//------------------------------// // To The Moon And Back // Story: Fillies of the Night // by Drunk Luna //------------------------------// "Mom, Dad, wake up!" five-year-old Neoma squealed as she galloped into her parents' bedroom. "It's the first day of school! Wake up, wake up, waaake uuuuppp!" She jumped on Luna, who yawned. After lowering the moon an hour earlier, she was exhausted. "Calm down, Neoma," she groaned. "I'll be up in a minute. Go take a shower and I'll make breakfast, okay?" Neoma nodded and sped off to the bathroom. Luna chuckled and shook her head as she conjured up a plate of pancakes with a side of eggs and bacon. Neoma devoured them just as Celestia and Summer arrived at the door. "I thought Neoma and Summer would like to walk to school together," Celestia said. Though Summer was two years Neoma’s senior, the two fillies were best friends, and Summer was fiercely protective of her younger cousin. "Can we, Mama?" Neoma pleaded, bouncing in circles around her mother. "Please, please, pleeeeaaase?" "I'll look after her, auntie Luna," Summer promised. "Okay, Summer," Luna said. "You fillies be careful." She felt a lump growing in her throat. Her little filly was growing up. She wrapped Neoma in her hooves and squeezed her tight. "I love you so much, my sweet one," she whispered. "I love you, too, Mama," Neoma said, hugging her mother. "Have a great day, be good, and be safe," Luna told her, fighting the tears that pricked her eyes as she waved the two foals off. "So, what's school like?" Neoma asked her cousin as they trotted down the cobblestone road that led to Canterlot Elementary School. It was a beautiful August morning; the sun was warm and bright in the cloudless blue sky. Butterflies and honeybees darted from flower to flower on both sides of the road, and birds sang cheerfully in the trees. "It's fun," Summer assured her. "I know you're probably a little nervous, but that's normal. You're gonna be in Miss Honey's class, and she's the nicest teacher ever. You'll love her; everypony does. She always does her science class outside because she can talk to all the animals." "Ooooh," Neoma squealed. "I can't wait to meet her!" As the pink brick school building appeared at the end of the road, however, her heartbeat began to quicken. Ponies frolicked on the playground adjacent to the school. Neoma suddenly felt very nervous. Summer seemed to sense her cousin's anxiety and rested her hoof reassuringly on Neoma’s shoulder. "Come on, Neoma," she said, "I'll introduce you to my friends." Summer led Neoma to the blacktop, where three ponies were playing hopscotch. "Summer!" one of the ponies sang in an operatic, soprano voice, waving and trotting toward them, closely followed by the other two. She was a beautiful white unicorn with a rose gold mane and tail and a cutie mark of a rose gold treble clef. The other two fillies—a mint green Earth pony with a hot pink mane and tail and a cutie mark of a sushi roll, and a gray Pegasus with a light blue mane and tail and a cutie mark of a cloud above a bolt of lightning—followed her closely. "Hi, Fermata," Summer greeted the unicorn. "I want you to meet somepony. This is my little cousin, Neoma. Today is her first day here. Neoma, these are my friends, Fermata, Wasabi, and Tempest." "Hi, Neoma. Nice to meet you," Fermata said, holding out her hoof. Her voice was naturally light, clear and melodious, and every time she spoke, she sounded like a bell. "H-hi, nice t-to meet you," Neoma stammered shyly, looking down. Fermata's eyes softened, and she lifted Neoma’s chin so that their eyes met. "Hey, it's okay," she said kindly. "I know you must be nervous; I remember how terrified I was on my first day, but listen, you're going to have so much fun. Everyone here is so nice and welcoming, and we'll all look out for you. Nopony is gonna tease you, because we have your back. Right, girls?" She looked over at the other ponies, who nodded. "Absolutely," the mint green pony chimed in, stepping forward. "Hi, Neoma, I'm Wasabi. You don't have to be nervous, because everypony here is so nice. Besides, you're a princess, so I don't think you'll have much trouble fitting in here. Unfortunately, we don't all have that luxury." Her voice was syrupy, and she side-eyed Summer with a facial expression that held the tiniest dash of what looked like contempt, but the look faded as soon as Summer glanced in her direction. "And I'm Tempest," the gray Pegasus said loudly, puffing out her chest. "I'm learning how to make storms. My mom, Rainbow Dash, is in charge of all of that kind of stuff. Wanna see what I can do?" Without waiting for an answer, Tempest took off into the sky and conjured a miniature thunderstorm, creating a bolt of lightning that cracked through the black clouds. A torrential downpour descended from the clouds, soaking all the