An Early Nightby epreeses1ChaptersChapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 1Chapter 2Luna stood there, her conflicted mind rushed multiple scenarios through her head, from an assassination attempt to everypony begging not to be gobbled. “This is crazy, everypony will bow and run away from me, just like they did on nightmare night” she said yawning. Unbeknownst to Luna, Celestia wrapped a small dark blue bow tie around her neck, the tie itself was enchanted with a spell that allowed Celestia to watch Luna’s interactions with the ponies of ponyville like watching her own reflection in a mirror. Outside the library a young pinto colored colt with one brown eye was coming to return a book. The door to the library was open but the library was completely empty, but a unique cutie mark soon came into view, one that he’d seen before “Momma!” he cried, running to to the princess, not even bowing as he hugged her leg Luna never saw the young colt coming and jumped; she took a few moments to calm herself down before looking at whoever was hugging her leg. “Oh you’re the pirate from nightmare night, don’t scare me like that” she said Pip looked up before saying “ Sorry Luna I was just so excited to see you again, and please, call me Pipsqueak, or Pip, whichever you like” Luna then remembered what little Pip called her when he was at the door “Pipsqueak, why did you call us ‘momma’?” Pip blushed drooping his ears in shame, he was unable to look Luna in the eye. “I’m so sorry Princess it’s just, momma and Luna sound the same… at least to me they do. Please, forgive me, I promise I won’t do it again” He let go of her leg and went back to his book, tears forming in his eyes and he let a quiet sniffle out. Luna put a hoof up to her heart because seeing a sad colt that looked up to her made her feel like nightmare moon all over again “Pip, please don’t be sad. It was just an accident” The polka dotted colt put his book in the return slot. “Thank you for your forgiveness princess” he said, wiping a tear from his eye. Despite being forgiven, Pip still sounded sad. “Is something wrong young one? why are you so sad?” “I’m fine, there’s nothin to worry about” Pip yelled surprising Luna. He gasped and started hitting himself with his hoof “Gah, stupid Pip, pa told you not to yell at your elders, especially royalty, and what do you do? You yell at one” Pip kept hitting himself, making a sickening noise every time his hoof connected with his skull Luna looked on at the young colt beating himself up because of a simple slip up, tears welled in her eyes as her patience slowly wore itself out. Lighting her horn, Luna froze Pip’s hoof before he could do anymore harm to himself “Pipsqueak” she said in an authoritative tone. Pip froze, fear claiming his body, he closed his eyes tightly, expecting the wrath of the princess he just yelled at. Instead he got a hug. “Pipsqueak, it is not right to harm one’s self” Luna said as she tightened her grip on what she considered her only friend. “But, L-Luna!? I ‘ave yelled at you and I need to be punished” Pip said, confused “No Pip, that is not what thou should do, now once we let you go, does’t thou promise that thou wons’t harm thyself anymore” “But princess-“ “No, thou will not harm thyself if thou is one of our friends” “Okay, prince-“ “And Pip” Luna said interrupting Pip’s apology “Yes?” “Don’t call us princess. Thou are a friend, one of our only ones, we do not allow friends to call us by that name, no for thou Pipsqueak, thou must call us Luna, just Luna” Pip sniffed one more time and hugged Luna back. It was as if he needed it. “Okay Luna, I promise that I won’t hurt myself anymore” Luna released Pip from her grasp and he went up and nuzzled her. Her surprise was evident as her face acquired the royal flush “Pip, um there is no need to” Pip bounded out in front of Luna, the entirety of his sorrow gone like the wind. “I know Luna, it’s just” he pawed at the ground, gaining a flush of his own. “It’s just well, I…” Luna saw how flustered Pip was getting, dropping her flush, a smile grew on her regal face.”Don’t worry thyself Pipsqueak, we are just not used to that kind of affection yet, but we will be in time” “Hi Pip, I didn’t see you there” interjected a sweet toned voice that pip could not help but recognize. Looking up, Pip saw the owner of the voice. It was Dinky, she and her mother were waiting for Twilight to return to the desk so she could check out her book on magic when she heard Pip’s voice. “D-Dinky w-what are you doin ere!?” Pip said blushing again at the sight of his first crush. “Oh I’m here with my mommy to get a book on magic. Did you say hi to princess Luna?” Pip tried to speak but it felt like someone super glued his mouth shut and couldn’t say a thing “Mommy, could you keep our place in line? I wanna go talk to Pip” Derpy nodded and said “Sure, anything for my muffin” her eyes moving of their own accord as she spoke. With her mother’s approval, the light amethyst pony happily trotted over to Pip and rested her head on his neck making him tense up. This was Dinky’s way of saying hi. “How have you been Pip, I haven’t seen you since Nightmare night. Don’t you go to school?” “I-I-I… Yes I do go ta school, it’s just…” Pip stuttered “Just what? Are you going to another school or something? I didn’t know there was another school in Ponyville” Pip was frozen, unable to speak. It took him a few moments before he could even think of something to say “Y-yeah, dat’s it, I am going to ummm… Sunny friends school” “Oh I’ve heard of that, it’s supposed to be really fun” Luna interjected “I’ve never heard of that? Is it new?” Pip looked around for a distraction, anything to get the focus of the conversation away from himself. He found it when he saw Twilight asleep on the job “Ey, why is Miz Sparkle sleeping on the floor?” Luna looked at Pip with an unnoticed blush on her face. “Ummm, I think it’s because she passed out when she saw me” she shamefacedly admitted Dinky released her captive and looked at the librarian. “Hey, there you are miss Twilight. We need to check out a book… Miss Twilight?” Dinky hopped over to the fallen unicorn and tried to nuzzle her awake. After coming to his senses, Pip joined her. “Luna, we need to put ‘er somewhere soft, umm I don’t ‘ave any magic and Miz Sparkle is quite ‘eavy so could you, maybe?” “What? Spit it out dear, I don’t know how to read minds” Luna said trying not to sound offended, even though it was her fault Twilight was out cold. “Could you, you know move ‘er for me?” Luna dropped her blush as confusion overwhelmed her mind. “We do not understand Pip, Twilight seems to be sleeping very peacefully, why would we move her when she sleeps soundly?” Pip frowned “But Luna, young mares should be treated with respect, and it’s not respectful to watch a mare as beautiful as miz Sparkle ‘ere sleep on a ‘ard and dirty floor. At least that’s what my pa says” Dinky looked at Pip and nuzzled him, she liked her colts to respect mares, not treat them like property. Pip blushed, but didn’t let his stare waver Luna didn’t understand; if Twilight looked to be peacefully asleep then why do I need to move her? As if to answer her question Twilight began to arouse from her sleep “Ugh, what happened?” she said rubbing her head Pip and Dinky tried to help Twilight to her hooves, but were quickly told not to. “Miz Twilight, I found you on the floor and Luna wouldn’t elp me move you to a softer location” Pip said. “Oh, thanks for the concern Pipsqueak but I don’t know why Lu-!” Twilight froze, memories of what happened before she passed out. Memories of the mess Spike made, the long line, Granny and … and princess Luna showing up for friendship lessons “Princess Luna is here to learn about friendship from me!” Dinky nudged Twilight towards the desk “Come on miss Twilight, you need to check out mine and mommies books?” “Okay, gimme a second Dinky” Twilight said as little Dinky’s cuteness made her smile. Pip grumbled before looking at Luna. “Well?” “What?” Luna said “Could you please explain why you didn’t ‘elp me move miz Twilight?” A confused and slightly agitated look grew on Luna’s face “What do you need me to explain little one, I didn’t move Twilight because she looked comfortable and yes I’m here to learn about friendship what more do you need to know?” “Why didn’t you move ‘er to a softer spot? It’s not right to leave a lovely mare on the floor when there was a perfectly good pillow she could sleep on” Twilight felt the tension growing between Luna and Pip. She checked out Dinky’s and Derpy’s books out in record time so she could ease the situation. “Thank you miss Sparkle, Dinky’s going to love her book” Derpy said “Anytime Derpy” Twilight said, a forced smile on her face and a bit of her mane going out of place. Dinky, who was behind her mother, jumped out in front and waved “I’ll see you later Pip. I’ve got some reading to do” She closed her eyes and proudly placed a hoof to her chest. “Don’t mention it Dinky, and if you ever want lessons I’m always here” Twilight called out as the duo left the library With her last two customers out of the way, Twilight turned to face the arguing friends “Pip, say sorry, you don’t yell at a princess” Luna’s eye ticked at being called princess from someone she considered a friend “But Miss Sparkle, shouldn’t Luna have at least put you somewhere more comfortable, it’s like my pa said-“ “LITTLE PIP, YOUR PRINCESS DOESN’T CARE ABOUT SUCH NONSENSICAL WHIMSY'S, TWILIGHT APPEARED COMFORTABLE SO I KEPT IT THAT WAY NOTHING MORE” the royal canterlot voice bellowed, Princess Luna's patients clearly gone. Pipsqueak froze, Luna, his favorite princess just yelled at him, and after saying that yelling at friends is not right. “Y-you’re not my favorite princess anymore!” tears streamed down his eyes, he felt betrayed “I ope I never see you again!”. He ran out of the library, passing his crush, who tried to comfort him but was ignored as he ran to the only spot he felt safe. “What a crybaby” Luna said feeling like she should get a pat on the back. “That was mean Luna, he just wanted to help me.” she judgingly said “I see why Celestia sent you to me” Luna’s look of false pride popped like a balloon as she realized her dreadful mistake. “Oh… we’re so sorry Pip, we acted selfishly, if we had performed the simple task of levitating Twilight two feet onto a few pillows, none of this would have happened.” She started banging her head, for the same reasons Pip did when he yelled at her. “ Now we have scared off our only friend, what have we done?” Maybe I should comfort her, tell her that it’ll be okay? Twilight thought No, that’s what you do for foals, you should go and find Pip and make Luna say she’s sorry In her moment of thought, Twilight didn’t notice that Luna had disappeared. “Princess! Where did you go!?” Up above Luna was flying, her eyes scanned the town below. “Luna! Hey over here!” Luna turned around to see who spoke when a blur of blue slammed into her “Ah, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS WHY DO YOU RAM INTO THE PRINCESS OF-“ Whoo, calm down Luna it’s only me the awesome Rainbow Dash” the cyan Pegasus said “Bah, watch where you’re going Rainbow crash, at the speed you were going you could have broken something.” Rainbow Dash didn’t take her nickname very well “Look I don’t care if you’re the princess, no one and I mean NO one, calls me Rainbow crash” Her anger blinding her, Luna could only think of one thing to do. “WE DAMAND AN APPOLOGY RAINBOW CRASH” Rainbow doubled her efforts, getting right up into Luna’s face “If you call me Rainbow crash one more time I’ll… I’ll” “You’ll what Rainbow dash? I am not in the mood for games like this. We found it acceptable to call you Rainbow crash, simply because you crashed into me and it rhymes with your name” Dash backed off, Luna wasn’t trying to insult her, she just didn’t know how much she hated that name… she was just uneducated and Dash was going to educate her fast. “Oh, in that case it’s okay” she got right up into the princess’s face again “But don’t make it a habit, your title of princess of the night won’t stop my hoof from beating you senseless” Luna blinked, her mind sending her mixed messages, she closed her eyes in concentration as she tried to sort everything out. “What no snappy come back princess?” Luna had never been threatened before, she didn’t know what to do. Luna and Dash went silent. Luna tried to sort out these thoughts of hers while Dash tried to calm down. Dash began to get annoyed at the sound of their wing beats and tried to strum up a more peaceful conversation. “So Luna, what are you doing here? I thought you were helping your sister with royal duties or something boring like that?” Luna blinked, hearing her name made her think that Dash was a friend. Why else would she refer to her by her name. “Oh me, well I am supposed to be learning about friendship from Twilight and I’m here because I’m looking for Pipsqueak. You see I-” “You mean when you screamed at him, something about putting Twilight on something soft.” Luna nodded and her ears went back in shame “Well, I could care less about… whatever it’s about; but I don’t like people yelling at my friends, so either learn to put a lid on your Royal Canterlot Voice or get out of my town!” Dash shouted For the second time Rainbow Dash threatened Luna, but she was in too much of a hurry to make a big deal. “Look, I just want to apologize to him, so if you don’t know where he is, I will be on my way” Luna said “Oh, Pip went crying towards town hall, so head that way if you want to apologize” “Thank you Rainbow Dash” Luna said turning to fly in the direction of the biggest building, assuming that it was town hall “Oh and Dash” “Yeah” “Don’t threaten me, I will let it pass this time because you helped save me but I won’t be so nice next time, okay” Dash just went back to her cloud waving Luna off Luna just rolled her eyes and left Pipsqueak was not at the town hall, but lying on the cool grass in front of the Nightmare Moon statue where he first declared princess Luna as his favorite princess. “I-I thought you were my f-friend Princess” he cried, wishing his mom was there. Pip often came to this spot to be alone, it was the last place he remembered seeing his mother, and the trees surrounded the place in such a way that no one in Ponyville would hear what he said. “Finally, I have been looking for you” a voice said Turning around, Pip saw Luna “W-what do you want?” he said through his manly tears Luna landed and sat down next to the colt “I thought you were at the town hall. I was getting worried that I wouldn’t find you” Despite his anger towards her, Pip shuffled to her side and stared at the statue. “Look, I’m sorry for yelling at you, could you please forgive me like I forgave you for calling me momma?” Luna said taking advantage of Pip’s close proximity to wrap a wing around his small body. He sniffed and reluctantly rested his head on her side. “Really, you don’t want to yell at me anymore?” Luna looked down at Pip, wishing that he would look up at her, urged to comfort the small colt but unsure if she could “Of course not young one, it was wrong of me to yell at you over something so trivial, can you forgive me?” Pip’s tears slowed as the warmth of Luna’s body, quelled the last of his anger “Sure” he said, submitting to Luna’s comfort “if you said sorry then I should forgive you. At least that’s what my pa said” “Good, so I am your favorite princess again?” a hint of a smile on the princess's lips Pip finally looked up at Luna’s face and smiled “Of course you are my favorite princess again, Thank you” Luna once more had a confused face “What do you mean thank you? It is I who should be thanking you for accepting my apology” Pip chuckled “You’re a silly princess, I’m just thanking you for saying sorry and admitting that you did something wrong, thus learning something” “Okay, now I’m really confused?” Luna said He chuckled again “Oh, never mind, and if Dinky asks, I never shed a single tear got it?” “But why, there is nothing wrong with crying?” Pip struggled against Luna’s wing till he was both comfortable and looking at Luna’s face “Please, I don’t want her finding out” “Why?” “Well, I kinda have … a crush on her” Pip blurted out only to cover his mouth “Please keep it a secret, please” “Oh how the plot thickens. Sure I’ll keep your secret Little Pip” Chapter 3Twilight was scrambling her friends together to find the princess when she was rammed by Rainbow Dash “Rainbow, how many times do I have to tell you to stop using me as a target” “Sorry Twi, I just came to tell you that princess Luna went to the town hall to find Pipsqueak” Twilight stared at her friend’s sudden information “How do you know where the princess went?” “Well duh, I heard her yell at Pip and she said that she wanted to apologize to him” “I thought you were going to say that you knew because you are so awesome that there would be no way you wouldn’t know” Twilight mockingly said “That too” Dash, rubbed the back of her head, an action that Twilight had seen way too often and it generally meant she did something bad. “What did you do Dash?” Dash facehooved and moaned “you see Twi” “Dash.. what did you do?” Twilight didn’t like where this was going at all. “You see, I kind of threatened to beat her if she didn’t put a lid on her royal canterlot voice” “YOU WHAT!!” Twilight yelled getting up in Dash’s personal space “Look I’m sorry-“ “Sorry won’t stitch you back together when Celestia finds out that you threatened to beat her sister” Dash tried to hide her fear but Twilight could see the pegasus shaking in her fur. “Okay, Okay I’ll go with you and apologize to Luna if it’ll stop Celestia from skinning me alive” “Good, now let’s go, I have a schedule to keep” Twilight said trotting towards the town hall where Dash said Luna was “When don’t you have a schedule to keep Egghead?” Dash said following while hovering in the air. The two spent about a half an hour looking for the lost princess and the colt “Where in Equestria could they be?” complained Twilight after walking from town hall to the Nightmare moon statue, to the school yard and back to the library “I wondered when you would get back Twilight” a voice said as soon as the duo set foot in the library Twilight looked up and saw Luna at the top of the stairs, a duster held in her magic aura. “Hi Miss Sparkle, Luna and I were cleaning your ‘ouse as a way to say sorry for leaving you” Pip said running up to the violet mare. “Pip, where have you two been? You’re not hurt princess!” Twilight said rushing to check for any injuries that the princess might hold “Twilight I am fine, no need to panic over my safety, I am clearly capable of keeping myself from harm” Luna said “I just needed to say sorry to Pip here for yelling at him. Actually it was his idea to clean your home” Pip beamed, getting praise from his favorite princess. “Well aren’t you the little gentlecolt” Twilight said, rubbing Pip’s mane getting a few giggles. “Thanks miz Twilight, I also want to say sorry for making Luna mad” “Geez, what’s with all of the sorrys being thrown around?” Dash asked Twilight turned and glared at Rainbow Dash as Luna told Pip not to be sorry. “Don’t you have to say sorry to someone as well Rainbow?” “Yeah yeah, don’t turn into a hard boiled egghead” Dash said with a nervous chuckle, buckling under Twilight’s glare. “Luna I’m sorry for threatening you earlier” the sorry slipped out of her mouth like an ice cube from a block of ice, resisting at every step. “I accept your apology Rainbow Dash, just be happy my sister didn’t hear you; she gets a little too protective of me, like a mother with her child you know?” Luna said unaware that her sister heard every word and will punish Rainbow at some point, when, nobody knows. “Yeah, I got it Luna don’t tell Celestia.” Dash said heading for the door “Okay I’m off to finish the storm that is set for tonight, make sure you get home safely Little Pip, I don’t want any more mothers trying to skin me alive for bringing some kind of harm to their children” “Okay Dash I promise that I will make it home safely before the storm” Pip replied. Everyone said their goodbyes to Dash and the door to the clean library was shut A Celestial interlude Celestia was relaxing in Luna’s room watching her beloved