Esalar and the Moon Shards

by Ykayney

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Main 6, Other, Romance
Length: 16267

At the banishment Nightmare Moon, Celestia created a back-up plan in the form of 7 Moon Shards.

At the time when Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon, Princess Celestia created a back-up plan in the form of 7 Moon shards that she later scattered into space for 'safe keeping'.
In modern day Ponyville we follow Esalar, a renowned Canterlot Photographer, who unexpectedly comes across one of these Moon Shards and is chosen by Princess Celestia herself to join with the Mane 6 to retrieve the rest of the Moon Shards as and when they are discovered. Why have the Moon Shards returned? What will Esalar uncover?

Published 2012-07-16 19:04:08 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-22 17:47:04 UTC

Chapter 1

It was what seemed like a perfectly normal night in the land of Equestria and the dress maker Rarity was in the process of modelling some of her latest designs for a renowned photographer at her store, the Carousel Boutique. She had stuck to her style of adding the most beautiful gemstones to give the fabric an enhanced colour and feel. The photographer by no means specialised in fashion, but even he knew that what he saw could be one of the biggest breakthroughs in clothing design for quite some time.
"Yes! Good! Fantastic! Okay now- Yes! Brilliant!" shouts the photographer in bursts of inspiration as he snaps away with his camera.
He continues to speak out compliments and orders as Rarity follows his every command, scared to mess up and put the photographer off. Eventually, the two mutually agree to stop for the night and go their separate ways.

"Oh, Mr. Starbeam, thank you so much for doing this, I absolutely cannot wait to see the finished photographs!" Rarity began with graceful excitement.
"Please, call me Esalar. It was no trouble at all; it is my job after all. The finished products shall be ready for print very soon, Miss..." His voice, now being much clearer to hear when speaking calmly, was at a fairly low pitch and his words were pronounced almost perfectly, his red mane and tail contrasting excellently against his coat of deep blue fur and equally blue horn.
"Rarity, call me Rarity." The white coated pony was still in as much awe of the colt that stood before her as she was when they met the same morning.
"Well, Rarity. I must say that those dresses of yours are fantastic pieces of work, truly an inspiration to work with."
"Thank you so much Esalar, I do work oh so hard on them." She was delighted of all the compliments that he was giving her.
Esalar gives a small chuckle. "Indeed you do. I must depart now Rarity, but I do believe that we'll be seeing each other again soon." He gives a small smile to Rarity and leaves the building.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

The night sky is a beautiful sight down in Ponyville, mainly due to the fact that the Pegasus Ponies are always doing an excellent job of clearing the sky of clouds every evening. You can see every star, and the moon sheds enough light onto the street for Esalar to find his way back to the small house he has rented for his time in Ponyville. On his way through the Marketplace, Esalar notices a strange light in the sky that could only be described as a Shooting Star, he begins to prepare his camera to capture this wondrous moment, but just as he is ready, the star vanishes out of sight. Esalar lets out a gentle depressive sigh and carries on his way back home. Situated on the outskirts of the Town Square, Esalar's house is a short distance from almost all locations around the town.

Once back inside, Esalar clumbers upstairs to his room where he lights a candle and carries it over to his desk where he carefully places it down using some of his simple unicorn magic. Although being born with the gift of magic, Esalar tries to use it as little as possible and only resorts to it when he is tired or has to handle several things at once. A book finds itself being lifted out of a fairly large rucksack lying on the floor and placed onto the desk next to an already prepared pot of ink and quill. Esalar sits on the wooden stool and begins using more of his magic to open the book and begin writing a journal entry:

Today has been an excellent day.
My first full day in Ponyville to explore and get to know other ponies and then an unexpected photo shoot in the evening for a wonderful young mare named Rarity. Her dresses were truly fantastic!

And to top it off, tonight, on my way home, I saw a shooting star, as clear as day.
It was truly a sight to behold, absolutely amazing.

Going to try and relax a bit more tomorrow, walk around town some more, take some photo's of the nature and Ponyville lifestyle.

Esalar closes his journal and carries his candle over to his bedside cabinet, where he lifts up the sheet and exhaustedly climbs in, covers himself in the woven, cotton delight and blows out his candle to fall into a well deserved deep sleep.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

Mornings in Ponyville are beyond peaceful, singing birds and the bright, warm sunshine lets everypony know that it's time to wake up. Esalar recognises this peacefulness from the first couple of nights he has spent there, but he decides to stay in bed a few more minutes to savour the suns warm touch on his face and to wake up naturally and refreshed from his previous late night. Just as Esalar is feeling content enough to get out of bed, he is interrupted by the sound of a loud horn blowing from outside. The noise was enough for Esalar to slam his eyes open and jump out of bed, landing on his side with a small thud. He manages to scramble back on to all fours and begins a small walk over to his one bedroom window. As he looks outside, Esalar can see ponies gathering around the fountain nearby where a lavender coloured unicorn is stood holding a horn in the grasps of her magic, she seems to be yelling about something but Esalar cannot make out her words through the glass of his window.
Maybe this is how news is delivered in Ponyville, I doubt anything important has happened though.
Esalar heads downstairs to grab his saddle-bag before leaving his house to explore more of Ponyville.

The day is even more beautiful than what Esalar could see out of his window, the sun shone on everything in sight and colourful birds flew around chirping lovely melodic tunes.
How could anything be wrong with the world with days like these?
Esalar began his slow walk to the other side of the street whilst continuing to admire the day and think to himself.
Even the air smells fresh down here. What could anypony want more than waking up to warm sunshine beating down on their face, breathtaking scenic views and pink and yellow blobs running towards them without a care in the world? Wait... What?!
Esalar's thoughts are cut short as he realises that something is heading towards him at a fairly quick speed. Before he can do anything, Esalar finds himself being pushed to the ground with quite some force only to end up on his back with a dazed mare looking back at him. After realising what had just happened the young mare quickly brings herself back onto all 4 hooves only to begin apologising to Esalar.
"Oh my gosh, sir, I am so sorry, please forgive me. I was trying to find a friend for some help but I guess that I was so scared and worried that I didn't look where I was going." Her voice was almost like a whisper and began to get squeakier as she continued to apologise with tears building up in her eyes. Esalar noticed the tears forming and decided that it was time to speak.
"Hey now, it's okay, there's no need to get upset. What's the rush? Anything I can help with?"
The mare was taken aback by the colts' kind gestures
"Um, well, you see..."
"Come on now, no need to be shy, what's your name?"
The young mare looked to the ground then back up slightly towards Esalar.
"Oh, my name's Fluttershy. I woke up this morning to find that my pet, Angel Bunny wasn't home. I've looked everywhere for him, but he could be anywhere by now."
"Well, how about I help you to find this pet of yours? Oh, and my name's Esalar by the way."
Fluttershy is feeling a lot more comfortable around this new pony she has met, especially with the kind gestures he's been giving.
"Oh thank you sir. That would be incredibly kind of you."
Fluttershy perks up a bit when she sees Esalar's friendly smile.
"It would be no trouble at all. Anyway, I want to see more of this town and doing it alone is no fun."

The Pegasus and Unicorn ponies begin their walk back towards the direction that Fluttershy was coming from.
"I think we should check back at my house again, I was just panicking so much this morning that I may have completely missed seeing something."
They continue their walk down the street and past the fountain that Esalar could see from his window until they reached an even smaller path that winded between a couple of trees before reaching a small wooden cottage. In the garden were several cages of different sizes, each looking slightly more unique than the one before. This pony either has A LOT of pets or loves taking care of animals.
When they reach the door Esalar immediately breaks into his detective mode.
"So, Fluttershy, when did you last see your pet?"
"Um, it was last night, he was in his pen and I know for certain that I locked it, so I have no idea how he could've gotten out."
"Well, let's check near the pen!" Esalar follows Fluttershy down the garden to a smallish wooden box with a metal grated door.
He begins to take a look around, in and outside of the pen, searching for any clues that may lead to explaining how Angel Bunny escaped his cage and where he went to. Until eventually, Esalar comes across something strange on the gardens front gate. On opposite sides of an opening in the gates design are tiny clumps of white fur.
"Hey! Fluttershy! I've found something!"
Fluttershy gently hovers over to Esalars' position to see what he is pointing at, after taking a couple of seconds to look at the material on the gate she realises that it is Angel Bunny's fur and she lets out what should be a loud gasp but just sounds close to a normal inhale of breathe.
"Oh my, that's Angel Bunny's fur. I wonder where he could have gone to?"
"I'm not sure Fluttershy, but I think that small trail of fur will lead us to him."
Fluttershy does a quick double-take, "Wait, a trail of fur? How did I miss that?" She looks down with a sad look in her eyes. Esalar notices this and changes the attitude to something more positive, guessing that she can be a bit sensitive.
"Let's go then! Don't want to keep old Angel Bunny waiting now, do we?!"
Fluttershy puts on a determined face and nods at Esalar.
"Right!"

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

After 2 minutes of following the sparse trail, the two ponies reach the entrance of a dark, gloomy looking forest.
"H-He w-went, i-in t-there?!" Fluttershy began stuttering and shaking with fear.
"Are you okay? It's only a forest. It can't be that bad, right?"
"Are you kidding?! That's... The Everfree Forest! It's the darkest and scariest forest you will ever go in to! Why would Angel Bunny want to go in there?!" Fluttershy had stopped stuttering by this point and instead sounded quite frantic. Esalar could see that she was becoming uneasy so he placed his front hooves on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
"Hey, hush now. Nothing's going to happen while I'm here, okay? You'll be fine, trust me."
Fluttershy looks into his calm eyes and then down to the floor whilst relaxing her tense muscles again.
"Okay." And with that final word they begin their venture into the Everfree Forest in search of Angel Bunny.

