Moondancer’s Quest
Written by TheCrimsonDM
It was just another day at the office for Moondancer, a boring day. Once upon a time she had believed that becoming a doctor would’ve set her up for an interesting career full of excitement. What she hadn’t expected, was that unlike her other classmates from Celestia's school of Gifted Unicorns, she was going to end up stuck in a dead end, boring job, where nopony gave her any respect. Her other classmates all went on to go and do amazing things, where as she got to tell ponies that they had a cold, or if things got really crazy, the flu.
So many ponies lived exciting and dangerous lives, and although she envied them, she wasn’t sure that she could actually handle the exciting things that other ponies went through on a regular basis. With all that said, she still wished that something interesting would happen every now and then. Just a little excitement would prove a useful distraction.
Her so called clinic was actually just a single room, on busy days there was a waiting line outside, but on days like this she would be lucky to receive even a single patient. If things were too slow, she would just close down the clinic for the day and offer her services over at the local hospital, which would offer her some more work, though it wasn’t as exciting as it once was.
She slumped over the desk and closed her eyes. She began drifting off to sleep. A Little rest won’t ruin anypony’s day, now will it?
The bell to the front door rang and she sprang to attention. She was surprised to see the purple alicorn standing in her doorway and giving an odd look to her. The fact that it was an alicorn princess in her doorway wasn’t what really got to her though, it was the fact that this was Twilight Sparkle, her old magic tutor. It was a little awkward since Moondancer was a year older than Twilight.
“Um, how may I help you today?” Moondancer said, her tiny voice didn’t convey much confidence.
Twilight Sparkle walked in, the door shutting behind her. Carefully, Twilight Sparkle examined the room while saying, “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight stopped and stared at the framed doctorate hanging off of the wall. “Would I be wrong in assuming that you’re Moondancer?”
Did she just ask me who I was? Does she really not remember me?
“I… uh… yes, I’m Moondancer. Are you in need of a doctor?” Moondancer asked, her heart was sinking at the thought that Twilight really didn’t remember her.
With a smile Twilight Sparkle turned to face Moondancer. “No, I’m not sick or anything,” Twilight said. For a moment Twilight examined Moondancer, which made the unicorn take a closer look at herself. Moondancer’s white fur coat was clean, and her mane of red with a purple streak running through it was currently worn in a ponytail.
“Um, how may I help you?” Moondancer asked nervously. It was one thing to be around a princess, but quite another thing to be under the microscope of one.
Twilight walked over to the desk and explained, “I think I’ve met you before.”
“Oh… um… well,” Moondancer fumbled with her words. Meekly she said, “I went to Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns…”
“Oh really!” Twilight said excitedly. “That’s amazing, you know I came here looking for your assistance, but I never expected that you went to the same school as me.”
“My assistance?” Moondancer asked. She wasn’t sure what she could offer that anypony else could do more easily.
Twilight smiled brightly and explained, “I need a guide to the mine shafts underneath Canterlot, and I have it on good authority that you know your way around them.”
Moondancer looked away shyly and admitted, “I used to explore them back when I was in school, but that was a few years ago. They were always so nice and quiet, and nopony could find me there.”
“Good,” Twilight Sparkle said. “I’m going to need your experience if you don’t mind.”
Moondancer quickly replied, “But I have to keep an eye on my…” She took a look around and let out a downtrodden sigh. “I wasn’t going to get any business today anyway. Okay, I’ll help.”
“Great,” Twilight said. “Come and meet me at the castle in about in an hour, I’ve got a team set up for exploring the mine.” Twilight Sparkle turned and trotted out of the room, leaving the unicorn all alone with her thoughts.
What does Twilight Sparkle want with the mines?
***
It was nearly an hour later before Moondancer had arrived at the castle gates. The guards gave her stern looks as she trotted past them with her packed saddlebags. It had been such a long time since she had come to visit the castle and now that she was here she wasn’t exactly sure where to go. After asking a guard where she could find Twilight Sparkle, she learned that Twilight was currently in the library with another pony. If her memory served her correctly, the library was one of Twilight’s favorite places.
It didn’t take long to reach the library and once inside Moondancer found Twilight Sparkle sitting at a table. Across from Twilight sat a light blue unicorn with a striped mane of silver and white-blue. Of course Moondancer recognized the other mare the instant she saw her as an old schoolmate of hers.
“Trixie Lulamoon?” Moondancer questioned on her approach.
Both Twilight and Trixie greeted Moondancer with smiles. Trixie replied, “The one and only. Trixie wishes to show her gratitude for you joining us today, Moondancer. It has been far too long.”
