//------------------------------//
// 4 - Moonrise 
// Story: Not Always Hugs 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

"There." The tsuki on her back was pointing at a little dot in the distance. "There."

It was along the tracks. Celene was already following them, so they would see what that dot turned out to be. "Going. Is good?"

"I am good," reported the little one in a moment of superior grammar. "Thank you."

"Is welcome." Celene kept her eyes forward as she sailed through the air in arcs. "If ponies, good. If not, find safe, sleep."

"Ponies... They are nice," noted the little one with a hopeful smile. "They are nice like tsuki. Not mean like birdcats!"

"Not mean like birdcats," Celene echoed. "Safe." The dot had ceased to be just that, growing into what looked to be a town. Ponies seemed to like living on the ground instead of in it in a safe warren. It was a strange habit, she thought, but it seemed to work for them.

The town was becoming larger as she approached it, as things tended to do. It was a sizable place, so large some of it had escaped. She could see little houses far away from the others, barely qualifying as being in the town. Maybe they weren't? She could see a huge jutting structure that stood out from the rest.

And was also familiar. A big pointed tower of crystal, similar to the castle in the Crystal Empire. Was that were the pony in charge was? Ponies did seem to really enjoy marking their rulers with crystals. Another odd habit, but equally as harmless.

"Look!" With a sudden fit of motion, the kit scrambled against her, becoming free of the harness and climbing on top of her. "Look!" She was pointing at motion. They were coming close enough they could see ponies walking along, some talking to each other, others just trotting towards where they wanted to be.

"Not fall," Celene noted with a stern note, but the kit wouldn't settle down, or return to her harness. Fortunately, they were close enough that Celene instead aimed to land just in front of one of the ponies. "You."

The pony tilted their hat as they craned their head to look up at the huge presence that was Celene. "Me. The name's Applejack," she introduced. "You one ah those... shoot, what's th' word fer it?"

"Tsuki," cried out the little kit, bouncing down off Celene and landing in front of Applejack. "Hello! I am Little Hop." She put a paw on her chest, bouncing in place a little. "That's the name my..." Just like that, her mood crashed. She landed and didn't bounce again, going quiet with remembered pain.

Celene reached and put a paw stop the kit, softly rubbing her. "Little Hop mother killed. Little Hop need help."

Applejack's ears pinned back against her head. "Killed?! That's..." She drew a slow hissing breath. "Look... Little?" When the kit looked to her, Applejack smiled faintly. "Look, ah know what that's like."

"How do you know?" challenged the kit, rising up on her hinds as if ready to challenge Applejack, as poorly as they would likely go for her.

Applejack reached for her hat and pulled it off to press it against her chest instead. "Mah folks are gone too... Miss 'em somethin' fierce. That ain't never a hurt that goes away entire-like. Ah know..."

Little Hop fell forward back to all fours. "Oh... I am sorry." She looked away and back, tears leaking from her eyes. "It hurts."

"Yeah... real talk there," agreed Applejack, moving in closer and offering a hoof. Soon the two were gently embracing in solidarity in the missing of their parents.

Celene inclined her head left and right. That hadn't been what she had planned, but it was working out pretty well... "You watch Little Hop?" She pointed to the kit. "Take care, make better?"

"Who's yer friend?!" Applebloom came rushing up with the other two crusaders beside her, all three eyeing the rabbits curiously.

Little Hop looked past Applejack to the smaller ponies coming closer. She buried her face against Applejack's chest. Applejack gently rubbed the kit's back. "This here's Little Hop... She's havin' a rough time, bad news with her mom."

Two of the crusaders looked ready to ask questions, but Applebloom stiffened. "I see," she said, two words of clarity that seemed to drive the questions away. "Little hop?" When the tsuki looked up at her, Apple Bloom smiled a little. "Ah was real small when it happened... barely knew her... Ya wanna tell me about yours? Ah'd like to hear."