It had seemed like they were walking for hours until they come across something unusual, there are crumbs left in a small area just off the side of the path that look like they are from carrots. The two ponies carry on walking down the small dirt path, but the further they go, the mistier it becomes and it becomes increasingly harder to see where they are going.
"Hey, you okay back there Fluttershy? Stick close to me; I don't want you getting lost now."
About a second after Esalar utters those words he feels Fluttershys mane brush against him.
She must really love that pet, I'd dread to think of her state if I didn't offer to help.
They keep walking for what seems another mile or two until the mist finally clears away, but what is revealed behind the mist forces Esalar to stop in his tracks in surprise. A ruin, standing about 50 feet tall, protruding from the ground. Esalar takes the opportunity and grabs his camera that he almost forgot he had with him and he begins to take several pictures. Fluttershy steadily walks up to the ruin and up the stone steps that lead to the doorway. As she reaches the top, Fluttershy notices a small white rabbit stood at the farthest end of the room with folded arms and stamping his foot.
"Angel Bunny?!" Fluttershy gallops toward the white rabbit and leaps to it, enclosing it in her hooves. "Oh Angel Bunny, I'm so glad I found you! I was worried sick! Don't ever ever ever EVER run off again, okay?!"
Angel Bunny just clambers out of her hooves and onto her back where he begins to tap his foot at an alarming speed. Esalar finally joins Fluttershy inside of the ruin just as Angel Bunny does this.

"Everything okay in here?" Esalar notices the white rabbit on Fluttershys back and smiles.
Fluttershys face told Esalar that she was too busy concentrating to listen to him, she was in fact concentrating on Angels foot tapping speeds and patterns, seeing as Angel Bunny cannot talk, this is the way the two of them had developed so they could interact.
"Angel Bunny says there's something strange on the floor that we should take a look at..." Fluttershy sounded as confused as Esalar looked but they both looked to the floor and Esalar spotted something immediately.
"You mean that white shard down there?"
Angel Bunny hops with joy on Fluttershys back.
"I'm taking that as a yes then."
Esalar lifts the strange white item up using his unicorn magic so that they could take a closer look at it.
"Ohh, it's so pretty. I bet Rarity would love this!" Fluttershy seemed mesmerized by the strange white shard.
Esalar ignores the last statement being slightly mesmerized himself but eventually comes back around with a shake of the head.
"I wonder what this is."
"I'm not sure, but my friend Twilight might know. She lives in the Library in town." This was a new name to Esalar, he has already made two new friends in Ponyville, is he going to make another one soon? He places the shard in his saddle-bag and they head off back to Fluttershys house.

It seemed to take a lot less time to get out of the Everfree Forest than it seemed to take going in for the two ponies, but they made it out alive.
"I can't thank you enough for helping me Esalar." Fluttershy was back to her quiet, whispering tone.
"It's okay Fluttershy. I'm always happy to help a pony in need. See you around"
Esalar smiles at the happy mare, waves his hoof and continues on his way to find the Library in Ponyville in hopes that the pony inside will hold some answers as to what he is actually in the possession of.

Chapter 2

The spring weather was too nice for Esalar to run anywhere, even in the afternoon the suns warmth was a nice feeling on his face. He casually walked back in to town with a smile on his face. I've never known anyone to live in a Library before, with all those books they're bound to know something that will help discover what this thing is. Esalar lifts the Shard out of his bag and holds it in front of his face to take another close look at the shimmering beauty of it. The shard distracts him from watching where he is going and he nearly ends up walking straight past the Library. Esalar snaps out of his daze and realises that he has arrived after bumping into a sign labelled 'Library'.
"Oh! I'm here! That was a shorter journey than expected." Esalar looks up at the large structure before him but is surprised to not see a building like the ones he has already seen but instead this building is made from a large tree, Esalar raises one eyebrow in confusion and enters the building.

The inside appeared to be a lot larger than the outside let on, Esalar couldn't help but let his mouth drop but was suddenly interrupted by shouting from upstairs.
"Hey! Haven't you ever heard of knocking?!"
Esalar looked up to see a lavender coated pony leaning over the banister with a slightly angry look on her face.
"Oh, I'm sorry; I was told that someone here might be able to help me with something."
"Oh really? Who told you that?"
"Fluttershy. I wouldn't expect you to know her, she seems quite shy."
The lavender mare ponders over something for a couple of seconds.
"In fact I do know her, very well in fact... I guess I can trust you if she sent you. Please, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and you are?"
Twilight was very well spoken for someone who lives in Ponyville, the only other pony he had met who spoke like her was Rarity.
"The name’s Esalar. I was wondering if you could help me identify this..." Esalar lifted the small white gem-like shard from his saddle-bag. Twilights eyes lit up at this sight and she rushed downstairs to greet the beautiful gem.
"Oh my, it's beautiful! It looks familiar too. Mind if I take it a second?"
Esalar gladly passed over his magic grasp to her and she trots off to place it down on the desk on the far side of the room. Twilight then began to pull out book after book searching for something particular, eventually she shouted to her assistant for some help.
"Spike! Spike?! Come here I need your help!"
Without hesitation a small purple dragon sprinted into the room with a panicked look on his face. "Yes Twilight?! What is it?!"
"Can you help me find my copy of 'Early Equestrian Myths and Rumours'?"
"Yes Ma'am!" Spike grabs the nearest ladder, puts it up against a random shelf and begins browsing the book titles as he climbs. In the meantime Esalar decides to help as well by scanning through the lower shelves.

After 30 minutes of searching, Esalar came across an old, tattered looking book. He picked it out using his magic, blew off a layer of dust and read the title. Early Equestrian Myths and Rumours… Hey, this is it!
"Hey! Twilight! I've found the book!" Esalar shouted across the room startling Twilight, making her lose her concentration, dropping the book that she had just taken from the shelf. Spike came along and picked the book back up whilst Twilight moved over to where Esalar was.
"Where did you find this?"
"In was under ‘E’.” Esalar smiled whilst scratching the back of his head with his hoof.

Twilight took the book from Esalar and moved it over to the far desk where she had earlier placed the shard. She began quickly flicking through the pages until she suddenly stopped. "Ah! Here we go! The Moon Shards!"

The page of the book displayed a picture of 7 white gems each with their own unique lunar pattern on it, Twilight turned to the next page to read more about this new discovery.

"After defeating Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony, Princess Celestia created a back-up plan that she would resort to only if the banishment failed. This plan came in the form of 7 Moon Shards created from Princess Lunas original royal crest. When combined, these 7 shards would be able to harness the same power as the Elements of Harmony but with a slight edge that gave them the power to banish any and all evil. After the successful banishment of Nightmare Moon the shards were scattered into the sky, only to return in a time of extreme importance."

"Extreme importance? Then why is it here now?" Esalars confused voice spoke for everypony as they all pondered over what they had just heard.
Just as Esalar finished his sentence, there was a knock on the Library door. Twilight walked over to the door and opened it to reveal the sudden night sky and the most elegant white figure standing there. Both Twilight and Esalar immediately recognised the figure, with her beautiful, shining white coat and wings and flowing multi-coloured mane, the two ponies welcomed her in the same way.

"Princess Celestia?!" Esalar quickly dropped to a bowing position.
"Princess, to what do I owe the honour?" Twilight was beaming with excitement; it wasn't every day that her mentor paid a visit.
"I wish I could say this was a casual visit Twilight, but we have a serious matter on our hands." The Princess stopped in her tracks as she spotted Esalar who was still bowing to the majestic Alicorn.
"Who's your friend?" Celestia looked down to Esalar as he slowly lifted his head up to meet her kind eyes with his, making her give a slight smile.
"Oh! This is Esalar. He brought me something to research, which we found is called a ‘Moon Shard’."

Celestias eyes widened with shock.
"You have one of the Shards?! Show me!"

Twilight brought the shard over to the Princess.
"Twilight, I suppose you already know that these were created to replicate the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yes, I just read that in a book."

"Good. So you also know that there are 7 shards but only 6 Elements."

This realisation only just hit Twilight as the Princess spoke.
"Oh yeah, why is that?"

"The seventh shard is the Binding Shard. When this one is activated with the other 6 present, the true power of the shards is revealed. Except, like the Element of Magic, this shard requires a spark, a quick flash of incredibly bright light to be exact."

"What kind of pony could produce something so bright?"

Celestia just smiled and looked over to Esalar.
"Oh you'll know, when the time comes."

Esalar returned the Princess' stare with a look of confusion.

"In the meantime Twilight, I would like you and your friends to hunt down the Moon Shards and collect them, you will need them soon. And why not introduce Esalar to your friends at the same time; you could use his help after all."

Twilight looked to Esalar and then back to the Princess.
"Of course Princess!" Twilight smiled as the Princess opened the door and began her flight back to Canterlot leaving Twilight stood waving her away.

Twilight turned to Esalar with a smiling face to suggest that she was now more comfortable with him being there. "Would you like to stay here tonight Esalar? That way I can take you to meet all my friends first thing in the morning."

Esalar smiled at this kind gesture, he didn't have anything planned for tomorrow and he is in Ponyville to meet new ponies anyway, his answer was almost a no-brainer.

"Sure Twilight! If you don't mind that is, it is getting pretty dark, but I wouldn't want you to take time off your daily plans just for me."

"Don't be silly Esalar, it's no trouble at all. I love having friends to sleep over!"

"Haha, okay, if you say so." Esalar returned a smile back to Twilight as she made her way upstairs to get a bed ready for him.

As Esalar waited for the bed to be made, which he presumed wouldn’t take long, Spike walked into the room holding a small picture frame. Esalar took the opportunity to make the dragon into a friend. He snuck up behind the purple dragon to see what he had been intently staring at since he entered the room. What Esalar saw was a photograph of Rarity, the pony that he had taken photos of the night before.