Moondancer beamed at seeing her old classmates together like this, especially since one of them actually remembered her. Trixie’s presence more than made up for the hurt of Twilight Sparkle forgetting her, although today was far from the first time that Twilight has forgotten about her.
After joining the others at the table, Moondancer couldn’t help but to continue smiling happily at the others. It had been so long since Moondancer had been able to simply enjoy good company, even if it was only for business, and now that she was here she wanted to do nothing more than to catch up with them.
“So,” Trixie questioned playfully, “What have you been up to lately?”
“Oh, I’ve just been at my clinic… though business has been slow lately,” Moondancer admitted.
Trixie put a hoof to her chest and said, “Well I’ve been busier than ever before. My shows have gotten increased popularity and my recent book has been selling famously. But what else could you expect from a top class magician such as myself.”
Twilight Sparkle gave a disappointed look to Trixie and said, “Oh really?”
With a slight blush Trixie added, “But I’ve had some assistance from our favorite princess of course…”
Moondancer looked to Twilight Sparkle and couldn’t help but ask, “Have you been doing anything exciting?”
Twilight Sparkle simply shook her head and explained, “No, I’ve been too busy helping Princess Celestia. I finally decided to ask for a break, so that I could work on a few of my own projects. Actually that’s exactly why we are here today, I wanted to explore these old mines.”
“Hmph, these old mines are filled with nothing but dirt, rocks, and crystals, which are just shiny rocks,” Trixie stated.
That sentence made Twilight frown and Trixie simply smiled at her. It was weird seeing these two back to their old antics, clearly Trixie still enjoyed getting underneath Twilight’s skin. It dawned on Moondancer though, that Trixie was helping Twilight out with this, but she didn’t seem to like it.
“Um, may I ask a question?” Moondancer asked.
Twilight replied, “Sure, what’s on your mind?”
“Well, I’m just wondering exactly what we’re going to do in the mines?” Moondancer asked. “And why you wanted us to help you… if that’s not asking too much.”
Twilight straightened her back and explained proudly, “I’ve only been down there once before. You see when Queen Chrysalis took over the kingdom she locked me into the mines below with the real Princess Cadence. During my escape I didn’t have time to actually explore the mines themselves, but I really wanted to come back. I unfortunately forgot all about the mines until recently.
“The reason I got you three is because after talking to Princess Celestia I learned of a few unique features of the mines themselves. Aside from being maze like in nature, there are vast regions which are utterly destroyed by time, and even worse there are secrets hidden all over the place. So I needed a guide, somepony who was familiar with the mines, and somepony who knew all about secret doors, hidden traps, and illusion magic.
“Since nopony is allowed down there I had to look really hard for somepony to help me. Princess Cadence is the ruler of a kingdom so her royal duties keep her occupied. And as far as I know the only pony who has gone down there is you, Moondancer,” Twilight finished explaining.
“So that’s why she brought us here today,” Trixie said. “Trixie has plenty of experience working with both illusion magic, and knowledge about secret passages.”
“But I haven’t been down there in so long, how can I help?” Moondancer asked.
“I have faith in you,” Twilight said kindly.
“Okay, I can try. This should be fun, I can’t believe that I actually get to go on an adventure, and with the princess of friendship too,” Moondancer said excitedly.
“It’ll be just like our school days, just without as much in fighting I hope,” Twilight said with a wink at Trixie.
Trixie waved a hoof in the air and said, “Like Trixie would even need to bother with such trivial pursuits. We all know that Trixie would come out as a victor anyway, considering the fact that Twilight Sparkle cheats.”
“I do not!”
“Magic duels are to be one on one, not one unicorn versus the entirety of Ponyville. Not even Trixie could defeat such odds,” Trixie said.
Moondancer smiled. Even though their words were fierce, their smiles told her that this conflict was all in good fun, but the mines may not care. Although those mines were not very dangerous to happy and peaceful ponies, to a group of angry and bitter ponies the mines became incredibly hostile. She decided that it would be best to warn them of this danger ahead of time.
“Um, everypony,” Moondancer said. “There is one hazard in these mines that we all need to be careful of.” After making sure she had the attention of the others she continued, “You see the mines will do funny things to ponies who start fighting. I don’t know why, but it’s like it changes shape when ponies start getting angry.”
“That sounds dangerous, Trixie may we call a truce?” Twilight asked.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie would be honoured.”
