Chapter 1: Final Frontier
Celestia:
We shivered against cold gusts of mid-autumn wind and searched the darkening skyline for our little sister's silhouette. Luna was trotting a few paces ahead of us eagerly, looking at the world before her and sloshing through the fallen leaves as if they were a puddle.
We swallowed once and returned to staring at the sky now streaked with an unusual shade of orange for a sunset.
Why, it almost looks like carrot soup that was accidently left out...
"Eew," We thought with a shudder.
"What?"
We looked into Luna's turquoise eyes now staring straight at us with her ever-curious expression. "Do you not find the sunset to be...most strange?"
Our voice was barely a whisper, even though we doubted anypony could hear us.
We wonder if they are with Mommy and Daddy, wherever that may be.
Luna furrowed her brow and looked up at the purple-streaked sky now spotted with unexplained blotches of gray that seemed to bleed into the other hues.
"It looks like your attempts at landscape pictures," she said cheekily.
"Oh, they are not that bad, Luna!" I huffed before taking a few large strides ahead of her even though I could see her legs shaking slightly and knew she was at least a little scared too.
"Tia...?" Luna asked shakily.
"Yes?" We called, though not bothering to turn around, instead trying to focus on what was in front of me: a whole country unexplored by us filled with possible perils and I suppose, even adventure like in the stories we were told. Though that did not rule out the possibility of squirrels.
"Do you think our castle will miss us?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Well if Mommy and Daddy had been close by they probably would have come home sooner, so we think they might be lost. Or far away. Maybe they met a dragon! We have always wanted to meet a dragon! But the castle...it might get lonely with us gone..."
"There are cats there to keep the castle company, Luna."
"But what if they leave?"
"Why would they leave?" We replied, and shifted our provision-stuffed saddlepack. We were lucky to find any close to our size...
"Why didn't you let me bring my butterscotches?" Luna retorted.
We stopped in my tracks and turned around to glare at my sister, trying to assume the stance that our cousin Neptune uses when he is acting bossy. "Luna, we are not supposed to use contractions, it makes us sound provincial!"
"Prov-praaawwvin-proooo-proohhhvv-" She stuttered trying to sound out the word.
"It means peasant-like. We are princesses. There is a big difference."
"Tia, you look ridiculous standing there looking all huffy."
We smiled. "And this is coming from the little filly who would have attracted countless bugs with her cache of sugary confections?"
"Hey, you are a filly too!" Luna pouted, making what Daddy called 'Luna's Fish-Face'.
We both began to laugh at how silly we were and continued on our way south-west, according to the map we had brought with us. And we continued our stroll through the leaf-strewn ground, giggling like two sisters normally would and not even thinking about the forest home we had left behind just hours earlier.
Never did it occur to me that it was odd to see fallen leaves yet nopony to make them fall...
...
We and Luna were in search of our parents who had left us alone a season's cycle ago. We were eight by a pony's reckoning and Luna was still considered to be about four by the same system. We assumed they would be back quickly, after all it was normal for at least one of them to leave while the other would visit another kingdom. If they both had to go we were left with our cousins, all of whom were older than us. We did not understand why they looked so grim or why Luna was so emotional. Why did they insist on such an emotional farewell, which We scoffed at? Afterall, it was only a mere outing and We were put in charge! How exciting!
Soon things seemed a little strange. We swore that we kept seeing the ghost of a blue mare, there were no punishments for staying up so late or breaking a vase. Or even eating candy for breakfast. The forest outside was too quiet. Even our dreams seemed bland, full of nothing but black nothingness and a single book whose pages did nothing but flip on forever.
Weirdest of all: when We asked Luna she said her dreams had stopped. She always had the more powerful of dreams of the two of us.
This is were we began to suspect protective magic, except we quickly dismissed the notion. We had no guardian watching over us and why would we be protected from our own dreams?
It was too bizarre, yet one day when Luna and I were playing, it hit me. They were hiding! Not only were they hiding, they wanted us to find them!
The book in our dreams was explainable as well. It was an adventure book because Mommy and Daddy always tell us adventure stories. This meant that they wanted us to go on an adventure to find them! And the black smoke we saw pouring from the book? Ink. Ink waiting to be formed into words telling of our journey!