The tears flowed more powerfully, but Little Hop did detach from Applejack, sniffling as she awkwardly hopped over to Apple Bloom. Applejack nodded at the two with a confident expression before she looked to Celene. "Ah think this'll work out. Now, you ain't her mom, that wouldn't make no sense, so who are you, in relation?"

"Not mom," she agreed easily with a little nod. "You. Take care?"

Applejack put her hat back on her head. "Now see--" But Celene had already bounded away, heading back home. "--here..." She turned to see the crusaders crowded around Little Hop. AJ let out a little breath. "Looks... like we have a new visitor."

Little Hop seemed to notice Celene's departure at about the same time, suddenly hopping over the crusaders' heads to land beside Applejack. "Where did she go?!"

"Home, ah reckon..." Applejack turned to Little Hop. "Fer now, yer already home."

"This... isn't home," she sniffled, shaking in place.

Sweetie Belle set a hoof on the kit's back. "We're here."

"Fer sure," agreed Apple Bloom. "We have a clubhouse. Wanna see?"

"What is a club house?" Her young ears were still small enough to twitch and turn. "Wait... are you--" She pointed at Applejack. "--my mom? You are not my mom..."

"Ah know that." Applejack leaned forward towards the kit. "Ah ain't. But ah can give a roof. Consider me a friend."

"Us too!" cried Scootaloo, clopping her forehooves. "We have so much to show you. For as long as you're here, Ponyville'll take good care of you."





The doe warrior snuck away from the sleeping jack she was charged with keeping an eye on. How long did it take him to recover from a little scrap? She hadn't hurt him that badly. Or was he a wimp? Why would her battle-hardened leader choose a wimp?

Either way, he was still sleeping, and she was certain she heard something. Creeping-hopping along, she thrust her head around a corner to see some large contraption being tied in place by two large figures. An even larger figure was speaking in a female voice, "Keep an eye on the carriage. I'll be right back with Toby, provided this is the right cave... which it may not be."

The two smaller figures sighed, but didn't argue with the largest female.

The doe frowned. Who were they? She ducked down and low, turning in place and waiting patiently. The large figure strode right past her, not noticing her. With a lash of her feet, she kicked the pony with a low thud of impacted flesh.

Luna squawked as she bounced off the far wall of the tunnel a foot away. Her magic flared to life, grabbing for the doe that lunged for her, but she was slippery to the magic, the telekinesis washing over the doe as she landed on Luna, sending them both to the ground.

"Who you!?" demanded the doe, wrestling with Luna and trying to get her teeth somewhere more menacing than her shoulder. "Not have him!"

"Unhand me this instant." Luna lashed out a hoof, showing she could return a thump with the toughened foot. "Be you a tsuki?"

"Luna!" suddenly feeling all better, Toby entered with a powerful bounce, only to gasp in alarm. "Not hurt!"

The doe withdrew an awkward reverse hop. "This luna? She not moon."

Toby was at Luna's side in an instant, gladly helping her back up before pointing right to the princess' rump. "Is moon."

The doe leaned forward. There it was, a nice icon of a moon right there for all to see. "Huh... Is moon..." She looked between Luna and Toby. "Friend?"

"Friend!" Toby hugged close to the still perplexed Luna.

Luna raised a hoof to gently return the hug. "It is good to see you as well, Toby. Who is this? She is a fierce warrior."

So much had happened, Toby frowned considering it. "Have partner. Friend partner." He pointed to the doe. "Not tell name."

"Take." She gestured with a toss of her head at Toby. "Take to ponies?"

Luna softly nodded. "That was the intention, yes. What--" The doe was already retreating, bounding around the corner and towards the exit of the cave. "I see... Toby, come with me. We will see to your wounds." Her eyes had slid to his shoulders, taking note of his bandages.

"Not bad," he assured as he walk-hopped with her back towards the cave exit. "Wait, like asked. Knew you come." His smile didn't diminish at the sight of her guards, moving to close with them. "Hello!" And soon he had an arm around either of them, hugging them warmly. "Is good to see!"

