//------------------------------// // Act I - Chapter I - To Take A Fence Down // Story: Subject #4: "Determination" // by Starlit Rose //------------------------------// Moon Dancer had been busy. For starters, she had rearranged her study desk off to the side so she can free up her window. From there, she moved her chair over into the light, positioning it perfectly so she can bask in the sunlight, yet still not be blindsided whenever she reads a book. She may not know Haycartes' methods, but that doesn't mean she can't do something herself. Afterwards, she went to town and bought a new sofa to suit the new look. And to replace the broken one she has now. The rusted nails had been poking her in certain... undesirable places, which was clearly a hindrance to her studies on obscure mythology - including the 'hairless' Ape/Minotaur hybrid that another pony had been discussing with her - as well as a potential health risk. She also brought home a dozen of so quills while she was actually outside. The statistically high probability of meeting with ponies who bring unpleasant memories to her day meant that such visits were rare, so she makes the most optimal use out of each and every journey. Although it wasn't really their faults per se that their presence brings forth these things. At least they were friendly enough to attend her party, unlike a certain lavender alicorn. A Princess of Friendship no less! If she were to give Celestia a piece of her mind- So she was perfectly content in remaining solitary in her home; the silence brings her peace and quiet. Something she can relate to over her life. Aside from her sister, Morning Roast - who remains to be the only relative she keeps in somewhat regular touch with - and her research, its the only thing that comforts her these days. Moon Dancer gazes out the window. She notices the little colts and fillies running around. A ball flies past. She wistfully sighs; she used to love playing those simple games. Her eyes drift slowly to the sky, the nostalgia of an earlier time being once again remembered. She frowns. The pegasi have done a good job clearing the clouds this time around. She deduces something of importance must be occurring at the castle. And Princess Twilight must be having a wonderful time there, isn't she? She laughs bitterly, and takes another sip of her wheat-herbal tea. The tea however, does little to soothe her raw nerves. Perhaps the orange shavings she added in had been a mistake then. She sets aside the cup onto her desk with a brief flow of her light cerise magics. In her hooves she holds a copy of Torah L. Embow's - Quite the unusual name, if she were to say so - Disorderly Arcanics: A Documentation of Draconequi and Chaos. A light read for her, nothing more. Although Moon Dancer would normally be making notes on the topic, she simply isn't in the mood to do so. As it may be, she can always do a proper analysis of the text on a later date; it is not as if she is tied up with any events or special places to attend to. Another benefit of living a mostly solitary life. In the exponentially receding light of Celestia's sun, she reads a few more lines from the book. ...and little is known about Draconequi; their chaotic arcanics are poorly documented and often misunderstood. Simply, we only know of one to even be of existence in Equestria or its surrounding nations. The 'spirit of chaos' as it refers to himself, Discord used to be a prominent figure in the Great Chaos Wars over a millennia ago, being the direct instigator of the conflict. After subsequently being solidified into stone with the Elements - which in itself is another curious topic to read upon - he freed himself a few years ago, only to be petrified again by the Element bearers. As per Celestia's request, Fluttershy - the element-bearer of kindness - has solely managed to maintain a peaceful relationship with the spirit, 'reforming' him in essence. As of now, only a few ponies have ever seen him in action, and... Moon Dancer groans. None of what she is reading sticks with her, her mind distracted, in turmoil over conflicted feelings. She gathers herself off the sofa, stretching her limbs while doing so. Perhaps a walk outside might clear my mind up. Opening the door, and then treated with a gust of Luna's nightly breeze, she picks off a woollen coat from the nearby rack and sets off. Gazing at the stars, she contemplates over her troubled mind. She wants to be alone with her life. She needs peace and quiet to perform her research. Yet, she cannot but help desire the companionship of other ponies. Twilight's visit had reminded her of the pain she felt in the past. Pain which she had locked up deep within mental file cabinets. Pain which she had sorted away as 'eldritch abominational constructs'. Pain which she had sworn to never touch upon again. Now she is experiencing those same feelings again. Damn Twilight