Chapter 1 – Hello There
During a violet sunset, a friendless filly has perched herself atop a tree stump. The air is growing cold, and the crickets are beginning to chirp; but the filly continues to watch the beautiful transition. The clouds are turning pink like puffs of cotton candy, and as the sun sinks further behind the tree lines of the forest beyond, the stars become clearer. The filly looks up, nearly hypnotized by the twinkling sparkles. However, there’s one particular sparkle that suddenly catches her eye. Far beyond the forest, the mountains bear a regal castle clinging on to its side. A bright, golden light erupts from somewhere among the castle, and as the sun finishes its farewell, the moon greets the night sky. The pure-white, luminous orb emerges as the perfect companion to the hundreds of shimmering stars. The glow from the castle soon vanishes, leaving the filly to gaze at the completed spectacle in joyful wonder. “Wasn’t that amazing?!” A voice pierces the filly’s right ear, causing her to yelp and lose her balance. She falls and rolls around in the grass, then hurriedly scrambles to her hooves to find somepony sitting on the stump. A pink-coated filly with a long, golden mane and a regretful expression on her face tries to hold back her laughter. “Sorry, did I scare you?” In a huff, the embarrassed filly tries her best not to make eye-contact with her as she stomps through the field. “Hold on!”
The filly hops down from the stump to catch up to the pouty filly. “Look, I’m sorry I scared you,” the filly tries to apologize. “But come on, what’s wrong with a little thrill every once in a while?” The filly’s eyes shift back and forth, wondering what else she could possibly say to gain her attention. “My name is Acacia! What’s yours?” No matter what she tries, the filly will not look her way. “You can’t play the ‘silent game’ forever, you know? I won’t stop until I get a word out of you!”
“Good luck,” the filly grumbles.
“Ah-ha! I got ya! Now, how about a name, huh?”
“How about you just leave me alone?”
“No-can-do, sister! Not until I get your name.” The filly groans as she speeds up her trek through the field of tall grass, alerting masses of insects that have been hiding beneath. Grasshoppers, moths and the like fly out from their hiding spots to seek refuge from the two fillies. “Come on, telling me your name isn’t gonna kill you. Unless. . .” Acacia gasps. “I could be an assassin, and maybe you’ve got a bounty on your head!” The filly glances over at Acacia with a mix of confusion and disgust, but Acacia holds a bright, innocent smile upon her face. “If you’re the one I’m looking for, then you’d better be careful what you say! If I were an assassin, I could’ve been trained by The Queen of Dark!”
“What are you talking about?!” The filly asks as her speed as increased to a trot, but Acacia continues to keep up with her.
“I’m talking about one of the most powerful forces in Equestria! Little do you know, she and her army lurks in every shadow and dark closet. When you sleep at night, and think you’re all alone; their bloodthirsty gaze preys upon you as you dream!”
“Stop it!”
“Why? Are you scared? Good! Maybe that’ll help you gallop as fast as you can when they come for you!” With nothing but pure anxiety pumping through the filly’s body, she gallops at full-speed towards the woods ahead. Forgetting where she originally intended to retreat to, she hopes to escape Acacia’s mad jabbering in the woods. Fighting her way through prickly bushes and over hollow logs, Acacia follows closely behind. “The Queen and her army are half pony, half reptile. Their skin is slick and scaly, and their tongues are forked like a hungry, venomous snake!”
“Will you quit it already?!”
“Because they’re half reptile, they can blend in with almost anything! Even these woods!” As the filly races through the woods, ignoring the scratches along her legs caused by the pointed branches, she soon realizes that Acacia is no longer following her. She stops to catch her breath, scanning the area around her for Acacia, but she is nowhere to be found. Fearing for her life, the filly stands her ground like a statue, too afraid to move a muscle. A twig snaps, and bushes rustle as the filly’s body trembles. It becomes apparent to her that there’s more than one thing lurking around in the woods. She feels she’s being surrounded, and make matters worse, she can hear hissing sounds coming from the bushes. The filly falls to her knees and shuts her eyes, overwhelmed by the sounds of impending doom closing in.
