In the Eye of the Storm

by SPark

Chapter Three

In the Eye of the Storm
by SPark

Chapter Three

The party was long since over, and the sun had just set. A purple twilight settled over Ponyville. Dale smiled, remembering the unicorn Twilight Sparkle. The sky was the exact color of her coat, which was no doubt how she'd gotten her name.

"It's a beautiful night," he said softly.

Luna sighed sadly. "Yes it is."

"And that makes you sad. Why?"

Luna leaned against Dale. They were both laying on a balcony in the upper branches of the library. Twilight Sparkle was fiddling with her telescope on a different balcony, waiting for it to get dark enough. Luna had agreed to stargaze with her again, and while the night fell and Twilight prepared, she and Dale had gravitated towards each other, feeling the inner pull of their still-new bond.

"To understand, you need to know about my sister and I. And to know that I guess you need to know about everything from the beginning."

"Everything? What, from the creation of the world?"

"Close enough," said Luna with a smile. "I'll tell you the story. It begins after the creation of the world, but before the ponies were as you know them now."

She cleared her throat and began, her voice soft and sad.

"Long, long ago the pony race was less than it is now. The ponies of that long ago had no language. They had no art. They made no tools. And they used no magic. They were animals, no more intelligent than any other creature of forest or field. They lived short lives, and were prey for many creatures, but they knew no sorrow, since they knew no joy. They simply were.

"Then one day the sun looked down on a new morning, and said 'I grow weary. I have seen the world begin, and all things begin to be, and many things end, and I am weary of seeing. But I cannot sleep and rest, lest the world be plunged into darkness and the creatures on it perish.' She pondered long on her problem. As she pondered she saw a pony, new-foaled, who was as white as a cloud with hair as pink as a flower in spring. It was a thing even the sun had never seen before, for ponies then were always in earth colors, black or brown or gray. A plan came to her then, and she reached out to the infant pony and touched her with sun-power, planting a seed of magic deep within her.

"As the pony grew, the magic grew with her. It changed her as it grew, and by the time she was a mare she had become a unicorn, which thing had never been seen before on all the world. And as the magic grew, her knowledge and understanding grew also. She learned the language of the sun. She learned to speak also to the moon. She learned many things. And she taught those things to the ponies around her. For her magic shone forth from her, and it changed them, though less than it changed the sun-touched pony herself. Under the influence of her magic the ponies learned language. They made tools. They made art. And eventually they too began to learn magic.

"For among the ponies born after the sun-touched mare there were unicorns, and pegasi also. And from that time on the ponies were no longer only brown, or black, or gray, but began to be born in every color. Their magic swelled within them, and it marked them as they grew, even the earth ponies, each pony's soul shining through in her marking. So it was not long after the birth of the sun-touched pony that ponies became very much as they are today.

"But that is not the end of the story. For a thousand years the sun slowly gave her power to the sun-touched pony. And she continued to grow and change. She grew wings. Her mane and tail grew new colors, and began to flow with magic. She grew taller and more graceful than any pony. And after a thousand years the sun had given the pony all her magic, there was none left in the sun any more. Then the sun told the pony, 'The sun's power is yours now, and the sun's responsibility too.' And with that the sun went into a deep slumber, from which she has never awakened. And the sun-touched pony raised the sun each morning, and lowered it each night, and watched over all the ponies as her people, and they were happy.

"The moon, sister to the sun, saw what the sun had done. The moon was younger than her sister, and perhaps more foolish, but she too felt weary and wished to rest. So she too selected a new-foaled pony. The moon chose a dark blue foal, and gave her a seed of the moon's power.

"The sun-touched pony sensed the passing of the moon's power, and flew to investigate. And it was well that she did, for the birth had been hard, and the foal's mother died only moments after the birth and the moon's gift. The sun-touched pony searched, but there was no stallion who would claim the foal as his own. So the sun-touched pony took the moon-touched pony with her, and called her 'sister' and raised her.

