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// 3 - Toby's Flight 
// Story: Not Always Hugs 
// by David Silver 
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Toby was not headed in precisely the same direction that his partner had, though fairly close. Unlike Celene, he was armored. Sombra had insisted, to give a 'proper impression', or something like that. Toby thought it was very silly. As if Best Princess would need to be given any new impressions. She already liked Toby, and Toby liked her.

And Celestia would be there too.

Wearing armor was a bummer in a few vital ways. He couldn't properly feel the cold caress of the wind through his heated fur. Jumping so far and fast built up a lot of heat, on the inside, and without all that... stuff... it could get out and away. Tsuki were made for naked bouncing in snow! He could have slowed down a little, sure, but the faster he got there, the faster he'd get to give Luna a big hug. Wasn't that more important than a little discomfort?

Something bounced right off his head. His helmet was thick, and perhaps so too was his skull. Tsuki settled disputes as often as not by ramming their horned heads against one another. He looked in the direction the strike had come from to see a birdcat, er, griffon, reloading a crossbow hurriedly.

Toby was terribly confused. Was that a game? "Oh, is it. Will get back." He hit the ground and rebounded directly at the griffon with a big happy smile. The griffon swerved wildly out of the way of his grasping paws, leaving Toby to bounce back, then entirely enthralled with the notion of returning the tag to the potential new friend.

"Help! Help!" called the griffon in a strange display for one having fun. "He's comin' after me!"

Toby tilted his head. Ah. It was like a little kit, pretending to be hunted for fun. Yes, he understood that. "Gonna getcha," he threatened with a laugh, thumping off the ground to make a new attack run. With a sudden loud thwip, the griffon fired his reloaded crossbow. It didn't knock off his well-armored head, instead sinking into his shoulder.

It was abruptly not a game. Toby grabbed the bolt and tried to pull it free, but even jostling it brought new pain. It was stuck in there. "Bad!" he scolded, not that the griffon seemed to have much care for his scathing word. Toby hit the ground and vanished suddenly, sliding under the snow instead of bouncing back up.

"Where'd he go?" asked another griffon with a dagger in either hand as she flew in.

"Down there?" The other griffon wasn't even pointing, busily reloading their crossbow. "I got them on that one, did you see?"

"I saw them get away," grumped the she-griffon. "That makes two. Boss says that means we back off."

"What?!" He threw his crossbow around onto his back, attaching it to a hook there. "We just got started."

"I'll finish you, if you want so bad." She raised a dagger at him threateningly. "Get moving."

"Who made you boss?" he scoffed, but did take flight, her just behind to watch him go.

Toby burst free of the snow, no arrow jutting out of his shoulder. It was still in there, he knew that. He had just broken off the bit that poked free and hurt when touched. The ponies would help. They had to! That is what friends were for, right?





"You hurt..." The little kit carefully stepped, not even hopping, around Celene. They were in a cave. It was dark, but not too dark for tsuki eyes to see entirely. "You... die?"

"Not die," grunted Celene, though she didn't move. "Just need rest." Her eyes followed the kits erratic movements. "You guard?"

"Guard." The kit bobbed her head. "What do?"

"Something come, shout." Celene shut her eyes, snorting softly. "Loud."

"Very loud," promised the kit. "Sleep. Feel better." She glanced around nervously. "Watch. Guard."

"Guard," agreed Celene before she faded off, her breathing becoming slow and even.

That left the kit to peer into the darkness, circling and looking determinately for trouble that could bother her guardian. She wouldn't lose someone else...





Sombra tilted his head back faintly and a great crag of crystal thrust up from the ground forward and to the left. A tsuki who had been standing there leaped out of the way, another two jumping for him, but struck hard stone as a column rose beneath him.

The fourth landed on his platform with bared teeth. He turned calmly with a nod. "Very good. Are you all ready to fight what will not hold back?"

"They hurt us first," scoffed the one that faced him.

"We hurt them back," continued another, landing just beside the other. They were all does, he took idle notice. Were tsuki females stronger, or of more will?