sister progress in the magic of friendship “Now let’s see how you are coming along dear sister” she said taking a bit of a banana The bedroom itself was much darker in coloration than Celestia’s, with a black wallpaper that was covered with stars. On her ceiling, Luna had accurate renditions of her favorite constellations, Orion being one of them. “Oh what trouble are you going to get into this time little Lulu” Celestia said using her sister’s pet name She was on Luna’s round bed, in front of her was a yellow portal showing Celestia everything Luna saw. “But don’t make it a habit, your title of princess of the night won’t stop my hoof from beating you senseless” “What’s this, did Rainbow dash just threaten my Lulu!?” Celestia said shocked “Well I know one pony who will never get into the Wonderbolts, no matter how many sonic rainbooms she does. Time to talk to Spitfire” Celestia focused her magic and, like turning the page of a book the portal soon showed an image of a yellow Pegasus mare with a fiery mane and tail. “Spitfire, I need a word” Celestia said through the portal Spitfire slipped on something white and when she came into view again her yellow cheeks turned orange from a sudden flush “Oh princess, what do I o-owe this honor!?” Spitfire said trying to hide her body from view. “Am I interrupting something captain? “Oh, no, umm actually yes you are” Celestia put on a motherly face “I wouldn’t be interrupting you and Soran’s fun time now would I?” Spitfire’s blush grew and it all made sense in the princess’s mind. “Well don’t let me stop you, go on have some fun” There was a poomf sound and the background became a bright yellow “No, please stop putting those images in my head princess. How many times do I have to tell you? Our relationship is strictly professional” Celestia put a hoof to her chin “Then might I ask what you are doing then?” “NO! now please, uh, please call me back in ten minutes” “Oh come on Spitfire, I saw the white stuff you slipped on and I heard a moan what els-“ “I’m taking a shower okay, you startled me and I slipped. And that moan you heard was my hoof scuffing the tub!” “Oh, sorry, I’ll call you back in ten minutes, like you asked” “Please” Back at the library Pipsqueak and Luna were taking a nap on a big blue pillow Luna brought with her. Luna was still tired from being waken up at such an early hour and decided that now was a good time to catch up; Pip on the other hand resisted and wanted to stay up and play with Luna while Twilight researched how to teach Luna about friendship. Pip’s resistance crumbled when he realized how tired he really was and once Luna laid down and opened one of her wings. Pip was underneath in a blink of an eye, using the wing not only as a blanket but also as a shade, keeping the sun out of his eyes while he slept. Twilight looked up from one of her friendship reports; she kept copies of each and every one of them just in case she needed to look back. She looked up and smiled, it reminded her of the early days of her tutorage with Princess Celestia. Celestia treated her more like a daughter, she taught her manners along with magic. Celestia was more of a second mother then a teacher to Twilight. “They’re like mother and son, don’t you think Spike?” Spike had finally regained consciousness and , after cleaning the mess in the kitchen, joined Twilight “Yeah, Luna looks like Pip’s long lost mother” “Spike” Twilight said with a giggle “Luna is an eternal goddess and Pipsqueak’s just an earth pony, there’s no way she’s his mother” “Twi, I was just making a comment, and I said that she just looks like his long lost mother, not that she is” Twilight caught her mistake and giggled more “You’re right Spike, oh what’s with me and my crazy imagination?” “Don’t know?” Twilight giggled a bit more and went back to her reports About an hour later, the pitter patter of rain started up. Both Luna and Pipsqueak were still asleep, neither of them noticing the rain. Twilight had fallen asleep in her studies and was drooling on one of her latest friendship reports. Then there was a clap of thunder. “Gyaa!” Twilight shouted, waking up with a jump. Princess Luna slept straight through the loud bang and Pip didn’t even notice since wings made a good sound barrier along with its other useful functions. Twilight put a hoof up to her chest and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down “Wow, that was one heck of a wakeup call” She then looked at the clock and noted that it was time for dinner “Spike!” “Wha, huh?” Luna stuttered waking up ‘yawn’ “What time is it?” “Oh hello Luna, did you have a nice nap?” Twilight asked Luna got up and stretched, “Yes thank you for asking. Did Pipsqueak go home already?” There was a murmur beneath Luna, looking down she saw the pinto colt doing what looked to be searching for a blanket “Does that answer your question?” Twilight said giggling Soon the murmur grew into a whimper then finally a word “Huh?” “Hey there sleepy head, did you have a nice nap?” Luna cooed “I’m not a baby Luna” Pip said, agitated “But yes, I haven’t slept that well in a while, thank you” “Well, I was just about to have Spike prepare dinner for us.” Twilight said “Would you like to stay Pipsqueak? Or are your parents going to be mad if you come home with a full stomach?” “Why would they be mad Twilight? Wouldn’t that be a good thing if little Pip here came home not needing food?” Luna asked “No, if Pip’s parents made dinner, but Pip came home with a full stomach then their efforts and food would go to waste” Pip watched as Luna and Twilight bantered over such a simple question, making it sound really confusing to the young colt. “Stop” Pip yelled, quelling the argument. “I don’t think my parents would mind if I come home on a full stomach because even if they made dinner, they could save it as leftovers for another time” Spike had one of his claws raised and was about to stop the fighting, but now stood there like an idiot, trying to figure out whether to say something or go back upstairs and pretend he heard nothing. “There you are Spike, please set two extra plates for our guests” Twilight said “Okay Twilight” Spike said hopping into the kitchen. While Twilight and Luna relaxed, Pip bounced about eager to enjoy a good meal. “Pip, please calm down. The food isn’t going to come any quicker if you bounce around like that.” Twilight said “Oh, sorry miz Twilight, it’s just… I know you’re good at cooking so I can’t wait to try it” Twilight just rolled her eyes and chuckled “Yeah, are we talking about the same Twilight? Because I set fire to the kitchen the last time I tried to make an omelet” “Yeah let’s go with that.” Pip exclaimed bouncing some more. “Umm Twilight” Spike said from the kitchen “Yes Spike” Spike appeared from the door to her kitchen, a little pink apron was around his scaly waist “We only have enough food for three tonight” “Oh, that’s right. I was planning to go shopping tomorrow.” Twilight looked down a Pip sympathetically “Well I’m sorry Pip, but I guess you’ll just have to have dinner at your house” Pip’s smile disappeared and his head drooped “Nonsense Twilight, didn’t you see how excited he was to enjoy your cooking?” Luna said “Just let him have my portion, I had a big breakfast” There was a gasp and Luna noticed that Pip was hugging her leg like he had this morning “Thank you so much Princess, thank you thank you oh thank you” “Oh this won’t do, Pip I’m sorry but if anyone eats, it’s the princess” Twilight said, accenting the word princess to make sure her point was made. Like a balloon deflating, Pip’s energy disappeared. “Okay, miz Twilight. I guess I’ll be heading home now” Luna looked at Twilight “You can’t be serious Twilight, no I will not sit by and have my friend walk home with no food” Pip’s ears perked up “Luna it’s protocol that no matter what happens, the princesses must be fed, so once more I’m sorry Pip” Pip moved back to the door “DON’T MOVE ANOTHER STEP YOUNG PIP!!!” “Princess!” Twilight hissed “Don’t give him false hope, you know just as well as I do that this is how it need to happen… or do I need to tell your sister?” Luna looked at her friend, her head drooped and she felt horrible, but she couldn’t let Tia know about her breaking protocol “I’m sorry Pip, but Twilight’s right. I can walk you home if you want?” “No, I’m a big colt and I don’t want you getting wet. My pa says that’s not gentlemanly” Pip said sorrowfully “Okay, but do you want an umbrella?” Twilight asked “No, I’ll be fine, please enjoy your dinner.” “Well, if you say so Pip, I shall be here tomorrow we can… play then” Luna said Pip forced a smile “That would be great Luna, well I will see you then ladies” He opened the door and entered the downpour “Hurry home, I don’t want you to catch a cold” Luna shouted “I will” Ponyville park was one of the main attractions in the small town. There was Lyra and her beautiful lyre, playing hypnotizing melodies and the scenery was so breath taking that Ponyville park holds the highest number of marriage proposals in all of equestria. That is, when it’s not being assaulted by a thunderstorm Pipsqueak was underneath a large oak tree. After he ran away from the orphanage in trottingham he stole his pirate nightmare night costume from a filly. It tore at his heart and he was tempted to give it back, but he knew that he would never get any candy if he didn’t have a costume. “I’ll be fine” Pip mumbled, a half hearted pep talk to get him through the storm In the base of the tree were Pip’s only belongings, a teddy bear that had multiple holes in it, and a small ripped blanket designed for a newborn foal, it was nowhere near big enough to cover his body. While fillies like Dinky had a nice warm home, with hot chocolate and a mother to comfort them when the storm gets scary; all Pip had was the dirt stuck to his coat “I-I’ll b-be fine” The only sound in his little hut was the sound of roaring wind and the downpour of the rain that was rapidly turning his dirt bed to mud. “I’ll be f-fine” Pip’s stomach rumbled; the last thing he ate was a rotting apple that Applejack ignored while she was collecting apples; that’s why he was so devastated when he wasn’t able to have a real meal. “I’ll b- ‘hic’ be f-fine” There was a loud clap of thunder, it startled Pip so much that he hit his head on the ceiling of his shallow room. “I-I’ll be ‘sniff’ f-f-ine“ All this talk of his pa was a façade, he never knew his parents, they left him at the orphanage with his little teddy and blanket. Pip broke down into sobs and clutched his poor excuse for a teddy bear like a drowning person would cling to a life ring. “I w-won’t be f-fine! I’m hungry, I’m c-cold, I’m scared and… and I want my mommy!” Pip cried himself to sleep like usual, but this time he was tormented by the bit of comfort he got under the protection of Luna’s wings, wishing nothing more than to have his blanket back. Chapter 4Pip woke up in a mud bath up to his neck. As he struggled to free himself from his bed, he noticed that he had a very large headache. “Ohhh, it feels like Applejack bucked my ‘ead” he said rubbing his forehead in an attempt to alleviate the pain. When he was finally free, he tried to find his teddy bear and blanket, but they were nowhere to be found. “Blimey, of course my teddy’s gone no one likes Pip… the runt of the litter” Tears began to well up in his eyes. The runt of the littler had become Pipsqueaks nickname at the orphanage. Nopony would play with him because nopony liked a runt; so Pip often found himself alone and he’d gotten used to it Derpy and Dinky were doing their usual Sunday thing, and that meant a picnic at their favorite spot. “Here we are muffin” Derpy said as she landed. Dinky bounded out of Derpy’s mail bags, landing on the damp, but not muddy grass. They were on a hill near the concealed part of the pond. The reason it’s not a muddy slide is because Derpy made a deal with Rainbow Dash; she’d bring her some of her delicious muffins for breakfast and whenever there was a storm scheduled for Saturday night, Rainbow would open a hole in the clouds so no rain would hit their spot. Dinky was testing her bravery while Derpy set their meal up. She would go close to the edge and risk falling in, but she’d retreat back to the safety of the blanket before going again. With one of these tests Dinky slipped on the mud and careened straight into the waters. “Ahhh, c-cold” she said as she tried to go up the slippery slope “Mommy, help” Derpy flew into the air and headed for the distress signal. The little purple filly rejoiced as her savior neared. Derpy lowered herself and grabbed her daughter, taking her back to the safety of the blanket. “I hope you learned your lesson muffin.” Derpy said as she took out a second blanket- A mother’s always prepared for anything- and wrapped her shivering daughter. “I-I have mommy, don’t go too close to the edge” “Yes, especially without your mom around” Dinky smiled and affectionately nuzzled her mother. When Pip had his headache somewhat under control, he sneaked past the early morning joggers and went to another tree. He grabbed one of the bars of soap that didn’t sink, from his cupboard, and went to the concealed part of the pond. Pip was about to take the plunge, when a certain purple unicorn caught his eye. It was Dinky, she was having a picnic with her mother, she looked so happy. Pip had to watch his every move, so he wouldn’t be taken back to the orphanage, while Dinky could frolic and not think about the consequences. Pip starves himself every day to be near his friends, his only sustenance coming from the rotten apples he steals from the farm. Dinky however, can have fun and not worry about where her next meal is going to come from. She had everything Pip wanted… a family, someone to kiss the boo boo away, to comfort him when he was sad or scared, someone to love him. Tears blurred his vision as he saw what he’s wanted his entire life, what he knew he’ll never have. Dinky was eating a muffin when she heard someone cry. Looking up she thought she saw a monster. Pip was contemplating his next move when a shout startled him and he fell in the water. “Hey Pip!” a voice called out a few moments later. Pip surfaced, shaking violently as mud turned the water around him brown. “Why are you in the cold water and why is it brown? I hope you didn’t have an accident” It took a few seconds for Pip’s mind to figure out why Dinky was laughing so hard, but a stray piece of mud floated by, giving him the embarrassing answer to his question “No! it’s just mud Dinky” he said blushing furiously “I-I slipped in a mud puddle and now I’m trying to clean myself off” “Well why didn’t you go home, I tested the water and it’s freezing…! Oh my Celestia you must be freezing, get over here now!” Dinky demanded Pip really was freezing and swam over to the light purple unicorn. Dinky gave Pip a helping hoof, but that just ended with her falling in too. “Pip you numbskull, now I’m f-freezing too” Dinky shouted as she scrambled to her hooves, only to fall back into the cold pond. Derpy, who was watching the scene from afar, jumped into action once again. She leapt into the air and hovered over the colt and filly, helping them help themselves. After being airlifted to the safety of the hill, Derpy grabbed the second blanket and wrapped them both up like a burrito “Th-th-thanks miz o-‘ooves” Pip said, blushing from the close proximity to his crush. “Yeah, th-thanks again mom” Dinky added “No problem, that’s what I’m here for muffin. Hey since your friend Pip is here, why don’t we let him join our picnic, he needs to warm up anyway” Pip’s eyes bulged, he was going to be allowed to have a real breakfast “Well, it sounds like someone’s hungry” Dinky said nuzzling her friend Pip couldn’t think straight, the gentle touch and lovely blueberry smell she gave off blinded his mind. “You okay Pip?” Pip’s stomach growled and this time he took notice “Ummm, yeah w-why wouldn’t I be?” “Well, you’ve been staring at me for a few minutes now… oh is it the blueberry shampoo my mom found? I love it so much, it reminds me of my favorite muffin can you guess what it is?” Dinky chirped, bouncing up and down and rubbing her fur with Pip’s, making him blush even more “Ummm, blueberry muf- herrrp” Pip’s answer was cut short when a muffin made its way into his open mouth. “Right! Now tell me what flavor this muffin is” Pip was unable to hear Dinky’s voice for the second time in the past five minutes. His senses were overloaded by the taste of fresh blueberries and his body seemed lose all of its tension. His headache disappeared, making him feel better than he had in months. “Pip, hello, Equistria to Pip” Dinky said as Pip seemed to melt, his body dragging to blanket and Dinky down with him, “Pip, Pip… Oh geez” Dinky fell on top of Pip and stared in his glassy eyes. “Yahahahaum, blueberry” Pip moaned as he came back from cloud nine “Right a mundo Pip, it’s a blueberry muffin” Dinky said rubbing Pip’s muzzle Dinky was pulled off of Pip by Derpy and placed next to the gray mare “I think you’re invading his personal space muffin” Pip’s vision blurred and he couldn’t tell if that was really Lyra floating on a cloud above him, playing her lyre with some kind of weird appendage. “Oh, sorry Pip, I didn’t know” Pip turned his body to the sound of the voice staring at Dinky with empty eyes. “Ha s-she called you m-muffin” he teased Dinky frowned “What’s that supposed to mean” Lyra was now floating behind Dinky giving him what looked to be a go ahead sigh. Pip nodded to her, “yo-you’re a Dinkyberry muffin.” Pip waved at Lyra who went back to playing “ Th-that’s what it m-means. Oh shooting stars, pretty” Dinky pouted, ignoring pip’s shivers while she contemplated something, “I’m not a muffin… I’m not a muffin, right mommy?” Dinky never got her answer. Derpy stared at Pip’s bumbling, she had been so busy preparing the picnic that she didn’t notice one of the special muffins Pinkie bribed her to make made its way into the basket. “Oh dear, umm Dinky, we should take Pip home he needs to rest” Pip rolled onto his back watching the lyre play Lyra “N-no thank you miz ooves, I fine ‘ere. Anyway, my ‘ouse is flooded with mud” Lyra suddenly started to grow wings, and a picture of an apple started to grow on her head. She was giggling as her lyre used its strings to tickle her. “Oh no, that’s bad, where do you live?” Dinky said, her curiosity about her friend piqued. “I wive in the twee ovew dare” Pip babbled pointing in a random direction “That’s okay, I’ll just take you to our house to take a nap and finish your breakfast. How does that sound Pip?” Derpy said, trying not to freak out over the little job Pinkie bribed her to do. Lyra was soon joined by Applejack, she happily hummed along with the music the lyre was playing while eating a tomato. “Sure, I wove you Dinky” Pip said, not even realizing it, as he grabbed the muffin again and took another big bite. “On no, please muffin, don’t eat that muffin” Applejack and Lyra were soon joined by a yellow tree with pink leaves, and they began chanting “Eat the muffin, Eat the muffin” Pip didn’t want to eat the muffin Derpy said not to, but he soon found an acceptation. “Hey, that tickles, Pip stop it” Dinky protested Pip saw the gigantic muffin, Dinky turned into and started eating her, the tree and other ponies seemed please and continued doing random things. “Pip! Don’t eat my daughter” Derpy yelled. Pip released his mouth from Dinky’s head and looked at Derpy “Miz ‘ooves I thought you said this is a muffin, it doesn’t taste like a muffin at all. Actually I wouldn’t know because I ‘aven’t ‘ad a muffin in two and a ‘alf weeks” Derpy took a deep breath “Calm down Derpy. That’s because Pip, she’s my daughter not a muffin, I just call her that because she’s my little muffin” She rubbed part of the blanket on Dinky’s head to get rid of the buildup of Pip’s saliva “’Ey Miss ‘ooves which is it? Is this your daughter or a muffin? You keep changing them” “She’s my daughter Pip, now hop on my back, we’re going home” “Yay, I don’t ‘ave a ‘ome” Dinky quickly got over the weird feeling of being eaten and pushed Pip onto her mother’s back before something else happened. Sunlight poured through the windows at the Ponyville library, which assaulted its librarian’s eyes. Twilight groaned, not wanting to leave her warm bed, but when an enticing smell reached her nose her stomach growled. “Fine, I’ll get up” she said, throwing her star covered blanket off of her body. Twilight stepped out on the hardwood floor, shivering involuntarily as her hooves came in contact with the cold surface. “Oh, it’s a cold one today.” Twilight shivered and grabbed her fluffy purple bathrobe, before following her nose to breakfast.