Penumbral Prodigy

by JakTheYak

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, Thriller, Original Character, Bat Pony, Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 12286

Spookums is just some homeless unicorn mutt trying to survive and avoid trouble.

Spookums is a homeless unicorn with a bat pony mother and unicorn father who's spent her life living in slums and ghettos traveling around Equestria begging, borrowing, and stealing anything and everything to try and get ahead. Unfortunately for her, screwing others so often inevitably leads to conflict. After a grave injury she is rescued by Princess Luna, whom she, with time, comes to view as a kindred spirit and mentor.

Published 2017-08-30 21:30:10 UTC
Last updated 2018-01-27 21:07:54 UTC

A Sizzling Introduction

Author's Note

Hi, this is my first attempt at mlp fan fiction. That being said please make sure to leave as much feedback as possible to help me improve. I welcome criticism, so if there's something glaring that you think I could do better, feel free to rip into me, it'll only help me to get better.

A Sizzling Introduction

The lasts inky vestiges of shadow slowly dripped from the emerging mare’s grey coat, and, with a habitual motion, she stretched her body and shivered in the cold autumn chill of the Manehattan dusk. The alley she had materialized in was a simple one, bereft of an outlet and kept separate from the street by an iron gate topped with a wicked array of barbed wire. The alley was bathed in the red and yellow neon from the lighting of the establishment she had come to “visit”. All the brickwork surrounding her was obviously among the oldest in the entire city, being a mahogany hue. The stonework beneath her hooves was also betraying the neighborhoods age, as it was made of earthen grey cobble stone. This was a favored pit-stop in an all-night pillaging spree throughout Equestria, as homelessness is a powerful motivator. This particular mare just happened to have been a unicorn, and one fairly gifted in the magics of the shadows to assist in her ‘hunts’. Those few ponies that she did have repeat contact with, the damned few as she liked to call them, had taken to calling her Spookums. She had never been properly named, being an unwanted and discarded filly with but an alcoholic to call a father, a shadow of the stallion he used to be. The name was a childish stand-in, but apt given her aptitude for irritation via jump-scaring ponies from walls and ceilings, along with general shenanigans.

Spookums rarely spared those she came to know much thought past the obvious entertainment value and possibility of getting free food or clothes for winter. Said clothes would be quickly pawned off for bits given she could just near instantly travel to warmer pastures. While her mind was ensnared by thought her body moved on muscle memory, deftly rummaging through the Neighponese eatery’s large, industrial trash bins. At this hour, the food was fresh and had yet to be soiled. The labored creak of an overtaxed door caused Spookums to jump in surprise

“Oh, hiya there sir! I hope ya don’ mind, I just needed a little food to help me get through the night...”

Despite traveling all over Equestria, she still bore an accent from the place of her birth, good ol’ Manehattan. The old, graying Neighponese stallion simply yelled some manner of curses in his native tongue. Spookums simply gave him her usual level stare, they had done this dance many times before, but he had always relented in the past. All of the sudden, the earth pony heaved a massive pot of boiling water, which had been hidden behind the door, upon Spookums. The blistering liquid dosed the mare, sending her into shock as her flesh began to bubble under the heat. She let out a single agonized cry before jagged tendrils of shadow rocketed from her own and nearly decapitated the old stallion, who barely managed to close the door to stop himself from meeting a gory and umbral demise.

The pain quickly overcame the tortured mare, who promptly crumpled to the floor and melded into a vast abyssal plane of obsidian nothingness. All around her the darkness writhed and shifted in a dance of darkness that only a truly mad mind could comprehend; All was ebbing and flowing within the blackened an ocean of night. The poor pony bucked, cursed, and shook in unimaginable pain as the normally lifegiving liquid betrayed her and became her nemesis. She couldn’t focus enough to pull herself from this lower plane and simply kept riding the tides for what could have been as long as a lifetime, or short as a New Year’s resolution. She continued slipping through this lower reality; all the while she traveled wherever the currents took her, from Yakyakistan to Griffonstone to the undiscovered west and anywhere in between or outside. After some unknowable time, another’s form dove through the veiled barrier between worlds and, in a flare of stark white brilliance, cast away the abyss and gently took the injured Spookums in her hooves and slowly ascended to the surface and crossed back into the real world.

^^^

Spookums’ eyes slowly, painfully cracked partially open to reveal a quartet of goddesses, the lowly outcast had suddenly been inducted into the company of all four Alicorn princesses. She was only half conscious, with blurred vision and ringing ears. It was taxing to just to try and understand what was being said. It is considered a rare honor for those outside Ponyville to see even one, and a once in a lifetime opportunity to be in the presence of them all. Celestia was the first to react,

“Luna my sister who is this pony?! What happen to her? She looks injured!”

Her voice was firm and commanding, yet still shaken, given the sudden appearance of a third degree burn victim before her. The pony that had wrenched Spookums from the maw of the unknown was, in fact, the younger royal sister, Luna the Princess of the Moon. She spoke to her sister in a shaky voice,

“I had observed this pony traveling by way of an ancient technique I had believed only myself capable of. She appeared as though to be in pain so I went and retrieved her. I hope she will be alright”

A pinkish Alicorn, maybe Twilight Sparkle -Spookums never knew which was which outside of the original two- interrupted.

“Who cares?! This pony needs help now!!”

All the Alicorns looked to Celestia, who simply shook her head and all of them began to execute some unspoken plan. The last thing Spookums remembered was her feeling herself be lifted by a gentle ethereal grip.

^^^

“Uuugghh….”

The groans of pain echoed the throbbing pain in her head. The high-pitched beeps of medical equipment jolted the sleeping Spookums to full attention. She was vaguely aware of her surroundings, limited mainly to her being laid on her back. Gingerly rubbing her eyes and peering around the room, her sensitive, unadjusted pupils were screaming at the sparkles and reflections cast by the orgy of polished marble adorning the columns about the rooms walls and the blistering sunlight pouring in from the massive windows. Outside of the windows, the ground was nowhere in sight, so Spookums assumed her must be on a higher level, maybe the Princesses put me up in a tower like a damsel in distress. She chuckled to herself at the thought, then slowly came to realize that it felt as though she was being constricted around the whole of her body.

“Sweet Celestia!” she exclaimed, looking down upon her ravaged form in horror to find herself wrapped in all manner of gauze, oozing healing salves.

“Now now, that’s know way to use my name.” the solar Princess cooed with a gentle smile, not that it was seen.

Spookums startled and tried to turn to see her visitor, but to no avail as her head was sat sunken so deep into egregiously fluffy pillows that she couldn’t move her neck far enough to see her visitor. Slowly her eyes began to adjust to the unending assault buffeting them, and she became aware that she was in fact in a private room, and ironically one of the towers from the negligible distance between the windows and clouds. Celestia slowly trotted into view, along with a slender red and white stallion with a pill bottle for a cutie mark. The two must have been in the room prior to her awakening. Maybe they had been discussing treatment, not that it really made much difference to Spookums.

“She’ll be fine, but the scaring will cause discoloration of her coat once it grows back. She’ll have to dye it if she wants to appear normal, but given her natural image I’m not sure it will even be worthwhile”.

The snide doctor didn’t spare a glance to his charge, looking dead at the Princess like Spookums wasn’t even there.

“Hey you snobbish mother-bucker, ‘she’ is right her!!” if there was one thing she couldn’t stand, it was others looking down their muzzles at her.