Sombra casually dismissed the thought. "We will hurt them twice as hard." The platform he was on lowered to the ground under his will. "They will stab you."

"We dodge," remarked a third one that came into view as they reached the ground.

"They will attack you." His tone was deep and steady, marching past them.

"We will attack first," retorted a fourth, the group falling in behind him. "They hurt."

His ear twitched, a moment of struggling with that awkward grammar. "They will hurt."

"Will hurt," agreed that fourth tsuki. "Maybe stop."

"Because dead," noted the first with a wicked smile.

"How deliciously bloodthirsty." Quick emerged from a nearby shadow. "Scouts report they are withdrawing. Toby and Celene have broken through a clumsy attempt to keep us here. Celene severely injured one of them on the way."

All four reared up onto their hinds, thumping their chest and flashing their horns, their faces fiercely proud of the word of their commander's achievement.

Quick was paying them little mind at that moment. "Both were injured, but did not pause in sight of the scouts."

Sombra scowled, a frequent expression of the recent days. "Why did the scouts not attack?"

Quick lifted his shoulders. "The scouts are the fastest, not the fiercest. They returned with news and suffered no injury in the process, all that was asked of them." His eyes turned to the four warriors. "The best of the lot, but not all of them. Where is the rest of Celene's warren of strength?"

One of the four stepped forward, still standing on two legs. "One follows Toby. Two hunt enemies."

"Rest train," noted another, tossing her head. "Not best, not ready. Train hard, harder than ever."

Sombra wheeled upon them. "They are attacking? I have not given this command!"

All four of them shrugged at that.

Quick scowled, expression much like Sombra's. "Their loyalty is to Celene, m'lord. A dangerous trait in a soldier..."

"Fools..." He thrust a hoof at the group. "When next you see them, tell them to remain still. We have reinforcements coming. We will strike them together. Friendship will be our weapon and we will make them bleed with it."

That got their attentions, glancing at one another before one of them slapped their chest, lowering their horns. "We attack, with friendship." The salute rippled through them, agreement reached swiftly.

A sly smile spread on Quick's face. "Sir, what of the Crystal Empire? If they cleave to the edicts they claim, they would willingly bleed for our sake."

Sombra's eyes flashed with dark magic. "Yes... delicious... Send a scout with word. Princess Cadance will have little choice but to send her ponies into danger, or admit she has been speaking falsehoods."

Quick snorted at that. "We shall see if they have the strength to back their words." He melted into the shadows, eager to see Sombra's will be done.





Toby slumped against a wall, resting much as his partner had. He had jumped as hard and far as he could, burdened with his armor and his throbbing shoulder. With a tired wheeze, he sank down to his belly and flopped over onto his good shoulder, trying to get some rest.

But a noise reached his immense ears. "Who there?"

"Friend." A tsuki emerged from the darkness, a doe with a concerned look. "Hurt." He didn't stop her from coming close. She was a tsuki, which meant she was a friend. Even when her paws felt his injury and pain lanced through him, he was patient, watching her, but not stopping her.

She dug the bolt out despite the pain and tossed it aside, clattering against the cold stone. "Bandage." She drew out a roll of gauze from a bag around her hips and began to roll it around his arm and shoulder. "Get better."

"Thank you." He kicked one leg, wincing at the pain, but a smile on his face. "Good tsuki."

"Bad griffon," she corrected. "Hurt mate of leader. Want to hurt back." She slapped her paws together. "Feel better?"

Toby sat up, looking down at his bandaged shoulder and rolling it slowly. "Hurt. Better. Thank you." He reached with his good arm to deliver a hug, but the doe danced away.

"You belong to leader," she chastised. "Not want fight her. I protect. Not hug."

Toby inclined his head left and right, trying to reconcile how the two were at odds with one another. "Going to ponies." He pointed the way. "Rest, then go."

"You rest, I watch." She thumped her chest and turned to face the exterior of the cave. "Sleep."

