The group rushed to the falls to see if Scootaloo and Rumble were right about the Moon Goddess Luna being there until they got there and saw there was no one there.
Rarity gently suggested, "Maybe they ate something bad and were hallucinating?"
There were slight agreements and they were about to turn back when Soarin spotted a light coming from the cave behind the waterfall and pointed it out to Rainbow. She saw and together they went toward it as the others waited behind.
They entered into the cave and gasp in amazement of a tall and proud alicorn with flowing blue hair that sparkled like the night sky standing before them. They immediately bowed in respect to this great goddess.
The alicorn spoke, "Rainbow Dash and Soarin… I come before you with a request."
They looked up in surprise as Dash said, "Name it, we would be honored to do whatever it is you want us to do."
"I agree with my wife. Please, whatever it is, we shall do it."
A smile crept on the goddess's face, "I am please by your eagerness however I believe you will change your minds once I make my intentions known. But first allow me to explain why your compasses glow whenever you're near other, for you see it was I who blessed you with that gift."
The couple gawked at this revelation.
"You?!" Dash pointed in disbelief.
"Indeed. I was there the night you got engaged and I knew that I had found two noble and worthy hearts as the future champions to what will come. So to make sure that you would be able to find each other again I blessed your compasses."
Soarin mulled over those words, "Wait… you mean… you knew of what would happen to us?!"
Rainbow gasped realizing he was right.
Luna stated, "I cannot deny the truth. Yes, I knew of what would happen in your separation."
"But-but-but why?! Why didn't you stop it from happening?!" the mare demanded.
"Because. All things happen as they should. What was meant to be was meant to be."
The duo exchanged bewildered looks.
"I understand your frustrations and I am sorry for all the suffering you had to endure but others in your position are they not suffering as well? That you would have not known of your friends' plight had you not had seen it with your own eyes?"
They made guilty faces knowing the truth behind that statement.
"It is my and my sister's will that Equestria achieves harmony at last, but to do so would require a pony or your case two ponies that have ties to the king that can convince him of this."
Soarin stammered, "N-no offense great goddess, but how is it we have ties? I mean I know we were able to attend the balls ever so often because of our ranks in the Navy but now we don't have that anymore."
"Yeah! And I'm a fugitive now! How am I supposed to talk to the king without getting arrested on sight?!"
"Those are valid concerns however I do believe you have the courage and cunning to figure that out. Another reason why I chose you as my champions to penetrate Equestria's borders."
"It's not that we're ungrateful by this honor, your… moon-ness?" Dash wavered and quickly added, "but we're not sure if this plan of yours can… work…?" she rubbed her head and made a cheesy grin.
There was an eerie calm surrounding Luna until suddenly she glowed as bright as the moon and flapped her wings up as her eyes glowed making the couple gulp in fear.
Her voice then bellowed out as everything shook around them, "YOU DARE QUESTION YOUR GODDESS'S CHOICES?!" making them fall to the cave floor to hang on for dear life.
"No! No not at all!" Soarin called out.
"We just don't think we're the right ponies for the job!" Dash shouted out.
"AS PONIES YOU ARE PERFECT FOR THE TASK! TO LET THE KING SEE YOU AS WHAT HE IS! AS CHAMPIONS YOU WILL FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS OF YOUR FRIENDS TO GO AS THEY PLEASE WITHOUT BIAS GETTING IN THE WAY! NONE OF YOU CAN STAY ON A LITTLE ISLAND FOREVER!"
She slowly went down and her eyes stopped glowing while the couple panted and she calmly told them, "It is not my intent to hurt you or force you to do something so dangerous if I did not think you could do it. Know that I shall be watching everything you do and will help in what way I can. You are my champions and my only wish is for you to accept that role."
The couple was stunned for the longest time as it sunk into their minds that everything that had happened to them was for a reason and that it had been the will of their goddess all along.
Slowly they rose up to face her and with determined looks they placed their hooves on their hearts and told her, "We are at your service, Great Luna."
The goddess nodded in approval, "Thank you; you have pleased me with this." and she gradually rose up again.
"Wait!" Soarin pleaded, "Can you tell us what the future means for our daughter and Rumble?"
Luna smiled and replied, "Do not worry for their future for like you a greater purpose awaits them. But I shall say this, the young colt will not became a bandit as you so fear nor will he be a villain of any sort. As for the filly, she will bear a great lineage that will last for years. And it's important to note that you never split them apart in this day and age. That's all I can give you."
Relief swept over the couple's faces until Rainbow frowned, asking, "Wait, does that mean that Rumble will be the father to Scootaloo's son?"
"I have said all that I need to say. The rest is now up to them just as it is now up to you to fulfill your destiny…" with the last word being echoed after a glow surrounded her and she faded away leaving a trail of sparkles behind.
Dash and Soarin were still stunned by this sudden development but they soon got over it and went out of the cave.
They were back at the hut after telling everyone what had just happen.
"So there you have it." Soarin said, "Our moon goddess wishes for us to go back to try to have the king open Equestria's borders to everyone."
There was silence in the air before Twilight voiced, "But how? Rainbow can't set foot in there without getting arrested and you two no longer have a standing in the royal court."
"Luna believes we can figure it out on our own." Dash pointed.
The group pondered on it, puzzled by what the goddess wanted them to do until a lit candle popped on top of Discord's head before it disappeared as he addressed them, "She said you had ties to the king right?"
Soarin replied, "Right, but that was only when we attended important social events at the palace."
"But you know firsthand of how he thinks and acts, so what if you can appeal to his better nature by presenting yourselves as important ponies that wishes to expand a trade on behalf of your own king." he wiggled his eyebrows and pointed to himself with his thumbs, "Namely, me."
