Crazy, Clever and Cunning

by Fresnor

Lunas and Rubys

I had known that the Princess of the Night was having some issues with adapting to more modern times, but I never thought on what the effects of that change would do to her. So when she finally arrived and looked less like the confident mare I’d seen before, and instead looked incredibly unsure of herself which surprised me. I could guess why she wanted to speak with me now, but I waited patiently for her to begin. We sit in silence for a while until she finally lets out a sigh.

“We’ve been looking into what to do about Sunny Town, and we believe we found a way to remove the problem of it completely.” I raise an eyebrow at this as I was expecting her to talk about Selene. “When we are ready we would like you to help with the preparations for it. Unfortunately we have yet to find a way to solve the other issue you mentioned with that place and will need more information on this Ruby you spoke of.” I nod to her in agreement as she does seem to be an anomaly of the place.

I am surprised to see the princess wave me out with her wing, but I pause at the door to her speaking softly to me again. “What should I do?” I almost didn’t hear her, and probably wouldn’t have if I was in a pony body. I turn back to see her looking down at her desk with sadness written on her face. I don’t think she intended for me to hear her, but since I did I felt I had to answer especially since I knew what it was about.

“For now you should just wait.” She looks up at me in surprise not expecting me to have heard her and I continue before she can respond. “She doesn’t know anything of where she came from and her earliest memories are only of fear that she couldn’t understand. Right now she doesn’t trust many but I am working on both that and her fears. She thinks of you and Princess Celestia as sisters still though, so there is still a chance of helping her.” Princess Luna doesn’t look sure at how to respond to this. “But she is…”

I shake my head to try and interrupt that line of thinking. “It’s hard to describe what she is exactly beyond one thing; she is a scared little filly. Sure she may have been created from you somehow, and she may have some of the knowledge you did as Nightmare Moon, but she is just a filly now that thinks of you and Princess Celestia as her sisters that abandoned her and hate her for some reason and the same goes for the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I’m doing what I can to help her, and she is actually doing better with four of the six but it still is taking time.”

I look at the princess as she seems even more depressed than before and I get an idea that could help both her and Selene. “Though I do have an idea that you could do that could help a lot.” The princess perks up at this and leans forward eagerly. “While you may not be able to see her directly yet, I think if you get her used to you over time it may cure her of her fears. So why not write her letters every once and a while to try and get to know her. That way she actually gets to know you and not the idea she has of you.”

I’m not sure what she thinks of this idea, but she does seem to be considering it. “Yes, we can see the merits of this plan. We shall begin at once and thank you for your time.” With this she rushes out of the room and I shake my head as I also leave, heading back to the Gala. She really seems much easier to understand than her sister. I guess she didn’t have a chance to close up on herself after a thousand years alone with nobody to judge her.

I make my way back to the Gala as I ponder the differences between the two sisters. They truly are as the night and day on the surface, yet there is still a feeling of sameness to them. My thoughts are interrupted as I reach the ballroom which is in a bit of chaos, and this time not caused by the same group as last time. It seems someone forgot to make sure that Celestia’s pet phoenix was entertained so it decided to take matters into their own claws.

It was leading a bunch of Pegasus guards on a merry chase as it dove around all over the place causing ponies to scatter in panic. One statue already seemed to have been knocked over and I spotted Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash laughing over near the food with the others. I made my way over and found out that they were planning to leave as it seems that the Gala is probably about to end now. I decided to join them as well as I had to get things ready for the next new moon anyways, and I had left Selene and Umbra alone long enough.

The trip back was accomplished by a carriage lent by the princesses, and all of our things were already loaded up as well. There wasn’t much conversation on the way back as we were all pretty worn out by this time. I felt sorry for Spike as he helped carry Rarity’s things home for her as I made my way to my own. Things looked to be fine when I arrived, though Selene was asleep, so I let Umbra know about the potential plans with the princess before I headed off to sleep myself.

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I was mostly left alone to prepare for my next jaunt to Sunny Town as Twilight and crew were called away to help her new sister-in-law with something. They mentioned something about a kingdom appearing of some sort but couldn’t go much into it. This left it up to me and the rest of the Apple family to keep an eye on the Crusaders, though mostly me as they had a job to worker harder on with AJ gone.

