The group continued walking, now mostly in silence. After having experienced the brief joy of a few spoken words, Luna hated the silence even more than she had previously. To some, it may have been peaceful - maybe in other circumstances she, too, would have enjoyed it - but there was nothing to distract her from her own thoughts.

Although her armour was now invisible to the naked eye, she still had her horseshoes on, which prevented her from feeling the soft blades of grass between her hooves. At her home in the Everfree Castle, she would never have thought of wearing horseshoes when wandering through the gardens or the forest. Everything felt so… wrong. So many horrible nagging doubts were cluttering her mind, ranging from comparatively minor issues such as how Cerulean Nocté was faring at Everfree Castle, to the fear of what monsters awaited her and her guards in the capital city of the Crystal Empire.

It took a while for the conversations to start up again. Buttercup and Songbird seemed to be the most talkative members of the group, and continued their friendly chatter between them. Occasionally, Wyvern, Oak Leaf and Courage added their own thoughts to the conversation, but Shining Snow stayed oddly silent. He frequently cast bitter glares in the directions of Oak Leaf, Buttercup and Wyvern, for reasons which Luna could only guess at.

As time went on, they noticed the landscape changing. The waterlogged ground of the floodplain was replaced by drier soil and different varieties of grass and flowers and trees. The temperature also seemed cooler than it had been a few miles before. They were making progress at last. It was enough to allow Luna to breathe a sigh of relief, and at last she removed her magical disguise so she could spread her wings and feel the breeze between her feathers again.

“Princess?” said Wyvern all of a sudden, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Hmm?” she asked, while vaguely registering that Buttercup was busy talking to Songbird about living in Canterlot and working at Celestia’s castle.

Wyvern tossed a coin at the Princess, who caught it in her aura. “A bit for your thoughts,” she explained.

Luna smiled gratefully, but returned the bit to its owner. “‘Tis yours.”

“Still, there must be something on your mind, Princess.”

Eyeing Shining Snow and his unique Solar Guard armour, worn only by those in the Corona Guard who communicated most often with Celestia, she grimaced. She lowered her voice. “We consider it unwise to be so liberal with private matters here, though We appreciate your concern.”

“Of course, Princess.”

“I’ve always wondered what it must be like in the bat pony towns,” they overheard Buttercup saying cheerily. “It must be lonely in those little villages with no other ponies around-”

“It’s not as terrible as it sounds,” Wyvern interrupted. “The Caverns in the south have their own sense of community. From what I can tell from my visits there, Hollow Shades is equally as lively.”

“Oh,” said Buttercup.

“If anything,” Wyvern continued, “Lunar Guard posts in towns like Canterlot are worse. There isn’t much entertainment for those who are off duty, since the majority of places shut before evening. Except for the bars, of course.” She eyed Oak Leaf with a smirk.

“Excuse me?” he frowned.

“I remember having to have stern words with you over the appropriate amount of drink to have when wandering around off duty early in the morning. It was… about two years ago, I believe?”

Oak thought for a moment, then his eyes widened as he realised. “Oh! Now I remember you.”

“Have you forgiven me yet?” she grinned.

“Of course. It was years ago. I’ve moved on.”

“Moved on to the Canterlot Barracks, while the rest of your old coworkers still give me a headache every now and then with the noise they make when they’re off duty,” she joked.

Shining Snow let out a crude snort. “Well, the Solar Guards don’t behave like that.”

“Really now?” huffed Songbird. “I’ve seen Solar Guards in ridiculous states late at night.”

“At least it isn’t the majority of the guards who behave like that.”

“Neither do the majority of Lunar Guards behave irresponsibly,” Wyvern returned. “Most of the time, only the new recruits behave like that, and it gets stopped quickly enough when they lose a day’s wages for the trouble. Also, you should learn to recognise when something I say is a joke.”

“Tch.” Shining Snow turned his back on the group and continued walking in silence.

Buttercup rolled her eyes. “Of course. Acting like a foal as usual.”

Shining Snow turned back to glare at her. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You're acting like a foal again.”

“You-”

Courage the pegasus cleared his throat. Buttercup and Shining both looked at him.

