//------------------------------// // The Jubilant Outcry // Story: Softening the Stone // by TheMyth //------------------------------// “You can’t be serious?!” Twilight sat in the middle of the living room, a horrified expression on her face, as Celestia trotted back and forth across the room. The princess was humming a happy little tune, all while gathering a number of odds and ends from around the library and placing them in the basket. “I mean,” Twilight continued, “the entire point of coming here was to try and remain inconspicuous. What happens if somepony recognizes you? Or worse yet, what if they recognize Princess Luna? She’s still not in perfect condition yet either. How do we know that she won’t freak out the second she’s outside again? How can we—” “Twilight,” Celestia firmly said, shutting up the unicorn. “It’s not like we’re going to the middle of Canterlot to see a show. We’re just going to Ponyville park for a picnic. Nothing more.” “Yeah, but what about ponies recognizing you? I know that it’s a small town and everything, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t recognize the Princess of Equestria when they see her.” To Twilight’s utter surprise, Celestia merely giggled with her hoof to her muzzle. “Who says I am going as Princess Celestia of Equestria?” She asked rhetorically and closed her eyes, her horn glowing brightly. A blinding light emitted from the horn that forced Twilight to cover her eyes. When the light subsided, Twilight opened her eyes gingerly and gasped in surprise. In place of an alicorn, a white unicorn with a light pink mane no taller than Twilight stood before her. When the said unicorn opened her eyes slowly, Twilight saw the same purple eyes of her mentor. “Princess?!” With her eyes fully opened, Celestia gave a laugh and a cheery smile to Twilight. “What do you think?” She asked as she spun around, like a ballerina dancer on stage. “Don’t I look cute?” Twilight mouthed wordlessly, smacking her cheeks before speaking again. “How did you do that?!” Celestia looked down on her form with a appreciating smile. “Morphing magic takes a while to learn properly.” She bobbed her head in thought. “Took me the better of ten years.” “Ten years?!” Twilight exclaimed, shocked that a spell can take that long to master for even an alicorn princess like Celestia. “Oh yes!” Celestia nodded her head and looked up the roof. “Why, Luna and I used to do this to get out of those awful meetings before…” Celestia trailed off as her smile slowly vanished and she looked down to the floor in shame. “Nevermind.” Twilight was still too much in shock to recognize Celestia’s comment. “But… but..” she sputtered before finally managing to get her mind back on track again. “But Luna’s in no condition to perform a spell like that right now. Even if nopony in town recognizes her, they’ll certainly notice that she has both wings and a horn.” “Relax Twilight,” Celestia said, returning to her gathering of various items. “I’m not only able to cast the spell on myself, but I’m more than capable of casting the spell for her as well.” She paused thinking for a minute. “I wonder if Luna would be upset if I gave her a white coat as well?” Twilight sighed as she bowed and shook her head. “Even so princess, I still don’t think this is a good idea. There are still so many things that could go wrong.” “I know, Twilight,” Celestia responded, trotting over and placing a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “It’s a bit risky, I’ll admit, but I think that it’s something that we need to do. Haven’t you seen the way that Luna likes to hang out by the windows during the day? I really think that some clean air and sunshine will do her a world of good.” “But—” “Please Twilight,” Celestia interrupted. “Just trust me on this, alright?” Twilight looked up into the eyes of her mentor. Although the rest of her looked differently, they were still the same gentle, caring eyes that she had learned to love while growing up. She let out a deep breath and smiled. “Alright,” she said reluctantly. “But, only as long as I can come with both of you as well.” Celestia laughed. She lifted the basket up, handing it over to Twilight. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The park was filled with families and couples today, as it was perhaps the hottest day Autumn had yet to offer. There were the laughter of foals playing with each other, from the halcyon of families being together to the jubilation of couples basking in their love for each other. The same could not be said for Luna though. From the moment that they had left the library, she had begun to panic. Their trek towards the park was slow, as several times the disguised alicorn would try to shy away from a group of ponies passing them as they walked down the street. Things only got worse when they actually reached the park. As Twilight had feared, there were quite a few ponies in the park. As soon as they entered and Luna saw them all, she immediately froze up. It took a lot of coaxing from Celestia and Twilight to get her to follow them again. Then, it took even more time to try and find a spot, as they had to try and keep a fair distance from everypony else to keep Luna from panicking again. Thankfully, the one thing that she had been the most afraid of, somepony recognizing either of the princesses, had not happened. The disguises that Princess Celestia had come up with were working perfectly. While both Celestia and Luna looked similar to their original forms, they were still significantly different enough that nopony seemed to be able to recognize them. Eventually they managed to find a nice small area near Whitetail Woods. It was mostly secluded, being pretty far away from the entrance and the small river where most ponies spent their time. There were a couple of ponies around, but for the most part, the group was free to be by themselves. They quickly rolled out their blanket and pulled out the various snacks that Celestia had gathered for the occasion. As they began to eat, Celestia kept a watchful eye on her younger sister. At first, Luna remained as she had when they arrived, still curled up defensively, with her eyes darting back and forth in search of some unknown enemy. However, after a while, she began to relax a little bit. Her eyes still were darting back and forth, but the fear that was in them no longer seemed as prevalent. Instead, as she began to sit up a bit more straight on the blanket, there was almost a sense of curiosity mixed in as well. Celestia took notice of Luna’s calming demeanor and sighed in relief. “Do you like your sandwich Lulu?” She asked curiously, seeing her sister take a small bite of the club daffodil sandwich. Luna nodded and proceeded to eat more of her lunch, albeit very slowly. Her eyelids became half-open as she was starting to relax more to the melodies of the birds chirping and the wind rushing through the grass around her. Her eyes raised when she saw Twilight Sparkle before her, who was smiling nervously. Luna’s cocked her eyebrow and tilted her head in confusion. Noticing Luna’s facial changes, Celestia looked to her side to see Twilight. She swore she saw her student sweat raindrops and her eyes was now also moving from one corner to the other. “Twilight? What’s wrong?” “What!?” Twilight’s head rocketed up, her teeth clenching as she scope the whole park hastily. An awkward silence soon followed, leaving Twilight to blush in embarrassment and shy away as she sat back down again. “Twilight,” Celestia spoke again, in her maternal voice as she leaned towards her student. “What’s the matter? You can tell me.” “It’s just…” she started, looking quickly around the park before lowering her head with a sigh. “I guess I’m just nervous is all…” “Nervous? About what?” “Well, I…” Again Twilight’s voice trailed off as she began pondering the question. There were still so many things that she was unsure about. Luna’s recovery was of course near the front of her mind, but there were a lot of other problems bothering her as well. “It’s nothing,” she finally muttered. Celestia smiled. “Now Twilight. If you’re still worried about us being out here in the open, I think that it’s finally safe to relax, don’t you? I mean,” she added pointing towards Luna who was staring intently at a yellow flower growing through the grass, “just look at how well Luna is responding to this all.” “Yeah, I suppose so,” Twilight answered hesitantly. “But I still can’t help but think that something bad is going to happen.” “Come now Twilight,” Celestia answered with a chuckle. “We are all by ourselves out here. What could possibly go wr—” “INCOMING!!!” Before Celestia could finish her sentence, a giant ball flew right towards the three mares. Twilight quickly used her magic to catch the brightly coloured round object. She sighed as she dissipated the magic, and looked at who the ball belonged to. Three little fillies and one baby dragon ran up to them. “We’re so sorry! We didn’t mean to—” Spike came to a stop when he saw who it was that caught the ball. “Twilight?” “Spike?” Twilight began, her brow furrowing. “What were you thinking sending a ball like this flying at top speeds towards others! You could have seriously—” “Twilight.” Celestia chimed in and placed a hoof to her student’s shoulder. Twilight looked up and saw Celestia shake her head in disapproval. Twilight inhaled slowly, calming herself down just a little. “Sorry Spike,” she began to