other students. Then, she sped up and cleared the clouds from the sky so that it returned to its original brilliant blue color, and the storm ended as quickly as it had begun. Fermata sighed. "My mom, Countess Coloratura, is principal soprano of the Canterlot Opera, but you don't hear me bragging about how I could out-sing anypony in this school," she said to Neoma, rolling her eyes dramatically. "I heard that!" Tempest called in mock anger. Neoma giggled as the two fillies teased each other. Suddenly, the school bell rang, and everypony galloped into the school building. Once Neoma found her classroom, she was greeted by a gold-colored unicorn with a slightly lighter gold, iridescent mane and tail and a cutie mark of a beehive surrounded by honeybees. "Hello, Neoma," the mare said sweetly. "My name is Miss Honey, and I'll be your teacher this year. I'm very excited to have you in my class." She led Neoma into the brightly-colored classroom and showed the filly to her desk, where she sat down next to a white unicorn colt with a silvery mane and tail and a cutie mark of two swords crossed over a shield. "Hi," the colt said to Neoma. "I'm Silver Shield, but everypony just calls me Silver. What’s your name?” "I'm Neoma," Neoma replied softly. "Nice to meet you." “Oh, you’re the princess, aren’t you?” The colt said, his light blue eyes widening as he gave Neoma a little bow. “It’s a pleasure to sit next to you, Your Royal Highness.” “Please, just call me Neoma,” Neoma murmured. “I don’t want to be treated any differently. Where are you from?” “Ponyville, but my parents wanted me to have the best education, so we moved to Canterlot. I’m going to be a Royal Guard one day,” Silver said proudly, puffing out his chest. “Hey, Neoma, will you play with me at recess?” “Sure!” Neoma whinnied, excited to have a new friend. "Okay, everypony, please settle down and take your seats!" Miss Honey whinnied. "It's time for history class, so I would like for everypony to take out your history books, a pencil, and your history notebooks, please." She walked over to the lectern in front of the chalkboard and wrote THE HISTORY OF EQUESTRIA in the center of the board. "Two thousand years ago, our beautiful and powerful queens, the rulers of our great land, Her Majesty Celestia, Princess of the Sun, and Her Majesty Luna, Princess of the Night, were born," Miss Honey began. "After their parents were assassinated, Princess Celestia took on the responsibility of raising the sun every morning and lowering the sun every night. Princess Celestia's younger sister, Princess Luna, raised the moon every night and lowered it every morning. But one day, darkness fell on Equestria when Luna refused to lower the moon. Celestia pleaded with her sister to make way for the sun, but Luna did not relent. Celestia was forced to banish her sister to the moon for a thousand years. It was there that Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon and threatened to destroy all of Equestria. Luckily, six brave ponies used the Elements of Harmony to turn Nightmare Moon back into our great Princess Luna, who now rules the night with kindness." "Gee, I hope history doesn't repeat itself, because anypony born from Princess Luna must be evil, crazy, or both," a light blue Pegasus filly with an ocean wave as a cutie mark said from the desk directly behind Neoma. About half of the class snickered and turned to look at Neoma, who sank lower into her seat. "Oceania, that's enough!" Miss Honey scolded the filly. “That is treason! You shouldn’t say such things about our Princess.” "At least Celestia's filly came from the good sister, and she will be a full-blooded alicorn when she grows up," Oceania continued. "Neoma is only gonna grow up to be just as screwed up as her mom is. Look at her, she's nothing but a hideous, half-breed, freak of nature." She reached out and tugged one of Neoma’s wings hard. “Hey, leave her alone!” Silver cried. “Neoma isn’t a freak of nature, she’s my friend.” He glared at the blue Pegasus, but Oceania continued to ridicule Neoma. Neoma felt her face flush with rage. She spun around to face Oceania and lunged at the other filly, grabbing Oceania by her mane. "Shut up!" she growled, her nostrils flaring, her nose just inches from Oceania's. "If you say one more thing about me or my mom, it will be the last thing you'll ever say. Do you understand?" Her horn started to glow, and a bolt was released from it, which conjured a fishbowl full of water, hit Oceania, turned her into a goldfish and dropped her into the bowl. The other ponies gasped as Neoma spread her wings and flew out of the school and back to the castle as fast as she could. Neoma burst through the heavy doors of the castle, ignoring the two guards who bowed to acknowledge her presence. Tears stung her eyes as she galloped up the winding staircase to