Neptune:
The day I stopped using the Royal We was the day my father, King Ponn, and my mother Queen Corah left Aquastria. I was their only foal, the indisputable heir apparent. That day I was the equivalent of twelve mortal years. Still, I felt no need to refer to myself in an elevated plural to demonstrate my authority of the kingdom passed to me without a blink many years ago.
They promised to come back, and I knew after a while it wasn't true. I didn't care whether or not they were liars.
I didn't miss them, either way. It was not like me to miss anyone, and I was not so naive as to think nothing bad had befallen them. Their absence made me a colt-king, and I never felt guilty. I had no hoof in their disappearance, and it opened the world to me.
Luna:
We loved flying, and many other things. One of those many things happened to be adventure, which is what Our life had become! In no way did We regret this.
We were flying high above the world. Clouds floated past, seemingly silent, yet nothing was ever really quiet. If We listened there was the sound of many winds that ruffled Our feathers. Never had We known the world to be quiet. We wanted to call out with how happy We were to be a wild adventurer, but We did not because who knew what could be out there...
Neptune:
I was King Neptune of Aquastria, now aged twenty-some mortal years and no longer a crowned colt. My kingdom was a large bowl-shaped plain under the sea, ringed by underwater mountains in the shape of a left-turned crescent moon as if somepony had drawn an extra pocket on the southeastern side of the Everfree Kingdom. These reefs and basins stretched for hundreds of miles and were surrounded by large mountains. Many cities bowed to me, and aquatic colonies stretched across the vast underwater realm far beyond the sight of those deep-sea ridges.
Even when I was younger, on that particular day, I had some reckoning of what would happen to my parents.
I even went to look for them, once and only once. I did it out of moral obligation; my parents were gods and no world was fit without its gods. I headed through the sea following the curve of the Southern continent, going ever southward where I met a seapony mare. She told me of some strange happenings out westward near the Barren Sea, which was named for being a titanic expanse of silent sea-realm and the occasional cay dotting the surface before one eventually found the Western continents. Under its waters, it lived up to the name. There was no sign of sapient life in all that space, and there were few reefs. Even the non-sapient sea beasts only used such waters for travel and hunting, not as their natural habitat.
I stayed there for a while before heading back home with the knowledge that shattered my world.
I was the only Alicorn left.
All the others were gone. Overland was ruined; it would be foolish to even check if something remained because nothing, no one, and nopony did.
I would be the only Alicorn left forever.
Luna:
Tia told Us to scout ahead, and was probably expecting Us to return within an hour or two. It seems that will not be so. We had flown lower sensing a change in the weather, when an enormous snowstorm had blown Us off course. We felt scared because the wind was not so much of a problem, We were bigger than most around Our age. Probably. All of Our cousins are gone so We have no youth to compare ourself to, though We are certain We are taller than Flora was when she first foalsat Us. The wind was usually not this strong, though.
We landed in a snowdrift, and one of Our wings was bent at a funny angle. It hurt more than We could let on.
We were in unfamiliar territory in bad weather, We were not allowed to scream.
Ow, We thought as We lifted Our wing for inspection.
Tia always seemed to be the better healer, she put everything back right and proper with a flash of glowing light. But that never meant We could never learn, she was better now... although it was not as if We were incapable of such a feat. Our horn lit up as much as it could in this flurry, cold and perilous. The turquoise light illuminated ragged feathers and magic began to course inside the bone. It was not quite broken, it seemed, but something close enough. A fracture perhaps?
We took a risk by closing Our eyes, watching as the same aura drew a map inside Our mind, showing that it was a fracture. Stars...
Once this was done, We re-examined Our wing, ignoring the cold, and felt as the magic began to work according to how We guided it, a needle and thread to sew everything together. We had only cried a teeny bit, Our eyes only smarting, really. When we had finished, We headed towards the trees, knowing We could not stop now.
Neptune:
Before I was the king, I was a prince who expected to inherit some of the fledgling realms outside of the main realm and fashion them into a kingdom of my own. Inheritance is a mortal device. Only they have so many young, so unclear of an understanding of who shall do what, and a need for the concept in the first place. Rarely would one in my position inherit a kingdom; we Alicorns were expected to go off and make our own instead of taking on the livelihood of our undying predecessors. My parents ruled a kingdom better than any in the Overland, and I shall never budge on that. In it, there live a multitude of seaponies, various fish, sirens, and sea serpents, among others, all in outstanding colors.