With that settled Moondancer felt her muscles relax. If these two could be good and friendly during the trip, then everything should be just fine. After all the mines only reacted to strong feelings, so everything should be fine… right?
***
There were several hidden entrances to the mines below Canterlot, and from what Twilight had said on their way to one such entrance, there were even a few discovered in the sewers. The entrance they were heading towards now was actually the same one that Moondancer had used during school.
One of the abandoned rooms throughout the castle was once used for storage, but ever since Moondancer was discovered sneaking into the mines from it, they’ve locked the door and forgot about it. Normally that would be a bad idea, but after Moondancer saw the guards stationed in front of the room, she realized that they probably kept it around as a possible escape route.
The guards greeted Twilight and then allowed the trio of ponies through without trouble. Once inside, they were met with a stockpile of old wooden boxes, most of which were completely empty by the looks of them. The room smelled of wood rot and from the thick layer of dust lying around, it was obvious that they had practically abandoned this room.
“So, where is this entrance,” Trixie asked. “Trixie would appreciate getting out of this-“ she stopped, inhaled a short breath, and sneezed violently.
Twilight pulled a handkerchief free from her saddle bag with her telekinesis and offered it to the poor unicorn. “That was… gross.”
Trixie took the handkerchief and blew her nose in it before saying, “Trixie does not do gross things. Let us get out of here before- Ahchoo!”
Twilight looked over at Moondancer and nodded. It had been so long since she had last been here, but she still remembered it like the back of her hoof. She took a few steps forward and pointed at the wall in front of them, towards a set of oddly stacked boxes. “That’s where the entrance is.”
Twilight’s horn lit up casting the room in a dull pink glow. One of the boxes was lifted up cradled in a pink aura and gently placed somewhere else in the room. Then it was nudged ever so slightly so that the box lined up perfectly with the one below it. Twilight Smiled, and another box was lifted into the air.
A wave of dust spread out each time Twilight moved a box, causing Trixie to cover her face in the handkerchief. Moondancer’s own horn lit up and a clear white bubble surrounded the three ponies. The dust hit the side of the bubble and fell gently to the floor around them.
Trixie looked up at Moondancer and asked, “What?”
“Oh it was nothing,” Moondancer replied shyly. “Just a health bubble… it doesn’t work very well with disease I’m afraid, but for dust it works just fine.”
“It doesn’t work with disease?” Twilight asked as she continued moving boxes.
“I, um… well it’s supposed too, but I’m not that good at it. So, it’s just me…”
Trixie shook her head and said, “Anypony who can protect Trixie from sneezing is one who deserves recognition.” Trixie paused for a second and then said, “You did great.”
Moondancer smiled and looked away. It’s just a low level spell. It’s not like I did anything great.
Finally Twilight’s horn ceased glowing and she said, “It’s done.”
Everypony's eyes were drawn to the hole in the floor and the short drop into the earth that led off in a tunnel. Both Trixie and Twilight looked at Moondancer with unsure looks. Even if they were unsure, Moondancer wasn’t, she remembered this vividly now and she couldn’t wait to go and explore further into these old mines.
Without a word, she walked forward and dropped down into the tunnel about four feet below. She had to lower her head to proceed, but it wasn’t any more awkward then it used to be, and she was nearly as tall as Twilight. After taking a few steps she looked back and said, “It’s this way.”
Twilight dropped in next and asked, “Aren’t you worried?” as she lowered her head and walked forward.
“Not really, maybe it’s because I still have fond memories of this place.”
Trixie dropped in and looked at Twilight Sparkle who was just ahead of her. As Trixie lowered her head to follow Twilight Sparkle, she stared at the pony in front of her for a moment as her face quickly shifted from blue to red. Twilight looked behind at Trixie and asked, “What’s wrong? Is it hard for you to breathe in here?”
“No, it’s fine, everything is fine,” Trixie replied, while doing her best to stare firmly at the ground. Her face was still red though.
Moondancer stared at the two for a moment and a small grin grew on her face. Poor Trixie, this must be hard for her.
“May I ask you a personal question Twilight, Trixie?” Moondancer asked as she led the way down the low ceiling tunnel.
“Sure,” Twilight answered.
“Anything to distract me,” Trixie muttered.
“What?” Twilight asked.
“Nothing.”
Moondancer’s grin grew a little wider. “Are either of you dating anypony?”
“No, I’m not really interested in that sort of thing,” Twilight said truthfully.
“I… um…” Trixie replied nervously. After a momentary pause she explained, “The Great and Powerful Trixie may or may not be in a romantic relationship at the moment, one that means a lot to her, but she’s not supposed to talk about…”
“Okay, can you answer me one question though,” Moondancer asked.
