Princess Luna: Crusade for 'Friendship'by overlord-flinxChaptersDay 1 part 1: 'Sociable'?Day 1 part 2: Pentawhal?Day 1 part 3: Touch of Life.Evening 1 part 1: Tearer Terror.Evening 1 part 2: Hope is where the heart is.Day 1 part 1: 'Sociable'?“I beseech you!” the princess of the night, Princess Luna, was grovalling before her sister, grasping at the mare’s long white legs. The entirety of the Canterlot Castle guards, maids, elders, and even bystanders had gathered at this spectacle so early in the morning. Everypony tried to stay out of sight, but the courtyard provided little enough cover for them all; but this was well worth being spotted. Princess Luna, normally asleep as this hour due to her own work schedule, was on her knees pleading to her elder sister. Celestia looked over the crowd with a burn of embarrassment running behind her face. “Luna, do not make a scene,” as low as she could, she partly scolded her younger sister. Luna refused to relent despite her sister’s tone. “Have a level of compassion, Sister Celestia. I will purge the entire palace of grime. I will even trim the hedge-maze itself! But I plead sister, plead!” Celestia was growing impatient with her sister’s pleas. The denizens of the courtyard watched as Luna became encased in a golden blanket of magic, her being lifted off of the floor and away from her sister’s hooves. Celestia gestured for two of Luna’s Nightguards to follow her as she magically carried an off balanced and surprise faced Luna. “Now, Luna. I love you so. Twilight knows this, Cadance knows this, Shining knows this, even your two most faithful guards know this,” as if in response the two dark stallions nodded and gave a grunt, “and you as well know this. However,” Celestia came to a stop at the bridge of her castle and released Luna from her magical entrapment, “as I mentioned many days ago, times have changed and so have the people. You’ve made a step in the right direction during Nightmare Night, but it’s only a step.” “Then allow me sister to—“ Before Luna could rebuttal a moment more, Celestia turned her back and headed back towards her Castle and the watching crowd. “Celestia!” Luna was only able to take a few steps foreword before her own tow guards blocked her path silently. With a simple look back with a soothing smile, Celestia tried one final note of calm to be given to her sister. “Start small, Luna. You’ll be allowed back into the castle at sunset. At that point, I’ll ask about your progress.” No more to say, Celestia exited the courtyard and disappeared into the elegant castle. One by one until in clustering droves, the ponies all left the site; leaving Luna alone with her two guards on the drawbridge. Loyal as her guards were to her, they did worry at times about Princess Luna. Even so, they dipped their heads in sorry regards to their charge before moving aside and standing at attention for her. “Sunset is in ten hours, your highness,” one guard, Sunshine Smiles by name, informed his princess, looking at her with his one good eye. “We will guide you and assist you in whatever you wish to do,” the second guard, Frolicsome Meadowlark as he was named, joined in informing his princess. “So tell us, your highness. What are your commands?” Grateful as she was for her guards’ loyalty and commitment to her, Luna still felt out of place for all of this. It had been bad enough that she was casted into the light of day when she would rather be sleeping or moving about the halls of the castle, but the mission she was given was nearly impossible. “Gentlecolts.” She spoke up firmly. Both of the Nightguards tightened their stance respectfully, but saw Luna only slump evermore. “…I haven’t a clue how to be—What was that word Celestia used?” “Sociable, your highness.” Sunshine repeated Celestia’s orders. “Yes… Sociable. How does one be ‘sociable’.” Putting air quotes around ‘sociable’, Luna questioned on with her guards. “Regardless of how you can do it, princess, you must find a way.” “Meadowlark is correct, your highness. With all due respect, we both –as well as your sister- worry about your personal life.” It usually had to be Sunshine Smiles to speak out of turn; Luna had come to value his honesty. Even so, Luna did not enjoy hearing this. “Perhaps you speak in truth… But where does one start with being ‘sociable’.” The two guards broke their stances for a moment as the stroked their chins in thought, each pondering out some sort of possibility. “Your sister suggested starting small…” Meadowlark mused partly to himself. Slowly, a smile grew across Sunshine’s face as he looked to his brother. “Start small. That gives me an idea,” quick as he could, Sunshine Smiles produced a gothic umbrella from a satchel on his side, offering it to his princess. “Your majesty; your umbrella.” It was normal for Luna -whenever about in the light of day- to use her umbrella or any other sort of cover to shield her from the light. It wasn’t because the sun hurt her; it had only been a choice on her own part. Gripping the handle with her magic, Luna took the umbrella and opened it to cloak herself in its casting shadow. “Pray tell Sunshine Smiles, what does thou plan for us to do?” “As your sister said, ‘start small’. From what I recall, during you last visit to Ponyville, you managed to forge a friendship with one colt in particular,” Sunshine Smiles informed while leading the way down the street path. “Cease,” Luna called to her two guards who had already started down the lengthy path through Canterlot. “Ponyville is miles away. Will it not make more sense to take the carriage?” Meadowlark was the one to speak up, granted with a level of unease. “Normally we would, your highness. But, as it were… Your sister has forbade us from using or doing anything more than walking with you and providing basic advice…” “We are sorry, your majesty.” Sunshine Smiles offered honestly. This was starting to get annoying. Not only was she casted out into the day, but she was forced to go everywhere by foot or by wing. In the end it wouldn’t be too troubling seeing as how she could fly, but that didn’t make the task any easier. “If that is indeed how my sister wishes to handle this, then so be it.” Luna’s wings furled out to initiate her flight. Seeing as how her guards were both pegasi, they too readied their wings and joined her in her ascent. In a ‘V’ formation, both guards protecting a side of Luna, the trio made it to Ponyville’s outskirts within minutes. Since Nightmare Night, this had been the first time Luna had revisited this rustic village. Even more so, this had marked the very first time she’d seen it so filled with life. The young princess watched as ponies bustled from street to street, from stand to stand, and from house to house as if it had been her first time of seeing village life. “Welcome to Ponyville daytime, your majesty.” Meadowlark said as he and his brother tucked their wings away. “We have a little less then ten hours until sunset,” Sunshine pointed out while watching the sun above. The sky was nearly clear except for a few dark clouds coming over the horizon. Cloudsdale was clearly planning to have a rain storm later in the day, but for now the sun was clear and bright in the early morning blue. Luna shook her focus off of the crowds in the village and instead focused on her guards. “I would rather get through with this posthaste…” she informed them frankly. “We would imagine so. Do you need us to refresh your memory on your goal?” “Best to do so as to avoid any mistakes, Meadowlark.” “As you command. You have until sunset to make five friends,” Meadowlark explained. “However, this excludes Twilight Sparkle and her fellow Element holders, as per your sister’s request,” Sunshine added the condition. If this was Celestia’s will, for her to make friends outside of the castle, Luna would do it. With the assistance of her two trusted Nightguards, this would go by within five hours. “Taxing… but not impossible. So be it. Now tell me, Sunshine Smiles, what plans do you have for completion?” “As your sister said, start small.” “Order, order!” banging her gavel against the makeshift table, Sweetie Belle called for attention within the club house. “Cutie Mark Crusaders roll call. Scootaloo?” “Present,” the orange pegasus flopped up one of her tiny wings to signal her presence. “Apple Bloom?” “Here,” the little red bow wearing earth pony chirped. “Sweetie Belle?” Sweetie Belle hopped down from her spot and moved nest to Scootaloo, raising her hand, “I’m here.” Stating her being, she moved back up to her spot and smiled at her friends. “Great, so we’re all here. So… What do are we doing today?” “Bear wrastlin’!” Apple Bloom cheered. “We can’t wrestle a bear,” Scootaloo sighed, “not until we can wrestle a sheep. We gotta’ work our way up.” “Hmmm… how about fire fighting?” Sweetie Belle suggested. “Ah’ don’t know… Big sis is still mad about us starting that last fire in the barn…” “I told you fire starting wasn’t going to be our talent,” Scootaloo pouted. “Alright, holding off on the fire fighting.” “Oh! What about—“ before Scootaloo could make a suggestion, a knock came to the tree house door. The three crusaders quickly darted to the door both eagerly and anxiously. “Password?” Apple Bloom called through the wooden door. “Open the door or we’ll jump through the window?” a deep voice asked. “…That was last weeks, but alright, we’ll let you in.” Scootaloo nodded a signal to Sweetie Belle. Using her own magic, like the gavel before, Sweetie Belle manipulated the door open slowly to reveal two dark stallions standing in the doorway with sleek dark armor. The two groups just looked at the other for a few moments, blinking periodically without a sound. With a simple cough into his hoof, Sunshine Smiles broke the silence. “Can we… Can we come in?” the eye-patch wearing pegasus asked uncomfortably. “No one gets in without giving their name,” Scootaloo informed them without a hint of fear over the menacing stallions. The two guards exchanged looks before looking back at the little fillies. “I am Sunshine Smiles, and this is my brother Frolicsome Meadowlark,” the two ignored the small snickers that the little girls tried to hold in, “we’re serving as envoys for our mistress.” “Envoys?” “Mistress?” “Meadowlark?” In answering the first two questions, the two guards stepped aside to reveal Princess Luna standing under her umbrella standing on the porch. The three crusaders stopped their snickers, and instead dropped their jaws in amazement at the sight of one of the royal sisters. “…May we enter?” Luna asked calmly. The three fillies could only muster a slow collection of nods while stepping out of the way for their royal guest. Sunshine and Meadowlark took their places on the outside of the door in a protecting manner, letting Sweetie Belle close the door behind Luna. Once inside, Luna studied the small interior of these fillies’ tree house fort. Crayon maps, a nearly empty bookcase, a shabby desk, and a partly glazed over window were the very few things to notice within this home. But somehow, Luna felt comfortable with it. “Uh… Ms. Princess Luna ma’am?” Apple Bloom cautiously spoke up. “Not that we don’t like ya’ bein’ here, but uh… why are ya’ here?” Luna gave a gentle smile and discarded her umbrella, placing it furled back to its original size by the door. “Children. How old dost thou think I am?” “…Is that a trick question?” Sweetie Belle asked in return. “Not at all, little one. I ask for the sake of curiosity. I am older than Equestria itself. And with my age, comes years and years of experience.” Luna boasted a little, “true however that I was banished to the moon for many years, my mind is still rich with experience. Which is why I have descended on you three ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’. I come with a proposition for you three.