//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: The Little One and The Moon Princess (part 1) // Story: The Wild Laughter of Stone // by dah884 //------------------------------// Luna was furious as she walked down the halls of the corridors of Canterlot castle. Her face didn’t show it but, the shadows bending, almost eerily reaching for her, and the light dimming around her screamed of her inner turmoil. The maids’, servants’, and guards’ flinching at her pasting just added to her fury, oh, their faces remained stoic to the unobservant eye but she could tell. “That… that stupid, arrogant, pig of a prince, he…, he…” her thoughts trailed off as she remembered the incident. “What is the meaning of this?” came the smooth but angry stallion’s voice. “What are thou playing at?” It demanded. Luna turned nonchalantly with a half lidded glare, “what dost thou mean?” She asked the white coated unicorn, in her most innocent voice. “Have We not addressed thy concerns already?” Her glare focusing on his golden irises even as a few strands of his blonde hair fell over his eyes, his mane’s state a testimony to his annoyance. “How dare you meddle in affairs beyond yourself,” his condensing sneer barely kept from his muzzle. “When THE Princess finds out how you have wronged HER ponies…” “First and foremost,” interrupted Luna. “I AM A PRINCESS of Equestria and YOU should keep that in mind. Secondly, my sister would be no more accommodating to your proposal.” “My apologizes, your Highness, I merely meant you are the WRONG princess, as this is a matter for the Day Court which is your sister’s domain.” It took all of Luna’s self-control to stop her from grinding her teeth. For centuries the two sisters would help with matters left at the end of their respective courts. Then, one day a noble, who disagreed with her ruling, claimed she had no authority within the Day Court. The rest didn’t hesitate to jump on the bandwagon. She would flog the foal who thought up that loophole if she could. “As for my Proposal, I am certain your sister has the RIGHT to make her own decisions.” The shadows sharpened and the lights dimmed as Luna understood what this thing was implying. He flinched but kept his smirk. “Now I think I hear a boogiemare attacking a foal. You better run off to save them.” His smirk becoming a smug grin as he turns and leaves. The shadows stretching toward him making him hasten his pace. As Luna approached her room, her personal guard thestrals made the same almost unperceivable flinch of the Day Guard. But unlike their day counterparts, theirs was not of fear but concern. They knew the withering shadows were a reflection of their mistress’s inner distress. Luna had a little smile at the care of her friends. The slight nod of her head a wordless thanks, as the shadows settled. When Luna opened her doors she saw heaven in its lunar motif. The thought of Night Court in a few short hours just caused her head to hurt. She use to love helping her people, but lately the ones who truly seek her aid have been fewer and fewer this last decade or so. The rest either came because they thought she was the weaker princess or to ‘help’ her with the other nobles. As she closed her eyes, she pulled up the stars. The true stars, the inner lights of all sentient beings. Some would call them souls, others minds, but to her they were a beauty she could only ever share as a pale imitation. Counting them always brought her peace, even though they were beyond her ability to count and yet she knew all of them on a fundamental level. A small smile graced her muzzle. As she chose a random star to begin, her head immediately snapped to a point of blank space. Her smile grew into one only mothers and teachers could repeat. For from the shadows, a new light emerged, as a dreamer dreamed their first dream. “And, a daydreamer, too!” All of a sudden she was positively giddy, all but laughing as if she just thought of a hilarious joke she couldn’t quite remember the words to. That feeling soon turned sour as she noticed the star’s light which should be a bright light, instead was a dark shade that almost blended into the surrounding shadows. Without hesitation Luna enter the corona of the star, as no one’s first dream should be a nightmare. Luna found herself in an enclave of the shore of an underground pond. The hole in the ceiling allowing the noon day sun to shine through and illuminating the crystal clear pond. The grass, and the treetops just visible over the rim of the crevice she was in, implying that this pond was in the middle of a meadow. Wondering how such beautiful scenery could be a nightmare, she turned around to look for her host, and her heart froze in her