"But the moon, as I said, was perhaps more foolish than the sun had been. She did not want to wait a thousand years. And the young moon-touched pony did not wish to wait either. She saw her sister raising the sun, and she wanted to raise the moon. The will of the moon and the will of the moon-touched pony worked together, and in her third century the moon-sister took up her full power, and the moon slumbered.

"Now it chanced that the moon-sister was in one way very unlike her sun-sister. For the sun-sister had been an earth pony before the sun's power was planted in her. But the moon-sister had been born a unicorn. And it chanced that the moon's power multiplied her natural magic, making her very strong, stronger even than her elder sister.

"She was young and foolish, as her moon had been. And her great power made her very proud. She was also very vain, and took pleasure in the beauty of her night. She sought to make each night a work of art, and came always to her sister, saying 'Sister, is my night not beautiful?' Her sister, who loved her greatly, always praised her night. But as time passed she grew more and more jealous. For her sister alone praised her night. All other ponies slept during the hours of darkness. They woke during daylight to play, and to work, and they often spoke of a beautiful day, but rarely of a beautiful night. This made the moon-sister jealous. She began to press her elder sister to allow her to raise the sun as well. Over the ages her jealousy and her desire for power grew. She begged, she argued, she shouted and fought, and finally she disowned her sister, and swore eternal hatred towards her.

"The sun-sister was wise, for the moon-sister had been twisted by having such great power, so young, and so easily. More power would not help her. She sorrowed when her sister disowned her, but she did not relent. But the moon-sister was not so wise, and she decided that her sister was plotting against her. She saw the jealousy in her own heart, and thought that her elder sister was jealous too, jealous of her great power, and that was why she would not give over the sun. In her hatred she forswore the name her sister had named her with, and re-named herself Nightmare Moon, and swore to have revenge for what she perceived as the wrongs done against her.

"So Nightmare Moon raised her power one day, moon power and magnified unicorn power together, and took the sun from her sister, and prevented it from rising. She swore that the night would last forever, and her power would be absolute.

"The sun-sister saw that her beloved little sister had put herself beyond all help. Her power was too great, and so was her hatred. But there were yet greater powers. The sun-sister, in her wisdom, knew of them. She took her own power and used it to raise a great talisman of good, the Elements of Harmony. They broke the moon-sister's hold over the sun, and allowed the sun-sister to banish the moon-sister to the moon."

Luna paused here, and Dale saw that she was crying silently, tears streaming down her cheeks. "The... the sun-sister had not wished to banish her beloved moon-sister, but it was the only way, for the sun sister had not been able to break her bond with the moon, her source of power. So she must be trapped there, unable to use that power on the world. It... it was the only way. Nightmare Moon raged against her exile, and swore that one day she would return, and overturn the sun, and banish her sister forever. In bitterness and hatred she dwelt on the moon, refusing to admit that... that she had been wrong. That she had done evil, and her sister had done good."

Luna paused again, and Dale leaned against her side, wordlessly offering her his support and love. He could feel how much this story pained her. After some time she finally continued. "A thousand years passed, and on a particular day the wandering stars, those that are actually planets, aligned just so. As part of her night, Nightmare Moon could use their power, and the beam of their power paved a path from the moon to the world, which she could follow.

"This time Nightmare Moon banished her sister, and once again prevented the sun from rising. But a young unicorn and her friends came, bearing the Elements of Harmony, though they knew it not. The moon-sister could not work against that subtle power directly, and they thwarted all of her attempts to stop them by indirect means. They raised the power of the Elements of Harmony against her and this time... this time they were raised not by one with magic, and sorrow, but by six with friendship and love. So their power not only broke Nightmare Moon's magic, it broke the hatred that had made her into Nightmare Moon and not... and not... Luna. And her sister forgave her, and loved her. So... so she became Luna again, but with very little moon magic. And... and she has not tried to regain her power and raise the moon again, for she is... is afraid that if she takes power again then Nightmare Moon will come back, and she will be lost in evil forever."