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders all felt their hearts do a back flip inside their chests. Finally, a pony with enough knowledge to make getting their cutie marks easier. “What is it? What is it?” They all asked with jumps of childish joy. “…How would thou like to hear a tale?” Day 1 part 2: Pentawhal?The vastness and rolling void of the sands ebbed and twisted along with the dry, relentless whips of the wind. Time was lost in this endless desolates, as too were the withered creatures and bleached bones of the lives that could not escape the beating sun. It was in this heat, that one pony, one strong mare, ventured with her tan cloak flapped in the dusty wind. The trek was long, evident by the red burns that stretched up her exposed legs and the wobble that followed each of her steps. The sun grew more merciless at each passing second. Her own cloak growing heavy as her own sweat clung to the fabric and weighed her down. Even so, she had to persevere. If she could not escape to some sort of oasis and fill herself with water before night, her will would soon be lost and her life forfeit. Each step she took cut away at her reserves— “Why didn’t she wait until sunset if it was so hot?” Sweetie Belle interrupted while sitting politely at the foot of the princess along with her friends. The princess held her story and looked down at the three crusaders. “In the sun deserts are extremely hot while in the moon light ‘tis the exact opposite…” The mare continued her venture, knowing that her life would end quicker in the blistering cold of the desert’s night— “I thought this was a trek, not a venture,” Scootaloo asked. “Venture and trek are the same meaning…” “Then why not just use trek for the whole story?” Luna gave Scootaloo an annoyed look, but sighed her compliance. So… the mare continued her trek over the sand dunes in hopes that the next hill would bring the hope of water. But as she made it over roll after roll, hopes slowly turned to despair— “Why is she in a desert?” Apple Bloom spoke up. “It is Saddle Arabia. It is only deserts,” Luna did not want to sound short with the crusaders, but her tone was starting to betray her. “Oh…” the three little fillies said in a chorus and gentle nods. Luna felt a little at ease at such a humble sight, so her voice softened as she looked down at the girls. “May I continue?” a trio of nods replied her. The sun had begun to dip behind the most distant horizon of sand before the young mare; dipping with it her heart and the thoughts of survival. Legs began to quiver under her heaving weight, and she collapsed atop one of the many mounding dunes. The wind began to dust over her legs with the shifting sands grain by grain. As the sun set and her vision began to fade, she felt the warm sand lulling her into— “Does she have a name, your highness?” poking his head in, Sunshine Smiles voiced his question with the crusaders chiming in with interest. At first Luna gave the guard a disgruntled snarl, but she retracted her anger and looked back to the fillies seated before her. She was failing to look dignified before the young ones. Her thoughts suddenly cleared up as she took in a soothing inhale before speaking. “This character does not require any name. Her purpose is merely to serve as a metaphysical—“ “Can we call her Sandra? ‘Cause she’s in a desert and stuff?” Scootaloo suggested. “I see no reason why not. But this is not a story of—“ Luna was ignored as the girls cheered and gave a chorus of claps. The princess was happy they were enjoying themselves, but had the feeling they were ignoring the point of the story. “Nevermore, may I continue now?” once more she was answered by angelic nods. As the sun set and her vision— “Sandra.” --Sandra’s vision began to fade, she felt the warm sand lulling her into a deep, musty sleep. The three crusaders listened intently to Luna’s story. A moment passed with Luna in complete silence, which began to worry the three fillies. “Uh… what next?” Apple Bloom worried. The princess readied to tell them that, indeed, the story was over. However, that was before she looked at their faces. Tears welling up in one, a quivering lip from another. Luna braced down her pride and forced a smile. “Nay children, the story is not through.” The sands slowly sprinkled over Sandra’s body as her will to fight on slowly diminished… “No!” The Cutie Mark Crusaders collectively gasped. “Come on Sandra! Yer’ better than sand!” the little farm pony scoffed with a fling of her little front legs. However, in her moment of weakness--- uh… a… sand… pentawhal came out from the sand and scooped the limp mare off from the shifting terrain and into the dry sky. “Sand pentawhal?” “’Tis a narwhal with five tusks and that lives in the cool, lower sand beneath deserts,” Luna hurriedly concluded off the top of her head, swearing a little that she could hear her two guards snickering outside. The great land beast splashed in and out of the purple twilight hued sands, carrying the defeated Sandra caressingly between its mighty tusks. Though the sun had glazed behind the sands, Sandra remained still with a shallow breath, signaling her still ample life. Hours passed with the beast carrying Sandra before it finally arrived at a massive span of crystal clear water. “Thus Sandra and the pentawhal—“’ “Can we call it Murry?” Scootaloo spoke up again. This time Luna only smiled and gave a soft chuckle. “I see no reason why not… Thus Sandra and Murry the pentawhal lived in peace at that oasis forever after.” “The end?” her three filly listeners pressed with little leans inward. “That is the end. Verily.” Luna was thusly sent back a little when the three fillies cheered and clapped as if they were an entire assembly of ponyfolk. “That was amazing princess Luna!” Sweetie Belle admitted. “Best story ah’ve heard in years… and ah’m just a lil’ filly,” Apple Bloom agreed. “You got any more, princess?” Scootaloo pressed, instantly gaining support from her two partners. “Well…” Luna thought a moment. She must have some story suitable for a young audience. But alas, all that came to mind were more and more bittersweet stories that would require her to pull another ending out from her mane. Without thinking she muttered her own thought aloud. “If only I had paid Star Swirl more heed when he told me his stories…” At this Luna felt little eyes set on her. She turned to her small crowd and saw that the three crusaders were looking up at her anxiously. “Who’s Star Swirl?” “An old friend of ours. Dearly departed tragically…” the princess breathed a small sigh of nostalgia, “he was wiser beyond any pony I knew. Even more so than me…” “Tell us about him!” They all demanded hopefully. “Thy lot does not wish to hear tales of my life, do you?” Luna laughed off the idea, but only saw that their collective looks of hope did not relent. “…Dost thou… want me to tell stories of mine own life?” “Stories from a princess’s life?” Sweetie Belle scoffed at the idea, “who wouldn’t want to hear that?” Sharing her past. It couldn’t be that hard she thought. But even so she gripped her umbrella with her dark toned magic and brought it to her side, still furled up. “If that is what thee wishes. However, allow us to venture elsewhere… A change in scenery will help the thought process.” “We know just the place,” Apple Bloom assured the princess. Without any hesitation, the Crusaders took Luna by her front legs and pulled her along outside of the clubhouse, invoking a small squeak from the young princess. Her two guards still standing guard at the door gave the princess a welcoming look as she passed by and opened her umbrella over her own head as light began to envelop her new terrain. “Will you be needing—“ “That’ll be all Sunshine Smiles,” Sweetie Belle dismissed the eye-patched guard as she and her friends led the princess down to the grassy floor bellow the tree and off towards Ponyville. Instead of growing in concern, Sunshine Smiles’ lips curled into a dry smile before laughing. “Would seem we’ll be playing guard dog from behind brother…” The two guards took to the bright blue sky, never once taking their eyes away from their charge and her ‘Cutie Mark Kidnappers’. If Luna did need them, she would summon for them. But until that time, they remained at a safe distance from the pack and just watched as their princess grew an unmistakable smile of enjoyment. Day 1 part 3: Touch of Life.Weak groans and moans rumbled from the graying sky above Ponyville, signaling ponies to start finishing their trades, businesses, and travels for the day. But to those little fillies and their ‘captive’ it didn’t matter at all. For a short while, the Crusaders pulled Luna along through the city; the young princess having a little trouble to keep her body under her umbrella’s shade despite the sun slowly dimming behind the sheet of clouds. Even so, Luna looked up to the sky curiously, unable to shake something off about it. “Where do ya’ wanna go princess?” Apple Bloom asked. Luna snapped out of her thought and gave the three girls a soft smile. Her eyes shifted around the clearing of the city to notice what must have been the government building of this village judging by the size of it. “What of that area?” she gestured to the structure that seemed to be placed in the dead-center of the town. “…The Town Hall?” Scootaloo checked with the princess if that was what she was suggesting. “Yeah, that’ll probably work. It’s probably going to rain soon, so it’s nice cover. Nice call princess,” the pegasus smiled and skipped along to the cover of the Town Hall. “Yeah, good call,” Sweetie Belle agreed and joined with Apple Bloom with following Scootaloo under the building. Another, louder grumble shook from the skies and brought Luna to look up at the growing grey. Her eyes softened while looking at the overcast created by the pegasi. However, she was shocked back to reality when she heard the calls of the three fillies she had been entertaining. Once she reached the cover of the Town Hall her umbrella furled back and was placed on one of the wooden columns. “Now children, where were we?” Luna asked to be sure they were paying attention. “You were going to tell us about Star Swirl,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “Ah yes. Star Swirl the Bearded. A stallion of many wonders,” Luna recollected with a gentle stroke of her chin. “Many spells that you perhaps use or have heard about, Sweetie Belle, were most likely created by him or mastered by him.” The young unicorn gave an impressed look to the princess. “He was an honest pony; never once did he break his word or mislead my sister or myself… Never once…” Luna gave a slight sigh before straightening out and looking to her three fillies. “But enough of mine own prattling over his glory. You have come to hear a tale of his exploits. Now… let us see…” Luna delved into thought over what story she should tell. In no time at all her face brightened up. “Eureka! I have just the one.” The pale light of the cool night trickled through the small cracks and fissures that littered the wooden shell of the simple library. The somber chirps of the crickets in the stars’ presence remained the only sound that graced through the bark of the home. Within— “Why is the house made of bark?” Sweetie Belle interrupted. “Most of -if not all- trees are made of bark. Thus so, seeing as how his library-home was made from the hollow of a tree, the outside was indeed made of both bark and manufactured wood walls,” Luna explained. “Wait… A library made out of a tree? You mean like Twilight’s?” Scootaloo asked. “Not just like, dear Scootaloo, but is,” Luna corrected proudly. “Twilight Sparkle’s library is much older then Ponyville itself. Believe it or not, that library used to be a part of our Palace near our maze. However after Star Swirl’s tragic death and the semblance of Ponyville, my sister decided to move the library to this little town to serve as a means for the citizens to perhaps learn of ancient history or any other such teachings that Star Swirl left behind,” the princess carried on with her explanation, invoking a small awe from the fillies. “But I digress… let us press on with the story.” Within the hollow, two ponies were awake in the dark of the