Everyone's eyes widen at this idea before slowly smiling.
Soarin proclaimed, "Discord! That's genius!"
The draconequus smugly smiled, "Of course it is."
Rarity added, "It's perfect! You two can go in disguise under a different alias! Like as a Duke and Duchess or a Baron and Baroness… Ooh! Even better, a Count and Countess!"
Rainbow rubbed her chin, "Count and Countess, huh… Ha! I like it!"
Spike questioned, "But to what exactly? They got to have a place to go with the title."
More thinking occurred as they tried to think of a proper name that could work on the aristocracy.
Dash mentioned, "Too bad Pinkie isn't here I bet she could have come up with the perfect name."
The girls sadly agreed wishing they had their pink friend to help them out in this moment.
After some time Rarity's eyes lit up and shouted starting everyone, "I GOT IT!" realizing her outburst she cleared her throat and composed herself, "That is to say I have figured out the ideal name."
"Yes?" everyone looked on with keenness.
She outright stated, "Monterufolino."
There was a pause before sounds of approval went throughout the hut.
Twilight said, "Okay so we have the title and place, now we need to fix up your looks so you can hide your true identities."
Soarin pumped his hoof, "Yes! I know exactly what I want for a look!" and requested to the lavender unicorn, "Think you can give me a beard?"
"Oh sure! I can do that!" and her horn glowed with her aura surrounding his muzzle.
Soarin could feel the hair vastly growing and just like that he got a full yet trimmed beard making him look debonair.
"Oooh." everyone but Dash gushed.
Soar twitched his brow at his wife, "Well what do you think honey? Is your studmuffin more of a stud now or what?"
Rainbow looked uninterested and said, "Meh, looks okay."
That deflected his pride as he dramatically said, "Aw, sweetie… why…?"
"Because you big dork I already like you as you are, I don't care about the change."
"Awww…" the group gushed again.
That made him smile and kissed her cheek.
She giggled, "Hey that tickles."
Rarity then had her measuring tape out and measured Soarin's body, "I will of course need to make a suitable wardrobe for you two if you are to impress the nobility and his highness."
Capper motioned to the cyan pegasus, "Now what should we do with your appearance?" he circled around, "Hmm… It's going to be hard to hide those rainbow locks of yours especially with your coloring, makes you stick out like a sore thumb or hoof or whatever."
Discord gestured, "You're so right, Capper! Just leave it to me, I'll fix that!" and loomed over the mare.
Dash slowly backed away in concern, "Should I be worried of what you're about to do?"
"Relax! This won't hurt a bit!" then muttered, "Much…"
He placed his paw finger on her head and slowly from the head down her coloring turned gray. Everyone gawked at sight.
When the spell was complete she saw her hooves and demanded, "What did you do to me?!"
"Oh calm down, I merely took your colors away, now had you met me when I was trying to take over the world, I would have used my other hand to corrupt you."
There was awkward silence after that statement but Twilight was able to get them back on topic, "Okay, so we now have your new looks and Rarity will make the wardrobe, while I'll work on the trade plan for you to present to the king, which means all that's left is to make an entourage and we'll be all set."
Rainbow looked at her childhood friend, "I definitely want you as my lady's maid." making the butter mare smile.
Soarin looked to Flash, "Guess that makes you my steward." he ribbed the ex-guard.
"Ugh, you are going to enjoy this way too much."
"You know it." he chuckled.
Me before reading: "hides in bunker"
Really? You're going Monte Cristo on us?
Me after reading: "peeks out the bunker window" Okay, no boom. (dramatic pause) Yet.
9638575
I know it wasn't as obvious in the beginning but given how I was inspired by the musical's soundtrack it was going to get to that point eventually.
Um... something feels off about the word choice.
... sorry buy that feels groan-inducing.
Not bad, now what I expected from the title, but cute
9638669
I was trying to make her sound cryptic, basically she was saying that as ponies they can as Discord later pointed out that they could appeal to his better nature but they would stay true to the mission of helping their friends.
It was either that or Monterufolino Calabrese
9638694
doesn't feel less groan-inducing to me. But that's me.
9638684
There's cryptic and then there's confusing, this straddles that line too much for me to get it.
9638724
I'm curious, what would you have written instead. Sorry if that sounds rude but I genuinely wonder what could have been a better way of putting it.
9638730
Honestly, I either would have been straight forward or tried my hand at a riddle... leaning towards straight forward.
Hmm, I just thought of something. Back when I had to read the Illiad for one of my classes, we learned that the Ancient Greeks believed that there was an unknown, invisible god that not even Zeus had the authority to challenge, and that even the Olympiads were subject to this invisible god's will. Is this universe's mythology similar to that of the Ancient Greeks in this regard?
9638844
Kind-of. Basically since the royal sisters are like gods in the canonverse it was fitting to have them be goddesses here. I was inspired by how it seems in Dreamworks's Sinbad and Pirate of the Caribbean they have their own gods which fit well to this universe.
Apologies for not commenting for so long; I have no excuse here.
Anyways, this was an interesting chapter. I thought the plan was pretty interesting with Dash and Soarin' pretending to be representatives of their "kingdom" and try to get Neighsay to change his ways, though it remains to be seen how that plays out. Although, I have to admit I tilted my head a bit at the name of their kingdom.
Also, if this was mentioned in the previous chapter and I missed it, then I apologize, but I'm curious: is Celaeno still sick? Or did they manage to cure her ails? Because if not, then I'd be shocked if she's still alive at this point.
9639220
Well I hoped with Thunderlane's curing that it was implied she was cured.
9639326
I guess I didn't really think of it like that. It's just that it never got mentioned so I was a bit concerned.
... OF COURSE there's more.
At least I can't say it isn't interesting
Aki