Sirens though, were the rarest species. To get a siren you needed a seapony mare and a unicorn stallion. They could live almost indefinitely — for how long and to what circumstances could arrange their death I wasn't quite sure — and could theoretically become some of the most powerful magic wielders.
My mother had many friends who were sirens, and they often reminded me how much I looked like my parents. They grew old, though, and their gems had less luster with age. For all the vanity the sirens of the court held, they were still mortal.
My mother, Corah, had a coat so pale blue it seemed as white as ocean spray. Her eyes were almost teardrop shaped and the color of seaweed. I don't really remember what her mark was but I recall that her mane and tail looked like rays of light catching the darkness of a volcanic abyss: the darkest, glossy black, with hints of red and gray. She was willowy in build, which was probably the reason I was so thin. That, I did not need any sirens to tell me.
Ponn, my father was undoubtedly made of much more water than normal for any sea creature. He often seemed transparent because of this, and his mane and tail were like sea foam. Fish swam within him, like piebald splotches and dapples' more splendid cousin.
They told me they'd be back soon.
I knew better.
Luna:
Shelter did not come in the form of a hollow tree. Instead, We pushed a bit of snow to the side in a clearing, set up a small bubble to shelter in, ignited a few limbs We had taken from said trees, and watched as they crackled with Our blue flame. It was not as good as Tia's, but that was okay. Only then did We decide to pull a quilt around ourself and wait until the sky went dark. We would still be able to see then; Our eyes were like a cat's during the night-time.
We ran Our hoof against some of the more recent patches that were added to the collage of fabric. Even newcomers such as them were worn to the point of looking positively ancient.
Our thoughts turned to butterscotches, which We had not eaten in more years than we cared to count. We wondered when We might be able to eat them again. It was a silly thought, but We deeply pondered where all the butterscotches were. We had learned the hard way that there were no butterscotch trees, even in enchanted forests. Even so, We had not seen any candy anywhere, unless you counted sugarcane. We had not really seen any cities either... this was definitely a higher priority than butterscotch, We certainly thought so as We nibbled the hem of the blanket in thought.
We should have seen a city by now, it has been over six hundred years, at least that many...
When Celestia and ourself had first set out, she had suggested that when we got close enough to the eastern shores we could try to find Aquastria and locate our cousin, Neptune.
Neptune was older than both of us, he was a peri-purple blue. Celestia said it was called periwinkle but we think peri-purple is way better, since periwinkle sounds like a fun color, even though there was nothing fun about Tuna. His aquamarine mane was even longer than Celestia's and mine combined, and looked so water-like fish occasionally tried to swim through it. We kept mistaking him for a filly because he was also very thin, and his voice got really shrill when he yelled — especially at Us for calling him Princess Tuna. His hooves had thick feathers that were blue and white, which made them look like waves. He always waved one of his forehooves about melodramatically when he was in the middle of freaking out. It did not help that he was a bossy killjoy, who never laughed, hated jokes, and refused to ever play outside.
After a while We had agreed with Our sister's conclusion: since We had not exactly mastered cross-country teleporting, his address was sorta vague, and he was a stick in the mud unsuited to adventure, we would not bring him along. Despite all that, We hope Princess Tuna is okay. He really does not deserve anything bad coming to him.
So, how are you, Princess Tuna? Are you doin' okay?
Neptune:
I used to have two cousins. Well, only two that I ever met. They were the daughters of one of my mother's younger sisters. The oldest was named Celestia and the youngest was Luna. They were about eight and four. Celestia had some sort of self-convinced maturity around her that made her absolutely annoying, while Luna always stared at you with her big eyes in a manner that made you think she wanted to extract your soul.
I don't think they ever got out much, and I found them both to be vapid and bothersome. It didn't help that Luna thought I was a filly since my mane was so long. Neither of them could handle being without adult supervision for a month, so I knew they weren't around anymore.
Luna may have been the last Alicorn ever born, but I was the sole survivor of a species that couldn't die.
Luna:
We did not sleep, but the circumstances that occurred did not really allow time for it. The sun had only just begun to set, and We were wondering what We should eat. There was not an incredibly varied amount of food within Our pack but...
The snow had stopped. Perhaps We could leave this bubble and get some more sticks for our fire. An opportunity like this would also allow Us to see where We had ended up. After all, there was no guarantee that Tia would find Us if We just sat still, and We must have been blown very far off course to have ended up in snowy woods.