Of course this made it a bit harder to get ready as they were constantly getting into trouble and needed help cleaning off the sap they accumulated. This included Selene as well as they had started to drag her around with them as well, but even with that I was glad to see her having fun. The first letter arrived for her from Princess Luna shortly after I had returned from the Gala, and she reacted in a predictable manner to it. She soon worked up the courage to read it, though she had yet to reply to it and I expected it to take a couple more before she does.

On the day of the new moon they happened to catch me as I was heading into the forest. “Hey Flarenza, why are you heading into the Everfree today?” I sigh at hearing Applebloom’s voice and I knew if I tried to drive them off they would just follow me. “I know you three will follow me if I try to stop you, but I don’t think you want to follow me to Sunny Town.” At those words Applebloom’s eyes contracted into pinpoints and she dove behind her two friends.

Unfortunately those two didn’t know the horrors of that place so they weren’t as intimidated. “We aren’t scared of anything, and you’ll be there to protect us if any of those creatures attack anyways.” I sigh at Scootaloo’s lack of a sense of danger, but she is right about me being able to protect them even if Applebloom isn’t much reassured. “All right but you had better listen to what I say exactly, and no running around like crazy like you did with Fluttershy and the cockatrice.

They blush a bit at that reminder, but still nod to me before forming up to follow me in. Applebloom stays closest to me as she takes my words to heart since she obviously doesn’t want to be out here. I lay a tail over her in reassurance as I hadn’t told them I wasn’t planning on going inside the town at all, just around the outside searching for that one key filly. I can tell that the town is active by the usual feeling coming off of it, but this time I feel a slight difference that I hadn’t felt in a while, the feeling of being watched.

What surprises me about this is that we hadn’t even left my territory yet, which hints at this being not being linked directly to the town. I halt as I look around trying to figure out where this feeling is coming from and to determine if it is a threat or not. All of us are surprised though when a voice speaks up from behind us. “Applebloom? Why have you come out into this place again?”

We all turn quickly to the sound of the voice, with the three Crusaders hiding behind me. At the sight of the grey filly I calm myself and let my hold on my magic fade. “I’m guessing you are that Ruby that I’ve heard about.” At that name Applebloom looks over in surprise and rushes over with a yell. While she can’t actually touch her she does do her best at greeting her in other was and introducing the other Crusaders to her.

I take lay down as they do this and catch up with each other again as I keep watch over them. Eventually I decide to break into the conversation as time may be important to the situation. “Well now that you have all caught up with each other, maybe we could get to why I was out here in the first place since she finally arrived.” All four of them turn towards me in surprise, having forgotten that I was there.

“Now not many know about this, but I have been watching this town for a while now and have recently gotten Princess Luna to help as well. She didn’t know what had been happening with Sunny Town until I told her, and she agreed that something needed to be done, and recently she was ready except for two major issues.” I turn to Ruby, who got a strange look on her face when I mentioned Luna. “You, Ruby, are the first one of those issues as what was done here shouldn’t have kept you here.”

The other three fillies turn towards Ruby at this, now wondering about why she was still around as well as a ghost. She seems to shrink under that eyes of us all, but she soon speaks. “There are those in that town that do deserve what happened to them, yet there is one that didn’t. She may not have stopped them, yet even if she tried she would have just joined me. She didn’t deserve this happening to her and it is for her that I stay, since she is my sister.” The three fillies whimper a bit at this, and there might be tears but I can’t tell from where I am sitting, and I know they would hug her if they could.

I ponder her words myself, and I know immediately who she is talking about. “You mean Mitta, the other important issue I was talking about.” Ruby turns to me in surprise when I mention the name. “Y-y-yes, but how did you know that? And why is she the other important issue?” I just give her a sad smile as she probably can’t see much in the town if she doesn’t know.

“It’s because I’ve been talking to her when I could and she mentioned the same things you did and feels guilty about not helping. Also if it wasn’t for her then Applebloom would have never escaped from the inside of the town when she was here. You can guess what problems that may have caused. She clearly doesn’t deserve it, and unless the solution involves something for her it isn’t one I would take.” I watch the look of surprise on Ruby’s face slowly change to joy at my words even with the tears in her eyes.