Luna's magic took hold of him, lifting him up and placing him in the chariot. "We will ride there. Relax for now." Her magic began pulling and undoing the ropes they had just placed to secure it. "Our journey is at an end. We return to Canterlot."

The guards saluted crisply and began turning the chariot around towards the exit.

"I have a question." Luna stepped up beside him once the chariot had finished turning. "Why could I not take hold of your friend? It was as if my magic could not touch her."

"Not know," he confessed, not having received that lesson in tsuki magic-bending. "Work with partner, learn fight." He made a few mock punches at the air and almost collapsed over backwards as the chariot began to move under him just at the wrong time. Luna's magic pushed him back forward and he nodded. "Thanks."

They were in the air, soaring out over the mountains, then the green lands of Equestria. Her winged guards were propelling them along with powerful flaps. "We will arrive in Canterlot soon. In the meanwhile..." Her magic gently poked him and began to feel around his injury. "Does it hurt?"

"When you touch," he noted, but he sat still despite that, permitting the examination of his friend. "Or when... I move." His speech slowed, trying his best to speak properly in front of Best Princess. "Oh! I have... letter." He pulled out the scroll and offered it towards her.

It was bent and scrunched from his various motions, but a scroll it remained. She unfurled it carefully and her eyes began to sweep over it quickly.

"Sombra requests aid?" She folded the scroll, a brow raised. "I did not think he could be so humble as to request assistance."

"Traders..." He worked his fingers together, fidgeting. "Attacked. Many hurt, all the way hurt... All hurt."

"Dead?" asked Luna. "They killed tsuki? Who would be so uncivil as to end such a harmless life?" She stomped and the platform under them lurched dangerously. "Any so uncivil could turn their ire on ponies next. Sombra remains troublesome, but in this, he is correct." She waved the magically-held scroll at Toby. "We will not stand idly by as any foul creature predates on our friends."

One of her guards peeked over his shoulder. "Your Highness, we can only hold it so steady. Please, for your safety."

"Ah, yes, of course." She raised a hoof before her blushing snoot. "Still, this is quite vexing. Were they... friends of yours?"

"I am friend... of all tsuki." He thumped his chest and inclined his head in a muted display of his horns. A sloppy salute in tsuki standards, but such was the way of Toby. "Knew them. Good tsukis... gone." He sank softly as if only just realizing what that meant. "Can... save?"

Luna's ears danced, piecing together what her large friend was experiencing. "We will do our best, Toby, to see that not another need experience that. We will stop them."

"Can rescue?" He leaned forward, eyes hopeful even as moisture began to gather. "Sleep. Go sleep world. Find them."

Luna recoiled at that, her ears flattening on her head. "No! You must swear you never look there. The dreams of the dead are not to be approached. If even you can find them... They are gone, dear friend. We will mourn them, and miss them, but there is no rescue."

Toby inclined his head left and right in a slow pendulum of movement. "Try? Try? Not know if... I do not try."

Luna placed a metal-clad hoof on his chest. "If you will listen, I will tell you a tale I have told not a creature else. Even mine sister is unaware of it. Sit and listen and speak not of it, and I will share this precious memory with you."

The gravity of the offer had him go still. He nodded firmly, his mouth closed as he adjusted his seated position, sitting on his butt instead of on his haunches. "I will listen."

So she began to speak, sharing a sad tale she had kept close to her heart.





A pegasus in glittering metal armor landed among cheering tsuki. They had seen her long before she had even entered their cave. Welcoming banners were being waved and smaller pennants were clutched in the hands of eager tsuki. It was as if her arrival was a little holiday all of its own.

Their cheer couldn't be entirely resisted, a little smile on her face. "I need to speak to your leaders. I have a message from Princess Cadance and Princess-consort Shining Armor."

Rising from a shadow, Sombra's assistant came into being. "Do you carry a reply to our message?"

