.

Zecora turned to me, she walked up slowly and place a hoof on my head, “Solace, your vibe is giving me a clue, is there something bothering you?”

Wow is she good at this rhyming thing.

“Why should I trust you?” I snapped, removing her hoof.

“Calm now, pony who is red”, Zecora argued, “you are acting like a colt who should go to bed. I am simply a friend who is here to help, now tell me, what is troubling you young whelp?”

I looked at the zebra, a bit irritated that she called me a colt. She was right though, I barely know her and I made a poor first impression.

“Sorry about what I did, it's just that....”

I explained to Zecora what happened, her ever listening ears never moved until I finished telling my tale.

“The pain of death is not one of laughter, but the love of your friends will not falter.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Zecora sighed, rethinking her words, “Even if your parents are gone, the love from your friends shall mend the bond.”

“Yea, but friends aren't family, I haven't known my friends for that long.”

“There was a saying my friend Twilight would say when things became tragic, I believe it went, 'Friendship is Magic'.”

Okay that made no sense, well, kind of made no sense. I could understand how my friends could help me, but they aren't like the ponies I've known for all of my life. But Rainbow, Rarity, Derpy, AJ, and that one crazy one Pinkie have been trying their best to keep me smiling. Soon after the incident, Pinkie threw a big 'Let's-cheer-Solace-up' party, which a blast. AJ would bring some of her delicious apple treats every once in a while. Rarity would even invite me for tea (even though I hated the stuff) and we would chat about magic and the current fashions in Canterlot, and Rainbow Dash would come and visit whenever I'm not making deliveries with Derpy. (she allowed me to become a part time mail stallion so I could pay for food and other things) Besides, whenever I needed the comfort, I can always go into the crystal that held my mom's soul.

“Okay Zecora, I understand now.” I smiled weakly.

“Hey Solace, Zecora. There's somepony out here picking Poison Joke.”, Rainbow poked her head through one of the windows.

“What have I told that mare about the Joke”, Zecora growled under her breath, “I'll be right back with the antidote.”

I ran outside and followed Rainbow to where the pony was picking the mystic flower. Although I tried hard to keep my mind off of what the effects would be, it could result in something terrible. I lunged out of the shrubbery into a clearing, on the far side was a large patch of the little pranksters. Right in the middle of the group, was a gray unicorn with an electric blue mane and tail, she was wearing pink saddlebags and a pink hair bow and ribbon.

“Hey there! Are you okay?” I called to the mare. She replied with a smile and a wave as she continued her task.

Damn it, I really don't want to touch that stuff, only Celestia knows what would happen to me. Make it worse I can't learn a new spell, I didn't bring the spell book. Need to think.

“Rainbow, do you think you can carry my over to the other side of the patch?” I asked my pegasus friend. The mare was on the other side of the sea of non-poisonous poison, so I would probably be able to talk to her more easily.

“Psh, in ten seconds flat.” Rainbow got hold of my fore-hooves and flew me across, the blue flowers made it look like an ocean of one big, unknown and unpleasant jokes.

Rainbow dropped me on the ground, right next to the flowers, about fifteen feet from the pony.

“Are you ok?” I asked once again.

The unicorn looked at me, “Yea, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be okay?”

“Well besides the fact that your standing in Poison Joke.” Rainbow replied.

The mare looked down below her feet and laughed.

“I have a spell that can keep myself from being effected from the Joke.”

“Wait, a spell?” I asked, if there was a spell for this, Twilight or Rarity should know about it, it would help a lot.

“Yep, it's part of my talent. I can manipulate Poison Joke to give off the effects I want the plant to have on the pony. Right now, they're in a state of idleness below me.”

She turned to show her cutie-mark, it showed an image of Poison Joke, “Name's Star Flower by the way.”

“I'm Moon Solace, and this is my friend Rainbow Dash.”

“Hey, what's up.” Rainbow replied.

“Well, I need to go back to my village to plant these properly. I'll see you two sometime soon okay?”