We released the bubble spell and headed off into the surrounding forest, Our stomach grumbling the whole time.
It really is a shame butterscotches do not grow on trees.
Neptune:
When I first went out on that search at a fourteen mortal year equivalent (I was really over two thousand years old) I thought I was being brave.
Do you know bravery? That funny thing everyone tells you to be when you're small like my cousins were.
Don't ever try and live up to it.
I knew this when I returned to Aquastria at eighteen mortal years.
If you're mortal and brave, all you do is you die, if you're an Alicorn and you're brave...
Luna:
'Guess We really are lost, We mused. The snow-dusted evergreens towering over Us might seem menacing to those who thought spooky trees were the worst thing they would ever encounter. They clearly knew nothing of adventure. After a while, We came to yet another clearing of trees, except none of the other clearings in the forest were scorched by fire, burn marks still sizzling on the trunks.
Oh, and there was also a dragon.
A big silver dragon, lording over the gigantic trees that only just hid it. In two of its talons, there was a mangled sword. Those intense yellow eyes of the dragon stared straight through Us. The talons closed, the sword blade snapped into fragments that dusted the ground, while the hilt which had escaped such an extreme fate, joined its other half anyway.
This was not a happy dragon.
We fashioned our quilt into a makeshift cape. This dragon meant business.
Neptune:
Aquastria itself looks no different. However, I am. I was still organized, strong-willed, and dedicated. Everypony around me wished I was less mature and could take a joke. But I knew that they never took anything seriously, so I took everything seriously, as I had to. It was my nature.
After that search, I never felt safe again. I couldn't stand being in open spaces, or any kind of large room, and I refused to stay in one place for very long. I used over half my power to create barriers and wards around every border to fit around an entire country's mountain ranges. Every month I moved into a different palace, and avoided sleep when I could. Some say that I had become a bizarre sort of hoarder, trying to fill up any empty space. They must be eliminated, and others did not understand that — whether they were a guest, a court member, or one of my lovers. If I see even one that thinks it can escape me, I go into a fit of hysteria-screaming until it is filled with some sort of tasteful trinket. This is my burden.
I hated corners as well, but even more than that, I hated shadows, no matter what kind they were.
Luna:
We did not run away; there would have been nowhere to go. For now, We decided to return the dragon's stare however ineffective Our own gaze was on someone so big.
Our legs were shaking. The dragon noticed.
"You certainly are a strange-looking for a pony," she said. Her voice only made her sneer more apparent.
"We are not a pony, and We order you to tell Us what has occurred here."
A small flurry momentarily swept up a few snowflakes.
"Are you really in such a position to bargain?"
We cocked Our head to the side, We were no longer shaking and it seemed that everything else had become rather irrelevant. The only thing that mattered was getting out of this with as little damage as possible. All other thoughts were like stopped clockwork.
"Are you really in a position to question Us?" We asked.
The dragon snorted and rolled her eyes. Good.
We darted for the sword pieces but only managed to snatch the hilt, before sliding behind some trees.
Examining it we noticed that the blade had been torn clean out, leaving only a small cavity where the blade was once wedged.
That gave Us an idea... and a little smirk cut across Our face.
...
Of course, We were discovered quickly. With the ability to smell that a dragon has, it did not take very long for the dragoness to find Us, but when she did it was not behind a tree. We leaped up and glided high above her head, Our own heart pounding. We darted past her mighty claw and landed on her back, between her wings where she could not get Us.
Pointing our hollow hilt downward We channeled as much magic as We believed it could handle inside. From it, a new misty blue blade of glowing aura poured out. It wasn't thin and straight like most swords or even a curved one, instead, it started out thin, growing thicker and heavier the farther it got away from the original hilt. The edge was serrated and looked like the teeth Miss Dragon had shown when she decided to mock Us.
The blade touched one of her scales, causing it to make a sizzling noise.
"Get off my back," the dragon growled.
We did not move.
"Listen, I don't know what kind of pony you are but you have too much magic for a filly of your size."
We sat down, and yawned. "We are hungry."
The dragon tried to turn around, but We drove the blade a little bit deeper.
"You will not eat Us," We said firmly.
She spread out her wings, which were so silver they blended into the clouds and were tall enough to touch the trees.
"I wasn't planning on it."