“Okay! Okay! It’s Trixie! My name is Trixie!” The noises suddenly silence, and she opens back up her eyes. The air becomes eerily still, and with an emerging sense of security the filly gets back to her hooves.
“Ha!” Acacia jumps out from the bushes. “I win!” In a panic, Trixie screams as she gallops away in a mad dash. Acacia stands her ground, immediately regretting what she’s done. “Well . . . that could’ve gone better.”
Trixie gallops out of the woods, hoping that she’s finally escaped Acacia once and for all. She perseveres along a steep, grassy hill despite her weak knees and weary legs. She takes a moment to breathe once she reaches the top, looking back at the dark, daunting woods for any sign of the unsettling filly. Trixie is relieved to find her nowhere in sight, and lumbers her way back home. At least, what she’s forced to call home. As she tries to yank the broken twigs and leaves that have found themselves lodged beneath Trixie’s silver mane, she can see the dreaded abode just ahead. The black smoke rising up from the chimney, like a dragon ready to spew its fiery breath. The shaft of the brick chimney leads down to the log structure. Inside, she can see a pulsing orange glow pierce through the dark interior. She approaches the foreboding building, climbing the creaky, wooden steps up to the tall, double-doors. Reluctantly, she knocks on the door; and patiently waits for the punishment that’s sure to come. One of the doors opens, and Trixie finds just who she feared standing there before her. A mare glaring down at her with a disgruntled look that has become the norm for her. Trixie lowers her head, trying her best not to look the mare in those dead, disapproving eyes of hers. “It’s about time you returned. Hurry and get inside, you’ve made us wait long enough.” Trixie wanders inside, and the mare slams and locks the door. “Look at you! You’re a mess, and you’re tracking mud!” Trixie looks back at her muddy prints, then down at her filthy hooves. “Is this what you do during curfew? You roll around in the dirt like some sort of pig?” An eruption of giggling can be heard, and both Trixie and the mare look up at the group of children watching from the balcony above. “Children! Return to your rooms! Or perhaps you all would care to receive punishment as well?” Instantly, the children clear the balcony, and the mare looks back down at Trixie.
“Ma’am, I—”
“I don’t want to hear it. I’ve tolerated your misbehavior long enough. I want you to go clean yourself up, and head straight to your room. From now on, you are to remain in your room unless told otherwise.”
“B-But—”
“No ‘buts’. Now, go.”
“Yes, ma’am. . .” Trixie hangs her head as she marches up the rickety stairs passed the warming fireplace. Once she reaches the top, she comes to a hallway lined with doors leading to all the other children’s rooms. However, all of them are left ajar as the young fillies and colts peer outside to giggle and gawk at Trixie as she passes by. Unfortunately, Trixie’s room has to be at the very end of the hall. Enduring their teasing and laughter, she approaches the door to her room. Her name is spelled out in blocky letters that hang near the tip-top of the door, then underneath, a sheet of paper with the words: ‘The Looney Moon Girl’ scrawled by the likes of a blue crayon. Her cheeks turn red as her head begins to boil. Focusing all her concentration on her tiny horn, she tries to make something, anything happen to the hurtful note. However, despite all her efforts, the note remains like a saucy stain on a dress. The children burst into laughter, and Trixie begins to weep as she shuts herself in her dark room with the note still hanging from her door. She rushes over to her window, burying her head beneath her hooves as she rests against the windowsill. Lifting her head, she finds herself looking back at her own reflection in the glass. The tears drip from her shimmering, violet eyes down her periwinkle-blue cheeks. She gazes out the window with teary-eyed wonder. Her body is illuminated by the moon’s glow, however, not even the comforting sight of the moon can relieve the stinging sensation she feels in her heart.