She started sobbing, and put her muzzle against Dale's shoulder, crying into his coat. He made soft sounds of comfort, and nuzzled her.

"I see now why you worry that you might be evil," said Dale softly after a long time. "There is something I know about evil though. Evil doesn't cry."

"What?" Luna sniffled and looked up at him.

"Evil doesn't cry. Evil is selfishness. Evil is giving in wholly to that impulse that puts one's self first and all others later, but evil doesn't regret selfishness, evil just goes ahead, forging ever deeper. You may have set foot on the path to evil, but then you regretted, and turned back. If you were still on that path you would not be crying now. You would be thinking how to use me to your advantage, rather than feeling unworthy to have me here."

"I... I don't know."

Dale nuzzled her gently. "You fear becoming evil. That's good. You need to strive to avoid evil always. But you can't let the fear of what you might be convince that's what you are. You turned back from that path, and you're walking further away from it every day, Luna. And someday you will take up your power again, and use it to help others."

"I can't... I..."

"Not yet. I know you're not ready yet. I won't push you into it. But someday you will be ready, even if it's another thousand years from now." He smiled at her, though this time he was a little bit wistful, a little bit sad. "I know you will. I just hope I can be there to see it."

Luna felt a trickle of sadness, there in the deepest part of her, where her bond with Dale was growing. "You're sad now. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I just hope I did the right thing when I Chose you. I felt it was right, and I've been taught to trust my instincts, but it's possible that here in this other world they're not trustworthy. I want to help you be everything you can be. But I may have done you a great wrong."

"You? But you're so good! How could you do anything wrong?"

Dale shook his head. "I'm not perfect. And I didn't know you were immortal when I Chose you. Heralds are normally as mortal as their Companions, and they both grow old together. When a Companion dies, or when a Herald dies, their other half usually dies soon after. It is very rare, very rare for one to outlive the other. But you... I have no idea what will happen. If you do come home with me, to Haven, to be a Herald in my world, then you may become human, as Elsepth and Skif became ponies. And then you'll be mortal and you'll die, many years sooner than you should have. So there is one wrong I may have done you. And if you do not become mortal, if you don't change, or if you stay here, then I may still grow old and die. And when I do... I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry. I told you I would be with you always, and I may have lied, though I meant it when I said it. I don't know what will happen then. That I could become immortal like you seems the least likely course, and the only one where I will not have done you harm. I'm sorry."

Impulsively Luna leaned over and nuzzled him. "It's okay." She tried to think at him, wanting him to be sure she meant what she said. She was fairly certain you couldn't lie mind-to-mind. :I'm glad you Chose me. Maybe it will lead to sorrow. I know it will lead to complications. But I don't care. I've never had a friend before. Having you as such a special friend is wonderful. And I know you can help me to be better, to fight Nightmare Moon when that part of me tries to come back. I'd rather have that, even with risking everything else.:

:Thank you,: he replied simply.

When Twilight came over to tell them the telescope was ready, she found them both sound asleep, Luna with her head resting on Dale's shoulder. She smiled and floated a blanket over to them, and left them together while she went to watch the stars alone.

Dale and Luna woke to the sound of panicked cries and clattering hooves. Dale started to his feet and dashed to the edge of the balcony. Below him ponies were running in every direction, shouting in terror as they ran. Most were headed in one direction, but he saw Twilight Sparkle dash out the front door of the library and run towards whatever it was the other ponies were fleeing.

He made out one word amid the panicked babble. "Stampede!"

"Let's go!" said Luna, and she was off the balcony and flying after Twilight Sparkle before Dale could react. He yelped as he felt himself suddenly lifted into the air and floated after the princess. She lowered him to the ground as she flew, and he hit the ground running. Up ahead he could see a cloud of dust, and small dark shapes in front of it as something stampeded towards the town.