"I do. Are you their leader? I thought it was Sombra?" She looked him over, lacking the instinctive fear of her crystal peers. It was for a reason she was chosen to deliver the message.

"I am his left hoof, as Toby serves as the right. Speak freely and I will convey it to him." He was examining the pegasus intensely as he approached, his crystal foreleg clacking against the stone beneath him. 

"Princess Cadance expresses her grief at the loss of your people and promises to stand at your side," crisply reported the pegasus guard. "She is already scouting the area for signs of the brigands and is sending for help to track them down. Banditry will not be permitted in the Crystal Empire." She snapped a sharp salute with a folded wing. "Shining Armor has requested you send somecreature to work with them for greater collaboration."

Quick Stroke tapped his crystal hoof. "I will have to confer on that matter." And, like that, he was gone, vanishing into the shadows and leaving the guard behind.

Not that she was alone, tsuki closing in to enthusiastically welcome her to their warren.





"Cadance has agreed to lend us her strength," reported Quick Stroke. "She is not the fool I imagined. She wishes a hostage to speak through and hold close at her side."

Sombra snorted, dark energy pouring from his eyes. "I under-estimated her... We will require a hostage in turn."

"Already handled." Quick smirked viciously. "One of her guards is being entertained by ours. We will keep hold of them."

"Excellent." He sat and raised a hoof to clap Quick on the shoulder. "Excellent work. Send them sometsuki we will not miss."

"One of the kits, Sir? They have comparatively greater vocabularies." He raised his living hoof to his chin. "We could make it sound like a great honor."

"Yes, perfect. Do that. One of them will get the honor of serving the warren, act as hostage, and act as both eyes and mouth for us for a time."

"I will see it done." He vanished into the shadows without further word.





A great wall of tsuki fur separated Stroke from the kits. "No," she said with clear finality.

"They will come to no harm. The ponies are our friends, are they not?" he reasoned. "And their moral code prevents bringing harm to young and helpless, both of which they are."

"I'm not helpless," cried a little boy kit, waving a paw from atop the protective mother tsuki.

"Of course you are not. Then, perhaps, you would be interested in gaining glory, hm?"

"What's glory?" The kit slid down the protector's side to be closer to Quick. The mother tsuki reached for him but he hopped too quickly for her to catch easily. "What is that?"

"Glory is the acclaim of others for knowing you have done brave and valorous things," explained Quick, not moving from where he started, watching the kit. "All the others are scared to go talk with the ponies. Are you scared?"

"Nuh-uh!" The moment he took to shake his head, the larger female caught him. "Hey!" She was putting him back with the others. "Lemme go! I can do it!"

"No. Mother mad." The female pointed at some other female they couldn't see, presumably where the kit's mother worked. "Not let danger."

"Not mom," noted the kit, rolling his eyes. "Besides, ponies fun. Ponies are nice. He hopped up and bounced off his caretaker's head, springing right over her back towards Quick. "I will get all the glory!" He was quickly in front of Quick with a big grin. "What I do?"

"This way." Quick turned in place and began to lead the kit away. "You will have quite the tale to share with your friends." The kit's joyous whoop of cheer told him he had played his hand correctly. Their hostage would turn in for duty with a big smile.





"All according to plan." The figure leaned forward on their throne. "They gather?"

"Scouts report Princess Luna is returning with a tsuki by chariot." The griffon was at stiff attention. "We can surmise it is--"

"--Yes, him. As we predicted. A few lost lives is enough to get the entire pony military in motion." The figure leaned back, tapping talons together softly. "But they leave their flank wide open." He slammed down a balled fist on the armrest as he laughed with visions of military success. "Tell me, what of Magic?"

"Designation Magic has not moved, Sir. We predict she will mobilize shortly after Luna returns." The scout dipped his head. "Do you want us to do something to her?"

"Perhaps... She represents an unwanted wild card. She could throw this out of balance very quickly. Servant of harmony, you will not stand in our way. Your harmony is not ours.'

"Your harmony is not ours," echoed about ten others nearby as if it were a religious mantra.