“I am aware”

He looked over just to fire off a look like he was gazing upon a pitiful, wounded animal and not a fellow pony. Turning to Celestia, he continued

“Unfortunately, this particular miscreant doesn’t seem capable of taking care of basic hygiene, let alone paying for medical services. I will be pilling the court, if you should come to your senses and decide otherwise, you can contact my office. My work here is done, make sure she stays in bed and doesn’t move more than absolutely necessary.”

Without even giving a moment for a reply he cantered out of the room with a flick of his mane and tail.

“Good to know you keep great company” Spookums spit like a caustic venom.

“Even though he may not be the most, hmm…” she paused a moment to mull over which word she wished to use “agreeable, of ponies; Doctor Paresthesia did work wonders on you. Suffice to say, you owe him a great debt.”

Spookums rolled her eyes and made a small ‘uh huh’ under her breath.

“Now Miss… uh, what was your name again?” the Princess asked.

“Ponies call me Spookums” the bandaged bum was now fully agitated and in the most abrasive of moods “what’s it to ya?”

Her accent was coming in thicker than usual, the way it always did when she felt offended or threatened. The Princess was taken aback at the toxicity spewing from the crippled pony before her. To her credit, Celestia did persist and try and get anything resembling personal information and the story behind her injuries for a good twenty minutes.

Finally she gave a defeated, “Perhaps I am not the best pony for you to talk to…” and walked out of the door.

What followed was a string of awkward introductions and half conversations as the other Princesses tried to connect with the wayward soul. Spookums did feel some twinge of remorse for her tongue lashing of the well-meaning if out of depth Twilight, who had little to offer outside of several factoids on burn treatment and offers to read her some medical journals. Then came Cadence, form who she felt much of the maternal affection she had been missing for so long. Spookums simply stuck to awkward small talk and dodged any real questions. Despite the motherly tones Spookums picked up from the pink princess, she still didn’t trust her.

Finally, Cadence took her leave promising fresh baked cookies. There was a pause for a few minutes after Cadence took her leave, and Spookums could hear hushed arguing outside. Eventually the door opened, and in stepped the Princess of the Night. Luna entered plainly, as if she understood that there really was no flowery way to talk to this particular pony. Where all her predecessors had opened with some manner of cheesy ice-breaker, Luna simply moved to the foot of Spookums’ bed and sat down. The two stared at each other, firing and receiving a bout of sizing-up.

Finally, Luna spoke “you lack the normal bubbly and care-free disposition of near all ponies, save few.”

“What tipped you off?” The venomous Manehattan bite begun to fade.

“You are the first mare I have seen in a very long while with her coat not covering her hooves, you smell as though you’d never had a proper bath up till now, your coat is shaggy and poorly groomed, as is your tail, and you wear a braid so you don’t have to bother with your mane.” Luna made a circular motion with her hooves in front of her muzzle to accent her words.

“Wow tell me how you really feel why dontcha?”

Silence descended over the two like a shroud, broken with a quizzical initiation,

“I don’t mean to be rude, but why do you Alicorns care about some peasant anyway?”

That word peasant hung in the air, like a bubble ready to pop. Luna paused and carefully considered her words, conversational and social nuance was never her forte,

“Why would you think that we wouldn’t?”

“When I was little I heard the other kids talking about ‘All powerful and ever caring Alicorn overloads’, they were going to school while I was picking their saddlebags. Celestia had plenty of time to come down from her castle and go ahead to stroll down the gutters and alleys to try and help some of her poor subjects.” As the sentence came out Spookums felt years of pent up anger all spilling out, getting louder and louder with every word.

“While she was sat up her on her soft, gold throne being kissed up to and never having so much as lay eyes on a pony without a noble bloodline as old as her, a little mare spent her childhood praying every sunrise that a sun Goddess would spare her and her overworked and out-of-depth dad time to look to the shadows she cast to deliver them from hell in a concrete and asphalt cesspool!!” The unicorn was now shouting and crying uncontrollably. “She decrees what is wrong and what is right while others waste away in prisons for daring to do what it takes to survive!”

Her body began shaking slightly and tears streamed down her face. She was tired. Tired of struggling, tired of hurting, tired of never having anypony or even a place to stay a night. As she lay there, in the throes of a breakdown, Luna walked around the bed and simply wrapped her hooves around the suffering pony. Luna stroked Spookums’ mane and did anything else she could remember to comfort her. She heard hinges creak and stole a look to the doorway and saw her sister and Twilight grinning at the sight of Luna with this seemingly unapproachable pony clutching her desperately.

What's Wrong with a Lil' Play?

Author's Note

Hello again all! I've just begun college, so my updating schedule is going to be spotty at best. However, I am still fully committed to this story and bringing it to life. With that said, the previous rules still apply: leave any and all thoughts if you please, and don't be afraid to tell me something is awful. Thank you so much for your support!

What's Wrong with a Lil' Play?

After several days’ rest, Spookums was finally up and moving. The boredom that had plagued her left the youthful mare charged and ready to leave the castle and get her life back on track. The rush of excitement crashed like electric fingers plucking her veins like the strings of a harp as she attempted to meld and transport herself to, well she wasn’t sure where. But, she knew it was going to be anywhere in the whole of Equestria beside this bleached city sized palace of excess. Every rich noble she saw straggling around the halls of the castle was like an injection of liquid fire, setting her heart ablaze with rage. They all walked around taking what they wanted and leaving messes behind them for, as one especially haughty mule put it, “Those peasant ponies, it’s what they live for after all”.

Soon a soft indigo began to crackle and spark around her horn. Having never received any proper magical tutoring had left Spookums’ casting unrefined, barely controlled, and, most importantly, prone to backfiring. Exerting herself while not having fully healed had the expected negative impact on her magic, and, before completing the spell, a blast of arcane energy flared and launched her through the window of the hallway she had been walking down. Her uncontrolled flight abruptly ended as she smashed through Princess Celestia’s bedroom window at the peak of a high spire, promptly slamming onto the matriarch’s bed in a heap between her and Twilight. Both looked at Spookums stunned.

“Oh hiya your highnesses, sorry for dropping in.”

Twilight rolled her eyes while Celestia giggled to herself. Spookums was levitated off the bed by Twilight, who promptly dropped her head-first onto the ground. “Ouch! Jeez, with a welcome like that a pony might think they were interrupting something.”

The blushes on both ponies faces told Spookums all that she needed to know. Slowly she began to crack an ever-widening smile, which was followed by poorly contained giggles. Before long she was cackling with glee at the now indignant Twilight, whose plumage had puffed up.

“Jeez Twilight, I didn’t know that’s what Alicorns call ‘extra-circular activities’!” The volume of Spookums’ glee was at a peak, and beginning to give her a sore throat.

“I, we- I mean. Ugh just get out!” Twilight shouted over Spookums’ howls of laughter and promptly magically threw Spookums from the room.

Spookums landed on her back and looked up to see a very perplexed looking Luna looking back at her.

“Spookums, why were thee in my sister’s quarters?” Luna tilted her head to the side quizzically.

“Well you see--” Her sentence was interrupted by a juvenile snort “I was trying to leave and all that, but my magic backfired and launched me straight through your sister’s window. Then, and you’ll never believe this, I landed between the two and I think I caught them right before they started kissing!” Spookums was swept away by another round of laughter as Luna stood astounded.

