Moonlight Smiles
Moonlight Raven stood upon the little hill that gave a nice view of Canterlot. The sun slowly crept over the bigger buildings, casting long shadows over the streets. Moonlight never really thought much about it, but the dawn somehow always made her feel alone. It was if the night itself hugged her tight and now that hug vanished along with the darkness. “It’s always the coldest before dawn”, they say, but she felt it was more like “during the dawn”.
It didn’t matter much either way for her. She would always be alone and she truly believed that it was for the best. After all, nopony ever understood her. They called her dark, weird, sick and everything similar. It was amazing, how creative ponies could get, if they wanted to insult somepony. But they never seemed to use that creativity to see behind the curtain that hung heavy over Moonlight.
“Just as nopony sees the beauty of the night”, she murmured almost inaudible, as she started trotting to the center of the city. Just as slow, as she was walking, the city started to fill with ponies. And almost everypony seemed to wear this one single “Princess Dress”, that was really popular these days. For Moonlight, it was more like “ugly popular”, since – according to her – it lacked individuality. She thought that the dress was dead, that it had no vibrancy. That it couldn’t resonate with its owner’s soul, because it was solely chosen based on its popularity.
Moonlight wasn’t a dress fanatic or anything remotely similar. But this sight angered her, since she was reminded, how superficial those ponies were. “Welcome to the Going-Out-Of-Business-Sale of Canterlot Carousel”, she suddenly heard a white unicorn say. She knew this pony. She was the source of those princess dresses and now she announced that she would be going out of sale. Moonlight didn’t know why these words of this unicorn rang so loud in her ears. She knew that she shouldn’t care. But in a flash, she found herself inside the boutique in front of a lot of dresses.
And not just any dresses. These dresses had vibrancy and a certain “Je ne sais quoi” to them. And most importantly: All of them were unique. Moonlight was confused as to why this pony hid all these dresses before. Each of them was beautiful in its own right and they definitely weren’t inferior to this “Princess Dress”. “Maybe these dresses took me here”, Moonlight thought to herself, as she glanced all over the boutique. And it didn’t take long, when she found the one dress that spoke to her alone.
“Whoa, that dress completely speaks to my soul”, she uttered, as she glanced at that pinkish dark-blue dress in front of her that resembled Princess Luna. And therefore somehow also the night itself. “Can I try it on?” Moonlight asked the white unicorn, who seemed way to happy for a “Going-Out-Of-Business-Sale”. “Certainly, the dressing area is right back there”, the white pony answered in a bright voice, giving Moonlight the dress.
It did not take her long to put the dress on. She was kind of confused about that fact, since the dress looked way more complicated. But the confusion was soon forgotten, when Moonlight walked in front of one of the mirrors, that were placed in the boutique. It was the first time in ages that she thought of herself as beautiful. Or even the first time ever. She couldn’t even remember. It was like, she was the Princess of the Night herself.
“Whoa, this dress makes me feel like a princess”, she said to herself in the mirror, when suddenly a pink, hyper unicorn with a blonde mane as wild as a fire rushed next to her. She wore a dress that resembled Celestia in color and shape. “And this dress make ME feel like a princess”, she expressed in a loud voice, hugging Moonlight in the process. This hyper unicorn probably never heard of personal space, Moonlight thought to herself, as she gave another glance to the pony next to her.
This pink unicorn seemed to be as bright as the sun itself. It was as if she was the polar opposite of Moonlight. “She is really beautiful”, she thought. But she felt, that she would need to get rid of this thought as quickly as possible. Ponies like her were always trouble and could never be friends with somepony like Moonlight. At least, this was what Moonlight was convinced of. That’s why she untangled herself from the hug of this pony in a calm but fast manner.
The sunny pony did not seem to be bothered at all about that and just continued to smile brightly. Moonlight couldn’t stand to see that sight any longer and wanted to just get this “shopping tour” over with. Suddenly, the white unicorn made the announcement that the boutique would stay in business. To Moonlight it came as no surprise, though it still struck her as kind of odd. But she wasn’t the pony that judges other ponies. And since the sale was still in effect, she quickly made her purchase and left the boutique.
“Hey, hey, wait up!” a voice shouted behind Moonlight. She was quite sure, that the “order” wasn’t meant for her to follow and thus kept going her way. Though she could have sworn that the voice sounded quite familiar. “Hey, please wait”, the voice shouted again. It seemed to be a bit nearer now and Moonlight stopped just out of sheer curiosity, who was shouting so carefree. But before she could actually look behind herself, she was tackled by somepony. “Gotcha!” the pony shouted, as they both crashed on the ground. A blonde strand of mane fell onto Moonlight’s eyes, finally triggering her memory. It was that hyper pony from the shop.
“Whoa, are you always stopping other ponies like that?” Moonlight asked, as she lay flat on the ground. “Nope! Just you, because you are special!” the pink pony exclaimed, as she snuffled Moonlight’s back. “What are you doing? Get off”, Moonlight spoke in a dark voice. The pink pony quickly jumped off her back, so that Moonlight could stand up again. “Thanks”, she said ironically, as she turned her gaze to the cheerful ball of fur.