“Yum, that smells great Spike” Twilight trotted down the stairs, expecting to see Spike put the finishing touches on breakfast, when she saw Luna. “Princess!” Twilight said, startling Luna, who was making something weird “ Oh it’s just thou Twilight Sparkle.” Luna said putting a hoof to her heart to try and calm herself “We beseech thou, don’t do that again” “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you” Twilight apologized “But why are you talking with the… royal we?” Luna levitated one of the giant balls of dough into a bag “Oh, well, we only dost it when we art frightened or nervous” “Okay, that explains why you wouldn’t stop talking like that last Nightmare night. You were just nervous about the ponies of Ponyville accepting you” Luna wrapped the bag with the ball of dough and put it in her saddle bags “What’s in the bag Luna?” “This, well this is a little gift for Pip” Luna said opening her bag to show Twilight what’s inside “Huh? Why give Pip a gift?” “Well I feel horrible about sending him off without food so I made him one of my favorite dishes.” She said putting the bag back in her saddle bags “I hope you don’t mind me using the last of your food stuff” “Of course not princess, I was going to go shopping anyway” Twilight said with a forced smile Luna saw how Twilight treated her but said nothing of it “Oh-kay, well would you like to join me in delivering it to him?” Twilight jumped to her hooves “Of course princess, anything for you” “Twilight Sparkle, please, I don’t want to be treated like a princess right now. Tia said that I needed to make friends and I can’t do that if everypony is waiting on me hand and hoof” But Twilight didn’t hear her, she was too busy grabbing her own saddle bags and filling them with bits. “Well are you ready, or we could wait, whatever you want princess” Luna just rolled her eyes “No Twilight Sparkle I am ready” Celestia’s sun was just making its way into the sky when Twilight and Luna left to find Pipsqueak. Luna had purposefully forgotten to wear her royal regalia in an attempt to feel like a normal pony. The results however, weren’t exactly what Luna was expecting. Twilight and Luna wondered the roads of Ponyville as Ponies left and right bowed, fearing Luna’s wrath if they didn’t. “I thought she was nocturnal” one stallion whispered “Yeah, I thought she melted in sunlight” Accusations like these were said and Luna’s patience was wearing thin “Hey Luna” Twilight said, probably sparing the town another dose of Luna’s royal canterlot voice. “Yes Twilight Sparkle” “I also thought you were nocturnal, how are you awake right now?” “Magic” Twilight’s eyes bulged “Oh, that’s so cool! Maybe I can become nocturnal and the two of us could watch the stars together. Wouldn’t that be soo cool, oh I can see it now, you and I hanging out under your beautiful stars, with hot coco and, oh, daisy sandwiches, I love daisy sandwiches, what do you think princess” Twilight’s enthusiasm put a smile on Luna’s lips “Yes, that would be… cool Twilight” The duo kept walking, Twilight kept babbling about things her and Luna could do when she became nocturnal, when a certain pegasus crossed their field of view. “Fluttershy!” she happily exclaimed bounding over to her “Oh… um hi Twilight. I was just, you know, getting food for my cottage, Angel noticed the lack of carrots and I, well came to get some” “Fluttershy you remember Princess Luna?” The shy mare, whimpered in fear “Ummm y-yes” Luna took note of the canary yellow pegasus’s fear, something she had learned from Pip and laid down, making herself look less threatening. “Please don’t fear us Fluttershy, if I may call you that?” Fluttershy noticed Luna’s calm posture and calmed down a bit “O-okay, you c-can call me Fluttershy” “Good” Luna said smiling and putting Fluttershy a bit more at ease. “How have you been? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I know how scary I can be” There were ohhs and awws from the crowd gathering around. “Um, I-I’ve been okay. Thanks for asking” “I can’t believe this, our timid little Fluttershy isn’t scared of Nightmare Moon” a stallion murmured “What did you call us!” Luna hissed, getting a startled epp from Fluttershy. The stallion in question ran for the hills, begging for mercy and half expecting Luna to smite him with her powerful lightning. What followed was complete chaos, mares grabbed their children and took off running, the bravest of stallions nearly wet themselves trying to get away from Nightmare Moon. Everyone but Twilight and Fluttershy ran away. Luna once again started banging her head against the ground, wasting yet another chance to make friends. The kind hearted Fluttershy immediately went into mother mode, galloping up to Luna’s side. “Oh, please don’t hurt yourself Luna, I know you never meant to scare anypony” Luna looked up at the previously timid Fluttershy, all she saw was her caring eyes reaching out to her. “Y-you’re not scared of us?” she said futilely trying to hold her tears back. “No, you’re a nice pony Luna, I see now that you were just misunderstood and if it’s alright with you, could I be your friend?” Luna leapt, bringing Fluttershy into a bone crunching hug. “Yes, I would love it if you were to become our friend Fluttershy thank you so much” Fluttershy took the abuse better than some stallions would and rubbed Luna’s back reassuringly. “I’m glad I can help, now, could you um put me down please, you’re kind of hurting me” With a gasp, Luna released her death grip and apologized profusely. With a few heartfelt goodbyes, Fluttershy left her new friend to continue her shopping. Nearly all of the stallions stared at the shy pegasus, mouths agape as they felt their stallionhoods drop like rocks. “See, I knew you could make friends Luna” Twilight chirped as a crowd once again formed around the duo. “Thanks Twilight, now let’s find Pip” “Where could he be?” Luna asked, worried that her gift would get cold before it reached him “I don’t think anypony knows where he lives, and I don’t see him falling out of the sky anytime soon” Twilight was soon eating her words as a scream came from above. Luna looked up, what she saw horrified her. Pipsqueak was in fact falling from the sky. Luna flared her wings and took off like a bullet. Most of the other ponies worked frantically to make a safety net, just in case the princess failed Derpy, Dinky and Pip were flying over the town of Ponyville. Derpy had the picnic basket around her neck, placing the leftover food items in her saddlebags to help keep stability in the air. “Pip, stop squirming, you’ll fall off” Dinky said trying and failing to keep the drugged colt still. “But Dinky I can fly I just know it” Pip said trying again to jump off of Derpy’s back. “NO, Pipsqueak stand still or I will have to pull over” Derpy protested, she did not want any kind of attention placed on what she did to Pip. She just wanted to get him home. “No, you can’t make me’ Pip teased, sticking his tongue out “You’re not my mommy, I don’t ‘ave a mommy” “Pipsqueak, you’re not a Pegasus” Dinky said as Pip jumped. Dinky felt her mother’s back disappear, and a weightless sensation came over her. Dinky didn’t have enough strength to keep Pip still and fell off with him. “MOMMY!” she cried, pleading for mom to save her. Derpy wasted no time before she raced toward her daughter, desperate screams filling her ears. “MOMMY!” Derpy closed the gap and when she was close enough, she grabbed hold of her screaming daughter. Dinky pulled her mother into a vice like grip, holding on for dear life. “Shhh, it’s okay muffin, I’m here, it’s all going to be okay” Derpy said to her petrified daughter “Mommy, what about Pip!” Derpy matched Dinky’s death grip “There’s nothing I could have done muffin, you come first” she said as tears streamed down her cheeks “you always come first” “PIP! No!” Dinky stared teary eyed as she watch her friend fall to his death Pip tried to flap his wings, but he soon found out that he didn’t have any. Panic grew in the drugged pony’s heart and whatever high his body was experiencing shattered, leaving only the cruelty of reality. Pip screamed, but unlike Dinky, he had no one to save him; no one to save the runt of the litter. Luna rocketed towards Pip, plotting an intercept course; she never felt so determined over anything, but seeing Pip’s body plummet to certain doom filled her with adrenaline. In the matter of seconds, she was under Pip. She held her arms out as she flew up, ready to catch her friend. The ponies below were running like chicken’s with their heads cut off. Some were trying to make something soft for the young colt to land on, others, mainly pegasi were too scared to fly up and help Luna try to catch Pip. “Come on, come on”, she was shaking like a leaf, what if she missed? What if she failed? No one would want her to be their favorite princess if she failed. Seconds before landing safely in Luna’s outstretched forearms, Pip gave up what little fight he had left to live… to him, there wasn’t anything left to fight for, no one loved him, no one would miss him, so why even try. As blackness crept into his vision, Pip heard the sound of flapping wings. He thought they were his guardian angel getting ready to take him away, away from his torture, his nightmares and the agony of being alone. Luna grunted as Pip hit her forearms like a rock, but with the help of her magic she was able to hold on to him. “Don’t fret young Pip, thine favorite princess is hither” she said, nuzzling him as tears fell on his sleeping form. Author's Note I need to know, how long do i have in between chapters to post another one. cuz this is the last complete chapter i have. should i try to rush and give you crapper quality or work longer and get better stuff? give me a number of days... weeks... months i don't know. please and thank you Chapter 5Luna looked up, wondering how her little friend got so high when a gray mare ran away from the scene, carrying what looked like a little foal in her arms. It was very suspicious to her, but she couldn’t focus on that, for a certain butter yellow Pegasus was trying to take her only friend and Luna was having none of it. Derpy flew faster than she had in a long time. “Mommy! We need to save Pip!” Dinky cried. She didn’t see Luna catch Pip so for all she knew, her friend was dead. “There was nothing I could do muffin” Derpy said, tears falling on her daughter’s head. Not only had she drugged a colt and nearly got him killed, she drugged a friend of Princess Luna… The princess Luna. The one who everyone thought she ate your face off if you accidentally bumped into her on the street. While Derpy didn’t believe a single word of those lies, she couldn’t help but feel scared for herself and Dinky. “NO! h-he can’t be gone he just can’t” Derpy wanted nothing more than to comfort Dinky, tell her that Pip was okay, but she had to get home first. Dinky’s safety came first, so that was top priority Before they had their current home, Derpy went from job to job, giving it her all to save up enough money so she and Dinky could have a place of their own, and not have to bunk at a friend’s house every night. One day Twilight noticed that Derpy was having a bit of trouble with finances; she was trying to buy a mansion when she hardly had enough money for an apartment. Twilight took pity and decided to collect her friends and make her a house. The grand unveiling was a big moment for Derpy, she and Dinky had just gone through a fight with a friend and had beenkicked out on the street and she needed something to lift her spirits. Derpy landed on her lawn, she cradled Dinky and whispered comforting words, but she didn’t tell her immediately that Pip was okay. She only stared at her lovely home with a horror stricken face. When the blind fold was released, Derpy gasped; Twilight made her a house that looked exactly like her favorite muffin. A red velvet muffin with white chocolate chips. Tears grew in her eyes, it was perfect and after she thanked Twilight and her friends about a million times. Her and Dinky enjoyed their first night in their brand new home, given to her for free, the only consolation was that she had to take good care of Dinky. That’s it! Dinky’s crying grew in volume, bringing Derpy back into reality. “Shh, it’s okay Dinky, Pip is going to be fine” Dinky looked up, sniffing “You’re sure mommy” she said Derpy smiled, that loving smile that always made Dinky fell safe, like nothing was ever going to be wrong. “Yes, in fact, I saw princess Luna save him, so I know for a fact that he’s fine” Dinky rested her head on her mother’s soft coat and let her last tears go. “Okay mommy I believe you” “Good, now take the picnic basket in and start your homework” “Okay” Dinky left her mother’s sweet embrace and headed towards the muffin like house. When Dinky was inside, Derpy tried to get up, but she couldn’t. She stood there, horrible guilt warping her stomach, she felt like she was going to throw up. Her house wasn't hers anymore, her favorite muffin was gone, replaced by the same kind of mushroom she used to drug Pip. Derpy went up to the house and started banging her head against the wall, tears leaked from her eyes. “I didn’t ask for this” she said to herself. “I didn’t want this”. Her banging slowed and she collapsed on the ground in a heap. “I-I had n-no choice. I needed t-the money” Pinkie’s bribe was starting to tear at the pegasus’s heart. “Mommy” Derpy looked up, startled, it was Dinky, she had heard the banging and went to investigate. “Mommy, are you okay?” Derpy opened her arms, willing Dinky to come over for a hug. Dinky complied. “I’m so-sorry muffin” “For what?” Dinky said looking up into her mother’s teary eyes “I-I've done something w-wrong” Dinky chuckled, nuzzling her mom “Oh you’re so silly mom. You care too much to do something wrong.” Derpy smiled “You’re right muffin, but I still need to apologize to them and make everything all better” Dinky broke the hug and smiled at her mother “Okay mom, while you do that I’ll do my homework” The light purple unicorn went back into the house carrying the picnic basket for her mother so Derpy could collect herself. Dinky went into the kitchen and placed the basket on the counter. As she went to go upstairs, her stomach growled. “Well, I can’t do homework on an empty tummy” she said climbing back on the chair to get at the goodies that were still in the basket. “Where’s that blueberry muffin I gave to Pip?” Dinky looked for a couple of minutes until she found her prize. “I wonder why this made Pip so happy, well only one way to find out” She took a bite, and almost immediately, her world started to spin. “Woaaah” Dinky became dizzy, but at the same time, relaxed. Aches she didn’t know she had disappeared, her mind opened up and the room seemed to be filling with lava. It took Derpy a lot longer to pull herself together than she thought it would. “Okay, first thing, I have to get rid of those muffins.” She got up and trotted into the house, wincing as she once more noticed the similarities of her house to the mushroom. “Dinky” she called out, it was really important that she knew Dinky didn’t get into the basket, if she did, she would never be able to forgive herself. “Mommy!, Help!” Derpy rushed, but when she got into the kitchen, she didn’t see anything wrong. “What! What’s going on Dinky!?” Dinky who was standing on a stool like a housewife who saw a mouse. She put a lampshade on was was somehow hopping on two hooves screaming at the top of her lungs. “Dinky, what’s gotten into you” Derpy had rushed, picking her daughter up. “and why are you wearing a lampshade?” “There’s Lava mommy, LAVA!!” Dinky screamed, making her mother’s ears hurt. “Dinky there is no lava, what’s gotten into you!?” Dinky didn’t answer, she just climbed onto her back and started sucking her hoof and naming her others “You’re wabecca” she said pointing to her left hoof. “You’re Donawd, and- Oh, you can be Pip, I wove you Pip” Derpy was horribly confused, first Dinky complained that there was lava, now she was naming her hooves and talking like a baby. Dinky’s horn suddenly glowed and a certain muffin made its way to Wabecca and Donawd When Derpy saw the muffin, something clicked in her mind, something really bad “Muffin… is that the muffin Pip ate?” Derpy tentatively asked, afraid of the answer “Yep” Now it all made sense to her… “Don’t hog it awe wabecca, weave some fow donowd” Derpy was being forced to rethink how and why she made those muffins, heavily laced with mushrooms. “Oh no, mommy there’s a big snake in the sink!” She had to, if she didn’t, than she wouldn’t be able to pay for her food and Dinky would starve and that would mean she would have failed the only task Twilight gave her. Dinky hopped off her mother’s back, leaving her in a trance while she donned some pirate gear she got from the oven. Hopping back onto her mother, Dinky climbed on her head and shouted “Onward”, swishing the muffin around like a sword as she somehow took more bites every time it passed her mouth Derpy snapped out of it when a bit of muffin fell between her wall eyes. Looking up, she startled Dinky, who clamped onto her mother’s head “Mommy, I was standing there, why did you shake me?” She cried. A smile grew on Derpy’s face, even when she was drugged Dinky was incredibly cute, but that smile quickly died when she remembered that she was the one who got her high. With tears in her eyes, Derpy swatted the muffin out of Dinky’s hoof just before she took another bite. “Mommy, I was going to eat that” Dinky argued as she jumped down from her mother’s head and took off the eye patch she was wearing, giving her mother the stink eye. “Don’t you look at me like that!” Derpy’s tears had grown and into full fledged sobs “NO! this has gone too far, Dinky tell me you got hungry and accidentally ate that muffin” “Nope, I wanted to eat that muffin” Derpy felt her heart crack, not only had her daughter eaten the muffin she knew that she shouldn’t but she admitted it up front and her voice didn’t even quiver once. “Dinky… do you know how much that hurts me?” she asked, hoping that her daughter had some sense of responsibility left in her “Yep” Dinky trotted up to her mother and nuzzled her side. Derpy took the opportunity to trap Dinky, before anything else happened. “Dinky, don’t lie, tell me you didn’t do this on purpose” “B-But I did mom, I wanted to try the muffin, it made Pip so happy and I wanted to… hey, come back here Carrot, those muffins don’t belong to you” Tears fell from Derpy’s eyes as her heart broke in two. She made muffins with drugs and her only daughter ate them, after she had told her not to. What made it worse was that she admitted to it like that, no hesitation, no nothing. Derpy looked down at her daughter, who was licking her fur like a cat. She hadn’t hesitated when she admitted it, that wasn’t like her at all, normally she would at least think about her answer... than a thought hit Derpy, could she only tell the truth!? Derpy had to know, she had to think of something to ask her that she Dinky would lie… but what During her moment of thought Dinky bit her mother, she ran to the door, chasing an imaginary Carrot top. “Dinky! Get back here!” She turned around “But mommy, Carrot is stealing our food” Derpy put her sternest face on “Get back here Dinky, now” Dinky shuttered and ran back to her mother. When Dinky returned, Derpy wrapped her in a squeezing embrace, immobilizing her. “Dinky do you love Pipsqueak?” Dinky couldn’t fully understand where the question came from but she knew the answer “Well of course I do mommy, I’ve had a crush on him ever since I saw him last Nightmare Night” That was a little more information she really wanted to know, but it proved that she couldn’t tell a lie… but that means. “Dinky! What did Pip say today?” Dinky thought “Well, he said that he lived under a tree, that he had no mommy and that he was a Pegasus” If Dinky