“Well, should we get started.” Starlight said. “I’m meeting Trixie for Lunch later today, so if we’re going to find you a place to work and stay we need to get started.” Starlight stood and walked back to the main door, Twilight, Spike, and Crescent followed.
“Spike.” Twilight looked at him as they crossed through the main hall. Spike grabbed a scroll off a shelf by the door. “What do I have today and when are they?” Twilight asked as the group trotted out the door.
It was early spring and a chill greeted them as they walked out the door. Crescent walked a few steps with the rest of the group. Twilight turned around to talk to her and stopped seeing the castle door open.
“Crescent would you mind closing the door? ” Twilight asked. Spike caught her attention and she turned back around to face him.
“Sure.” Crescent said walking back to the door and cautiously closing it. It felt surprisingly good to shut a door by herself. At the hospital she’d opened doors and closed doors, but the staff was usually close by and did it for you anyways. Crescent thought for a second, figuring that probably four out of five doors were opened for her. And now they wouldn’t be. She felt a little giddy.
Twilight and the others walked on as she shut it. As they walked, Spike began reading off Twilight’s list for the day. “First you have studying with Starlight, as usual, and that starts in thirty minutes.” Twilight stopped and looked at Starlight.
“Starlight, do you mind if we cancel that for today? I think Crescent needs some help getting around town…” Twilight said as they walked farther on and turned around a corner and disappeared.
Crescent, who’d very carefully shut the door, barely caught sight of Twilight and the others as they turned the corner. “Aaahh!” Crescent quietly shouted dashing down the street to catch up.
When she turned the corner she found herself in Ponyville’s market that was setting up for the day and ponies were milling about setting up their stalls. Crescent hurriedly looked around, but couldn’t find Twilight or Starlight anywhere. Her glasses had slipped during her dash and she had to push them back up. She looked around again, but all she could see were shop ponies setting up for the day.
Crescent started panicking. “What do I do, What do I do, What do I do.” She muttered frantically trotting in place. Shop ponies moved about her as they set up. Crescent began wandering through the stalls trying to find Twilight again. A few times she thought she’d seen her, but each time she tried to catch up it wasn’t Twilight it was somepony else.
Crescent kept pacing and wandering back and forth, eventually she realized she was wandering in circles. She’d passed that flower seller three times and that asparagus stall looked very familiar. Crescent adjusted her glasses and combed back her mane nervously, shifting from hoof to hoof.
“You okay there sugarcube?” a voice asked coming up behind her. Crescent turned around. An orange pony with light yellow mane and tail and a cowboy hat was standing behind her. A small yellow filly with a bow in her mane and an old light green mare were setting up an apple stall just a bit behind her.
“You look as nervous as a pig on wash day.” She said as she helped the other two ponies set up the stall. Something was familiar about this pony, like Crescent had seen her before but couldn’t remember where.
“Yeah I got lost. Umm… Did you happen to see Princess Twilight walk by here somewhere?” Crescent asked.
“Twilight? You’re looking for Twilight? I haven’t seen her today yet, but she’ll probably come by sometime in the day. Why are you looking for her?” The pony asked setting a bushel of apples from a cart into the stall.
Crescent looked at the pony again trying to remember where she’d seen her before. “I’m terribly sorry, but you seem familiar even though I’m sure we’ve never met. What’s your name?” Crescent asked.
“You don’t know me?! Well call me an Appleloosan buffalo! I never thought I’d meet another pony that didn’t know who I was ever again!” The pony stuck out a hoof and Crescent reached out to shake it. The pony shook her hoof vigorously. Crescent reached up to stop her glasses from falling off. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Applejack, a personal friend of Twilight’s and who might you be?” Applejack asked letting go of Crescent’s hoof. Crescent’s hoof continued shaking for a few seconds before she managed to stop it.
Applejack brought the memory back to her. “Oh Applejack! I remember now.” Crescent smiled as she remembered the picture that she’d seen on the invitation to Twilight’s coronation and the other announcements from Canterlot about their adventures. Twilight had been the only one Crescent had really remembered since they were related, but now she could remember the five other ponies that were in all the other pictures with her.
“Sorry I didn’t recognize before you. I’ve been a bit… out of the loop for awhile.” Crescent said a little abashed.
Applejack smiled back. “No problem sugarcube. Sorry, but introductions tend to go both ways. So what is your name again? And why are you looking for Twilight?” She asked as she continued setting up the stall.
“I’m Crescent Moonbeam. I’m staying with Twilight while I try to find a place to stay in town and she was going to help me find someplace today.” Crescent explained.
“You mean you’re new to Ponyville?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah, I got here last night and asked if I could stay.” She said adjusting her glasses again.
“Hooboy! Pinkie’s gonna cause such a ruckus that Twilight didn’t tell her about you yesterday. Even if you did stop in in the middle of the night.” Applejack laughed. The other two walked up at the noise.