“You mean to say my sister and Twilight Sparkle, her longtime pupil and friend, are-are… Marefriends?” Luna leaned in towards Spookums as she spoke, hushing her voice.

“Woah woah woah.” Spookums rolled around and sat up. “I never said they were dating. Sometimes ponies just like to fool around with that kinda stuff. Besides, I’m sure your sister would tell you of all ponies if she had the hots for one of her students.”

She immediately regretted the last remark as she saw Luna’s face grow graven. Well, more so than usual.

“While my sister and I may be linked by birth, our relationship is not as closely entwined as we may make outsiders believe. We both bear scares of the past.” She dropped her head, as if in shame “One many times more than the other.”

Spookums finally caught on to the weight the conversation had taken on. She shifted uncomfortably, trying to figure herself an out. Her options were limited by the lack of magic. She liked Luna and all, they had a lot in common, but she really made a habit of letting the past dictate her present. The irony was entirely lost on Spookums.

“Oh well, huh that’s. Uh, not good then I guess. Maybe counselling or something? I think it’ll probably be best is I go ahead and just leave you Alicorns to it, with your ages of experience and all that.” And then, with an unceremonious wave goodbye, she bolted as far and as fast as her injured body could take her.

Spookums had decided that if she was to be captive in the care of the court, she would take full advantage of all the luxuries available to her. After all, morals are great and all, but getting a proper pampering sounded far better. Most of them were the kinds she had never even dreamed she would ever receive. She went to the spa housed within view of the Castle gardens and decided to get a full treatment on behalf of the princesses. Upon arriving and requesting a bath and wash Spookums excitedly hurried to get into the water, but as she dipped her toe into the water the memory of the boiling water searing her came rushing back to her. She simply stood, paralyzed by fear, until a confused attendant eased her nerves and helped lower her into the water. Once the shock passed, Spookums found she quite enjoyed the feeling of the warm water, but still couldn’t shake a feeling of uneasiness in the back of her mind. After a, mostly, relaxing soak and a maybe a bit overzealous scrubbing, she stepped out of the bath and got dried and ready to head to her next “appointment”. Organization and list were never her strong suits, hell she could barely read, but Spookums made up for her shortcomings with her ever reliable wits and omnipotent charm. The irony was missed this time too.

Having rarely ever a day to just do nothing before, Spookums wasn’t used to walking much slower than a brisk trot. Anyone who says haste makes waste has never had to fight a goat for food scrapes. Her hustling ended with an arrival into the salon a good thirty minutes before her appointment.

“Oh hello there!” The unicorn stallion running the salon got up from behind his desk. He spoke with one of the most whimsical and high-pitched voices she had ever heard come out of stallion. “Someone’s got some spring in her step, I like it hon you keep up that drive!” This is going to be a very uncomfortable haircut.

As Spookums lowered herself into the stylist’s chair, she took a good look at herself in the mirror. It was the first time she’d seen her reflection in anything cleaner than a bathroom, and she could see why the nobles were turning up their noses. She looked like shit with the braid she had hastily thrown together some week prior in shambles. The greys and purples of her mane horribly faded, split ends making her hair the poster child for the butterfly effect. Not to mention her hooves looking over worked and under serviced as always, and, most depressingly, that donkey of a doctor was right about her coat discoloring. The stylist was chatty, not that it was much of a surprise, but he really deserved his station servicing all the highborn snobs of Canterlot.

Somehow, he had fixed Spookums’ braid to carry a look of elegance and sophistication with its delicately woven strands. He had also remedied the split ends and color with a quick application of some special conditioner, and given her hooves their first proper hooficure in years. Perhaps the most dazzling fault was the magical spell he used recoloring over her coat, not just restoring the damaged patches, but rejuvenating the rest with it too.

Spookums looked like an average pony. Well, almost. She was a genetic mutt, a self-proclaimed unholy half breed of unicorn and bat pony. Her mother was the high flyer Midnight Breeze, her father the learned scholar Luminescent Tome. That is, until they met at a party and hooked up, accidentally making Spookums. The unwanted pregnancy had cost her mother not only her job, but her reputation too. Just caring of the two her dad had to work himself half to death, using alcohol to cope and kill off the other half. Or at least that is what Spookums had been able to pry from him while he sobbed over a picture of the mother she would never come to know. The mixed nature of her blood became more apparent as one got closer. Her ears were slightly fluffier at the base of the ear. While she didn’t have proper fangs, there was an unmistakable toothy outlier mirrored on either side of her upper jaw. The most disturbing “gift” she had received from dear old mom was her excellent night vision. While during the day Spookums’ eyes appeared no different from that of anypony else, once things became sufficiently dark her pupils would narrow to unnerving slits.

Her train of thought was unceremoniously broken by the stylist “You know I think it’s just great the princesses leave this here salon open to ponies outside the castle”

Spookums made a quarter turn with her head and then tilted it quizzically to the stallion “Open to ponies outside the castle?”

“Why yes of course, Silly! Don’t tell me you really thought that the princesses actually use these salons and spas. They’re practically gods for goodness sake. What use could they have for them? No, no, darling. They let poor ponies in to try and get cleaned up to look presentable so they can try and put their best hoof forward in interviews and getting their lives on track.” The admiration oozing out of his voice was so thick a Caneighdian pony would try and put it on some pancakes.

As cheesy as he had made it sound, this were beginning to seem almost like the princesses cared about the people under them. No. They’ve probably got some other selfish motive going on. And even if they don’t, there’s way more that they can do besides just free haircuts.

Spookums wrestled with her thoughts all the way to her sleeping quarters. It wasn’t the same high tower treatment she had gotten before, a simple room on the ground floor next to the guard’s barracks. Although it was simple, it had all the things she could want in a room: walls, a roof, a floor that isn’t concrete or dirt, a bed, and it even had a window. A window! She had never dreamed of living in a place that had a window. And the barracks’ proximity was a blessing too, as it let her poke in from unexpected angles from the myriad shadows cast in the hall to scare the daylights out of the poor watchmen.

As much as her new “home” filled her with a strange new sensation of wholeness of being, Spookums couldn’t help but feel a faint twinge of longing. For what, she was not sure. Her intense introspection came quickly to an end as see saw two of Luna’s Night Guard flanking either side of her door. Spookums immediately began to plot her next moves carefully. Can I take two trained guards? Hmm I think I’m going to be better off not trying my luck on this one. What did I do this time? Maybe Celestia and Twilight are pissed? No no, that can’t be right. They’d send some of the normal guards then. Suddenly the gears in her head promptly clicked into place, her eyes lit up with her signature malaligned spark of mischief and a Cheshire grin swept across her muzzle. Her horn lit, bolts of obsidian lightning crackling and indigo glow unstable, and she fell back and melded through the floor. She floated weightlessly for a moment, eventually positioning herself. Shaking herself slightly, Spookums gave a minute to recover from the sudden motion, then imagined her home. Soon the inky blackness slowly opened like fabric cleaved by scissors, and she stepped through. As she materialized a chill ran the length of her spine, prompting a shiver. All the lights inside were off, but as her pupils slowly began to take on their slit low-light form she could just make out a flowing, nebulous mane.

“Oh shit.” Spookums spoke aloud, much more so than she meant. Luna turned to face her, and her horn began to glow in its soft midnight light. Fast as a blink the room was illuminated by gentle moonlight. “Nice parlor trick Princess.” Spookums immediately threw both hooves over her mouth and flushed. I’ve gone and bucked up this time.