couldn’t lie, that meant that Pip couldn’t tell a lie. He really is homeless and doesn’t have a mother! Gasping, Derpy took Dinky to her room. She grabbed the blanket off of her bed and wrapped her up, immobilizing her and making sure she stayed comfortable “Dinky, mommy will be right back, take a nap and you will feel much better. Trust me” “Okay, but promise me you will catch Carrot and bring back our muffins” Derpy kissed her daughter’s head “I promise” A Celestial Interlude Celestia didn’t call Spitfire back. In the ten minutes between calls, Celestia’s rage died and she took a logical view on the situation. “Okay, Rainbow Dash, you still have a chance to get into the wonderbolts, but if I find out that you threatened my Lulu one more time, that’s it little missy” Celestia took a tense bite of her large slice of cake, as she tried to get control of her emotions. Then she looked back at the mirror like screens. “Why, it already seems Lulu’s made a friend. I knew this would be good for her” Luna had put up a shield to stop everypony from taking Pip away from her. it was probably her fault he fell, and she was going to protect him from everyone if it killed her. She entered the library, enhancing her shield to cover the entire tree. She put a specificality spell onto it, making it so that only ponies she trusted could get through. Taking a sigh of relief, Luna looked over at Pip, who was shivering like he was cold. “Don’t worry yourself too much little Pip, I’ll stay right here to protect you” Luna said as she nuzzled Pip’s sleeping form once more. Twilight left to get her shopping done, leaving Luna alone in the now closed library. Luna used her magic to drop the shades, pulling the library into complete darkness. The sounds of ponies trying to save Pip could be heard outside, but all Luna had to do was enhance her shield once more to send them packing. Shuffling her saddlebags off, Luna made her way through the library, passing the bookshelves with ease as she made her way to her bed. She let out a content sigh as the soft embrace of her favorite, away from home, bed made itself known. When she was comfortable, Luna levitated Pip’s small body to the spot she made next to her on the bed. He was still shivering and, without skipping a beat, she draped her wing around the small colt. That’s when something weird happened. Pip’s shivering stopped, but he started crying in his sleep. Luna gasped in shock as she saw each individual tear fall from his eyes. She was stunned as she could hear each sob that came from his mouth.”Oh, don’t cry young Pip, your favorite princess is right here. I saved you from the fall, and I won’t leave you” she said, but once she remembered that he was asleep, she realized that he was having a nightmare… “Not on my watch, hold on Pip, your favorite princess is on the way” . Luna found herself, not in a gigantic pirate battle where Pip was losing, or a castle where Pip was being chased down a dead end hallway by a blood thirsty vampire. She instead found herself in the Ponyville park. “Well this is an odd place to have a nightmare” she said as she began her search for the crying colt. The princess of the night searched high and low for her quarry, under blankets, in squirrels nests, in a cloud, even under that great lyre playing pony. “This is really weird, normally I always find the pony I’m after in the last place I expect him to be.” “Do you mind?” “Oh sorry, um it’s Lyra right?” “Yes, now could you please put me down” Luna nodded and put the weird and strangely obsessed pony back on her bench before continuing her search. Luna roamed around the muddy planes of the park when she heard a soft, almost inaudible sob. “Hello” she called out, wondering if it was Pip There was an awkward splash underneath a tree followed by panicked sobs. “Pip, it’s just us, your favorite princess” Luna patiently waited for a response, but her patience level was the same as a bomb with a short fuse. “Okay, if thou doesn’t come out here Pipsqueak, than I’m just going to have to come in” No response “Okay, thou asked for it” Luna moved stealthily, like a ninja when a thought hit her. Why was she even giving him the option of coming out when she could barge in there and save him from whatever terror he was in. She didn’t give Dinky that right when she was being attacked by a giant Pip doll with lipstick and a bow three times bigger than his head, nor did she give it to Snails when he thought Snips was going to kill him with a pair of scissors. No she barged in there, guns blazing in a way, and solved the problem, before going off into the night receiving nothing but praise and admiration for her heroic deeds. Why was this different? Why did she have to take a more gentle approach? Sick of her thinking, Luna stuck her head under the tree only to find something she never expected. Inside the muddy hollowed that seemed to be pony made was in fact Pip, but that’s not what made this find so… out there. It was the fact that he seemed to have been crying for quite some time, and his fur was a complete mess. Not only did his little spots disappear under a heavy coating of mud, but it looked like his mother never brushed it at all. Besides him was three apples that looked to be well beyond their expiration dates, one of them had a bite mark and there seemed to be a worm crawling out of it. “Did thou?” Luna asked, hoping Pip didn’t make that bite mark. Pip nodded and held his head down in shame. “Why Pip? Those apples are probably full of nasty things, and why are you in a gigantic mud pit, and why is your fur so dirty?” Luna lit her horn, dragging Pip out of his hole. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do” Pip tried to run back into the mud hole and hide, like it would solve all of his problems, but Luna kept a firm grip on him with her magic. The tree squirrels seemed to quiet and the grass felt like it was turning, waiting for Pip to explain why he was under that tree, but Pip refused to answer, instead he started to cry. “This is not like thou Pip, why are’t thou so afraid? Where’s that pirate we saw, fearless and determined?” Luna asked Pip turned, the quiet becoming too much for him and prepared to spill his guts. “L-Luna… I’m all alone, I have no one to love me, not even my parents care about me” Aside from the soft thump Pip made as he fell out of Luna’s magical grip. The world went silent, nothing made a squeak as Luna stood there, baffled. “What does thou mean Pip? We do not understand these accusations thou makeist against thou’s parents” “Luna, please, I don’t want to explain myself, just go, leave me in my misery.” He headed back to his mud hole “I’m not worth your time” he would have gotten back if Luna didn’t light her horn again. “Young Pip, you really expect me to leave you alone when it’s my duty to protect my friends from nightmares” Luna levitated Pip up to her face, she almost immediately regretted it because it seemed that Pip hasn’t had a good bath in quite some time. “Pipsqueak, when was the last time you had a bath, because thou really smells” Luna pulled Pip away from her nose, almost offended my his body odor. Tears welled in Pip’s eyes once more, and he covered his head with his hooves, fearing the consequence of insulting a princess with his personal hygiene. “Well we’re just going to have to do something about that aren’t we” Pip felt the world spin, making him feel sick to his stomach. When everything stabilized, he heard the pop of magic being used, guessing it was the rock where his head will be cut off and used as a symbol to those who dare insult the princess of the night. The sound of running water hit his ears, maybe she wasn’t going to be so kind, maybe she was going to drown him, laughing as the life slowly left his body. He felt movement, this was it, his life was going to end. His life didn’t end, he instead felt warm water envelope his body like a mother’s embrace. Opening his eyes, Pip saw Luna, not glaring at him, not wielding an ax that was going to take his head off, but a bar of soap. She smiled… Luna was smiling at him, not ready to kill him, but to clean him? “You’ve done a lot for us Pip.” Luna started rubbing Pip’s fur, getting all of the loose mud off of him “Because of you, I understand why people are afraid of me.” All of the tension in Pip’s body released as the warm water did its trick. He collapsed, making Luna hold him up so he didn’t go underwater “You’re my only friend that actually treats me like a friend, not like a princess, and if you say that no one loves you, then I’ll be your first” Pip started crying again, making Luna confused. “Pip why are you crying? You’re supposed to be happy that I’m giving you love, not sad?” Pip slowly entered into the dream world yet again, but before he passed out, he muttered one word “Momma” Derpy flew to the library, she didn’t exactly know who to talk to, but she did know that she could talk to Twilight Sparkle about anything. She had done so much to help her and thus she had Derpy’s trust. Derpy entered the long abandoned library, passing the force field that Luna unconsciously put down. “Why is everything dark?” Derpy asked herself. She lifted one of the shades, shining just enough light so that Luna became visible. Derpy turned, noticing the dark blue wing draped over something. Moving closer, Derpy looked underneath Luna’s wing… it was Pip! “Pip, Luna wake up, I’ve got something to tell you about Pip” But instead of waking up, Luna’s body pulsed. It pulsed, turning Luna’s beautiful blue coat pitch black, also Derpy saw a set of magic armor that she’d thought she would never see again. It was the armor of Nightmare Moon Derpy screamed, fleeing the library before she could tell anyone of Pip’s secret Author's Note This was one of the chapters that i was itching to write. Sorry if the Celestial interlude wasn't all that you hoped it would be. Celestia is an overprotective sister, but she uses logic so i had to do it like that. I've been noticing that my paragraph's structure has changed, so please tell me in the comments if you think i'm getting better or worse. if you think the latter, than please explain why. i don't mind negative criticism, i just want you to explain it so i learn. I feel like Will Smith, Becouse my life just got twist turn upside down. I want to change the updates from two weeks to one weeks, but i can't sorry In closing, Please comment, i need to know if i'm doing this right... and a couple of compliments go a long way... sorry i had to Chapter 1The Ponyville library was being mobbed on the first ever ‘Read a Book’ day. A day dedicated strictly towards reading “I could so come up with a better name than that, but no, it was take it or leave it” Twilight complained, trying to keep her voice down as she passed another sign. Other than the name, Twilight couldn’t be more happy with the turn out. The tree library was so packed, it took her five minutes to get from one side of the library to the other, and the line outside was getting longer by the minute. “Sorry, I just lent the last copy of Flying 101 to Pipsqueak, he said something about flying off to see his favorite princess, even though he has no wings” Twilight told Scootaloo, who was getting desperate in her attempts to learn how to fly. Twilight had fought for months, trying to convince Mayor Mare to give her her holiday, and now it was all hers. “Awww, that’s not fair” she said, getting ready to give up “Hey I know how you feel Scootaloo, so here’s what I’ll do” Twilight lit her horn, levitating a quill and paper “When Pip figures out that he’s not a Pegasus, I’ll bring the book straight to you. Just tell me where you live.” Scootaloo had no home, her parents died in a house fire, but what made it horrible was that her home was made of clouds, not something that burns easily “Um, that’s okay Twilight; I’ll just come back tomorrow, it’s sure to be back by then” the little orange Pegasus frantically said as she bolted out the door “What a strange little filly” Twilight said to herself just before she was dragged to help someone else. Luna hid under her covers, something was amiss and it frightened her. “Wait, we are the princess of the night, why should we fear something in the dark? We made the dark” Luna bounced out, ready to face her intruder ‘CREEEEEEK’ “Epp” Luna, the big bad princess of the night, rushed back to the safety of her covers. Poking her head out, Luna looked in the direction of her door “Who goes there?” ‘creeeek” “We’re warning thee, we are masters of the dark arts” “Luuuuuna” An eerie voice said. Luna flinched at the voice. The door creaked open further, reviling a set of opal eyes and a glistening smile, but that’s all Luna could see. “Luna… I have a surprise for you” Suddenly, all the lights turned on. “Gah!” Luna screamed hiding from the lights. Celestia slowly crept towards the mound on her sister’s bed. Getting up, close and personal, she moved her muzzle mere inches from what she assumed was Luna’s head. “Gotcha” Twilight was helping Tootsie flute with a book on music, when a loud shriek shook the library. “What the?” Twilight turned back to Tootsie realizing that the little filly had rushed to her mother’s side, afraid of the loud noise After her shout, Luna lost it. “Sister! What is the meaning of this!?” Celestia was on the floor laughing. “Sorry Lulu, I couldn’t resist” Regaining her composure, Celestia wiped one last tear from her eye before getting serious. “Okay” she started, magically blocking the pillow Luna threw at her “Lulu, you’re going on a trip” “What!?” Luna said dropping Celestia. ”But sister, you know I am nocturnal and I sleep during the day, can’t this wait?” Celestia floated on her wings “No, you need to make some friends, I’m starting to get sick of you complaining that you’re bored all of the time” The day was hectic, but to Twilight, everything was all going to plan. “Okay, almost everypony has found a book and I can take a break in… about an hour. “Spike are you finished with lunch yet?” Twilight shouted, ignoring the weird faces some of the new ponies gave her. There was no response and Twilight trotted into the kitchen where she found her number one assistant passed out on the ground; somehow he blew up the daisy sandwiches, splattering the kitchen with green goop. “Spike, what have you done!” Twilight yelled “Oh, this wasn’t supposed to happen, oh no no no no” She lit her horn to try and clean the mess up fast when there was a belch. Spike had unconsciously delivered a letter from the princess. “Really Celestia, now. Oh why can’t things just go to plan, why does someone always want to make my life hard” Twilight levitated the letter and removed the green goop that clung to the paper before reading it. To my most faithful student I am sending you somepony that needs to learn about friendship She’ll be there in twenty five minutes Signed Princess Celestia Twilight stared at the letter, reading it over and over again to make sure she read it right. “What, a test on friendship, now!” she said, panic welling in her chest “What do I do, there is still a lobby full of ponies waiting to check out their books, I can’t just leave them.” She began to walk in circles, trying to think of a solution to her problem “Spike, wake up, please” She tried to shake her assistant and wake him up, but he slept like a rock “Sparkle, we’re waiting to check out our books” a stallion shouted Twilight began to hyperventilate, this was not supposed to happen. “Oh why didn’t I accept my friends help!?” She continued her frantic pacing, wracking her brain for a solution. “SPARKLE” “C-Coming” Exiting the kitchen, Twilight found that everyone was waiting in line to check out their book Great, it will take me a half an hour to get through this line “Come on Sparkle, I have somewhere to be today” Twilight pushed and shoved, even levitating some ponies to get to the check out desk. When she finally clawed her way behind her desk, Twilight took a few precious seconds to catch her breath before popping up. “Alright, I’m here” The line was going rather smooth for the first ten minutes, that was until Granny Smith limped up. Come on, come on there’s only nine minutes, thirty five seconds until the pony comes Granny took two minutes to place her book on the counter. “Hurry up please, there are a lot of ponies that I need to help” Twilight said, trying to keep her voice even. “Why you little wiper snapper, have respect for your elders, I can only move so fast” Granny snapped Oh, come on there’s only seven minutes and forty seven seconds till the pony arrives Granny was reaching for her card when a royal chariot landed outside her library “Oh no, it’s five minutes and twenty five seconds early, what do I do, what do I do!” “Come on I don’t got all day” Granny snapped again “Oh, r-right” Twilight’s mane was frizzing up from all of the sudden stress “S-so you wanted apple bucking for elders right… here you go” Twilight finished with Granny before rushing to the door to try and greet the mystery pony. “Really Sparkle, if I don’t clock in in time to make tonight’s rain storm Rainbow dash is going to kill me” the Pegasus stallion complained, but his words fell on deaf ears. Twilight opened the door only to find the ponyville mailmare “Derpy, you’re the pony I have to teach friendship!?” Derpy Hooves was the town’s only mailmare; she had a grayish blue coat, her vibrant yellow eyes were always looking in two different directions. Her gray feathery wings wrapped Twilight in a quick ‘greeting’ hug before settling back at her side. “Oh hi Twilight” her bubbly personality really showed in her voice. “I’m just here to get my little muffin Dinky a book” Twilight looked down at the little unicorn besides Derpy. Dinky was bouncing happily in place, her yellow mane and tail following suit. Her amber eyes over flowed with jubilance as she impatiently waited to get her light purple hooves on a book. “Yeah, I want to read up on magic so I can be as good as you, oh maybe the princess would teach me!” Eager innocence bounded in the young foal’s voice, and despite her stress, Twilight couldn’t hold back a smile. “Oh Twilight” Derpy said “Princess Luna arrived; she said something about meeting you for some reason I forget” “Oh, well I shouldn’t keep the-“ Twilight stopped “P-princess, Derpy did you say princess Luna wants to see me!?” The walled eyed mare nodded and led her daughter to the magic section. “TWILIGHT SPARKLE, IT IS GREAT TO SEE THOU AGAIN…I mean it’s great to see you again Twilight” Once Derpy go out of the way, Twilight saw Princess Luna. She had her hoof close to her mouth and was blushing. Her astral mane floated around her body with a whim of its own. Luna soon got over her embarrassment and rushed Twilight, pulling her into a bone crunching hug. “Oh hi Princess…” All Twilight could see was Luna’s midnight blue coat. Luna returned Twilight to the ground where she gasped for air. “Are you alright Twilight?” Luna asked, vibrant teal eyes looked at the purple unicorn as if they were trying to seduce her. “Princess Luna is who I have to teach friendship to” Twilight said Twilight looked into Luna’s eyes, blissful ignorance was proudly on display. Looking deeper, she saw a hurt soul, someone who just wanted to be appreciated, not feared. “Yes Twilight, sister says that I need to make friends, so she sent me here so I could learn the ways of the friendship” Twilight didn’t acknowledge Luna’s statement as her world was turning gray. “I… have… to teach” everything started spinning “Princess” Twilight fell “Luna”. She blacked out. “Great, now I’m going to be late for work, it’s all y-y-y PRINCESS, everypony, bow the princess is here” The same stallion yelled as he bowed. Everyone followed suit, but what they didn’t realize is that their princess was getting nervous “Please, stop, I don’t deserve your worship” she said, trying in vain to get the ponies to stop but they kept bowing, waiting for Luna to allow them to get up “Stop, please, stop, I SAID STOP BOWING!” They all got up and ran out of the library, taking their books with them wither they were checked out or not. “Oh, what have I done” Luna said to an empty library Author's Note I was taking a break from Strange Discovery this was going to be a one shot but my mind works in strange ways and it's going to be a long one i hope you enjoyed and what is Luna's surprise going to be?