“Actually Star Flower, we need to take you back to our friend Zecora, she thinks you're under the effects of the flower and she's already making the antidote.”

We made it back to Zecora's hut and our zebra friend wasn't pleased hearing about the mare's talent. She just finished making the brew and she just wasted all that time and resources making it. Zecora dipped a vile into the vat and handed it to me just in case something happens. I grasped it in my magic and tucked it into my bag. After the series of events, Star Flower invited us to her village, we agreed so Rainbow and I followed our plant specialist friend to her village, she wanted us to see something called 'Everfree Radio'.

“Hey Star Flower, what's a radio?” I asked curiously.

“A radio is a broadcasting system, it can be used for communication, codes, and a bunch of other stuff. But in this case, it's simply used for entertainment, we play music for other ponies to hear.”

Rainbow scratched her head in confusion, “Okay, but how do ponies hear the music?”

Star Flower pointed over to a group of ponies, they were surrounding a small black box with circles on each side, blasting music.

“So that's a radio, how interesting.” I walked up to the group of ponies and examined the box they ambushed, “but where is the music coming from?”

“Well, I'm going over to the station right now if you want to see.” Star Flower said as she walked in the direction of a large tower made of metal. Below the tower was a building with Star's cutie-mark on it.

“Are you the owner Star?” I asked, pointing a the sign.

“Sort of, I work with a DJ that goes by the name of One Trick, who is very good mixing songs. We also have several other ponies who help out with the station.”

We walked up to the door, I noticed some frost forming on the door, which was odd since it was too warm here for snow. The doors swung open and there was ice EVERYWHERE, ponies were slipping and sliding across the room. A blue-ish gray pegasus was flying around trying to keep ponies from running face first into a wall, she saw Star Flower and flew to greet her.

“One Trick, what the hay is going on here?”

“Frozen Sounds made everything a little too cold again.” One Trick replied shivering, “He turned down the heat and everything started freezing.”

“Where is this Frozen fellow?” I questioned, shivering as well.

“In the mixing room, he's currently on air so he can't hear us from the outside.”

“Then we'll need to thaw him out and restore the heat”, I said as I lunged in and began slipping on the ice along with the other ponies in the building.

Rainbow started laughing on the floor in my expense, “Need some help there?”

“Yea some help would be really nice right now!” I yelled falling once more on my face.

“Sit” Rainbow commanded, I did so, “Good, now stay.”

“I'm not a dog Rainbow”, I grumbled, “Why do I even need.......AH.”

Rainbow was pushing me through the hallway at lightning speeds, we kept going through the station until we made it to a large wall of ice that was blocking the way.

“Something tells me that Frozen is behind this wall.” I commented.

“Yea, and something tells me that doesn't look friendly.” Rainbow replied, pointing at the thing she was talking about.

It was a floating snake-like creature, completely made of ice and frost, there was steam coming off of it too, meaning it was dry ice.

“Solace, what is that thing?” Rainbow asked, she backed up a bit, trying to distance herself from the creature.

Let's see......snake-like body, entirely made of carbon dioxide and regular ice, and floats like a ghost.

“Looks like some kind of wraith.” I replied, I got into a battle stance along with Rainbow, “before I say anything else, I need to check something.”

Grabbing the nearest chair I could find with my magic I launched it at the elemental, upon touching the wraith, the chair froze solid and shattered as it hit the floor.

“Well that's not good”, I commented. When I turned to Rainbow, she looked a bit frightened from the chair shattering.

“If I make it through this, I'm giving that DJ a piece of my mind.” Rainbow growled.

“I don't think it was the DJ”, I said, “These Ice Elementals invaded the station, most likely through the air ducts a while back, they seem to be much more active when Frozen Sounds turns the AC down to make himself more comfortable in the mixing room, but I'm just going on a limb here so I'm not entirely sure.

“Well how are you going to kill it? You don't know any combat spells.” Rainbow replied backing up as the creature looked at us and hissed.

She's right, how am I going to kill it? It's completely made of ice and turns......Wait, the one failed spell from Rarity's shop.