“Save your flattery and lend me your ear, your future very well depends on it.” If the crack about parlor tricks phased her, Luna didn’t show it. “Both my sister and Twilight Sparkle are in agreement. You possess both great power, and great potential. They believe that you may one day become a force for good in these lands, and I am inclined to agree. I do see so very much of my youthful self in you: independence and drive, but also hatred and agony. I wish to do for what I wish someone had done for me. I offer you a place at my side as a student, as my sister once did for Twilight.”

Spookums’ mouth hung open in complete and utter shock. She hadn’t ever envisioned a future for herself beyond the next day. Now she was being given a chance to study with royalty?! “I’d love to take you up on your offer, but just um--” Spookums suddenly found that her voice was failing her. She began to tear up ever so slightly. “why would you ever want to help a screwy mess up like me?” Her resolve was reforming, the sudden rush of emotion beginning to calm. Internal balance, well relative balance, was reforming and her words became much more sure. “I can’t remember the last time I ever did right by anypony. You sure you’d be willing to risk your reputation on some hobo?”

“You are not some hobo, you are a pony. Just as vibrant and unique as any other. Simply because you shine with a softer light does not make you worth any less than anypony else.” Luna’s eyes were filled with sincerity and an almost motherly affection.

“Well then… I guess I mind as well, not like I have much better to do with my life” Spookums wasn’t exactly sure of where this was going to take her, but, for some reason, it didn’t bother her.

“Very well then, follow me. Tomorrow we will begin your formal education in magic, my pupil.” Luna looked to her new ward, beaming with pride. Spookums could help but smile back. It was time for a new beginning, time for a change, time to be somepony. Suddenly that emptiness that had been nagging at the back of her mind was gone, replaced by a warm glow. Gentle and loving as the caress of the moon.

Every End is Simply...

Spookums followed Luna apprehensively. Where is she taking me? It had been barely a week since she had begun her study under the princess and she was already feeling out of depth. Large groups of ponies never gave Spookums cause for fright, they made picking saddlebags easier than a walk in a park; or breaking and entering an old-ponies home, but Spookums had only done that one as a challenge. After a scarce few paces the unease finally wore her down and she looked up to her mentor to speak,

“Hey princess, where are we headed anyway?”

Luna responded without pause. “To the library, you must begin read the fundamentals of magic before you can ever hope to become a unicorn worthy of any true note.” Luna didn’t see Spookums wince at her bluntness.

Spookums wasn’t illiterate, per sé, but her recognition of writing was limited to seeing a jumble of symbols and memorizing that specific shape relation to a spoken word. When Twilight had told her that words were all made up of smaller scribbles called “letters” Spookums’ jaw had dropped with the sheer ridiculousness the concept had seemed to bear. For goodness’ sake, it didn’t make any sense! That sounded like it would slow reading down to a crawl, and she had already begun to dread the inevitable lessons, the endless hours hunched over a table racking her brains.

After a few minutes of walking, a pair of doors, at least ten feet tall and colored purple, loomed over the pair.

“Princess--” Spookums began before Luna’s sudden interjection.

“You may call me Luna, my pupil.”

Luna wasn’t even facing Spookums while her horn glowed its deep midnight and slowly began to push on the doors, revealing a library that Spookums imagined getting Twilight all kinds of hot and bothered. The thought of a misty-eyed Sparkle caused Spookums to snort, earning her a wicked glare from her mentor.

“S-sorry... Luna.” The mare couldn’t look up to meet the angered Alicorn before her, settling on staring at the floor. “Well I guess this is go time then?”

Luna’s face softened, but only by a fraction of a degree, “Yes. You are going to learn, and you are going to prove that you can be just a worthy as anypony else. I have put my faith in you my student, and it is time for you to use the chance you’ve been given.”

The iron resolve in her voice made Spookums stand at attention, she wasn’t just going through the motions for her own sake anymore, it was finally time to make something of herself. Time to get down to business and show that even a reject as despicable and destitute as she could shine a bright as any star, with a bit of polish.

The two sat down in a shady alcove overlooking the library. “This is where I spent much of my time upon returning to Equestria. I had to relearn everything, everyone that I had known was gone. I was alone, but for my dearest sister.” Luna’s face bore a look of admiration and gratitude. “It was then that I realized something that had been lost to me in all my countless years.”

Spookums looked up from her Illustrated Fillies Alphabet, “What’s that, Princess?”

Luna’s magic enveloped the thin hard-cover and rotated it right-side up, smirking at the suddenly self-conscious pony blushing before her. “If you feel like no one appreciates you or the work you do, you shouldn’t look to yourself to find flaw. Instead look to others to find those who would love and cherish you for the pony that you are, not the pony they would want you to be.

Spookums mumbled to herself whilst staring intently at a particularly troublesome letter, hoping that squinting and persistence would make the letter change to make more sense. She still didn’t understand the need for all this, her way was far easier and didn’t involve dusty tomes that looked like an asthmatic death trap. She was ignoring the advice given to her. "“Yuh-huh. Ponies can be jerks sometimes I guess,” she muttered

“That is the letter ‘M’, Spookums, think of it as ‘N’s bigger brother. Bigger, quicker, but loves and looks over his little sibling.”

Suddenly Spookums’ eyes lit up with understanding “Whoa! That makes so much more sense. Why the heck’d they not just say it like that in the first place?”

Spookums quickly hustled from one side of the library to the other, picking up different tomes and giving each a skim looking for information. It had been just shy of a year since she had begun her tutelage under Luna. Things had most certainly not been easy, she was starting from a near insurmountable disadvantage. It had taken her almost four full moons to master reading, and even then, sometimes she would have to ask a librarian for help understanding what a word or passage meant. Despite all her handicaps, she had persevered with nothing but grit and fear of being put back out on the streets. She was flying from shelf to shelf and rocketing down rows on rolling ladders, Luna had given her the most difficult assignment to date, making a friend.

Just thinking about it made Spookums nervous, she wasn’t exactly the poster child of outgoing and approachable, and besides wasn’t friendship supposed to be Twilight Sparkle’s thing? Either way it’s not like I have much choice, I gotta find some of Twilight’s papers on the Friendship Sciences. Each paper was a mammoth in and of itself, with innumerable data tables and carefully constructed theses. It was obvious that she was reading Sparkle’s work, but for all its detail, Twilight’s work missed a level of practicality. Spookums had been made to write a few papers of her own, hers were almost always severely lacking in evidence, rather opting to make use of moral or emotional rhetoric to prove her point. She and Twilight had gotten in a tussle over it a few weeks prior. As she kept reading and moving on autopilot, Spookums began to remember the conversation.

“Spookums, I really think that you need to add more citable sources.” Twilight was becoming visibly frustrated with Luna’s student. For Celestia’s sake, Twilight had never been this unresponsive to advice. It was like Spookums didn’t even want her help at all!

“Yeah yeah, I know Sparkle, but sourcing is obnoxious and takes forever. Why should I bother when I could just say what I wanna say and convince people that way? I don’t remember Celestia ever citing her sources when she was giving a speech.” Spookums waved her free hoof dismissively while pouring over a new book.

Celestia and Luna were watching from a higher balcony smiling down at their shared pupils.

Celestia turned her head to look at her younger sister “Luna, my dear sister, I do see ever so much of our youthful selves in these little ponies.”

