Stars In Moonlight

One night in Ponyville, there was a filly named Lily. She had heard tales from other fillies and colts about a witch who lived in the Everfree Forest and was curious to see if the tales were true. As Lily entered the Everfree Forest, she looked through the trees and only saw darkness.

“I should probably stay on the path.” she told herself as she continued walking.

The path ended, and in front of her were two paths. “Which way should I go, left or right?” she thought, and while she thought of which way to go, she heard twigs cracking towards the right.

“Left it is” she said, as she started down the left path. As she continued, she saw what appeared to be a light. Hoping somepony lived there, she ran towards it, even though it strayed from the initial path.

“Hello? Anypony home?” Lily inquired as she knocked on the door. Receiving no response, she went to look through the window. She saw a figure reading a book, surrounded by various ingredients. She gasped, spooking the mystery figure.

“Anypony there?” the mystery figure asked, opening the door. After waiting a bit for a response, the figure closed the door.

“Guess it was just an animal,” the figure shrugged.

Lily, now hiding under the window, let out the breath she was holding.

“Hi there.” said the figure, appearing from nowhere.

“Ah! Please don’t hurt me!” Lily said.

“Hurt you? Why would I do that? You haven’t done anything bad, have you?“ the figure asked. The light shimmered off the pony’s night-blue coat, revealing a moonlight mane and tail streaked with deep blue and a yellow crescent-moon cutie mark.

“Where are my manners, my name is Moonlight River,” Moonlight continued, “What’s yours?”

Lily, still too scared to say anything, remained motionless and offered no response.

“Sorry for the scare. I’m sure you’ve heard the tales of the witch of the Everfree forest.” Moonlight inquired. “Probably why I don’t get many visitors. I am thinking of just moving into Ponyville” Moonlight remarked. “Say, do you come from Ponyville?” Moonlight asked.

Lily, still struck with fear, only nodded her head as confirmation.

“Did you come to the Everfree forest to see if the tales were true?” Moonlight asked, to which Lily shook her head once more. “Want to come inside? It’s a bit chilly and I don’t know how long you’ve been out here” Moonlight said.

Lily cautiously followed the figure, who she now knew as Moonlight, into the house.

“Let me guess, you didn’t tell your parents where you went?” Moonlight asked.

“Yeah,” Lily said quietly.

“That’s the first time I have heard you speak. What was stopping you before?” Moonlight asked. When given no response, Moonlight says in a soft voice, “Still a bit fearful, I see”.

“Come, have a seat, and I will tell you what I have been working on,” Moonlight said calmly, scooping a book off the nearby table with her wing and sitting in a chair. Lily sat across from her, still hesitant toward the stranger.

“Tell me, Lily, have you ever heard of dream magic before?” Moonlight asked.

“No, what is it?” Lily asked.

“Dream magic is a form of magic that can be performed by any creature, even those who don’t have natural magic like me and you. It comes from what’s called the dream world. In fact, you use a bit of dream magic when, well, dreaming” Moonlight explained, chuckling to herself.

“It can allow you to travel into dreams, like how Princess Luna does. It can also do other things, like make things float, make barriers, shoot beams. Everything a unicorn can do and much more, like opening a portal to the dream realm,” Moonlight continued. “I haven’t really been there myself, but legends say that it holds knowledge from throughout the ages like a huge library. Princess twilight would love that...but back to the point. It is a form of magic that takes a lot of time and effort to learn and master,” Moonlight finished. Lily leans forward, eager to hear more and intrigued by the story.

“I will tell you more another time. It’s getting late, and I think your parents will be worried about you,” Moonlight said.

“I don’t know who my parents are,” Lily responded.

“What? Then who takes care of you and helps you learn?” Moonlight said, concerned for the young filly.

“Most of the things I know, I’ve taught myself. It's not like I need to learn how to fly or use magic since I am only an earth pony. Other fillies and colts make fun of me because I have no parents'' Lily confessed, starting to tear up.
“Poor thing. How about this? Since I can’t really adopt you, because for some reason that costs a lot more bits than I have, I can take you under my wing and teach you. Maybe even dream magic if you’re interested,” Moonlight proposed. “But as of now, you have to go back ho-, I guess you don’t really have a home, do you?” Moonlight realized.

“I usually just sleep on benches,” Lily said.

“Does nopony help you?” Moonlight asked, exasperated.

“They give me things like food and water, and I go to the School of Friendship. But other than that, no.” Lily said. She sighed, and stood from her seat. “I should go now. Goodbye,” Lily said reluctantly, leaving out the door and began traveling back to Ponyville.

As the filly left, Moonlight sat and thought about how her day had suddenly changed, and the young filly that had changed it. “How can I help her? I can teach her and offer her a place to stay, but I don’t want to make her walk all the way from Ponyville everytime. What if other ponies find out about her talking to me? She would be an outcast". Moonlight paused, stopping her fretting. “I think it’s time I finally move to Ponyville,” Moonlight resolved. As she started to gather her things, she realized what time it was. It was too late to start doing anything at the moment. Deciding to start the moving and packing process tomorrow, she headed up stairs to bed.