Chapter 2Luna stood there, her conflicted mind rushed multiple scenarios through her head, from an assassination attempt to everypony begging not to be gobbled. “This is crazy, everypony will bow and run away from me, just like they did on nightmare night” she said yawning. Unbeknownst to Luna, Celestia wrapped a small dark blue bow tie around her neck, the tie itself was enchanted with a spell that allowed Celestia to watch Luna’s interactions with the ponies of ponyville like watching her own reflection in a mirror. Outside the library a young pinto colored colt with one brown eye was coming to return a book. The door to the library was open but the library was completely empty, but a unique cutie mark soon came into view, one that he’d seen before “Momma!” he cried, running to to the princess, not even bowing as he hugged her leg Luna never saw the young colt coming and jumped; she took a few moments to calm herself down before looking at whoever was hugging her leg. “Oh you’re the pirate from nightmare night, don’t scare me like that” she said Pip looked up before saying “ Sorry Luna I was just so excited to see you again, and please, call me Pipsqueak, or Pip, whichever you like” Luna then remembered what little Pip called her when he was at the door “Pipsqueak, why did you call us ‘momma’?” Pip blushed drooping his ears in shame, he was unable to look Luna in the eye. “I’m so sorry Princess it’s just, momma and Luna sound the same… at least to me they do. Please, forgive me, I promise I won’t do it again” He let go of her leg and went back to his book, tears forming in his eyes and he let a quiet sniffle out. Luna put a hoof up to her heart because seeing a sad colt that looked up to her made her feel like nightmare moon all over again “Pip, please don’t be sad. It was just an accident” The polka dotted colt put his book in the return slot. “Thank you for your forgiveness princess” he said, wiping a tear from his eye. Despite being forgiven, Pip still sounded sad. “Is something wrong young one? why are you so sad?” “I’m fine, there’s nothin to worry about” Pip yelled surprising Luna. He gasped and started hitting himself with his hoof “Gah, stupid Pip, pa told you not to yell at your elders, especially royalty, and what do you do? You yell at one” Pip kept hitting himself, making a sickening noise every time his hoof connected with his skull Luna looked on at the young colt beating himself up because of a simple slip up, tears welled in her eyes as her patience slowly wore itself out. Lighting her horn, Luna froze Pip’s hoof before he could do anymore harm to himself “Pipsqueak” she said in an authoritative tone. Pip froze, fear claiming his body, he closed his eyes tightly, expecting the wrath of the princess he just yelled at. Instead he got a hug. “Pipsqueak, it is not right to harm one’s self” Luna said as she tightened her grip on what she considered her only friend. “But, L-Luna!? I ‘ave yelled at you and I need to be punished” Pip said, confused “No Pip, that is not what thou should do, now once we let you go, does’t thou promise that thou wons’t harm thyself anymore” “But princess-“ “No, thou will not harm thyself if thou is one of our friends” “Okay, prince-“ “And Pip” Luna said interrupting Pip’s apology “Yes?” “Don’t call us princess. Thou are a friend, one of our only ones, we do not allow friends to call us by that name, no for thou Pipsqueak, thou must call us Luna, just Luna” Pip sniffed one more time and hugged Luna back. It was as if he needed it. “Okay Luna, I promise that I won’t hurt myself anymore” Luna released Pip from her grasp and he went up and nuzzled her. Her surprise was evident as her face acquired the royal flush “Pip, um there is no need to” Pip bounded out in front of Luna, the entirety of his sorrow gone like the wind. “I know Luna, it’s just” he pawed at the ground, gaining a flush of his own. “It’s just well, I…” Luna saw how flustered Pip was getting, dropping her flush, a smile grew on her regal face.”Don’t worry thyself Pipsqueak, we are just not used to that kind of affection yet, but we will be in time” “Hi Pip, I didn’t see you there” interjected a sweet toned voice that pip could not help but recognize. Looking up, Pip saw the owner of the voice. It was Dinky, she and her mother were waiting for Twilight to return to the desk so she could check out her book on magic when she heard Pip’s voice. “D-Dinky w-what are you doin ere!?” Pip said blushing again at the sight of his first crush. “Oh I’m here with my mommy to get a book on magic. Did you say hi to princess Luna?” Pip tried to speak but it felt like someone super glued his mouth shut and couldn’t say a thing “Mommy, could you keep our place in line? I wanna go talk to Pip” Derpy nodded and said “Sure, anything for my muffin” her eyes moving of their own accord as she spoke. With her mother’s approval, the light amethyst pony happily trotted over to Pip and rested her head on his neck making him tense up. This was Dinky’s way of saying hi. “How have you been Pip, I haven’t seen you since Nightmare night. Don’t you go to school?” “I-I-I… Yes I do go ta school, it’s just…” Pip stuttered “Just what? Are you going to another school or something? I didn’t know there was another school in Ponyville” Pip was frozen, unable to speak. It took him a few moments before he could even think of something to say “Y-yeah, dat’s it, I am going to ummm… Sunny friends school” “Oh I’ve heard of that, it’s supposed to be really fun” Luna interjected “I’ve never heard of that? Is it new?” Pip looked around for a distraction, anything to get the focus of the conversation away from himself. He found it when he saw Twilight asleep on the job “Ey, why is Miz Sparkle sleeping on the floor?” Luna looked at Pip with an unnoticed blush on her face. “Ummm, I think it’s because she passed out when she saw me” she shamefacedly admitted Dinky released her captive and looked at the librarian. “Hey, there you are miss Twilight. We need to check out a book… Miss Twilight?” Dinky hopped over to the fallen unicorn and tried to nuzzle her awake. After coming to his senses, Pip joined her. “Luna, we need to put ‘er somewhere soft, umm I don’t ‘ave any magic and Miz Sparkle is quite ‘eavy so could you, maybe?” “What? Spit it out dear, I don’t know how to read minds” Luna said trying not to sound offended, even though it was her fault Twilight was out cold. “Could you, you know move ‘er for me?” Luna dropped her blush as confusion overwhelmed her mind. “We do not understand Pip, Twilight seems to be sleeping very peacefully, why would we move her when she sleeps soundly?” Pip frowned “But Luna, young mares should be treated with respect, and it’s not respectful to watch a mare as beautiful as miz Sparkle ‘ere sleep on a ‘ard and dirty floor. At least that’s what my pa says” Dinky looked at Pip and nuzzled him, she liked her colts to respect mares, not treat them like property. Pip blushed, but didn’t let his stare waver Luna didn’t understand; if Twilight looked to be peacefully asleep then why do I need to move her? As if to answer her question Twilight began to arouse from her sleep “Ugh, what happened?” she said rubbing her head Pip and Dinky tried to help Twilight to her hooves, but were quickly told not to. “Miz Twilight, I found you on the floor and Luna wouldn’t elp me move you to a softer location” Pip said. “Oh, thanks for the concern Pipsqueak but I don’t know why Lu-!” Twilight froze, memories of what happened before she passed out. Memories of the mess Spike made, the long line, Granny and … and princess Luna showing up for friendship lessons “Princess Luna is here to learn about friendship from me!” Dinky nudged Twilight towards the desk “Come on miss Twilight, you need to check out mine and mommies books?” “Okay, gimme a second Dinky” Twilight said as little Dinky’s cuteness made her smile. Pip grumbled before looking at Luna. “Well?” “What?” Luna said “Could you please explain why you didn’t ‘elp me move miz Twilight?” A confused and slightly agitated look grew on Luna’s face “What do you need me to explain little one, I didn’t move Twilight because she looked comfortable and yes I’m here to learn about friendship what more do you need to know?” “Why didn’t you move ‘er to a softer spot? It’s not right to leave a lovely mare on the floor when there was a perfectly good pillow she could sleep on” Twilight felt the tension growing between Luna and Pip. She checked out Dinky’s and Derpy’s books out in record time so she could ease the situation. “Thank you miss Sparkle, Dinky’s going to love her book” Derpy said “Anytime Derpy” Twilight said, a forced smile on her face and a bit of her mane going out of place. Dinky, who was behind her mother, jumped out in front and waved “I’ll see you later Pip. I’ve got some reading to do” She closed her eyes and proudly placed a hoof to her chest. “Don’t mention it Dinky, and if you ever want lessons I’m always here” Twilight called out as the duo left the library With her last two customers out of the way, Twilight turned to face the arguing friends “Pip, say sorry, you don’t yell at a princess” Luna’s eye ticked at being called princess from someone she considered a friend “But Miss Sparkle, shouldn’t Luna have at least put you somewhere more comfortable, it’s like my pa said-“ “LITTLE PIP, YOUR PRINCESS DOESN’T CARE ABOUT SUCH NONSENSICAL WHIMSY'S, TWILIGHT APPEARED COMFORTABLE SO I KEPT IT THAT WAY NOTHING MORE” the royal canterlot voice bellowed, Princess Luna's patients clearly gone. Pipsqueak froze, Luna, his favorite princess just yelled at him, and after saying that yelling at friends is not right. “Y-you’re not my favorite princess anymore!” tears streamed down his eyes, he felt betrayed “I ope I never see you again!”. He ran out of the library, passing his crush, who tried to comfort him but was ignored as he ran to the only spot he felt safe. “What a crybaby” Luna said feeling like she should get a pat on the back. “That was mean Luna, he just wanted to help me.” she judgingly said “I see why Celestia sent you to me” Luna’s look of false pride popped like a balloon as she realized her dreadful mistake. “Oh… we’re so sorry Pip, we acted selfishly, if we had performed the simple task of levitating Twilight two feet onto a few pillows, none of this would have happened.” She started banging her head, for the same reasons Pip did when he yelled at her. “ Now we have scared off our only friend, what have we done?” Maybe I should comfort her, tell her that it’ll be okay? Twilight thought No, that’s what you do for foals, you should go and find Pip and make Luna say she’s sorry In her moment of thought, Twilight didn’t notice that Luna had disappeared. “Princess! Where did you go!?” Up above Luna was flying, her eyes scanned the town below. “Luna! Hey over here!” Luna turned around to see who spoke when a blur of blue slammed into her “Ah, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS WHY DO YOU RAM INTO THE PRINCESS OF-“ Whoo, calm down Luna it’s only me the awesome Rainbow Dash” the cyan Pegasus said “Bah, watch where you’re going Rainbow crash, at the speed you were going you could have broken something.” Rainbow Dash didn’t take her nickname very well “Look I don’t care if you’re the princess, no one and I mean NO one, calls me Rainbow crash” Her anger blinding her, Luna could only think of one thing to do. “WE DAMAND AN APPOLOGY RAINBOW CRASH” Rainbow doubled her efforts, getting right up into Luna’s face “If you call me Rainbow crash one more time I’ll… I’ll” “You’ll what Rainbow dash? I am not in the mood for games like this. We found it acceptable to call you Rainbow crash, simply because you crashed into me and it rhymes with your name” Dash backed off, Luna wasn’t trying to insult her, she just didn’t know how much she hated that name… she was just uneducated and Dash was going to educate her fast. “Oh, in that case it’s okay” she got right up into the princess’s face again “But don’t make it a habit, your title of princess of the night won’t stop my hoof from beating you senseless” Luna blinked, her mind sending her mixed messages, she closed her eyes in concentration as she tried to sort everything out. “What no snappy come back princess?” Luna had never been threatened before, she didn’t know what to do. Luna and Dash went silent. Luna tried to sort out these thoughts of hers while Dash tried to calm down. Dash began to get annoyed at the sound of their wing beats and tried to strum up a more peaceful conversation. “So Luna, what are you doing here? I thought you were helping your sister with royal duties or something boring like that?” Luna blinked, hearing her name made her think that Dash was a friend. Why else would she refer to her by her name. “Oh me, well I am supposed to be learning about friendship from Twilight and I’m here because I’m looking for Pipsqueak. You see I-” “You mean when you screamed at him, something about putting Twilight on something soft.” Luna nodded and her ears went back in shame “Well, I could care less about… whatever it’s about; but I don’t like people yelling at my friends, so either learn to put a lid on your Royal Canterlot Voice or get out of my town!” Dash shouted For the second time Rainbow Dash threatened Luna, but she was in too much of a hurry to make a big deal. “Look, I just want to apologize to him, so if you don’t know where he is, I will be on my way” Luna said “Oh, Pip went crying towards town hall, so head that way if you want to apologize” “Thank you Rainbow Dash” Luna said turning to fly in the direction of the biggest building, assuming that it was town hall “Oh and Dash” “Yeah” “Don’t threaten me, I will let it pass this time because you helped save me but I won’t be so nice next time, okay” Dash just went back to her cloud waving Luna off Luna just rolled her eyes and left Pipsqueak was not at the town hall, but lying on the cool grass in front of the Nightmare Moon statue where he first declared princess Luna as his favorite princess. “I-I thought you were my f-friend Princess” he cried, wishing his mom was there. Pip often came to this spot to be alone, it was the last place he remembered seeing his mother, and the trees surrounded the place in such a way that no one in Ponyville would hear what he said. “Finally, I have been looking for you” a voice said Turning around, Pip saw Luna “W-what do you want?” he said through his manly tears Luna landed and sat down next to the colt “I thought you were at the town hall. I was getting worried that I wouldn’t find you” Despite his anger towards her, Pip shuffled to her side and stared at the statue. “Look, I’m sorry for yelling at you, could you please forgive me like I forgave you for calling me momma?” Luna said taking advantage of Pip’s close proximity to wrap a wing around his small body. He sniffed and reluctantly rested his head on her side. “Really, you don’t want to yell at me anymore?” Luna looked down at Pip, wishing that he would look up at her, urged to comfort the small colt but unsure if she could “Of course not young one, it was wrong of me to yell at you over something so trivial, can you forgive me?” Pip’s tears slowed as the warmth of Luna’s body, quelled the last of his anger “Sure” he said, submitting to Luna’s comfort “if you said sorry then I should forgive you. At least that’s what my pa said” “Good, so I am your favorite princess again?” a hint of a smile on the princess's lips Pip finally looked up at Luna’s face and smiled “Of course you are my favorite princess again, Thank you” Luna once more had a confused face “What do you mean thank you? It is I who should be thanking you for accepting my apology” Pip chuckled “You’re a silly princess, I’m just thanking you for saying sorry and admitting that you did something wrong, thus learning something” “Okay, now I’m really confused?” Luna said He chuckled again “Oh, never mind, and if Dinky asks, I never shed a single tear got it?” “But why, there is nothing wrong with crying?” Pip struggled against Luna’s wing till he was both comfortable and looking at Luna’s face “Please, I don’t want her finding out” “Why?” “Well, I kinda have … a crush on her” Pip blurted out only to cover his mouth “Please keep it a secret, please” “Oh how the plot thickens. Sure I’ll keep your secret Little Pip”
Chapter 3Twilight was scrambling her friends together to find the princess when she was rammed by Rainbow Dash “Rainbow, how many times do I have to tell you to stop using me as a target” “Sorry Twi, I just came to tell you that princess Luna went to the town hall to find Pipsqueak” Twilight stared at her friend’s sudden information “How do you know where the princess went?” “Well duh, I heard her yell at Pip and she said that she wanted to apologize to him” “I thought you were going to say that you knew because you are so awesome that there would be no way you wouldn’t know” Twilight mockingly said “That too” Dash, rubbed the back of her head, an action that Twilight had seen way too often and it generally meant she did something bad. “What did you do Dash?” Dash facehooved and moaned “you see Twi” “Dash.. what did you do?” Twilight didn’t like where this was going at all. “You see, I kind of threatened to beat her if she didn’t put a lid on her royal canterlot voice” “YOU WHAT!!” Twilight yelled getting up in Dash’s personal space “Look I’m sorry-“ “Sorry won’t stitch you back together when Celestia finds out that you threatened to beat her sister” Dash tried to hide her fear but Twilight could see the pegasus shaking in her fur. “Okay, Okay I’ll go with you and apologize to Luna if it’ll stop Celestia from skinning me alive” “Good, now let’s go, I have a schedule to keep” Twilight said trotting towards the town hall where Dash said Luna was “When don’t you have a schedule to keep Egghead?” Dash said following while hovering in the air. The two spent about a half an hour looking for the lost princess and the colt “Where in Equestria could they be?” complained Twilight after walking from town hall to the Nightmare moon statue, to the school yard and back to the library “I wondered when you would get back Twilight” a voice said as soon as the duo set foot in the library Twilight looked up and saw Luna at the top of the stairs, a duster held in her magic aura. “Hi Miss Sparkle, Luna and I were cleaning your ‘ouse as a way to say sorry for leaving you” Pip said running up to the violet mare. “Pip, where have you two been? You’re not hurt princess!” Twilight said rushing to check for any injuries that the princess might hold “Twilight I am fine, no need to panic over my safety, I am clearly capable of keeping myself from harm” Luna said “I just needed to say sorry to Pip here for yelling at him. Actually it was his idea to clean your home” Pip beamed, getting praise from his favorite princess. “Well aren’t you the little gentlecolt” Twilight said, rubbing Pip’s mane getting a few giggles. “Thanks miz Twilight, I also want to say sorry for making Luna mad” “Geez, what’s with all of the sorrys being thrown around?” Dash asked Twilight turned and glared at Rainbow Dash as Luna told Pip not to be sorry. “Don’t you have to say sorry to someone as well Rainbow?” “Yeah yeah, don’t turn into a hard boiled egghead” Dash said with a nervous chuckle, buckling under Twilight’s glare. “Luna I’m sorry for threatening you earlier” the sorry slipped out of her mouth like an ice cube from a block of ice, resisting at every step. “I accept your apology Rainbow Dash, just be happy my sister didn’t hear you; she gets a little too protective of me, like a mother with her child you know?” Luna said unaware that her sister heard every word and will punish Rainbow at some point, when, nobody knows. “Yeah, I got it Luna don’t tell Celestia.” Dash said heading for the door “Okay I’m off to finish the storm that is set for tonight, make sure you get home safely Little Pip, I don’t want any more mothers trying to skin me alive for bringing some kind of harm to their children” “Okay Dash I promise that I will make it home safely before the storm” Pip replied. Everyone said their goodbyes to Dash and the door to the clean library was shut A Celestial interlude Celestia was relaxing in Luna’s room watching her beloved sister progress in the magic of friendship “Now