The next We knew, We were in the sky. We stuck Our tongue out to catch a few snowflakes, which dissolved on Our tongue, as if they were barely there to begin with. Each was as transparent as glass but much more fragile.
"Are you kidnapping Us?" We asked hoping she understood Us even though We were still catching snowflakes.
"For now."
We pulled our new sword away, its conjured blade vanishing as quickly as the landscape below.
Neptune:
I would never try to be brave again.
Luna:
We had always liked to imagine that all dragons lived in mountains so tall they looked like claws scraping the sky. It was probably a silly fancy. From what We had discovered with Tia, it was a foalish fancy that proved itself quite true in most scenarios. This was not Our first meeting with dragonkind.
Unfortunately, it seems that Our 'captor' was not living up to Our foalhood expectations. She lived in a rather dull cave that was too close to the ground for any fun to be had.
What a tragedy.
We continued to stare at the land around Us, even though there were no drastic changes. Once the dragon — whose name was still unknown to Us — ducked inside her home which was a giant pile of curiosities, most of them gilded, became visible. They cast strange reflections in the puddles of water that had collected on the stone floor. Stalactites hung from the ceiling.
It was a bit warmer in here than it was outside.
"We see you are going for the classic look," We called happily after teleporting to the cave's center, spots of golden light dancing on Our coat.
Miss Dragon smiled, although it still looked like a sneer to me. "So, what makes you want to come south again, little equine?"
"Hmm? What do you mean 'again'? We have never been here before. Also, this is the north."
The sneering dragon let loose a frustrated puff of smoke from her nostrils. "It takes over a year to get down here from that massive valley of yours, and I know that even a backward society such as your own wouldn't allow such a thing out on their own. At times, you herd-creatures can have something so much more potent and toxic when it comes to the mindset of crabs in a bucket. Whether you're a cloud-jumper, a hornhead, or one of the other ones, you're all nuts — even more so than any dragon when you all live as you do up there, farther north, moaning and groaning about destruction and woe."
"Huh? What about a basin? Do you mean a basin like the one where it rarely rains a lo-o-o-o-ng way south from here? We went there with Our sister. Also, We have met buffalo before. Have you? The buffalo are wonderful!"
Miss Sneer Dragon glared at Us, as if trying to decipher a particularly troubling riddle. "Well, you sure don't speak exactly like them... all the 'thees' and 'thous' are off, but I know a pony when I see one. Don't think that I forgot the whole migration of your sort up there centuries ago, back when this land was much different and my hoard and I were far smaller. My sire was a clever drake of the West with Neighponese blood under his scales. He flew here to hoard when the silence between the continents was new and the ships of your kind no longer sailed the seas. I won't be fooled by you."
"Our name is Luna. We do not have the faintest idea what you are talking about."
Another stare, followed by a faint growl.
"What is your name, Miss Dragon?" We did not want to be nice to her anymore, but Tia would get upset if We were not nice.
"Nousagi," she spat in her tone harsh, "and I don't like it when others try to mess with me-"
She grabbed at Us but instead only got our cape, and cut Our cheek in the process. We dodged but not fast enough because her claws snagged on its edge, ripping it in two big pieces, and causing Us to stumble.
In the corner of Our eyes, We saw a bit of Nousagi's scales, and lashed out blindly, charging as much magic as We possibly could into the sword. We heard a roar as We continued to dash away in Our escape. We left the cave galloping as fast as We could go with an angry dragon who was most likely still close behind.
...
We were not sure of how far We had gone, where We had ended up, or how long We had spent getting there because We had been that frantic on Our flight. However, We knew We had to rest at some point and this little ring of evergreens would have to do. So We stopped, stood as still as We could, and tried to catch Our breath. While doing so, We focused Our eyes on the glowing blade of Our new weapon, which had not yet poofed away.
Above Us, there was the sound of flight, large wings beating the air, and this time We knew their sound.
We watched as Celestia landed in the clearing, her magenta eyes clouded over with worry and tears about to pour forth, a phoenix perched on her back. Guilt rose up in Us, throughout this whole ordeal, We had never considered if Our sister would have been worried. Although We would have to ask where her new friend came from, that could wait.
"Tia, you'll never guess what happened!"
That was how to be brave.
...Although we were still hungry.
Author's Note
[Revised for print on 8/9/2023-8/10/2023]
Usagi- means rabbit in Japanese, appears in Crystalline
Nousagi- means hare in Japanese, appears here
I don't know why I gave all the dragons have this naming pattern.