"Got a crush on her?" Esalars speech makes Spike jump out of his sin with fear and surprise.

"Hey man! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Spikes face suggested that he was a little annoyed with what Esalar just did. Esalar just smiled and nodded towards the photo.

"She's a nice one."

Spike looked down to the picture of the white coated mare again.
"Yeah, tell me about it."

Esalar moved his head down to Spikes ear level and began to whisper.
"Compliment her on her dresses whenever you see one, and buy her a gift, maybe some more gems? She'll really like that." Esalar lifted his head back up for Spike to turn and look back at him, Spike smiled and Esalar replied with a small wink.

"Esalar, your bed is ready!" Twilight shouted from upstairs and Esalar immediately made his way upstairs to the small room behind Twilights bedroom.

"Sorry, I know it's not very big but at least it gives you some privacy." Twilight apologised to the fellow tired Unicorn.

Esalar began his speech with a yawn. "It’s okay Twilight, I just need to sleep." He smiled at her and she left, closing the bedroom door behind her.

Tomorrow should be fun, it sounds like Twilight has a lot of friends and I can't wait to meet them all. I wonder if I'll be seeing Fluttershy or Rarity again. Esalar climbs into bed after taking off his saddle-bag and quickly falls in to a deep sleep.

Chapter 3

A loud crash woke Esalar up the next morning
“What in Tartarus was that?” Esalar wondered quietly to himself.

He was answered by a young sounding, male voice.
“Don’t worry! I’m fine!”

“Spike! Be quiet, Esalar is still sleeping!”

Esalars guesses were correct; Spike had fallen down the stairs.

Thinking it was about time to get up; Esalar rose out of bed and levitated his brush to his long mane. Upon deciding that he looked fine, Esalar trotted downstairs to see that Twilight and her clumsy dragon assistant were already preparing some breakfast.

Esalar greeted the two of them as he walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the dining table. Not long after, Spike brought a plate of eggs and toast to Esalar and placed it on the table. Esalar thanked the purple dragon and began to eat, lifting his cutlery using magic.

Twilight sat down across the table from him and began some small talk.
“So, Esalar, where are you from?” Using her knowledge of other ponies from Ponyville, she knew that Esalar wasn’t from around there.

“I’m from Canterlot” Esalar hesitated. “The upper district.”

A look of surprise was struck to Twilights face. “Oh, wow! I mean no offence, but you don’t seem like the kind of Pony to live there.”

A small smile spread onto Esalar’s face. “That’s the reaction I always get. I didn’t grow up there though. I managed to buy my way up through working.” Esalar sips the mug of tea that had been placed before when Spike had finally taken a seat at the table.

“What do you do? You must be the manager of a company! Have I heard of it?” Twilight began to get excited at thought that she might have someone famous in her home.

“I’m a photographer.”

“It seems you’re full of surprises.” Twilight smiled to her guest, to which he replied with his own.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

When Twilight and Spike finished their breakfast, they collected the plates and took them over to the sink to begin cleaning. As Spike finished cleaning a he passed the piece on to Twilight who dried it, but as she placed the plate onto the worktop, it was immediately lifted by a light blue glow and placed into a cupboard with other plates.

“Esalar? You don’t have to help. You’re our guest.”

“Please Twilight, it’s the least I can do in return for your hospitality.” Esalar’s Canterlot side showed through a little as he gave this kind gesture.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

Sometime after the plates and cutlery had been cleaned and returned to their original places, Twilight and Esalar left the Library to meet Twilight’s friends. All the while they were walking, Twilight explained past events where her and her friends had saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon and Discord using the Elements of Harmony.

Whilst listening intently, Esalar took the time to admire more of the Ponyville scenery. All kinds of birds flew over their head singing wonderful, unique tunes and each house was lined around the base with clay pots, holding all kinds of flowers.

Esalar’s intent staring at the buildings was cut off by a sudden question from Twilight. “So, Esalar. Did you go to Celestia’s magic school in Canterlot?”

Esalar had to think for a second and then remembered some incidents that had happened. “Yes, but not for long... There was an accident involving me and an emotionally repressed teacher that led to me being pulled out by my parents.”

“Emotionally repressed teacher? You mean Professor Scramble? I remember him running into the cafeteria and beginning a food fight.” She began to laugh. ”That was hilarious!”

Esalar gave a guilty smile. “Heh, yeah, that would be my fault.” A blush of embarrassment began to show on his face, contrasting against his dark blue coat.

Esalar continued the conversation. “So, who was your teacher? Doctor Light Horn?”

“No, I managed to get some one-on-one tuition with Princess Celestia.”

Esalar stopped in his tracks, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“You studied with the Princess?!”

Twilight giggled at Esalar’s obvious shock and turned slightly with a smile to signal that they should carry on walking. “I still am, but my magical studies are more independent now.”

They reached the edge of the town square in no time to see five ponies surrounding one of the benches talking amongst themselves. “There they are! Come on Esalar, let’s go say ‘Hi’!”

Esalar trotted with Twilight over to where her friends were. Much to his surprise, Fluttershy and Rarity were both amongst them. Rarity was the first to notice them approaching. “Oh! It’s Twilight! Over here darling!” Rarity began waving to the two ponies.

Esalar and Twilight reached destination and Twilight began to introduce her guest. “Hi girls, I’d like you to meet Esalar. He’s here from Canterlot.”

“Esalar, it’s so nice to see you again!” Rarity wasted no time in greeting him.

“Likewise.” Esalar replied warmly. “Hey Fluttershy. Are you okay?”

Fluttershy poked her head out from behind the others. “Oh. Hello Esalar. I’m fine thank you.” Her voice sounded as nervous as ever even though she was familiar with the dark blue stallion.

A sudden gasp was heard as a pink pony bounced her way to the front. “Hi I’m Pinkie Pie and you’re Esalar but you already know that and I’ve never seen you before so that means you must be new and I love meeting new ponies because I know everypony in Ponyville whether they live here or are visiting and because you’re a friend of Twilights then I have to make you a friend of mine and I know the perfect way to do it, do you like parties? Because I like parties and so does everypony here so I have the most perfectist idea to throw you a huge super-duper fun welcome party!” Her speech was almost inaudible at the speed she was speaking so Esalar just gave a nervous smile which was replied with a big hug from Pinkie.

As Pinkie moved to the side a fling light-blue Pegasus landed in front of Esalar and extended a hoof. “Nice to meet you. I’m Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolt in training!”

Esalar accepted her hoof with his own. “Training to join the Wonderbolts, eh? I’ve been to quite a few of their shows, even done some private photo shoots with Soarin and Spitfire.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “You know the Wonderbolts?!” She gave an accepting smile. “I think we’ll get along just fine.”

The last pony to greet Esalar was an orange mare with a blonde mane, wearing a brown Stetson. “Hey there partner! Ah’m Applejack, but you can call me AJ.” She too extended a hoof.

“Nice to meet you, Applejack.” He gladly met her hoof with his own.

“Ah heard you mention photo shoots earlier. Does that mean you’re a photographer?” Applejack asked curiously.

Esalar began with a small giggle. “Yes I am, I’ve done nothing too special though.”

Rarity butted in. “Oh darling don’t be so modest! This fine stallion has taken photos of all kinds of famous ponies like the Wonderbolts and the Princesses. He even gets asked to the Gala from time to time, and he was at your brother’s wedding, Twilight.”

Esalar had one of his familiar shocked expressions on his face. “I’m honestly flattered Rarity. But how do you know all this?”

An obviously blush began show on Rarities face contrasting greatly with her white coat. “I guess you could say I’m a bit of a fan.”

Esalar gave an awkward smile as a silence fell over the group which was quickly broken by Twilight. “Sooo, shall we go to the park?” Everypony nodded and proceeded to follow Twilight to their usual picnic spot in the park.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

Applejack had brought some Apple-based snacks and Pinkie had brought some of her famous sweet tasting cupcakes. Twilight pulled out a large piece of fabric from her saddlebag and laid it down on the grass so her and her friends could take a seat and relax.

After a while Esalar sparked up a conversation with Twilight. “Hey Twilight, are you going to tell them about that, thing?”

Twilight’s initial reaction was of confusion but she quickly remembered about the night before. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot.” She said, giggling nervously.

“Oooo, thing? What thing Twilight?! Are you planning a party? Because you know I like parties. So if you were planning a party you know that I’d love to help you organi-mmph mph mphh“ Pinkie’s outburst was stopped by a hoof to her mouth from Applejack.

“No Pinkie, it’s not a party.” Twilight hesitated for a moment. “Girls, we have a mission directly from Princess Celestia.” Esalar lifted his Moon Shard from his saddle bag. “This is a Moon Shard. In short detail, seven of them were created by Celestia as a back-up plan in case Nightmare Moon escaped from the moon early. They are only supposed to be found once their power is truly needed.”

“What kind of power, sugar cube?” Applejack took at small step forward in intrigue.

“More power than the Elements of Harmony.” Twilight’s expression had turned deadly serious now.

The group was taken aback slightly with a small gasp form each of them.

“So what does this have to do with us?” Rainbow Dash spoke out.

“We’ve been given the mission to find and collect these Moon Shards in preparation for their time to be used.” Twilight looked over to Esalar with a smile. “Esalar will be joining us.” He simply replied with a smile.

“Well, Ah’m feelin’ mighty peckish. So, if’n ya don’t mind, Ah’m gonna grab a bite to eat.” Applejack said whilst her stomach began to rumble.

“Not without me you’re not!” Rainbow Dash dashed forward, opening the picnic basket revealing an assortment of muffins, cupcakes and sandwiches.