Focusing on the ghast, I drew the levitation spell, leaving out the last moon and withdrew my mind's paintbrush. Instantly, the wraith's tail exploded into a blue fiery torch, gas and water melting off the Ice Wraith as it screamed in pain.

“Aw yea, that is one heck of a spell Solace.” Rainbow cheered.

“Yea, but it's not dead.”

The ice snake lunged at us with the full intent to kill. Thankfully, it's injured so it was easy to dodge.

“Can you light it up again?” Rainbow asked, getting back on her hooves, ready to dodge another attack.

“Maybe....” I refocused on the rampaging creature trying to freeze it's attacker, before I could start the spell, the snake nipped my leg, freezing it. It was incredibly cold, it felt like it was burning through my skin. So this is what they call a 'freezer burn'.

Okay, so I'm somewhat immobile and there's an angry elemental trying to kill me. Perfect.

“Hey you! Don't leave me out of this!” Rainbow picked up another chair with her teeth and chucked it at the attacker, knocking it off it's course to kill me.

“Thanks for the save”, I called. I refocused and used the fire spell on my frozen leg, I made it much smaller so I wouldn't burst into flames.

I looked at the disoriented creature, without any hesitation I finished it off, blasting it with another fire spell. All that was left was a small puddle of un-evaporated water. Seeing that evil thing die felt good, really good.

“Geez Solace, talk about a finisher.” Rainbow commented.

“Well, my guess is that there's more of these guys in the building, we need to tell Star Flower and have everypony evacuate. You go tell them to leave the building, I'll melt down this wall.”

“Sorry Solace, I'm not ditching you. As you said there may be more of these things and I don't want you to become a Solace-icle.” Rainbow flew behind me and once again started pushing me across the floor like a sled. Zooming down the hallways, my theory was correct, there were several other Ice Wraiths in other rooms, luckily they didn't notice us. Back in the main lobby we explained to Star Flower what was going on.

“Seems very unusual for Ice Wraiths to be here in the Everfree, they aren't made for this type of climate.” Star Flower said as she directed the other ponies out of the building, “They prefer living in the mountains where there's a lot of snow and ice.”

“Kinda obvious if they're made of ice.” Rainbow remarked.

“Then why would they be here?” I asked myself.

“Your guess is as good as mine Moon Solace.” Star Flower closed the double doors to the entrance and barricaded them shut, “But first, we need to get Frozen out of the broadcasting room and remove the pests along the way.”

“Okay, well first, we need to remove this icy floor”, I created my flame spell to melt the slick floor, leaving large puddles, “Come on, we got a pony to save.”

The three of us raced through the corridor passing several attacking wraiths, I quickly melted them with my make-shift spell, giving them no mercy. Soon we approached the ice wall once again.

“Everpony take cover, this is going to be a big blast.” I jumped into one of the rooms in the hallway, Rainbow and Star Flower jumped into another room across the way.

“Fire in the hole!” I drew a large fire spell and released the spell, a huge fireball of blue fire engulfed the wall, along with traveling into the hall, it was much, much larger than I expected, I almost roasted myself.

“Agh!” I heard Rainbow screamed, “Celestia's mercy, that hurts!”

The fire died down and I sprinted into the other room, Rainbow was holding onto the base of her wing, wincing in pain.

“Rainbow, are you okay?” I was scared, I just injured my closest friend. Fuck, there goes my Pinkie Promise, “I'm so sorry.”

“It's fine Solace, it was just a bit warm, that's all.” Rainbow winced once again, putting her hoof on her wing again.

“But, I promised to protect you, and the one thing I needed to protect you with, did the exact opposite. I broke my promise, what kind of a friend am I.” I flopped onto the ground putting my hooves on my head.

Suddenly, I felt a hoof hitting me in the head, “It's not your fault! It was an accident, you didn't mean to hurt me, did you?”

I shook my head.

“You need to try and learn how to control your magic, Twilight told me when she started learning magic, she had a difficult time learning to control her powers as a unicorn. Remember, she has a horn to control her magic, you don't so this is going to be much more difficult for you. Especially since this is a spell you created.”