They reached the border of Ponyville rapidly. Now he could see that the stampede was a herd of cows. He could also see a handful of other ponies converging on the spot. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who he'd met last night. Applejack, who was running neck and neck with Twilight Sparkle. A white unicorn who'd caught up with him from behind was there as well, and a yellow pegasus, flying near the ground with her eyes squeezed half shut in obvious fear, but still headed towards the crisis and not away from it.

As the herd thundered towards them Dale realized that the cows were not just lowing, they were shouting too, just as the ponies in town had. Well, I guess intelligent cows isn't that much stranger than a whole world full of intelligent equines, he thought. Somewhat more alarming was the cry they were shouting. "Wolves! Wolves!"

"Twilight!" Yelled Applejack, "I don't reckon I can turn them this time! If they got wolves on their heels they won't turn for nopony nohow!"

"Right! We need to go through them to stop the wolves. Can you split them so they go to either side?"

"Can do, sugarcube! Dash! I'm gonna nudge the lead cow over a mite, you nudge her neighbor the other way, and we'll go right down the middle!"

"Right!" They were almost to the herd now. With the easy coordination of those who've worked together often Applejack took the lead, and the other ponies fell in behind in a wedge shape. Dale followed suit, taking up the tail end of the wedge. Overhead Rainbow Dash dived, just as they reached the stampeding herd. With a shout Applejack shouldered the cow thundering down on her aside. Rainbow thudded into another, and suddenly the herd was flowing around them as they ran past in opposite directions. And an instant later, before they had time to think, huge gray shapes were all around them.

Dale had been expecting the sort of wolves he knew, creatures hardly higher than his knee. These wolves were easily as large as he was, and he was the largest pony there. He dodged a pair of snapping jaws, and suddenly the wolf attacking him glowed and shot up into the air. He glanced up to see Luna hovering over him, her horn alight. She picked up a second wolf, then a third, but seemed to reach the limit of her ability at three.

Twilight Sparkle saw what Luna was doing and picked up a pair of wolves as well. As the numbers fell Dale could see there were only three more. Rainbow Dash had rammed one in the side fearlessly, knocking it off its feet with a startled yelp. Applejack bucked and kicked, hitting another wolf in the face and sending it into yelping retreat.

"Don't hurt them!" squeaked the yellow pegasus. She flew up to the third wolf, and to Dale's surprise she landed in front of the slavering creature and glared at it. Her narrowed eyes were full of quiet rage, and she started to lecture it. "Bad wolf! You're not suppose to attack ponies! You're not supposed to eat cows! Shame on you! You belong in the Everfree forest, where you can hunt the way you should. You don't belong in Ponyville! You're being just terrible, and you should know better!"

The wolf tucked its tail under its belly and whined in submission. Dale just stared. The little yellow pegasus kept lecturing the wolf. Luna and Twilight Sparkle both lowered their captive wolves down next to it, and Fluttershy glared at them as well. "And you! You've all been very bad. Now say you're sorry and that you won't do it ever again!"

To Dale's further surprise, the wolves all mumbled that they were sorry, and then turned and slunk away from town, every one of them with its tail tucked up in defeat.

"Way to go, Flutteryshy!" said Rainbow Dash, landing next to the yellow pegasus.

She smiled shyly. "Thank you. I'm just glad nobody was hurt."

"You did a right good job, sugarcube," said Applejack with a smile.

"Yes, that was terrific!" said Twilight Sparkle.

Luna landed next to Dale. "She's only gotten better, I think," she said with a strange little smile. "I saw her stop a manticore once, but this was more impressive. The manticore was only upset, not actually trying to hurt anypony."

"Thank you for your help, princess," said Twilight Sparkle, coming over to Luna and Dale.

"It was no trouble," said Luna, her smile brightening. "it was kind of exciting, really."