speak. “But that was still not safe.” “Please Miss Twilight, it wasn’t his fault!” A yellow earth pony with lavish red mane and a pink bow defended Spike. “We were just trying to get our cutie marks as Hoofball Players.” “Turned out to be a bust.” An orange pegasus with purple mane spoke, shuffling her hooves. “Yeah, and I really thought we were going to get it this time.” The white unicorn filly with greyish pink mane added in with a squeak to her voice. “Hoofball Player cutie marks?” Celestia repeated the words in her mouth, finding the idea odd in her mind. “Who might you three fillies be?” “Here we go…” Spike trailed off as he mumbled and stood behind the three fillies. “I’m Apple Bloom!” The yellow filly introduced herself, smiling broadly. “I’m Sweetie Belle!” The white filly was next as she stood next to her friend, jumping up in the air with a broad smile. “I’m Scootaloo!” The tomboyish orange pegasus said proudly as she nuzzled her wings and smiled smugly. “And I’m Spike!” Spike spoke up loud as he pointed a thumb to himself with a broad smile, albeit forced. “And together we make…” All four youths took a pose. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Celestia couldn’t help but giggle at the antics of the young group of fillies (and dragon). “Well, it’s very nice to meet you all.” “Yeah, it’s good to meet you too!” Scootaloo exclaimed proudly with a bright smile. She held the pose for a moment before suddenly turning sheepish. “Um… who are you exactly?” “Oh, well I’m…” she paused for a moment, suddenly remembering that she didn’t quite look like herself. “I’m… Cherry Blossom,” she finally answered with a smile. “I’m one of Twilight’s cousins.” “Cousins?” Spike suddenly spoke up very confused. “But Twilight doesn’t have any…” he stopped as he looked over to Twilight who was furiously shaking her head with a very worried expression. His eyes grew wide as he suddenly realized what she was trying to say. “Twilight doesn’t have any what Spike?” “Oh, um…” he said, beginning to sweat with a nervous chuckle. “She doesn’t have any cousins in the area. Yeah! That’s it. I mean, I didn’t realize that anypony was coming to visit us. I would have gotten the library cleaned up better.” “That’s quite alright Spike,” Celestia answered warmly. “It was a rather unexpected trip. We didn’t really tell anypony that we were coming.” Her head popped up as she soon remembered her sister sitting there. “Oh, and this is… Starry Sky,” she said turning and pointing behind her. Only, there wasn’t anypony there. Her eyes grew wide with panic as she quickly began looking around. She almost called out for her, but realized that she couldn’t without using Luna’s real name. “Is that her?” Scootaloo asked pointing up at the tree behind them. Luna, or Starry Sky, was hanging from a branch up in the tree above the rest of the ponies. She was shaking with her eyes darting from one corner to the other, thinking another attack was imminent. From the looks of it, Luna was now imitating a cat who was chased up a tree. “Oh my!” Celestia gasped and quickly rushed over to her sister. “D-don’t worry Lu-Starry!” She corrected herself quickly and she started to use her magic. “I’ll get you down, just hold on!” Enveloping her magic around Luna, she lowered the frighted mare to the ground and immediately scooped her up. She started humming to her and stroke her hair gently, trying her best to calm her little sister down. “What’s wrong with her?” Scootaloo asked Spike curiously, leaning into the dragon’s ear. “It’s a long story.” Twilight cut Spike off, wearing a toothy smile. “Let’s just say Starry is not used to surprises.” Twilight said as she chuckled nervously. “Miss Twiligh’, are ya hiding somethin’?” Apple Bloom asked Twilight, eyeing her suspiciously. “Why would I hide something?” She waved her hoof as she laughed more, sweating as all three fillies were now looking at her. “Ya just look like Applejack when she is telling a fib.” “Fib! Me!? Don’t be silly now!” Twilight laughed out loud, hoping the fillies would buy it. They didn’t. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes as she trotted around the obviously lying unicorn. Instead she walked over to where Celestia was still attempting to caudle her still distressed sister. “Is she alright?” Celestia turned to her with a weak smile. “She’ll be fine. Just got a little bit frightened is all.” Sweetie Belle turned towards Luna who had mostly calmed down from the experience, though she was still shaking a little bit. “I’m really sorry Miss Sky,” she said sadly. “We really didn’t mean to scare you like that.” “...It’s fine.” Sweetie Belle jumped a little bit as Celestia suddenly gasped. “What’s wrong? What did I do?” she cried out nervously. Celestia turned to the young unicorn, and waved her hoof to calm her down. “I’m sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong.” She turned back to Luna who had stopped shaking and was staring intently at Sweetie. “It’s just that, Starry here doesn’t talk very much, not even to me. I guess it just surprised me how well she seems to have warmed up to you.” “What happened to her exactly? Why is she so skittish?” Scootaloo asked, also abandoning Twilight to join the more interesting conversation. “Scoots!