The Fall Of Innocence

     A Day's Work

As the sun rose above the three, Atla woke his sisters, they talked excitedly over everything that they'd been through to reach this land, and of the promises it would bring. They stayed on the raft for they wanted to conserve their energy as well as the belief of a well deserved reward. Then Celestia pulled out some parchment once more, and she wrote a letter addressed to her father. Atla and Luna were discussing what they thought would be there when Celestia had finished her letter.

Atla was saying, "I'd bet we will find tons of gold."

"And silver, maybe even Mitheril!"

"Don't be silly, sister. We both know Mitheril is only found on Shalfallaheln."

"I know, but what if there was?"

"Then Mitheril prices would plummet, and everypony would be happy! It does sound like a wonderful notion..."

Celestia breaks up their erratic chatter, "C'mon, we've got to go. We have a big day ahead of us!" Atla looked at his sister, his face smiling, but his eyes sad.

"Sister, you need to brighten up! We've just made the biggest discovery in history, second only to finding out how to use magic to heal those afflicted by Teresephles!" Celestia looked at Atla. What he'd said weighed heavy on her. Maybe I should lighten a little. After all, this is a day of triumph, she thought.

Celestia's change of attitude was obvious in her voice. "Let us continue our journey, to explore and uncover!" The raft kept it's inevitable course towards the land before them. By the time the moon had reached mid-sky, the island had grown double it's size.

Celestia and Atla's horns glowed brightly, Celestia's yellow, Atla's light blue. Luna was looking upwards to the moon, her eyes curious and thoughtful. Atla moves over to Luna and puts a hoof on her shoulder lovingly. He begins telling her a story.

"You know when I was younger, like you, I'd always sit outside and look at the moon. I would always wonder, 'What is up there, is there life there?' alas, no pony could answer that. I felt out of place in school, seeing how our mother was Empress, and our father Emperor. Everypony treated me like royalty, treated me with respect that I felt I hadn't earned. And everypony seemed to expect something from me, like I was supposed to have discovered another use for Mitheril and Platinum by then. I didn't really want to join the army, or to protect the Emperor or Empress. I didn't want to sit in a laboratory, and discover alchemical cures for diseases. I will say that I was childishly bored, I yearned for something new." Luna turned her head and looked at Atla, surprised to see tears forming in his eyes. "It was then that you were born. I was foolishly jealous at first, but then I realized that all attention would be focused on you, and I was glad." Atla laughed sadly as he said this. "I was also glad, because you were my sister, you still are. I loved to watch you grow, to watch you become the mare you are now. But I miss the days of zipping around the castle, trying to fnd you when you would fly away, innocently exploring the world about you. We are alike, you and me. We both are pressured by our elders to be the best, and sometimes we can't keep up." Atla looked down at Luna, and smiled a smile of sorrow and pure happiness. "I guess the need for adventure was why I went on the prowl in the other colonies, and learned about this place, before us." As he said this he lifted his other leg forward, pointing towards the land that awaited them. "We've come so far, and it has taken us so long, but we're here. Luna, sister, I ask you to always keep in mind, that where ever you go, no matter how bad you feel, I'll always love my little sister." His voice dropped off to a whisper, and he brought Luna's body close to his own, and gave her a soft hug. "Don't ever forget it." He squeezed her harder, then he lay his head atop hers.

While Atla spoke to Luna, Celestia measured the atmosphere around her, using once again an instrument based of Mitheril. The island grew closer, and the three ponies eventually drifted off to sleep, dreaming of their future, and of their history.

   1,027 Years Before Nightmare Moon's Exile...

As the sun was born over the horizon again, the raft carrying them became obsolete. They woke up, and took flight the rest of the way to the land in the distance. As they approached the island they began to recognize white-capped peaks in the distance. And they saw what appeared to be many caves dotting these mountains. The land rushed below them, and Atla gave out a great cheer when he first passed the shore. All three felt wonderful, as if nothing could ever tarnish their day. It took them a few sun position transitions to reach the inner part of the earth below them.

Celestia had taken the lead, and she stopped and hovered over a long windy river. The other two stopped as well, and looked at their sister, questions on the tips of their tongues. Celestia informed them that she felt a minute presence of life, and that if they followed this river they would find it's origins. Atla flew down and took a sample of the soil, and flew back up to the rest of the group. Then they proceeded to let the river guide them.

"How close do you suppose is this life?" Atla asked his sister. She looked back behind her at him and shouted over the rushing wind.

"I'm not sure, but it has to be close. We've never exactly perfected spells involving life."

Luna questioned Celestia further, "What if it's just a small insect, or another unintellegent life form?"

"If it was I would've been unable to pick it up in the first place." The three continued their plan of following the water, and got closer to their target.

