Uneasy Lies the Head

Sunny Day sat quietly in the dim light of her small fire, hunkered against the large, curled root of the tree holding her home together. The diamond shaped gem that she had found earlier was still at the forefront of her mind. She turned it over and tossed it from hoof to hoof.

How much was this thing worth? This might be her ticket to a decent life, all come straight to her from a particularly generous dumpster in the middle of town. It was beautiful. She had never seen any gem that was so perfect and smooth, and the color was astonishing.

'I'm sure it belongs to someone, though,' she thought. 'But who throws away something like this? This thing is cut perfectly.' She leaned closer and stared at the gem. Her eyes ran over the grooves, and the notches that ran between its two tips. This was her fortune, and maybe it would be best to go sell it in town as soon as possible.

She took the small cloth bag from her pile of possessions, and dropped the gem inside with her mouth, then grabbed the rope lacing the top of the bag and pulled it tight. She'd have to keep a close eye on this gem. No doubt if somepony else were to see it they'd want to take it from her; it was so unbelievably perfect.

_________________________________________________________________

Luna stood alone in her watch-tower, staring out over the valley. The stars shone down from above, and the night stared back at her silently. She took a few steps to her left and looked over the town. All those little lights. All those ponies down there, sleeping, or sitting in their rooms awake, chatting or reading, safe in their homes with their families. She pulled her front hoof along the ground. She envied those ponies down there, with their normal lives. She was quite used to being on constant night-watch, but sometimes she just wanted to lie in bed and read a book, knowing that she had a loving family in another room nearby. Here, the only family she had was-

Celestia pushed open the door behind Luna and stuck her head out. The light poured out from the tower door and into the sky, erasing all the stars from Luna's vision. She turned around to Celestia, who was now standing outside fully, and pushed the door shut, looking at her angrily.

"This is my tower and my time. You should not be up here."

Celestia walked over a bit closer and looked over the edge of the tower. "Did they find it? Did they report anything, Luna?"

Luna sighed and shook her head, her eyebrows lowered in disappointment. "I'm sorry, sister, my guards report no news on your missing crown. It will have to suffer the night, lost. We will find it in the morning."

The wind blew a bitter breeze through the manes of the two sisters and whistled through the few small gaps in the brick-work along the walls of the tower. Celestia shook her head, now, and then looked down at little Ponyville below. It was so distant, but she knew very well how alive a place it could be during the day.

"Luna, I may have to call her," she said, quietly. "Our guard can't do this as fast as it needs to be done."

Luna turned on Celestia and responded loudly, "Celestia, we needn't stir Twilight Sparkle and her friends from their lives for something as menial as a missing crown. Even if the crown is incredibly important, they cannot possibly look any faster than our guard can. They are just normal ponies. Six normal ponies, while we have a hundred of the finest in our guard at our disposal."

"They are anything but normal ponies, Luna," Celestia responded. She slowly turned away from Luna and walked out of her vision. Soon, the door opened and shut, and Luna was alone again.

Bother those poor ponies just to find her sister's crown? What nonsense! Celestia may be right, their bond is something stronger than that of normal ponies, but that isn't going to make their ability to search any faster than her royal guard. Luna had solely chosen many of her guards for their immense list of capabilities. What an insult!

She walked over to the edge of the tower wall and leaned on it. The cool stone sent a small chill through her body, and she put her front, left hoof on top of it. Surely there was no need to stir those poor girls. Surely. There are better ways to deal with this.

Luna pushed herself up on the wall of the tower and then dropped off. She spread her wings, and the breeze yanked her off into the middle of the night.

_________________________________________________________________

Little Sunny Day awoke on the following morning, her eyes blinking at the sun glaring down onto them. She hoisted herself up on her front legs, and immediately began folding the tattered sheets laid upon the ground near her tree. One she had laid on the ground under her; the other she had used as a cover. They were both filled with holes, but still perfectly usable, in her opinion.

She tossed the freshly folded sheets against the side of the trunk and remembered the one thing that she needed to do today.

'Ah, that jewel!' she thought, and then turned about for it. 'What did I do with it, again?'

The little earth pony moved a few of her things in search of the jewel, and then became a bit frantic. She tossed aside a few more things, and then, in desperation, grabbed her folded blankets and threw them aside, back over the area she had removed them from moments ago.

Ah, the knot in the tree! She had forgotten she stored it there in hopes that if somepony did come by, they wouldn't think to look inside. She stuck her hoof, just small enough to fit in the hole, inside it and raked the tiny sack that contained the gem out. She dropped it into one of her small saddlebags and tossed the pair of bags onto her back.

Sunny stared down at the saddlebags and walked a few steps. Ah, who was she kidding? They were still much too large for her to carry with her. She took a few more slow steps and watched the bags drag across the ground, and the right one caught on a small, broken limb sticking out from the base of her tree. If only her legs were a bit longer, she thought.

She pushed the saddlebags off and looked out across the field separating her home from proper civilization. She couldn't wait to be grown up. She would have long legs so she could carry all the saddlebags she wanted. She would have her own house, and her own family, and her own job. She would have everything she ever wanted. It would be perfect.

The new thought of her future family still rattling around in her head, she merrily trotted back to her tree with her saddlebags in her mouth and tossed them against it. She hummed as she gathered her things and pushed them against the large roots of the tree, then covered them with the tent by pushing down on it until it hung at an angle over her belongings.

'Perfect.' She thought, as she removed the gem's sack from the larger saddlebag.

She began trotting off to Ponyville, the small bag dangling from her mouth.

'This gem is it,' she reminded herself, 'This thing is going to be my first step into a new life. A normal life.'

Little Sunny Day smiled.

_________________________________________________________________

-the villain who stole it must be apprehended immediately and harshly dealt with. Please hurry, Twilight Sparkle. This is of utmost urgency.

The tip of the quill dotted the last period, dipped into the ink in the jar on the table, tapped against the top of the container, and quickly scrawled a signature.

Your Princess,

Celestia