let’s see how you are coming along dear sister” she said taking a bit of a banana The bedroom itself was much darker in coloration than Celestia’s, with a black wallpaper that was covered with stars. On her ceiling, Luna had accurate renditions of her favorite constellations, Orion being one of them. “Oh what trouble are you going to get into this time little Lulu” Celestia said using her sister’s pet name She was on Luna’s round bed, in front of her was a yellow portal showing Celestia everything Luna saw. “But don’t make it a habit, your title of princess of the night won’t stop my hoof from beating you senseless” “What’s this, did Rainbow dash just threaten my Lulu!?” Celestia said shocked “Well I know one pony who will never get into the Wonderbolts, no matter how many sonic rainbooms she does. Time to talk to Spitfire” Celestia focused her magic and, like turning the page of a book the portal soon showed an image of a yellow Pegasus mare with a fiery mane and tail. “Spitfire, I need a word” Celestia said through the portal Spitfire slipped on something white and when she came into view again her yellow cheeks turned orange from a sudden flush “Oh princess, what do I o-owe this honor!?” Spitfire said trying to hide her body from view. “Am I interrupting something captain? “Oh, no, umm actually yes you are” Celestia put on a motherly face “I wouldn’t be interrupting you and Soran’s fun time now would I?” Spitfire’s blush grew and it all made sense in the princess’s mind. “Well don’t let me stop you, go on have some fun” There was a poomf sound and the background became a bright yellow “No, please stop putting those images in my head princess. How many times do I have to tell you? Our relationship is strictly professional” Celestia put a hoof to her chin “Then might I ask what you are doing then?” “NO! now please, uh, please call me back in ten minutes” “Oh come on Spitfire, I saw the white stuff you slipped on and I heard a moan what els-“ “I’m taking a shower okay, you startled me and I slipped. And that moan you heard was my hoof scuffing the tub!” “Oh, sorry, I’ll call you back in ten minutes, like you asked” “Please” Back at the library Pipsqueak and Luna were taking a nap on a big blue pillow Luna brought with her. Luna was still tired from being waken up at such an early hour and decided that now was a good time to catch up; Pip on the other hand resisted and wanted to stay up and play with Luna while Twilight researched how to teach Luna about friendship. Pip’s resistance crumbled when he realized how tired he really was and once Luna laid down and opened one of her wings. Pip was underneath in a blink of an eye, using the wing not only as a blanket but also as a shade, keeping the sun out of his eyes while he slept. Twilight looked up from one of her friendship reports; she kept copies of each and every one of them just in case she needed to look back. She looked up and smiled, it reminded her of the early days of her tutorage with Princess Celestia. Celestia treated her more like a daughter, she taught her manners along with magic. Celestia was more of a second mother then a teacher to Twilight. “They’re like mother and son, don’t you think Spike?” Spike had finally regained consciousness and , after cleaning the mess in the kitchen, joined Twilight “Yeah, Luna looks like Pip’s long lost mother” “Spike” Twilight said with a giggle “Luna is an eternal goddess and Pipsqueak’s just an earth pony, there’s no way she’s his mother” “Twi, I was just making a comment, and I said that she just looks like his long lost mother, not that she is” Twilight caught her mistake and giggled more “You’re right Spike, oh what’s with me and my crazy imagination?” “Don’t know?” Twilight giggled a bit more and went back to her reports About an hour later, the pitter patter of rain started up. Both Luna and Pipsqueak were still asleep, neither of them noticing the rain. Twilight had fallen asleep in her studies and was drooling on one of her latest friendship reports. Then there was a clap of thunder. “Gyaa!” Twilight shouted, waking up with a jump. Princess Luna slept straight through the loud bang and Pip didn’t even notice since wings made a good sound barrier along with its other useful functions. Twilight put a hoof up to her chest and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down “Wow, that was one heck of a wakeup call” She then looked at the clock and noted that it was time for dinner “Spike!” “Wha, huh?” Luna stuttered waking up ‘yawn’ “What time is it?” “Oh hello Luna, did you have a nice nap?” Twilight asked Luna got up and stretched, “Yes thank you for asking. Did Pipsqueak go home already?” There was a murmur beneath Luna, looking down she saw the pinto colt doing what looked to be searching for a blanket “Does that answer your question?” Twilight said giggling Soon the murmur grew into a whimper then finally a word “Huh?” “Hey there sleepy head, did you have a nice nap?” Luna cooed “I’m not a baby Luna” Pip said, agitated “But yes, I haven’t slept that well in a while, thank you” “Well, I was just about to have Spike prepare dinner for us.” Twilight said “Would you like to stay Pipsqueak? Or are your parents going to be mad if you come home with a full stomach?” “Why would they be mad Twilight? Wouldn’t that be a good thing if little Pip here came home not needing food?” Luna asked “No, if Pip’s parents made dinner, but Pip came home with a full stomach then their efforts and food would go to waste” Pip watched as Luna and Twilight bantered over such a simple question, making it sound really confusing to the young colt. “Stop” Pip yelled, quelling the argument. “I don’t think my parents would mind if I come home on a full stomach because even if they made dinner, they could save it as leftovers for another time” Spike had one of his claws raised and was about to stop the fighting, but now stood there like an idiot, trying to figure out whether to say something or go back upstairs and pretend he heard nothing. “There you are Spike, please set two extra plates for our guests” Twilight said “Okay Twilight” Spike said hopping into the kitchen. While Twilight and Luna relaxed, Pip bounced about eager to enjoy a good meal. “Pip, please calm down. The food isn’t going to come any quicker if you bounce around like that.” Twilight said “Oh, sorry miz Twilight, it’s just… I know you’re good at cooking so I can’t wait to try it” Twilight just rolled her eyes and chuckled “Yeah, are we talking about the same Twilight? Because I set fire to the kitchen the last time I tried to make an omelet” “Yeah let’s go with that.” Pip exclaimed bouncing some more. “Umm Twilight” Spike said from the kitchen “Yes Spike” Spike appeared from the door to her kitchen, a little pink apron was around his scaly waist “We only have enough food for three tonight” “Oh, that’s right. I was planning to go shopping tomorrow.” Twilight looked down a Pip sympathetically “Well I’m sorry Pip, but I guess you’ll just have to have dinner at your house” Pip’s smile disappeared and his head drooped “Nonsense Twilight, didn’t you see how excited he was to enjoy your cooking?” Luna said “Just let him have my portion, I had a big breakfast” There was a gasp and Luna noticed that Pip was hugging her leg like he had this morning “Thank you so much Princess, thank you thank you oh thank you” “Oh this won’t do, Pip I’m sorry but if anyone eats, it’s the princess” Twilight said, accenting the word princess to make sure her point was made. Like a balloon deflating, Pip’s energy disappeared. “Okay, miz Twilight. I guess I’ll be heading home now” Luna looked at Twilight “You can’t be serious Twilight, no I will not sit by and have my friend walk home with no food” Pip’s ears perked up “Luna it’s protocol that no matter what happens, the princesses must be fed, so once more I’m sorry Pip” Pip moved back to the door “DON’T MOVE ANOTHER STEP YOUNG PIP!!!” “Princess!” Twilight hissed “Don’t give him false hope, you know just as well as I do that this is how it need to happen… or do I need to tell your sister?” Luna looked at her friend, her head drooped and she felt horrible, but she couldn’t let Tia know about her breaking protocol “I’m sorry Pip, but Twilight’s right. I can walk you home if you want?” “No, I’m a big colt and I don’t want you getting wet. My pa says that’s not gentlemanly” Pip said sorrowfully “Okay, but do you want an umbrella?” Twilight asked “No, I’ll be fine, please enjoy your dinner.” “Well, if you say so Pip, I shall be here tomorrow we can… play then” Luna said Pip forced a smile “That would be great Luna, well I will see you then ladies” He opened the door and entered the downpour “Hurry home, I don’t want you to catch a cold” Luna shouted “I will” Ponyville park was one of the main attractions in the small town. There was Lyra and her beautiful lyre, playing hypnotizing melodies and the scenery was so breath taking that Ponyville park holds the highest number of marriage proposals in all of equestria. That is, when it’s not being assaulted by a thunderstorm Pipsqueak was underneath a large oak tree. After he ran away from the orphanage in trottingham he stole his pirate nightmare night costume from a filly. It tore at his heart and he was tempted to give it back, but he knew that he would never get any candy if he didn’t have a costume. “I’ll be fine” Pip mumbled, a half hearted pep talk to get him through the storm In the base of the tree were Pip’s only belongings, a teddy bear that had multiple holes in it, and a small ripped blanket designed for a newborn foal, it was nowhere near big enough to cover his body. While fillies like Dinky had a nice warm home, with hot chocolate and a mother to comfort them when the storm gets scary; all Pip had was the dirt stuck to his coat “I-I’ll b-be fine” The only sound in his little hut was the sound of roaring wind and the downpour of the rain that was rapidly turning his dirt bed to mud. “I’ll be f-fine” Pip’s stomach rumbled; the last thing he ate was a rotting apple that Applejack ignored while she was collecting apples; that’s why he was so devastated when he wasn’t able to have a real meal. “I’ll b- ‘hic’ be f-fine” There was a loud clap of thunder, it startled Pip so much that he hit his head on the ceiling of his shallow room. “I-I’ll be ‘sniff’ f-f-ine“ All this talk of his pa was a façade, he never knew his parents, they left him at the orphanage with his little teddy and blanket. Pip broke down into sobs and clutched his poor excuse for a teddy bear like a drowning person would cling to a life ring. “I w-won’t be f-fine! I’m hungry, I’m c-cold, I’m scared and… and I want my mommy!” Pip cried himself to sleep like usual, but this time he was tormented by the bit of comfort he got under the protection of Luna’s wings, wishing nothing more than to have his blanket back.
Chapter 4Pip woke up in a mud bath up to his neck. As he struggled to free himself from his bed, he noticed that he had a very large headache. “Ohhh, it feels like Applejack bucked my ‘ead” he said rubbing his forehead in an attempt to alleviate the pain. When he was finally free, he tried to find his teddy bear and blanket, but they were nowhere to be found. “Blimey, of course my teddy’s gone no one likes Pip… the runt of the litter” Tears began to well up in his eyes. The runt of the littler had become Pipsqueaks nickname at the orphanage. Nopony would play with him because nopony liked a runt; so Pip often found himself alone and he’d gotten used to it Derpy and Dinky were doing their usual Sunday thing, and that meant a picnic at their favorite spot. “Here we are muffin” Derpy said as she landed. Dinky bounded out of Derpy’s mail bags, landing on the damp, but not muddy grass. They were on a hill near the concealed part of the pond. The reason it’s not a muddy slide is because Derpy made a deal with Rainbow Dash; she’d bring her some of her delicious muffins for breakfast and whenever there was a storm scheduled for Saturday night, Rainbow would open a hole in the clouds so no rain would hit their spot. Dinky was testing her bravery while Derpy set their meal up. She would go close to the edge and risk falling in, but she’d retreat back to the safety of the blanket before going again. With one of these tests Dinky slipped on the mud and careened straight into the waters. “Ahhh, c-cold” she said as she tried to go up the slippery slope “Mommy, help” Derpy flew into the air and headed for the distress signal. The little purple filly rejoiced as her savior neared. Derpy lowered herself and grabbed her daughter, taking her back to the safety of the blanket. “I hope you learned your lesson muffin.” Derpy said as she took out a second blanket- A mother’s always prepared for anything- and wrapped her shivering daughter. “I-I have mommy, don’t go too close to the edge” “Yes, especially without your mom around” Dinky smiled and affectionately nuzzled her mother. When Pip had his headache somewhat under control, he sneaked past the early morning joggers and went to another tree. He grabbed one of the bars of soap that didn’t sink, from his cupboard, and went to the concealed part of the pond. Pip was about to take the plunge, when a certain purple unicorn caught his eye. It was Dinky, she was having a picnic with her mother, she looked so happy. Pip had to watch his every move, so he wouldn’t be taken back to the orphanage, while Dinky could frolic and not think about the consequences. Pip starves himself every day to be near his friends, his only sustenance coming from the rotten apples he steals from the farm. Dinky however, can have fun and not worry about where her next meal is going to come from. She had everything Pip wanted… a family, someone to kiss the boo boo away, to comfort him when he was sad or scared, someone to love him. Tears blurred his vision as he saw what he’s wanted his entire life, what he knew he’ll never have. Dinky was eating a muffin when she heard someone cry. Looking up she thought she saw a monster. Pip was contemplating his next move when a shout startled him and he fell in the water. “Hey Pip!” a voice called out a few moments later. Pip surfaced, shaking violently as mud turned the water around him brown. “Why are you in the cold water and why is it brown? I hope you didn’t have an accident” It took a few seconds for Pip’s mind to figure out why Dinky was laughing so hard, but a stray piece of mud floated by, giving him the embarrassing answer to his question “No! it’s just mud Dinky” he said blushing furiously “I-I slipped in a mud puddle and now I’m trying to clean myself off” “Well why didn’t you go home, I tested the water and it’s freezing…! Oh my Celestia you must be freezing, get over here now!” Dinky demanded Pip really was freezing and swam over to the light purple unicorn. Dinky gave Pip a helping hoof, but that just ended with her falling in too. “Pip you numbskull, now I’m f-freezing too” Dinky shouted as she scrambled to her hooves, only to fall back into the cold pond. Derpy, who was watching the scene from afar, jumped into action once again. She leapt into the air and hovered over the colt and filly, helping them help themselves. After being airlifted to the safety of the hill, Derpy grabbed the second blanket and wrapped them both up like a burrito “Th-th-thanks miz o-‘ooves” Pip said, blushing from the close proximity to his crush. “Yeah, th-thanks again mom” Dinky added “No problem, that’s what I’m here for muffin. Hey since your friend Pip is here, why don’t we let him join our picnic, he needs to warm up anyway” Pip’s eyes bulged, he was going to be allowed to have a real breakfast “Well, it sounds like someone’s hungry” Dinky said nuzzling her friend Pip couldn’t think straight, the gentle touch and lovely blueberry smell she gave off blinded his mind. “You okay Pip?” Pip’s stomach growled and this time he took notice “Ummm, yeah w-why wouldn’t I be?” “Well, you’ve been staring at me for a few minutes now… oh is it the blueberry shampoo my mom found? I love it so much, it reminds me of my favorite muffin can you guess what it is?” Dinky chirped, bouncing up and down and rubbing her fur with Pip’s, making him blush even more “Ummm, blueberry muf- herrrp” Pip’s answer was cut short when a muffin made its way into his open mouth. “Right! Now tell me what flavor this muffin is” Pip was unable to hear Dinky’s voice for the second time in the past five minutes. His senses were overloaded by the taste of fresh blueberries and his body seemed lose all of its tension. His headache disappeared, making him feel better than he had in months. “Pip, hello, Equistria to Pip” Dinky said as Pip seemed to melt, his body dragging to blanket and Dinky down with him, “Pip, Pip… Oh geez” Dinky fell on top of Pip and stared in his glassy eyes. “Yahahahaum, blueberry” Pip moaned as he came back from cloud nine “Right a mundo Pip, it’s a blueberry muffin” Dinky said rubbing Pip’s muzzle Dinky was pulled off of Pip by Derpy and placed next to the gray mare “I think you’re invading his personal space muffin” Pip’s vision blurred and he couldn’t tell if that was really Lyra floating on a cloud above him, playing her lyre with some kind of weird appendage. “Oh, sorry Pip, I didn’t know” Pip turned his body to the sound of the voice staring at Dinky with empty eyes. “Ha s-she called you m-muffin” he teased Dinky frowned “What’s that supposed to mean” Lyra was now floating behind Dinky giving him what looked to be a go ahead sigh. Pip nodded to her, “yo-you’re a Dinkyberry muffin.” Pip waved at Lyra who went back to playing “ Th-that’s what it m-means. Oh shooting stars, pretty” Dinky pouted, ignoring pip’s shivers while she contemplated something, “I’m not a muffin… I’m not a muffin, right mommy?” Dinky never got her answer. Derpy stared at Pip’s bumbling, she had been so busy preparing the picnic that she didn’t notice one of the special muffins Pinkie bribed her to make made its way into the basket. “Oh dear, umm Dinky, we should take Pip home he needs to rest” Pip rolled onto his back watching the lyre play Lyra “N-no thank you miz ooves, I fine ‘ere. Anyway, my ‘ouse is flooded with mud” Lyra suddenly started to grow wings, and a picture of an apple started to grow on her head. She was giggling as her lyre used its strings to tickle her. “Oh no, that’s bad, where do you live?” Dinky said, her curiosity about her friend piqued. “I wive in the twee ovew dare” Pip babbled pointing in a random direction “That’s okay, I’ll just take you to our house to take a nap and finish your breakfast. How does that sound Pip?” Derpy said, trying not to freak out over the little job Pinkie bribed her to do. Lyra was soon joined by Applejack, she happily hummed along with the music the lyre was playing while eating a tomato. “Sure, I wove you Dinky” Pip said, not even realizing it, as he grabbed the muffin again and took another big bite. “On no, please muffin, don’t eat that muffin” Applejack and Lyra were soon joined by a yellow tree with pink leaves, and they began chanting “Eat the muffin, Eat the muffin” Pip didn’t want to eat the muffin Derpy said not to, but he soon found an acceptation. “Hey, that tickles, Pip stop it” Dinky protested Pip saw the gigantic muffin, Dinky turned into and started eating her, the tree and other ponies seemed please and continued doing random things. “Pip! Don’t eat my daughter” Derpy yelled. Pip released his mouth from Dinky’s head and looked at Derpy “Miz ‘ooves I thought you said this is a muffin, it doesn’t taste like a muffin at all. Actually I wouldn’t know because I ‘aven’t ‘ad a muffin in two and a ‘alf weeks” Derpy took a deep breath “Calm down Derpy. That’s because Pip, she’s my daughter not a muffin, I just call her that because she’s my little muffin” She rubbed part of the blanket on Dinky’s head to get rid of the buildup of Pip’s saliva “’Ey Miss ‘ooves which is it? Is this your daughter or a muffin? You keep changing them” “She’s my daughter Pip, now hop on my back, we’re going home” “Yay, I don’t ‘ave a ‘ome” Dinky quickly got over the weird feeling of being eaten and pushed Pip onto her mother’s back before something else happened. Sunlight poured through the windows at the Ponyville library, which assaulted its librarian’s eyes. Twilight groaned, not wanting to leave her warm bed, but when an enticing smell reached her nose her stomach growled. “Fine, I’ll get up” she said, throwing her star covered blanket off of her body. Twilight stepped out on the hardwood floor, shivering involuntarily as her hooves came in contact with the cold surface. “Oh, it’s a cold one today.” Twilight shivered and grabbed her fluffy purple bathrobe, before following her nose to breakfast.