“No biggie”, she answered seemingly unfazed by the irony. “Just wanted to ask whether you wanna be friends,” she explained and smiled happily. Moonlight frowned and shook her head. “You don’t want to be friends with me”, she just answered and started to walk again. She quickly was followed by that hyper pony. “But I wanna be friends”, the energetic one repeated, maintaining a bouncy style of trotting. “I felt our souls resonating with each other, yep”, she said with a bright voice.
Moonlight suddenly came to a halt, staring at the pony next to her with a confused look. “Come again?” Moonlight spoke, believing she misheard the other pony. “Our souls resonated, I’m sure of it”, she repeated with an unwavering smile. Moonlight now was sure, that the pink pony wanted to make a very bad joke. It made her angry. “Why are ponies like that?” she asked herself, as she nearly wanted to start screaming. “Yeah, sure, our souls”, Moonlight finally responded in a sarcastic tone and started to trot again.
The energetic pony followed again. Moonlight just shook her head. “Get lost. Your joke is going too far”, she now said a bit louder, so that the hyper pony would understand it. But instead of making a sassy comment or anything related, the other pony just stopped smiling. She slowly came to a halt, the smile turned upside down to a frown. “Okay, sorry for bothering you”, she said, nearly crying. Moonlight was sure, that this was only part of the plan and went her way without looking back.
She kept on wandering through the city as she always would on her free days. But something was different this time around. She couldn’t get that mare out of her mind. As much as she wouldn’t want to admit it, but she has been captivated by that particular pony ever since they met in that boutique. The brightness, which has been in contrast to Moonlight’s darkness, was extremely beautiful. And she too thought that she felt their souls resonating with each other.
Moonlight’s mind was that occupied with the pink pony that she didn’t notice the rain clouds over Canterlot, until the downpour started without prior warning. It was a heavy rain that chilled even Moonlight to the bone. She quickly started to gallop back to her home, which was a good way from her current whereabouts. But as soon as she turned around the next corner, she saw a pink figure in the rain on the middle of the road. The mare was totally drenched by the rain and it was hard to tell, whether the water on her face was rain or tears.
In a hurry, Moonlight ran to the pony and shoved her to the nearest shelter. It did not help that much, but at least she could see clearer now due to the rain not falling into her eyes. “Whoa, what are you doing?” Moonlight asked the not-so-energetic pony confused and worried. “Nothing. Just standing there, being alone in the rain,” she answered with a clearly strained voice, trying to hold back the sobs. “Why ever you should do that?” Moonlight now got more direct.
The pink pony slowly looked up into Moonlight’s eyes, catching her by surprise. Moonlight did not expect to see eyes like these. Red from hours of crying and sobbing. “I probably lost my only chance of getting a friend. A little rain is nothing compared to that”, she spoke in a crackling tone, nearly starting to cry again. “Only friend? Somepony like you surely has a lot of friends”, Moonlight tried to counter. She still wasn’t sure whether this all was part of an ill joke. Though she admitted to herself that this would go too far for something like that.
“Friends? I don’t have any friends. Other ponies think I’m annoying”, the pink pony started explaining in a clearer voice than before. “Just like you probably did”, she added in a sadder tone and looked away again. “Surely, I was never meant to have friends”, she concluded her explanation, a tear rolling down her cheek. Suddenly, it all became clear to Moonlight. All the time she condemned those other ponies, she wasn’t better herself. She never really reflected on her actions, she always only saw how badly other ponies treated her. And that was her sole way of viewing the world. As the victim.
But that crying, pink mare made her aware, that she too was the culprit. She never tried to understand other ponies. And she also never tried to get close to them, because she feared getting hurt. And now she hurt this pony that – like herself – just wanted that one friend that would try to understand her. For the first time in her life, it was obvious what needed to be done. Slowly but steadily she put her forelegs around the neck of the shivering pony and pulled her towards herself.
“I’m sorry”, Moonlight whispered and quickly added: “I want to be your friend, if that’s still okay with you”. She noticed a small nod from the other pony, who seemed to stop shivering. “I’m Moonlight Raven”, Moonlight said and paused for a second. “Who are you? Princess Celestia’s little cousin?” she joked, making the pink pony snicker a little bit. They separated from each other, which gave Moonlight the opportunity to see the smile of the hyperactive pony again.
“I am Sunshine Smiles, but you call me Sunny if you like”, she answered with a much brighter voice. Moonlight could not help herself and began to smile as well. “Nice to meet you, Sunny. I hope we get along”, she responded, not noticing, how she began crying as well. “Haha, you don’t need to cry, too, you know?” Sunshine laughed and threw a single foreleg around Moonlight’s neck. They both began to chuckle and smiled at each other, half crying, half laughing.
They both never imagined that this would be how they meet their first real friend. But it did not matter, how strange this whole meeting was. Especially when they considered, how they both thought of themselves as strange. The only thing important was that they found themselves in the end and that they still had a long way to go. And that they would walk this path together. “But maybe, we should dry ourselves first.” Moonlight spoke, directly following her train of thought. Sunshine, understanding that rather weird statement, just nodded and smiled. After all, no more words were needed, as they both ran though the rain laughing.
