//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: An Unlikely Friendship Was Made. // Story: Twilight's Soul Floats Ever Deeper Into Space // by Rain_Flick3r //------------------------------// Space is a wondrous thing to gaze upon from the safety of Earth. The mysteries it holds are unfathomable. Yet, the ponies of Equestria have always gazed toward its majesty with curious eyes and hungry hearts that yearned for exploration of its countless stars. Princess Luna always had an affinity with the Moon as did Princess Celestia with the Sun, they both held the power of the celestial bodies respectively, as their planet rotated around them. The Sun was the ever-glowing light that guided ponies everywhere to wake from their blissful slumber to warm days, to the smell of verdant fauna, to the ever-growing stalks of produce that filled their bellies. Ponykind loved the days the sun provided them, they would play, go to activities that would make use of the warm breeze, learn and better themselves, and better the world they were fortunate to live in. The Moon’s pure glow was their guidance to restful sleep, to dream dreams bold and grand, to be their watchful eye in the azure night sky, to keep them safe from the monsters that were held within the void that was shadow. There were those that heeded the Moon’s call for they only came out during the dead of night. They were the Moon’s children, they glided through the azure sky as they basked in the brilliant light of the Moon. They were not what other ponies called, normal. They were better than normal, they were the ones that helped plants and trees grow far and wide, for they would drop the seeds from the fruit they were given by the Sun's warmth. They were the other half of their world's equilibrium. Their name came from the Moon’s blessing, they were called bat ponies. These ponies would play, dance, sing, and celebrate in the night's embrace. This was their time to trot upon the earth and boy did they bask in the Moon’s glow tonight. It was warm, warmer than the night prior, for tonight was the signal that summer was on its way to greet every living creature on Earth. Though there were sounds of stirring, a stirring from a little filly that woke up with her throat parched. She hopped out of bed and trotted her way down toward the kitchen, to get a glass of water. She carried her glass from her night table, and with her horn’s soft amber glow, she made her way down her stairs. Once she finally made it to the sink with her glass in tow, she noted the sounds of a weird kind of chirping. It wasn't anything menacing, just a high-pitched sound. Intrigued by the sound, she turned off the faucet on her sink and trotted to her front door. Still hearing the chirping, she opened the door. The filly trotted outside as the warm breeze flew passed her face. ‘The first night of summer is here hehe.’ She giggled softly. The chirping stopped suddenly from her echoing voice. ‘Oh, no. Please don’t stop. I didn’t mean to scare you away.’ She said concerned. She stood there for a moment but there was nothing but silence and her ears picking up the rushing wind flowing passed them. ‘Oh, fluffy feathers!’ She said dejected as she hung her head low, she began to trot through her front door. She stopped however because she heard a slight rustle in the tree next to her house.  Curiously she slowly headed toward the rustle and stood underneath the tree’s canopy. ‘Hello!?’ she asked quietly. She waited for an answer, but what she got were two dark blue pointed ears that would make themself known to the filly from the leaves. ‘Hello?’ She asked again. That second greeting made sure to have the pony's face slowly emerge from the canopy. ‘Hello there!’ Said the dark blue bat pony. His voice was raspy but it had a tone of playful intrigue. The filly gasped softly ‘Oh my, you talk just like me.’ The colt tilted his head ‘Like this?’ The filly nodded. ‘What is your name?’ asked the colt. ‘Soda Pop, what is yours?’ Soda asked. ‘Blue Moon. He stated. ‘Why is your name Blue Moon? Did you make the moon blue?’ She pondered. Blue Moon slowly fell from the tree’s canopy and landed in front of Soda Pop. ‘May I have a glass of water? I am parched. You can have a mango if you want. Are you hungry?’ Blue asked as he held out a mango to Soda Pop. Soda nodded as she invited him into her home. She grabbed the mango from Blue. ‘Thank you so much. Please come in. I just filled up a glass with water… Blue Moon, does this make us friends?’ Blue placed a hoof on his chin as he thought about Soda’s question ‘I think so, is this how you make friends? Would you like to be friends Soda?’ The filly excitedly nodded her head ‘Then we are friends.’ Blue giggled Soda grabbed Blue Moon’s hoof and pulled him with her as she ran upstairs to her observatory. ‘Hey, wait! What about my drink?’ Blue exclaimed. ‘The water can wait, come. I wanna show you the moon!’ Soda excitedly said as they made their way to the top of the stairs. She showed Blue the viewing end of the telescope. ‘Have a look.’ Soda said once he lifted her head from the angle she set the telescope to gaze at the moon. Blue scooched over and slowly began to lower his eyes toward the lens. He saw the moon its full glow from a really close-up angle. ‘Oh my this is amazing. The moon is really pretty… Hey, what’s that?’ Blue cautiously asked. He lifted his head for Soda to peek through the lens. ‘What was it? I can’t see it anywhere.’ Soda asked. ‘It's to the left and up a little bit. It looked like a building with a pony standing at the front of it.’ Blue listed off. Soda began to move the trajectory of the telescope to match roughly what Blue mentioned. After a few seconds, she saw it. It looked like a building with a triangular roof. Its shape was not anything Soda had seen in her books at school. It looked really old to her. ‘What is that?’ Soda asked, Blue shook his head. ‘I don’t know… Look I have to get home, my mom is going to be very mad at me coming home so late.’ Blue said shyly. ‘Why?’ Soda looked over to see the sun rising from over the hill behind her house. ‘Well, I am a bat pony. I sleep during the day.’ Blue said as he began to rush down the stairs. ‘Will I get to see you again?’ Soda asked. Blue nodded his head before he headed out of Soda’s front door. ‘Well, I will have to tell Mom and Dad about that weird building when they wake up.’ Soda said matter of factly.