to Tartarus for unlocking hell's gates onto my mind. Now that she had reasoned out her emotions, Moon Dancer looks up at the stars. Truly looks up at them. She grins giddily. No matter what, Luna's nightly show always brought a smile to her face. Even on her mother's funeral, a few minutes under the stars with her father was all it took for her to be at peace. "Moon Dancer, my sweet daughter. Do you know what Luna's stars up in the night sky are?" "Oh, that's an easy one. They are burning balls of-" "Each of them is a pony, Moon Dancer." "But that's just silly dad. Ponies don't become stars." "When they have moved on, they become one with the stars. They are always watching over us. You mother is watching over you. Don't you forget that, okay? No matter what happens in the future, your mother and I are watching over you. We will be there when you need us most. All you have to do is look up at the night sky." "O-Okay dad." "Remember to look up at Luna's night sky..." Remember to look up at Luna's night sky For a while, Moon Dancer merely gazes up at the sky. She slows down her hooves on the cobbled streets of Canterlot, and leisurely paces herself. After all, she wasn't in any rush to get anywhere in particular. Still, it didn't take long for her pace to quicken to a trot, then a gallop... Moon Dancer flies through the mostly empty streets of Canterlot, her hooves creating a serenade on the cobbled ground beneath her. Her blood pumps within her body, the pulses forming a soft beat, latching onto her music flowing through her mind. She hears a nightly waltz from Princess Luna in the castle towers, and so joins in on the symphony that is the night, is all its glory, pure as the moon shining down upon her. Moon Dancer she is indeed. The smile never vanishes from her face, even when she takes her eyes off the sky to see where she had taken herself to. The streets are mostly empty, save for a few ponies traversing around. A few of them travel in groups, chatting amicably together as they wander off in the night. A few others flit between different buildings, sometimes carrying bags of concealed goods, sometimes carrying bags of bits. Yet a few others- "How ya' doing there?" She twirls around to see a stallion greet her. Blinking her eyes, she formulates a response. "Oh, uh... Hi." A classic one-liner. The stallion raises an eyebrow. "Now, what's a good-lookin' mare like ya"- Moon Dancer blushes slightly at the compliment -"doing all alone out 'ere in the middle of the night? Ya must be freezin', even with the woollen coat ya have. Why don'tcha come inside? Ah was just on my way home, but ah reckon another mare won' do me much harm." He turns around and unlocks a door to the restaurant behind him, motioning for her to follow him. Moon Dancer adjusts her glasses, unsure whether to follow him in. Deciding that it would be harmless enough, she walks through the door. A few seconds later the lights turn on, revealing a large amount of broken glass strewn about on the floor. "Ya'll haf'ta forgive me on the glass. Still haven't got the shipment of new bottles of alcoholic drinks yet from Sweet Apple Acres. They don' make too many deliveries up 'ere ya know? So ah've been too busy sortin' out the stocks from down below, an' checking the inventory and whatnot. Stupid paperwork's takin' too much of my time out." The stallion appears from a set of stairs leading to the cellar. His jaw drops. "Well, fancy me a roaches bottom! Ya managed to clean it up! Why thank you Miss..." "Moon Dancer." Moon Dancer takes a window seat, her gaze still on the night sky outside. Her horn glows from the after-effects of the levitation spell she had just used on the shards of glass, and then teleporting them all to an active volcano in the dragon lands. Impractical and inefficient, but those weren't on her mind then. "Please, tell me, who are you?" "Ah'm just the barkeeper. Ah run this place. Now, since ya have cleaned the glass up for me, let me treat ya. Whatever you want: On the house. Ah still have some good old hard apple cider in the store rooms down below. Ya want that now?" Moon Dancer thinks for a moment. "Yes, that would be great." The stallion comes back up with a pair of bottled of cider. Pulling out the corks with his teeth, he sets up glasses for both of them and sits opposite to her. "So, Miss Dancer, what do ya do?" Moon Dancer turns away from the windows and looks at him. "I don't do much." "Sure as hell ya don', With that fancy magics of yours ya should be a mage or something." The barkeeper laughs, and takes a long swig of cider. Moon Dancer takes a simple sip, tasting it. More importantly, deciding whether or not she would have to pre-emptively call on her sister with a rudimentary communication spell to drop by and pick her up. Swishing the golden liquid in her mouth, she calculates a low concentration of alochol; just within her pitifully low tolerance. Tastes better than tea anyway. In fact, after guzzling down a large amount of the drink, she decides it is much better than tea. She needs to obtain this liquid. Moon Dancer makes a mental note in her mind to research on "Apple Cider" once she get back home. In the meanwhile, she asks him, "What was with the shattered glass then, Mr. Barkeeper?" The stallion snorts in annoyance. "Well, just a few days ago, a group of mares kept on drinkin themselves till late at night. Ah think one of 'em was an alicorn as well, and 'ere ah thought that all alicorns were princesses with politics to do. No disrespect to any of 'em, of course. 