“Trixie doesn’t like this,” Trixie replied.
“Is she pretty?”
With a loud thud Trixie slammed her head into the ceiling. Both Twilight and Moondancer looked back in concern as Trixie laid down and rubbed her skull.
“Ow,” Trixie complained.
“Um, how about no more questions while we’re in the tunnel,” Twilight said.
Moondancer agreed, she hadn’t meant to hurt Trixie, just tease her a little, but Trixie’s response was somewhat hilarious. “Okay, we’ll be out soon anyway… I’m sorry, Trixie.”
“Can we just leave now?” Trixie asked.
“Not yet,” Twilight replied. “I want to see this place properly first.”
***
Eventually the group exited the tunnel and entered a large chasm. The ledge they stood on loomed over the pitch black darkness below. If it wasn’t for the light coming from their horns, they wouldn’t be able to see a thing down here. Along the side of the cavern walls fragments of crystals could be seen. The crystals ranged in color from blue, green, red, and even yellow, and these were just a few of the colors to be found here.
The air was motionless and stale, causing it feel as lonely as ever. Although once a comfort for her to know that she could be totally alone here, it was now a little unnerving. There were a few tools lying scattered about, and off in the distance they could make out a railroad, it was in terrible condition. Although Moondancer was taller now, she found herself feeling smaller than ever before as she looked over the ledge and peered into the darkness.
“So, how far is it to the bottom?” Trixie asked, there was a hint of fear in her voice.
Moondancer grimaced. “I-I don’t know. I’ve never been down there.”
“Great,” Twilight said excitedly, “That means we get to discover it for ourselves. This is going to be so exciting!”
Both Moondancer and Trixie looked at Twilight at the same time. She can’t be serious.
Moondancer took another look at Trixie, specifically her head where the unicorn had bumped it earlier. She walked over to Trixie and asked, “May I take a look at your head.”
“Why?”
“Because you hurt yourself, and if you did any damage, we will need to head back,” Moondancer explained.
Trixie replied with a grumble and kneeled down. It was pretty clear that Trixie’s head wasn’t in any real danger, her horn was bit scraped up, but other than that she looked fine.
“You’ll be okay, it looks like your horn took the brunt of the blow for you,” Moondancer said.
“Good,” Trixie replied. Then she added sarcastically, “Trixie would hate to be injured, forcing Twilight to end her little quest.”
“It’s not a quest, it’s an expedition,” Twilight explained casually.
Trixie stood up took a good look around and said, “Trixie doesn’t care what it is, it’s too dark.”
Suddenly, Trixie’s horn flashed brighter and a glob of light fell from its tip and hung loosely in the air for a moment before reshaping itself into a perfect orb. The orb glowed white, and cast a bright light from its body even further than the trio’s horns could. Trixie grinned.
“And Trixie said, ‘Let there be light.’”
“Good thinking, Trixie, that will let us rest our horns while we traverse these mines,” Twilight complemented.
Trixie placed a hoof proudly on her chest and stated, “The Great and Powerful Trixie aims to please.”
Twilight looked both left and right before asking, “Okay, which way are we going?”
“Right, the ledge drops off into the darkness towards the left, but there’s a bridge in the other direction,” Moondancer explained.
Now with a bright light the trio moved forward, making sure to keep Trixie in the middle so that the light cast evenly around them. The ledge was just big enough to allow some free room as they walked carefully around the chasm, and although Moondancer wasn’t sure if there was a particular goal in mind she did take the time to admire her surroundings on the way.
They passed by a cluster of pink crystals growing out of the wall, Moondancer pointed a hoof at them and explained, “From what I could gather, the pink crystals grow when exposed to suffering and pain, but out of all the crystals these ones grow the slowest.”
“How do you know that?” Twilight asked.
Moondancer slowed down a bit as she replied, “I used to come here to escape. Sometimes I’d come down here and complain about things, or talk to the crystals. I knew that they weren’t alive, but it made me feel better to work my troubles out. It was from those moments that i got to see how the crystals reacted.” Though I might have also snuck into the forbidden library once or twice as well.
“Didn’t you have friends to talk to?”
Moondancer nearly tripped on a rock as she heard the question. This time she looked back at Twilight and said, “Yes, I did.” Although not all of them remember me.
The group continued onward in silence for a little bit until they found an old wooden bridge and what looked like a break area for the miners. An old campfire pit sat lonely and abandoned with a few rotted wooden crates around it. Moondancer looked across the old bridge and sighed.