“What’s this? Met somepony new have you?” The old green mare asked.
“Who is she?” The little filly asked bouncing over.
“Granny, Apple Bloom, meet Crescent Moonbeam. She’s staying with Twilight until she finds a place to stay.” Applejack explained gesturing at Crescent.
“Nice to meet you.” Crescent mumbled rubbing her front leg with a hoof. “But I would really like to get back to Twilight, she was going to show me around and help me find a job and house, and I’d like to get back to that.” Crescent said.
“Sure thing sugarcube. I have an idea where she might heading if she sticks to her normal schedule.” Applejack pointed out around the edge of town. “She’d probably be reviewing the week’s weather with Dash to make sure she has it all under control.”
Crescent looked in the direction Applejack was pointing. She didn’t see anything that stood out. She slid her glasses back up her muzzle. “Umm… I don’t know where Dash lives and I haven’t been here all that long. Would you mind helping me get there?” She asked.
“Dash lives in a cloud. You’ll be fine as long as you head that way.” Applejack assured her. Crescent looked back in the direction from before. She didn’t want to get lost and though she had taken her medication she’d rather have somepony with her. “Would you mind coming with me anyways? Just in case, or if Twilight isn’t there, so I don’t have to just wander around randomly.” Crescent asked.
“For one of Twilight’s kinfolk? Sure, if you would like me to come.” Crescent nodded politely and poked at the ground. Applejack turned over her shoulder. “Do you think y’all can can manage the cart until I get back?” Applejack asked. “Crescent would like an escort to Dash’s house.”
Apple Bloom nodded, jumping a few times. Granny gave Applejack a mocking glare. “I may be getting up there missy, but I can still keep an eye on an old cart.” She grinned and winked before shooing applejack off.
Applejack began trotting off and Crescent turned and followed her. They walked out of town and started down a path around Ponyville. They were silent for a bit. As they came around a bend, Applejack broke the silence. “Rainbow Dash lives a bit outside of town, so why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself.” Applejack said walking along.
Crescent took a stutter step nearly tripping, she adjusted her glasses as she stammered. “Um… Well… I-I-I’ve been a little out of the way recently and came to Ponyville to try and see if a fresh start would help with anything.” She said. “My parents thought it would be best as well, and well Twilight was in the area and my relative, so I thought I’d see if I might ask her for a place to stay.” She explained before falling quiet again.
“Anything else?” Applejack asked. Crescent was still quiet. “What do you like to do? Do you have any hobbies? Are you into magic like Twilight and Starlight or are you more of a solid pony? Making things and such?” She asked.
Crescent took a second before responding. “Um… Yeah I do like magic theory quite a bit, but that’s a little hard to call a hobby of mine since I can’t practice it all that much.” Crescent sighed as they continued on.
“What do you mean you can’t practice it? If you like to do it, just do it. I have to run a lot of Sweet Apple Acres, but I still find time to practice for my rodeo competitions. I bet you could find time for it if you tried.” Applejack said as they rounded a bend in the path.
Crescent groaned a bit and tilted her back and forth as if she was considering something. “It’s not quite that simple.” She explained stopping and gesturing with her hoof towards her horn. She caught her glasses and fixed them.
“You see, I have Magic Dysphoria.” She sighed when Applejack gave her a confused look. “It basically means I don’t have control over my magic.” She paused and thought for a second. “Do you have any experience with unicorn foals?” She asked.
“A little. The cakes have sweet little unicorn and pegasus foals that are quite the handful, and I don’t think I need to tell you about the Crystaling with Flurry Heart.” Applejack said starting to walk again.
“Actually, I”d love to hear that story. If you wouldn’t mind?” Crescent said looking a little hopeful. As she followed Applejack again.
Applejack smiled. “You’ll have plenty of time to hear since you’ll be living with Twilight for a week or so, and I’d still like to know you a bit better.” Applejack hoof-bumped her on the shoulder.
Crescent smiled and slid her glasses back up her muzzle. “Okay, so you know how young Unicorns have trouble controlling their magic?” She asked. Applejack nodded giving a chuckle. “Well it’s almost exactly like that.” She explained.
“So you have random power surges and trouble focusing whenever you don’t?” Applejack asked.
Crescent tilted her head back and forth again. “Well… Minus the power surges now. Now it’s just difficult to focus on it and keep it going.” She explained. She stopped and pointed to a stick on the ground. “Like this.” She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her horn flickered for a few seconds and her glasses slid down her muzzle. The glow surrounded the stick, flickering with her horn as she shakingly lifted the stick. She levitated it across the path to the other side grunting with the exertion.
Once she finished she sat down panting on the path. Applejack stopped and sat down next to her looking concerned. “You okay there sugarcube? You look like you just tried to buck all the apples off a zap apple tree.”
Crescent was panting, but stood back up. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just exhausting is all.”
“Well it’s a good thing Rainbow’s house isn’t too far away then.” Applejack said pointing up at the sky.