chest. There instead of stone wall was nothing, not shadow nor darkness, but the void of the dream realm. But what sent a chill down Luna’s spine was the lack of stars. Every star in a dream represented a true star that the dreamer was connected to. Her morbid thoughts at the implication were interrupted by an undistinguishable voice. “Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear…, dear… I, happy birthday to me,” sang the voice devoid of emotion. “Oh, and how old are you, little one?” Luna gently asked the assumed child. She felt the dreamer take notice of her, as a formless shadow appeared As she watched the shadow, Luna idly noticed the void in front of her and out of the corner of her eye she spotted sunlight from the meadow above the pool behind her. “How old are you, little one?” Luna repeated. The shadow did not shift, but Luna could’ve sworn the child was tilting its head inquisitively. “Five,” her host said with a hint of uncertainty. Luna noticed a slight flickering of movement near what would be the child’s head. But, before she could question it, there was a spike of worry from her host’s mind which blossomed into full on panic. “What if they’re not the same, I could be younger or older, oh no I forgot leap years!” The dreamer going off in their own little world, literally. Luna couldn’t help a smile of nostalgia, “ah, the worries of youth.” She cleared her throat to brake her host out of her ramblings. “Worry not, little one. My sister and I have not changed the years length since we took stewardship of the Sun and Moon. Nor has any other changed it in several millenniums time,” Luna said with mirth. “It is still 365 days and nights. One for every degree in a circumference plus five for each of the original children of Gaia.” Luna’s smile grew fondly it had been decades since anyone asked why the year was as long as it was. “I’m not little,” the child protested, and even though the shadow did not change Luna could feel the pout. Luna merely smiled kindly, “But tell me, what of these leap years?” Curiosity over the strange phrase tinting her voice. She got the sense that the shadow was staring at her blankly even as there was another flicker of movement near the head area, “a leap year is when you have an extra day to make up for the missing time.” Luna busted out laughing, she couldn’t help it, “that’s just brilliant! Can you imagine the looks on the faces of those pesky noble fools.” A smirk dawning her muzzle, “a day popping out of nowhere and throwing their precious schedules off, it would be just marvelous.” “What’s a noble?” Asked the dreamer, as curiosity came from her host. A chill ran down Luna’s spine, “have you never met one?” Though she felt foolish as many did not meet nobles. “Nope! No one ever comes.” the child stated sadly. Luna tried to swallow the growing lump forming in her subconscious throat. “What do you mean? where is your mother or father?” There was a spark of something Luna couldn’t quite put her hoof on at the mention of the child’s parents, but it quickly faded. “I’m not really sure. I don’t remember much before waking here. There was an intense pain, a bright flash of blue light, and then this was all there was to see. Only the stars come visit.” At those words the scene changed, the area darkening until the first lights of Luna’s old friends dotted the sky and the pool reflecting it. The happy feelings Luna was getting from her host were muted as they only severed to emphasized the growing horror in her, as she realized this paradise was a prison for her host. And, one for a child no less. There it was again that peculiar feeling of something being conveyed while the shadow remained unchanged, as if the child didn’t know how to express itself visibly. But Luna couldn’t even begin to decipher what it was, or what it meant, her head was too busy spinning with the ramifications of her most recent realization.. As anger slowly replaced horror, Luna was caught off guard by her host’s next words. “You’re pretty nice for a voice in my head. I hope we can talk again.” the world began to dissolve as Luna could’ve sworn she heard, “so much better than…” “Wait, wait, wait…” Rarity interrupted the recounting. “You’re telling me Blueblood has been around since before your fall!” Rarity looked like she was on the verge of fainting. “That’s what you’re focusing on,” snapped Rainbow and Applejack at the same time. “Actually that was probably Blueblood the… hm,” Celestia pondered. “the thirteenth, I believe.” As the discussion continued, Luna laid next to Pinkie, her tail curled around the unconscious pink pony protectively. “I’m sorry Little One, can you ever forgive me?” Luna asked as she nuzzled Pinkies cheek.