It was a sleepover? The day was looking better by the moment. With a happy smile, Toby drifted off into the realm of dreams, unbothered.





The kit's squeal drove the darkness away from her in an instant. Celene scrambled to her paws in time for a cloud of flapping creatures to wash over her, some crashing into her. Bats, she quickly realized, flopping flat to the ground and letting them pass overhead. "Where are you?"

"Here!" The kit came running into sight, not bouncing, instead performing more of a rabbit's gallop. She skidded to a halt right in front of Celene. "Feel better?"

"Better." Celene waited for the cloud to pass before she slowly sat up. "Bats. Bat home. We not belong here." She turned to offer her back. "On. We go."

The kit bounced up into place, cuddling down into the carrying sleeve that attached her to Celene. "Guard good. Not let anything close. Saw bat, shouted. Shouted loud."

"Very loud," complimented Celene as she jumped free of the cave. It was morning, very early morning. The sky was still dark, but the faintest hints of the coming morning were there to be seen and smelled. She propelled herself in great arcs across the mountainside, her injuries less immediately painful than the day before. "Good guard."

"Was scared," she admitted. "Never closed eyes. Sleep?"

"Sleep," easily agreed Celene. "Celene guard."

"Good guard," sleepily murmured the kit, fading off in the shelter of being in the presence of Celene.

As simple as much of the conversation was with the kit, Celene quickly missed it, speeding in silence. The air was beginning to warm,  both with the coming of day and her descending from the mountains. They were entering Equestria proper. But where were the ponies?

She turned her head left and right as she sailed, admiring the bright green grass that seemed to be overtaking everything that didn't have a tree on it. Equestria was a vibrant place. But it was a vibrant place with no people in it that she could see so far.

There. She swerved to the right and soon landed beside a rail line, a cautious smile on her face. Trains ran along those lines. And they led to where people were. It was the only place they went, as far as she knew. Would the tsuki get one of them? It wasn't time to consider that. She threw herself into the air, following the tracks away from the frozen north, hoping it'd reach a town before long.





He whistled softly, his tail swaying idly as the countryside flew past. Piloting a train was a curious sort of work, much it spent admiring the train doing what it did best, moving. When everything was working right, he had little to do but wait, and everything seemed to be going just fine. Little puffs of smoke raised into the air from the engine and they were right on schedule.

He had done his job well!

There was also something coming towards the train. "What the?" Something was flying down at them, something large and... fuzzy? "Do you--" He didn't get to finish asking the question of the other pony there. Celene crashed into him, sending both sliding towards the back of the conductor's train, coming to a thudding stop against the far door.

The assistant blinked with wide eyes. "S-sir? You alright?"

"Mmmmf!" he angrily replied from beneath the huge rabbit on top of him. 

Celene rose up and shook herself. "Pony!" she declared, both proud and relieved. "Found you."

"Ya sure did." The conductor sat up, his head wobbling with the impact he had just endured. "Now kindly tell me if... oh hey, ain't you one-ah those snow rabbits?"

"Tsuki," she corrected as her head bobbed. "Look help. Wrong way." She pointed in the direction the train was coming from. "Go that way."

"No can do," reported the conductor with a shake of his head. "We're headed for the Crystal Empire."

"No help." And just as suddenly, she jumped free of the train to resume her journey.

The assistant approached cautiously. "What do you think that was all about?"

"Nothin' for train conductors to worry about." He took his place by the engine. "Let's stay on time. If she wants a ride south, she should wait at a station like anypony else."





"Toby?" Luna inclined her head. "What are you doing here?"

He was perched on a bridge of stars, casually hopping on it as if that was a normal thing to do. He was also not in his own dream, instead in the shared dreaming world that Luna patrolled. "Sleeping," he replied truthfully, bobbing his head. "Is good see! Best Princess!" He jumped for her and she didn't stop him from hugging her firmly around the neck.

"I can see that, but this is not your... When did you begin to escape your dream?" She shook her head slowly. "Not that I regret seeing you, dear friend." She walked past him. "I have dreams to patrol. If you are used to walking these lanes, perhaps you can accompany me?"