night. One, a fair and elegant mare of a dark coat and celestial mane rested on a cushioned make-shift log with her wings curled up to her sides in an un-amused manner. “Oh! Oh!” Apple Bloom sprang up and down with a joyous smile. “That’s you, ain’t it?” “Perhaps, perhaps… But let us keep going to be sure.” Eager to continue her own story, Luna looked off to the distance at a familiar library to rekindle her memory. The other, a more faded and physically diminished stallion garbed in a ridiculously over-the-top robe and hat conducted work throughout the home under the dim flickers of controlled candle light. Moments passed with the relative silence only being remedied by the small chirps of the crickets and the dull clicks of the stallion’s hooves against the wooden flooring. “Prey tell us, wizard,” the mare spoke up through the dim room. “Why dost thou insist on playing the nuisance onto our nerves?” “Wha?” the three fillies wondered in a confusion. “’Tis how one would say ‘why do you keep on being an annoyance to me?’ back in those years.” “What years were those?” Scootaloo pressed. “I would say nearly 1005 years ago… give or take so and so.” “Believe you me, Princess, if this could’ve waited to morning I would’ve gladly asked your sister for help,” the elderly stallion gruffly replied. Once more a short silence befell the room while the elderly of the two shifted through old tomes with the aid of his magic’s grasp. The princess remained quiet while carefully watching the stallion from behind— “Ohhhhh!” a chorus erupted from the crusaders along with sly smirks. With a deep blush cutting across her dark complexion, Luna spat out frustrated. “Twas not like that! I swear it! I merely was studying his movements—“ “Woooo!” “Cease those assumptions at once!” Luna snapped as the burning sensation crept through her whole body. The girls only giggled and nodded for Luna to continue once the princess had settled her nerves. “Will you be attending your sister’s summons in the morning?” Star Swirl asked in a flat tone. The princess only found herself shrugging in a response in an act of indifference. “If you do plan to, you had better rest for then. You will only hinder your sister if you appear to her in an inattentive daze.” “Oh, we thanketh thee,” Luna dipped her head in a feigned thankfulness, “where would we ever be without your wise advisement. Excuse us as we fight the urges of praising thee further.” For once Luna interrupted her own story by clearing her throat with an ashamed look about her. “I wasn’t very respectful to those outside of the Royal Family in those days… Forgive me.” “Ya’ don’t gotta apologize ta’ us princess,” Apple Bloom assured Luna with a sweet smile. “Yeah. Nopony’s perfect,” Scootaloo agreed, “you’ve gotta grow up and learn from your mistakes and other junk like that.” A gentle smile graced across Luna’s visage as she sighed contently. “Such wisdom from such small fillies…” “Slander and dismiss me all you wish, princess,” Star Swirl replied void of any care as he shifted through another pile of books, “but know that if you do so I may neglect to continue work on your focal—“ “We jest ye, wizard,” the princess snapped in a hurried tone. “Please, do as ye wish and we shan’t hinder you further…” silencing her own self, Luna sunk against the warmth of the cloaked log and allowed herself to drift lazily into a slumber with the aid of the scribing of a diligent stallion working into the dark night. “Thus we end this length of the story…” Luna concluded but saw that the three fillies looked less then pleased so she quickly corrected herself, “But know this! I only tell you this story so you may begin to understand the balance of our partnership. I assure you that I will tell you many a tale of my dear old friend Star Swirl.” The crusaders brightened up at this and sprang to their hooves. “When can we hear another?” Luna opened her mouth to speak, but burned with embarrassment when no words came out but instead a grumble deep from her stomach. She gained a collection of smiles from her filly friends before she looked away. “Perhaps it would be better serving of my time if I were to eat something first…” she admitted. “No big deal! Come to my place and we’ll fill ya up!” Apple Bloom offered as she skipped along off away from the cover of the Town Hall along with her two friends. With a grip to her umbrella and a nimble step off down the steps, Luna gave the three girls a thankful nod, ignoring the fact that her umbrella was still ferruled and the sky had become shrouded in a complete grey. “A splendid gesture young one. I will graciously take—“ Plop… Her voice dried up at that little, wet touch against her nose. Plop plop… The chilling sensation tapped against her nose again, this time another plopping against her back. The three crusaders looked at Luna confused as she seemed to sink away into her own surroundings, noticing the discarded umbrella dropped to the ground beside her. Plop, plop, plop…. One by one, raindrops fell across Luna’s exposed body and mane, patting it down while leaving small clinging remains against her fur. But the rain alone wasn’t what was streaking her visage damp as a small stream of tears began to slither down from her eyes. “It’s raining again, Sister…” “It is, isn’t it? You miss the rain, don’t you?” “Miss the rain? Surely you jest. Rain is chaotic and sporadic. Who would miss rain?” “Maybe a little mare that’s missed the touch of life?” “The touch of life?” “Yes Luna. The touch of the cold, the touch of another pony, the touch of the grass: the touch of life.” “Preposterous. Rain is just water… nothing to be missed over 1000 years.” The rain began to pour down on Sweetie Belle and her friends as they tried to fit under Luna’s umbrella opened by Sweetie Belle’s flickering magic and Luna who was letting her tears flow freely down her visage. The three looked up at the princess with some worry but also growing warmth as they noticed that despite the princess’s tears, a smile had began to show through the abundant rain… “…I must admit, however, sister…” “…I have missed feeling…” Evening 1 part 1: Tearer Terror.The previous rumbles and moans from the sky had now turned to the howls and crackles of a new born storm, the clouds bringing with it the trickling and pouring of rain drops against the farm lands below along with the entirety of the village of Ponyville itself. Though Applejack, curtailing a round-up of a fresh apple pickings, had planned to very well finish all the chores before the storm arrived, the calling thunder told her differently. The cowpony made a final effort to corral the wandering sheep back into the relative safety of their pen, after which apologizing for the wet and knotted wool they now had, before making a break for her warm, dry home. The front screen door swung open like a bull had rushed it and Applejack shook off all the rain clinging to her body, drenching Big Mac who had been waiting at the front door in the process. Applejack quickly noticed her actions and gave a little chuckle while tipping her sopping wet hat off. "Sorry 'bout that big bro. Wasn't payin' much attention," she said while wringing her hat out on the door mat before fixing it back on her head. Her brother only shrugged and gestured her to follow him to the kitchen. The two walked side-by-side for a short moment of silence before Big Macintosh looked out one of the windows in the kitchen. "Did ya' see Apple Bloom when you were comin' in?" She wanted to say 'yep, sure did. Saw her scamperin' up the trail' with a nice little smile like she always would, but she honestly couldn't. She definitely didn't see her charging for home like little Apple Bloom would, but she hadn't seen her sister since breakfast. But, being careful as she always had to be with her worrisome brother, Applejack put on a sly smile as she put herself behind the dinner table. "Can't say I did. But I'm sure she's stayin' at Rarity's 'er somethin'. You know how she and her lil' Crusadin' friends are?" Like before, Big Macintosh shrugged as a show that he agreed and the subject was dropped. As she watched her brother go to one of the cabinets to search for some lunch, Applejack found herself thinking about her sister. Where did she say she was going? Was it the tree house? That would be the shortest answer to come to and by far the simplest, but that alone seemed like the best bet. But before she could think about it anymore, she heard the screen door of the living room creak open. Apple Bloom... "Home so soon, sis?" Applejack hollered into the living room, exchanging a little joking look with her brother. The screen door closed shortly after the distinct clammier of hooves clacked against the wood flooring. "Uh, yeah." Apple Bloom called back, "Hey, uh, Applejack?" Knowing very well where this was going, Applejack gave another look to her brother with a smile before answering. "Yeah, yer' lil' pals can stay until the storm passes. They want somethin' to eat?" "Actually, that's why we came here!" Scootaloo made herself known. "Three of ya' got a lil' hungry, huh?" "Well... not us..." Sweetie Belle admitted with some discomfort, "our friend was really hungry." Since Apple Bloom's arrival back home, this was the first thing she didn't see coming. A guest? Another little Crusader? Either way, this wasn't any way to greet a new guest to their home. Applejack scooted herself away from the dinner table and made her way to the living room. "Ya' brought a new friend? Well have I met this lil' filly or colt?" Applejack asked as she entered the room and instantly became stiff as a board at the sight of their guest. Standing in her rustic home decorated with knickknacks collected by a now sleeping Granny Smith, was a partly drenched Princess Luna taking a moment to study her surroundings. Applejack wasn't so much awestruck by a princess's presence as much as surprised by such a guest; and brought by her little sister no less. Luna's studying of the house stopped as she saw Applejack, which immediately changed her dull expression to a bright smile. "Ah, fair Applejack. It is wondrous to see you once more," Luna offered her left hoof to Applejack only to retract it with a surprised blink as Apple Bloom gave the princess a nudge. "Oh, forgive me, Apple Bloom. I have yet to give homage to your home properly." Apple Bloom gave Luna a winning smile, leaving Applejack fairly dumbfounded at this most strange of sights. "Thy home, fair Applejack is very... different to the decor at thine palace," Luna said honestly. "Uh, thank ya' kindly princess," Applejack instinctively said before posing her more blatant question to her sister, "Apple Bloom...?" "Yeah sis?" "...Ya' brought a princess home?" Applejack couldn't believe how odd a question that was; but given her life recently, that almost sounded normal for a second. "Well yeah. Did ya' want us to leave 'er cold an' hungry outside?" "No. Ya' did good bringin'-- Hold on a minute, we're missin' a part of this here story," Applejack mentally backed herself up while keeping her sister in front of her, allowing Luna and her two new members to her entourage to explore the living room. "How did ya'll meet the princess?" "She came to our tree house," the answer was said so simply, it nearly blanked Applejack out. "Why did she go to yer' tree house?" "That's where we were." "But why was she lookin' fer' you?" Apple Bloom wanted to answer, but for once she didn't have the answer, only a reason she hadn't asked herself. "To tell us a story." "A story? 