“I have a suggestion,” he said quietly. “We are almost at the Crystal Mountains. Once we arrive there, we should set up camp and rest for the night, so we can clear our minds and be prepared for tomorrow.”

“I agree,” Luna told the group. She could sense the quiet tensions between members of the group and wanted to prevent an argument arising from any other disagreements. At least all of the guards would listen to her.

They wandered a little further, through more grassland with the occasional few trees. There seemed to be less of the deciduous, hardwood trees in this area, and more evergreen varieties, such as pine trees with their needles and wooden cones full of seeds scattered across the ground around them. At one point, Oak Leaf stopped and leaned down to pick up a pinecone between his sharp, pointed teeth, looked at Shining Snow and threw it through the air. It missed, and hit the back of Wyvern’s head.

“Ouch,” she said involuntarily. She pulled the pinecone out of her hair. Putting two and two together, she turned around and grinned at him. “Private Oak Leaf, why did a pinecone just launch itself through the air at the back of my head from your general direction?”

“I have no idea.”

“I should hope not,” she jested.

Courage the pegasus flew a short distance ahead of the group and returned to them with the news that he had found an ideal place to stay for the night. He led the group up the gently sloped mountain path to the spot: an entrance to a small but spacious cave, about half a metre from the ground where they stood, and mostly hidden from view by some pine trees and other vegetation.

Luna used her aura to illuminate the cave as she stepped inside. From the steady, pale blue light, she could tell that the walls, floor and ceiling were mostly smooth and slate grey. It was not the most ideal in terms of comfort, but it was in terms of being secluded, hidden well and easy to guard, and they had brought a few blankets with them on their travels in preparation for having to stay in such a place.

Satisfied, she smiled. “Perfect.”

They began to remove their saddlebags and attempted to create a more comfortable space using the few provisions they had brought with them. They set their thick, insulating blankets down on the floor around them, and proceeded to eat a small amount of their food rations for the journey. Now, the relative quiet felt comfortable to Luna at last, as she ate her food and attempted to taste the few faint flavours that the meal held. Perhaps she had grown a little too used to the lack of wars and uncomfortable journeys and unseasoned rations over the last couple of hundred years. Technically, Equestria was still not at war - not officially, so far - but the thought of someone leading a rebellion against Princess Amoré and then using the mind control spell on the Crystal Empire’s ponies was enough to convince Luna that a severe conflict was on the horizon.

Luna did not even know Princess Amoré very well. Amoré was always welcoming, but she was a friend of Celestia first and foremost. Luna was very careful about whom she made friends with, and some of Amoré’s laws had seemed a little… off, in places. Her policies surrounding the restriction of the use of certain types of magic by those mages in the lower classes seemed unnecessary, and some of her other laws regarding the freedoms of visitors to the Crystal Empire and minority groups living there had also made Luna feel somewhat uncomfortable. Yet Celestia had remained close friends with her all the same, and there had never been an indication that Amoré would dare to use dark magic on her subjects. Whether she liked Amoré or not, she knew that the Crystal Princess was unlikely to ever be so desperate for power to make such dangerous decisions.

“So,” Songbird asked her peers, “since we’re probably in enemy territory right now, who’s taking the first watch?”

The guards looked at each other, none of them particularly willing to volunteer themselves to be deprived of sleep for even longer.

Eventually, Buttercup relented. “I’ll do it, just so the rest of you can sleep.”

“Wake me up in two hours,” Songbird told her.

“Alright.”

The other ponies retreated to their separate parts of the cave. Songbird and Oak Leaf fell asleep quickly, while everypony else took some time to make themselves comfortable. Luna left the cave to watch the setting sun, and cast the spell that allowed the moon to rise. She thought of Celestia, and Nocté, and all those whom she had left behind at Everfree, and did all she could to ignore the doubts and worries and homesickness which she felt.