One by one each pony took an item of food and began to eat. Pinkie Pie ate at least two cupcakes in one gulp, Applejack and Rainbow Dash violently ripping apart their food in friendly competition. That left Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Esalar eating their selected food items in a polite manner.

After the food had been reduced to mere crumbs, the seven ponies lay on the grass, bellies full, enjoying the passing, beautiful day. The peacefulness was interrupted by Pinkie Pie’s eyes shooting open wide followed by a small gasp. She stood up, announcing her sudden leave as everypony looked at her in slight surprise. “I’ll be right back everypony. There’s something back at Sugarcube Corner I have to check on.” Before anypony could reply, Pinkie had dashed off.

“What was that about?” Esalar said with a confused look on his face.

“Pinkie Pie is so random!” Exclaimed Rainbow Dash with a slight giggle as she lay her head back down on the grass.

Esalar raised an eyebrow in Rainbow Dash’s direction, shook his head and looked ahead, back towards Ponyville.

“It’s so beautiful here. So peaceful.” The dark blue stallion whispered out loud to himself which was followed by a long intake of breath through his nose to take in the smells of the countryside.

“I agree.” Esalar looked to his right to see Rarity sat next to him. “As much as I would love to live in Canterlot, there’s something about this place that makes it so hard to leave.” She sighed.

“Have you been there before? To Canterlot?” Esalar asked curiously.

“Yes, a few times. I was 12 years old when I first went with my parents. We lived in Manehatten at the time. I remember seeing the elegance of the buildings and the ponies for the first time, I knew that I just had to live there someday, or at least return again for a longer time.” A small, nostalgic smile appeared on her face.

“Yeah, it is very nice up there. The finest restaurants and bars, and the quality of items in the shops is the finest I have ever seen.” He looked over to the city on the mountain and back to Rarity. “You know, If you ever want to pay another visit there, I ca-“

“I’m back!” Esalar was cut off by a shouting Pinkie Pie approaching holding something in her mouth.

“Hi Pinkie, what have you got there?” Esalar asked as the pink pony got closer.

She dropped a small, shiny, white object to the floor emblazoned with a half-moon shape. “I almost forgot that I found this behind Sugarcube corner a few days ago.”

Esalar lifted the object with his magic. “It’s another Moon Shard!” Everypony that was still lying down lifted their heads up quickly in response to Esalar’s realisation. “What are the odds of that?” Esalar dropped the shard into his saddlebag.

“Well, according to other similar situations I’d say-“ Twilight was cut off by Rarity’s hoof to her mouth.

“I think that was a rhetorical question, darling.”

Esalar giggled slightly. “I’m sorry to leave you all, but I think I should get going. It’s getting pretty late and my home is on the other side of town.”

“Would be so kind as to let me walk you home? I wouldn’t want you getting lost.” Rarity asked as she got slightly closer with a friendly smile.

Esalar backed away awkwardly a small amount joined by an awkward smile. “Thank you Rarity. That would be very nice of you.”

The two ponies waved goodbye to the rest of their friends and made their way to Esalar’s house, with Rarity talking about her dreams of Canterlot and staying relatively close to Esalar during the whole journey.

“Well, here we are Rarity. Thank you so much for walking with me.” Esalar smiled holding out a hoof to her.

“Oh, it was absolutely no problem, darling. Feel free to stop by the Carousel Boutique anytime to say hello.” She met his hoof with her own with a large smile.

Esalar walked into his house and laid his saddlebags carefully on to the dining table. He continued to walk upstairs and wasted no time in climbing into bed, quickly falling asleep with a large yawn.

Chapter 4

As Princess Luna’s night was cast over Canterlot, one pony stayed out, a black mare with an equally dark red mane and tail lay at the side of a street, eyes closed. She slowly rose to her hooves, standing taller than most other ponies but not quite as tall as an Alicorn; the black unicorn began a slow walk down the street.

She took glances left and right as a few shops were being locked up later than usual. When her determined and angry looking eyes met with other ponies eyes they would look away quickly and pretend that they weren’t looking at the unusual mare.

The black Unicorn walked into a small late night pub that was near. As she walked in, she spotted a guard sat at the bar sipping on a drink. The mysterious mare walked over and took a seat next to him, placing a large of bits in front of him, she began to speak.

“Here, let me buy you a few more.” Her voice was soft with a hint of raspiness but by no means regal sounding.

The guard gave a look of confusion at the mare and then noticed how many bits there were in the bag. “What do you want?” He said warily.

“A distraction.” The black unicorn gave a large, sly smile.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

The morning sun didn’t wake Esalar the next day; instead he was forced awake by a loud frantic knocking at his door. The quickly jumped out of bed and made his way downstairs to answer the door as the knocking became louder. “I’m coming! I’m coming!”

He opened the door to see a panicked Twilight at his door. “Esalar you need to hurry, we’ve been asked by the Princess to meet her in Canterlot immediately.”

Esalar stood there looking blankly for a second, he didn’t expect to be going back to Canterlot for a few more days. “Okay, let me just get a few things together. Where are the others?” Esalar asked as he walked back inside, inviting Twilight to walk inside too.

“They’re already at the train station waiting for us.” She began to sound impatient.

Esalar hurried his packing, making sure he had the Moon Shards in his saddle bags along with a plentiful amount of bits and some snacks for the train journey. “Okay, I’m ready let’s go!”

They left the house and made their way to the train station, the whole way Esalar had noticed that Twilight was looking uncomfortable at the situation. “Are you okay Twilight? You seem a little, on edge.”

Twilight gave a sigh and dipped her head slightly. “I’m sorry Esalar. Even though she’s my teacher, I always get really nervous when the Princess asks me to see her. Especially when it’s urgent.”

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

On the train, everypony had their own things to occupy them. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were playing a card game, Twilight was reading and Esalar was looking at the scenery whilst Rarity took to glancing over to Esalar every now and again between reading sentences from the fashion magazine she had brought with her.

Before they knew it, their train was pulling in to the Canterlot train station. As they got off the train Twilight noticed the royal carriage parked outside. “It seems the Princess sent a carriage to pick us up.”

As they walked over to the carriage the guard waiting outside of it greeted the pony he recognised as being Twilight and let them all on board.

Everypony, including Esalar, had their faces pointing outside the windows of their vehicle as they rode through the streets of Canterlot towards the castle. A few regal ponies outside, looked to the carriage as it rode past, it wasn’t everyday that they saw a royal vehicle riding in public.

This was the first time Esalar had been near the castle, let alone within the walls. It was a large as it looked from the windows in his house, which they passed to get to the main road a couple of blocks back. His eyes widened to take in every detail he could before they stopped.

Guards opened the doors on either side of the carriage to let the ponies out. Twilight led them through the front door to see a majestic but panicked Princess Celestia pacing left and right at the other end of the entrance hall.

“Princess! We came as fast as we could!” Twilight called over as the group trotted over to the Princess.

“Girls, Esalar! I’m so glad you came. We have a big problem on our hooves.” She walked over to a door at the left side in the back of the room. “Follow me.”

The group followed closely beside and behind the Princess as she walked them to the Hallway that housed the safe where the Elements of Harmony were being kept.

All 7 ponies gasped as they saw the scene at the end of the hallway. “As you can see, everypony. We have quite the problem.”

The safe that had been concealing the Elements of Harmony had been broken in to. The doors looked like they had been blown off by an explosive and the elegantly designed chest was laid open on the ground.

“No! How could this happen?!” Twilight ran over to the door. “Princess, I thought you were the only one who could open this door?!”

“Unfortunately Twilight, it appears the culprit of this crime used a highly advanced explosive to force open the door.” The white Alicorn turned her head to the floor with a frown. “You should also know that a couple of weeks ago, some of our most advanced machine parts were stolen from our labs. We suspect that the same pony committed this crime.”

Esalar spoke up from his silence. “What do you think they plan to do with the Elements and machine parts?” He stepped forward towards the Princess.

Celestia looked over to Esalar. “I’m not sure Esalar. But whatever it is, it can’t be good, and it must be the reason why the Moon Shards have returned.”

“Don’t worry Princess. Where ever this criminal is, we’ll find him and let him know the error of his ways.” Rainbow Dash flew into air and threw confident punches to give her sentence more power.

“Thank you Rainbow Dash, but I hope to not use violence.” The Princess walked to the front of the group and turned to face the other ponies. “The most important thing now, is that you find the rest of the Moon Shards. I understand you have six left to find?” Princess Celestia looked over to Esalar for confirmation.

“Actually Princess, we only have five more to find.” Esalar proudly lifted the two Moon Shards from his saddle bags.

The Princess smiled and nodded to the dark blue stallion.
“I have my best intelligence working around Equestria. A letter will be sent to spike as soon as the location of a Moon Shard is discovered.”

Twilight nodded to the Princess as Fluttershy spoke as she looked out of the window. “Oh, have we really been here that long? It’s getting late already.” The sun had begun to set on the horizon during the time they had spent in Canterlot.

“By the position of the Sun, Ah’m guessing the trains’ll stop running soon.” Noted Applejack out loud.

“Yes, you’re right. We’re going to need a place to stay overnight.” Rarity said worryingly.

Esalar noticed the Princess looking at him. When his eyes met hers, she nodded towards him confirming some thoughts in his head. “Hey girls.” Everypony looked towards Esalar. “My house isn’t far from here; you’re all welcome to stay the night.”

“Oh Esalar, that would be fantastic! Thank you!” Twilight said with a large smile.

