//------------------------------// // Cache and Trust // Story: 1000 Years Later // by DekaSkittalz //------------------------------// Silence ensues in the room as me and Luna stare at each other, Skyline keeping a close eye on Starlight, making her shrink under his scrutiny. My eyes flick from Luna to Skyline, then back to Luna, waiting to see if either of them will say anything. After they don’t for an extended amount of time, I decide to break the silence myself. “I really need to put a bell on you. What are you doin’ here anyways?” Luna maintains her clearly not amused look, and purses her lips. “I could ask you the two the same thing; you were to remain in Canterlot, under Skylines watch. Then I receive a report from him that you just vanish into thin air towards Twilight's residence, to which the next morning you were no longer there. I was too busy to come retrieve you at the time. And as for you,” she says while turning her attention to Starlight. “While it’s not illegal to visit these ruins, I must ask you return what you found here. Same goes to you Null. This room was not meant to be found, and was purposefully hidden by magic to prevent others from finding it.” Starlight lets out an ‘awe’ when told she had to return the stuff we found. I on the other hand, crossed my arms. “Why should we? We found them fair in square. It was left here; so obviously you didn’t care if they were found. And if you did, why didn’t you move them to Canterlot?” Luna seems to be irritated by my words. “Because we thought the natural protection of a forest nobody enters would be secure enough. It seems to have worked well enough, considering nobody has found this place in over a millenia. As for why you can’t keep what you found, that is because this room is a collection of all that’s left of Starswirl’s work.” I purse my lips. “That’s hardly an apt reason. Lemme give you a rundown of all we got, hm? A dagger, a book that explains the potions over there, a few of said potions, while she got a stack of books. There's plenty more dangerous things in this room, and you know it.” She glares at me for a moment before letting out a sigh of defeat. “Fine. you may keep a select few items you found, but not all of them. Some of that information is too dangerous to be let out into the world. Specifically, that potion book from you.” she then turns to Starlight. “Please show me the books you took and I’ll take the ones you cannot have.” Starlight nods enthusiastically and does as she’s asked, obviously excited that she gets to keep some of her loot. Her expression gets continuously less and less enthusiastic when Luna takes well over half the books, leaving her with about seven books, when she originally had around forty. Luna puts the other books back, and gives the room another lookover. “Do keep in mind, if I catch wind of you using the knowledge found in those books for malicious purposes, I will place you in the castle dungeon.” She turns to me. “As for you, you’re coming back with us to Canterlot. Say goodbye to your friend.” I look at her a bit miffed, but don’t fight it, figuring I already pushed my luck far enough with this room. I turn to Starlight and just shrug. “I guess I’ll see ya around. Stop by the castle and we can hang out later; Still never got to talk much.” She nods and smiles a bit. “I’ll be sure to do that.” Luna watches us for a moment, before she clears her throat. “What is your name miss?” Starlight turns to Princess Luna and answers without missing a beat. “Starlight Glimmer.” Luna nods and looks to Skyline. “Skyline, escort Starlight Glimmer out of the forest, back to Ponyville.” Skyline nods and motions for Starlight to follow him, which she does. Luna just stands there waiting for them to leave. I raise an eyebrow at her, and when they are gone, I take the bait. “What is it?” I ask. “Just mulling over the fact you made a friend that fast. Despite you leaving Canterlot without permission, I’m proud.” she explains. I cross my arms again. “That’s another thing. Since when were you my mother? If I’m going about this correctly, you’re only a handful of years older than me. Why should I have to listen to you?” She looks at me frustrated, and takes a calming breath before answering. “Because if our friendship isn’t enough for you to trust my decision to keep you in Canterlot, remember that I am a Princess of this land. I want to trust you Null, I really do. But please, you have to cooperate with me.” I eye her for a moment before walking up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder, crouch down, and look her in the eye. “Trust is a two way street. Remember that.” I then stand up and motioned to the door. She shakes her head. “It will be easier to just teleport back. Prepare yourself, most don’t do well with teleportation.” I roll my eyes and do nothing. I’ve teleported before. It isn’t that bad. She then nods and casts a spell. In an instant, I feel myself being pulled and squished at the same time, while somehow feeling like I’m being pulled through a tiny hole, along with a general sense of queasiness. It’s all over in less than a second, and I find myself on my knees in Luna’s bedroom. “What the blazes was that!? I can teleport myself, and it feels nothing like that!” I exclaim when I get over the small amount of sickness. Luna raises an eyebrow. “Perhaps your method is different from ours. You’ll be fine in a minute or two; besides, you get used to it after a few times.” I crawl my way onto the bed and sit on the edge of it. “How did you even find us anyways? As you put it, I vanished into thin air.” I ask. “That illusional barrier you passed through. As soon as you crossed it, I along with my sister were alerted. I decided to investigate since I was already close by looking for you. What were you doing there anyways? And why did you leave last night?” she explained then questioned. “I was walking with Starlight and saw the forest’s name. I wanted to see the castle I was stuck at for so long for myself. As for last night, I was a bit drunk and wound up at Twilight’s place. She let me sleep there, I woke up and left early, and bumped into Starlight.” I explained and flopped back onto the bed. "and why did you decide to drink? from what I remember, Skyline tried to tell you no." "I wanted to ease my nerves, and not think for a while; something I can’t really stop myself from doing most of the time. Of course though, I didn’t handle it too well. I didn’t get sick, thanks to Twilight, but I definitely wasn’t myself.” I stated. Luna sits next to me. “Oh? Then in what way did you not handle it well?” I poke her. “Because I’m a childish drunk. I blinked all the way from here to Ponyville because I saw something shiny. Said shiny thing happened to be Twilight’s window because the lights were on. She and her friends were having a little party and I was in too much pain to even think about trying to blink back. That’s how I ended up staying the night at Twilight’s place, and from what I remember, I was pretty childish there too.” She mulls over my words for a moment. “Skyline mentioned your method of teleportation has the same drawbacks as your other ability?” I nod, then wave my hand in a ‘sorta’ motion. “Its situational. If I time it right and use it before something tries to hurt me, there's no drawback. Its stupid, but better than not having it be that way. The pain seems based on distance.” Luna nods and lets out a yawn. I chuckle a bit. “Tired?” She nods. “I’m normally asleep by now. These past few days I haven’t been on my regular schedule, so my sleep pattern has been disturbed.” I roll my eyes then take off my backpack and place it at the foot of the bed, and get up and head for the door. “Go ahead and sleep then. I’ll just walk around. Don’t worry, I won’t leave the castle.” She looks at me for a moment with a look. No kind of look in particular, just… a look. “You never told me to stay in Canterlot last time. This time I’m telling you I will. Trust.” I say. She lets out a sigh, takes her regalia off, then flops onto the bed and curls up in her bed in a very unprincess like manner. I chuckle quietly at the display, and quietly leave the room. Finding myself out in the hall, I look both ways before picking a random direction and heading out.