The Dark Side of the Sun

"Tia when can I pick out our campsite?" Luna asked, for about the third time this week. Now we had to think a little harder to come up with a reply that would please her. A couple of minutes passed before we came up with one.

"When we get our first set of flight feathers you can pick out our campsite." I piped imagining the excitement.

Luna thought about this and nodded eagerly as she laid out her blanket. The sunset behind us was slowly turning into the night,  with sickly orange hues, a cold distant darkness. Sunset used to have beauty. Night used to awe us, and sweep Luna off her hooves. How long ago was it that day and night felt natural and inspiring? Like something more than a lantern being lit and blown out. As we lay down, my filly eyes despite their youth couldn't help but wonder: When had the sky become so sick?

My lids closed softly and the uncertain realm of dreams took me. Nopony could protect me there. Recent events flashed by the darkness like vanishing ripples. Luna and 'I' home in the castle in the woods. We were saying good bye. Mommy and Daddy stood over us glowing with power. Luna begged for them to come back. I stood aloofly next to a window and offered a curt farewell. We were now in charge! Beside they would come home anyway. Then was the great game Luna and us were playing: hide and seek, which she was fond of. mommy and daddy had been gone for quite a while but we were okay. Until we  figured it out. What if they were just playing a game of hide and seek? Luna and  'I' would find them! We had to go find them and I could be a hero! The dream changes: packing knick-knacks for our trip, which has now become more of an exploring-adventure like in the bed time stories Mommy used to tell.  Again the image clouded over and a new one took its place. Meeting our new friend Discord who also wants to find his parents. Lastly was us. We were telling Luna a story we made up about stars and clouds.

Things like that.

The next morning after another breakfast of dried clover Luna and yours truly went to a small mountain brook to wash up.

We tried out a new spell that we had been working on that is meant to warm up water. We  even made up a rhyme for it.

"Water as cold as ice,

change your temperature

to something warm and nice."

After our manes dried Luna and I went back over to the brook to look at our reflections. Luna was not as in to this as we are. Our Mother used to have a big crystal mirror that we loved to look in. Before our parents left she locked it away somewhere in the castle. Collecting dust.

We looked over at Lunas reflection. She has a blue-ish coat and shiny turquoise eyes. Her mane and tail are the color of cornflowers, which are Mommys favorite. But unlike our mane hers is less....'magical' and could be mistaken for a normal pony's.

We haven`t seen one in ages. Luna and I are what our parents called 'alicorns' which our really special ponies from what I can guess. We have wings and horns yet are different from just any old pony in many other ways. Like being extremely magical.  Oh! Our manes! Our manes are not at all like most ponies. Even at first if they look like a regular mane they are far from it. They can become shimmery and move.

It is a bit hard to describe kind of like the last part. 'Immortal'. Mommy says alicorns are 'immortal' but I haven't figured out what that meant yet.

Now, we glanced over at our reflection and watched in awe as Alicorn High Princess Celestia stared back. That was my full name. Luna`s was Alicorn High Princess Luna. We have a white coat and wings with the exception of my last remaining pre-flight down feathers, which are tinged with pink. My eyes, which I think are my best feature. They are like a perfect blend of magenta-pinkish-gray and remind me of the glorious sunrise hinting at the coming dawn. Next are our mane and tail which are the palest pink and have just started to develop into the their later stage. I grow my mane and tail really long so now it drags on the ground. Luna prefers to keep hers short at the time being. She is the one who trips over things less.

I would be beautiful forever.

...

"I really like adventuring like this," Discord said while munching on dinner.

An apple and some corn. These were from the provisions which were running kind of low. Discord had an odd manner of speaking. He says 'I' instead of 'We'. I don't know why but he seems just as baffled when we say these things. You are not supposed to say 'I' when 'We' is clearly the proper term.

Hmph. 'Tis not our fault that Mommy taught us how to speak correctly.

"We like the adventure too, and all the stars 'an nature. Especially at night....it has so much depth."

We frowned slightly. "Luna do not talk with your mouth full."

She sulked slightly and mumbled, "Yes, Tia."

We always slept at night, it was dark then and monsters could be out. We think if night were a pony they would not be a nice pony. Luna was sleeping at this time and Discord was examining to-morrow`s route. From what I can tell his mom and dad taught him about stars. He also knows some maths and geography, which Luna and I know too. Unlike us Discord is not an alicorn or pony of any kind. He says he is a 'draconequus'. They look nothing like alicorns but can use magic. Maybe they are immortal but I am not quite sure since we do not talk about our family with others.

Discord's parents taught him many things but not as many as ours did. Both of us can read. Discord cannot.

The map we obtained from the library is nothing more than pictures to him.