Wait a sec, I made this spell. This must be the spell Las-Mir was talking about. I should ask him next time I go into his Soul Crystal.

“Are you sure you're going to be okay?” I asked.

“I'll be fine like I said, just a little burn.” Rainbow smiled as she gave her wings a few flaps.

I wasn't fully convinced, but the guilt should come off soon enough.

“Well, the spell certainly worked.” Star Flower pointed at the once was wall of ice, opening up a fork in the road.

“So, which way should we go?” Rainbow turned to our gray friend.

“We need to go left, there we pass the broiler room and then the broadcasting room.” Star Flower pointed.

“Why in Equestria would they have the broiler room right next to the broadcasting room?”

Star Flower shrugged, just as clueless about the design.

“Ugh, I have a bad feeling about this.” I grunted as we walked down the corridor, it was steadily getting colder as we approached the boiler room. Ten feet away and I saw several Wraith tails popping out of the door.

Damn it.

Author's Note

Possible discovery of Spell-of-birth. Using some improv,

Chapter 9

“What are we going to do?” Star Flower hid herself behind me and Rainbow.

“We have two choices. One, to create several fire spells and melt them all at once. Or two, sneak by them and melt them when we turn up the heat. Problem is that, if we sneak by them, we may be discovered and get ourselves killed, and if we try and melt them in one shot, it may not work and we'll get ourselves killed, and I'm not taking any risks, especially after what happened.”

“Solace I told you, I'm feel as strong as a horse, or in this case a pony.” Rainbow gave another flap of her injured wing, she winced some but was still confident and a bit arrogant.

I thought over the idea of over powering the spell, another problem is that I used up quite a bit of my energy with the last opponents we dealt with, not to mention the ice wall, “I'll try one last time, but if I collapse, help me back up because I have some choice words for Frozen.”

“Got it.” they said unanimously.

I crawled over to the entrance of the room to peek inside. There were roughly twenty wraiths in there, big ones too. My heart skipped a beat in shock of the number of fatal ghosts inside.

Come on Solace, keep it together.

Ignoring the monsters, I took a mental photo of the room. The boiler was on the far side of the room, luckily the monsters were forming in the center, where the water moisture was coolest. I drew the biggest fire spell I could make without it being in range of lighting the boiler. I released the spell and the entire room lit up in a white light, blinding me temporarily. I looked in and smiled, the creatures were gone, now small puddles and gas clouds.

“All cle.....” I began before I collapsed.

“Sweet Celestia! Moon Solace!” I heard Star Flower call out, Rainbow came and grabbed me as I slowly lost consciousness.

{****}

I opened my eyes and saw I was at home, and not my new home, I was in the mansion, and it wasn't on fire. I was in the main portion of the house, where the front door was.

“Mom? Dad?” I called out.

“Moon”, I heard my dad answer, “you broke your promise......”

“Dad, it wasn't my fault, I didn't mean to hurt Rainbow.”

“You broke your promise, now she'll never forgive you.” I couldn't see Dad anywhere, I could only hear his voice.

“You know I wouldn't break a promise intentionally!” I was tearing up, I knew that Rainbow was okay, I knew she forgave me. But I didn't know I was crying.

“Moon......you do not deserve to become a true Shadow Wing, and you never will be forgiven.”

Suddenly, everything around me burst into the same blue-white fire that I use in my spell. Everything was burning like paper, I felt the hot fire burn through my coat and onto my skin, my blood was broiling and gushing out of the burnt areas. The pain was unlike anything I've ever experienced, this was truly hell.

“I'm sorry!” I called to the heavens in agony as the fire consumed me.....

{****}

I jumped out of bed, I was sweating to the point where the pillow under me was soaked.

“Solace!” I looked over and saw Rainbow, her smile as wide as Pinkie Pie's, “Are you okay?”

I rubbed my head, trying to get my thoughts together, “What happened?”