She re-entered the cave, saying a brief goodnight to Buttercup as she went. All of the others were either sleeping already or trying to do so. Wyvern Paladin had discarded her blanket on the floor, and was now sleeping while hanging upside-down from the cave ceiling, with her tail wrapped around a small piece of rock that jutted out from the wall. Her sky blue wings were curled around her for warmth, and she had a small smile on her face. Luna herself smiled at the sight. At least one pony had found some comfort and relaxation.

She settled down, trying to make herself comfortable. It took some tossing and turning, and some consideration of how best to position the blanket to enjoy both warmth from the cold and comfort from the hard floor, before she finally felt able to relax.

A short while after, Luna heard somepony standing up and trotting to the cave entrance. She opened her eyes. Shining Snow sat down next to Buttercup. Neither of them turned to look at each other.

“You should be asleep,” Buttercup commented.

“I tried,” said Shining. “I had too much to think about.”

“Such as?”

“You,” he admitted. “I never would have thought we would be forced to stay in the same space again.”

“As I said before, I’m only here because it’s my job. I swore to protect the Princesses, and in return they promised to give me enough money to survive. If I had had the choice, I would probably have turned this down, but a deal is a deal, and realistically it would be difficult to find a job anywhere else.”

“True,” Shining answered. Then, “I still miss being with you.”

“You didn’t when I had to go and work in Baltimare for a few weeks and you invited another mare home to spend a night with you,” she said bitterly.

Oh, Luna thought. That explains a few things.

“…I asked for that.”

“You did.”

“Well, I wanted to apologise, again. I never meant for it to happen. I had far too much to drink-”

“And to think you were criticising the Lunar Guards earlier, when the way you behave is no different.”

“Again, I apologise.”

“As you should.” Buttercup leaned against the cave wall. “Is there anything else you want to say to me?”

“I was wondering, if… if you would forgive me enough that we could be friends again.”

Buttercup was silent for a few moments. She gazed up at the moonlit sky. “It honestly depends on how much I can trust you not to betray me like that again.”

“It will never happen again,” Shining promised. “I swear on my life.”

The two of them looked at each other for a silent moment.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Buttercup sighed. “Now, go and get some sleep. You’ll thank me tomorrow.”

Luna closed her eyes and pretended she had been asleep throughout the entire conversation. She heard the hoofsteps of Shining Snow travel past her, and allowed herself to drift off into sleep.

In the dream realm, she encountered Nocté. His dream showed the interior of what appeared to be the mess hall of Everfree’s Lunar Guard barracks. The ponies in the dream around him were merry, and the bat pony mare opposite him, sporting a fiery red and orange mane in sharp contrast to her slate grey coat, was beating him and the other figments of the dream around him at a game of poker. Luna cleared her throat, asking for his attention.

“Your Highness!” he grinned. The dream ponies all beamed up at her and addressed her.

“Nocté,” she smiled. “Is all well at Everfree?”

“Indeed,” he nodded. “The castle is in good order. The castle guards miss you and are greatly anticipating your return, but they understand the reason why you had to leave so suddenly. All is well. Apart from my poor luck at poker, of course.”

Luna chuckled into her hoof. “Oh dear. And…” she hesitated. “I can assume everypony else is at peace?”

“Equestria is quite unconcerned by the turn of events,” he nodded.

“Good. The last thing We would have wanted was for panic to spread across the country.”

“You have nothing to worry about, Your Highness. Every earth pony, unicorn, pegasus and bat pony is at peace.”

Luna smiled. Such a statement was statistically unlikely to be true, but she understood the message he was conveying. “Many thanks. We shall report back to you tomorrow night, once again after moonrise, if all is well.”

“Stay safe, Your Highness.”

“We shall,” she answered.

With her mind cleared of most of her doubts and few nightmares to stop, Luna allowed herself to rest within her own dream. She chose to dream of a cool winter breeze and a warm fire in the hearth and the comfort of a nameless, faceless stallion from what felt to her like aeons ago by her side.

Author's Note

All hail the side character development arcs!

On a serious note, the threads of the story are weaving together. I made a slight edit to the main story description to align it more with the direction the story is travelling in, but this tale in the Shadows and Stars universe is blossoming just as I hoped it would. I hope you, the reader, are enjoying this journey as much as I am.

~ Angel