“Yum, that smells great Spike” Twilight trotted down the stairs, expecting to see Spike put the finishing touches on breakfast, when she saw Luna. “Princess!” Twilight said, startling Luna, who was making something weird “ Oh it’s just thou Twilight Sparkle.” Luna said putting a hoof to her heart to try and calm herself “We beseech thou, don’t do that again” “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you” Twilight apologized “But why are you talking with the… royal we?” Luna levitated one of the giant balls of dough into a bag “Oh, well, we only dost it when we art frightened or nervous” “Okay, that explains why you wouldn’t stop talking like that last Nightmare night. You were just nervous about the ponies of Ponyville accepting you” Luna wrapped the bag with the ball of dough and put it in her saddle bags “What’s in the bag Luna?” “This, well this is a little gift for Pip” Luna said opening her bag to show Twilight what’s inside “Huh? Why give Pip a gift?” “Well I feel horrible about sending him off without food so I made him one of my favorite dishes.” She said putting the bag back in her saddle bags “I hope you don’t mind me using the last of your food stuff” “Of course not princess, I was going to go shopping anyway” Twilight said with a forced smile Luna saw how Twilight treated her but said nothing of it “Oh-kay, well would you like to join me in delivering it to him?” Twilight jumped to her hooves “Of course princess, anything for you” “Twilight Sparkle, please, I don’t want to be treated like a princess right now. Tia said that I needed to make friends and I can’t do that if everypony is waiting on me hand and hoof” But Twilight didn’t hear her, she was too busy grabbing her own saddle bags and filling them with bits. “Well are you ready, or we could wait, whatever you want princess” Luna just rolled her eyes “No Twilight Sparkle I am ready” Celestia’s sun was just making its way into the sky when Twilight and Luna left to find Pipsqueak. Luna had purposefully forgotten to wear her royal regalia in an attempt to feel like a normal pony. The results however, weren’t exactly what Luna was expecting. Twilight and Luna wondered the roads of Ponyville as Ponies left and right bowed, fearing Luna’s wrath if they didn’t. “I thought she was nocturnal” one stallion whispered “Yeah, I thought she melted in sunlight” Accusations like these were said and Luna’s patience was wearing thin “Hey Luna” Twilight said, probably sparing the town another dose of Luna’s royal canterlot voice. “Yes Twilight Sparkle” “I also thought you were nocturnal, how are you awake right now?” “Magic” Twilight’s eyes bulged “Oh, that’s so cool! Maybe I can become nocturnal and the two of us could watch the stars together. Wouldn’t that be soo cool, oh I can see it now, you and I hanging out under your beautiful stars, with hot coco and, oh, daisy sandwiches, I love daisy sandwiches, what do you think princess” Twilight’s enthusiasm put a smile on Luna’s lips “Yes, that would be… cool Twilight” The duo kept walking, Twilight kept babbling about things her and Luna could do when she became nocturnal, when a certain pegasus crossed their field of view. “Fluttershy!” she happily exclaimed bounding over to her “Oh… um hi Twilight. I was just, you know, getting food for my cottage, Angel noticed the lack of carrots and I, well came to get some” “Fluttershy you remember Princess Luna?” The shy mare, whimpered in fear “Ummm y-yes” Luna took note of the canary yellow pegasus’s fear, something she had learned from Pip and laid down, making herself look less threatening. “Please don’t fear us Fluttershy, if I may call you that?” Fluttershy noticed Luna’s calm posture and calmed down a bit “O-okay, you c-can call me Fluttershy” “Good” Luna said smiling and putting Fluttershy a bit more at ease. “How have you been? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I know how scary I can be” There were ohhs and awws from the crowd gathering around. “Um, I-I’ve been okay. Thanks for asking” “I can’t believe this, our timid little Fluttershy isn’t scared of Nightmare Moon” a stallion murmured “What did you call us!” Luna hissed, getting a startled epp from Fluttershy. The stallion in question ran for the hills, begging for mercy and half expecting Luna to smite him with her powerful lightning. What followed was complete chaos, mares grabbed their children and took off running, the bravest of stallions nearly wet themselves trying to get away from Nightmare Moon. Everyone but Twilight and Fluttershy ran away. Luna once again started banging her head against the ground, wasting yet another chance to make friends. The kind hearted Fluttershy immediately went into mother mode, galloping up to Luna’s side. “Oh, please don’t hurt yourself Luna, I know you never meant to scare anypony” Luna looked up at the previously timid Fluttershy, all she saw was her caring eyes reaching out to her. “Y-you’re not scared of us?” she said futilely trying to hold her tears back. “No, you’re a nice pony Luna, I see now that you were just misunderstood and if it’s alright with you, could I be your friend?” Luna leapt, bringing Fluttershy into a bone crunching hug. “Yes, I would love it if you were to become our friend Fluttershy thank you so much” Fluttershy took the abuse better than some stallions would and rubbed Luna’s back reassuringly. “I’m glad I can help, now, could you um put me down please, you’re kind of hurting me” With a gasp, Luna released her death grip and apologized profusely. With a few heartfelt goodbyes, Fluttershy left her new friend to continue her shopping. Nearly all of the stallions stared at the shy pegasus, mouths agape as they felt their stallionhoods drop like rocks. “See, I knew you could make friends Luna” Twilight chirped as a crowd once again formed around the duo. “Thanks Twilight, now let’s find Pip” “Where could he be?” Luna asked, worried that her gift would get cold before it reached him “I don’t think anypony knows where he lives, and I don’t see him falling out of the sky anytime soon” Twilight was soon eating her words as a scream came from above. Luna looked up, what she saw horrified her. Pipsqueak was in fact falling from the sky. Luna flared her wings and took off like a bullet. Most of the other ponies worked frantically to make a safety net, just in case the princess failed Derpy, Dinky and Pip were flying over the town of Ponyville. Derpy had the picnic basket around her neck, placing the leftover food items in her saddlebags to help keep stability in the air. “Pip, stop squirming, you’ll fall off” Dinky said trying and failing to keep the drugged colt still. “But Dinky I can fly I just know it” Pip said trying again to jump off of Derpy’s back. “NO, Pipsqueak stand still or I will have to pull over” Derpy protested, she did not want any kind of attention placed on what she did to Pip. She just wanted to get him home. “No, you can’t make me’ Pip teased, sticking his tongue out “You’re not my mommy, I don’t ‘ave a mommy” “Pipsqueak, you’re not a Pegasus” Dinky said as Pip jumped. Dinky felt her mother’s back disappear, and a weightless sensation came over her. Dinky didn’t have enough strength to keep Pip still and fell off with him. “MOMMY!” she cried, pleading for mom to save her. Derpy wasted no time before she raced toward her daughter, desperate screams filling her ears. “MOMMY!” Derpy closed the gap and when she was close enough, she grabbed hold of her screaming daughter. Dinky pulled her mother into a vice like grip, holding on for dear life. “Shhh, it’s okay muffin, I’m here, it’s all going to be okay” Derpy said to her petrified daughter “Mommy, what about Pip!” Derpy matched Dinky’s death grip “There’s nothing I could have done muffin, you come first” she said as tears streamed down her cheeks “you always come first” “PIP! No!” Dinky stared teary eyed as she watch her friend fall to his death Pip tried to flap his wings, but he soon found out that he didn’t have any. Panic grew in the drugged pony’s heart and whatever high his body was experiencing shattered, leaving only the cruelty of reality. Pip screamed, but unlike Dinky, he had no one to save him; no one to save the runt of the litter. Luna rocketed towards Pip, plotting an intercept course; she never felt so determined over anything, but seeing Pip’s body plummet to certain doom filled her with adrenaline. In the matter of seconds, she was under Pip. She held her arms out as she flew up, ready to catch her friend. The ponies below were running like chicken’s with their heads cut off. Some were trying to make something soft for the young colt to land on, others, mainly pegasi were too scared to fly up and help Luna try to catch Pip. “Come on, come on”, she was shaking like a leaf, what if she missed? What if she failed? No one would want her to be their favorite princess if she failed. Seconds before landing safely in Luna’s outstretched forearms, Pip gave up what little fight he had left to live… to him, there wasn’t anything left to fight for, no one loved him, no one would miss him, so why even try. As blackness crept into his vision, Pip heard the sound of flapping wings. He thought they were his guardian angel getting ready to take him away, away from his torture, his nightmares and the agony of being alone. Luna grunted as Pip hit her forearms like a rock, but with the help of her magic she was able to hold on to him. “Don’t fret young Pip, thine favorite princess is hither” she said, nuzzling him as tears fell on his sleeping form. Author's Note I need to know, how long do i have in between chapters to post another one. cuz this is the last complete chapter i have. should i try to rush and give you crapper quality or work longer and get better stuff? give me a number of days... weeks... months i don't know. please and thank you
Chapter 5Luna looked up, wondering how her little friend got so high when a gray mare ran away from the scene, carrying what looked like a little foal in her arms. It was very suspicious to her, but she couldn’t focus on that, for a certain butter yellow Pegasus was trying to take her only friend and Luna was having none of it. Derpy flew faster than she had in a long time. “Mommy! We need to save Pip!” Dinky cried. She didn’t see Luna catch Pip so for all she knew, her friend was dead. “There was nothing I could do muffin” Derpy said, tears falling on her daughter’s head. Not only had she drugged a colt and nearly got him killed, she drugged a friend of Princess Luna… The princess Luna. The one who everyone thought she ate your face off if you accidentally bumped into her on the street. While Derpy didn’t believe a single word of those lies, she couldn’t help but feel scared for herself and Dinky. “NO! h-he can’t be gone he just can’t” Derpy wanted nothing more than to comfort Dinky, tell her that Pip was okay, but she had to get home first. Dinky’s safety came first, so that was top priority Before they had their current home, Derpy went from job to job, giving it her all to save up enough money so she and Dinky could have a place of their own, and not have to bunk at a friend’s house every night. One day Twilight noticed that Derpy was having a bit of trouble with finances; she was trying to buy a mansion when she hardly had enough money for an apartment. Twilight took pity and decided to collect her friends and make her a house. The grand unveiling was a big moment for Derpy, she and Dinky had just gone through a fight with a friend and had beenkicked out on the street and she needed something to lift her spirits. Derpy landed on her lawn, she cradled Dinky and whispered comforting words, but she didn’t tell her immediately that Pip was okay. She only stared at her lovely home with a horror stricken face. When the blind fold was released, Derpy gasped; Twilight made her a house that looked exactly like her favorite muffin. A red velvet muffin with white chocolate chips. Tears grew in her eyes, it was perfect and after she thanked Twilight and her friends about a million times. Her and Dinky enjoyed their first night in their brand new home, given to her for free, the only consolation was that she had to take good care of Dinky. That’s it! Dinky’s crying grew in volume, bringing Derpy back into reality. “Shh, it’s okay Dinky, Pip is going to be fine” Dinky looked up, sniffing “You’re sure mommy” she said Derpy smiled, that loving smile that always made Dinky fell safe, like nothing was ever going to be wrong. “Yes, in fact, I saw princess Luna save him, so I know for a fact that he’s fine” Dinky rested her head on her mother’s soft coat and let her last tears go. “Okay mommy I believe you” “Good, now take the picnic basket in and start your homework” “Okay” Dinky left her mother’s sweet embrace and headed towards the muffin like house. When Dinky was inside, Derpy tried to get up, but she couldn’t. She stood there, horrible guilt warping her stomach, she felt like she was going to throw up. Her house wasn't hers anymore, her favorite muffin was gone, replaced by the same kind of mushroom she used to drug Pip. Derpy went up to the house and started banging her head against the wall, tears leaked from her eyes. “I didn’t ask for this” she said to herself. “I didn’t want this”. Her banging slowed and she collapsed on the ground in a heap. “I-I had n-no choice. I needed t-the money” Pinkie’s bribe was starting to tear at the pegasus’s heart. “Mommy” Derpy looked up, startled, it was Dinky, she had heard the banging and went to investigate. “Mommy, are you okay?” Derpy opened her arms, willing Dinky to come over for a hug. Dinky complied. “I’m so-sorry muffin” “For what?” Dinky said looking up into her mother’s teary eyes “I-I've done something w-wrong” Dinky chuckled, nuzzling her mom “Oh you’re so silly mom. You care too much to do something wrong.” Derpy smiled “You’re right muffin, but I still need to apologize to them and make everything all better” Dinky broke the hug and smiled at her mother “Okay mom, while you do that I’ll do my homework” The light purple unicorn went back into the house carrying the picnic basket for her mother so Derpy could collect herself. Dinky went into the kitchen and placed the basket on the counter. As she went to go upstairs, her stomach growled. “Well, I can’t do homework on an empty tummy” she said climbing back on the chair to get at the goodies that were still in the basket. “Where’s that blueberry muffin I gave to Pip?” Dinky looked for a couple of minutes until she found her prize. “I wonder why this made Pip so happy, well only one way to find out” She took a bite, and almost immediately, her world started to spin. “Woaaah” Dinky became dizzy, but at the same time, relaxed. Aches she didn’t know she had disappeared, her mind opened up and the room seemed to be filling with lava. It took Derpy a lot longer to pull herself together than she thought it would. “Okay, first thing, I have to get rid of those muffins.” She got up and trotted into the house, wincing as she once more noticed the similarities of her house to the mushroom. “Dinky” she called out, it was really important that she knew Dinky didn’t get into the basket, if she did, she would never be able to forgive herself. “Mommy!, Help!” Derpy rushed, but when she got into the kitchen, she didn’t see anything wrong. “What! What’s going on Dinky!?” Dinky who was standing on a stool like a housewife who saw a mouse. She put a lampshade on was was somehow hopping on two hooves screaming at the top of her lungs. “Dinky, what’s gotten into you” Derpy had rushed, picking her daughter up. “and why are you wearing a lampshade?” “There’s Lava mommy, LAVA!!” Dinky screamed, making her mother’s ears hurt. “Dinky there is no lava, what’s gotten into you!?” Dinky didn’t answer, she just climbed onto her back and started sucking her hoof and naming her others “You’re wabecca” she said pointing to her left hoof. “You’re Donawd, and- Oh, you can be Pip, I wove you Pip” Derpy was horribly confused, first Dinky complained that there was lava, now she was naming her hooves and talking like a baby. Dinky’s horn suddenly glowed and a certain muffin made its way to Wabecca and Donawd When Derpy saw the muffin, something clicked in her mind, something really bad “Muffin… is that the muffin Pip ate?” Derpy tentatively asked, afraid of the answer “Yep” Now it all made sense to her… “Don’t hog it awe wabecca, weave some fow donowd” Derpy was being forced to rethink how and why she made those muffins, heavily laced with mushrooms. “Oh no, mommy there’s a big snake in the sink!” She had to, if she didn’t, than she wouldn’t be able to pay for her food and Dinky would starve and that would mean she would have failed the only task Twilight gave her. Dinky hopped off her mother’s back, leaving her in a trance while she donned some pirate gear she got from the oven. Hopping back onto her mother, Dinky climbed on her head and shouted “Onward”, swishing the muffin around like a sword as she somehow took more bites every time it passed her mouth Derpy snapped out of it when a bit of muffin fell between her wall eyes. Looking up, she startled Dinky, who clamped onto her mother’s head “Mommy, I was standing there, why did you shake me?” She cried. A smile grew on Derpy’s face, even when she was drugged Dinky was incredibly cute, but that smile quickly died when she remembered that she was the one who got her high. With tears in her eyes, Derpy swatted the muffin out of Dinky’s hoof just before she took another bite. “Mommy, I was going to eat that” Dinky argued as she jumped down from her mother’s head and took off the eye patch she was wearing, giving her mother the stink eye. “Don’t you look at me like that!” Derpy’s tears had grown and into full fledged sobs “NO! this has gone too far, Dinky tell me you got hungry and accidentally ate that muffin” “Nope, I wanted to eat that muffin” Derpy felt her heart crack, not only had her daughter eaten the muffin she knew that she shouldn’t but she admitted it up front and her voice didn’t even quiver once. “Dinky… do you know how much that hurts me?” she asked, hoping that her daughter had some sense of responsibility left in her “Yep” Dinky trotted up to her mother and nuzzled her side. Derpy took the opportunity to trap Dinky, before anything else happened. “Dinky, don’t lie, tell me you didn’t do this on purpose” “B-But I did mom, I wanted to try the muffin, it made Pip so happy and I wanted to… hey, come back here Carrot, those muffins don’t belong to you” Tears fell from Derpy’s eyes as her heart broke in two. She made muffins with drugs and her only daughter ate them, after she had told her not to. What made it worse was that she admitted to it like that, no hesitation, no nothing. Derpy looked down at her daughter, who was licking her fur like a cat. She hadn’t hesitated when she admitted it, that wasn’t like her at all, normally she would at least think about her answer... than a thought hit Derpy, could she only tell the truth!? Derpy had to know, she had to think of something to ask her that she Dinky would lie… but what During her moment of thought Dinky bit her mother, she ran to the door, chasing an imaginary Carrot top. “Dinky! Get back here!” She turned around “But mommy, Carrot is stealing our food” Derpy put her sternest face on “Get back here Dinky, now” Dinky shuttered and ran back to her mother. When Dinky returned, Derpy wrapped her in a squeezing embrace, immobilizing her. “Dinky do you love Pipsqueak?” Dinky couldn’t fully understand where the question came from but she knew the answer “Well of course I do mommy, I’ve had a crush on him ever since I saw him last Nightmare Night” That was a little more information she really wanted to know, but it proved that she couldn’t tell a lie… but that means. “Dinky! What did Pip say today?” Dinky thought “Well, he said that he lived under a tree, that he had no mommy and that he was a Pegasus” If Dinky couldn’t lie, that meant that Pip couldn’t tell a