So we left, and We forgot to look back, never knowing when the spires of our home disappeared behind us and the enchanted trees of our beloved forest ceased to grow around us.
...
Luna:
While Tia grumbled about supplies we had set up a camp made up of a few blankets in a nook between two thick and gnarled tree branches and a soft and sputtering werelight less effective then a firefly in the growing darkness. As I eagerly awaited to count the stars and harass owls good-naturedly, Tia continued to complain on why the squirrel just had to steal so much of her favorite trail mix.
We sort of feel bad for Mr. Squirrel, even if Tia doesn't. If he hates pecans, we foresee a particularly hard winter coming his way.
Later on when the sky was tar-black and sprinkled with only a few broken looking stars Tia declared that she could not sleep. We could not sleep either, we said.
She suggested that we do something interesting yet quiet to pass the time. We watched as she wrapped herself in some of the extra blankets until all we could see were bits of her silky-looking pink mane and just a small spark of light reflecting from her eyes. We refused a wrap when she inquired if we were cold. My sister must have thought otherwise because her breath was a small cloud.
For a while both of us were quiet.
An owl hooted somewhere in the distance. I hooted back.
"Luna!" She hissed.
"We were just saying hello."
Far below us there was a eerie 'scccratch!' that caused her to jump and scoot over to us, encasing me in the many silk sheets and quilts she had entombed herself in on this night.
Tia's heart raced and the rest of her was shaking as she held us.
The scratching stopped.
"We are scared," she whispered, sobbing.
"The sky is ill," I quipped out of nowhere.
"Pish."
Tia stopped shaking but did not let go of us. "How can you be so brave," she murmured sleepily. "Refusing both blankets and fear?"
"We just have not met my fears yet," I assured her. "Besides, what can go wrong if we work together?"
She seemed to consider this when a higher bough dumped its leaves onto us. Before she could push them onto the forest floor, I magically shifted their position, my aura putting Tia's werelight to shame.
"Look! Now we are in a nest, like birds!"
Celestia peered at my work before declaring: "Birds can fly, Luna, we cannot. Remember? We teleported into the tree and you climbed up."
We returned to silence for a while, until I began to count stars under my breath. Soon we found ourselves talking about all the adventures we just knew we would have...
"We will grow up to be the greatest ruler our land has seen," began Tia, "after we find Mommy and Daddy, We will train to be the best strategist there is. We will earn our cutie mark in...umm...leadership! Yes! Then, We will become a queen of our own vast kingdom and have three daughters and two sons who will all be noble knights! Oh and we will marry the bravest prince within seven kingdoms as my consort. What about you, Luna? What do you want to do?"
I looked up at the sky. "Well, after we find our parents...ummm...We will travel every land there is as an adventurer...where we will get my cutie mark in...space? Yes, we really want to go to space. Or just be an adventurer of non-space. We will visit you and our family as often as we can but we will to busy being a drifter most of the time so we might forget every now and then...we will be Luna of the Land and Beyond and-"
"What about a kingdom? Where will it be?" Tia seemed confused.
"Adventurers do not have them."
"Who will you marry?"
"Do we have to?"
"Yes!" She exclaimed.
"But Neptune's not married!"
I bet Tia was rolling her eyes right now. "Duh, Neptune's twelve."
"Well you are eight!"
"Please just tell me," Tia whined.
"Fine...we will marry space."
"What?! You cannot marry space!"
"Yes we can! We will even tell our parents that you forced us to marry space!"
"Come on, pick something better."
"That is mean."
We could see Tia blink, clearly taken aback. "What?"
"You hurt Space's feelings."
"Ugh, Luna-"
"Apologize to space!"
Celestia pulled away from me, and stared at me hard. "Luna, what if space does not want to marry you?"
We grinned. She is good, we thought. "We will then marry our shadow."
"Luna! That is the same as saying you will marry yourself!"
We grinned even more. "And?"
"You cannot marry yourself!"
"Lalalala we cannot hear you."
...
We wasn't sure how long it took before we demanded a story. Celestia agreed and began.