“If you can do that for her then I would finally be able to rest, I’ve never blamed her for what happened and only wanted her to move on. Please, save my sister.” She is now openly crying with the three fillies soon joining her. I move over to her as I cast a spell I had once found to touch the dead and bring a tail around her to comfort her. My touch surprises her, but when she looks up to see me nod she breaks down completely. This is the reason why I hate this type of spell, it doesn’t just punish the guilty, it also does terrible damage to the innocent.

I just sit there comforting the four fillies until the finally recover enough for their goodbyes. I then lead the three Crusaders back towards my home as we no longer need to go into the town. I warn the other two not to even think of going into that place alone, and Applebloom backed me up on it. Soon enough they take off to drag Selene somewhere as I put my things away and finish off any chores I had.

Since things had ended earlier than I planned I took some extra time for some experiments in my underground lab. I had finally gotten some liquid rainbow through Rainbow Dash, which I traded one of the barrels of cider for. I was careful with what I had since getting more wouldn’t be easy and the cider wasn’t cheap either.

I had an idea that had been on my mind for a while, but I was having trouble making it a reality. If I could pull it off though it would be the greatest thing ever and would probably even impress Rainbow Dash enough to actually admit it. Research into the idea didn’t bring up much usable information, but the little I could find helped immensely as it gave me a path to follow.

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A week later the girls finally returned from their trip to what was apparently called the Crystal Empire. It had been a lost country that Cadence was the heiress to and they were there to help clear a major problem from it. While what they went through was interesting, I was more interested in the crystals and what could be done with them. Luckily they brought a few things back with them, and I was allowed to have one from Twilight for some personal studies on them.

I was very careful with them as getting more wouldn’t be easy for a while but I was able to find out some interesting things about them. The biggest one is that they held enchantments much easier than gems and were even more flexible. I could see a use for them in a function over fashion role so my business wouldn’t suffer too much. If I could get ahold of a supply though I could expand what I offered to a wider group though since the gems were prohibitively expensive for trivial matters.

I was heading towards Twilight’s wondering if I should go in person or just send a message through her about it when I saw Pinkie Pie rushing around town. I wondered what she was doing as I passed a… flying orange? I stop and watch it until I see Twilight also rush by chasing it. “Well I guess that explains what happened there.” I grab the object in my magic before it gets out of range and bring it back to me, causing Twilight to trip as it flies back by her again.

I chuckle as she dusts herself off and walks up to me. “Thanks for that, it was a bit too fast for me to catch it.” I just shake my head at her as she turns it back into a bird again with a bit of strain on her face. “Well since you are here I don’t have to go to the library to find you.” Her ears perk up at this. “Oh? What did you need to see me about?”

“Well I’ve done a bit of research on those crystals I got from you and found some interesting things about them. It’s still incomplete but with what I’ve found I wanted to get a good supply of them as well as more information on them. Just with what I’ve found alone I can tell that your brother and sister-in-law will be keeping a close watch on them. What I was wondering if it would be best to go up there myself or through some other official means.” Twilight gets her usual look when I mention research but she then seriously considers what I said.

“Well they are still getting things resolved with the city being gone for so long, but if you say they should keep an eye on it then letting them know would be a good idea. If you could send over a copy of what you found I can let my brother and Cadence know about what you found as well as my own findings. I’ll be sure to order some extra books for you since I was planning on getting copies myself from there.” I thank her for this and decide to wait on the reply for further decisions and head back home.

A arrive to fine Selene outside talking to Umbra and I was about to see what they were talking about when I started to feel a bunch of ponies entering my territory. I warned them that we were about to have company as a felt a dozen of them approaching my home. When they came into view I froze up as I felt the end of the world was here and Selene hid behind me shivering.

“Flarenza, I’m scared. What’s going on?” I had no answer for her as I just watched the dozen Pinkie Pies bounce their way towards us.

Author's Note:

Boom, another chapter. Soon another plotline will end, but which one will end first and how?