//------------------------------// // Chapter [5] Finding answers and potential allies // Story: Victory Over the Light // by Star_Shade //------------------------------// All was calm in Ponyville. The moon sat unmoving high in the sky, overlooking the citizens of the small town. Try as they might, the ponies could not grow to enjoy the moon. The sun would forever be their first love. Its warmth sweeping through the countryside each morning, rays of light dancing all around, illuminating the sky in a soft baby blue. Though the moon did its best to give light, it still felt in-adequete compared to the greater celestial body. A hooded figure crept silently through the town. Tasked to stay hidden and track down five individuals, the pony pressed himself against a building as a couple walked by. Using the brief moment to check the list he had been given, he looked up to pinpoint his first destination. Carousel Boutique. Nodding his head in confirmation, the figure looked both ways before slipping into the building. As any good manager of a business would do whenever hearing the familiar ding of a customer entering her store, the pearl white mare was just about to greet her newest patron when she paused. In these uncertain times, suspicion fell upon strangers in their town. And this cloaked figure raised numerous red flags with his enigmatic appearance. Why was he here?  Levitating a nearby set of scissors, the mare mustered all her strength and approached the pony. “Hell-o… welcome to Carousel Boutique,” she said hesitantly, drawing his attention away from the merchandise he had been viewing. She gasped when he turned to her, seeming to have devilish eyes hidden behind the hood. Yet all her suspicion came crumbling down when the figure threw back the hood to reveal a surprisingly handsome face. “Hello, my name is Shining Moon. Am I right to presume you to be Miss Moon Sparkle?” he asked, bowing courteously. Taken aback by his sudden appearance, Moon Sparkle sputtered and dropped the shears. “Sorry, yes, that is me. What can I do for you?” she responded after collecting herself. Looking at his clothes further, she noted the many rips and tears. “My word, darling, what happened to your cloak? Perhaps you are here for a fix?” “This? Oh, I guess it could use some patchwork,” said Shining Moon, looking down at himself. “Let’s just say the previous owner had too strong of a fascination with knives. However, I am not here for business, just for information and a proposition.” “Oh! Come, come in then.” She beckoned, turning around and swishing her tail as she walked over to two chairs. Sitting down, she gestured for him to take a seat. “What sort of information are you looking for?” “Well, I wanted to know what happened during the night with Nightmare Moon,” he began. Moon Sparkle frowned and looked away.  “Oh. I-I don’t really want to talk about that,” she mumbled, twirling her mane with a hoof. “I am sure there are other ponies that have a much better account than I do.” “That may be true, but there is another individual that I want to know about. Dawn Lighter. She was there too, right?” Shining Moon pressed, trying his best to keep his voice steady and not crack at the name. “Yes, she was there too, but she was different. She was a nice mare, though her mane was practically dreadful when I first met her. I simply could not stand by and did my best to freshen her up,” commented Moon Sparkle, moving into the territory she was much more enthusiastic about. “I believe Celestia had sent her to check on the preparations for the town, and I was in charge of decorating the place.”  Nodding his head, Shining looked around,  impressed by her work. “Thank you then. As for the proposition, I guess I am in need of your services. But I am afraid here is not the best place to discuss such matters. You never know who’s listening, and Flutter Moon’s cottage is more secluded. ” “How do you know Flutter Moon? And why does any knowledge of those events require secrecy?” wondered Moon Sparkle, getting up. He sighed deeply. “Dawn Lighter is my sister, and I am going to do everything I can to bring her back to the way I know her to be. A good and kind-hearted mare rather than the cold and careless pony Nightmare Moon turned her into. Meet me and the others at Flutter Moon’s cottage in two hours. Tell nopony.” And with that, he bid her farewell and left.  