We interrupted her every other minute and together we created what we thought to be one of the best stories in the world, simply because it was a story we composed together.
...
Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who was almost of age to rule a kingdom of her own and-
No!
What Luna? We thought you wanted a story.
We do, but not another one of these.
These?
Your pretty princess stories. Not everypony is a princess.
Well, then what would you like the hero to be.
An orphan.
What? An orphan for the hero?
Oh, and make the hero a colt please. Colts aren't princesses.
Ugh. Fine. Have it your way. Once upon a time there was an orphan colt who lived a vast kingdom ripe with adventure. This colt was-
Homeless and an outcast. A ragamuffin.
Ahem. This colt was a ragamuffin who was hated by his village, he was-
An urchin! He longs for adventure! Oh, and he's an Alicorn.
Hmmm. He was a the sole Alicorn of his city and a thief. His name was-
Final Frontier!
His name was Final Frontier and one day he decided to steal a loaf of bread for his dinner. So he sidled up to a bakery and prepared to levitate his meal away-
Why does he need to levitate the bread? Doesn't he know any other spells?
He's bad at magic.
Oh. Interesting.
May we continue, sister?
For now, sister.
Very well, then. But unlike all the last times he tried to steal something he was caught! Before he could even think about all the things he could possibly need for tomorrow's meals Final Frontier was exiled and all alone on the other side of the wall looking out over a vast plain.
Were there pretty clouds?
Yes, there were very pretty clouds, but alas how can we ever describe them if we cannot continue?
Drama queen.
Ahem! The clouds were very high in the sky, curly white-
White? No, no, no they will be gray. It's going to rain.
Excuse me, GRAY masses that were swelled with rain and just perfect for flying amongst, except Final Frontier didn't want to fly. He was cold and hungry.
He should eat the grass.
He ate the grass, and then he wandered off away from the only home he had ever known, with only the stars as his guide-
Like us?
...Yeah, like us. Final Frontier wandered for many day and night cycles until he came to...umm Luna what should he find? We’re out of ideas.
Huzzah! Our revenge commences, for look who is crawling to us for help! Mwhahahaha! See how the tables have turned!
Just continue the story. We’re bored.
Yes! Final Frontier came to huge mountains filled with dragons and rimmed with wispy clouds and trees who do not dare to grow above the timber line, just like the mountains we'll be climbing, Tia. Final Frontier was a bit nervous about going inside because all the spooky things he might find troubled his mind. Even though, he was scared, especially since he wasn't sure if he could ever escape the mountains if he was lost. Anyway, he put on a brave face and went in.
The moon was high in the sky, but he didn't see it 'cause the mountains were so big they drowned out the light but he still kept going until he came face to face with a giant fire-breathing dragon...RAWR!
...
"Luna stop it! We had almost fallen asleep!"
We looked at my sister, who was curled up on a pile of blankets.
"So much for creating an awesome story..."
"Hmm," she mumbled, "Oh, Luna cheer up, we'll have our own adventures tomorrow"-she yawned here-"remember? Won't that be better then any story we can make, you know climbing mountains and perhaps if we find a real river or ocean, something like that, we can play pirates there instead of in the courtyard fountain."
"We like pirates."
"We know you do so why don't we rest up and have our own adventures tomorrow, no offense but we thought the character you made was boring-"
We both made him, and we didn't think so.
"-besides, what can go wrong?" She finished with a yawn.
We looked up at the moon, which had barely begun to descend.
Probably a lot of things...
We tried to close my eyes in hopes of a restless sleep, but to no such avail. The fore-dreams had returned, but we wouldn't tell Tia, she didn't need to worry.
We didn't sleep for the rest of the night, instead, connecting the stars in the sky with my imagination, wondering what kind of adventure Final Frontier was having...recalling the story Tia told me that when I was born on Midsummer's Day there was a crescent moon in the sky, which is a rare occurrence that happens every thousand years or so, when the sky seems to gobble up the moon, and it always happens on Midsummer's Day. We had always wanted to see one of these sickle moons but was too young, so with my imagination we drew a blade of moon and stars in the sky for Final Frontier to wield against anything that might hurt him.