lie. He really is homeless and doesn’t have a mother! Gasping, Derpy took Dinky to her room. She grabbed the blanket off of her bed and wrapped her up, immobilizing her and making sure she stayed comfortable “Dinky, mommy will be right back, take a nap and you will feel much better. Trust me” “Okay, but promise me you will catch Carrot and bring back our muffins” Derpy kissed her daughter’s head “I promise” A Celestial Interlude Celestia didn’t call Spitfire back. In the ten minutes between calls, Celestia’s rage died and she took a logical view on the situation. “Okay, Rainbow Dash, you still have a chance to get into the wonderbolts, but if I find out that you threatened my Lulu one more time, that’s it little missy” Celestia took a tense bite of her large slice of cake, as she tried to get control of her emotions. Then she looked back at the mirror like screens. “Why, it already seems Lulu’s made a friend. I knew this would be good for her” Luna had put up a shield to stop everypony from taking Pip away from her. it was probably her fault he fell, and she was going to protect him from everyone if it killed her. She entered the library, enhancing her shield to cover the entire tree. She put a specificality spell onto it, making it so that only ponies she trusted could get through. Taking a sigh of relief, Luna looked over at Pip, who was shivering like he was cold. “Don’t worry yourself too much little Pip, I’ll stay right here to protect you” Luna said as she nuzzled Pip’s sleeping form once more. Twilight left to get her shopping done, leaving Luna alone in the now closed library. Luna used her magic to drop the shades, pulling the library into complete darkness. The sounds of ponies trying to save Pip could be heard outside, but all Luna had to do was enhance her shield once more to send them packing. Shuffling her saddlebags off, Luna made her way through the library, passing the bookshelves with ease as she made her way to her bed. She let out a content sigh as the soft embrace of her favorite, away from home, bed made itself known. When she was comfortable, Luna levitated Pip’s small body to the spot she made next to her on the bed. He was still shivering and, without skipping a beat, she draped her wing around the small colt. That’s when something weird happened. Pip’s shivering stopped, but he started crying in his sleep. Luna gasped in shock as she saw each individual tear fall from his eyes. She was stunned as she could hear each sob that came from his mouth.”Oh, don’t cry young Pip, your favorite princess is right here. I saved you from the fall, and I won’t leave you” she said, but once she remembered that he was asleep, she realized that he was having a nightmare… “Not on my watch, hold on Pip, your favorite princess is on the way” . Luna found herself, not in a gigantic pirate battle where Pip was losing, or a castle where Pip was being chased down a dead end hallway by a blood thirsty vampire. She instead found herself in the Ponyville park. “Well this is an odd place to have a nightmare” she said as she began her search for the crying colt. The princess of the night searched high and low for her quarry, under blankets, in squirrels nests, in a cloud, even under that great lyre playing pony. “This is really weird, normally I always find the pony I’m after in the last place I expect him to be.” “Do you mind?” “Oh sorry, um it’s Lyra right?” “Yes, now could you please put me down” Luna nodded and put the weird and strangely obsessed pony back on her bench before continuing her search. Luna roamed around the muddy planes of the park when she heard a soft, almost inaudible sob. “Hello” she called out, wondering if it was Pip There was an awkward splash underneath a tree followed by panicked sobs. “Pip, it’s just us, your favorite princess” Luna patiently waited for a response, but her patience level was the same as a bomb with a short fuse. “Okay, if thou doesn’t come out here Pipsqueak, than I’m just going to have to come in” No response “Okay, thou asked for it” Luna moved stealthily, like a ninja when a thought hit her. Why was she even giving him the option of coming out when she could barge in there and save him from whatever terror he was in. She didn’t give Dinky that right when she was being attacked by a giant Pip doll with lipstick and a bow three times bigger than his head, nor did she give it to Snails when he thought Snips was going to kill him with a pair of scissors. No she barged in there, guns blazing in a way, and solved the problem, before going off into the night receiving nothing but praise and admiration for her heroic deeds. Why was this different? Why did she have to take a more gentle approach? Sick of her thinking, Luna stuck her head under the tree only to find something she never expected. Inside the muddy hollowed that seemed to be pony made was in fact Pip, but that’s not what made this find so… out there. It was the fact that he seemed to have been crying for quite some time, and his fur was a complete mess. Not only did his little spots disappear under a heavy coating of mud, but it looked like his mother never brushed it at all. Besides him was three apples that looked to be well beyond their expiration dates, one of them had a bite mark and there seemed to be a worm crawling out of it. “Did thou?” Luna asked, hoping Pip didn’t make that bite mark. Pip nodded and held his head down in shame. “Why Pip? Those apples are probably full of nasty things, and why are you in a gigantic mud pit, and why is your fur so dirty?” Luna lit her horn, dragging Pip out of his hole. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do” Pip tried to run back into the mud hole and hide, like it would solve all of his problems, but Luna kept a firm grip on him with her magic. The tree squirrels seemed to quiet and the grass felt like it was turning, waiting for Pip to explain why he was under that tree, but Pip refused to answer, instead he started to cry. “This is not like thou Pip, why are’t thou so afraid? Where’s that pirate we saw, fearless and determined?” Luna asked Pip turned, the quiet becoming too much for him and prepared to spill his guts. “L-Luna… I’m all alone, I have no one to love me, not even my parents care about me” Aside from the soft thump Pip made as he fell out of Luna’s magical grip. The world went silent, nothing made a squeak as Luna stood there, baffled. “What does thou mean Pip? We do not understand these accusations thou makeist against thou’s parents” “Luna, please, I don’t want to explain myself, just go, leave me in my misery.” He headed back to his mud hole “I’m not worth your time” he would have gotten back if Luna didn’t light her horn again. “Young Pip, you really expect me to leave you alone when it’s my duty to protect my friends from nightmares” Luna levitated Pip up to her face, she almost immediately regretted it because it seemed that Pip hasn’t had a good bath in quite some time. “Pipsqueak, when was the last time you had a bath, because thou really smells” Luna pulled Pip away from her nose, almost offended my his body odor. Tears welled in Pip’s eyes once more, and he covered his head with his hooves, fearing the consequence of insulting a princess with his personal hygiene. “Well we’re just going to have to do something about that aren’t we” Pip felt the world spin, making him feel sick to his stomach. When everything stabilized, he heard the pop of magic being used, guessing it was the rock where his head will be cut off and used as a symbol to those who dare insult the princess of the night. The sound of running water hit his ears, maybe she wasn’t going to be so kind, maybe she was going to drown him, laughing as the life slowly left his body. He felt movement, this was it, his life was going to end. His life didn’t end, he instead felt warm water envelope his body like a mother’s embrace. Opening his eyes, Pip saw Luna, not glaring at him, not wielding an ax that was going to take his head off, but a bar of soap. She smiled… Luna was smiling at him, not ready to kill him, but to clean him? “You’ve done a lot for us Pip.” Luna started rubbing Pip’s fur, getting all of the loose mud off of him “Because of you, I understand why people are afraid of me.” All of the tension in Pip’s body released as the warm water did its trick. He collapsed, making Luna hold him up so he didn’t go underwater “You’re my only friend that actually treats me like a friend, not like a princess, and if you say that no one loves you, then I’ll be your first” Pip started crying again, making Luna confused. “Pip why are you crying? You’re supposed to be happy that I’m giving you love, not sad?” Pip slowly entered into the dream world yet again, but before he passed out, he muttered one word “Momma” Derpy flew to the library, she didn’t exactly know who to talk to, but she did know that she could talk to Twilight Sparkle about anything. She had done so much to help her and thus she had Derpy’s trust. Derpy entered the long abandoned library, passing the force field that Luna unconsciously put down. “Why is everything dark?” Derpy asked herself. She lifted one of the shades, shining just enough light so that Luna became visible. Derpy turned, noticing the dark blue wing draped over something. Moving closer, Derpy looked underneath Luna’s wing… it was Pip! “Pip, Luna wake up, I’ve got something to tell you about Pip” But instead of waking up, Luna’s body pulsed. It pulsed, turning Luna’s beautiful blue coat pitch black, also Derpy saw a set of magic armor that she’d thought she would never see again. It was the armor of Nightmare Moon Derpy screamed, fleeing the library before she could tell anyone of Pip’s secret Author's Note This was one of the chapters that i was itching to write. Sorry if the Celestial interlude wasn't all that you hoped it would be. Celestia is an overprotective sister, but she uses logic so i had to do it like that. I've been noticing that my paragraph's structure has changed, so please tell me in the comments if you think i'm getting better or worse. if you think the latter, than please explain why. i don't mind negative criticism, i just want you to explain it so i learn. I feel like Will Smith, Becouse my life just got twist turn upside down. I want to change the updates from two weeks to one weeks, but i can't sorry In closing, Please comment, i need to know if i'm doing this right... and a couple of compliments go a long way... sorry i had to
Chapter 1The Ponyville library was being mobbed on the first ever ‘Read a Book’ day. A day dedicated strictly towards reading “I could so come up with a better name than that, but no, it was take it or leave it” Twilight complained, trying to keep her voice down as she passed another sign. Other than the name, Twilight couldn’t be more happy with the turn out. The tree library was so packed, it took her five minutes to get from one side of the library to the other, and the line outside was getting longer by the minute. “Sorry, I just lent the last copy of Flying 101 to Pipsqueak, he said something about flying off to see his favorite princess, even though he has no wings” Twilight told Scootaloo, who was getting desperate in her attempts to learn how to fly. Twilight had fought for months, trying to convince Mayor Mare to give her her holiday, and now it was all hers. “Awww, that’s not fair” she said, getting ready to give up “Hey I know how you feel Scootaloo, so here’s what I’ll do” Twilight lit her horn, levitating a quill and paper “When Pip figures out that he’s not a Pegasus, I’ll bring the book straight to you. Just tell me where you live.” Scootaloo had no home, her parents died in a house fire, but what made it horrible was that her home was made of clouds, not something that burns easily “Um, that’s okay Twilight; I’ll just come back tomorrow, it’s sure to be back by then” the little orange Pegasus frantically said as she bolted out the door “What a strange little filly” Twilight said to herself just before she was dragged to help someone else. Luna hid under her covers, something was amiss and it frightened her. “Wait, we are the princess of the night, why should we fear something in the dark? We made the dark” Luna bounced out, ready to face her intruder ‘CREEEEEEK’ “Epp” Luna, the big bad princess of the night, rushed back to the safety of her covers. Poking her head out, Luna looked in the direction of her door “Who goes there?” ‘creeeek” “We’re warning thee, we are masters of the dark arts” “Luuuuuna” An eerie voice said. Luna flinched at the voice. The door creaked open further, reviling a set of opal eyes and a glistening smile, but that’s all Luna could see. “Luna… I have a surprise for you” Suddenly, all the lights turned on. “Gah!” Luna screamed hiding from the lights. Celestia slowly crept towards the mound on her sister’s bed. Getting up, close and personal, she moved her muzzle mere inches from what she assumed was Luna’s head. “Gotcha” Twilight was helping Tootsie flute with a book on music, when a loud shriek shook the library. “What the?” Twilight turned back to Tootsie realizing that the little filly had rushed to her mother’s side, afraid of the loud noise After her shout, Luna lost it. “Sister! What is the meaning of this!?” Celestia was on the floor laughing. “Sorry Lulu, I couldn’t resist” Regaining her composure, Celestia wiped one last tear from her eye before getting serious. “Okay” she started, magically blocking the pillow Luna threw at her “Lulu, you’re going on a trip” “What!?” Luna said dropping Celestia. ”But sister, you know I am nocturnal and I sleep during the day, can’t this wait?” Celestia floated on her wings “No, you need to make some friends, I’m starting to get sick of you complaining that you’re bored all of the time” The day was hectic, but to Twilight, everything was all going to plan. “Okay, almost everypony has found a book and I can take a break in… about an hour. “Spike are you finished with lunch yet?” Twilight shouted, ignoring the weird faces some of the new ponies gave her. There was no response and Twilight trotted into the kitchen where she found her number one assistant passed out on the ground; somehow he blew up the daisy sandwiches, splattering the kitchen with green goop. “Spike, what have you done!” Twilight yelled “Oh, this wasn’t supposed to happen, oh no no no no” She lit her horn to try and clean the mess up fast when there was a belch. Spike had unconsciously delivered a letter from the princess. “Really Celestia, now. Oh why can’t things just go to plan, why does someone always want to make my life hard” Twilight levitated the letter and removed the green goop that clung to the paper before reading it. To my most faithful student I am sending you somepony that needs to learn about friendship She’ll be there in twenty five minutes Signed Princess Celestia Twilight stared at the letter, reading it over and over again to make sure she read it right. “What, a test on friendship, now!” she said, panic welling in her chest “What do I do, there is still a lobby full of ponies waiting to check out their books, I can’t just leave them.” She began to walk in circles, trying to think of a solution to her problem “Spike, wake up, please” She tried to shake her assistant and wake him up, but he slept like a rock “Sparkle, we’re waiting to check out our books” a stallion shouted Twilight began to hyperventilate, this was not supposed to happen. “Oh why didn’t I accept my friends help!?” She continued her frantic pacing, wracking her brain for a solution. “SPARKLE” “C-Coming” Exiting the kitchen, Twilight found that everyone was waiting in line to check out their book Great, it will take me a half an hour to get through this line “Come on Sparkle, I have somewhere to be today” Twilight pushed and shoved, even levitating some ponies to get to the check out desk. When she finally clawed her way behind her desk, Twilight took a few precious seconds to catch her breath before popping up. “Alright, I’m here” The line was going rather smooth for the first ten minutes, that was until Granny Smith limped up. Come on, come on there’s only nine minutes, thirty five seconds until the pony comes Granny took two minutes to place her book on the counter. “Hurry up please, there are a lot of ponies that I need to help” Twilight said, trying to keep her voice even. “Why you little wiper snapper, have respect for your elders, I can only move so fast” Granny snapped Oh, come on there’s only seven minutes and forty seven seconds till the pony arrives Granny was reaching for her card when a royal chariot landed outside her library “Oh no, it’s five minutes and twenty five seconds early, what do I do, what do I do!” “Come on I don’t got all day” Granny snapped again “Oh, r-right” Twilight’s mane was frizzing up from all of the sudden stress “S-so you wanted apple bucking for elders right… here you go” Twilight finished with Granny before rushing to the door to try and greet the mystery pony. “Really Sparkle, if I don’t clock in in time to make tonight’s rain storm Rainbow dash is going to kill me” the Pegasus stallion complained, but his words fell on deaf ears. Twilight opened the door only to find the ponyville mailmare “Derpy, you’re the pony I have to teach friendship!?” Derpy Hooves was the town’s only mailmare; she had a grayish blue coat, her vibrant yellow eyes were always looking in two different directions. Her gray feathery wings wrapped Twilight in a quick ‘greeting’ hug before settling back at her side. “Oh hi Twilight” her bubbly personality really showed in her voice. “I’m just here to get my little muffin Dinky a book” Twilight looked down at the little unicorn besides Derpy. Dinky was bouncing happily in place, her yellow mane and tail following suit. Her amber eyes over flowed with jubilance as she impatiently waited to get her light purple hooves on a book. “Yeah, I want to read up on magic so I can be as good as you, oh maybe the princess would teach me!” Eager innocence bounded in the young foal’s voice, and despite her stress, Twilight couldn’t hold back a smile. “Oh Twilight” Derpy said “Princess Luna arrived; she said something about meeting you for some reason I forget” “Oh, well I shouldn’t keep the-“ Twilight stopped “P-princess, Derpy did you say princess Luna wants to see me!?” The walled eyed mare nodded and led her daughter to the magic section. “TWILIGHT SPARKLE, IT IS GREAT TO SEE THOU AGAIN…I mean it’s great to see you again Twilight” Once Derpy go out of the way, Twilight saw Princess Luna. She had her hoof close to her mouth and was blushing. Her astral mane floated around her body with a whim of its own. Luna soon got over her embarrassment and rushed Twilight, pulling her into a bone crunching hug. “Oh hi Princess…” All Twilight could see was Luna’s midnight blue coat. Luna returned Twilight to the ground where she gasped for air. “Are you alright Twilight?” Luna asked, vibrant teal eyes looked at the purple unicorn as if they were trying to seduce her. “Princess Luna is who I have to teach friendship to” Twilight said Twilight looked into Luna’s eyes, blissful ignorance was proudly on display. Looking deeper, she saw a hurt soul, someone who just wanted to be appreciated, not feared. “Yes Twilight, sister says that I need to make friends, so she sent me here so I could learn the ways of the friendship” Twilight didn’t acknowledge Luna’s statement as her world was turning gray. “I… have… to teach” everything started spinning “Princess” Twilight fell “Luna”. She blacked out. “Great, now I’m going to be late for work, it’s all y-y-y PRINCESS, everypony, bow the princess is here” The same stallion yelled as he bowed. Everyone followed suit, but what they didn’t realize is that their princess was getting nervous “Please, stop, I don’t deserve your worship” she said, trying in vain to get the ponies to stop but they kept bowing, waiting for Luna to allow them to get up “Stop, please, stop, I SAID STOP BOWING!” They all got up and ran out of the library, taking their books with them wither they were checked out or not. “Oh, what have I done” Luna said to an empty library Author's Note I was taking a break from Strange Discovery this was going to be a one shot but my mind works in strange ways and it's going to be a long one i hope you enjoyed and what is Luna's surprise going to be?