Taking in his words, Moon Sparkle began to tidy her shop. Grabbing a few knick knacks and throwing them into a saddlebag, the mare checked to make sure she hadn’t left anything unattended. Flipping the ‘open’ sign to ‘closed’, she was just about to leave before remembering something. “Sweetie dear, I am heading to Flutter Moon’s place for a few hours. Keep watch over the shop and tell anypony that I am away on other business!” she called above, before stepping outside and braving the night. “Thank you so much for your hospitality and for saving Moon Melody, Arocez. I guess I never asked, but how did you get your name?” wondered Shining Moon as the trio made their way out of the forest. Their pace slow as they still needed to support a very weak Moon Melody.  “At the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration, I had intended to reveal my presence to the town. But that changed when things went amiss, and a new queen picked up the fallen crown,” explained Arocez after a moment of thought. “My hope dashed, I made my way to be renamed. Now one day I plan to try again, but until then, I live in this forest untamed.” As the group reached the edge of the treeline, Arocez pointed in a direction. “This is where I must leave you, over there you will find a mare of abounding kindness. She can help nurse your pains, and perhaps you three will be able to put your past behind us.” “Sadly we still have many trials ahead of ourselves. We barely survived the first assassin, and I am sure there are more to come. Stay safe, Arocez, for we may need your help again in the future,” replied Shining Moon before they departed. Following the direction they had been given, they reached a quaint little cottage. Critters and creatures of all shapes and sizes chattered around the house.   “Oh, um, hello!” called a soft voice, and a yellow pegasus stepped out from her home to address the three before noticing the labored walk of Moon Melody. “Oh my gosh, are you alright?” She ran up to them and with surprising strength lifted the pink alicorn into the air. She made her way inside and gently set the other mare on a couch. “Thank you,” remarked Shining Moon, sighing in relief as the pegasus began to unwrap the makeshift bandage.  “What happened?” she questioned, gasping lightly at the wound and applying a layer of gauze.  “We were attacked and she was shot. Moon Melody was able to get us away, but we spent the following two days running. I did my best to dress the wound and heal her, but I am not a medic,” explained Shining Moon, intentionally leaving out Arocez and the other assassin.   “Oh, you three must be so brave. I am Flutter Moon. What are your names? If you don’t mind me asking, that is,” spoke Flutter Moon softly. “I am Blue Moon, this is Shining Moon, and the one shot is Moon Melody,” Blue Moon said, looking around the cottage at the animals scampering everywhere. “My goodness, do you just let them do whatever they want in your home?” “Yeah, I am their caretaker,” whispered Flutter Moon, hiding behind her mane. “What was that, I didn’t hear you,” said Blue Moon as he drew closer to her.  “Oh sorry, I-I am an animal caretaker,” Flutter Moon affirmed, drawing back in response to his proximity.  “Cool, do you have anything to eat? I’m famished.” Blue Moon chuckled, looking around for her kitchen.  “Just around the corner and to your right, I have a couple fresh flowers if you want a bite,” Flutter Moon offered. He immediately went off in search. “Anyway, ignore his antics, we just need somewhere we can lay low for a moment. Then we will be out of your mane and--” began Shining Moon. “No, I brought us here for a reason,” Moon Melody groaned as she attempted to raise herself into a seated position. “Wait, really?” Shining Moon looked over to her. “Why?” “To figure out what transpired here,” she replied, grimacing in pain as she rubbed her chest. “And what became of Dawn Lighter.” “D-Dawn Lighter?” mumbled Flutter Moon, hiding behind her mane again. “Yeah, we want to know what happened with her and Nightmare Moon. Do you know anything?” Shining Moon questioned. “Oh, um, what do you want to know?” responded Flutter Moon hesitantly. “I don’t know much, I am sorry.” “No no, that’s fine, do you--er, were you there?” pressed Shining Moon, sitting down and noting how anxious Flutter Moon was growing.   “Well, that day I was in charge of some song birds that were supposed to sing for Celestia. That was, um, my job for the Summer Sun Celebration,” Flutter Moon said.  “And what happened afterward? Why was Dawn Lighter there?” continued Shining Moon curiously. “Well, she said Celestia had sent her to check on the preparations for the event, and she came to see me and how well I was doing with the birds. And she had this cute baby dragon that I had never seen and…” Flutter Moon beamed, proud she was of her birds before gasping. “I’m sorry that I forgot to ask you, but would you like some tea? Or something to drink?”  “No, that’s fine. And wait, did you say baby dragon? Do you know his name?” Shining interjected.  “Sadly it was wiped when Queen Nightmare Moon renamed me. I think he was her assistant or something? I don’t actually remember why he was there, sorry.” She shrugged. “But what does this have to do with you guys?” “Well, it’s a little concerning that Nightmare Moon has the dragon as her assistant, it will be harder for us to get him out of her clutches.” Shining Moon sighed. “But we can deal with that later. Regardless, the reason all this matters, is because Nightmare Moon is evil. And we are going to do our best to stop her. And we need your help.” “I-I don’t really think I could be of much use to you guys though,” countered Flutter Moon, gesturing around her house. “I’m just a humble caretaker.”   “Anypony and everypony, no matter how big or small, can make a difference,” added Blue Moon, stepping into the room with three sandwiches. “I hope you don’t mind me using your kitchen to make us some food.” Taking a bite, he passed the food over to Shining and Moon Melody who happily munched on their own. “Anyway, sho we are shtarting dish rebellion ting,” Blue Moon mumbled, taking large bites and chewing thoroughly, sending flakes everywhere as he smacked his lips. “You wanna join?”  “W-well, I…” Looking away anxiously, she tried to draw deeper into her mane. “I-I don’t know. But my friends might be interested. They too were with me that night.” “Friends? Who else was there?” Shining Moon wondered. “Oh, I can, um, make you a list actually, so you can find them. Let me find a piece of paper, and I’ll write it down for you, okay?” Flutter Moon suggested, moving over to another room. She grabbed some scratch paper with a hoof, she quickly wrote out a list of names and places before giving them to Shining Moon. “When are you going to see them?” “Now. Time is of the essence, and the more we know, the better. I think we only have a few days before Nightmare Moon becomes aware of our presence here, and I want to use that time as best we can,” announced Shining, digging through the saddlebag that Arocez had given him. He pulled out two knives and the prized hood, quickly donned his disguise, and slid the blades into place within the cloak. Twirling around, he faced the other three ponies. “How do I look?” As Shining Moon made his way to the second destination, he contemplated his next moves. Gaining the best account of the events was their first priority. And… what next? Sure, knowing what happened would be important, but what use was the knowledge if they didn’t do anything with it? Perhaps once they got the full picture, a crucial detail could be discovered? But what could be used against Nightmare Moon? If she was just as mortal as Moon Melody, perhaps they could kill her? Shaking his head of those thoughts, he trudged on. No, they would never stoop that low. No matter how far she pushed them, they would never become evil to fight evil. That was a line he made sure they would never cross.  Looking up from the list, he squinted his eyes as he barely made the outline of treetops in the distance. He hardly needed to stay hidden along this path, as it seemed that barely anypony walked along the dirt trail. Drawing closer, he identified the trees as apple trees. The trees seemed to stretch on till the Everfree, with a mind-boggling amount of apples tucked neatly in their branches. When he had read the name Sweet Apple Acres, he had imagined a quaint farm with a small orchard of a couple acres. Not the vast stretches of land dedicated to the trees he saw before him.  Following the path, he reached a fork that jutted one way towards a barn and another towards a house located a little farther away. Deciding to look for somepony at the house, he ambled in that general direction before spotting the outline of a pony ahead. Squinting, he tried to identify the individual, the shape growing more defined as the pony drew closer.  