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “Ya can’t just ask questions like that! It ain’t polite.” “She’s quite alright,” Celestia responded with a chuckle. “Starry here has been through some…. very difficult times lately. She still hasn’t quite recovered from them though.” “Oh,” Scootaloo said as her head and ears drooped. “I’m really sorry Starry.” “Yeah, me too,” Apple Bloom also chimed in. “We promise it won’t happen again.” “...Thank you,” Luna said softly. Celestia managed to withhold the gasp this time, though her shock at seeing her sister was no less than before. Luna was sitting up straight, and staring at the three fillies with a sense of wonder in her eyes. It was very different than how she was before, scared to come within ten feet of another pony. In fact, she didn’t even flinch when Sweetie Belle suddenly cried out. “Hey! I’ve got a great idea,” Sweetie excitedly spoke up. “Why don’t you come and play with us Starry?” Spike’s iris’ shrunk to the size of pins and he shook his head. “Oh no no no no no no no! Starry needs her rest, right Twilight?!” “You’re quite right Spike!” Both she and Spike chuckled and shrugged nervously to the company of fillies. “If she needed rest, she wouldn’t be out today.” Scootaloo countered, her wings buzzing to levitate off the ground for just a few seconds. When she landed on her haunches, she grumbled a few words. “Pony feathers!” “Girls, I really think that Starry shouldn’t be playing just yet.” Celestia spoke to the them, hoping it would end the debate. Apple Bloom looked to Luna and back at Celestia. “Can’t she play just with us just this once?” Apple Bloom asked Celestia, deploying her secret weapon against any adult. The Puppy Eyes. “I’m…” Celestia trailed off, feeling a mighty tug at her heart seeing Apple Bloom’s watery eyes. “Please…” All three fillies jumped in, with all of their eyes moist and their lower lips stuck out. Celestia was now clenching her teeth, trying to look away from the fillies’ faces. “I… Well I…” Celestia’s words were becoming mute as she was now looking into the eyes of the foals before her. “I—” She stopped abruptly when Luna passed her by. Luna stood before the fillies, looking down on them. She was unfazed by their puppy eyes, though she smiled softly at them. No words came from her but she did give them an answer. A nod. “Awesome!” Scootaloo exclaimed. Rushing over, she grabbed the princess by her hoof and started pulling her, guiding her off the blanket and into the field. “Maybe with your help, we’ll actually be able to figure out how Hoofball is supposed to work.” The remaining two fillies followed quickly, leaving behind a very stunned dragon, unicorn, and disguised princess. “Shouldn’t we try to stop them?” Twilight asked nervously. “I don’t know if we can,” Spike answered. “Once those three get an idea in their heads, it’s almost impossible to convince them otherwise. Believe me, I know,” he said with a shudder. Twilight still wasn’t convinced. “Princess?” she quietly asked turning to her mentor. “I’m still not certain myself Twilight,” Celestia answered with a shrug. “But, Luna seems to be reacting well to them. If she wants to play with them, I suppose that we should let her.” Turning to Spike she quickly added, “Though, would you please go and keep an eye on them Spike? Make sure that they don’t try anything too ridiculous, alright?” He quickly nodded. “You’ve got it princess,” he said before turning and running off after his friends. “And stay within eyesight alright?” Twilight called out as he ran out. “I don’t want you five running off anywhere.” Spike turned back while running and rolled his eyes. “Yes, mom,” he called back sarcastically. A light blush came across Twilight's face as Celestia started to laugh. “Quite a hooful, isn’t he?” the princess asked. “He most certainly can be,” Twilight agreed as she looked on to Spike playing, a tender smile appearing on her muzzle. Her expression quickly turned back to nervous though, as she turned to face Celestia. “Still, do you really think this is a good idea?” “Not much that we can do about it now,” Celestia responded with a sigh. “We’ll just have to keep an eye on them for now.” She paused