//------------------------------// // The Mouth of Babes // Story: Iconoclasm // by Rajjah //------------------------------// Iconoclasm Chapter 4 Out of the Mouth of Babes "But why do we need the darkness sister? Every time you try and make the light in the sky go away it makes me ever so scared" the little dark filly peeped to her elder. "I don't understand why you are doing all this anyway, why can't we just stay in the garden, I have so much fun when we just play together". The larger more colorful mare smiled at these words and nuzzled her gently before responding "I know you do, but there is more to life than just games and gardens, and I want you to get to see it. I want this place to be perfect just for you". Before the little filly could protest or respond at all she was sent running to hide behind her sister by the entrance of another, with a deeper voice. "Celestia my dear, still stuck on that colorful horse facade I see". I would have thought you would have grown bored of that, I know I would" he said with a laugh. The larger sister examined the lion like figure before her, remembering that just a few days before he had been goat like, and before that a majestic eagle. "Just because you can't seem to decide what your appearance shall be doesn't mean that my sister and I should do the same. I told you we had decided this is what we wanted to look like, Luna was most pleased by it." At the mention of her name the little filly peaked her head out from behind her sister long enough to stick out her tongue at the criticizer. However all this caused was a chuckle on his part. "Feisty girl, I like that, perhaps you could learn a bit on how to have fun Celestia from your little sister " he finished with a sarcastic tone. Celestia merely glared at him, as if commanding him to say no more.For once in their conversation he seemed taken aback so he quickly switched to the reason for his visit. "I assume you know it's that time again, time to make that little dream of ours a reality!" he piped in a singsong voice. Luna tugged at her sisters tail, trying to get her to listen to her plea. "I hate this part, do you really need me for this, I always feel so tired afterwards" she peeped "I'm sorry little one but yes, soon you will need to do this no longer but for now you must" she responded with a tinge of sadness in her voice. "Don't worry, we won't let any thing happen to you little princess" the lion said with a legitimate warm smile on his face. While she was usually afraid of him Luna did like it when he called her that so she lied down on the grass and slowly blacked out as she felt her energy sapped by the two figures beside her.--- A crack of lightning startled Luna up from her slumbering state and brought her back from her distant dream she had been in the midst of. She jumped on all fours in alarm and tried to figure out what was happening. She tried to remember the dream she had been having but it was gone, scared away by the suddenness of her awakening. No matter, for now she needed to know where her physical self was located. All around her were old growth trees, and above her the wind howled and caused the limbs to moan. Even in her slightly stupefied state she knew that she could only be in on place, the Everfree Forest. "But how did I come to be in such a place" she pondered. The last time she had been here was in the form of Nightmare Moon. With that thought her body shivered, but not just from the cold wind. Had she again given in to her darkest thoughts and desires? Could she have done all this and not even remember the evils she committed? Almost matching her emotions the sky began to release droplets of rain, beginning to mix with the tears in her eyes. She let them hit for a few moments and then prepared to block them with her wings, only she quickly realized nothing was happening. "My wings!" she gasped "where are my wings?" she raised a hoof to her side to feel for her missing appendage. She even used her head to feel around hoping to simply have been so disoriented as to miss them. However while rubbing her head against her side she knew something else was also missing. "My horn, how could that be gone as well!". Overwhelmed by confusion and despair she fell on her side and began to cry. The storm raged above her, but needn't cover up her whales , as she lay there silently shedding tears and covering her face with her hooves. Was this some type of punishment. Had she committed such crimes as Nightmare Moon that she was sent here, stripped of flight and magic, to serve out a sentence of banishment? She tried to think back to what had happened but all she could vaguely remember was sitting in her bed, then seeing her sister, and finally flames. She lay there, trying to deduce the significance of these events to her current status, when she heard the distant high pitched screams of fillies. A lesser pony, adsorbed in self pity and surrounded by a thunderstorm would have ignored the faint sound, but alicorn or not, Princess Luna would not sit by idly while others were in danger. She once again rose to all fours and charged in the direction of the sound of distress. It did not take long before she heard more screams and this time the roar of a creature too . She jumped into the nearest clearing and there she saw three little fillies, all too young to have their flanks covered, cowering inside a nearby hollow tree stump. Between her and the frightened group roared a Wyvern, it's long neck outstretched, attempting to snap at the little ones. It's attention was focused completely on the cowering trunk dwellers, and paid no attention to the newly arrived pony. "You dare ignore a princess of Equestria" Luna boomed. She might not have the rest of her trappings of a princess but she still had her voice. Time to see if that would count for anything against such a monster, she thought to herself as she charged towards the beast screaming. The Wyvern for it's part didn't seem to notice the lack of horn on this creature charging towards it, only the volume