It hadn't been a yes. But it also hadn't been a no. The scout saluted before withdrawing away from the throne.





Applebloom waved at the orchard. "Ya can see mah house just over there."

"And there's mine." Sweetie pointed the way.

"And mine!" Scootaloo wouldn't be left out.

"And fer now, this is yours." Applebloom pointed up at the clubhouse. "If ya prefer, ya can stay with me. Applejack already knows aboutcha."

Scootaloo rubbed behind her head. "I'd have to ask my aunts, but I bet they'd say yes."

Sweetie Belle did not rush to make a similar promise. "Are you hungry?"

Little inclined her head a little. "Can ponies jump?"

All three blinked. That question was surely not related to anything they had asked. Scootaloo suddenly pulled her scooter close. "I'm the best at jumping! When I'm going full speed, I can touch the sky!"

Little nodded as she looked to the others.

Sweetie Belle laughed nervously. "I'm not any jumping expert. Uh, here." She pushed off the ground, denying gravity for all of a moment before she came right back down, having gained only a few precious inches of height.

Apple Bloom scoffed at the display. "Izzat the best ya can do? At least try." She hopped up, hit a tree and bounced off of it, coming down on her knees, her forehooves spread wide. "Ta da!"

Little brought her paws together in a polite clap. "That was better," she admitted. "Will you feel bad if I show my jump?"

Scootaloo waved dismissively. "If you're scared of showing up those two, pfft, go ahead. Jumping is more my thing. I'm the daredevil of the group."

Accepting that as a go-ahead, Little suddenly sprang into the air. She easily sailed over all their heads, going up about three feet before coming back down towards Scootaloo. Scoot squeaked as she dodged aside, allowing Little to hit the ground gracefully.

Little tilted her head. "I was going to land on you."

"That's why I moved."

"But I meant to. I was going to jump off you."

Scootaloo tilted her head a bit. "You do that? That's pretty cool. Alright, let's try something." She kicked her scooter into position. "Hop on and hold on tight until I'm in the air."

The other two sat beside one another, watching the stung be set up. Sweetie leaned a bit closer. "We have the bandages ready?"

"Fully stocked," assured Apple Bloom. The two had seen that wild look in Scootaloo's eyes before.

Once Little was mounted on the scooter, hugging the upright Scootaloo from behind, they started down the road, the pegasus' wings fluttering for speed that they were rapidly gaining. "Here comes the ramp!" They hit it, the sound of dirt turning to rolled-over wood, then they were thrown into the air.

Scootaloo cheered wildly as they soared, and then things changed. Little suddenly jumped the instant they hit their apex, pushing Scootaloo and the scooter down as she gained extra height, propelling herself higher than she ever had on her own. Forgetting her problems for a moment, Little Hop joined Scootaloo in a wild cheer.

A pity Scootaloo slapped to the ground, propelled by the sudden bounce. Despite that, she was laughing without control. "Oh wow! That was intense! Look at her go!" Her eyes trailed Little Hop as she began to fall and she sped quickly to get back under her.

Little Hop hit the scooter just behind Scootaloo, hugging tight as they both came to a skidding halt.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie both clapped, a wild clopping of their hooves at the stunt. Sweetie Belle flashed a huge smile. "You two are a natural pair. Did you have fun, Little Hop?"

"That was great." Little Hop stepped down from the scooter and fell back to all fours. "I never used one of those before. Can you show me how to do that?"

"With pleasure." Scootaloo wrapped one arm around her newest friend. "You'll be the best tsuki rider in Equestria."

Also the only one, but she didn't bother to mention that part.





Celene sped towards the mountains that seemed to rush at her faster than when she had been going the other way. She knew exactly where she needed to be. She was going home, then she was going to fight. Everything was nice and planned.

She went as quickly as her jumps would allow. Her sisters would not fight without her if she had any say in the matter. She also had a husband to make sure didn't get into too much trouble.

She had a lot to do.