“Once you turned back to give the all-clear, you suddenly fainted, Star Flower and I grabbed you and went to go get Frozen, once we got him free, we rushed you straight to the hospital.”

“Where's Frozen now?” I asked.

“He's outside talking to the doctor to try and get you out of here. Solace, you've been out for three days...”

Wait, three days?! How was I out for three days?

A pony slid open the room door and entered, he was an icy white pegasus with an equally icy blue mane combed back.

“How is he?” he asked, his voice was calm and concerned.

“Awake”, I gave him a smug look, letting him know how annoyed I was about what happened.

“I want to apologize about what happened, I used to live in the far north where it was cold 24/7. When I do my radio session, I'd like to feel at home so I turn down the AC in the broadcasting room, but I didn't know about the wraiths.”

“You're lucky the only ponies who got hurt trying to save your plot was me and Rainbow here, I don't think Star Flower would allow you to keep your job if anypony else got hurt.”

“Heh, Star Flower and One Trick are still discussing my punishment about that. But I must thank you for getting me out of there, and yes I did hear that you finished off those monsters for the most part.”

I heard another knock at the door, One Trick along with Star Flower came in, Star was holding a bouquet of Poison Joke.

“Don't worry, I enchanted them to not effect anypony, once they leave the ground when they're enchanted, they stay like that.”

I attempted to grab the flowers with my magic, but a sharp pain rushed into my head.

“Woah there, you just woke up. Don't over extend yourself.” Star Flower handed me the flowers.

“Thanks”, I smiled and looked at the flowers, “What do they smell like?”

“Go ahead and give them a smell.” Star Flower nudged.

I looked at the unicorn suspiciously and took a deep whiff. They smelled like....Skillet's apple pie, and Applejack's fritters.

“How....?” I stuttered confused by the fragrance of the Poison Joke.

“Poison Joke has a special gland in their petals that when a pony smells them, it would smell like the thing the pony desires most.”

“Seems I want some apple pie and apple fritters then.” I laughed.

“That's why the flower has those strange after effects, it's a protection mechanism so that they wouldn't go extinct.”

Who knew?

I handed Rainbow the bouquet, she too sampled the smell.

“Smells like cider.” Rainbow's mouth began to water, “and boy would I love some of AJ's cider.”

Everypony laughed as Rainbow regained her composure.

“Now, about your punishment Frozen.” One Trick said raising an eyebrow, “you are to escort our friends back to Ponyville, unharmed, when you get back, you are to crank the heat up and make sure the place is safe, and yes, you will be the only pony in the building to make sure the coast is clear.”

Frozen sighed, from what I could tell, he wasn't going to enjoy that last part.

“Yes ma'am.”

One Trick nodded and turned to me, “Sorry about all this.”

“Oh, it's fine. I just didn't expect that to happen.” I smiled some at the pegasus.

“Here, a small token of our thanks.” One Trick handed my a small black box with a string attached that ended with two small buds.

“It's a miniature radio, you place the buds in your ears and you can tune into EFR any time you want. The battery is solar powered so if it dies, just put it in the sun for a little bit.”

I place a bud into my ear and turned it on, as soon as I did, music blasted in my ear, I pulled out the ear bud and fumbled with the controls, figuring out the button to make it quieter. I finally figured it out and placed the bud back into my ear. It was the same song, but it didn't scare me like it did at first.

“Thanks One Trick, this is very nice of you.”

One Trick smiled, “Well you did get rid of those evil things, you certainly have a knack for it, even if you are a bit reckless.”

After a little begging, the doctor allowed me to leave the hospital with a clean bill of health. After saying good-bye to our new friends, Frozen guided us through the Everfree back to Ponyville.

“Like I said before, sorry about that.” Frozen said as we made it into the clearing.

“Don't worry Frozen, as long as everypony is safe, I can rest easy”, I more or less lied about that one, that dream I had while I was out was not pleasant, I could still feel the burns somehow. But if the ponies at village are safe, I'm happy.

“Hey Solace, don't you think you should talk to your dragon friend?” Rainbow asked, “You know, about what to do next, we did get a bit side tracked there.”