Shining Moon gulped as the massive form of a red stallion hesitantly walked towards him. Flutter Moon never mentioned anything about a pony this size. The white unicorn was tempted to change his plan and recruit this big fellow instead. Nonetheless, it seemed that this pony was barring his way, standing tall and imposing as he stomped his hoof to get Shining Moon’s attention. The unicorn stallion realized that his hood obscured his face and quickly took it off. “Hello, my good stallion. My name is Shining Moon, and I am looking for Applejack Moon,” called Shining, smiling at the earth pony. The red giant looked him up and down before nodding and turning around. “Follow me,” came the gruff reply as the farmer made his way towards the fields away from the barn. Curious as to how these farm ponies lived now without the sun, Shining Moon looked around and noticed a few trees appearing much livelier than others. He was about to ask how they had managed to keep the trees when they came across another pony. This one was orange, wore a stetson and currently was hooves-deep in the ground. She was muttering to herself, and it sounded like she was coaxing the tree awake, though Shining Moon couldn’t tell for sure what she was doing. As they drew closer, she gazed up and scowled at their presence. “Macintosh Moon, I told ya ah don’t want anypony on our fields until we finish saving our trees!” exclaimed the mare as she dusted herself off. Macintosh just shrugged before lumbering off. Sighing, the orange pony turned to her guest. “What do you want?” “Hello, my name is Shining Moon, and I’m looking for a mare by the name of Applejack Moon. Am I right to presume that’s you?” he asked, giving her a soft smile. Her mood dropped further at the name. “I ain’t happy with it, but that’s me. What can I do for ya?” stated Applejack Moon as she began to fill in the hole she had dug.  “I came here for information. I was wondering if you knew anything about the day of the Summer Sun Celebration?” Shining Moon questioned. “What's there to know? Ah was in charge of the catering for the event. And then, um… ah don’t want to talk about it with somepony ah don’t know,” Applejack Moon muttered as she rubbed her shoulder. “That’s fine, I don’t want to pressure you into saying something you aren’t comfortable with. But I also came here to offer you a chance. A chance to fight back against what Nightmare Moon’s done,” Shining Moon proposed, drawing closer to her. “Maybe it’s not too late to undo everything that the queen has done. I can’t promise anything, but it’s better than nothing.” “Ah don’t know, ah don’t feel comfortable going against the queen’s wishes.” Applejack Moon shook her head. “Ah believe what’s done is done, now we just move on with what we got.” “All I am asking is for you to hear me out. I am bringing a few ponies to Flutter Moon’s cottage to talk and see what we can do. If it’s too much, you can leave whenever you want, but it would really help me if you came,” Shining Moon offered, extending a hoof.  “Wait, ‘others’? Who else is coming?” wondered the mare as she considered the gesture. “Well, I wanted to have everypony that was involved that day and see if we can devise something. Flutter Moon was kind enough to give me a list of everypony that was there that day and--” began Shining Moon. “Oh, not everypony is gonna come,” Applejack Moon sneered. “And if they are, then they have some ‘xplaining to do.”  “Did something happen?” Shining Moon remarked, noting the venom in her words. “You could say that. Dasher Moon blamed everypony but herself that night, started a feud between the five of us. Moon Sparkle and ah agreed we could have done something more, but Dasher Moon wouldn’t hear it and blamed both of us for not caring,” Applejack Moon spat, shaking her head and stomping a hoof angrily. “She felt betrayed and flew off.” “Oh,” muttered Shining Moon, “I didn’t know.” “It’s fine, ah don’t blame ya. But ah doubt she will see you if you're bringing us all together again.” Applejack Moon sighed. “Ah will join you guys, but only to hear your plans. Anything ah don’t like and ah am out of there.” Shining nodded. “Thank you.” Crossing off another address and name, Shining Moon dropped down to the third place. Cloudominium. “Cloudominium? What kind of name is that?” he muttered as he looked above. Flutter Moon had said this house was different from the others, located in the sky somewhere towards the edge of the town. Squinting, he barely made out a dark hazy cloud a few hundred meters above. Sighing, he mentally kicked himself for not remembering the cloudwalking spell.  Sitting down, he racked through his brain, testing out a couple spells before smiling as a particular fond memory surfaced. A younger Dawn Lighter teaching him how to cast the spell, helping him keep it active and stable. “It’s really simple once you get the hang of it. You simply cast the spell like this, and make sure to keep your hooves above the cloud in order to stay balanced…”  Getting up, he confidently placed the spell before closing his eyes, smiling at the moment. He  facehoofed. He probably looked stupid, standing there and grinning. Snagging a cloud with his magic, he brought it lower and hesitantly stepped onto it. Confirming that he wouldn’t fall right through, he wrapped the cloud in his magic and slowly levitated it. He chuckled again at how absurd he must look, flying around on a magic cloud, the wind whipping at his mane.  