'Bout what?" "Sandra and the Pentawhal!" Sweetie Belle chimed in with an ecstatic tone. Applejack spun around to look at the little filly as well as princess Luna who seemed to be turning red through her dark coat. "Pentawhal?" "Tis a... long story," Luna attempted to disregard the idea as quickly as she could. Though she wanted to ask about this strange events more, Applejack was sternly interrupted by a deep grumble from the young princess. Embarrassed as the princess was, the Crusaders quickly took hold of the situation and huddled around Applejack's legs. "Can she please stay fer' lunch? Or even a snack, sis?" Apple Bloom looked up into her sister's eyes with her own adorably wet eyes and cutesy little pout. "Pleeeeease?" the other crusaders joined in with their own overly dramatic looks up at the mare. Convincing wasn't really needed as Applejack nodded and made a quick step towards the kitchen to fix of a meal, and to relay the talk to her brother. Wouldn't this just shine his hooves, Applejack thought. Leaving the three triumphant crusaders alone with a now calmly sitting Luna as she found a nice enough spot, the three swarmed towards the princess with some eager. "Before the food gets served, how 'bout a quick story?" Apple Bloom hoped. However drained Luna was at the moment, a single look at those three bright faces pushed such meager pains down within the princess as she straightened herself up. "I see no reason to withhold thee three from another tale... if only a mild one... What sort of tale would you care for?" Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom went into thought, leaving Scootaloo with a wicked smile to place her request. "Do you know any scary stories?" The other Crusaders immediately became attentive, if nothing else out of fear for what Luna's answer would be. But instead of looking worried like times before, Luna seemed to have formed a cocky smirk and gave the three fillies a proud look down. "A fabricated one, or perhaps a real one?" The three fillies muttered among one another in a quick huddle before finally reaching a conclusion, albeit with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle giving a timid gulp before Scootaloo answered. "A real one." "...Then it would seem I have just the one... So settle in my little ponies, for I will share with thee a dark truth. The forgot tale... of The Terror..." Centuries ago, before Ponyville was given its namesake or even its land, there was only Canterlot high above the dank Everfree Forest and jagged cliffs; much as it is now. But in those years past, Canterlot wasn't as robust and modeled as it is now. Buildings were formed from the collection of wood and binding of magic alone; the cobblestone roads and castle itself being the only stone built constructions. Unicorns and Earth ponies lived in a relative harmony with one another, excluding the more warrior-esque pegasi to their own devices. For this reason, Canterlot was always shrouded in a thick fog that unicorn magic could only disperse in small droves. It was in this bleak, clammy aired village that a beast lurked the nights of an empty moon and those of a full one. None had seen the beast, so much so that many questioned if it was very well a beast. All that was known was by the colts and stallions that tearfully watched as their daughters, wives, and courtesans were torn asunder with no regards. Those that saw it had very little to say as their throats either choked up with horror over the loss, or fear that it would happen to them if they spoke. But through the patches and details given by one victim's word to another's, the idea was drawn. It was nothing of ponykind; or at least nothing that could be thought as such a pleasantry. A hunched form with patchy burlap textiles grooving over each bending curve of its body, cloaking over what could very well be its face and scrawny limbs. Its limbs, what little could be seen had inky black blotches caking over the flesh. But that wasn't what brought attention to it... that honor went to its shimmering silver blades, and void-less black eyes. Those that saw the blur of those silver blades rip and tear their loves apart quivered at the very remembrance of those sleek, red streaked nails. Why you may ask was it only the stallions and colts that voiced their sightings? Well the answer is simple... The Terror only killed mares... "...Like you three!" Luna snapped with her eyes flashing an empty while glow. The three fillies jumped back and joined in a terrified hug for dear life as they collectively screamed. Luna on the other hand chuckled for the first time in awhile and wiped away a little tear. "Forgive me, little ones, that was far out of line for me," the princess admitted. "W-We weren't scared," Scootaloo chattered out. "Thy word shall be taken as such... Now come, let us fill our gullets with nutrients and forget this fearful talk," Luna suggested. More then happy to get off of the subject, the three followed after Luna towards the kitchen. However, not long after Scootaloo felt a question begging to be answered before anything more happened. "Hey... Luna?" "You query Scootaloo?" "Yeah... How did Canterlot deal with the Terror?" "Makers if I know, the pandemic still existed around the time of mine own banishment... I had never asked mine sister how it was resolved... if at all," though Luna had gone further into the kitchen, the three little crusaders became as pale as ghosts and felt cold chills creep up their spines. Evening 1 part 2: Hope is where the heart is.Awkward would have best described the Apple Family table that night. Aside from the chattering fillies, very little sound came from the dining room; leaving Applejack and Big Macintosh to just look at this very strange sight as the oddity it was. Situated at the head of their dinner table, Princess Luna nibbled at the snacks provided for her and the other fillies while she listened to their discussions. It seemed just so out of place to Applejack as well as Big Mac to see a princess sitting down at a country-style table and eating 'snacks'. Albeit, Applejack did her best at fixing up 'fancy' snacks; like peanut butter crackers and warm fritters. Short notice, but she had to get something together. The two of them stayed in the next room, just poking their heads through the doorway to keep an eye on their special guest while she talked to the three little fillies. "Alright, Luna," Scootaloo braved up to the princess after getting a mouth full of chunky peanut butter and recovering from the last story she heard, "Let's hear another story. Come on." Luna cleaned her muzzle gently with a levitating napkin before looking amongst the Crusaders. Each one gave her an urging stare with their wide, bewildered eyes and fidgeting tails. The princess of the night hard swallowed a lump of peanut butter -a rather foreign taste to her by all regards- and smiled at her lot. "Indeed. A story dost seem rather in turn at this point," she may have lost the Crusaders on how she phrased that, but they kept attention to her all the same, "Now, see here... What story can I regale you with now..." she pondered the question, tapping her front hoof against the wooden table. Luna looked about the dining room in the chance that some object would spark a story from her mind. That was when she looked to Applejack watching her from the next room. Applejack, the element of honesty. The spark of a muse came to Luna and set a light into her eyes. "I have just the tale to tell..." All three crusaders leaned in, eager to hear what this next story could be about. "Hear this for true... Look upon my wings," Luna stretched her wings out slightly, careful not to knock anything over in the house she was made a guest in, "Are they not a fine pair? Yet, I shall say, they nay have always been this way. Such a time before..." What Luna said next ripped into Scootaloo's ears and her attention was begged for more than her friends, "...They could never have lifted me off the ground. I had once been flightless." It had been a particularly harsh winter that season. The snow was as unrelenting as the shard encrusted winds that blistered the body as much as the mind. The snow count have mounted up pass a fillies entire leg length; some had found that out the hardest of ways. A filly trudged through the unforgiving element, weighed down by freezing joints in her legs and her own withdrawing fatigue. The stretch of the endless white cancelled out any hopes of seeing the promise of salvation or warmth; even the trees had been coated in the mounds of snow until they looked like nothing more than snowdrifts blended against the land. No matter how cold or weak the filly had become, she had kept trekking along; for she was not alone. Beside her, a massive form stretching as high as the mounds of snow and as wide as the snowdrifts themselves perhaps stomped through the snow along with her. That form belonged to the buffalo chief of that once lush region of the world... "What was his name?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Was he really that big?" Apple Bloom joined in the questioning. Scootaloo shot her two friends a hot, silencing glare before returning to listening to Luna's story. Luna herself sighed and pondered on those questions. Her expression showed a lack of joy when she spoke once more. "Nay, young Sweetie Belle... I do not recall that elder's name. Yet I do recall that his form was truly imposing." The filly and chief moved as one beside one another; though the young pony's steps were staggered and quicken to keep at the gait of the mighty buffalo. Tears would have shed from that weak filly's eyes if she had only the strength. However, much like her hoof prints long since left behind her with each step, her will to even cry had been brushed away by the endless howls of the winter winds. But it had been because of that inability to weep upon her how grief that her eyes yielded to her a welcoming sight upon the horizon. A distance away, she saw salvation in the form of the orange hue of a warming camp site. Hope, perhaps, fueled the filly to keep moving along. Yet, as her steps became more freed against the snow, she felt her limbs also become beyond numb. It did not take long for the lack of feeling within her legs to send her toppling down against the cold snow and nearly bury herself against it. The buffalo moved along side her and looked upon her with eyes of great pity. The filly pleaded and pleaded as she struggled against the snow: "My legs can't move! Please! They can't move!" When the chief had heard this, he continued on and left the princess alone in the snow. The last words she heard him say to her was a direction she could not understand at that moment: "Your legs aren't the one's keeping you from moving. You are." She was baffled... Alone... and freezing. The snow threatened to swallow her up against its endless form. That was when she felt something. Against her sides... subtle, weak, and very small taps. Her eyes looked behind her and saw that her small wings, normally pressed at her sides, were now flapping against her form. It was her only chance, which she took without a moment's more of thought. Her body heaved, thrashed, and wormed in a ballistic wrath against the snow. Much like a fallen fledgling, she gave near crippled flaps of her wings like she had never done before. Her lungs heaved and her eyes strained as they shut. Crystals of snow pelted against her face and she growled with the pain she endured. It felt to her like hours upon hours of flapping and frantically fighting against the snow. That was until she felt a new sensation... Nothingness followed by a soothing warmth enveloping her body. The three fillies and even Applejack along with her brother listened intently in anticipation. For a moment, Luna paused on her story, looking around the attentive audience; seeing how they all held their breath for that final line. "...I had flown," such a simple statement from Luna started a chain of gasps and pent-up breathes from all her listeners at once. "That's amazing, Luna! I bet it felt way cool!" Scootaloo urged for more from Luna as she pushed up onto the table with her front hooves. "Just so. One never forgets their first flight..." Luna stood up from the table and rested her wing against Scootaloo's back, "One day, you shall regale me of your own first flight." "Y-Yeah..." Scootaloo replied, unsure of how to respond. From that point on, Luna and the rest around her enjoyed the company of one another, ignoring the storm rattling around outside the farm house and passing along story after story into the small hours of the drawing night.