“Indeed ‘Tia, I believe that they shall make great rivals for each other, and push the other to ever greater heights.”

Spookums and Luna were within the Cosmodome, a giant domed building on the opposite side of the mountain Canterlot is built into. While the castle had an observatory built in to it, the Cosmodome was as much a place of arcane study as it was of astronomical. Spookums most enjoyed her time with Luna when in the golden halls and among massive lenses. It was here that they most often practiced the magical arts.

“Luna what will be working on today? Oh! Maybe mass deception or fine shadow manipulation? I’ve been practicing opening multiple portals at once, can I show you? Can I?! Please, please?!”

Spookums’ eyes lit up with the spark of learning that Luna had come to love coaxing out. The two had been spending ever increasing time here, Spookums was developing at a breakneck pace. Luna knew of a unicorn, named Starlight Glimmer, who was infamous for an exceptional control of magic. While having never seen the youth’s work first-hand, Luna inferred that she must have been highly motivated to progress so fast. Maybe an emotional drive based in prior experience perhaps? Either way it mattered not, for Starlight was not her pupil.

“Actually Spookums, my dear pupil, I wish to ask you if you have thought on the records I had found prior to our last meeting”

The light immediately faded from the youthful mare’s vibrant orchid eyes like mist over a lake in the dawn.

“Well I dunno princess, I guess I just kinda put it off to the side and kept working. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am really grateful that you would spend your time looking through all of Equestria’s birth records to find try and find my birth name. I guess just having found out my parents had actually named me but never bothered using it was kind of a punch in the muzzle.”

Spookums had been sitting on her haunches, eyes had been glued to her hooves, which she fumbled with idly while explaining her thought, now she looked to meet those regal navy orbs that she was so utterly determined to see pride in. I guess Luna’s taken my edge off huh. Never really cared if anypony gave a damn before. As Spookums gave Luna a blank thousand-mile-stare, her mind continued to grind onwards in overdrive; she’s helped me so much and spent Celestia only knows how long pouring through records finding this for me, me. The undisputed queen-supreme of jackasses. I guess maybe I owe it to her to at least give the name a shot. Her attention snapped back, teeth grit, and she stood up to face Luna.

Eating proper meals with a nutritious diet had prompted a late growth spurt in her, and she now stood as an in between from Luna and Twilight. It was something she never let the Princess of Friendship live down, but nowadays the two now found themselves spending time enjoying each other’s company during magical experimentation; rather than just bickering for its sake. The two now only ever got in verbal slugging matches when they disagreed on how to run their experiments or write reports. The two were an amazing team, Spookums’ practicality perfectly balanced Twilight’s over-organization.

Spookums took up a regal stance, learned from observing Shining Armor. It had initially annoyed Luna that Spookums insisted on the more masculine stance, but as her features began to fill out from diet and rigorous mental, magical, and physical routine Spookums began to wear the stance well. Her chest was buffed out, hindquarters at a slight cant, and she wore a look of stern determination.

“Princess Luna of Equestria, I, Spookums of Manehattan herby accept your proposed change in title” her voice was deep, by the standards of mares, and imbued with a fair deal of gruffness.

Bowing forwards with one foreleg bent and tucked under her body, Spookums lowered her head to the floor before her mentor of a half decade. Luna followed suit, taking up her traditional royal stance, as though she were atop her throne before citizen and nobles of the court.

“Spookums, my most diligent and prosperous student,” -her royal Canterlot voice boomed across the Cosmodome- “I hereby proclaim you Lumina Whisp forevermore. Now rise, as a phoenix from the ashes. You are a new pony, far removed from the streets that reared you. I welcome you to the fold of nobility.”

Lumina’s eyes grew wide as she processed the tail of Luna’s statement. She quickly recomposed herself and replied evenly,

“My thanks Princess, but I must inquire as to what thee means in the ‘folds of nobility’. I have not heard of such a fold”- she stopped and snickered - “only of the folds upon the most prestigious forms of the nobility.”

Both mares lost their stiff composure at the crude jab at the high and mighty of the Canterlot Courts. Fits of laughing rung throughout the Cosmodome, warming the cold gold.

Hours of practice had past, with scorch marks and blobs of null-matter spattered across the whole of the Cosmodome. The two had been playing “Trounce the Tirek”, where one was the Tirek and had to avoid being atomized, banished to Tartarus, or meeting any number of horrifying arcane ends at the hands of the other. It was the first game the Luna had ever allowed Lumina to be Tirek, the princess was unsure if her decision was based in appreciation for her pupil’s considerable magical abilities, carefully sculpted and cultivated to meet Equestria’s needs, or genuine feelings that her apprentice was matured enough to be trusted out on her own. Whatever the case, she had invested five long years into this mare, and she was having no second thoughts.

“Lumina, I believe it is time for you to strike out on your own. Today you proved to me your maturity and clarity of purpose. It is time that you put the skills and lessons I have handed down to you to practical use. To that end, I am sending you out to the northern mountain cavern villages of the thestrals, known to the masses as bat ponies. You will be going to the city of Nox Arcana, it is a sprawling metroplex constructed along the cavernous veins of the northern mountain ranges all the way to the massive central ‘heart’ of the cavern network, which is used as a main hub of sorts. You will be going to that hub, and you will purge the filth and corruption of Nox Arcana, molding it into a worthy addition to the whole of Equestria. No longer shall my thestrals languish as ill-remembered and feared outcasts. That is your charge, for you shall clear the way for these wayward ponies. You know how to reach me, but do not dare return until your mission is complete.”

Lumina looked at her mentor with eyes ablaze with determination,

“When do I leave, Luna?”

“My Nightguard are preparing a chariot for you, and they will depart from the Castle observatory at midnight sharp. Be there and take whatever you need for a prolonged stay. You will be there for many years, as the thestrals have unfortunately not remained the proud servants of the Moon that I left them. A thousand years of lacking my guidance has not been kind to their morals, be prepared my student.”

With that Luna hugged her pupil as the warm oranges of sunset bathed the two. After a comfortable minute long embrace Luna pulled away. If it fazed Lumina, it did not show. I have done good work with you my pupil; you will do great things for Equestria.

Author's Note

Hello once again all, sorry for the delayed upload. School is a butt that likes to gobble my time. I'll hopefully have the next chapter out by the end of November, but no promises ;) Feel free to leave a comment if you like, any advice is good advice.

...A New Beginning

“Spook—uh, I mean Lumina! Wait for me!”

Twilight called after the pain in the flank that had been leaving the royal library a forsaken mess for the past, well Twilight couldn’t rightly remember exactly when Lumina had first rocketed herself into heart of the Canterlot rumor mill. Was this mysterious mare a new love interest? Had the princess of the night grown tired of relieving herself with her Night Guard and moved on to blunt prostitution? The tabloids had had an absolute field day hounding a poorly equipped and still recovering Spookums, for Celestia’s sake she was never going to remember the name change. As much as she had initially hated the mare, Twilight now found herself chasing Lumina down the halls of Canterlot Castle while her quarry was at full gallop going mach 5 towards her quarters, a floor below those of Luna.

“Damn it Lumina! What’s your problem!” Twilight scowled to herself.

With a pop and a flash Twilight warped in front of Lumina, causing the latter to come to a sudden halt.

“What the hell, Sparkles?! I’ve got work to do!”