“Last time I was here, I was over a hundred pounds lighter,” Moondancer complained. “And I didn’t exactly trust the bridge then.”
Twilight walked up to the bridge and examined it, while Trixie took a seat at the campfire. Moondancer took the opportunity to walk around the area and look for anything she might have missed. An old mine cart just off the side of the campfire caught her attention. Inside she found a lot of stone, and a few pieces of green crystal.
“How did you get past this obstacle when you were younger?” Twilight asked.
Moondancer lifted the gem up and examined it. “I walked across the bridge, but I don’t think we could get away with that now.” Moondancer took a good look at Twilight’s slender form before saying, “Well maybe you could.”
“Well, Twilight, it looks like your expedition is over now. Trixie told you that it was a useless endeavor,” Trixie said.
“I’m not giving up,” Twilight said. “We’ll get past this.”
The green gem in Moondancer’s hooves shined dully in the light from Trixie’s spell. It was pretty but she wasn’t sure what green gems reacted too, if she had to guess she’d go with envy. She set the gem back into the cart and joined Twilight over at the bridge. It was too dark to see very far, and looking down at the chasm below didn’t make her feel any more secure. Something caught her eye from down there though.
“Trixie, would you mind bringing your light spell over here?” Moondancer questioned.
Twilight gave a questioning stare to Moondancer, and then followed her gaze into the chasm. Trixie stood up and walked over to the other ponies. Moondancer found it amusing how the orb of light hung only a few inches away from Trixie’s horn. I guess the light spell needs to stay close to the caster.
Down below the trio could see what looked like a natural bridge made from the stone. The exit was just barely visible on the other side of the chasm; there were a lot of crystals on that side. Twilight pulled a rope out of her saddle bags and began to work on securing it on a stalagmite. After she was finished she tossed the rope over the side of the ledge and it landed below without an issue.
“You know,” Twilight said. “I could just fly down there, but then you two would be stuck up here. Or I could levitate you across the bridge?”
Both unicorns looked at eachother and then at Twilight. In unison they said, “No.”
“You’ve come prepared,” Trixie said.
“I’m glad to know that you have experience doing this sort of thing,” Moondancer stated.
“Experience? I’ve only gone cave exploring once, and it wasn’t nearly as fun as this. No, I just did my research and came prepared with everything the book said that I’d need,” Twilight explained with a prideful grin. Moondancer’s confidence in Twilight’s ability diminished.
“So,” Twilight asked excitedly, “Who wants to go first?”
***
The trio followed Moondancer as she continued to lead them through the new tunnel. The walls here were actually made out of the green crystals. Moondancer looked back at her followers and smiled. It was nice to be back here, and it was made more enjoyable by the fact that she wasn’t alone. It was also good to know that Twilight was very capable; after all, that rope had actually served them well.
The tunnel was a little wider than the ledge had been, and their hoofsteps echoed throughout the structure. The way the light reflected off of the crystals was mystifying, and captured Moondancer’s attention, distracting her. That’s why Moondancer was so easily tripped up by something and fell forward flat on her face.
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked as she quickly trotted over the fallen Moondancer.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Moondancer replied. She pushed herself up and looked at the ground where she had tripped. There was metal ring about the size of her hoof attached to a steel chain. “What is that?”
Trixie lifted it up with her magic and gave it a good look. “It’s obviously a cold iron hoof cuff of some sort. I’ve used similar things in my shows before, but those are rig- er designed for escaping. This was clearly designed to hold a prisoner.”
“What?” Twilight asked, there was no hiding the concern in her voice. “Why would they need something like this down here?”
Trixie raised an eyebrow and said, “Oh, so you don’t know? I thought as a princess you had access to such knowledge.”
“What? What knowledge? What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, the concern in her voice rising.
Trixie tossed the iron cuff aside and walked forward saying, “It’s not Trixie’s place to tell you. You could ask Celestia though.”
Just as Trixie passed by Twilight, the princess turned around and asked, “What happened?”
“Ask Celestia I’m not telling,” Trixie stated.
“Please.”
Trixie stopped and looked back with a sly grin. “Well if you really insist. I’ll tell you.
“Once upon a time a young Trixie was curious and broke into the dark magic section of the Canterlot archives. This is where she learned a great many of things, but the most important one coming from a book entitled The Evil Origins of Canterlot. This book was written by a famous historian, but it was locked away just before printing. Thankfully, it wasn’t destroyed. It should have been.