Pinkie had a revelation which made her give one of her famous out bursts. “Oh oh oh! It’ll be just like a sleepover! We could tell jokes, have a pillow fight, play board games.” She gasped. “We could even build a book fort!” Everypony facehoofed as Pinkie Pie continued the bounce up and down in excitement.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

“Oh Esalar, your home is just fabulous!” Rarity was in awe of Esalar’s upper-class home.

Esalar began the scratch the back of his back with his hoof. “Yeah, it took quite a few years of hard work to save up for it.” He walked over to the stairs, lifting his hoof to point up them. “Please, let me show you all to your rooms.”

The six mares followed Esalar up the stairs, showing each of them to their rooms. “Ah hope you don’t mind me asking Esalar. But how come you have so many rooms in your house?” Applejack asked curiously.

Esalar giggled slightly. “Well, before I brought this house, it was originally a small Hotel. The owners began to lose money so they put it up for sale.” He opened the door to a large bedroom painted a light blue with furniture decorated with greens and browns. “This will be your room Applejack, I hope it’s to your liking.”

The orange mare walked in and began to look around the room in slight awe. “This is mighty fine Esalar. I’ll see you later.” She gave the stallion a wink before closing the door. Rarity responded with widened eyes and a slight lip twitch.

Esalar walked Rarity to the next room down. “And here’s your room Rarity. I hope you have a nice night.” Wished Esalar as he opened the door to the room.

“Thank you so much Esalar. I’ll see you in the morning.” Rarity gave a large smile and then continued to lean forwards and gave Esalar a small kiss on the cheek.

A silence quickly fell between the two of them, broken slightly by an awkward cough from Esalar. “Good night Rarity.” Esalar turned around and entered the room next door, placing his saddle bags on the floor and climbing into bed.

Where am I? What is this place?

“Do not fear what you see Esalar.”

What? Who’s there?! Where are you?!

“I am you, your mind, your inner self. I am here to guide you.”

Guide me through what?

“The journey you are about to go through will be tough. You need to stay tough, for yourself and your friends. You’re a key part, Esalar.”

A key part? How? I just found some strange Moon Shard and got pulled into this.

“The light, Esalar. The light.”

Chapter 5

The sun had hardly begun to rise the next morning when Esalar and the other 6 ponies were woken up by a loud knocking on the front door. Wanting to hurry back to bed, Esalar walked downstairs and opened the door. The silhouette that stood before him appeared to be an alicorn of sorts, too dark to be Celestia and the stance was too powerful to be Cadence.

“Princess Luna!” Esalar quickly dropped to a bow as he realised who was at his door.

The Princess walked past him and into the house as the other ponies were walking downstairs. “Please stand, Esalar.” She stood tall with her head high, making her presence known to all.

Esalar rose to his hooves as Twilight greeted the princess of the night. “Good morning Princess. What can we help you with?”

“I cannot stay long Twilight Sparkle, I am merely here on business.” The Princess turned her head to look at Esalar as he walked past and joined the others. “I am here to bring you information about the whereabouts of a new Moon Shard.”

“That’s fantastic news Princess! Where can we find it?” Esalar stepped forward in sudden excitement.

“I hope you’re ready to travel. Because you’re going to Fillydelphia.” The Princess smiled slightly and hovered a small note over to Esalar before turning around and leaving the building, closing the door behind her.

Esalar opened the note and began to read. “I didn’t think it would begin this quickly. We better prepare to leave.”

“None of us have the need to pack anything, so it’s all on you, Esalar.” Twilight stated.

Esalar nodded in understanding and walked over to the tall cupboard at the far side of the room; he opened the doors and pulled out a camera, placing it on the near-by table. “I don’t want to forget this. I can only imagine the sights we’ll see.” He placed a special camera holder around his neck and hooked the camera into place on to it.

“That’s a mighty fine piece of equipment partner. How rich are you exactly?” Applejack asked curiously.

Esalar smiled weakly and walked to the near wall. He lifted his hoof up and pressed against a protruding brick, it pushed in like a button and a circular shape in the wall began to turn and move backwards before rolling off to the right that revealed shelves upon shelves full of bits. Everypony in the room stood in shock, eyes wide and mouths open so much you could have fit a whole apple in each of them comfortably.

“I have way too much. Feel free to take a bit, or two.” He pointed his hoof into the safe invitingly.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

The 7 ponies had pre-paid first class tickets to Fillydelphia, paid for by Princess Celestia herself. They made their way onto the train and took their seats, it wasn’t too different from the trip to Canterlot, but this time Twilight sat with Rarity and Esalar to make sure the white unicorn wouldn’t scare Esalar too much.

Their cabin was the most state of the art the 7 ponies had ever seen, coloured white all around, the seats were topped with extra comfortable cushions and the windows were tinted a dark grey.

“I’ve been on a few nice trains in my time, but this is so surreally nice.” Esalar stared around the cabin.

“Indeed. I didn’t think a train could look so fabulous.” Rarity smiled in agreement.

For the rest of the journey the 7 of them took part in a large game of ‘I Spy’, most of the guesses were related to the scenery in and outside of the train.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

The train arrived at the station at about 4pm. Everypony has fallen asleep during the journey and were all suddenly woken by the sound of the trains horn.

“Yay! We’re here!” Shouted Pinkie Pie who had immediately gained her energy back.

They all got off of their chairs and walked down the isle to the now open door, leaving in an orderly line.

“Okay, so we have rooms booked at the Hoof Hall Hotel in the middle of town.” Esalar noted out loud.

“The Hoof Hall Hotel? I can show you where that is.” An unfamiliar voice spoke from their left. The 7 ponies turned to see a grey Pegasus stallion with a two-toned black and purple mane standing there smiling at them with his teeth showing.

“Thank you, sir.” Twilight thanked the new face.

“Please, call me Arcade.” He gave a small bow to them.

“Well, thank you Arcade. It would be very kind of you to show us to the hotel.” Esalar spoke up.

“It would be my pleasure, follow me.” Arcade began to walk out of the station as the other ponies followed him.

Fillydelphia was one of the highest populated cities in Equestria coming second only to Manehatten. Tall skyscrapers lined the skies and ponies were constantly walking in all directions, the group of friends had to stick close to each other to make sure they didn’t get lost within the crowds.

After a few minutes of dodging rushing ponies, the group had found themselves at the hotel. “Here we are Fillies and Gentlecolts!” Arcade stated.

The 7 ponies thanked the grey stallion and walked inside. The walls inside were painted gold with white decorative pillars that led to an elegantly decorated roof. Esalar walked over to the front desk to collect the rooms keys.

A light blue mare stood behind the desk wearing a vest that was coloured a slightly darker blue. She looked up to Esalar from the paper work she was doing. “Good evening. Can I help you?” She asked with a cheery smile.

“Hello. Yes, we have some rooms booked under the name Esalar Starbeam.”

The mare checked some sheets of paper on the desk before speaking again. “Ah yes. Mr Starbeam, we’ve been expecting you and your friends. Seven adjoining rooms on the top floor.” The blue mare handed over the keys to the waiting stallion. “There’s a separate staircase near your rooms that leads to the roof, should you feel the need to go there.” Esalar nodded to the receptionist and levitated the keys over to his new friends and each of them took one.

Not knowing how to use the strange called the elevator, the seven ponies decided to take the stairs up to the top floor. When they reached the top, all except Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were out of breath and collapsed to the floor.

Rainbow Dash giggled. “Come on guys, it wasn’t that bad!” Everypony looked at Rainbow Dash with an annoyed expression before slowly climbing to their hooves.

None of them wasted time in getting to their rooms to rest; they said their goodnights to each other and closed their respective doors.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

Rarity had tried to get an early night sleep, but something was stopping her from doing so, a thought of something, somepony. Deciding that sleep wasn’t going to happen quite yet, she climbed out of bed and left her room and began to walk to the stairs that led to the roof so that she could get some fresh air.

Her hooves made a clonking on the metal stairway that rang uncomfortably through her ears. The door creaked slightly as she opened it with her magic. Rarity smiled at the welcome sight on the other side.

Sitting there on a bench, looking out to the sunset in a silhouette form was Esalar.
“I knew I could find you up here.” Rarity spoke softly but still managed to make Esalar jump slightly.

Esalar turned to see the purple maned, white unicorn standing there. “Oh, hi Rarity, what are you doing here?” He asked as he looked back to the sunset coming down over the city.

“I couldn’t sleep, would you mind if I joined you?”

Esalar shuffled over to the left to allow room for Rarity. The unicorn stepped forwards and sat on the bench next to him.

“Do you like the city, Rarity?” Esalar looked over to her.

She bowed her head nervously from his look. “Not really. The reason we moved from Manehatten was to get away from the old hustle and bustle.” She looked out to the city scape. Esalar noticed her light blue eyes glisten in the light of the sunset which made him give an involuntary smile. Rarity met his gaze with her own and shied away back to the sight of the city.

They just sat there for a few minutes, admiring the orange tinted view before them. As the sun made its final journey behind the horizon, Esalar turned to Rarity to speak. “Thank you Rarity, for spending this time with me. I’ve known a pony to be as well-mannered and beautiful as you.” He put on a confident expression as he looked backed to the city-line.

Rarity was shocked, her eyes shot open wide suddenly at the compliment. “Um, thank you Esalar, I don’t know what to say.” Rarity looked over to Esalar.

Esalar looked back and stared deep and meaningfully into her eyes. “You don’t need to say anything.” The two ponies closed in slowly to each other, they wanted to enjoy the anticipation as much as possible.

“Um, guys?” As their faces were mere inches away an unexpected voice broke them apart leaving them with nervous coughs.

The two unicorns turned around quickly to see Rainbow Dash stood with one eyebrow raised and her head tilted.

“Rainbow Dash?! What are you doing here?!” The two of them shouted simultaneously, which made them look over to each other and smile slightly.