And so it was that Toby followed Luna to a dark little swirling of stars. Luna peered into them. "Troubled slumber. Wait here. Hopefully it will be but a moment." And she vanished into it, leaving him there alone.

Toby rubbed at his cheek with a big paw, considering the situation. "Not say why here!" he suddenly blurted. "Luna?" He leaned forward and promptly vanished, drawn into the dream.

He landed on a soft bed. There was Luna, speaking quietly to a little colt.

The colt saw Toby land there and blinked. "What's that?"

Luna looked over and raised a wing as if to block the sight of Toby. "Just a friend of mine, pay him little heed. Now, what did your father say to you?"

"H-he said I'd never fly!" wailed the little foal, waving a hoof frustratedly. "Mom said I can do whatever I want. I wanna fly. Why doesn't dad believe in me?"

Toby landed suddenly on the opposite side of the colt. "I not fly, jump real real high," he informed with a happy smile. "Almost as good."

"Wow, you're good at that," agreed the colt, bobbing his head as he looked over the curious bunny. "What if I could jump really good?"

"Then almost as good as flying." Toby seemed entirely confident in that logic. "Go fast, go far. Free."

"Free," echoed the colt, looking increasingly happy with the idea. "Yeah, gonna jump real--" He didn't finish, waking up.

Toby and Luna appeared back on the bridge of stars. Luna proceeded to bonk Toby right on his head with the flat of a hoof. "That was irresponsible! That was my subject, not yours. It was my duty to comfort them."

Toby inclined his head at his angry friend. "Not mean hurt. Look happy."

"Yes, he did... appear happy, but will he ever leap with the skill of a tsuki?" She rubbed a hoof behind one of her own ears. "He is neither a pegasus nor a tsuki. His odds of flight are small indeed."

"But not nothing." He clapped his paws together. "Why not reach?"

"You are a kind thing, but it may hurt him..." She rose to all fours, looking ready to resume her journey. "Have you come for a reason, or is this chance alone?"

"Oh, yes!" He walked alongside her in little hops. "Tsuki hurt, attack!" He dug out his missive despite it being in the real world.

Luna took it in her magic and unfurled it, but all that was on it was the vague impression of words. Toby did not know what it said, and could not recreate a scroll with words he didn't know. "Where are you?"

"Here." He pointed at his own chest. "Shoulder hurt." Suddenly bandages appeared with his remembering of the injury.

Luna hissed in a low breath, realizing her friend was hurt. "Where are you outside of this dream? I will come fetch you."

"I come to--"

She put a hoof on his lips. "You are hurt. Tell me where you are. Where did you go to sleep?"

So he began to explain what he had seen before picking the cave, and of the tsuki that he was having a sleepover with. "Not let me hug. Say only can protect or hug. Why? Not make sense..."

Luna's lips quirked in a little smile. "She must be a doe of propriety. Allow her this. I will be at your side soon. Please, don't move." And she vanished back to the waking world, leaving Toby behind.





Toby sat up with a big yawn, looking around the cave. It wasn't nearly as dark anymore, light spilling in from outside. The doe was still there. "Hello."

She turned her head towards him. "Awake? Good. Feel better?" When he nodded, she stepped towards the entrance. "Bye."

"Wait!" He jumped suddenly, narrowly missing smashing his head on the ceiling. He came down just in front of the doe. "I sleep. You sleep?"

"Not sleep." She pointed past him. "Go."

"No." He crossed his arms. "Luna comes here. Wait. You sleep."

"No," she retorted just as forcefully, rising up to her hinds with an angry snort. "You. Go."

"No." They both began to stomp the ground, their heads lowering, brandishing their horns. Though not thinking of it out loud, they were performing ancient rites of challenge. Neither wanted to give up their side of the argument.

The doe suddenly jumped forward into him, crashing as her hands wrapped around his midsection, not in a hug, but trying to wrestle him to the ground. "Listen!"