Day 1 part 1: 'Sociable'?“I beseech you!” the princess of the night, Princess Luna, was grovalling before her sister, grasping at the mare’s long white legs. The entirety of the Canterlot Castle guards, maids, elders, and even bystanders had gathered at this spectacle so early in the morning. Everypony tried to stay out of sight, but the courtyard provided little enough cover for them all; but this was well worth being spotted. Princess Luna, normally asleep as this hour due to her own work schedule, was on her knees pleading to her elder sister. Celestia looked over the crowd with a burn of embarrassment running behind her face. “Luna, do not make a scene,” as low as she could, she partly scolded her younger sister. Luna refused to relent despite her sister’s tone. “Have a level of compassion, Sister Celestia. I will purge the entire palace of grime. I will even trim the hedge-maze itself! But I plead sister, plead!” Celestia was growing impatient with her sister’s pleas. The denizens of the courtyard watched as Luna became encased in a golden blanket of magic, her being lifted off of the floor and away from her sister’s hooves. Celestia gestured for two of Luna’s Nightguards to follow her as she magically carried an off balanced and surprise faced Luna. “Now, Luna. I love you so. Twilight knows this, Cadance knows this, Shining knows this, even your two most faithful guards know this,” as if in response the two dark stallions nodded and gave a grunt, “and you as well know this. However,” Celestia came to a stop at the bridge of her castle and released Luna from her magical entrapment, “as I mentioned many days ago, times have changed and so have the people. You’ve made a step in the right direction during Nightmare Night, but it’s only a step.” “Then allow me sister to—“ Before Luna could rebuttal a moment more, Celestia turned her back and headed back towards her Castle and the watching crowd. “Celestia!” Luna was only able to take a few steps foreword before her own tow guards blocked her path silently. With a simple look back with a soothing smile, Celestia tried one final note of calm to be given to her sister. “Start small, Luna. You’ll be allowed back into the castle at sunset. At that point, I’ll ask about your progress.” No more to say, Celestia exited the courtyard and disappeared into the elegant castle. One by one until in clustering droves, the ponies all left the site; leaving Luna alone with her two guards on the drawbridge. Loyal as her guards were to her, they did worry at times about Princess Luna. Even so, they dipped their heads in sorry regards to their charge before moving aside and standing at attention for her. “Sunset is in ten hours, your highness,” one guard, Sunshine Smiles by name, informed his princess, looking at her with his one good eye. “We will guide you and assist you in whatever you wish to do,” the second guard, Frolicsome Meadowlark as he was named, joined in informing his princess. “So tell us, your highness. What are your commands?” Grateful as she was for her guards’ loyalty and commitment to her, Luna still felt out of place for all of this. It had been bad enough that she was casted into the light of day when she would rather be sleeping or moving about the halls of the castle, but the mission she was given was nearly impossible. “Gentlecolts.” She spoke up firmly. Both of the Nightguards tightened their stance respectfully, but saw Luna only slump evermore. “…I haven’t a clue how to be—What was that word Celestia used?” “Sociable, your highness.” Sunshine repeated Celestia’s orders. “Yes… Sociable. How does one be ‘sociable’.” Putting air quotes around ‘sociable’, Luna questioned on with her guards. “Regardless of how you can do it, princess, you must find a way.” “Meadowlark is correct, your highness. With all due respect, we both –as well as your sister- worry about your personal life.” It usually had to be Sunshine Smiles to speak out of turn; Luna had come to value his honesty. Even so, Luna did not enjoy hearing this. “Perhaps you speak in truth… But where does one start with being ‘sociable’.” The two guards broke their stances for a moment as the stroked their chins in thought, each pondering out some sort of possibility. “Your sister suggested starting small…” Meadowlark mused partly to himself. Slowly, a smile grew across Sunshine’s face as he looked to his brother. “Start small. That gives me an idea,” quick as he could, Sunshine Smiles produced a gothic umbrella from a satchel on his side, offering it to his princess. “Your majesty; your umbrella.” It was normal for Luna -whenever about in the light of day- to use her umbrella or any other sort of cover to shield her from the light. It wasn’t because the sun hurt her; it had only been a choice on her own part. Gripping the handle with her magic, Luna took the umbrella and opened it to cloak herself in its casting shadow. “Pray tell Sunshine Smiles, what does thou plan for us to do?” “As your sister said, ‘start small’. From what I recall, during you last visit to Ponyville, you managed to forge a friendship with one colt in particular,” Sunshine Smiles informed while leading the way down the street path. “Cease,” Luna called to her two guards who had already started down the lengthy path through Canterlot. “Ponyville is miles away. Will it not make more sense to take the carriage?” Meadowlark was the one to speak up, granted with a level of unease. “Normally we would, your highness. But, as it were… Your sister has forbade us from using or doing anything more than walking with you and providing basic advice…” “We are sorry, your majesty.” Sunshine Smiles offered honestly. This was starting to get annoying. Not only was she casted out into the day, but she was forced to go everywhere by foot or by wing. In the end it wouldn’t be too troubling seeing as how she could fly, but that didn’t make the task any easier. “If that is indeed how my sister wishes to handle this, then so be it.” Luna’s wings furled out to initiate her flight. Seeing as how her guards were both pegasi, they too readied their wings and joined her in her ascent. In a ‘V’ formation, both guards protecting a side of Luna, the trio made it to Ponyville’s outskirts within minutes. Since Nightmare Night, this had been the first time Luna had revisited this rustic village. Even more so, this had marked the very first time she’d seen it so filled with life. The young princess watched as ponies bustled from street to street, from stand to stand, and from house to house as if it had been her first time of seeing village life. “Welcome to Ponyville daytime, your majesty.” Meadowlark said as he and his brother tucked their wings away. “We have a little less then ten hours until sunset,” Sunshine pointed out while watching the sun above. The sky was nearly clear except for a few dark clouds coming over the horizon. Cloudsdale was clearly planning to have a rain storm later in the day, but for now the sun was clear and bright in the early morning blue. Luna shook her focus off of the crowds in the village and instead focused on her guards. “I would rather get through with this posthaste…” she informed them frankly. “We would imagine so. Do you need us to refresh your memory on your goal?” “Best to do so as to avoid any mistakes, Meadowlark.” “As you command. You have until sunset to make five friends,” Meadowlark explained. “However, this excludes Twilight Sparkle and her fellow Element holders, as per your sister’s request,” Sunshine added the condition. If this was Celestia’s will, for her to make friends outside of the castle, Luna would do it. With the assistance of her two trusted Nightguards, this would go by within five hours. “Taxing… but not impossible. So be it. Now tell me, Sunshine Smiles, what plans do you have for completion?” “As your sister said, start small.” “Order, order!” banging her gavel against the makeshift table, Sweetie Belle called for attention within the club house. “Cutie Mark Crusaders roll call. Scootaloo?” “Present,” the orange pegasus flopped up one of her tiny wings to signal her presence. “Apple Bloom?” “Here,” the little red bow wearing earth pony chirped. “Sweetie Belle?” Sweetie Belle hopped down from her spot and moved nest to Scootaloo, raising her hand, “I’m here.” Stating her being, she moved back up to her spot and smiled at her friends. “Great, so we’re all here. So… What do are we doing today?” “Bear wrastlin’!” Apple Bloom cheered. “We can’t wrestle a bear,” Scootaloo sighed, “not until we can wrestle a sheep. We gotta’ work our way up.” “Hmmm… how about fire fighting?” Sweetie Belle suggested. “Ah’ don’t know… Big sis is still mad about us starting that last fire in the barn…” “I told you fire starting wasn’t going to be our talent,” Scootaloo pouted. “Alright, holding off on the fire fighting.” “Oh! What about—“ before Scootaloo could make a suggestion, a knock came to the tree house door. The three crusaders quickly darted to the door both eagerly and anxiously. “Password?” Apple Bloom called through the wooden door. “Open the door or we’ll jump through the window?” a deep voice asked. “…That was last weeks, but alright, we’ll let you in.” Scootaloo nodded a signal to Sweetie Belle. Using her own magic, like the gavel before, Sweetie Belle manipulated the door open slowly to reveal two dark stallions standing in the doorway with sleek dark armor. The two groups just looked at the other for a few moments, blinking periodically without a sound. With a simple cough into his hoof, Sunshine Smiles broke the silence. “Can we… Can we come in?” the eye-patch wearing pegasus asked uncomfortably. “No one gets in without giving their name,” Scootaloo informed them without a hint of fear over the menacing stallions. The two guards exchanged looks before looking back at the little fillies. “I am Sunshine Smiles, and this is my brother Frolicsome Meadowlark,” the two ignored the small snickers that the little girls tried to hold in, “we’re serving as envoys for our mistress.” “Envoys?” “Mistress?” “Meadowlark?” In answering the first two questions, the two guards stepped aside to reveal Princess Luna standing under her umbrella standing on the porch. The three crusaders stopped their snickers, and instead dropped their jaws in amazement at the sight of one of the royal sisters. “…May we enter?” Luna asked calmly. The three fillies could only muster a slow collection of nods while stepping out of the way for their royal guest. Sunshine and Meadowlark took their places on the outside of the door in a protecting manner, letting Sweetie Belle close the door behind Luna. Once inside, Luna studied the small interior of these fillies’ tree house fort. Crayon maps, a nearly empty bookcase, a shabby desk, and a partly glazed over window were the very few things to notice within this home. But somehow, Luna felt comfortable with it. “Uh… Ms. Princess Luna ma’am?” Apple Bloom cautiously spoke up. “Not that we don’t like ya’ bein’ here, but uh… why are ya’ here?” Luna gave a gentle smile and discarded her umbrella, placing it furled back to its original size by the door. “Children. How old dost thou think I am?” “…Is that a trick question?” Sweetie Belle asked in return. “Not at all, little one. I ask for the sake of curiosity. I am older than Equestria itself. And with my age, comes years and years of experience.” Luna boasted a little, “true however that I was banished to the moon for many years, my mind is still rich with experience. Which is why I have descended on you three ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’. I come with a proposition for you three.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders all felt their hearts do a back flip inside their chests. Finally, a pony with enough knowledge to make getting their cutie marks easier. “What is it? What is it?” They all asked with jumps of childish joy. “…How would thou like to hear a tale?”