“I was hoping to catch a little roof nap so I can stay up later into the night. So, could you two, like, get a room?” Rainbow asked comically.

Esalar smiled. “We were here first. So, you go get a roof.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and without saying a word, took off into the air, leaving the two unicorns to themselves.

Rarity yawned. “I’m sorry Esalar, this has been just lovely. But I’m feeling rather tired now, and it is getting late.”

Esalar smiled widely in agreement. “Okay Rarity, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Rarity climbed from her seat and walked back to the door leading to the staircase. She whispered to herself before opening the door. “Goodnight, my love.”

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

The next morning was met with a bright sun and warm weather which met with Twilights face. “Spike, stop with the fire. I’m trying to sleep.” She brought the duvet that covered her closer to her face for more comfort. This didn’t last for long as the alarm clock she had set the night before rang out, waking her almost instantly.

She lifted her hoof and slumped it down onto the top of the clock, turning it off. She followed this up by throwing her duvet from her and climbing out of bed to her hooves. Opening her curtain, the full light of the day struck her eyes, forcing her to squint. “Wow Princess, you put a lot of power into the sun today.” Twilight walked over to the desk in her room that had a mirror mounted onto the top of it. She levitated her brush and began moving it through her mane, straightening the knots that had formed during her comfortable sleep. She knew that the other six ponies would still be asleep, so Twilight decided to go to each of their doors and knock on them to wake each pony up.

Applejack had just woken up too, having to work on a farm meant that her natural body clock woke her up very early every day. She knew that the knock on her door would be from Twilight, making sure that she was awake. “Good mornin’, Twilight!” Applejack shouted through the door as she heard hoof steps outside moving to the next room.

Pinkie Pie was the next to be woken up, followed by Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and finally, Esalar.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

Once everypony had woken up and got ready, they all made their way downstairs to get some breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Finally finding a table to fit all of them, the seven ponies scanned through the menu to decide what they were going to have. They decided to make it easy and all have a Daisy, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich.

Once finished, Esalar walked to reception so he could ask for directions. “Good morning Miss.” He greeted the receptionist.

“Good morning sir, is there something I can help you with?” Esalar found her cheery smile welcoming.

“I was hoping you could give me some directions.” Esalar levitated a small map from his saddle bags and laid it on the desk, it was coloured blue and showed a rough drawing of outlined streets and buildings but with no street names or further details. “I need to get to here.” Esalar pointed his hoof at a small red dot in the left corner of the map.

The receptionist turned the map slightly to get a better look. “Well, that’s the industrial area. It holds the electrical power supply for the city.” The mare looked up at Esalar with a curious expression. “It’s unlikely that you’d be able to get past the guards.”

“It’s a business matter, I’m sure they’ll let us in.” Esalar smiled to the receptionist as she wrote down some directions on a piece of paper and handed it to him.

Esalar thanked the mare behind the desk and continued to meet up with the seven other ponies that were waiting outside for him.

The streets seemed to be reasonably quiet in the mornings, so the group quickly approached their destination. Two tall chimneys stood in the middle of the industrial park with smaller square buildings surrounding them. The group of friends stood outside the gates and stared at the structure in awe. Esalar took the initiative and walked over to the guard at the main gate.

“Good morning sir, my name’s Esalar Starbeam. I’m here by instruction of Princess Celestia and would like to be allowed access to the facility.” Esalar announced politely, but with authority.

“Sorry sir, I don’t care if you’re working for the Princess’s or Griffons, I can’t allow you to enter. Authorised personnel only.” The guard stood defensively at his post.

Esalar sighed loudly before turning back to walk to the waiting ponies. On his way back, he spotted a familiar looking pony, images flashed through his mind until he remembered who it was he could see.

“Crimson?! Crimson Bolt?!” Esalar shouted as he ran over to a crimson coloured stallion who was now looking for the pony who shouted his name. “Over here!” just Esalar shouted that, Crimson spotted the dark blue pony running towards him. Recognising him instantly, the crimson coloured pony dropped what he was carrying and stood on his hind legs spreading his fore legs wide, signalling for a hug.

Esalar grasped Crimson tightly making him wince a little. “Esalar! Long time no see. What brings you to Fillydelphia?”

“Work, surprisingly. Speaking of, is this where you work?” Esalar asked as he released his grip to land back on to all four hooves.

“It is indeed. You’re looking at the most qualified electrician in this whole facility!” Crimson stood proudly at this statement.

“Nice one Crim. I don’t suppose there’s any way you could get me and my friends inside?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not. Can I ask why?”

“I can tell you later, over a drink? It’ll be nice to catch up.”

Crimson nodded in agreement and the two of them walked over to the gate, followed closely by Twilight and her friends, the guard gladly stepped aside allowing the eight of them to enter the facility.

As they approached the centre area, Crimson said his goodbyes and headed off to continue his work. The seven ponies just stood there for a moment, taking in the sights around them before Esalar spoke up in authority.

“Okay, we should try to find the shard as quick as possible. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, you two should take to the skies, an aerial view should give us an edge. Twilight, Applejack, you two head to the east side and make your way around the border. Rarity, I’ll have you with me, and Pinkie Pie…” The pink mare smiled a wide ecstatic smile. “You can search all over.” Esalar turned to Rarity, shaking his head as the bouncy, pink pony hopped off to the west and the other ponies headed in their respective directions. “How do you put up with her?”

Rarity giggled. “I do wonder the same thing sometimes, but she does grow on you.” The two unicorns began walking to make their way between the inner buildings of the facility.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

From a distance, a strange, floating machine watched the seven ponies as they separated from each other. It pulled away and began hovering back in the opposite direction of the Fillydelphia industrial area.

Finally, it reached a large tent and flew inside. The machine was greeted by the sight of its owner, a mysterious black mare with a dark red mane.

She turned to face the machine and began levitating it with her magic. “You’ve returned then. Let’s see what information you have.” The mare continued to plug the machine into a computer forcing the monitor to begin playing recorded scenes kept on tapes in the machines body.

The meeting between Princess Celestia and the seven ponies was one of the scenes that was played, the tape ended with the same ponies splitting up to search for something in an electrical plant.

“So, it seems the Moon Shards are not just myth, but they are real and these ponies are trying to collect them.” The black cackled a little. “Not for long.”

The unicorn turned quickly to a large robot laid on a metal bed in the back of her tent. She altered some controls on the desk that stood next to it, finishing by hitting the big red button at the bottom right of the desk.

Sounds of electrical surges could be heard and sparks began to fly in all directions as the robot came to life. Bit by bit the machine moved its body parts before coming to a full stand on the edge to the bed.

The mare quickly levitated a small disc containing an image of the seven ponies and inserted it into a slot in the back of the robot. Its eyes suddenly lit up and it began moving slowly to the exit of the tent. It stood for a second allowing time for the dark mare to join it outside and speak.

“Now go, do what you must do. Stop those ponies from finding the rest of the Moon Shards!”

And with that, the robot flattened it’s hands palms, facing them to the floor, firing pulse of heat and small flames with allowed it to steadily climb into the air before it levelled out horizontally and was gone in a flash, towards Fillydelphia.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

Using her enhanced pegasus sense of sight, Rainbow Dash scanned the ground from the skies at remarkable speeds whilst Fluttershy nervously stayed at lower altitudes slowly and carefully staring at the floor. As she passed through an alleyway something caught her eye by a large dumpster, it glinted from the sunlight as her eyes scanned that area. Feeling suddenly excited, Fluttershy quickened her pace and was next to the dumpster in no time, her eyes frantically looked back and forth in the immediate area, looking for the shiny object.

It was only when she landed, kicking up a small amount of dust, that she spotted it again. The dust caused a refraction of the sunlight, causing the object to glint again. She spotted it immediately, recognising the small object as a white shard, embossed with a half-moon shape on the front.

With a volume she didn’t think that she was capable of since the grand galloping gala, Fluttershy shouted as loud as she could to the others. “I’ve found it!”

Without hesitation, Rainbow Dash joined her fellow Pegasus to see the white gem. They were quickly joined by Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Esalar, with Pinkie Pie bouncing along behind them all.

Esalar moved to the front of the group and lifted the shard with his magic. “This is definitely a Moon Shard. Well done Fluttershy.” The now quiet, yellow Pegasus shied away her head, blushing from the praise.

Esalar carefully placed the new Moon Shard into his saddlebag and turned to begin leading himself and the others back towards the hotel. As they reached the centre area again, they were stopped in their tracks. A loud crash and a large plume of dust formed in front of them as ponies around the facility gasped and screamed loudly. As the dust cleared, it revealed a large metallic structure that resembled some kind of humanoid creature, the alarms around the facility began to sound as the eyes of the creature began to glow.

Esalar took a large audible gulp as the metallic creation took a step forward towards them. “This isn’t going to end well.”

The seven ponies were split into two groups as the creature lifted its arm and swung it down with harmful force. Several minutes went by as the unknown entity continued to ruthlessly attack Esalar and his friends.

A narrow miss to Esalar’s head caused him to shout out. “What is this thing?!”

An unknown, male voice spoke out from above as a red coated, blonde maned Pegasus quickly descended to their level. “It’s a robot! Try and stay out of its way.”

Esalar nodded to this strange new pony and dodged another attack from the machine.

The new addition to the group took off towards to the robot, flipped around and kicked its head. The robot stumbled back slightly but quickly regained it posture, swinging its fist at the red stallion. The Pegasus couldn’t move quick enough and was hit directly on his right side, causing him to fall to the ground.

After wincing in pain for a second the red stallion slowly stood up. “I’m okay!”

Twilight took her place beside him for protection as she asked him his name.

“The names Ajuna” There wasn’t much time to talk as the robot smashed down with its arm again cutting the two ponies off from each other.