"You know what this calls for?" said Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down. "This calls for a party!"

Twilight Sparkle smiled at Pinkie Pie. "I would love to have a party, but I'm not sure we'll be able to have one today, Pinkie. The herd didn't turn this time, they've run right through the town. They'll have done a lot of damage, and we have a lot of work ahead of us helping everypony in town repair things. I don't think you'll have time to throw another party."

"Aw." Pinkie Pie's face fell. "You're right, Twilight. Helping everypony is important."

"How about this? You had some snacks left over from last night, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, when we're done with the cleanup we can meet at the library and eat a few snacks and have a little, quiet party. A mini-party. How does that sound?"

"That sounds super-duper!" said Pinkie Pie, perking up again.

"Great. Now let's go help the townsponies."

The six ponies, with Luna and Dale trailing along, trotted back into town. As Dale helped repair smashed fences and salvage trampled gardens he considered what had happened. Twilight Sparkle and her friends had run towards danger, and not away from it. So had Luna, but Dale had known she would. It was part of what made somebody a Herald, part of the potential he'd sensed in her. She had a strong desire to do something about a problem, and not just sit around and ignore it. And she was no coward. Twilight's friends seemed to be made of much the same stuff. And not only had they stepped into danger, but now they were doing the hard work of fixing what had gone wrong. Another quality shared by Heralds. They were not only heroes, they were everyday helpers that made the kingdom run smoothly.

He wondered what would have happened if six more unpartnered companions had come along with him. Would Twilight and her friends have been Chosen as well?

He trotted wearily back to the library after the worst of the mess had been cleaned up. When he arrived he found Twilight and her friends already gathered. His Valdemaran friends were there as well, Elspeth already deep in a conversation about the mechanics of magic with Twilight Sparkle, and Skif talking animatedly with Rainbow Dash, while Gwena and Cymry were both sitting next to Fluttershy, quietly discussing something he couldn't quite make out amid all the chatter. Pinie Pie was setting out snacks, and Dale was thrilled to find that there were some creampuffs left. He trotted over and helped himself to a few.

"Fight you for the last one," said Luna with a grin, joining him at the snack table.

"I'll be a gentleman and let you have it," said Dale. "That and I know you'd probably win."

Luna giggled. "I would, because I would cheat shamelessly and use magic. For creampuffs it would be worth it."

Dale laughed.

"Everypony listen up!" Dale looked over to see Rainbow Dash standing on her hind hooves, gesturing animatedly. "You guys won't have heard this story, and you totally should!" Rainbow Dash had captured Elsepth's attention as well as Skif's. Dale too wandered over to hear the brash blue pegasus.

"So it all started with the Best Young Flier competition, right? I was going to win, of course, but then Rarity had gotten these magic wings, and she entered the contest too. Only she flew up too high and the wings burnt off. I didn't see it right away, but the Wonderbolts, they're amazing, I'm going to join them someday! They saw what happened and dived right off after her, of course. Only she was so freaked out she was all flailing around and she knocked all three of them out! So now there are four ponies falling, and only one pony to save the day, me, Rainbow Dash! I went into this awesome dive, going super-fast, and right before they hit the ground I caught them all! And got up enough speed for the sonic rain-boom, which nobody else has ever pulled off but me! It was awesome! Even more awesome than when I headbutted that mean old wolf today."

"Fluttershy was the awesome one today," said Twilight Sparkle with a grin.

"Yeah, you were pretty cool," Dash said to Fluttershy, who hid behind her mane and squeaked out a quiet "Thank you."

"You were far more 'awesome' when you dealt with that dragon!" broke in the white unicorn, who'd been introduced earlier as Rarity. "We all failed there, but you saved the day."

Fluttershy smiled, a little, half-hidden smile. "I was very scared."

"We were all very scared, darling. But you faced him down anyway. It was very brave of you."

"You've done brave things too," said Fluttershy, blushing in embarrassment.