“Long ago, when Canterlot was just a small mining community, before Celestia moved her capital here, this place was quiet, lonely, and dark. The old laws of slavery hadn’t been abolished quite yet, mostly because King Sombra hadn’t caused any trouble yet. What The Princesses allowed was unfathomable, the dark deeds, the abominable acts, and the evil ethics of Canterlot were infamous. The slaves who worked on the mines were never allowed to leave, and lived their lives here without the sun. When foals were conceived in the mines they too were enslaved, and so generations of ponies grew up never seeing the light of day.
“Even after Celestia got rid of slavery, she still continued to mine down here. And it wasn’t until much later that rumors of some kind of blind monster pony started surfacing. They say that the old slaves never left, instead they choose to live here and it is rumored that it was because of these creatures that the mines were closed off. Not even Celestia will come down here now, because she knows that if the old slave race saw her, they would seek their revenge!”
Twilight was obviously unnerved by Trixie’s tale, and Moondancer unfortunately didn’t know how much of it was true or not. If it wasn’t for the fact that Trixie’s cutie mark was in storytelling, Moondancer would’ve taken her more seriously, as it stood however, it sounded more like a ghost story meant to scare Twilight than anything real.
“Um, Trixie,” Moondancer said gently, “Maybe you should leave the scary stories until after we’re out of the caves?”
Trixie huffed and said, “It’s not just a scary story. But you are right, Trixie should probably not worry the princess with such tales.”
Twilight Sparkle took the lead and walked past the two while saying, “Let’s go.”
The other two followed behind her but Moondancer couldn’t help but shake the feeling that Twilight was still scared of the story. Maybe she could lighten the mood somehow?
“Hey, do you guys remember getting your familiars?” Moondancer asked, in her attempt to brighten the mood.
Trixie put a hoof to her chest and proclaimed, “Trixie remembers this moment greatly. She stared into the eyes of that owl, and it stared right on back. Its pride was equal to Trixie’s and after obtaining him, her work was expedited by the talented assistance of the owl… Unfortunately Trixie lost her familiar in Ponyville when her wagon was destroyed by that dreadful ursa major. She never did find it again, but Trixie now has two faithful assistants and a cute- er friend to help her out.”
“That’s really nice,” Moondancer said. “How about you, Twilight?”
“I didn’t get a familiar. Instead I got Spike, and he’s been a big help to me over the years… or at least after he was old enough,” Twilight explained. “What about you Moondancer?”
“Oh well my familiar was a mouse if you remember, his name is Skittle, and he’s at home in his cage,” Moondancer explained. “He’s not as… flexible as other familiars but he has an incredible memory.”
“Speaking of old memories,” Trixie said. “Do you remember that one birthday party where my familiar tried to eat yours? That was eventful.”
“I had to swat your owl away with a broom, and you just sat there laughing. I think you had too much cider,” Moondancer said. “After that the party pretty much died, and without the guest of honor arriving.”
“Oh and who was that?” Twilight asked.
Moondancer swiftly silenced herself and began trying to find a way out of this one. There was no way in Tartarus that she was going to let the princess know who had missed out on her party, who had been the one to break her promise, who had been the one to hurt her feelings. Moondancer needed a way out of this blunder.
“It was… just somepony that I thought was my friend,” Moondancer said lamely. Smooth one, Moondancer, smooth one.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Twilight said.
Yeah, I bet you are.
The three ponies stopped as they reached the end of the tunnel. It was a dead end. Twilight Sparkle turned around and faced the two ponies behind her. “Okay, it’s time to head back. Maybe I can do something with the bridge to make it safe to cross.”
“You could just use that all powerful magic you have,” Trixie said as she walked away.
Twilight glared at her and said, “You know I’m not that much more powerful just because I’m an alicorn.”
“No,” Trixie said. “It’s because you're special, you always were, and always will be. The rest of us just have to deal with it.” Trixie then gave pitiful look to Moondancer. “Some of us get hurt by your specialness, and there’s nothing we can really do is there?”
Does she know?
Twilight took a step forward and stated, “I’m not special.”
Trixie was already a good distance away and growing more so by the second. She stopped and looked back just long enough to say, “You can lie to yourself all you want, but not to me. You are special Twilight and the sooner you and your friends realize how special you all are, the sooner you can start working on actually making the word better.”
“What does that mean?” Twilight scolded.
“Figure it out.”