“Good idea.”

“I see, so you think this fire spell is your Spell-of-Birth?”

I was in the astral world with the large ancient dragon, I explained to him about the fire spell I'm able to use. It seems by the look of his face, the spell isn't 'the one'.

“Unfortunately, that spell has already been created. It's called the Lunar Flare spell, it's an extremely unpredictable spell, the blast radius is never guaranteed and can easily back 'fire'.”

The dragon chuckled at his own pun. All I did was glare at him.

“Then how did I learn it?”

“Got lucky I guess.” the dragon shrugged casually. He's not helping at all.

“Well, I don't know what to do next, is there any clues I could find to help me along so I could learn about my family?”

“I suggest going to see another crystal soul. Do not forget, I was a sword so it's not exactly easy to hear stuff if I don't have ears.”

The world faded away, leaving me dizzy on my couch, Rainbow went to get some weather jobs done so I was by myself, alone.

“Damn it Las-Mir, if you weren't important I'd smash your crystal now.” I grumbled as I went through the bags to pull out the next stone. It was marked, '#3', back into the astral world I go.

“I wonder who I'm meeting here.”

I looked around, trying to figure out who was in this crystal, was this one empty?

“Hello Moon Solace”, a voice came out of no where, “It is good to meet you in person.”

“Who's there, show yourself.”

“Sadly, I cannot show myself due to the age of my soul, but I can tell you who I was.” the voice moaned, he sounded like a lonely spirit.

“Who.....are you exactly.” I questioned.

“I, am the spirit of the first Earth Pony Sage, Lunar Wing.” a small cloud of energy appeared, it was a sunny yellow.

“You're the first Sage?! Wow, it is an honor to meet you.” I gave a humble bow to the cloud. I'm talking to the most important pony/spirit in my family.

“Same to you, but, greetings shouldn't be your first concern. I believe you needed a location to learn about your... our family.”

“Wait, how did you know?” I asked.

“I was speaking to your mother while you and your friend were off in the Everfree. Soul Crystals can communicate to other nearby crystals.”

“Oh okay, that kind of makes sense.” I was pondering over the concept.

“Sad that I need to say. You will need to go back into the Everfree.”

“Can't I learn everything about my family from you? You are the first earth pony to become a Sage.”

“That does not mean I know everything about the family, and I certainly don't know any of the information you are seeking. You need to travel to the Castle of the Two Sisters. There you need to find the library and find the family tome. The book is enchanted, writing the history of the Shadow Wings as time goes by. You'll know it when you see it.”

Not very specific when it comes to how it looks is he.

“Okay then, Rainbow and I shall go to the castle and find the tome.”

“Before you go, I suggest learning a fighting spell, preferably something to summon a weapon of some sort. The spell book should have plenty of different weapons for you to choose from, it should be under alteration or summoning.”

“Thank you Lunar Wing, it has been a honor.” I bowed once again.

“Likewise. Now make sure you keep your promises to your parents and friends.”

I returned back into my living room, my vision was blurry and for some reason very pink. My eyesight refocused and I was greeted with wide eyes and a huge smile.

“Hey there Moonie.” Pinkie chirped. Her greeting caught me off guard and I jumped off the couch.

“Geez Pinkie Pie, ever heard of personal space?” I said as I scrambled back onto my hooves.

“Nope.” Pinkie replied. She was bouncing around the house, somehow leaving all the furniture undisturbed.

“Well is there something you need?” I offered, trying to get rid of the energetic pink pony politely. She's a great friend, but she can go a bit over board sometimes.

Pinkie came to a halt, “Yea, Dashie wanted me to tell you she's going to be busy since she's behind on work.”

“Dang. Now I don't have somepony to guide me to the castle.”

“Which castle Moonie? If it's Twi's Castle you need to go, it's on the other side of town.”

“No, there's a castle in the Everfree. It's called 'The Castle of the Two Sisters'.”

“You need to go there? Why would you want to go there?” Pinkie stopped her bouncing and looked at me, she seemed a bit concerned.