Day 1 part 2: Pentawhal?The vastness and rolling void of the sands ebbed and twisted along with the dry, relentless whips of the wind. Time was lost in this endless desolates, as too were the withered creatures and bleached bones of the lives that could not escape the beating sun. It was in this heat, that one pony, one strong mare, ventured with her tan cloak flapped in the dusty wind. The trek was long, evident by the red burns that stretched up her exposed legs and the wobble that followed each of her steps. The sun grew more merciless at each passing second. Her own cloak growing heavy as her own sweat clung to the fabric and weighed her down. Even so, she had to persevere. If she could not escape to some sort of oasis and fill herself with water before night, her will would soon be lost and her life forfeit. Each step she took cut away at her reserves— “Why didn’t she wait until sunset if it was so hot?” Sweetie Belle interrupted while sitting politely at the foot of the princess along with her friends. The princess held her story and looked down at the three crusaders. “In the sun deserts are extremely hot while in the moon light ‘tis the exact opposite…” The mare continued her venture, knowing that her life would end quicker in the blistering cold of the desert’s night— “I thought this was a trek, not a venture,” Scootaloo asked. “Venture and trek are the same meaning…” “Then why not just use trek for the whole story?” Luna gave Scootaloo an annoyed look, but sighed her compliance. So… the mare continued her trek over the sand dunes in hopes that the next hill would bring the hope of water. But as she made it over roll after roll, hopes slowly turned to despair— “Why is she in a desert?” Apple Bloom spoke up. “It is Saddle Arabia. It is only deserts,” Luna did not want to sound short with the crusaders, but her tone was starting to betray her. “Oh…” the three little fillies said in a chorus and gentle nods. Luna felt a little at ease at such a humble sight, so her voice softened as she looked down at the girls. “May I continue?” a trio of nods replied her. The sun had begun to dip behind the most distant horizon of sand before the young mare; dipping with it her heart and the thoughts of survival. Legs began to quiver under her heaving weight, and she collapsed atop one of the many mounding dunes. The wind began to dust over her legs with the shifting sands grain by grain. As the sun set and her vision began to fade, she felt the warm sand lulling her into— “Does she have a name, your highness?” poking his head in, Sunshine Smiles voiced his question with the crusaders chiming in with interest. At first Luna gave the guard a disgruntled snarl, but she retracted her anger and looked back to the fillies seated before her. She was failing to look dignified before the young ones. Her thoughts suddenly cleared up as she took in a soothing inhale before speaking. “This character does not require any name. Her purpose is merely to serve as a metaphysical—“ “Can we call her Sandra? ‘Cause she’s in a desert and stuff?” Scootaloo suggested. “I see no reason why not. But this is not a story of—“ Luna was ignored as the girls cheered and gave a chorus of claps. The princess was happy they were enjoying themselves, but had the feeling they were ignoring the point of the story. “Nevermore, may I continue now?” once more she was answered by angelic nods. As the sun set and her vision— “Sandra.” --Sandra’s vision began to fade, she felt the warm sand lulling her into a deep, musty sleep. The three crusaders listened intently to Luna’s story. A moment passed with Luna in complete silence, which began to worry the three fillies. “Uh… what next?” Apple Bloom worried. The princess readied to tell them that, indeed, the story was over. However, that was before she looked at their faces. Tears welling up in one, a quivering lip from another. Luna braced down her pride and forced a smile. “Nay children, the story is not through.” The sands slowly sprinkled over Sandra’s body as her will to fight on slowly diminished… “No!” The Cutie Mark Crusaders collectively gasped. “Come on Sandra! Yer’ better than sand!” the little farm pony scoffed with a fling of her little front legs. However, in her moment of weakness--- uh… a… sand… pentawhal came out from the sand and scooped the limp mare off from the shifting terrain and into the dry sky. “Sand pentawhal?” “’Tis a narwhal with five tusks and that lives in the cool, lower sand beneath deserts,” Luna hurriedly concluded off the top of her head, swearing a little that she could hear her two guards snickering outside. The great land beast splashed in and out of the purple twilight hued sands, carrying the defeated Sandra caressingly between its mighty tusks. Though the sun had glazed behind the sands, Sandra remained still with a shallow breath, signaling her still ample life. Hours passed with the beast carrying Sandra before it finally arrived at a massive span of crystal clear water. “Thus Sandra and the pentawhal—“’ “Can we call it Murry?” Scootaloo spoke up again. This time Luna only smiled and gave a soft chuckle. “I see no reason why not… Thus Sandra and Murry the pentawhal lived in peace at that oasis forever after.” “The end?” her three filly listeners pressed with little leans inward. “That is the end. Verily.” Luna was thusly sent back a little when the three fillies cheered and clapped as if they were an entire assembly of ponyfolk. “That was amazing princess Luna!” Sweetie Belle admitted. “Best story ah’ve heard in years… and ah’m just a lil’ filly,” Apple Bloom agreed. “You got any more, princess?” Scootaloo pressed, instantly gaining support from her two partners. “Well…” Luna thought a moment. She must have some story suitable for a young audience. But alas, all that came to mind were more and more bittersweet stories that would require her to pull another ending out from her mane. Without thinking she muttered her own thought aloud. “If only I had paid Star Swirl more heed when he told me his stories…” At this Luna felt little eyes set on her. She turned to her small crowd and saw that the three crusaders were looking up at her anxiously. “Who’s Star Swirl?” “An old friend of ours. Dearly departed tragically…” the princess breathed a small sigh of nostalgia, “he was wiser beyond any pony I knew. Even more so than me…” “Tell us about him!” They all demanded hopefully. “Thy lot does not wish to hear tales of my life, do you?” Luna laughed off the idea, but only saw that their collective looks of hope did not relent. “…Dost thou… want me to tell stories of mine own life?” “Stories from a princess’s life?” Sweetie Belle scoffed at the idea, “who wouldn’t want to hear that?” Sharing her past. It couldn’t be that hard she thought. But even so she gripped her umbrella with her dark toned magic and brought it to her side, still furled up. “If that is what thee wishes. However, allow us to venture elsewhere… A change in scenery will help the thought process.” “We know just the place,” Apple Bloom assured the princess. Without any hesitation, the Crusaders took Luna by her front legs and pulled her along outside of the clubhouse, invoking a small squeak from the young princess. Her two guards still standing guard at the door gave the princess a welcoming look as she passed by and opened her umbrella over her own head as light began to envelop her new terrain. “Will you be needing—“ “That’ll be all Sunshine Smiles,” Sweetie Belle dismissed the eye-patched guard as she and her friends led the princess down to the grassy floor bellow the tree and off towards Ponyville. Instead of growing in concern, Sunshine Smiles’ lips curled into a dry smile before laughing. “Would seem we’ll be playing guard dog from behind brother…” The two guards took to the bright blue sky, never once taking their eyes away from their charge and her ‘Cutie Mark Kidnappers’. If Luna did need them, she would summon for them. But until that time, they remained at a safe distance from the pack and just watched as their princess grew an unmistakable smile of enjoyment.
Day 1 part 3: Touch of Life.Weak groans and moans rumbled from the graying sky above Ponyville, signaling ponies to start finishing their trades, businesses, and travels for the day. But to those little fillies and their ‘captive’ it didn’t matter at all. For a short while, the Crusaders pulled Luna along through the city; the young princess having a little trouble to keep her body under her umbrella’s shade despite the sun slowly dimming behind the sheet of clouds. Even so, Luna looked up to the sky curiously, unable to shake something off about it. “Where do ya’ wanna go princess?” Apple Bloom asked. Luna snapped out of her thought and gave the three girls a soft smile. Her eyes shifted around the clearing of the city to notice what must have been the government building of this village judging by the size of it. “What of that area?” she gestured to the structure that seemed to be placed in the dead-center of the town. “…The Town Hall?” Scootaloo checked with the princess if that was what she was suggesting. “Yeah, that’ll probably work. It’s probably going to rain soon, so it’s nice cover. Nice call princess,” the pegasus smiled and skipped along to the cover of the Town Hall. “Yeah, good call,” Sweetie Belle agreed and joined with Apple Bloom with following Scootaloo under the building. Another, louder grumble shook from the skies and brought Luna to look up at the growing grey. Her eyes softened while looking at the overcast created by the pegasi. However, she was shocked back to reality when she heard the calls of the three fillies she had been entertaining. Once she reached the cover of the Town Hall her umbrella furled back and was placed on one of the wooden columns. “Now children, where were we?” Luna asked to be sure they were paying attention. “You were going to tell us about Star Swirl,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “Ah yes. Star Swirl the Bearded. A stallion of many wonders,” Luna recollected with a gentle stroke of her chin. “Many spells that you perhaps use or have heard about, Sweetie Belle, were most likely created by him or mastered by him.” The young unicorn gave an impressed look to the princess. “He was an honest pony; never once did he break his word or mislead my sister or myself… Never once…” Luna gave a slight sigh before straightening out and looking to her three fillies. “But enough of mine own prattling over his glory. You have come to hear a tale of his exploits. Now… let us see…” Luna delved into thought over what story she should tell. In no time at all her face brightened up. “Eureka! I have just the one.” The pale light of the cool night trickled through the small cracks and fissures that littered the wooden shell of the simple library. The somber chirps of the crickets in the stars’ presence remained the only sound that graced through the bark of the home. Within— “Why is the house made of bark?” Sweetie Belle interrupted. “Most of -if not all- trees are made of bark. Thus so, seeing as how his library-home was made from the hollow of a tree, the outside was indeed made of both bark and manufactured wood walls,” Luna explained. “Wait… A library made out of a tree? You mean like Twilight’s?” Scootaloo asked. “Not just like, dear Scootaloo, but is,” Luna corrected proudly. “Twilight Sparkle’s library is much older then Ponyville itself. Believe it or not, that library used to be a part of our Palace near our maze. However after Star Swirl’s tragic death and the semblance of Ponyville, my sister decided to move the library to this little town to serve as a means for the citizens to perhaps learn of ancient history or any other such teachings that Star Swirl left behind,” the princess carried on with her explanation, invoking a small awe from the fillies. “But I digress… let us press on with the story.” Within the hollow, two ponies were awake in the dark of the night. One, a fair and elegant mare of a dark coat and celestial mane rested on a cushioned make-shift log with