of its battle cry. It apparently deemed the lightning filled sky less a threat for it jumped into the air and disappeared into the night sky with a shriek. Luna stared up at the retreating creature and yelled "Remember this day foul beast, for this day you were defeated by the voice of Equestria!". Voice of Equestria or not the continued screaming only cause the scared little fillies to pile deeper in the stump, the bare flank of a little purple maned pegasus the only thing visible of the tightly packed trio. Luna grabbed the little bare flank and pulled it's owner out of the stump, its tiny wings fluttering like crazy but not propelling her into the sky.Upon realizing she was being held in the air, she screamed to her comrades "Run away, its got me, save yourselves!". However quite the contrary, the other two fillies jumped out of the tree after hearing these words and tackled Luna to the ground, causing the little pegasus to fall on top of all of them. What had been makeshift wrestling moves quickly turned to hugs as the little ones discovered they were on a pony not a monster. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh" the little white unicorn peeped, her little voice cracking under stress. "We didn't know you were there, we thought you were the monster!". All three began quickly apologizing, helping Luna to her feet and chattering away. It was only a very loud and very close bolt of lightning that silenced them and caused them to take shelter under her. "We may have defeated that foul beast little ones, but we must escape this storm, stay close to me I know of shelter nearby" she commanded. They obeyed without a peep and followed Luna as she galloped away from the clearing towards a nearby gorge. She had to be careful, with the night and the rain it would be easy to miss it and fall right into the gap. Keeping the eager younglings back with a hoof, she investigated a particularly foggy patch. After staring deep into the night for several minutes and just when the little filly with a bow was about to interrupt her concentration with a question from her opened mouth, Luna saw it, an old rickety bridge from another era. She was thankful it was still up after nearly two years. Carefully she led her little fillies across the creaking crossing, hoping it would hold out a bit more for them. If only I had my wings I could fly us all across with little effort, she thought to herself. In fact if she wasn't stripped of her powers they would have been out of the forest and dry and safe back in civilization by now, but she tried not to dwell on it, there would be time to try and figure that all out. Right as they were all but across the bridge Luna heard and a loud crack, and looked behind her to see the little pegasus's hoof stuck in the dilapidated wood. Placing her own hoof to her face Luna turned around to help the spastic filly while ordering her friends to finish crossing. "Do not worry little one, I will free you promptly, just try not to move" she said as she gently tried to pull her hind leg from the wood. Just when she gave it a mighty tug and the leg flew free there was a sudden explosion in the sky. Somewhere not too far away a bright flash containing every color of the rainbow exploded across the sky. At first Luna could only stare up at the spectacle but not far behind the light came the loud boom and the shock wave which knocked herself and the filly off their hooves. Around them they heard the snapping of the old rope as the bridge gave way, quickly falling apart beneath them. Thinking fast Luna grabbed the helpless one and flung her to the safety of the other side, however Luna began to fall mere inches from making it to the other side. This could be the end for her, she thought as she her momentum gave out and she began to fall. However just then the two other fillies reached out and each grabbed one of Luna's hooves. They could barely keep hold however and would soon have fallen too if not for the quick action of the third. She took hold of Luna's mane with a bite and fluttered with all her might. Soon they were no longer falling but being lifted towards safety. The little pegasus strained, tears swelling up in her eyes. With one last pull the whole group was launch over the side and landed on solid ground. The little white filly however exclaimed about something different though. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh, you are flying Scootaloo, you are really doing it!". Upon opening her eyes and making this revelation the fluttering filly fell to the earth with a thud. However this didn't damper their spirits as they all began hopping in a circle forming a makeshift victory dance, all the while shouting "Scoot! Scoot! Scootaloo!". Shaking her head and laughing at the spectacle, Luna saw behind the trio their goal, the shelter they needed from the storm. There before her was the ancient castle of herself and her sister. They all ran inside as fast as they could hoping to avoid any more disasters, Once they had found cover and started to dry off Luna had to know more about these little troublemakers she had found herself guarding. "What are your names young ones?" she asked, trying to remember to keep her voice down. "Why are you in such a place as this, you should know this is no place for little fillies?" "I'm Sweetie Bell, I'm Applebloom, and I'm the amazing stupendous flying wonder Scootaloo!" they each answered with increasing excitement. Apparently this was the Scootaloo's first time taking flight. "Well I am certainly proud of you, but please you must tell me, why are you here in this forsaken woods?" Luna coaxed, trying find out more before they started another circle dance of joy. "Well gosh we nearly forgot" said little Applebloom, her face suddenly filled with worry. "Our group is called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we were looking for the princess Luna, she was supposed to be in these woods and we hoped we get get our cutie marks in search and rescue. We don't believe what them there