“So why are we walking again?” Star Song huffed before she let out another small ‘chirp’. The sound bounced upon the cave walls and showed more of the path ahead. Echolocation still feels so strange. My ears instinctively swiveled back and forth to map out the path ahead.

After the council had received word from their messenger, the day before, we set out for Canterlot. Our group had been traveling through one of the cave system leading out of the city for about an hour now. A few volunteers were acting as escorts for Star Song, Cheese Sandwich, Mango, and I to ensure a safe journey.

“Because Cheesy can’t fly.” Mango draped a wing over the earth pony colt protectively. It was strange yet cute how quickly they had bonded over the past few days during our time in the thestral city.

“Hehe, sorry about that.” Cheese rubbed the back of his neck as Mango gave him a nuzzle.

“Why not just have him ride on somepony’s back?” Star huffed under her breath. Cheese went a bit wide eyed. I had already considered this and he privately told me he wasn’t a fan of flying through a cave.

“Don’t worry young ones, we won’t be walking there the entire way. There’s a logging town with a train stop we can use, after that it will be a relatively smooth ride to Canterlot.” Our lead escort, Night Blossom, informed us.

The sun was well past the horizon by the time we left the cave system. However, Instead of stopping we continued to press forward on our journey. This wasn’t much of an issue, even for cheese, as the moon was bright enough to illuminate the area.

“Her moon is always so beautiful.” Mango, stretching her wings while looking up with a smile as we passed through the forest with our quiet escorts, wistfully said.

“Who’s?” Cheese looked up as well. He was a bit more grounded than Pinkie so he didn’t try and break the mood.

“Luna of course. That’s her face on the moon up there.” Star Song huffed becoming slightly upset. “How do you not know that?”

Cheese laughed. “The mare on the moon? Everypony knows that’s just how the moon looks. There’s nopony up there. Even I’m not that silly.”

“What?!” Both fillies yelled while the adults looked our way.

“Of course Luna is up there.” Mango had stepped away from Cheese and narrowed her eyes.

“Girls it’s not his fault he doesn’t know.” I turned towards Cheese. “They’re right Cheese, Celestia kind of erased that from common knowledge. She did it to protect her sister but it doesn’t make it right to erase history.” That fact always upsets me. Even though I know why she did it, being forgotten is the one thing Luna hated most.

“What do you mean protect her?” Star asked as the adults all continued to listen in as we traveled. Cheese was a bit stunned by my revelation.

“Well, I take it you know why she was banished right?” The fillies nodded while Cheese shook his head. “Cheese, long story short, she did something bad. Anyway, Celestia knows she will be back someday so didn’t want all the ponies to remember her as a monster but sadly the only way to erase those ideas about her meant removing her from history completely.”

As my fellow foals thought about it our guides spoke amongst themselves about a possible return of ‘their’ princess as we continued our journey.

“Are we there yet?” Star asked from atop Blossom’s back. I was the only one of the foals still walking, thanks to my earth pony stamina, the other three were riding on one of the adults that accompanied us and Star was the only one of the three still awake. Cheese and Mango had ben lulled to sleep by the rhythmic walking of the mares giving them a ride.

“Almost, Star.” Her mount replied as the town came into view. Why did I phrase it like that?

It was almost midnight and we would make it with plenty of time for the morning train. I could already see it in the distance being loaded with logs and other cargo before passengers would be let aboard in the morning. Unlike trains on earth, Equestrian trains carried passengers, cargo, and mail every trip for efficiency.

“At least we can see the town now.” I stretched my wings and yawned. “We can finally nap while waiting to board the train.”

“Halt!” The sudden voice made us all look up. “What are you ‘ponies’ doing with that Earthen colt on your back in the middle of the night?” It was a pair pegasus guardsmares out on patrol landed in front of our group. They had said the word pony with a questioning emphasis, as if that’s not what we were.

“Good evening, he’s just…” I tried speaking up but was interrupted.

“Quite colt, I’m asking her.” The guard pointed to the one carrying Cheese.