her wings curled up to her sides in an un-amused manner. “Oh! Oh!” Apple Bloom sprang up and down with a joyous smile. “That’s you, ain’t it?” “Perhaps, perhaps… But let us keep going to be sure.” Eager to continue her own story, Luna looked off to the distance at a familiar library to rekindle her memory. The other, a more faded and physically diminished stallion garbed in a ridiculously over-the-top robe and hat conducted work throughout the home under the dim flickers of controlled candle light. Moments passed with the relative silence only being remedied by the small chirps of the crickets and the dull clicks of the stallion’s hooves against the wooden flooring. “Prey tell us, wizard,” the mare spoke up through the dim room. “Why dost thou insist on playing the nuisance onto our nerves?” “Wha?” the three fillies wondered in a confusion. “’Tis how one would say ‘why do you keep on being an annoyance to me?’ back in those years.” “What years were those?” Scootaloo pressed. “I would say nearly 1005 years ago… give or take so and so.” “Believe you me, Princess, if this could’ve waited to morning I would’ve gladly asked your sister for help,” the elderly stallion gruffly replied. Once more a short silence befell the room while the elderly of the two shifted through old tomes with the aid of his magic’s grasp. The princess remained quiet while carefully watching the stallion from behind— “Ohhhhh!” a chorus erupted from the crusaders along with sly smirks. With a deep blush cutting across her dark complexion, Luna spat out frustrated. “Twas not like that! I swear it! I merely was studying his movements—“ “Woooo!” “Cease those assumptions at once!” Luna snapped as the burning sensation crept through her whole body. The girls only giggled and nodded for Luna to continue once the princess had settled her nerves. “Will you be attending your sister’s summons in the morning?” Star Swirl asked in a flat tone. The princess only found herself shrugging in a response in an act of indifference. “If you do plan to, you had better rest for then. You will only hinder your sister if you appear to her in an inattentive daze.” “Oh, we thanketh thee,” Luna dipped her head in a feigned thankfulness, “where would we ever be without your wise advisement. Excuse us as we fight the urges of praising thee further.” For once Luna interrupted her own story by clearing her throat with an ashamed look about her. “I wasn’t very respectful to those outside of the Royal Family in those days… Forgive me.” “Ya’ don’t gotta apologize ta’ us princess,” Apple Bloom assured Luna with a sweet smile. “Yeah. Nopony’s perfect,” Scootaloo agreed, “you’ve gotta grow up and learn from your mistakes and other junk like that.” A gentle smile graced across Luna’s visage as she sighed contently. “Such wisdom from such small fillies…” “Slander and dismiss me all you wish, princess,” Star Swirl replied void of any care as he shifted through another pile of books, “but know that if you do so I may neglect to continue work on your focal—“ “We jest ye, wizard,” the princess snapped in a hurried tone. “Please, do as ye wish and we shan’t hinder you further…” silencing her own self, Luna sunk against the warmth of the cloaked log and allowed herself to drift lazily into a slumber with the aid of the scribing of a diligent stallion working into the dark night. “Thus we end this length of the story…” Luna concluded but saw that the three fillies looked less then pleased so she quickly corrected herself, “But know this! I only tell you this story so you may begin to understand the balance of our partnership. I assure you that I will tell you many a tale of my dear old friend Star Swirl.” The crusaders brightened up at this and sprang to their hooves. “When can we hear another?” Luna opened her mouth to speak, but burned with embarrassment when no words came out but instead a grumble deep from her stomach. She gained a collection of smiles from her filly friends before she looked away. “Perhaps it would be better serving of my time if I were to eat something first…” she admitted. “No big deal! Come to my place and we’ll fill ya up!” Apple Bloom offered as she skipped along off away from the cover of the Town Hall along with her two friends. With a grip to her umbrella and a nimble step off down the steps, Luna gave the three girls a thankful nod, ignoring the fact that her umbrella was still ferruled and the sky had become shrouded in a complete grey. “A splendid gesture young one. I will graciously take—“ Plop… Her voice dried up at that little, wet touch against her nose. Plop plop… The chilling sensation tapped against her nose again, this time another plopping against her back. The three crusaders looked at Luna confused as she seemed to sink away into her own surroundings, noticing the discarded umbrella dropped to the ground beside her. Plop, plop, plop…. One by one, raindrops fell across Luna’s exposed body and mane, patting it down while leaving small clinging remains against her fur. But the rain alone wasn’t what was streaking her visage damp as a small stream of tears began to slither down from her eyes. “It’s raining again, Sister…” “It is, isn’t it? You miss the rain, don’t you?” “Miss the rain? Surely you jest. Rain is chaotic and sporadic. Who would miss rain?” “Maybe a little mare that’s missed the touch of life?” “The touch of life?” “Yes Luna. The touch of the cold, the touch of another pony, the touch of the grass: the touch of life.” “Preposterous. Rain is just water… nothing to be missed over 1000 years.” The rain began to pour down on Sweetie Belle and her friends as they tried to fit under Luna’s umbrella opened by Sweetie Belle’s flickering magic and Luna who was letting her tears flow freely down her visage. The three looked up at the princess with some worry but also growing warmth as they noticed that despite the princess’s tears, a smile had began to show through the abundant rain… “…I must admit, however, sister…” “…I have missed feeling…”
Evening 1 part 1: Tearer Terror.The previous rumbles and moans from the sky had now turned to the howls and crackles of a new born storm, the clouds bringing with it the trickling and pouring of rain drops against the farm lands below along with the entirety of the village of Ponyville itself. Though Applejack, curtailing a round-up of a fresh apple pickings, had planned to very well finish all the chores before the storm arrived, the calling thunder told her differently. The cowpony made a final effort to corral the wandering sheep back into the relative safety of their pen, after which apologizing for the wet and knotted wool they now had, before making a break for her warm, dry home. The front screen door swung open like a bull had rushed it and Applejack shook off all the rain clinging to her body, drenching Big Mac who had been waiting at the front door in the process. Applejack quickly noticed her actions and gave a little chuckle while tipping her sopping wet hat off. "Sorry 'bout that big bro. Wasn't payin' much attention," she said while wringing her hat out on the door mat before fixing it back on her head. Her brother only shrugged and gestured her to follow him to the kitchen. The two walked side-by-side for a short moment of silence before Big Macintosh looked out one of the windows in the kitchen. "Did ya' see Apple Bloom when you were comin' in?" She wanted to say 'yep, sure did. Saw her scamperin' up the trail' with a nice little smile like she always would, but she honestly couldn't. She definitely didn't see her charging for home like little Apple Bloom would, but she hadn't seen her sister since breakfast. But, being careful as she always had to be with her worrisome brother, Applejack put on a sly smile as she put herself behind the dinner table. "Can't say I did. But I'm sure she's stayin' at Rarity's 'er somethin'. You know how she and her lil' Crusadin' friends are?" Like before, Big Macintosh shrugged as a show that he agreed and the subject was dropped. As she watched her brother go to one of the cabinets to search for some lunch, Applejack found herself thinking about her sister. Where did she say she was going? Was it the tree house? That would be the shortest answer to come to and by far the simplest, but that alone seemed like the best bet. But before she could think about it anymore, she heard the screen door of the living room creak open. Apple Bloom... "Home so soon, sis?" Applejack hollered into the living room, exchanging a little joking look with her brother. The screen door closed shortly after the distinct clammier of hooves clacked against the wood flooring. "Uh, yeah." Apple Bloom called back, "Hey, uh, Applejack?" Knowing very well where this was going, Applejack gave another look to her brother with a smile before answering. "Yeah, yer' lil' pals can stay until the storm passes. They want somethin' to eat?" "Actually, that's why we came here!" Scootaloo made herself known. "Three of ya' got a lil' hungry, huh?" "Well... not us..." Sweetie Belle admitted with some discomfort, "our friend was really hungry." Since Apple Bloom's arrival back home, this was the first thing she didn't see coming. A guest? Another little Crusader? Either way, this wasn't any way to greet a new guest to their home. Applejack scooted herself away from the dinner table and made her way to the living room. "Ya' brought a new friend? Well have I met this lil' filly or colt?" Applejack asked as she entered the room and instantly became stiff as a board at the sight of their guest. Standing in her rustic home decorated with knickknacks collected by a now sleeping Granny Smith, was a partly drenched Princess Luna taking a moment to study her surroundings. Applejack wasn't so much awestruck by a princess's presence as much as surprised by such a guest; and brought by her little sister no less. Luna's studying of the house stopped as she saw Applejack, which immediately changed her dull expression to a bright smile. "Ah, fair Applejack. It is wondrous to see you once more," Luna offered her left hoof to Applejack only to retract it with a surprised blink as Apple Bloom gave the princess a nudge. "Oh, forgive me, Apple Bloom. I have yet to give homage to your home properly." Apple Bloom gave Luna a winning smile, leaving Applejack fairly dumbfounded at this most strange of sights. "Thy home, fair Applejack is very... different to the decor at thine palace," Luna said honestly. "Uh, thank ya' kindly princess," Applejack instinctively said before posing her more blatant question to her sister, "Apple Bloom...?" "Yeah sis?" "...Ya' brought a princess home?" Applejack couldn't believe how odd a question that was; but given her life recently, that almost sounded normal for a second. "Well yeah. Did ya' want us to leave 'er cold an' hungry outside?" "No. Ya' did good bringin'-- Hold on a minute, we're missin' a part of this here story," Applejack mentally backed herself up while keeping her sister in front of her, allowing Luna and her two new members to her entourage to explore the living room. "How did ya'll meet the princess?" "She came to our tree house," the answer was said so simply, it nearly blanked Applejack out. "Why did she go to yer' tree house?" "That's where we were." "But why was she lookin' fer' you?" Apple Bloom wanted to answer, but for once she didn't have the answer, only a reason she hadn't asked herself. "To tell us a story." "A story? 