The battle continued for a while as the ponies kept dodging the machines attacks.

“Take this you ruffian!” Rarity screamed at the top of her lungs as she pounced towards the robot, but her timing was a little off as the machine turned, hitting her off to the side with quite some force.

“Rarity! No!” A shot of adrenaline ran through Esalar’s body as he sprinted to Rarity’s side. She seemed to be okay, just unconscious. It was when he turned around that Esalar felt something strange, a sense of anger and shock raced from his chest, down to his hooves and up to his horn. Ajuna had just been hit. The machines arm came down upon Ajuna and lifted up again with him in the robots grasp. The mechanical arm lifted slowly as the ponies watched in shock, they weren’t prepared to see what came next.

The arm flung forward and the hand released its grip, sending Ajuna flying through the air, looking horribly beaten and bruised as he was sent out of the facility walls, landing against the walls of an opposite building.

The feeling Esalar had been gaining was now maxed at this sight. His face changed expressions, from worry to pure anger. Opening his mouth, Esalar let out a roar that stopped everyone, including the robot, in their tracks. The tip of the blue stallion’s horn began to glow, brighter and brighter. Esalar began to lower his head, pointing his horn in the direction of the machine. A ball of light began to form at his horn, looking as though it was solid. As soon as Esalar felt he was ready, without hesitation, he released his built up energy.

A beam of pure light energy that was as bright as the sun shot from Esalar’s horn, narrowly missing Rainbow Dash as she flew down to see what was going on. It seemed to travel for a few more seconds than it should have before striking the robots body. The energy scraped against the metallic body for a few seconds before it pierced it, a loud explosion and flame ball followed that made all the ponies in the vicinity duck down to avoid flying shrapnel that they may not have seen through the gathering dust cloud.

Chapter 6

As Esalar returned into consciousness all he could hear was a steady beeping, followed by a soft male voice as he began to move.

“Ah good, he’s awake.” Esalar heard hoofsteps as the unfamiliar voice walked closer. “Good morning Esalar.” The blue stallion managed to open his eyes to see a pale blue colt wearing a white doctors uniform looking down upon him with a gentle smile.

“W-where am I?” Esalar managed to ask through his pain.

“You’re in Fillydelphia hospital, you had quite the concussion.”

Esalar turned to scan the room he was in, opposite him was a large window with the blinds pulled closed and to the left of that was a wooden door. To his immediate left was a heart monitor hooked up to his left leg. The silence didn’t last long as Esalar stomach began to rumble.

The doctor smiled at Esalar. “I’ll go get you a sandwich if you want?”

Esalar nodded. “That would be very kind thank you.”

The doctor left the room leaving Esalar to relax in his bed. Not long after the doctor left did another pony enter the room. Esalar looked over to the door to see that Rarity has entered and was proceeding towards the bed.

“Hello there sleepy head.” Rarity smiled widely whilst shedding a small tear.

“Hi Rarity.” Esalar returned the smile before wiping the tear from Rarity’s face with his free hoof. “Did we - Did we win?” The stallion’s expression changed to a slightly serious one as he began to remember what had happened. Rarity replied with a nod and leaned in for a hug to which Esalar gladly accepted.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

“Useless Machine!” The black mare shouted as she kicked a large piece of metal across the room. She continued to walk over to a workbench which had large pieces of metal on it as well as an ornate wooden chest. Her horn glowed and the lid of the chest slowly lifted open. Inside were six pieces of jewellery each with their own unique emblem on them. “I guess it’s time to begin.”

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

Esalar was now up and walking about the Hospital room, still recovering from his concussion. The wooden door swung open and a crimson coloured stallion ran in and wrapped his hooves around Esalar.

“Thank god you’re okay!” Crimson Bolt gripped tighter as Esalar tried to pull away from shock.

“Yes, I’m fine Crimson. Thank you for your concern.” The blue pony pushed his friend away gently revealing an overwhelmed smile on the red coated stallions face.

Crimson went on to apologise that he was no help to them by hiding in his office through the whole fight. Esalar insisted that everything was okay and reassured Crimson that he just worked on instinct. The two ponies were soon joined by the six other mares.

Esalar turned around to his friends and then back to Crimson with a serious expression. “I suppose I should tell you what we were looking for.”

Crimson nodded in agreement and they all made their way to the hospital cafeteria to talk.

With them all sat down comfortably, Esalar began to speak. “I’m just going to tell what’s happening. We are working for Princess Celestia to find seven Moon Shards.”

“Moon Shards?”

“They have the power of the Elements of Harmony plus a bit more due to the seventh.”

Crimson’s eyes widened.

Twilight was getting worried that Esalar had already revealed too much, so she spoke up before he could continue.
“So, Esalar, I’m curious. What was that light magic that you produced?”

Esalar froze stiff, he had tried to forget about that but he guessed that it was only a matter of time before they asked about it. Deiciding that it was time to explain, Esalar took a deep breath.

“It’s – A special ability I have. It doesn’t just create a beam of light, it actually causes ponies to remember things, some of which they may not want to.” Esalar thought back to his and Twilight’s conversation back in Ponyville. “That’s what happened to the Professor.” He bowed his head in shame as a surprisingly loud gasp and whimpering came from Fluttershy to Esalars right.

“Fluttershy? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked curiously.

Fluttershy slowly lifted her hoof to point at Esalar’s flank. The other five mares followed her hoof to see something completely unexpected.

“Esalar! Your Cutie Mark!” Rarity gasped.

The blue stallion stared down at his flank to see that through the course of his explanation that his cutie mark had suddenly changed from a camera to a flash of light. He jumped out of his seat ending up on the floor on his side.

“What the hay happened?!” Esalar was beginning to panic, his breathing got heavier and his eyes frantically scanned his flank.

The next five minutes continued with the ponies trying to calm Esalar down, assuring him that everything would be okay. Crimson called some doctors over to take a look, but they were as puzzled as the rest of them.

After a few more minutes of idle staring, the group of ponies were interrupted by a pale blue colt with an equally blue coloured mane. He had saddle bags on his back with what appeared to be letters inside. The eight ponies stopped what they were doing to look at him.

“Is one of you Esalar Starbeam?” He asked slightly nervously to the group.

“That’s me.” Esalar perked up slightly as a letter was lifted out of the colt’s bag and he took it from him with his magic.

The colt walked off, leaving Esalar to open his letter. He lifted the wax seal off of the opening, which he recognised to be the Royal Canterlot seal, and continued to pull the contents from its packaging.

The stallion unfolded the letter and began to read.
“Dear Esalar and friends. We have the location of a new Moon Shard. I am sending you this letter before you return to Ponyville because the next one is quite close. I would suggest packing your things immediately and prepare to leave for Manehatten as soon as possible. Good luck everypony. Signed Princess Celestia.”

A sudden shock fell over Rarity’s body. “M-Manhatten?” Her eyes widened and she bit down on her lip not trying to hide her over-dramatic expressions. She gulped as memories flashed through her head of her younger days in the city.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

The train departed just as the sun had begun to set. Everypony had taken their usual seating positions, except that Esalar and Rarity were now sitting a lot closer than they did on the way to Fillydelphia.

Twilight noticed this change and curiously asked about it.

Esalar just wiped the question off as, “We came to an understanding.” The two ponies continued to turn and smile widely at each other. Twilight, being smart, got the message reasonably quickly and went back to her reading, ‘The Study of Light’.

Night time descended quickly and soon they were travelling in the pitch black of night. Everypony had put their heads back on their chairs to rest the day’s adventures off; Rainbow Dash was the only one that had taken to actually falling asleep, curled up on the seat she was on.

Just as Esalar himself was about to fall asleep, he felt something on his right side. The blue stallion looked over to see that Rarity had fallen to lean against his side, fast asleep. He smiled, closed his eyes and leaned his head back until he eventually fell into a deep, comfortable sleep.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

“I am pleased with you Esalar. You have found your true self.”

I wanted to leave that part of me behind, for good.

“But, now you have found it again. You must use it to your advantage.”

How do I do that? How do I use it? When I fought the machine, it felt like I had no control in what my body was doing.

“Then learn to control it. Your will power will be your most useful ally Esalar. For soon, something great will come to fruition, and you’ll be the only one to stop it.”

Chapter 7

The train arrived at the Manehatten train station at around midnight, the horn woke everypony up who was sleeping. The seven ponies got off their chairs and dozily walked off of the train, they all noticed a carriage, with a guard standing outside, on the other side of the platform. As they walked towards the vehicle, somepony stepped out. What appeared to be a light grey stallion shrouded in a hooded black cloak, stepped out of the carriage, stopping in his tracks to stare at them for a second before continuing on his way onto the train that they had just gotten off of.

Deciding that it wasn’t a god idea to try and use the carriage that the strange stallion had got off of, the seven friends walked out of the station and on to the streets. It was a quiet night, every now and again they would somepony turn a corner or walk into a house, but overall no pony seemed like they should be out at this time.

Following the directions he was given in Celestia’s letter, Esalar led the group through the streets of Manehatten looking for their hotel. After making several turns, the ponies ended up in a dead-end alleyway. Now confused and tired, the seven ponies froze stiff when they heard somepony behind them speak in a low, gruff voice.

“You seem to be a bit lost.” As the group all turned around, the new strange pony stepped into some moonlight, revealing his form.

The pony that stood before them was a white unicorn colt with a two-toned, blue mane. He had an authoritative stance seeming like he was very strong with a mischievous smile on his face. Twilight recognised him instantly.

“Brother?!” Twilight ran forward, embracing the colt.

“Twily! Good to see you! What are you doing in Manehatten?” Twilights brother asked as he let back down onto her hooves from the hug.

