One of the things that I missed the most were these festivals and fairs that used to be all over the place back on my planet. The merriment of all the creatures sure can give off a sense of liveliness that you can hardly find on any biome anywhere, barring some exceptions.
I like to spend most of my time surrounded by nature, that is a proven fact, but even someone such as myself likes to mingle and chat with others from time to time! And these big parties were the best place to do so, far from diplomats, politicians and other party poopers. But as all good things in life, these also went away in time.
With the creation of those computers and the virtual worlds the trichordians had less reasons to go out and mingle in big festivities, and it only went worse from there. Why would you when you can have the same from the comfort and security of your own house? Not that I was in the best health to enjoy anything during those times…
These ponies managed to keep these traditions alive and well, even if the causes were a bit sketchy from my point of view. Darn magic… Is everything on this planet completely affected by it? It’s a little… sad, to be honest. I can’t help but feel that the natural course of evolution on this little world has been stunted by it. I mean levitating things and other feats it’s pretty neat to see! The little ones here are full of wonderful surprises thanks to this magic… but the lack of any kind of guardian so far gives me this nagging feel from time to time…
Well, maybe I can find some clues along the way. For now… Let’s move these flanks!
“Whoa Gaia. I wasn’t sure if you would like it, but you sure are putting some energy with those moves!” the known voice of young Twilight said as she approached me with an amused smile.
“Twilight! Where were you hiding all day my dear? I’m glad to see you!” I said as I pulled her into a hug that she happily accepted, and even gave me one back. Yes!
“I’m afraid I was checking on the little planet and doing some research. I’ve been in a crystal fair before and while it’s a very fun event I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t try my best helping you with your vacation schedule. No pony better to be guides than locals, right?” she happily said while floating some scrolls that were swiftly put away.
“And how is it going? I hope you are not stressing over it too much,” I sincerely said to her. I know how scholars can get regarding important experiments. She just smiled and shook her heard.
“Don’t worry, Gaia. I took Cadance’s advice to heart and put your tips to use. Whatever happens, it’ll be a learning experience,” she stated. Well done, girl! That’s the spirit!
“So… taking to heart the advice from the heart princess…” I playfully said, getting a playful shove from her as she giggled. Oh, the nerve!
“You know what I meant! You are as bad as Rainbow with your teasing.”
“All in good fun, my dear. And talking about fun, why don’t you dance with me? It’ll be a blast!” I asked her, getting a nervous smile from her.
“I’m not… the best dancer, Gaia. I’ll enjoy the music from-“
“Ah no! No frowns during a party! Just dance!” I said, bringing her with me and wildly moving at the rhythm of the music, “Let the music guide you!”
“G-Gaia, you look ridiculous!” she said, giggling at my mad dancing skills.
“I do not! I’m expressing my love for these beats! And if someone doesn’t like it, they can look elsewhere!” I firmly stated, bouncing and moving with the music. Twilight was unconsciously already moving with me as well.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” she said before starting to do a strange dance as she got closer to me.
“I can!” I simply replied, laughing out loud with the strange but enjoyable music the crystal ponies were playing.
And dance we did! I didn’t even notice when the moon went up in the sky either!
Twilight was finally enjoying herself, and the royal couple was also dancing too! Luna was just lightly bouncing to the rhythm of the music, but that’s okay! I know that she’s having a great time in her own way!
I was too to be honest, and I was bouncing from place to place, changing dance partners and also changing my dance moves whenever I wanted and when the lovely musicians changed songs. I felt… alive.
I’ve been in parties with my son and the trichordians back home enough times that even I can’t count them, but this… this was not the same. They always look at me differently back home, all of them except my son. These ponies though… there is respect, sure, but… they are not afraid, they approach me and talk to me like I’m one of them. They share their joys and their precious little time with a stranger like me.
I slowly stopped dancing as my energy suddenly began to fade. I decided to look at the party goers… the small smiles gracing their fuzzy faces not so different from mine. They were… relatable to me, in a primal way.
Their bodies, their mannerisms… even the language, once you were used to it… everything just fell uncannily in place, making it deceitfully familiar to me. Seemed like a perfectly developed society for creatures like me. A home outside home…but I knew better. It was all superficial, just a glance at what could’ve been at my planet, one of the many possible things that could’ve happened… but it was never meant to be.
Some of the dancers bump into me, and they ask for forgiveness as they continue their merriment. I give a muted apology as well just before more of them keep accidentally tripping because of me, as they were imitating my earlier energetic dance. I saw that the local alicorns were looked at me a bit confused as my body is pretty noticeable at a glance and everyone kept dancing into me thanks to the chaos of the lively party around us. It seems that the festival was escalating in scope… and quickly at that.
Feeling a sudden wave of weariness, I finally decided to move out of the dance floor and rest for a while on a delightfully peaceful garden that I saw earlier. I had the need to commune with the local nature and see if it could calm my sudden emotional state. It’s been hard to keep my feelings under control lately… maybe I should ask Prometheus about it. I decided to take a last look at the now wild party, now with everyone apparently starting a choreographed song and dance as soon as I left enough space for it. In the end I was unable to fight the sad smile that managed to conquer my usual motherly expression, my eyes finding the ground extremely interesting for some reason.
…Oh my, they need to polish this crystal ground more thoroughly. With all of these partying going on it lost luster and it’s all blurry.
The lunar princess was used to comforting ponies in their dreams, when they are most vulnerable. She had to be more careful if they were suffering from recurrent nightmares or night terrors. She prided herself in being there for anypony and anycreature that slept under her watch.