guards were saying about her.You wouldn't happen to have seen her would ya?" Luna blinked in surprise at this, was she apparently thought missing, but it also shocked her that these little fillies couldn't even recognize their own princess. Dramatically she stood up and swished her mane while proclaiming "Well then you have found success for I am indeed Princess Luna!" The three crusaders stared at her, befuddled for a second, then looked at one another and burst out laughing. "I don't mean to be rude miss, we may be fillies but we weren't born yesterday" Applebloom giggled. "I mean you showed some pretty sweet moves out there but everypony knows that the princess would have wings" chided the little pegasus. "And don't forget her horn!" added Sweetie Bell. "I also reckon the princess to be bigger then a pony, why you're hardly bigger then my big sis" Applebloom said .And to top it all off you, if you were Luna wouldn't you have, like you know, a Luna cutie mark." With that final accusation, Luna flipped her head back to see her flank. "What image is this!" she exclaimed upon actually taking a good look at her own back side. Instead of her familiar crescent moon what she saw in it's place was what looked like the number eight turned on it's side. What had happened to her? Why had this happened to her? As she lay there brushing the non luminous hair out of her face (another change, but she had had this one before) she began to piece together her memory from the previous day. Suddenly the image of her sisters frightened face appeared in her mind. Then she remembered her frantic words and finally the unknown spell that must have sent her here and cause all of this strife. "BUT WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT?" Luna sobbed in her traditional voice. The sound cause the crusaders to fall back in shock and huddle up together as they stared at this strange pony that lay before them. But before long they gathered their courage and approached her again, this time with and eager look in their eyes. "Wow lady, that funny looking cutie mark must have something to do with your voice right?" Scootaloo asked. "Could you teach us to talk like that, maybe then we would get our cutie mark in it too," Squeaked Sweetie Bell. The very idea that her soft sweet voice could ever boom did wake Luna from her self imposed exile inside her own worries. "Little ones, don't worry, I'm sure you will find your special talents, but charging into the Everfree Forest is not the way to accomplish your goals. Once the storm stops and the sun rises we must find our way safely out of here, and I'll have no heroics or stunts on your part in your quest for marks." "Yes ma'am" they sadly chorused back to her. Good, she thought, at least with everything else spinning out of hoof I still can control a rowdy group of girls. "Now gather around me away from those horrid statues and let us all try and get a little sleep for the coming journey." The little fillies obliged and snuggled up around Luna. her heart melted at the sight of them as they quickly dozed off into dreams of cutie marks, and she desperately missed her wings as she felt the urge to cover them up. Making due with a series of nuzzles she curled up her head and joined them in slumber.--- Soon she was having a similar dream again. She felt small once more, but older then the fillies she had rescued today in reality. She felt just as powerless however as she found herself curled up pretending to be asleep beside her sister, in the middle of an argument. "No Andras, I will not continue to use her for any more of the process. We have gotten enough from her and I do not want to tax her any further. With what we have we can make a beautiful world, why can't you accept that?" Celestia questioned. Andras, no longer in the form of a lion ,appeared more like a snake with limbs although vague in shape. Gone was his usual flippant attitude in place of one more serious. " I will not settle for mediocrity when we have come so far, and are so close!" he said with a hint of desperation. "You promised me something real, you promised me a fresh start of our own making! Instead I see before me a world of fairy tales and make believe, straight from that girl's primitive mind." He pointed a claw at the lump next to Celestia. "I knew this would happen, and I warned you about it, but did you listen to me? No, of course not, why would you take anything I say into account!" The sudden increase in his voice made it difficult for Luna to continue pretending to be asleep. What followed made it futile. "If you are going to continue to be impossible to deal with Celestia then perhaps our partnership has come to a close." She glared at him but said " For once in a very long time, I agree with you, we can no longer see eye to eye. Where will you go then?" she asked. "Me go somewhere, why Celestia, I do believe you have it all wrong. I'm not going anywhere, this is my creation, my hard work." he said as he stood nearer and began to circle them. "In fact I do believe everyone is staying put, Luna will be staying right here, the only change of scenery will be you!" he said with a sudden leap towards the pair. Luna screamed, no longer able to keep up the charade, and saw his angry face and a claw reaching out for her...... Luna's scream was all too real, not just a dream, causing a chain reaction amongst the little fillies surrounding her, all screaming in various squeaky pitches. She opened her eyes trying to shake the vision from her mind but suddenly realized what the statue she had commanded the girls to stay away from had truly been. There were the same eyes she had seen staring at her in the dream, only now they were set in stone and instead of anger they held fear. She gathered the little ones behind her and stared straight at this new discovery. Trying to comfort herself just as much as the little fillies. She opened her mouth to say more but her eyes locked with the blank eyes of the statue, all she could manage was to whisper the name "Discord".