Her voice was so forceful, it was like something in the base of the alicorn’s spine was compelling her to want to shrink down and stay out of the way. Someone’s picked up the royal Canterlot voice.

Shaking her head, Twilight collected herself and willed any doubts away, “Lumina Whisp, why in Equestria are you avoiding me?! I know we didn’t get off on the best of hooves but still I thought we were beyond this!” Twilight had had it up to here with this mare, always going off to do as she pleased, never saying a word save the ubiquitous ‘I will return’. It was as that last flash of anger died that she noticed the telltale shimmer at the base of her frenemy’s eyes, she was trying her hardest to hold back tears.

“Damn it Twilight, I just wanted to get my stuff and leave.” She didn’t look up to meet Twilight’s eyes “I was going to make this painless for both of us just let things go back to the way they were. Maybe even give Canterlot a return to normalcy.” All pretense of regality and composure was lost. “Look Twilight,” -she finally met the princess of friendship’s gaze, stiffening her upper lip- “I have to move on with my life. My time here in Canterlot will always be a part of me, and something that I cherish. That said, you’ve gotta understand I’m not some vagabond just drifting from handout to handout without any purpose anymore. Luna isn’t perfect, and neither am I, but we both do our very best to make Equestria a better place. Luna raises the moon and takes care of the dream realm, I’d never even attempt to lie and say I can measure up. But then, I’m not Luna, I’m me. And all I can do, all anypony can do really, is do everything in their power to be the best they can be. Canterlot has given me a lot, but there’s nothing more left to give ’Sparks. I gotta go, I gotta do this. Not just for Luna, but for myself too.”

Twilight was stunned. “But I don’t understand, where are you going, what could possibly be so important you leave without even saying goodbye?”

All her years as princess, all her experience had endowed the princess with a certain knack for reading ponies and anticipating what they will do, but this had just thoroughly run her for a loop. She hadn’t ever expected Lumina to leave Canterlot, she’d just become a staple of Twilight’s visits to the castle. They shared countless hours running experiments and building off each other’s strengths, Twilight really did feel like she knew this pony. Not as much as any of her friends in Ponyville obviously, but Lumina had always stayed in a comfortable second alongside Sunset Shimmer. Her absence had yet to even begin and Twilight already felt like she was going to lose her memories of Lumina. This entire thing just felt off to her.

“Can you at least tell me where you’re going or what you’re going to do?” there was a noticeable pleading undertone to the princess’ voice.

“I’m headed to the thestrals colonies of the northern mountains. I’ve got to show them the error of their ways and convince them to reintegrate into Equestria. Luna pulled me up from the muck, now it’s time for me to pass it on.” A content smile manifested as Lumina closed the distance between the two and brought Twilight into a hug. “Look Twilight if it’ll make you feel better I’ll send letters to let you know how things are going” she was practically talking into the other mare’s mane.

“Yes I’d like that very much” Twilight broke the hug and straightened herself out and cleared her throat, “Ahem, for science of course.”

“Of course.”

The two parted ways with contented smiles and satisfied hearts. This was a turning of a page in both mare’s lives, something that both had known was coming deep down in the back of their minds but had been suppressed.

The five-minute exchange she had with Twilight had made Lumina almost miss her flight. Her saddle bags and pack were filled to the brim with rations, toiletries, and a few keepsakes. Luna had opened the royal requisitions up to her star pupil in anticipation for the journey, the plethora of military gear made the tomcoltish mare look like a recruit into the Night Guard. Fully endowed in her new midnight blue camouflaged get-up, she finally made it up to the observatory, the one in public view anyway, and saluted both stallions. They were Solar Guard, not night, as their armors glinted even in the pale moonlight.

One of the two saw the confusion on the mare’s face. “Is there anything wrong?”

“I had expected Night Guard is all” her head cocked itself to the side, much like a filly.

“Things were kept need to know I’m afraid, can’t help you there.” He sounded sincere enough. Sincere enough wasn’t good enough for Lumina Whisp.

“Oh okay, sounds good to me. Just don’t fall asleep mid-flight, right?” She cringed internally after her joke.

“Ha, we’ll try, but no promises.” All three shared a courteous chuckle and then set off.

After a half hour or so of flying, Lumina decided she wanted answers. And this time things weren’t going to be kept ‘need to know’. Her horn lit its mauve aura and she began to intrude into the minds of her escorts.

“You are to set down as far passed sunrise as possible, I want her to be getting in while things are quiet. Normally my Night Guard would be chosen for this task, but they may be tempted to visit family and ruin the whole operation. Lastly, I know my pupil will be intruding upon your minds--” the first-person view she had from the eyes of the guard shook as if he were fidgeting uncomfortably “—that said I will be warding anything that is utterly critical against my pupils ‘prying’” With the last words she gave an look as if to say “I am aware of your tactics, you can’t pull a fast one on me”.

Lumina relinquished her hold on the minds of her escorts, after cleansing any potential evidence of her tampering. The two were pegasi and if they even noticed the spell, they didn’t show it.

After several hours of boring travel, the trio finally descended to a rest just outside a massive cave entrance. The damn thing had to be at least as tall as a hydra, the ponies were the merest specks at the base of the massive opening. Prior to touchdown the pegasi had circled the area looking for a place to land. They were at the base of a mountain, part of the massive northern mountain chain that separated the Crystal Empire and frozen north from the rest of Equestria. Arriving in late summer as they were, the temperature was cool with winds only just strong enough to send Lumina’s mane whipping about. The entire area was heavily forested with the green expanse of pine looking as if it were a wave that washed up a levee and was frozen in time. The area was lightly dusted with powdery white snow. During her packing, Lumina had decided to raid the Royal Library for books and tomes that may be useful to her and read them, at least in part, on the way over. One of the books she had decided on was on the climates and biomes of Equestria. Given the look of the area the Great Northern Winds would blow cloud cover up to this area, where the mountains would capture it. That would explain the snow during the summer months.

When the guards finally found a flat place to land, they did so quickly. Both appeared desperate to get out of the cold.

“Well looks like we’re here. See ya” both pegusi hastily took flight as soon as Lumina had stepped off the chariot.

Watching the two hustle off in to the sunset, she couldn’t help but mutter, “thanks dicks”.

She then turned her attention to the giant hole in front of her. The ground around her and leading into the mountainous maw was strangely flat, tapering up to meet the normal fifty degree sloping of the mountainside. The thin layer of snow beneath her was disguising a heavily beaten path of gravel and opaque white crystals that were strangely devoid of snow in a small radius around them. Curious, a crystal was enveloped in mauve magic and brought to the mare’s mouth.

“Ew, disgusting!” upon licking the crystal, and idea now thoroughly regretted, the budding geologist discovered the crystals were salt, in some base and unrefined form.Ok that’s enough time wasted. With a deep breath and a short mental pep talk, Lumina was on her way to the next big adventure of her young life.

It was then she heard something. Straining the overly sensitive ears that were one of her mother’s only gifts, Lumina could make out what sounded like a cross between a terrified shriek and laughter. Never in her life had such an asinine combination ever seemed even possible, yet here it was shredding eardrums. The shrieks were closing in on the stunned mare, who now had to pin her ears back to lessen the pain.

A mare, stark white of color, blitzed out from the entrance and bowled Lumina over.

“Holy Tartarus!” was all she managed to yelp before being laid out prone.