Awakened ponies on the other hoof were the specialty of her older sister. She was the more extroverted and social princess after all… but by being the oldest alicorn at the moment this duty fell on her withers, and if she was being honest with herself she felt less nervous than she initially thought. That, and her niece convinced her to do so.
Both princesses saw how the green mare was suddenly struck by a mood and they were unable to reach her before she departed from the party. They debated for a little bit regarding who should be with Gaia and, while Cadance was the better alicorn to read emotions it was finally Luna who decided to go. She was going to share the road with her after all.
And there she was, right in the middle of a small floral garden. The plants were in full bloom even without sunlight and the atmosphere itself had a calming effect in the night princess. Even so, she pressed on and decided to imitate her dear sister and approached the resting mare, laying down beside her and pressing her barrel to Gaia’s.
“A bit for your thoughts?” Luna started with a calm tone, getting some movement from the old mare.
“Oh… sorry if I made you worry. It’s just that all the noise was getting to me,” she stated, not convincing the younger pony at all.
“Gaia, I can see your damp cheeks even without the light from my Moon… Did we upset you in some way? What did we do wrong?”
“No! You didn’t do anything wrong, honest! It’s just…” she tried to say, her mind betraying her voice and making her stumble with her words, “These last few days… they’ve been a dream come true. A dream I’m afraid to wake up from.”
“How so?” Luna inquired, putting her wing over the green mare.
“These days in your world I’ve been surrounded by people like me almost all the time, all with their little differences but similar enough that they are not alienated when I’m around, even your guests from other species,” she confessed, looking at the somewhat distant party, “For most of my life, it’s been just me… and when I noticed a life was growing inside me I didn’t have words to express how it felt. Words didn’t exist back then!” she told Luna, earning a curious expression from the younger alicorn, “After he was born he made words and inventions at a pace I’ve never seen. He created new concepts and learned languages from other regions in days! He made me so proud… but I was unable to express it until so much later… How could I if I didn’t know how to speak, read or write?”
“Gaia…”
“I tried so hard… but when I thought I learned how they talked they were already speaking another, more modern language. While my son was writing theories about how the cosmos itself worked I was learning how to write my own name… only to be a dead language by then. It made me realize how dumb and unwelcome I truly was within society. I was just… too different. Always adored… but from a safe distance, lest I destroy something by mistake.”
“Surely your son cared for you? I don’t believe he is capable of abandoning you in any way or form. He adores you!”
“He did try to take care of me and help me… when he had the time at least. He was always busy. He still is to this day… I just knew that I was in the way of everyone, so I decided to go back to what I was able to understand,” she explained, playing with some blades of grass, “But here… with just a scroll and some of your magical thingies you are able to make someone like me understand your language in an instant! I know that it was that Discord boy that was the one that helped me, but your sister told me about your hard work looking and finding a spell to help me understand you! A few moments later and it would’ve been you the one that gifted me with your language.”
“It was nothing, really…” Luna bashfully said, getting an earnest smile from Gaia.
“But it was! I suddenly was able to know you in the moment and not after the fact, just like that! I didn’t have to wait centuries just to be able to say hello and actually remember the meaning of your words! And what were your first questions?” she finally asked, starting to cry with a smile still on her face, “What was my name… who I was… where I came from… what I liked… what I…” Gaia said, but chocked on her words as he started to cry tears of joy, “What I wanted… what I felt… not what I was made of, or how much pain I could sustain, or…”
“Gaia, I…” Luna tried to speak, unable to bring any kind words and finally deciding on hugging the big mare, getting her to carefully cling on her smaller form as she desperately hugged her, “I can’t even imagine… Oh Gaia…”
“Even this vacation was not my decision or my idea… but I accepted anyways. I know I’m always in the way, and my children don’t need me anymore…”
“Gaia, that’s not true. Surely, they-“
“But I do know, Luna… but that’s okay, really,” she said as she kept hugging the lunar alicorn, “Because I would’ve never met any of you wonderful ponies otherwise, and for that I am thankful… thankful to have the opportunity to experience what it feels to belong… to not be the stranger anymore…”
The alicorn’s embrace lasted for quite some time as they just stood there for each other, the younger of the two consoling the giant but emotional pony. Gaia managed to get back from her inner turmoil after a time, and was just contently hugging the dark alicorn and squeezing her from time to time. Luna was pensive, thinking on Gaia’s words and deciding that she would advise on possible routes and nothing more, eventualities be damned! ‘It’s what Celly would’ve done’ she thought, smiling as she suddenly had a daring idea.
“You know… you are still quite strange to be honest. I mean, who eats cutlery anyway?” Luna suddenly said, earning a shove and laughter from Gaia.
“We were having a heart-to-heart and you had to ruin it, you mean pony!”
“I am Princess Mean, thank you very much!” Luna said, posing like one of those pompous nobles from Canterlot, head held high and everything. Unfortunately that made her vulnerable to ranged weaponry like crystal berries launched by a now combative alicorn. “H-Hey! Those can stain!”
“Afraid to get dirty? Oh ho ho… I’m going to pelt you with them ‘till you change color… and then I’m going to clean and pretty you all up real nice like the little princess that you are…” the suddenly malicious alicorn said, a savage smile making way on her face. The stalwart defender of Equestria faltered a bit, suddenly aware that her joking maybe was a bit too successful.
“You wouldn’t dare!” Luna defied, taking a step back.
“Would you bet on that?” Gaia said, readying her leg loaded with fruits.
Thankfully Luna remembered that night that she had promised her sister to be a model princess, so no debts were incurred because of any kind of betting. It would’ve been improper for a princess.
If not, she would’ve lost many bits.