Trixie’s body jolts as a sudden knocking sound erupts from within her room. She turns her back to the window, scanning the room for the possible source of the sound. In the corner, her eyes lock on her wooden wardrobe as it rattles about. Cautiously, she approaches it as the knocking noises continue. Her sadness mixes with fear as she reaches out to the curved, metal handle. With just one turn, the door gives way. Trixie retracts her hoof as she fearfully backs away, and the body of a filly falls out from the wardrobe in a mess of paper. Trixie watches in horror as the filly scrambles to her hooves, recognizing the long, blonde mane, emerald-green eyes and pink coat of fur. The filly fixes the brown strap around her waist, allowing her to carry some sort of wooden box on her side. Whisking her mane, she then happily greets her. “Trixie! I had a feeling I’d find you here!” Trixie impulsively makes a mad dash for the door, but Acacia desperately blocks her path. “Wait, wait, wait! Just give me a minute to explain myself!”
“W-Why are you following me? What do you want?!”
“Shh! Quiet down! Look, I think we got off on the wrong hoof earlier. I might have gotten a bit carried away back there.”
“A little?”
“Okay, a lot; but I was just trying to have fun.”
“That’s ‘fun’ to you?”
“Alright, this isn’t going the way I imagined. . . Let me see. . .” Acacia ponders to herself for a moment as Trixie awkwardly waits. “Okay, tell me, why is it that while everypony is inside you choose to stay outside? And by the sounds of it, this hasn’t been the first time you’ve chosen to stay out during curfew.”
“I just . . . like to watch.”
“Watch what?”
“. . . The sky.”
“Oh, come on. There’s gotta be more to it than that.”
“I just. . .” Trixie sighs, preparing to explain. “I like watching the sun set, and the moon rise.” Acacia’s eyes light up with intrigue. “I like watching that strangle light glow from the castle that sits all the way atop the mountains; and when the stars all come out . . . I could just watch them for hours.”
“So, that’s why you’ve got all those drawings in your closet!”
“My drawings?!” Trixie scrambles as she collects the scattered papers along the floor. She examines them all, and finds her drawings have all be defaced by mad scribbles of many different colored crayons. “. . . Not again.” Trixie tosses them down onto the floor, then hopelessly climbs onto her bed as she buries her head in her pillow.
“Look on the bright side, now they look like they might end up hanging in an actual art gallery! Stuff that hangs in those places always looks all jumbled and messy, but what do I know about real art, am I right?”
“Why are you still here?” Trixie asks with her voice muffled from her face being pressed against the pillow.
“Because I want to help you, Trixie. See, I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on sticking around here for very long. I’ve got a plan. A mission, if you will.”
“What do you mean ‘mission’?”
“Come here and I’ll show you.” Acacia walks over to the window, and Trixie glumly climbs out of bed to join her. Acacia points her hoof towards the castle in the mountains, then looks to Trixie. “That is my mission.” Trixie looks to Acacia in confusion, and Acacia grins. “That light that shines when the sun sets and moon rises, that’s the Princess of Equestria. Her name is Princess Celestia, and she’s supposed to be the most powerful, brave and beautiful unicorn in all of Equestria . . . and I’m gonna meet her.”
“Meet her? But the castle is so far away, there’s no way—”
“And that is your problem right there.”
“What do you mean?”
“You were going to say it’s impossible. Since when did that kind of thinking get anypony anywhere? Well, you know what I say to that? Instead of crying over how impossible it seems, why don’t we make it possible?!”
“We. . ?”
“Look, I know you’ve only known me for about . . . not that long, and you probably think I’m a freak; but I feel like you of all ponies can understand where I’m coming from! There’s an adventure out there waiting for us, and I have a strong feeling you don’t want to spend another day trapped in this place. So, what do you say? Will you join me?” Acacia holds out her hoof, however, Trixie proceeds to ponder over the matter.
“B-But—”
“Ugh, what is it with you and all these ‘buts’? Are you in, or are you out?” Trixie glances down at her unrecognizable drawings, up to the window where she can see the silhouette of the castle along the horizon, then back to Acacia who raises her eyebrows with a smirk on her face. Suddenly brimming with determination, Trixie bumps her hoof.
“I’m in.”