“There's something in the castle I need to get. You know anypony that can take me?”

“Well duh, of course I do. It's me Silly Billy.”

Oh great, now I have to listen to Pinkie's non-stop talking about cupcakes.

“Well before we go, I need to find a new spell in my book. Now where did I put it....”

“Right here Moonie”, Pinkie said as she grabbed my book and passed it to me, “It was under E.”

How is that possible? And how does that make sense?

“Um..... thanks Pinkie.” I grabbed the spell book with my levitation spell and turned to the summoning section. Strangely enough there was a letter E on top of the book. After a few minutes of trying to figure out how in Equestria I got a letter of anything, I simply shook it off, assuming Pinkie was being Pinkie.

“I wonder which weapon I should use. It should be something sharp that's for sure, but it needs to be something good for speed too.”

“Wouldn't that be a long sword?” Pinkie suggested.

“Needs to be strong.”

“Broadsword?” Pinkie suggested once again.

“Maybe.....” I wasn't a fan of those giant death knives so most likely no.

“How about a regular double edge sword?” Pinkie pointed at the spell for a normal double edger.

Well, it's fast and agile. I can work with that.

The spell consisted of two half moons and two crescents with an X in the middle. I closed my eyes and drew the spell. Although, for some reason, Pinkie booped my nose.

“What was that for Pinkie? I was about to draw out the spell.” I rubbed my nose, annoyed at the pink mare.

“Silly Billy, if it's a combat spell, shouldn't you learn to draw the spells with your eyes open?”

“I don't think I can Pinkie, I was taught to close my eyes when I cast a Lunar Spell Circle, by Princess Luna herself.”

“Why don't you try and cast it with your eyes open? It'll make things much easier to target moving ponies.”

“I don't know Pinkie, it sounds like a pretty bad idea. I rather not hurt any of my friends. It would hurt myself, and break my Pinkie Promise.”

Pinkie gasped at what I said, “Why would you make a Pinkie Promise like that?!”

“What do you mean?”

“If you made a promise like that about not hurting anypony you consider a friend, you might break that promise and not even realize it. And that's super duper bad.”

“I mean physically hurting them Pinkie Pie”, I corrected.

“But, wouldn't that mean you already broke it? You let your friends and family from Canterlot get hurt pretty bad.”

That got me angry, out of pure rage, I summoned the sword and pinned Pinkie to a wall with the sword behind me pointing at her throat, “You NEVER mention my family like that, EVER.”

Pinkie looked at me in complete shock, realizing she went too far. Then she started.....laughing?

“Why the hell are you laughing?! You just insulted me and my family......and.....everypony I loved.”

“Two reasons Moonie, well actually three. One I laughed at myself for being so stupid, two I giggled at the ghosties to make myself feel better, and three I laughed at the fact you had your eyes open when you summoned the sword.”

Wait a second, I summoned my sword without closing my eyes, the image just popped in my head and, poof, sword. And was it a beauty of a sword, the blade itself was a icy silver, curved inwards towards the middle, the hilt was like a navy blue crescent moon, and the grip was a cloud-like gray.

“Nice sword by the way.” Pinkie smiled, “matches your personality well, deadly and strong while being graceful and agile. Although the color I might change.”

I chuckled some, I don't know how but when I wasn't angry or annoyed at her, she always made me smile, just like Rainbow when she wasn't being arrogant.

Author's Note

Note to Self-New Spell Learned: Sword summoning.
With Pinkie's help......I guess. I'm learning how to create and fight with a basic short sword.

Note to Princess Celestia:

Princess Celestia,

I am starting on track with finding out who I am and what my cutie-mark means when it comes to my special talent. Pinkie Pie is going to help out with the first step since Rainbow is busy with keeping the weather in check. If you're going to ask what I've learned about friendship, it's that I shouldn't get so angry with my friends when they say something wrong and simply giggle at what bothers me most, because for some reason, it makes the pain go away.

Your faithful citizen and friend,

Moon Solace