//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty One // Story: Mare In The Everfree Forest // by MoonLily //------------------------------// The night was a special and lovely one. I was happy about it but the one thing I hated was the morning. Luna kept her promise and kept me busy all night long. I could not feel my tongue when the crystals started to glow and the spirits were disappearing. I was in the middle of the river rolling around in the crystals. I noticed the others had woken up watching me and Jr. “You two are weird” I looked at Luna as I picked up a few crystals in my hoof. I tossed the hoof full of gems towards her. I chuckled as she held her wing out only to place it down. “They turn to water” I watched as Pinkie jumped in causing a bunch to break turning to liquid. “This is fun” I shook my head as I pulled myself out of the riverbed. I shook my coat off flinging the water off. I felt Luna moving toward me for a moment before I pushed her into the river. I gave her a grin as I walked back to the camp waving my hoof. I got back pulling my bag over and brushing my coat out along with my mane. I heard a whistle causing me to stop. “Dear you got bit by something large” I pushed my mane back staring at Rarity. I could see Jr walking back staring at me. “I don’t want to know” I watched as he shook his head. “Dearie I would be more concern if my mother was bit by something,” I noticed the others had returned soaking wet from the river. “Rarity, she wasn’t bitten by a bug” “Yes she was” “Rarity that bug was named Luna. Mother you couldn’t have waited till we returned to the castle before you let her do that” “Stay out of my love life boy” “How can I when you're walking around with bite marks on you? And yes I can tell there from Luna. She the only one who has fangs” I let out a chuckle. “Didn’t think I would get the old goddess of passion and romance last night” I had a grin on my face as I was rummaging through my bag. I noticed a scroll that had appeared in my bag causing me to pull it out. “Oh my, what is all the commotion here?” I glanced to my side noticing the princesses were now in the mix. “Oh Rarity thought I was bitten by a bug and now she and Jr are in a tif” I chuckled as I looked at the scroll “Shit” “Mother?” “Your wife Atlantic along with Midnight and Ghoul will be meeting us in the empire once we are done here. Something happened in the family and it requires my attention” “Did they say what?” “It just involves Snow” I rolled the scroll up as I rubbed my temple “This isn’t good if Ghoul is coming and not Grave. I do not want to deal with Soul if he makes an appearance” “Soul?” “He’s a bit complicated to describe” “He wants to take mother to bed badly,” I noticed Jr rolling his eyes “He can’t take no for an answer” I could only sigh as I felt my mane and coat changing as the scroll in my hoof turned to ash. “You're a fire pony again” “Just means my magic is settling still. You all can look around if you want. I am going to be working in the field for a bit. Jr can answer any questions” I spoke up pulling a basket towards me. I walked off whistling as I crossed the river to the fields. I started working on looking at the crystals and the colors before picking the right ones. I was busy minding my own till I noticed I had a pony behind me. I jumped noticing Twilight and Applejack standing behind me. “Do not scare me like that” “Why though we were Luna?” “Luna is a bit more dominant so no” I chuckled as I went back to looking over the crops. “How can you tell they are ready?” “The color and the shape. Basically, if it has the deep red like a tomato then their ripe” “I thought these were strawberries sug?” I shook my head as I pointed to the low to the ground crops. “Those are strawberries. These are tomatoes their larger and rounder. Most of the crystals will take the shape of the food we are growing. They look broken because once they are off the vine or the main source the crystal starts to become brittle. Once they turn to dust they are mainly used in soups or stocks” I took a crystal and slowly roll it around in my hoof causing it to chip and break. I handed it off to them watching as they stared in shock. “Oh wow” “The bad thing about these is that dragons cannot eat these. These will make them sick” I smiled at them. “I noticed something your missing your glasses” “Oh, I don’t need them. My husband thought I looked cute on them and Luna thought it was cute to steal them and tease me with them. I just kept wearing them because I liked the idea of other ponies that I love calling me cute. But let me get this back to the camp.” “Why sug?” I could hear their stomachs growling as they turned red. I chuckled as I picked up the crate carrying it back to camp. I noticed Jr was reheating some of the crystals from last night. I started to add some more mixed in. “So darling I hope you don’t take this personally, but do you really honestly love Luna?” I blinked as I looked up at her. This caught me off guard as No pony ever asked me that. “Yes, I honestly do. She like my husband makes my heart skip when she is around. She was caring, and kind, and she just knew what to say and really was there. I loved to look at her and love talking with her and spending time. It's hard putting it into words” “Trust me my mother loves Luna. She was the only pony besides my father who could kiss her and make her turn red heavily. Besides Luna was a good pony in the past, I and my siblings thought of her as a second mother” “So your husband was okay with this? I know herds were popular or were the normal then. I just never had the chance to talk to a pony about it” “Does one fancy you?” “I been approached and I am thinking about it” “Look my husband is the one who started a fling with Luna. But when we got together we understood we each of us stood on the topic of love. We didn’t care if we went out and saw others we had ground