The dazed unicorn looked upon her assailant with blurred vision, only able to make out what appeared to be pink eyes. Slowly the world came back into focus and Lumina realized that the Thestral had her pinned to the rocky path, mere inches between each’s muzzle. Her heartbeat began to quicken as the white mare stared at her, almost as if she were searching for something in her pinned prey’s eyes.

“As cliché as this ‘romantic’ meeting may be, I’m gonna have to ask you to kindly get the hell off me… Please.” Lumina was practiced, both from her studies and experiences prior, but the mare’s gaze was still almost enough to throw her off. Almost.

“Oh yeah sure, sorry.” She replied sweetly and, seemingly, sincerely. The mare spread her wings and flapped once, lifting her off and a pace or two away in one swift motion.

Lumina couldn’t help but notice the impressive wingspan of the mare. Prior to her leaving, the industrious scamp had the foresight to include every tome on the thestrals and their culture in addition to geographic information. One of the first thestral volumes she had read was on physiology. During her brief study while in transit, she had uncovered the average wingspan of the thestral was about four to five feet, not dissimilar to pegasi. This specimen -specimen good Celestia I sound like Sparkles- had a wingspan of at least six feet, most likely more. The unfortunate thing looked like she was an adolescent with the wings of monstrously large stallion.

“So… Why were you running and screaming?” Lumina had managed to rise from a prone and sit on her hindquarters. “Are you in some kind of danger?” She didn’t really know this pony, but if she could get a local to befriend her she would have a much easier time getting acquainted with her new ‘home’.

“Oh that…” her ears drooped. “I didn’t think anypony that ain’t from good ol’ Nox would be able to hear that”

Lumina studied her companion carefully, like a lion taking stock of its prey. “So, spit it out. What had you running like you had a manticore after you?” The other mare looked unmoved. “Please...? Look I’m sorry. I literally just got here and I’m still trying to make heads or tails and I’d really appreciate it if you’d help me out.”

The mare, who had postured herself closed after Lumina’s pointed order, slowly began to loosen up. She was like a winter lily blooming, and Luna as her witness Lumina wouldn’t screw up twice in the same hour.

“You’re new here?! Wait, does that mean you’re gonna be staying here!?” her face lit up like Celestia’s sun on fresh snow. “YAY! I’LL HAVE A NEW FRIEND!” She grabbed the unicorn and began dragging her into the mouth of the cave. “We’re gonna go meet my other friend, Hellfire Hearth. He likes making things. You’re gonna love him, but don’t think about dating him sister--” she whipped herself in front of Lumina “--he loves me, even if he doesn’t know it yet.”

“Yeahh, um sure thing. Actually, I don’t think I got your name I’m uhhh--” the earthbound mare slowed down and pondered for a moment, eliciting a confused look from her guide to the unknown “--Spookums, you can call me Spookums.”

“That name sounds fake and stupid!” Her voice cheery like schoolfilly.

Lumina winced.

“Oh no it’s not like that! It just seems like the name is the opposite of you, at least what I’ve seen so far. Don’t worry Spoopy-”

“Spookums”

“-That’s what I said, trust me I know this town like the back of my flank-” she bumped flanks with Lumina “-You can call me Hollow Moon.”

The two stepped into the pitch blackness together; “the first steps unto the unknown are often the hardest”, don’t worry Luna I haven’t forgotten. ��O�

Author's Note

Hello again! Sorry this chapter took a while, school's an ass. But I've got soem time on my hands now so expect chapter 5 soon. All comments and critiques welcome.

Hi, Do You Have A Moment to Talk About Our Lord And Savior Princess Luna?

Lumina’s eyes were strained to the absolute furthest just trying to see as the light of day got ever farther from the two mares. They were walking down a tunnel that was steadily becoming increasingly claustrophobic. All around them were what looked like the kinds of scraps and general refuse that one would expect from an urban beachfront. Scrap wood and metal of all shapes and decidedly poor quality littered the ground. Some pieces were cobbled together with a ramshackle construction that looked downright prehistoric. All were obviously discarded like whatever they were meant to be used for was either a failure or torn down and replaced. The stone around them was grey with blackened swirls and whips placed like they were set by flowing water. Portions of cave walls were jagged and irregular, most certainly not natural, and smooth and grainy in others. Did the thestrals take some preexisting tunnel network and expand them? They had to have done all of this by hoof!

Hoping to dissipate the silence that had settled over the two, Lumina turned to her new friend, “You never told me why you were screaming when you ran into me.”

“Oh yeah, that. Well you see, in this town the only rules are the ones the Council sets--”

“Like a city council? A bunch of stuffy ponies voted in to do nothing?” The unicorn snickered to herself.

“Nah, more like a pack leaders kinda thing. Don’t really have elections around here, people just kinda say they’re in charge and if no one questions it then they get to be in charge.” Hollow shrugged apathetically, like the rule of might wasn’t some misbegotten relic of savage prehistory.

Lumina was more than a pinch confounded as she tried to gather a full picture of the thestrals’ way of life, and how far removed her readings were from this apparent reality. “Well then, that’s certainly… new let’s say. How long has the City been run like this?”

There was a subdued fluorescent cyan glow in the distance. The sound of steadily dripping water had just dawned on Lumina, who suddenly found herself wetting her hooves walking atop wet stone. The ramshackle rudiments from the beginning of the cave were now beginning to take shape as the tunnel began to slope down, gaining depth extremely fast. The white thestral subconsciously began to lift off and keep her hooves from the damp floor, not noticing the mare now suddenly attempting to avoid the mare’s large, leathery wings until the other had tapped the flying tuft of white on a hoof. The two began to walk at a roughly worked staircase of cut stonework, with glowing mosses dangling from the ceiling and water diverted and flowing in gutters on either side of the path. Suddenly the tunnel opened up and Lumina’s breath escaped her in one deft motion. She and Hollow were standing on shoddy wooden planks, haphazardly tied together and bolted into the stone of the cave wall.

“Welcome to the land of the Thestrals, Nox Arcana! This place has got everything from black market goods to magic bling! Ha I guess you could say it’s a magic bling-thing!” Hollow’s giddy flutter and snorting giggles were cut short when she turned to her newest, and second total, friend. “Hey, what’s got you down?” she said, voice caught between concern and defensiveness.

“This… this place. It’s a Luna forsaken shithole…” Her jaw was dropped, ears pinned back firmly. What happened to these ponies? What happened to a noble spirit and ingenious feats of subterranean engineering? What of an expansive oral history of servitude to the moon? Were the records wrong? Or is it the ponies? Sweet Celestia’s sultry flank what in Tartarus has happened to them?

From the ceiling hung square bags whose unnatural tethers were held together by bronze rings from which a slimy substance dripped. The bags were shown prominently thanks to the glowing mass gradually creeping over their forms. The entire cave – A cavern easily the size of downtown Manehattan- was carved in a cross shape, akin to those of a hospital. The place was at least three stories tall with walls that curved, making the entire cross like the intersection of two cylindrical pipes. These pipes were however filled with refuse and thestrals. The gutter that had carried the water alongside the intrepid pilgrim and her guide emptied down into a canal of rusted cast iron, snaking downwards and upwards, preserving momentum, all along the upper levels. The ‘aqueduct’ ran off to the buildings on the upper levels before emptying into the large pool over the center, where the iron just stopped and let the water flow down. The two mares were standing at about two stories above the submerged floor. From here they could see layers and layers of buildings all seemingly built into every free modicum of cave, with others built on top of that. It was like a shanty town expanded a thousand-fold.