Twilight stomped her hoof and simply glared at Trixie. Moondancer however looked away, this conversation only made her old pain resurface. If only Twilight knew what she did, maybe things would be better? Or maybe Twilight would just ignore me again…
Suddenly the earth began shaking and Moondancer fell to her knees. She watched in horror as the green crystals shot out of the walls in front of her. She screamed and watched as Trixie looked back in horror as the crystals spread out. The only light they had was coming from Trixie’s horn, and as the last of the crystals worked together to separate them, the light vanished leaving Twilight and Moondancer in complete darkness.
Panic shot through Moondancer the second the light was gone. She stood up and ran forward forward, but her hoof got caught on something and she fell. Her skull impacted against something hard, and the world was suddenly whisked away as she fell unconscious.
***
Moondancer awoke to a dim, pink light illuminating her room. For some reason her bed was incredibly stiff and uncomfortable, but the blanket draped over her was nice and warm. The blanket moved! Moondancer quickly threw off her blanket and rolled over only to see Twilight Sparkle staring at her with a worried expression. It dawned on Moondancer then that this was not her room. She was in fact still in the cave, and trapped behind a wall of green crystal.
“I’m sorry if I scared you,” Twilight Sparkle said as she folded her wing against her side.
Moondancer looked at the wing, and then at Twilight with wide eyes. It dawned on her that the princess had been cuddling her…
Twilight looked away shamefully. “I was worried when you hit your head, after using magic to heal you, I wasn’t entirely sure what to do.”
“You were cuddling me? In my sleep?” Moondancer asked taken aback by the mere concept.
Twilight laid her head down and mumbled, “I was worried.”
Clearly, Twilight was feeling bad about it now, and it wasn’t Moondancer’s intention to make the princess feel that way. Carefully, she scooted closer to the princess and said, “It’s okay, I know that seeing me get hurt must’ve been scary, on top of that we’re stuck in this cave.”
Twilight gave a small smile to Moondancer. “Yeah.” Her smile vanished. “Do you think that there might really be blind pony monsters in here?”
That’s what’s worrying her?
Moondancer scooted even closer until her fur was touching Twilight’s. “Of course not, it’s just a spooky story. I’m sure that Trixie wouldn’t have told you such a tale if she thought that this was going to happen.”
“Yeah, your right. She just likes to tease me… that’s all,” Twilight said, more to herself then to Moondancer.
“Do you know what happened to Trixie?”
Twilight looked at the wall of green ahead of them. “Yeah, after that happened we were still able to communicate to each other through the crystal. She told me that she was going to get somepony who could help. I think she called them an expert or something.”
“Can’t we just use magic to break out?” Moondancer asked.
“I tried and it and the nothing happened. I think these crystals are magic resistant, unlike the pink ones…”
Moondancer stared longingly at the wall ahead of them and sighed. Great now I’m trapped in a cave with a scared princess. There isn’t anything I can really do is there?
“Hey, Moondancer,” Twilight asked. “Why do you think the crystals grew like that?”
“I don’t know, maybe it was because of the argument you got into with Trixie.”
Twilight was silent for a moment before saying, “I don’t understand what she meant though.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Trixie said that I’m special, and that only after I admit that I can make the world a better place?” Twilight said. “I don’t know what she was talking about. Who did I hurt by being myself?”
Well you hurt me.
Moondancer snuggled against Twilight. “Maybe she was hurt somehow?”
“I don’t know… it didn’t seem like that to me. And then the way she looked at you, it was almost like she was trying to tell me something but I don’t know what it was. Are you sure that you don’t know?” Twilight pleaded.
Now it was Moondancer’s turn to her lay her head down. Her ears folded back. I’m going to have to tell her, aren’t I?
Moondancer braced herself and said meekly, “You might’ve, sorta, kinda, just a little bit… hurt me before.” Each word fell from her lips like anvils and only served to make her feel terrible.
“I…” Twilight whispered in horror, “Hurt you?”
Come on, Moondancer, just tell her and get it over with. It’s not like she was ever really your friend to begin with, what do you have to lose?
“You didn’t come to my birthday party, Twilight. I waited for you to arrive, even after having to deal with Trixie’s bird, I waited. And you never showed up,” Moondancer said. “And then I found out, only thanks to Lyra, that you moved to Ponyville… and you didn’t even tell me. How was I supposed to feel about that? You helped me learn how to use magic, and tutored me when nopony else even cared if I was capable or not. I thought that we were friends.”
Silence filled the chamber after that, leaving the feelings of hurt to only grow inside of Moondancer. When Twilight didn’t respond, Moondancer knew that it was over. She had officially lost her chance to befriend Twilight, and now it was time to come to terms with reality. She had just been a crutch for Twilight, the princess didn’t need her in the slightest.
