Light of the moon

A new cloak covered Moon Light as he hurriedly packed his small bag. He needed to go quickly, they were waiting for him. Cloak, check. Books from the Canterlot Library, check. Money, check.  Well, that was it. Not exactly traveling heavy, now was he? Grabbing his bag in his mouth, he stepped out of his room, ready to leave the castle for his new home.

Next to the gates to the carriage landing pad, the two Princesses stood, along with their entourage of guardsmen. Celestia opened her mouth as Moon came close. “We have decided to come with you. Not for any length of time, I just need to see how my student is doing. I have not received a letter from her in some time, and after the stories I was told of the Crystal Empire, I have some reason to feel she is a bit afraid of me. Luna will be coming to… Honestly, I don’t know. Why are you coming, Luna? Coming to watch your student go to his first day of classes?” Celestia joked.

“We are coming to ensure the protection of our student from anything that would harm him. That is all. We are not concerned about our student in a new environment. Especially with… Pinkie Pie…” Luna started off strong, but ended up blushing and slowing down to a mumble as Celestia laughed.

“Sure, sure. Let’s get going, shall we?”

Moon Light made to put his bag on the carriage, when a unicorn stallion snatched it from him with his magic. Moon was immediately angry. “Hey! Just because you have magic and I don’t doesn’t mean I can’t lift things by myself, you know!”

The unicorn blinked. “My apologies, sire. I did not wish to offend you. I am merely alleviating your burdens. I am also told to inform you that Sir Gawahir would like to speak to you. He is over on the left, near the pillar.”

Sir Gawahir? Who in the hay was that? Moon looked over and saw a familiar guard, twirling a potato peeler in his hoof as he leaned against a marble pillar. Smiling, Moon walked over and shook hooves with the guardsman.

“Sir, I have a gift for you. My daughter got it, but after I had informed her of what happened in the kitchen, she thought you should have it. She got it up north, in the Crystal Empire during one of her travels.” Reaching into his bag, Gawahir pulled out a dream catcher, studded with red and black stones that seemed to radiate heat. Moon laughed at the irony, and Princess Luna looked over.

“Moon, it’s time to go. And please, keep that away from us. It has… Strange effects on our mind. Nothing dangerous, but very uncomfortable to all those nearby.”

As Moon went to place the dream catcher in his bag, it glowed with a yellow light and floated silently towards Princess Celestia. Holding a hoof over her mouth to indicate silence, she winked at Moon. Oh no, what did she have in mind?

The street was packed. Twilight had difficulty squeezing through the crowd, but Applejack’s rage-filled face made ponies move away quickly as she stomped though.

“PINKIE PIE! Get yer flank here, RIGHT NOW!” Applejack yelled into the crowd.

The pony directly behind Applejack suddenly raised three feet in the air. Pinkie Pie stepped sideways, leaving the mare floating in midair for a few seconds.

“Yes?” Pinkie asked innocently.

“We said a SMALL party. And you promised you would only invite your friends! You… Oh, let me guess. Everypony in town is your friend. You… Ah don’t even know what to say anymore! This poor colt is gonna be scared out of his mind!”

Twilight finally caught up. Seeing the look on Applejack’s and Pinkie Pie’s face, she shook her head. “Let me guess, everypony is her friend? I should have known better… We need to find some way to fix this before—“

A royal fanfare filled the air as two carriages descended from the clouds. The Princesses and the student had arrived.

One of the carriages was significantly larger than the other. It had a gold trim, and was decorated with the symbol of the sun. The second was pulled by the Night Guard (looking quite uncomfortable in the afternoon sun), and had a silver crescent moon along both sides. Curiously, it also had a dream catcher, blowing in the wind beside one of the closed windows.

The doors of the first carriage opened, and out walked Princess Celestia. Twilight’s jaw hit the floor. This was something she didn’t plan for. The princess walked over and stared down at her student. “We need to have a chat later. Nothing bad, I assure you. I just have some questions. Well, one of them should be asked now. Do you not remember me mentioning that this boy was shy? Why is all of Ponyville here to greet him?”

Twilight looked to her left at the pink pony literally bouncing up and down. Celestia nodded in understanding. “Well, if he asks, the party was just for Luna and me, right?” she winked and knocked on the second carriage door. As the door opened, loud laughter came from inside, booming across Ponyville.

Princess Luna stumbled out, her face blushed and swaying slightly. She appeared to be in the middle of a story, but with every third word being slurred, it was difficult to tell. “So, I says to this pony, ‘You little FOAL!’ Get it? Foal! Instead of fool! And then –“ Luna hiccuped, “She came charging at me! Straight at me!”

The town was aghast. One of their beloved and majestic princesses, acting loud and boisterous like someone who drank too much cider! Princess Celestia laughed.

“Oh, so that’s where I put that dream catcher! Let me just get that down!” As the glow of yellow magic moved the dream catcher away, Luna stopped swaying and looked out across the crowd. Twilight thought her face could not go redder. She was wrong.

“Tia, we… You… UGH!” Luna stormed back into the carriage. She came out with a tiny bag and placed it on the ground. “Come on out, Moon. We need to find you a place to stay during your lessons.”

Moon stuck his head out of the carriage. Everypony was staring at the Princesses, so maybe he could sneak away before they everyone decided to mock him. He went out to get his bag, and as he reached to pick it up, a pink blur popped out of the bag in a way that flew in the face of physics, common sense, and reality itself. Moon stumbled backwards and tripped over his own cloak as the pink ball came towards him.

Extending a hoof, Pinkie Pie helped the stallion up, and then immediately started talking before Moon could stop her “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! You must be the new colt. Well, of course you are. Who else could you be? Anyways, I have to introduce you to all of my friends and then we need to go to Sugarcube Corner for cake! Or cupcakes. I haven’t decided yet, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we are now friends! Oh! I need to show you the Ponyville Welcome Song later. I can’t do it now because after the last time, Celestia told me I couldn’t bring it anywhere near her. But that doesn’t matter anyways! So, let’s get started introductions!”

Names and faces flew by in a whirl, and Moon started to become dizzy. So many ponies, all crowded around him. He just wanted to find somewhere and take a nap. Everything was so new and confusing, and Pinkie Pie wasn’t helping at all. Moon saw some faces he recognized from the description Luna had given him. The purple one must be Rarity! Or was it Twilight? He couldn’t wait to meet them.

Turning around, Moon found himself face to face with the most beautiful pony in Equestria. He stopped, and his mind went blank. All he could think about was the pony in front of him, holding her blue hoof out expectantly. His mind couldn’t comprehend what was going on, until Pinkie Pie ended up kicking him in the side. Snapping back to reality, he realized he had been staring at the outstretched hoof for a full minute. Gingerly reaching out a hoof, he shook hands with Rainbow Dash, and then looked away and broke contact.

Luna noticed something was odd about her student, and came to the rescue. “Pinkie Pie, we understand that it is important to meet everypony, but our student has had a rough day already and needs to get settled in. Come along, Moon. It is time to go.”

Pinkie Pie held up a hoof. “Wait! Moon!” As Pinkie Pie ran after him, she tripped on something and rolled forward. Slamming into the Pegasus, she heard a metallic snap as the cloak came free. Princess Luna’s heart fell. Oh no. This was going to be bad.  In the dead silence, a little filly’s voice echoed across the crowd.

“Mommy, how come he don’t got a cutie mark?”