rules. We always talked and we did care for each other. Just our idea of what a family should be changed when we had kids and started dating Luna. But joining one is up to you just make sure you all communicate. if you don’t it will fall apart quickly” I placed my empty bowl down as I watched her stare off into the distance. I was about to speak up but I heard Jr groaning and slamming the kettle down. “Jr” “It's not the talk about you and Luna mother. I am used to you and father with her as I’ve seen her take you from the house many times. We're out of coffee” I heard him growl the last part causing me to laugh. I reached in and pulled out a small canister. “Here, now LUNA, CELESTIA come grab food!” I shouted as I placed more bowls out. I heard a burst of laughter in the back causing me to huff. I knew her and her sister were taking bets. I waited till I saw them coming over the hill and talking to each other. “done taking bets?” “You knew?” “Luna’s laughter gave it away” I picked up an empty crate “I am going to work on getting some crystals while we have daylight. I do have torches lying around if you want to explore later when the sun is down” I walked off whistling to myself. I walked up to the cherry tree picking different pedals from the branches. I took my time checking the color and the size in the light. I had moved to the back side of the tree ignoring the surroundings till I felt a kiss on my cheek. “I am shocked your not bugging your sister” I glanced up noticing Luna was sitting beside me. “The spirits were coming out. The others also wanted to see what other crystals or objects would glow in the darkness around here” I looked up and noticed the crystals were starting to glow softly and slowly. “Nighttime has been coming faster and faster as of late. In the morning we need to head out as the ice won’t stay open for long” “Why can’t we leave the same way we came out?” “The ceiling acts like a heavy metal door. it won’t open from the inside you have to be on the outside to open it” I looked up and felt her kissing me again. “You're being extra affectionate today” I could see her ears folding back “I didn’t mean it in a bad way Luna just shocked by you” “I said you needed to make up for the missed time. But I also wanted to make up for the time I left you alone here. Jr told me the other family members have noticed you never been with another pony since your husband died” “No, I have not. My children and grandchildren needed me at that time. My family still had a target on their backs since we supported the night guard still. We made sure they were still active guarding the castle and city at night. I was so damn busy with I lost track of what was considered normal dating” “Remind me to end your dry spell” “I thought you did that last night?” “Oh, not I have other things planned. You thank Cadence for teaching me some spells I want to try” “How about a nice dinner when we get back? I do miss your cooking” “You the one that cooked. I burnt the kitchen down” “No that was me till Necro stepped in remember” “Oh yeah we both got cooking lessons that week” “You really call getting chained to the stove till we learned how not to burn stuff cooking?” “You were on your own” “I know how to cook over an open fire in a kettle” I shook my head as I heard her chuckle. I finished picking the crystals from the tree and placing them in the crate. “So these leaves?” “Make the tea I drink.  just have to leave them out in the sun and they will lose all the toxins they have soaked up” I carried the crate toward the camp with her on my side. I could see them all staring at a bunch of crystals and pots and pans that were made with them. “Okay so to keep them entertain just give them a glow stick” I looked over at Jr as I shook my head. I placed the crate down as I walked over picking the pots and pans up causing them to stare. “Tonight is the last night staying here.” “What!” I noticed Twilight running out of the area in shock “I hardly had time to take notes and” I watched as she disappeared from my sight. I wanted to shake my head as I walked over to an empty sleeping bag and crashed. I felt something warm and fluffy wrapped around me. I cracked an eye open as I knew the sleeping bag that I had wasn’t fluffy. I could see a wall of blue wrapped around me causing me to sit up. I could see the lights were on causing me to roll Luna over before picking up the sleeping bag. “Silver” “The lights are one start packing up!” “We are already packed, mother. it was you who we couldn’t wake up” I glanced around and noticed they were all standing around with packed bags and crates. I started to turn red as I quickly packed my stuff away. Once I had my bag on I moved out of the house smiling. I led them through the village toward the river bed and to the wall of ice. “Would have led them here but I forgot where the wall was I turned and looked at Jr as he shrugged. I turned around looking at them. “Alright, the ice is thin at this point allowing us to pass through it. Jr will you show them please?” I pointed to the wall as I watched him walk through it. “My turn!” I watched as Pinkie ran right through it giggling. I could only blink as I started in shock. I watched as the others slowly walked through the ice before I followed them. I could hear the ice cracking as the torches lit up revealing a hallway made from ice and wood. I followed the others as I could hear Pinkie laughing. “Pinkie stop pulling torches down” “But we might find another secret room” “Pinkie” I rolled my eyes again as I followed them to the open cavern.  “Okay, pegasus can fly up to the opening while I work the lift” I used my magic to dust the snow off. I helped them slowly up to the opening leaving me and Twilight left as Pinkie got Rainbow to help her out of the cavern. Jr and the princesses flew up as I used my magic to pull on the rope. I tied it off allowing Twilight to climb off.