her bedchamber. She knew her mom would receive a call from the school at any moment, so she flung herself onto her bed, curled up into a ball, and finally released the tears she had held back all the way home. About five minutes later, Neoma heard a knock on her bedroom door. "Neoma, sweetie, can we talk?" The gentle calmness of Luna's voice only made Neoma cry harder. She heard her mother's magic as Luna opened the double doors with her horn, then the clopping of hooves as Luna sat down next to her on the bed and draped one of her soft wings over her daughter's back. Tears still scorched Neoma’s face and blurred her vision, but she found the strength to raise her head and blink up at her gorgeous, regal mother. "Mama, I don't wanna go back there!" Neoma sobbed into Luna's chest. "They were s-so mean!" "Oh, my sweet, darling filly," Luna whispered, hugging Neoma close. "Foals can be so cruel, can't they?" She stroked the filly's mane and dropped a kiss on her head. "Do you wanna tell me what happened?" "Th-they started talking about you, and they said I was gonna grow up to be screwed up because Auntie Tia is the 'good' princess and you're screwed up," Neoma wailed. She looked up at Luna's face, which was etched with pain. "I haven't been Nightmare Moon in years," Luna said, her voice soft and low with fury. "You don't deserve to be bullied because of my past. Somepony is about to pay." Her eyes glinted with maternal rage. "Who said these things, Neoma?" she demanded. "Oceania," Neoma whispered, "so my friend Silver Shield stuck up for me, and I turned her into a goldfish.” Luna's eyes widened in shock. "You what?" Luna asked, trying with all of her strength not to laugh in front of her foal. "Neoma, I'm proud of you for defending yourself, but you will never turn your classmates into other things again, do you understand?" Neoma nodded sheepishly. "We're going to go to her house, you will change her back and apologize, and I will have a talk with her parents. But first, I want to have a little talk with you." Her eyes softened, and she nuzzled her daughter lovingly. "I know how hard it is to deal with bullies," she said gently. "You know, when I was about your age, your auntie Tia went off to a special magic school to study, and I was left to fend for myself at school. My sister was the beautiful, popular one, and I was small, awkward and quiet, but nopony ever bothered me when she was around because they all knew she would protect me. After she went away to magic school, all of that changed. On my first day on my own at school, a bunch of fillies cornered me and started making fun of my size and the fact that I hadn't gotten my cutie mark yet." "You got your cutie mark late, too?" Neoma gasped when Luna nodded. She couldn't believe her powerful, beautiful mother, the Princess of the Night, had ever been unpopular. "I was so jealous of your auntie when she got her cutie mark," Luna sighed with a rueful smile. "When she started to practice raising the sun, I would hide in our room so I wouldn't see the sunlight. Everypony always told me I would never amount to anything, that I was just the puny little sister who would never be useful. Wow, were they wrong." She shook her long, beautiful mane, glanced at her cutie mark, and grinned down at her foal. "My point is, just be patient, honey. Everything will work out. Remember, you are so much stronger than you think you are; after all, you are my daughter. Never, ever forget that." She lowered her head and gave Neoma one more affectionate nuzzle. "You're going to walk back into school tomorrow with your pretty little head high. Can you feel this?" She grabbed Neoma’s hoof and pressed it to the filly's heart. Neoma felt her steady heartbeat and looked up at Luna inquiringly. "That is thousands of years of royal blood running through your veins," Luna said. "Never let those bullies get to you; you are a princess, my dear, and that will never change. You will always be better than anyone who chooses to be mean to you, because you and your cousin will rule over all of them one day, and they know that, so they're jealous of you. You're only the second naturally-born alicorn to exist, and you're the only thestral alicorn to ever exist, so that gives them ammunition, too. I had to deal with the same kind of jealousy when I was a filly. For now, just focus on school and learn as much as you can. Everything will work out when it's supposed to. As for this colt, Silver Shield,” she continued, “he sounds like a good friend. Take care of that friendship, Neoma; true friends like him are rare, especially when you’re royalty.” Neoma hugged her mom tight, drying the remainder of her tears on Luna's silky blue coat. "I love you, mommy," she whispered. "I love you to the moon and back," Luna replied, wrapping Neoma in her hooves and kissing her forehead.