“We’re on a mission for Celestia. I feel like I should ask you the same thing.”

“I’m here on guard duty, training new recruits.” The white unicorn looked directly at Esalar. “Who’s this guy?” He leaned down to Twilight. “Your special somepony?”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “No! No he’s not! This is Esalar. He’s helping us with our mission.”

“Nice to meet you Esalar. I’m Shining Armour.” Shining held out his hoof and Esalar accepted it.

“It’s an honour to finally meet you sir. Your wedding was wonderful.”

One of Shining’s eyebrows lifted in curiosity momentarily. “Hey, weren’t you the photographer there?”

Esalar just replied with a big smile and an enthusiastic nod.

“Those photos were fantastic! Here, I feel like I should give you something.” Shining Armour’s horn began to glow as he lifted something from his jacket pocket. “I find this a couple of days. I think it’d be great for a piece of jewellery or something similar.” A shiny white object lifted itself from Shining’s pocket, glinting in the moon light.

Esalar took the object in his own magic and stared at it with awe. “This-This is a Moon Shard.”

“A what?”

Twilight interrupted to explain. “We’re searching for the Moon Shards. The have immense power and are only supposed to return when they are truly necessary. They’re like the Elements of Harmony, but with an added kick.”

Shining blinked in shocked. “I had no idea.”

Rainbow Dash hovered to Shining Armour’s side nudging him slightly. “At least you’ve done our job for us. That means we can snooze for most of tomorrow.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure Rainbow. As soon as the Princess finds out, she’ll be sending us on our way to find another shard.” Twilight stated.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and folded her fore legs in a disapproving manner.

“So, Shining. I was wondering if you could help us.” Esalar began. “We’re looking for this hotel to stay in, but we have no idea where we’re going.” He pointed to the marked location on the map with his hoof whilst levitating it with his magic.

“Well, I’m sorry to say I’m just as new as you all are around here.” The white unicorn seemed to ponder for a moment. “How about to all come back to the barracks with me? I’m sure there’s plenty of room for you all in the officers’ quarters.”

Everypony dropped their mouths in shock.

“Are you sure that would be okay, brother?” Twilight asked.

“Sis, I’m the captain of the royal guard. As long you’re with me, no pony will have a problem.”

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

Their rooms were at the top of the tower that housed the officers’ quarters. Esalars room looked out over the city; skyscrapers lined the horizon, peaked by an extremely tall tower with a pointy top that appeared to be directly in the middle of the city.

Esalar turned around form the window to face his room, it wasn’t as elegant as his own home but he thought that it’d probably be better than the recruits’ quarters.

The blue stallion took a deep breath and sat on the rug in the middle of the room. Closing his eyes, he began to breathe deeply focusing his mind on his horn and his magic. A glow of light began to form around the tip of his horn, pulsating with energy as Esalar tried to control his concentration. His face scrunched and sweat forming on his forehead, the light grew larger and larger up to a point where an obvious light shone through the windows of his room.

Suddenly his door burst open and 3 ponies entered the room. Shining Armour, Twilight and Rarity all stood in shock as they watched Esalar levitate from the floor, hooves dangling and head bowed as the light of his horn continued to pulsate with extreme power.

Shining Armour shouted over to the dangling stallion. “Esalar! Can you hear me?! Are you okay?!”

The blue pony’s body turned in the air to face the three ponies that were standing at his door and his eyes opened. Instead of his normal light blue iris’, Esalar’s eyes were glowing with a white light too.

They all gasped as a wash of bright light was cast over them. They froze in shock as their minds began to race. They began to remember things that they wish they had forgotten.

Shining began to remember his first encounter with Cadence and the embarrassment that he felt on that day after falling onto his face in a puddle whilst trying to flirt with her. Twilight remembered the day she became so nervous in one of the Princess’ classes that she lost control of her magic and ended up trashing the room. Rarity remembered the night that she met Esalar, instead of feelings of regret and embarrassment that the others felt. She remembered looking into his eyes for the first time, hearing his deep smooth voice for the first time. The only feeling she was expressing, was love.

All this time, Esalar could see these visions of his friends. Rarity’s caused him to stop and think for a second, his conscience began to return as he felt her feelings in his heart. A tear trickled from his eye as he floated back to the ground, the light form his horn slowly fading. Esalar lay on his side as the light disappeared, falling into a deep sleep.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

The light of the sun shone bright in the morning, the beams of warm yellow lights tickled against Esalar face, gently waking him. He had stayed asleep on the floor all night, except for the one difference of the feeling of somepony else being with him. Esalar opened his eyes slowly to see a white mare lying with him, facing him with her eyes open. The two ponies lay for a second staring deeply into each other’s eyes before Rarity bowed her head and nuzzled into Esalar’s chest. The blue stallion accepted her with a hoof around her head. “I’m sorry Rarity. Sorry for last night.” The stallion whispered carefully into her ear before they both fell into a soothing sleep.

The day had begun like any other for the other ponies; Applejack was awake the earliest, followed by Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Twilight. Rainbow Dash had to be forced out of bed as usual. The five ponies went about their normal mornings, getting breakfast and having general conversations about their night’s sleep, among other things.

“Um, where’s Esalar and Rarity?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“They’re probably still cuddled up together.” Rainbow said, sticking her tongue out and pointing her hoof into her mouth, mimicking the act of wanting to be sick.

Twilight and Applejack walked out of the barracks dining hall and took the stairs up to Esalar’s room. Rarity heard the two ponies approaching and had already stood up pretending to wake Esalar up as the lavender and orange mares walked through the bedroom door.

“Ah thought we might’ve found you up here Rarity.” Applejack whispered to her white unicorn friend.

“I was just making sure he was okay, after what happened last night.” She looked solemnly down to Esalar who was still fast asleep.

Twilight giggled. “You’re a terrible liar Rarity.”

The white unicorn blushed slightly, at the same time, Esalar began to wake up. Starting with small movements and groans he eventually opened his eyes to see Rarity looking over him. His instant reaction was to smile.

“Mornin’ sleepy head. Heard you created quite a ruckus last night.” Applejack called over to him.

Esalar replied with a slight jump as he got up onto his hooves and turned to face them. “Morning Applejack, Twilight. Sorry about last night. I-I just don’t know what went wrong.” Esalar scratched the back of his neck with a guilty expression cast across his face.

“It’s okay sugar cube. We’re just glad you’re okay.” Applejack smiled to the stallion.

Esalar’s stomach growled and with a slightly surprised expression he followed the other ponies down the stairs to the dining hall so that he could get some breakfast.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<

After breakfast, Twilight used the sending flame in the barracks to send a letter to Princess Celestia explaining that they had found the Moon Shard and they were prepared to make their way back to Ponyville. A letter was quickly sent back in return. The Princess noted their collection of a Shard but said that they were still detecting the presence of another one nearby. Along with the letter, the Princess sent some coordinates on a smaller piece of paper attached to the larger parchment.

They all gathered together what they needed in their saddle bags and made their way outside, joined by Shining Armour for guidance through the city. The skyline of Manhatten was very similar to that of Fillydelphia, lots of tall skyscrapers and there was less sound, fewer carts were being pulled through the streets than in Fillydelphia, most of the ponies appeared to enjoy walking. The residents themselves looked much like the ponies back in Canterlot, with regal attire around every street corner, everypony, including Rarity, was feeling a little out-of-place.

Esalar was leading the group with Shining Armour by his side, following the given coordinates very closely. As they turned down an alleyway, the group stopped behind Esalar.

“This is it. The Shard should be somewhere in this alleyway.” Fluttershy coward away behind Applejack as Esalar said this.

Just as the ponies began to look in dust bins and in crevices in the walls, they noticed a pony step out of a door in the alleyway. He was wearing a black cloak, like the stallion they had seen back at the train station, but this ponies coat was a dark yellow colour. The mysterious pony turned his head to notice the eight other ponies staring at him. That’s when Shining Armour spotted something white around the cloaked pony’s neck.

“Stop!” Shining shouted as he galloped towards the hooded pony who then proceeded to run away, forcing the hood to fly off their head as they did so. The group of ponies now in pursuit noticed that the pony they were chasing was in fact a mare that had a long chocolate brown mane.

She didn’t get very far before she found herself cornered in a dead-end, surrounded by the now heavily breathing ponies. Realising that she was now trapped, the yellow mare dropped her forelegs and bowed her head with a frown spread across her face. Esalar took this moment to lift the necklace from around her neck using his magic, placing it into his saddlebag after confirming it as a Moon Shard.

“Who are you?” asked Shining Armour sternly. The mare didn’t answer. “What is your name?!” The cowering pony flinched at Shining’s shout, squealing slightly.

“My-my name’s Caramel.” She said, almost as quiet as Fluttershy.

“Where did you find the Shard, Caramel?”

The mare stopped cowering and her eyes shot open, with a little smirk she stood up. “So it IS a Moon Shard.” She said slyly, her appearance now completely changing from a cowering mare, to a tough stance with a purposeful and almost evil looking expression on her face. “Thank you for the confirmation.” At that moment, she began galloping towards them, shouting as she did so. “Razor Wing, now!” As she shouted, another hooded figure swooped down from the air, picking Caramel up and causing a cloud of dust to cover the group of ponies.

As the dust cloud disappeared, the group noticed that Caramel had been taken off by another pony, who they presumed to be a Pegasus due to its flying capabilities. Esalar’s first reaction was to check his saddle bag. Luckily, all 5 of the Moon Shards were still there and he sighed a great relief.

Shining Armour stepped forwards, towards where Caramel was once stood. “Who were those Ponies? How do they know about the Shards?”

Esalar answered his seemingly rhetorical questions. “I don’t know, but whoever they are. They can’t be up to anything good.”