"Me? Oh, I don't think so."

"You figured out how to deal with those diamond dogs," said Twilight Sparkle.

"And I think ya'll was very brave to give up yer tail for that poor ol' river dragon," broke in Applejack. "Ah'll admit at the time I thought he was bein' plain ridiculous, and ya'll were both making too much fuss about nothin', but now that I know ya a mite better, I know how much it took fer ya'll to sacrifice like that."

"Well what else could I do, darling? After Nightmare Moon cut off his fabulous moustache! I couldn't just leave him like that!" She suddenly stopped and looked at Luna with wide eyes. "Oh my! I'm so sorry to bring that up, Luna. I know you didn't..."

Luna shook her head. "I'm the one that needs to be sorry. I did a lot of things I shouldn't have, and upsetting the poor river dragon was the least of it. I'm very sorry, sorry to you all." She looked somewhat nervous, and Dale could sense her fear. She was afraid that these ponies, being reminded of what she had been, wouldn't want to be her friends anymore. But she was facing the fear, and facing her past as well. "I'm sorry, Rarity, and I need to say sorry to the river dragon, for upsetting him and making you give up your tail."

"Think nothing of it, my dear. The tail was restored by the Elements before anypony even saw it, after all. I hardly suffered!" Rarity gave her a dazzling smile.

"I'm very sorry, Rainbow Dash, for trying to make you betray your friends."

"Ah, you never stood a chance, don't worry about it," said Rainbow Dash dismissively.

"And I'm sorry for hurting the manticore, and making him attack you all."

"It's okay Luna," said Fluttershy quietly. "He was only a little bit hurt. I pulled that thorn right out, and he barely even remembers it now."

"I'm sorry I tried to frighten you with the living trees," contined Luna, determinedly pressing on.

" It's okay! We had a good laugh. They were so silly!" Pinkie Pie's grin was contagious, and Luna couldn't help but smile back.

"And I'm sorry I tried to drop you all off a cliff."

"That was you too, sugarcube? Well, you didn't harm a one of us, so I don't see there's much to be sorry for." Applejack's smile was warm too, and Luna smiled back, feeling amazingly light. None of them seemed to hate her for what she'd done to them. But there was one more thing...

"And Twilight... I'm very sorry for attacking you in the castle. I was trying to kill you. I am so very, very glad I failed."

Twilight shrugged. "If you hadn't attacked me I never would have felt the spark of friendship and realized what the Elements of Harmony really were. So it all worked out for the best in the end, Luna. I hope... I hope you can forgive me for attacking you too. I thought I had killed you. And I was glad of it, which was wrong of me."

"No, you..." Luna paused, catching herself saying almost the same thing she'd always refused to hear from her sister. "You were attacking Nightmare Moon, not me. You saved me, you set me free from hatred. So thank you. Thank you very much. And thank you all for being so kind to me on my visit here. I'd like... I'd like it if we could be friends."

"Well of course, sugarcube, It'd be a right honor."

"Indeed, Darling."

"You'd be a super-duper friend!"

"Yeah, you're pretty cool."

"I'd like to be your friend."

"We have so much in common, I'm sure we'll be great friends."

Luna smiled at them all, feeling a swelling of blissful happiness in her chest. All these ponies would be her friends? Even having experienced the evils of Nightmare Moon directly? They had forgiven her as easily as her sister. It was nothing short of miraculous.

"We'll be your friends too," said Elspeth, breaking in. "You're a sweet person, and I think we all like you a lot. And if you do come with us to Haven you'll meet even more people who want to be friends with you, I'm sure."

"Thank you. Thank you all very much," said Luna, trying not to cry. She had no idea if she wanted to stay here and try and regain her powers, or if she wanted to go to this other world and get a new start, but it was wonderful to know that whichever choice she made she would have friends there by her side.

Comments

[Production Run]

Pinie Pie was setting out snacks,
You might want to fix her name.