Their flight continued in silence until Atla decided to lighten the mood, "Too bad we still have to follow water, I'm getting sick of seeing it beneath me." Luna and Celestia chuckled, but none too relaxed as Celestia was straining to keep flying and perform a difficult spell all at once. Celestia could feel it, the life she sensed HAD to be big, big enough at least. Then she got it, and she knew it all at once.

"It has to be a pony! I can feel it's life force and intellegence now! It is definitely another pony!" The excitement in her voice could be contained no longer. "This is MONUMENTAL! We never knew--no pony has ever settled anywhere but back home! This could be a whole new race!" She looked back again at her brother and sister. "We have created a moment in history that is to be never forgotten!" In her excitement she forgot to check the signature of the life form. "I mean, how could we have known! That we would be making history in the near future was only a dream, a wonderful one, but still only a hope!" Then Luna said something only to true.

"Sister! I have to disagree with you about this being a dream! But I wholly agree on it being a hope, for everything great starts from a hope, or an idea!" Luna smiled so much, her joy overwhelming her, tears collecting in her eyes. "We have finally done something for the books, something for everypony to truly respect us." Then she turned to look at Atla. "We aren't just the Emperor and Empress' children anymore!"

"We've earned respect now, dear sister!" Atla said this and he whooped in joy.

All three felt a deep satisfaction in their hearts, and it was magnificent! Celestia returned her attention to the life form they were following. Her previous satisfaction dissappeared, and it felt as if her stomach had sank to the bottom of her body. It was gone, the life signature was gone. In their brief moment of revel it had dissipated. Celestia broke the news to them.

"Halmir forsake us! It is gone." The effect was instantaneous. Their faces fell, and Atla had not a single thought of rebreathing light-heartedness to the trio once more. They stopped and landed gently upon the grass near the river, hoof imprints being pressed by their weight. Luna asked if they couldn't just follow the river, but Celestia shook her head.

"It is completely gone now. We don't know how far this stream goes, so we could waste hours of daylight following it. Best to take some samples of the salt levels in the water for now." Celestia walked a little ways from the others, and said over her shoulder, "Look, I'm sorry, sister. I'm sorry, brother. I've failed you both, as well as the rest of the ponies waiting for results." Atla couldn't allow her to be in this state, it was tormenting him.

"It's okay, sister." He reassured her. "If you found a life signature as fast as you did when we got here, I'm sure we'll find another soon. And this time I won't distract you from your work." He gave her a loving smile and her heart lifted a little once more.

She moved away to a large rowan tree. She sat under this and mundanely retrieved her ink, quill, and some parchment from her saddlebags. She wrote a letter to her father, Unas-lahn, and then proceeded to write one to her mother:

Dear Equinna,

I just sent a letter to father, and that was regarding our mission. But this is about Atla and Luna. I don't know why you two worry so much about Luna. She feels so much like she is expected to do great, and she tries her hardest, but sometimes she just can't take it anymore. If you want to know why she has had "rebellious actions" against you two, it is precisely this reason. You treat her like a Princess, but you need to remember to treat her like your child. She feels pressured. I'm just very glad Atla is here with us, or I don't think we could have made it this far. He loves her deeply, you know? And she looks up to him so much. Please, just be more kind to her, lose the royalty when you are together. She is becoming lost, and I don't want her to BE lost. Consider these much before replying to me or anypony.

Your own daughter,

        Celestia

She sealed both letters, and was startled for she just noticed Atla standing over her.

"Wh--wha?" Atla looked down at her, his face stern. Then his face broke into a wide grin.

"Hm. You know, you are fairly easy to sneak up on!" He just laughed and walked back to a fire that Luna had just conjured and was feeding with twigs. Celestia audibly sighed, and put her letters away into her saddlebags.

Celestia followed Atla to the fire, which was busy incinerating every twig that came into reach.

"So, what's the gameplan, sis?" Atla said to his sister in his ever-happy tone. She looked disgruntled, and moved closer to the fire.

"Well, we don't know where that pony--yes, it WAS a pony--went so I guess we could search the mountains, maybe the caves?" The other two nodded their approval.

"It is too bad, sister." Luna said, "I wish that we had been able to find this pony." She paused briefly, then went on, "But all is not lost! We know that there are, in fact ponies in this seemingly deserted land!" At this Celestia's spirit lifted, and they all ate some late supper around the fire, talking merrily of days before.

As the night grew older, and Atla and Luna lay asleep, Celestia took out the letters she hadn't time to send before again. She placed them on the grass, looking them over for mistakes. Celestia couldn't stand having bad gramar! It was just something that she had developed as a child, she supposed. The female Alicorn enveloped the two letters and worked a spell on the one to her father's to delay it's arrival. She then forced a large amount of energy through her horn and the floating pieces of parchment had dissappeared.

Celestia lay on the damp grass, and stared up at the stars in the heavens above. She searched through them, finding some constellelations from her childhood. "If only things were as simple now as they were then." She reflected. Then her eyelids fell, and she was consumed by sleep until daybreak.