'Bout what?" "Sandra and the Pentawhal!" Sweetie Belle chimed in with an ecstatic tone. Applejack spun around to look at the little filly as well as princess Luna who seemed to be turning red through her dark coat. "Pentawhal?" "Tis a... long story," Luna attempted to disregard the idea as quickly as she could. Though she wanted to ask about this strange events more, Applejack was sternly interrupted by a deep grumble from the young princess. Embarrassed as the princess was, the Crusaders quickly took hold of the situation and huddled around Applejack's legs. "Can she please stay fer' lunch? Or even a snack, sis?" Apple Bloom looked up into her sister's eyes with her own adorably wet eyes and cutesy little pout. "Pleeeeease?" the other crusaders joined in with their own overly dramatic looks up at the mare. Convincing wasn't really needed as Applejack nodded and made a quick step towards the kitchen to fix of a meal, and to relay the talk to her brother. Wouldn't this just shine his hooves, Applejack thought. Leaving the three triumphant crusaders alone with a now calmly sitting Luna as she found a nice enough spot, the three swarmed towards the princess with some eager. "Before the food gets served, how 'bout a quick story?" Apple Bloom hoped. However drained Luna was at the moment, a single look at those three bright faces pushed such meager pains down within the princess as she straightened herself up. "I see no reason to withhold thee three from another tale... if only a mild one... What sort of tale would you care for?" Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom went into thought, leaving Scootaloo with a wicked smile to place her request. "Do you know any scary stories?" The other Crusaders immediately became attentive, if nothing else out of fear for what Luna's answer would be. But instead of looking worried like times before, Luna seemed to have formed a cocky smirk and gave the three fillies a proud look down. "A fabricated one, or perhaps a real one?" The three fillies muttered among one another in a quick huddle before finally reaching a conclusion, albeit with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle giving a timid gulp before Scootaloo answered. "A real one." "...Then it would seem I have just the one... So settle in my little ponies, for I will share with thee a dark truth. The forgot tale... of The Terror..." Centuries ago, before Ponyville was given its namesake or even its land, there was only Canterlot high above the dank Everfree Forest and jagged cliffs; much as it is now. But in those years past, Canterlot wasn't as robust and modeled as it is now. Buildings were formed from the collection of wood and binding of magic alone; the cobblestone roads and castle itself being the only stone built constructions. Unicorns and Earth ponies lived in a relative harmony with one another, excluding the more warrior-esque pegasi to their own devices. For this reason, Canterlot was always shrouded in a thick fog that unicorn magic could only disperse in small droves. It was in this bleak, clammy aired village that a beast lurked the nights of an empty moon and those of a full one. None had seen the beast, so much so that many questioned if it was very well a beast. All that was known was by the colts and stallions that tearfully watched as their daughters, wives, and courtesans were torn asunder with no regards. Those that saw it had very little to say as their throats either choked up with horror over the loss, or fear that it would happen to them if they spoke. But through the patches and details given by one victim's word to another's, the idea was drawn. It was nothing of ponykind; or at least nothing that could be thought as such a pleasantry. A hunched form with patchy burlap textiles grooving over each bending curve of its body, cloaking over what could very well be its face and scrawny limbs. Its limbs, what little could be seen had inky black blotches caking over the flesh. But that wasn't what brought attention to it... that honor went to its shimmering silver blades, and void-less black eyes. Those that saw the blur of those silver blades rip and tear their loves apart quivered at the very remembrance of those sleek, red streaked nails. Why you may ask was it only the stallions and colts that voiced their sightings? Well the answer is simple... The Terror only killed mares... "...Like you three!" Luna snapped with her eyes flashing an empty while glow. The three fillies jumped back and joined in a terrified hug for dear life as they collectively screamed. Luna on the other hand chuckled for the first time in awhile and wiped away a little tear. "Forgive me, little ones, that was far out of line for me," the princess admitted. "W-We weren't scared," Scootaloo chattered out. "Thy word shall be taken as such... Now come, let us fill our gullets with nutrients and forget this fearful talk," Luna suggested. More then happy to get off of the subject, the three followed after Luna towards the kitchen. However, not long after Scootaloo felt a question begging to be answered before anything more happened. "Hey... Luna?" "You query Scootaloo?" "Yeah... How did Canterlot deal with the Terror?" "Makers if I know, the pandemic still existed around the time of mine own banishment... I had never asked mine sister how it was resolved... if at all," though Luna had gone further into the kitchen, the three little crusaders became as pale as ghosts and felt cold chills creep up their spines.
Evening 1 part 2: Hope is where the heart is.Awkward would have best described the Apple Family table that night. Aside from the chattering fillies, very little sound came from the dining room; leaving Applejack and Big Macintosh to just look at this very strange sight as the oddity it was. Situated at the head of their dinner table, Princess Luna nibbled at the snacks provided for her and the other fillies while she listened to their discussions. It seemed just so out of place to Applejack as well as Big Mac to see a princess sitting down at a country-style table and eating 'snacks'. Albeit, Applejack did her best at fixing up 'fancy' snacks; like peanut butter crackers and warm fritters. Short notice, but she had to get something together. The two of them stayed in the next room, just poking their heads through the doorway to keep an eye on their special guest while she talked to the three little fillies. "Alright, Luna," Scootaloo braved up to the princess after getting a mouth full of chunky peanut butter and recovering from the last story she heard, "Let's hear another story. Come on." Luna cleaned her muzzle gently with a levitating napkin before looking amongst the Crusaders. Each one gave her an urging stare with their wide, bewildered eyes and fidgeting tails. The princess of the night hard swallowed a lump of peanut butter -a rather foreign taste to her by all regards- and smiled at her lot. "Indeed. A story dost seem rather in turn at this point," she may have lost the Crusaders on how she phrased that, but they kept attention to her all the same, "Now, see here... What story can I regale you with now..." she pondered the question, tapping her front hoof against the wooden table. Luna looked about the dining room in the chance that some object would spark a story from her mind. That was when she looked to Applejack watching her from the next room. Applejack, the element of honesty. The spark of a muse came to Luna and set a light into her eyes. "I have just the tale to tell..." All three crusaders leaned in, eager to hear what this next story could be about. "Hear this for true... Look upon my wings," Luna stretched her wings out slightly, careful not to knock anything over in the house she was made a guest in, "Are they not a fine pair? Yet, I shall say, they nay have always been this way. Such a time before..." What Luna said next ripped into Scootaloo's ears and her attention was begged for more than her friends, "...They could never have lifted me off the ground. I had once been flightless." It had been a particularly harsh winter that season. The snow was as unrelenting as the shard encrusted winds that blistered the body as much as the mind. The snow count have mounted up pass a fillies entire leg length; some had found that out the hardest of ways. A filly trudged through the unforgiving element, weighed down by freezing joints in her legs and her own withdrawing fatigue. The stretch of the endless white cancelled out any hopes of seeing the promise of salvation or warmth; even the trees had been coated in the mounds of snow until they looked like nothing more than snowdrifts blended against the land. No matter how cold or weak the filly had become, she had kept trekking along; for she was not alone. Beside her, a massive form stretching as high as the mounds of snow and as wide as the snowdrifts themselves perhaps stomped through the snow along with her. That form belonged to the buffalo chief of that once lush region of the world... "What was his name?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Was he really that big?" Apple Bloom joined in the questioning. Scootaloo shot her two friends a hot, silencing glare before returning to listening to Luna's story. Luna herself sighed and pondered on those questions. Her expression showed a lack of joy when she spoke once more. "Nay, young Sweetie Belle... I do not recall that elder's name. Yet I do recall that his form was truly imposing." The filly and chief moved as one beside one another; though the young pony's steps were staggered and quicken to keep at the gait of the mighty buffalo. Tears would have shed from that weak filly's eyes if she had only the strength. However, much like her hoof prints long since left behind her with each step, her will to even cry had been brushed away by the endless howls of the winter winds. But it had been because of that inability to weep upon her how grief that her eyes yielded to her a welcoming sight upon the horizon. A distance away, she saw salvation in the form of the orange hue of a warming camp site. Hope, perhaps, fueled the filly to keep moving along. Yet, as her steps became more freed against the snow, she felt her limbs also become beyond numb. It did not take long for the lack of feeling within her legs to send her toppling down against the cold snow and nearly bury herself against it. The buffalo moved along side her and looked upon her with eyes of great pity. The filly pleaded and pleaded as she struggled against the snow: "My legs can't move! Please! They can't move!" When the chief had heard this, he continued on and left the princess alone in the snow. The last words she heard him say to her was a direction she could not understand at that moment: "Your legs aren't the one's keeping you from moving. You are." She was baffled... Alone... and freezing. The snow threatened to swallow her up against its endless form. That was when she felt something. Against her sides... subtle, weak, and very small taps. Her eyes looked behind her and saw that her small wings, normally pressed at her sides, were now flapping against her form. It was her only chance, which she took without a moment's more of thought. Her body heaved, thrashed, and wormed in a ballistic wrath against the snow. Much like a fallen fledgling, she gave near crippled flaps of her wings like she had never done before. Her lungs heaved and her eyes strained as they shut. Crystals of snow pelted against her face and she growled with the pain she endured. It felt to her like hours upon hours of flapping and frantically fighting against the snow. That was until she felt a new sensation... Nothingness followed by a soothing warmth enveloping her body. The three fillies and even Applejack along with her brother listened intently in anticipation. For a moment, Luna paused on her story, looking around the attentive audience; seeing how they all held their breath for that final line. "...I had flown," such a simple statement from Luna started a chain of gasps and pent-up breathes from all her listeners at once. "That's amazing, Luna! I bet it felt way cool!" Scootaloo urged for more from Luna as she pushed up onto the table with her front hooves. "Just so. One never forgets their first flight..." Luna stood up from the table and rested her wing against Scootaloo's back, "One day, you shall regale me of your own first flight." "Y-Yeah..." Scootaloo replied, unsure of how to respond. From that point on, Luna and the rest around her enjoyed the company of one another, ignoring the storm rattling around outside the farm house and passing along story after story into the small hours of the drawing night.
