The Crescent Pact

Waking from a dreamless sleep, Misty slowly opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. Having overslept once again, the young unicorn was groggy and felt a familiar pang of pain inside her head. She groaned, then shifted in the cozy sheets of her bed to face the curtains as they slowly moved, animated by the late afternoon’s wind coming from the windows they obscured. With a quick spark of her horn and a gray glow that captured the curtains, she slowly moved them to the sides to reveal the late afternoon sky.

She watched silently as the sun slowly began to set, the sky’s hues turning to orange and amber colors. The air was still warm and Misty allowed herself to bask in this peaceful ambience. After a while, she sighed and forced herself out of her bed.

She was no longer sick, but Misty still felt terrible. With Sandstorm, Aphelion and Steady gone, there was very little for her to do in the castle while she waited for this so-called expedition to the abandoned rooms underneath the castle Luna wanted to organize near the end of the week. A part of her wished for said expedition to start as soon as possible, to finally have something exciting to do, but another feared what she might encounter underneath.

Misty scratched the back of her head as she made her way out of her room and into the hallway. Headed for one of the castle’s many kitchens, she wondered if she could still grab a semblance of a breakfast despite how late in the day it was. With guards barely paying attention to her spread all around, some standing while others were making rounds, Misty couldn’t help but wonder what they thought of her and her friends. Most of them were criminals — especially Sandstorm and her. They probably didn’t approve of her apparent royal pardon… But if this was the case, none of them dared to make their true feelings known.

Maybe they didn’t really care, she thought. Maybe they simply trusted Celestia and Luna’s decision. Maybe the guards were actually glad to have them on their side, now.

Passing next to yet another guard, an older white stallion, she allowed herself to observe his face more carefully. All her eyes could perceive was his stone-cold expressionless gaze, simply staring at an unknown point ahead, barely acknowledging her presence with a faint nod. If Misty was any other pony, she would have been unable to perceive the guard’s true feelings.

But she was no regular mare.

As soon as she looked away, a strange, yet familiar sensation made its way through Misty’s body. A small spark, entering through her horn and traveling through her nervous system, causing tingles all across her body. Some of the hair in her mane stood up while an unspoken whisper echoed faintly through her head, its volume too low to comprehend most of its message. There was but a single word Misty was able to grasp from the spark’s message.

Parasite.

She sighed. At least, she finally knew what he was thinking.

And yet, she couldn’t help but smile. She was wondering how long it would take for her innate talent to acclimate itself to Canterlot… And it seemed like she finally was starting to be able to grasp the spirit inhabiting the capital itself.

With a belly full of stale croissants and coffee, Misty sat on a bench in the royal gardens, lazily watching the nobles and guards walk around. Next to her laid a book, still closed, that she had hoped to read, if not for the apathy that had struck her. She grabbed it in her aura and brought it in front of her, re-reading the title for the tenth time. ‘Shadow over Cloudsdale’, she whispered before opening a page, beginning to read the first few sentences and sighing, placing it back next to her.

There was a time in the past where she would be able to read entire thriller novels in one sitting. Nowadays, however, with life’s constant stress and anxiety preventing her from fully focusing on one task, Misty was unable to muster the motivation to read but a single page. Giving up on the book, she dropped in on the grass below and laid down on the bench, staring at the clouds above.

“I wish Sandstorm was here,” she complained to nopony in particular. She closed her eyes for a moment, deciding to nap the day away, before a loud voice pulled her out of her torpor.

“Miss, your presence is required in the throne room,” a guardsmare said with a bored tone.

Misty sat straight back up, her eyes wide open and an embarrassed blush on her cheeks. “O-Oh? Uh, right now?”

The guard rolled her eyes. “Yes, now. Princess Luna wishes to speak to you. You’d do best not to make her wait.”

“Y… Yes, I’m going,” she timidly replied before darting for the nearest door. Misty glanced at the guard one last time, who silently stared at her with an unamused stare. “They really don’t like us,” Misty thought before entering the palace and fast-walking to the throne.

The massive ornate doors were already opened and, on the large thrones at the end of the room, both Celestia and Luna were seated and watched as Misty made her way in front of them. The unicorn, once she guessed she was close enough, awkwardly kneeled in front of her rulers. “I… I answer your summons,” she said with a wavering voice.

Celestia nodded. “Lift your head, Misty. There is no need for such theatrics,” she spoke with a calm voice. Misty slowly raised her head and met Celestia’s and Luna’s gazes.

Of course, Celestia was as grandiose as always. Misty couldn’t help but wonder if the princess had ever looked anything but perfect in her life. Luna, however… Misty was easily able to guess that the younger monarch had just woken up from what must have been a very short rest. With bloodshot eyes and a frazzled, tied-up mane, Luna suppressed a yawn.

“We apologize for making you come here on such a short notice,” Luna began, “but we deemed it better than to require your presence during my… Regular schedule.”

“Oh, that’s… That’s not a problem, your highness. I would have come even if you called me in the middle of the night,” Misty replied. “How… How may I be of help?”

Silently, Luna stood up from her throne and stepped down, towards Misty. “We wish to talk to you about your… Abilities, so to speak. Follow us,” she added before exiting the throne room towards a door Misty knew was reserved for the royal sisters themselves. She followed, quickly glancing at Celestia who was… Waving at her? Misty blinked, then waved back. She could feel the burning gaze of the guards in the room on her back.

As soon as the two mares had crossed the threshold of the door revealing a massive spiral staircase, Luna spoke up without looking at Misty, her eyes instead simply looking upwards. “We shall discuss in my private observatory. We only ask that you not touch anything unless given permission. Understood?”

Misty gulped “Y-Yes ma’am. Uh, I mean, your highness.” At that moment, Misty was glad Sandstorm wasn’t there. That mare would have taken that order as a challenge.

After an agonizingly silent climb, the two of them reached a large hallway plunged in darkness, the heavy purple curtains drawn to block the light of the sun. Luna’s horn sparked up and lit up a few candles, illuminating the room just enough for Misty to see where she was stepping.

Misty understood she was standing in Luna’s quarters, with each door in the hallway leading to one of the ruler’s private rooms. They headed for one of the larger doors, massive wooden slabs carved with intricate patterns representing constellations, stars and planets. Luna pushed the doors open with her hoof and made her way in, not waiting for Misty to follow before sitting down on a large cushion.

The pink unicorn followed and was immediately awe-struck by the room she stood in. This observatory was more akin to a massive private library, with one giant telescope in the middle of the room. That telescope, though, reminded her heavily of the one she had found in Aphelion’s father’s mansion…

“Sit down,” Luna ordered before making an old tome fly to her side. Misty sheepishly obeyed and went for the nearest cushion before awkwardly sitting atop. There were no regular pony-sized cushions: they were all alicorn sized. Even Luna herself was seated somewhat awkwardly. It was obvious to Misty that Celestia was the one who had taken care of decorating the room.

After a brief moment of silence during which Misty shuffled onto her seat, Luna spoke up again, her voice somewhat softer. “Very well. Now, Misty Step, I require you to speak about your talents and your cutie mark. It is of the utmost importance that you spare no detail: I wish to hear all about it. Understood?”

She blinked. “... Understood, but may I ask first why?”

“My sister believes your abilities would be of great interest to me,” Luna simply replied. Misty cocked her head to the side, wondering if this was truly all there was to it, or if there was another hidden reason.

“Well, alright,” she relented. “It all began when I was seven years old…”