Upon reaching the house, he looked around and was surprised at the architecture of the home. Rainbow pools spilled over the sides of the porch, with packed cloud matter jutting out and giving the home a wintery look. Stepping onto the road that snaked its way up to the front door, Shining Moon made his way up the path and knocked.  “Coming!” cried a voice from inside before an almost comical sound of thudding and slamming could be heard within. Patiently waiting, Shining Moon stepped over to a running pool of the rainbow liquid, dipping a hoof in and retracting it. Noting the dye sticking to his hoof, he jerkily shook it off before returning to the doorstep. “Hello, who is it!” the home owner exclaimed, swinging the door open violently and peering out. Pulling back the hood, Shining Moon was just about to introduce himself before he had the door slammed into his face. “Notinterestedgoodbye.” Taken aback by her rudeness, the white stallion sat stunned as he processed her words. Blinking a few times, he knocked again. “Go away!” “Um, excuse me, but I am looking for a mare by the name of Dasher Moon!” called Shining as he banged on the door a couple more times. “And who’s asking?” the vibrantly-colored pegasus questioned as she cracked the door open and peeked out with a magenta eye.  “Hello, my name is Shining Moon. I came for some information and a proposition,” he explained calmly, giving her a smile. Mares loved his grin.  “Yeah, that’s me. Propah... what now?” mumbled Dasher Moon as she opened the door more. “An offer, I was--” began Shining Moon. “Wait, are you from the Wonderbolts?! And I slammed the door right in your face!”  Dasher Moon declared as all color drained from her face. “I’msosorrypleaseforgivemeIdidn’t--” “No no no, I’m not from the Wonderbolts,” Shining Moon cut in, holding up a hoof. “I just want to talk about the Summer Sun Celebration.” “Oh. What do you want to know?” she said, perking up. She moved to the doorframe, crossed her hooves, and leaned against it. “I was in charge of keeping the weather clear. Pretty easy, if you ask me.”  “Nice, was that all you did that day?” Shining Moon raised an eyebrow. “Basically…” she muttered, averting her gaze. “I don’t want to talk about it.” “Seems like a common answer among these mares,” whispered Shining Moon. “What was that?” asked Dasher Moon, drawing closer. “Nothing, as to my offer, we are starting a rebellion against Nightmare Moon,” continued Shining Moon. “And I am looking for ponies to join us.” “Does that mean I could be a spy?” whooped Dasher Moon, fluttering her wings in excitement. Shining Moon rolled his eyes. She and Blue Moon would hit it off perfectly together with their foal-like behavior.  “Yes, you could be a spy. But first I want to know everything that happened that night with Nightmare Moon. Flutter Moon said you and a few of your friends, along with Dawn Lighter attempted to fight her, is that correct?”  “They aren’t my friends. Well, Flutter Moon is, but not the others,” scoffed Dasher Moon, shaking her head.  “Well you will have to put your differences behind you. We need to be united if we are to fight against Nightmare Moon. Join us, and together we could beat her,” offered Shining Moon.  “But the others will be there. Did they tell you what really took place? What happened to Dawn Lighter?” added Dasher Moon, scowling at the thought.     “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. There is a big hole where Dawn Lighter fits in, and I plan to figure out why,” declared Shining Moon. “So, will you join us?” “Maybe.” Three down, one to go. Bidding Dasher Moon farewell, Shining made his way back onto the ground before crossing out the third name and reaching the bottom. Sugarcube Corner. This was located closer to the heart of the town, and Shining Moon had to move much more stealthier through the place. As he came to the building, he noted the sagging walls of the second floor. It looked drooping and depressed, and the store had its sign flipped to closed.  He was just about to attempt to walk in when a cold feeling brushed against his spine. Something told him that he shouldn’t step into the building. Passing it off as the wind, he unlocked the door with magic and took one step in. Immediately noticing a temperature drop and an eerier aura that seemed to ebb off of the walls. Trusting his gut, he withdrew from the building. As he shook his head, he decided to make his way back towards Flutter Moon’s cottage. Perhaps Moon Pie could be spoken with later.