The mare looked at her fellow guides, not quite sure what to do.

“Well?” The guard huffed.

“He’s just sleeping. See.” She poked Cheese with a wing and he mumbled ‘five more minutes’.

“But why do you have him bat pony?” The guards asked. This made all mares bristle in agitation.

Enough of this. I pulled a Sun Pendent, given to me by Celestia when I became her student, out of my mane and held it in my hoof. “Stand down you two.” They looked my way ready to argue further.

“Colt we told you to keep...“ It was my turn to interrupt by waving my pendent back and forth a bit. Once they noticed it their whole demeanor changed and they’re eyes went wide.

“Our apologies sir.” The one guard nervously replied. “Carry on with your night sir.” Both guards flew off in a hurry.

I yelled after them with snort. “And we’re Thestrals, not bats!”

“What was that?” Star was the first to recover after our brief encounter. The others still looked upset and were tracking the guards as they landed on a cloud above the town.

“Royal seal.” I tapped the pendent I had draped around my neck to prevent further issues. Its always so awkward wearing this. “It basically lets ponies know I work directly under Celestia so my orders carry some weight. The guards will leave us alone now.”

“Impressive trick colt.” One of the mares ruffled my mane.

It wasn’t long before we reached the empty train platform. Considering it was the middle of the night the train had a surprising amount of activity around it.

“Trains are so much bigger than I thought. Nothing like carts.” She was back on her own hooves and looking up at the passenger car. I watched her inspect it with a slowly wagging tail.

“Well little one how else could so many ponies ride them.” A stallion conductor had just stepped out and gave her a smile before speaking to the group. “What can I help you fine ladies of the night with this evening?” He gave a wink and earned a few eye rolls.

“We plan to ride to Canterlot in the morning also, You don’t seem put off by our appearance?” Night Blossom spoke up.

“Not my first time seeing a thestral and you’re going to be waiting for a while.” He hummed then noticed my pendent. “Ya know what, you can wait on board while we continue the loading of the cargo. If you don’t already have tickets you can pay when we make our rounds.” This was common for smaller stations without ticket booths or last minute travelers.

“Thank you that would be very kind.” Blossom nodded as we were let aboard.

I immediately stretched out on a bench to take a nap once we found a good spot. The rest got comfortable as well but didn’t let their guard down.

When morning rolled around and the train began officially boarding, the few other passengers that walked onboard all gave us curious glances. A few quietly asked their fellows what they thought we were but none approached us directly.

When they spotted us foals though they all said we were surprisingly cute with our tufted ears. I was still half asleep when we got moving but kept an ear out for any trouble as Mango and Cheese, who slept through the night, were jostled awake by the train jolting forward..

“Morning.” Mango let out a cute yawn earning a few ‘awws’ from the more curious passengers. “I still can’t believe we’re going to Canterlot. Have you ever been Cheese?” She was wagging her tail and watching the landscape roll by after stretching up to look out the window.

“No, but I have been to a few other cities and lots of small towns that needed some cheering up.” Cheese stretched out as well and joined her.

“It is a nice city.” I piped in. I wasn’t about to fully sleep during this train ride.

“Well our first stop will be the castle.” Night Blossom ruffled Mangos mane. “That should be exciting.”

“Yeah, especially with the princess waiting for us.” I was looking forward to getting home but not the overprotective nature of all my moms.

“So how are you doing today my princess?” Imago gave Celestia a loving nuzzle as she joined her in the study. They had slept apart last night with them both being busy with work.

“Better now.” Celestia nuzzled her back. “Dawn should be on his way back and Twilight will finally cheer up.”

“Just Twilight?” Imago hummed.

“It will be good to know he is safe.” Celestia sighed. ”Though if I ever find who tried to take him, my alicorn colt, in the first place they better pray for my mercy.”

Imago shivered. She didn’t hate the more fierce side of her partner but also didn’t want her going out of control.

Author's Note

Sry for the slowdown and short chapter, worked picked back up lately.