"You listen!" He rolled and kicked powerfully, sending her flying back as he bounced to his feet. "Stay. Luna comes."

She landed on all fours, but bounced back upright instantly. To remain on all fours would be to show submission. "Moon not help." She lowered her head with a hiss. "Stupid jack."

"Sometimes." He thumped the floor once with a heavy floor before lowering his head. They crashed into each other, their horns locking and clacking off one another with a great noise as she tried to wrestle the other down and force submission. They fell to the floor, kicking and struggling.

While Toby kept trying to use rounded force, pulling or pushing, the doe did not hesitate to bring her claws and teeth into the game, and she was a fairly equal match for raw strength, causing the fight to go against Toby's more gentle approach the longer it went.

She shoved him against a wall and he sagged, breathing hard, new wounds bleeding. She stormed towards him, looming tall over his tired form. "Listen," she demanded, hands going to her hips. "I win."

"You win," he miserably admitted, head hanging.

"Not want hurt Celene partner. Stop being stupid." She fell forward to all fours and bopped him once on the head with a paw. "Stop."

He adjusted his position, sitting on his haunches. "Hurt."

"Rest," she said as if it was obvious.

"Okay." He turned away from her to hide his little smile. It wasn't exactly how he had planned it, but he had won even while losing. He gave himself one point for being clever. He would be there when Luna arrived. He hoped.





A wiry tsuki landed just before the castle, looking up at the great crystal thing that held the ruler of the crystal ponies. He considered it a moment before bounding towards the stairs. There were two guards there, but they weren't the ruler, so he ignored them.

Or tried. As he bounced over their heads, one of their horns began to glow, grabbing him and putting him right on the ground in front of the guards. The one without a horn lowered a spear towards him. "You have to talk to us to go inside."

"Oh. Sorry." Why did ponies have funny rules? "Hello!" There, they had talked. He sprang forward.

The magic grabbed him and pulled him right back to where he started. The horned pony pointed with a hoof instead of a spear. "What is your business in the castle?"

"Talk boss ponies. Nice, pink." He had seen her when she visited. "Cadance!" he blurted, remembering her name. "Where Cadance?"

"She's very busy," noted the earth pony. "What do you need with her?"

"Boss is busy," easily agreed the scout. That just made sense really. "Need talk. Tsuki attacked, hurt." He began patting himself down and pulled out a rolled scroll. "For Cadance, for Sombra."

The crystal unicorn shied back at the mention of Sombra.

The not-crystal earth pony was less impressed, reaching for the note. "I will deliver this note to her."

The ponies would finish his job? Well, that was handy. "Thank you!" He jumped away without a doubt in his heart, sure that his pony friends would get it done without issue.

The unicorn frowned at the rolled up paper. "Sombra's letter. We should tear it up before the princess ever sees it."

"That isn't our job," grunted the earth pony. "She will not be hurt by a letter, and it is not our job to decide otherwise." He turned inside. "Keep watch while I deliver this."

The unicorn sulked, but did remain there to watch for any other would-be intruders.

The other guard soon arrived at Cadance's side where she was discussing something with Shining Armor. He waited patiently until she took notice of him. "Your Highness." He dipped his head and pulled out the scroll in his teeth. "A missive, from Sombra. It was delivered by one of the tsuki."

"A trade concern?" Her horn glowed, accepting the letter and unfurling it. She and Shining Armor both read it, eyes sweeping left and right. Both of their faces hardened at what they read.

Shining Armor let out a great snort. "I will not stand for this. Griffons, attacking trade caravans?!"

Cadance let out more of a weary sigh. "If I had no other information, I would think this a jest or a ploy, but..."

Shining nodded. They had both received the worried tale of the returning pegasi, but the details had been muddied in the mare's words. The letter laid it out clinically precise. "The tsuki have been nothing but friends, and friendly to everycreature I have seen them interact with. The thought of anycreature attacking them like that..."

"It's nauseating," agreed Cadance. "We must stand with them. Such a force is as much a threat to our people as theirs. We can't have bandits roaming the Crystal Empire."