//------------------------------// // Moonlight Rendezvous // Story: Marabian Knights // by silvershad0 //------------------------------//         Each member of the group now watched in suspense as the shadowy figure beneath the waters of the spring slowly surfaced.  Two bulging eyes with slanted pupils emerged, taking time to look at each of them in detail before creeping closer.  As it neared the shallow end where they were huddled, more and more of its titanic body was revealed.  The five of them stared in awe as it finally stood before them, having never expected a colossal-sized frog to be their undoing.  The creature was a swirling mix of blues and greens and stood taller than your average house.           Octavia raised her cello over her head and cried out in frustration at the beast, “You will not be stopping this mare from taking a much needed bath you over-sized amphibian!”  She began charging through the water toward, her previous fury returning to her in this, her greatest time of need.  “My hygiene will not continue to suffer due to life-threatening encounters!         The frog’s vocal sac puffed in and out several times, creating a screeching sound that echoed through the cave.  The grey mare stopped her charge to cover her ears and the noise stopped.  For a moment all was silent, until mysterious music began to play through the air.         “Vinyl!” Octavia shouted.         “Sorry, my bad.  It seems to have a mind of its own,” she nervously laughed as the music ceased.         “That is quite alright, ibbit,” the frog spoke with a deep, booming voice.  “I apologize as well, ibbit, but I needed your attention before you mistook me for your enemy, ibbit.”  He took several deep breaths in through his nose before exhaling sharply.         “Wait, you’re not our enemy?” Lyra asked dubiously.  She held her boomerang in her hand, not certain what good it would do against such a large creature, but prepared to try nonetheless.         “Indeed I am not, ibbit,” he responded.  “I am Ibsten, ibbit, and I serve the Watcher.”         “Just who is this watcher, Mr. Ibsten,” Redheart politely asked.  “You don’t mean Princess Luna, do you?”         “No, ibbit, not the Princess, per se, ibbit, but an important piece of her psyche, ibbit.  Long ago, before her banishment, ibbit, Princess Luna ruled over both the dreamworld and co-ruled alongside her sister over your world, ibbit.  But such a strain soon became too much for her, ibbit, so she split off a piece of her mind inside the dreamworld to watch over it while she was busy governing Equestria, ibbit.  This piece became the Watcher, ibbit, and has kept our world in working order even through the Princess’ thousand year banishment on the moon.”         “So the Watcher is an actual part of Luna?” Lyra asked, her head beginning to hurt from all the new information at once.         “Sure sounds like it,” Bon Bon replied casually, though her head was faring no better.         “This is great!” Vinyl suddenly shouted.  “If this watcher thingy is actually Luna, then they can take care of Misira and we can finally go home!”  She ran over a gave Octavia a big hug.  “You hear that, Tavi!  We can go home and you can take a bath in a real bathtub now!”         The smallest of smiles crept onto the paladin’s mouth for a brief second before the frog spoke up again.  “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, ibbit.  The watcher only contains a fraction of the Princess’s power, ibbit, and sadly that is not enough to defeat this terrible foe, ibbit.”         A single tear crept down Octavia’s face as Vinyl stared at the giant frog with bewilderment.  “So, wait.  If this watcher thingy can’t beat Misira with part of the power of an alicorn princess, then how in the BUCK are we supposed to have any kind of chance beating her?”  The others nodded and looked hopefully at Ibsten for an answer.         The elder frog took in another long, drawn-out breath before continuing.  “When Luna brought you to this world, ibbit, she changed the laws governing over you, ibbit.  Where in your world it may take years to master difficult magic spells, a sorceress playing Mazes and Minotaurs could realistically do the same in a few weeks, ibbit.  You each have nearly unlimited potential here, though you are far from realizing it at the moments, and thus, far from being able to defeat Misira, ibbit.”         “So then, what you’re trying to say is that even if we beat Misira to the amulet, we won’t be able to keep her from getting it?” Vinyl asked, a little heartbroken that all that they had been through may have been for nothing.         “That’s not it, Vinyl,” Redheart answered.  “I think what he’s trying to say is that we could beat Misira if we were stronger, but seeing as we also have to keep her from getting to the amulet first….”         “You do not have time to temper your hidden power, ibbit,” Ibsten finished for her.  “That is why I have come here, ibbit.  To inform you that you have allies in this world, and that they are fighting hard to give you your chance to stop her.  I, and the other servants of the watcher will do all in our power to stall Misira from the amulet as long as we can, ibbit.  You must use this time to strengthen yourselves, ibbit, and I can think of no better place than Mount Ignius, ibbit.  At the top, there lies a series of trials that will test your abilities and cunning to their extremes, ibbit.  Should you conquer the mountain’s trials, ibbit, you will be well on your way to matching Misira’s power, ibbit.”  Each pony absorbed his words in silence as he stopped to catch his breath.           “So is Misira really that powerful?” Bon Bon asked, only to be answered with a nod from the amphibian.           “She’s gotta be if a giant frog and who knows what else can’t stop her,” Vinyl added.  “The real question is can we really stop her?”  The usually confident mare was now feeling dubious of their chances for success with all this new information.  She hadn’t stopped to truly consider what they were up against before, the idea of an adventure clouding her judgement.         “Do not doubt yourself, little one,” Ibsten spoke again.  “You are the only hope for both our worlds, ibbit.  You will succeed because you must, ibbit.”         It was Octavia’s turn to speak up now.  “If these mountain trials will grant us so much power, surely they must be nearly impossible to complete, am I right?  And if we die trying to complete them then we’re really dead, making it an unnecessary risk if you ask me.”  Octavia wasn’t as afraid of the aspect of dying as she was of dying in vain.         “It’s true that the risk is perilously high, ibbit, but the reward includes the power to save two entire worlds and the chance for you all to return home, ibbit.”         “I say we go for it,” said Lyra.  When the other four just stared at her with uncertainty plastered on their faces, she became angry.  “We’ve been given a chance to do something great here, not only for our nation, but for all nations.  We’re the only ones who can stop this now and we kind of owe it to everypony to try.”         Bon Bon walked up beside her and hugged her oddly-shaped friend tightly.  “You’re absolutely right, dear.  We’ll do it because we’re the only ones who can.  We’ll do it because it’s the right thing to do.  And we’ll do it because we’ve got nothing better to do until it gets done!”         “Aren’t you forgetting one very important detail,” Vinyl stopped her.  When the rogue just stared back at her in confusion she lowered her head and shook it back and forth.  “You’re forgetting about the fact that we CAN do it, because we’re the Marabian Knights!”  She raised her head and gave them a toothy grin.         Now inspired by their friends, each of them felt fired up for anything that was thrown their way.  Ibsten smiled as he began speaking again.  “Continue to the port as you had planned, ibbit, but change your destination to Rigor Island, a place not far out of your way to the Everfree, ibbit.  The mountain lies in the center of that island, ibbit.  I must go now and prepare my minions for battle, ibbit, but I wish you ponies luck.”   With that, he hopped back into the center of the spring and within seconds vanished altogether.  The group sat around for a moment, meditating on his words and mentally preparing themselves for what might lie ahead. “So,” Redheart broke the tension in the air, “I think we should stay the night here as planned and then make our way to the port tomorrow.  If luck is with us, we can find a ship quickly and sleep onboard on the way to the island.”  Nopony objected, so they each began unpacking near the edge of the spring.  Though they were all exhausted from the long day, each remained awake for hours mulling over what would come next.  Fed up with her inability to sleep, Bon Bon quietly crept from her sleeping bag and sat at the water’s edge.  Faint traces of moonlight creeping in through the holes in the roof of the cave combined with the glowing fungi covering its walls gave the spring an eerie, although beautiful appearance.  The small, glowing reflections of the fungus looked like stars in the still water, the serene allure entrancing the mare deeper into her own thoughts. ‘Everypony here has shown what they’re really made of recently.  It’s hard to believe how much we’ve grown, or perhaps, we were strong all along, but just didn’t show it.  Either way, I couldn’t be any more proud to call each of these girls my friend.’  She smiled as she thought back to how each of them had been there to protect one another even when a situation had looked hopeless. She didn’t even notice when Lyra sat down beside her until a hand was placed on her shoulder.  The cream mare jumped slightly before realizing who it was. “Lyra, don’t sneak up on me like that.  Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” she scolded the bard, before noticing the look of concern in her eyes. “Sorry bout that,” Lyra replied, “I wasn’t aware you could sneak up on a rogue.”  She snickered as Bon Bon’s blush intensified, but her concerned look quickly returned.  “Anyway, I was just checking to make sure you were okay.” “I’m fine, dear.  Just a lot on my mind, is all.”  She sighed a dreamy sigh as she glanced back to the spring.  “You know, before we were sucked up in this mess, I’d actually been getting a little bored just doing the same old things every day.  I even wished on a falling star once for something exciting to happen to us about a month ago.”  She sighed again, though this time due to stress.  “I suppose I got what I asked for, huh,” she mock laughed. “Don’t be crazy,” Lyra said as she looked out over the water as well, her tone lightening, “To be honest, I’ve felt the same way for some time now as well.  That was the whole reason I suggested we go out dancing that night with Vinyl and then….”  She paused nervously, though Bon Bon urged her to go on.  “Well, you see, I had been planning to go even further next weekend.  I prepared reservations at a fancy restaurant and was ready to...umm,” she gulped as she mustered her courage and bent down on one knee.  Both of their hearts now beat furiously as the very air seemed to become electrified with energy.  “Bon Bon, if we save the world and make it back home, will you marry me?”  She stared hopefully into her eyes, the beads of sweat running down her face matching the tears flowing from Bon Bon’s eyes. Unable to hold back the raw emotion from the moment, Bon Bon yelled with all her might, “Yes, of course I will!”  She embraced Lyra as they shared a passionate kiss, unaware that the other three ponies were now awake and watching them intently.  A harsh cough from Vinyl after an awkward pause ended their special moment. Lyra turned to them with a giant grin on her face.  “She said yes!”  She closed her eyes and gave them a thumbs up.  Octavia and Redheart both congratulated the two, but Vinyl had something more in mind.  She concentrated and a slow melody started to resonate through the cave.  Lyra offered her hand to Bon Bon, the two stepping into the shallow waters and dancing among the proxy stars.