as she thought back to her sister’s reaction. A small smile started across her face. “Still, perhaps this could be exactly what Luna needs.” To Twilight’s relief, the rest of the day went by without any sort of serious problem. She and Celestia sat back, keeping an eye on the crusaders as they attempted to teach Luna all sorts of games. As Scootaloo had suggested, they started with Hoofball. However, it appeared to be much too complicated for the princess, as she insisted on standing in the same spot, never quite figuring out what to do. The fillies then decided to try some more simple games. They started with hide and seek, but again Luna didn’t seem to grasp the concept of seeking very well. When that plan failed they moved on again, this time to tag. At first, it appeared that Luna wasn’t going to get that one either, but within a few minutes, she started running around with them. The children and disguised princess played for quite a few hours, Luna getting more and more involved as time went on. Eventually, she was skillfully dodging the fillies as they would chase after her, and chasing them in return when she was “it”. They played for so long, that the sun was starting to get low, and the foals were completely exhausted. The fillies were sitting close to Luna as they watched the setting sun, the latter was wearing a gentle smile on her face. Spike was leaning against Twilight, who wrapped a hoof around him as they watched. Celestia was just taking in the euphoria from the experience, feeling very relieved that her sister had fun today at least. When the sun finally disappeared over the horizon, the stars were beginning to fill the night sky. Luna looked up in awe and was lost in the moment, not taking notice of the filles leaving the comfort of sitting close to her and turning around. “Hey Starry! Look at that!” Luna’s ears twitched when she heard her other name coming from Scootaloo, and she abided to the fillies request. When she turned around though, her smile completely vanished. “Ain’t the moon big tonig-” “AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGHHHHHHHH!!!” Celestia, Twilight and Spike rocketed in the air as they heard the screaming of Luna. Celestia turned around immediately and saw her sister cowering on the ground, streams of tears present in her eyes and she was backing away from the moon as far as she could. The moon! Celestia cursed herself, not taking the moon phase calendar into account. She hurried off to her sister and covered her view with her body, lowering her head to nuzzle her terrified sister. “It’s okay Luna, it’s okay…” Celestia chanted to Luna multiple times as her eyes were closed, not noticing the looks Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were giving her. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please don’t send me there! Please don’t send me back there! I don’t want to go back! I don’t want to…” Luna whimpered as she closed her eyes, praying that her request would be answered. Celestia bit her lower lip as she removed herself from nuzzling Luna, her own eyes looking down on her sister. She was close to tears herself, hearing what Luna was saying. Oh Luna! How could I— “What’s wrong with Starry?” Scootaloo asked Twilight, who was becoming a nervous wreck from what was happening. “Starry is afraid of the moon, badly.” Twilight quickly explained, rushing off to Celestia and whispering in her ear. “Princess! I think we need to get out of here quickly!” Celestia nodded quickly as she levitated Luna on her back and used her magic to create a blindfold over Luna’s eyes. “Girls, I’m sorry. But I need to take Starry home right now. Goodnight.” With that, Celestia was trotting off towards the library. “Awwww…” The fillies looked down on the ground dejectedly, their eyes turning moist again and they were shuffling their hooves in shame. Twilight used her own magic to lift Spike up and placed him on her back. “Time to go home Spike.” She told him as she smiled, albeit sadly at what just happened. “Okay…” Spike trailed off and looked back at his friends. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.” He waved at them and Twilight began to follow Celestia back home. “Night Spike!” The fillies waved him goodnight, although they were lacking their previous enthusiasm. When Spike was gone, all three fillies sighed and looked down on the ground before looking at each other. “I hope she’ll be alrigh’.” Apple Bloom mumbled. “So do I.” Scootaloo only nodded slowly. “I sure hope so. Starry is a-” She paused before her eyes became as wide as plates. “Wait!” She looked up to where Celestia walked off to and cocked her eyebrow, tapping her chin with her hoof. “Did Blossom just call her sister ‘Luna’?”