'specially not Princess Luna, she's been a favourite of mine." Moon Dancer raises her eyebrow in response. "An alicorn? Was she, by perchance going by the name of Twilight Sparkle?" "Eh, ah wasn' really payin' attention to 'em, so ah can' tell ya on that one. Still, managed to see a dragon that night as well. Still a baby though. Didn' one of the princesses have 'em as a pet?" "Yes, Twilight Sparkle," states Moon Dancer. "Anyway, like ah said before, had a bunch of tipsy mares and then the dragon comes in at the middle of the night. Ah was gonna to kick 'em out - ah need my own sleep too - but then they all just fell asleep! Together, just like that! And then ah might've fell asleep as fell. 'Cos next thing I know, ah opened my eyes to the sounds of an 'undred or so of ma bottles crashin' on the floor, with that alicorn fallen head over heels beside it." "Yes, and then..." Moon Dancer is quite entranced by the story, listening attentively to the stallion's words. "Well, ah was gonna give her a piece of my mind there an' then, princess or no princess, but then she decided to fire a bunch of her fancy magics into my face. The docs at the hospital did a crackin' job at gettin' rid of the scars and ah think the bill's been covered by Princess Celestia, but still, can ya believe that?" Moon Dancer could not believe that. She thought Twilight had been a jerk to her. Now, it has been confirmed that she is one. She takes another long sip of the cider. "No apologies, no nothin'. She just took off somewhere with the dragon of hers." The stallion grins. "Now ah've told ya ma story. How 'bout ya tell me some'in'?" Normally, Moon Dancer would have already left at this stage, her general coldness to simple talk leaving her with an air of cynicism and a desire to simply get out of any social situations. Tonight however, the alcohol seems to have other plans for her. "Sure! That seems fair enough to me." "Alright then. Ya say ya don' matter much. That's a damn lie right there if ah ever saw one. So tell me, what do ya do?" Before Moon Dancer could formulate a response, the stallion interrupts, "Ya know what? Nah, don' answer that. Let me guess, ya feel like ya hurt and ya tired and ya hate everypony else, 'cos ya think ya have it so bad? So that's why ya don' think ya matter much?" Moon Dancer's face reveals the response despite it not coming from her mouth. The stallion leans closer, dropping his voice down to a whisper despite nopony else being in the café. "An' ah'm right as well. Go figure. Listen here now. Ah don' care how lonely ya are or what ya have been through to feel this pain from somepony else. No matter what anypony else says, ya do matter. But ah'm sure that ya have heard that from a lot of ponies anyway. "At the very least, ya were able to give a stallion like me a reason to keep on drinkin' the night away. If that doesn't count as something then ah swear to ma mama's grave - bless her heart - ya might need to see a doc as well." He laughs. This time, Moon Dancer joins him, chuckling. A warm feeling rises in her chest, but then disappears as soon as she recognises it. She frowns for a moment. "Anyway, ah'd better be heading back home an' ah reckon ya do too. Hey, let me get ya a couple more bottles of that cider as a thank-ya-very-much-for-clearin'-up-the-broken-pieces-of-glass. Ya seem to be guzzlin' it down as if ya just been to a trip down in Saddle Arabia." Moon Dancer starts to protest, but soon changes her mind. That cider is good stuff. "Yeah, I'd like some more." The stallion returns with a couple more bottles in hoof, letting her take it with some levitation arcanics. Not seeing the point of continuing with idle talk, she walks out the door into the night, the bottles trailing behind her with a flow of magic. Turning around, she asks him one more question. "Hey, I've forgotten to ask you something. What's your name?" The stallion pauses for a few seconds, cocking his head. "...Ya can call me Bartholomew." "It's... been a pleasure, Mr. Bartholomew." "An' the same to you too, Miss Dancer." With that, the two ponies go on their separate ways. Moon Dancer in surprisingly high spirits, even taking the alcohol into account. She gazes up at Luna's night sky. She smiles, despite herself. "Thank you mother."