At the lowest point of the cross -where the floor probably once was- a body of slowly flowing water resided, with several rotting dwellings attached to the walls and on stilts plunging into the filthy depths lining it. Each hovel was hardened by the harrowing misery of being the bottom of an already thoroughly disgusting barrel. The lower levels were made of hastily worked stone interlocked by rotting planks, for they were the base and load bearers of the immense weight of the city upon their backs. Inside each building was the same cyan glow emanated by the fungus and moss; at least, those buildings below the halfway mark up the cave walls.

The ‘buildings’ at the higher points had the yellow-gold glow of candle light gently dancing from within. These buildings were made of polished irons and elegantly carved woods, free of rot and coated in a pristine gloss.

The water was a thick soup of algae and was illuminated by floating mosses, making it some of the best lit in the entire cavern. Spanning the gaps between the waterways were massive stone bridges, elegant in design but crusted over with mosses and filth. Scaffolds plummeting into the water to hold the immense weight of hundreds of ponies provided the “street” that one would expect from a more ordinary city, that is at the lower levels. Vendors and vagabonds of all types strolled and set up on the massive crisscrossing stilted boardwalks between the levels and along the fronts of hovels. As one ascended the scaffolds gave way to hanging bridges of wood and whatever material was holding the odd glowing masses hanging from the ceiling together. Along Hollow looked, aghast with the assault upon her home’s honor “Well now I know it’s not exactly prim, proper Prance, but you seemed like the kinda gal that would be able to handle Nox’s say… rough edges.” What the newcomer had said was true mind you, but still what right did she have saying that!? She’d not even been there a full hour!

“I’ve crawled through the gutters of every city in Equestria, don’t test me.” Lumina didn’t even bother to look at the mare, instead glaring daggers at the city as if were her enemy. “It’s a grimy sewer of a city, but I’ve had worse. Lets go meet this Hellfire Hearth of yours.” Her voice softened a little as she went on, quieting the instincts telling Hollow to take off and leave this strange unicorn alone.

“Oh boy I can’t wait to introduce you guys! It’s gonna be grand, trust me!” she flared her wings in a single deft flourish before artfully taking a quarter twirl and jumping into the air. Her movements her like that of a ballerina, even in flight she constantly was twirling and swooping as if every wingbeat was a cadence in a masterpiece for her to dance to. The display before Lumina mesmerized her, and it took Hollow looking a back and shouting for Lumina to catch up.

Hollow wasn’t exactly sure what angle this newcomer was working, and she seemed to be a bit testy. Eh beggars can’t be choosers mom always said. Besides, she needed some more friends, they were always in short supply in the city with everything.

Lumina judged about where she would be let out and jumped off the platform, plummeting towards the floor. Halfway down she felt the shadows wrap around her coat and, with a deep, focusing breath, she phased through the planes of reality. Down and down she went, onwards to oblivion. And… there! She rent reality once more and exploded at full gallop on a scaffold. Keeping stride, she weaved around the crowds of merchants and ponies and dove off the scaffolding. Pssh this is nothing compared to weaseling out of a Cold Hay concert with saddlebag of bit pouches! The wind whipped her braided mane back and forth as she dove, horn aglow, towards the next substantial patch of shadows. She hopped between shades and gloomy corners, constantly in fluid motion. Swinging on her forhooves from a cross beam, to a quick few paces on a wall. Only to jump off once more onto a darkened floor she had no intention of ever touching. Then exiting with full sprint going. The workout felt amazing, especially after so many hours of boring chariot ride. Eventually she zeroed back in on a particularly oddly white thestral and made a final jump before appearing behind the mare.

“Oh hey you made it! I actually kinda forgot you didn’t have wings back there, sorry about that” Hollow said sheepishly. “Well I’m glad you figured something out. Anywho, Hearth lives right up here.” She pointed her hooves to a mostly metal building a few paces up the walk from them. They were on one of the walkways that went perpendicular to the cave wall.

The scaffolds were attached via a ramshackle ramp with structural stability most akin to Twilight Sparkle when one of her plans blew up in her face. Every step was met with creaks and unsettling buckling underhoof.

As the two got closer to their destination, Lumina noticed that the smith’s forge was in an open air ‘porch’ attached to the side of the main building. The workstation was completely devoid of any wood, instead having a floor and facing wall of well-kept metals and stones intermingled in a haphazard, if effective hodgepodge.

“Ok look you wingless jerk-off, the boss said he wants yas ta stop producin’ goods for them Black Batz kids and that means yous best be stopping right now, or else.” A pair of dark coated stallions stood before the threshold of the smith’s workstation. Both had massive knives strapped visibly on their sides, as if to be both a warning and a challenge. They wore black and white suit vests and fedoras. Their speech was like horrifying halfassed fanboy imitation of actual Manhattan Mafia speech, and they spit the words “Black Batz” as if it were venom on their tongues.

“I already told you, the Council put it that I make tools for everyone. I can’t be picking favorites, and even if I could I’d sure as hell not be throwing my lot with you, Gundinos.” His voice was deep enough to shake a pony standing too close and had enough gravel to give a farm road an inferiority complex.

The stallion was a gargantuan slab of muscle and scarred over burns, easily dwarfing even Celestia’s largest guardsponies. One look at Hellfire’s face, eyes set with graven indifference and jaw taught, was enough to tell Lumina that those two stallions were complete idiots for picking this fight. He has a coat the color of ash, with orange flecks and several burn marks alongside a mane short, nearly buzzed, complimented by surprisingly tidy mutton chops. One of his sides was punctuated by an orange wing matching his mane, and the other was strangely missing its wing. There was a stub of bone which looked as though it did at one point have a wing attached. Before verbally backhoofing the ‘guests’ before him, he had set down a wickedly large forge hammer, whose head was easily the size of Lumina’s skull. His cutie mark was an anvil with a blazing pyre erupting from its surface.

His eye twitched almost negligibly, making flashing contact with Lumina’s gaze. In that second was all the time the Lumina needed to let him know exactly what to do.

“Well well, looks like you didn’t learn your lesson when you got that winga yours ripped off. You really shoulda taken the time to--”

His threat was cut short by Lumina appearing from under him and delivering a rib cracking uppercut. As Lumina was handling the first mobster, the forge pony hefted his hammer and gave the second a smith’s recreation of a mother’s disciplinary slap. The force of the impact sent the poor stallion sprawling several feet from where he once stood.

“Nice follow through.” Lumina was focusing her magic on lifting the knives from the crippled ponies.

“Nice initiative. I’m Hellfire Hearth.” His face was cocked with a half-smile. “Oh Hollow, hello. Sorry, it looks like your ‘running distraction’ didn’t help resolve things. Sorry about that kiddo.”

“Pssh don’t worry about it Helly--”

“I’ve told you not to call me that.” His face was that of an exasperated parent with a hyperactive filly.

“You say it like I’ll stop~” She singsonged in a sugar sweet ballad with eyelashes a flutter. “Anywho, this is my newest BFF, Spookums!” she made the exaggerated arm motions of salesmare showing of a brand-new product.

“Sup?” Lumina wasn’t entirely confident in these two tentative friends, but she was on her own in a wholly new, uncaring world within a world. She wasn’t at liberty to be picky.