With the way she felt, it was understandable just how strange it was for her when she began hearing Twilight Sparkle whimper. At first Twilight’s whimper was quiet almost as though she was trying to hold it in, and then it gradually grew louder. Finally Moondancer had to do something.
“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Moondancer asked.
“I hurt you so badly,” Twilight said before sniffling. “And yet you still chose to come and help me on my expedition, why?”
“I just wanted to be important for once, important enough to be remembered I suppose,” Moondancer explained.
Twilight wiped a foreleg across her muzzle and said, “I remember you now. You used to hang out with Minuette and Lyra a lot. You were always so quiet though, even when I was teaching you to learn magic. You have to understand though, you weren’t the only pony I was helping, there were quite a few and… and I wasn’t the nicest pony back then either. I am so sorry that I never even apologized for missing your party. I got so wrapped up with my new life that I never even thought to look back on my old one.”
“Well you were a hero, you had to do a lot of things that frankly scared the living daylights out of me.” Moondancer admitted.
“That is no excuse for me to ignore everypony. I even pretended that I didn’t remember Trixie from school when she came to Ponyville, although me and Spike remembered her well enough. I’m such a horrible pony,” Twilight cried. “I know that I can’t make up for all that lost time, but if you need anything, just let me know and I’ll make it happen.”
Moondancer stroked a hoof through Twilight’s mane and said, “Shh, the only thing I ever wanted was to be your friend.”
“Is… is that okay? I mean do you really want to be my friend, even after the way I treated you?” Twilight asked.
“Of course I do.”
Suddenly Twilight leapt over and wrapped her forelegs around Moondancer while saying, “I swear to be a better friend to you from now on.”
Moondancer returned the embrace. “Thank you.”
The two of them sat together talking and catching up. After hearing about how Nightmare Moon had attacked on Moondancer’s birthday, she felt a lot better about Twilight’s disappearance. Furthermore, after talking for so long they had come to a conclusion, Twilight was going to attend Moondancer’s next birthday party, even if Celestia ordered otherwise… which considering it fell on the Summer Sun Solstice was an actual possibility.
Hours passed as the two continued talking when finally there came a knocking at the crystal wall and the dim outline of two ponies could be seen. Both Twilight and Moondancer heard Trixie from the other side shouting, “If you two are still in there, you’ll want to stand back.”
The other pony turned reared and bucked the wall causing a large crack to run up the crystal wall. The cracks spread outward and then stopped momentarily before the entire thing fell apart. Trixie stood on the other side with a proud grin while next to her stood a gray earth pony mare dressed in blue. The new mare stared at Twilight and Moondancer with a flat emotionless expression.
“Maud?” Twilight questioned as she stood up, “What are you doing here?”
“Trixie got me,” Maud replied flatly.
“Where, how, why?” Twilight questioned.
“Our hotel room, she used words, and because I know more about rocks than she does,” Maud answered.
Twilight tilted her head to the side and began to ask, “Your hotel ro-“
Trixie stepped forward and quickly interjected, “See Trixie told you that she was going to get help from an expert. Now, if you two are quite done here, it would be nice to get back to the surface and bask in the sun for a bit.”
Twilight gave the oddest, most confused look to Trixie and Maud before shaking her head violently. Only after she stopped did she smile at them. “I’ve had enough of mines for one day. Moondancer, you coming.”
Moondancer bounced to her hooves and happily cantered to Twilight’s side. “Of course I’ll come. After all we’re friends now.”
A smile grew on Trixie’s lips and she looked at Twilight with a glint in her eyes. “So did you ‘figure it out’?”
“Yeah, I think we did,” Twilight said while looking at Moondancer.
The four ponies began their trek out of the mines and back to the open world. After this little adventure Moondancer finally felt like she had accomplished something, even if it was only becoming friends with Twilight Sparkle.
Perhaps it wasn’t the adventure she was looking for after all, but rather closure. Closure to a chapter in her life that she could now look back on with a smile rather than an empty feeling in her heart. But with one chapter closed it left a question stirring in the back of her mind.
What’s next? Well she figured she’d find that out sooner or later. Perhaps she would even find that out alongside her new friend, Twilight Sparkle.
THE END
Author's Note
So I started writing this about a week before the episode Amending Fences came out. Now I do like the new Moondancer they came up with, but after putting so much work into this story I decided to post it anyway. Thanks for reading it, I really hope that you enjoyed my story. XD
BTW this Moondancer was inspired by the comic book version that came out a few years back.
