//------------------------------// // 3 — Valuable // Story: To Keep Light in Eternal Darkness // by scifipony //------------------------------// I galloped past the letters and numbers room all the way to the dormitory. It lay empty, and brightly sunlit. Many three-high bunk beds littered the area, but alcoves in the trunk of the tree held beds. I had taken the one the farthest from the lavatory and the baths, the least wanted, and the one most shadowed. I liked it that way, shadowed, and despite it being small, I folded myself comfortably inside. Many were the times I'd hidden there, using my steel-shod hooves to defend my domain. Today, the distance from the salon mattered. From what I'd learned from the adoption of Red Flash and Bugsy and Sun Prancer and Talon, it wasn't the foal that chose. It mattered not if they liked their new parents. Nopony would have turned down a family, even if that family were something from a cautionary storybook. It hadn't stopped Sun Prancer from leaving though she thought her new father wanted her only for the bits he thought she'd make him, using her talents beguiling trees to fruit in all seasons. Hurricane seemed nice, though hard-edged. Not her a servant. Maybe she protected Celestia? Celestia... She seemed nice. Even kind. But she terrified me. She was the one that fought to take control of the moon against the moon's will. She now knew I was the pony that thwarted her. Not good. Verily. Not good Celestia loved the daylight. Ponies worked and played in the sunlight and slept in the night. I loved the night. I covered my head with a pillow, as if I could block out my worries the way I could block out sun or sound. Eventually, I slept, where a unicorn of celestial dimensions, engulfed fire, brought daybreak after daybreak. I sat upon the moon, isolated, alone, but also on fire—a fire that oddly never burnt nor consumed me, but surrounded me in a red and orange flickering glow. Nopony woke me until mid-afternoon. That surprised me, but, as I ate my pail of hay, then walked to the Lemon Woods to search for moonstones, I reasoned it out. Neither Hurricane nor Celestia were married. Becoming married would take time. It might prove impossible. The unicorn mare was too big for any stallion to master, and while I'd seen a few dozen unicorns—Carmine Lake Township here lay only a league from Unicornia—none exceeded the height of an earth pony stallion. Had she frightened all her suitors away? Quite possibly. Knowing mine enemy, helped, forsooth! I could make it easy or I could make it hard to move the moon, quite possibly better now having seen her demonstrate her power in my sight. I knew what Celestia's magic felt like, but for all her fiery strength—and it had to have been her that had made the sun move regularly as of the last few months—she was the one with the solar cutie mark and I was the one with the lunar one. The lunar one. Verily. I swallowed deeply and stood blinking in tingly revelation. When the workmare jerked my bridle, I reflexively jerked it loose. I'd heard cutie marks meant something about what you were good at doing. I understood, now. Mine had to do with my friendship with the moon. I felt warm all over... ...until the workmare whipped me with the end of the reins with a snap. I reared and spun, jerking the straps again from her teeth, wrenching her neck at the same time. I shouted, "You want to bruise me or mark me? How many bits will you lose if you ruin my looks and scare the outlanders away?" The workmare stepped back, eyes wide. She looked at my stinging flank and huffed. "Prithee, you want to eat?" "I do." "Then you work." "I shall. Willingly." "All right, then." Tellingly, she never held my lead again—as if she had ever needed to in the first place! Two days, four days, then six passed without a visit. I would not have gotten word were there to have been negotiations, I was just the foal, but certainly I would have been taunted by the brats even if there had been more than nary a rumor. Nothing. Perhaps my stubbornness was to blame. I'd prayed diligently with the moon. We'd had three days of sunlight and two of night. I gauged the moon's mood. That was all that mattered as far as I was concerned. It left me feeling guilty, as if I'd been caught misbehaving, like when a workmare purposely let something hang over my head and left me wondering whether I'd be paddled or not. I thought about Celestia—and the terrifying monster that had briefly consumed her in flame. I separated the two ponies in my mind. Celestia and... Daybreaker. I could see that Celestia was nice, not fiery. Daybreaker was an aura of magic. It made total sense flames would try to consume a pony that dealt with... the sun. Celestia had treated her friend—companion, associate... whatever—with respect. Me, she'd treated kindly. In storybooks, day and night shared. Twelve hours each, if the stories were to be believed. I believed and tried not to believe for my friend's sake. I felt guilty about it, I think, having to balance the two thoughts. And maybe for becoming frightened by Celestia. And possibly for having not even said good-bye. If I understood a'right, it had been a mare's age since day and night broke, became long, became irregular. If Celestia was the one suddenly fixing it... If I was getting in the way of it... I thought about many things as my moonstones tumbled. On the seventh day, a workmare opened the door to the letters and numbers room. I trotted to the door before she called my name. I got this big goofy smile on my face. That shocked the brats into silence, and painted an envious expression on the faces of the foals. My heart sang. I was going to be adopted! My life would change. I did not know how. I did not know if it would be better, but it would be different. My new mother might be the opposite of me in something very essential, but, in singular very essential talent, we would understand one another very well. I wouldn't be digging moonstones ever again. When I turned the corner behind the workmare, I froze. The door to the salon lay open to a room flooded with morning sunshine, but instead of a giant Celestia and a hovering pegasus named Hurricane, I saw a rugged looking earth pony stallion. He could have been a work horse, for his coloring was what was called wild. He was a dun white, with brown spots large and small. He kept his white mane trimmed to a hoof-length, but had a brown tail tied into a bun. An outlander—his well-tooled belts and bandoleers and multi-flapped saddlebags stated this clearly. Vials and canisters of various sizes stuck out, all corked and sealed with wax, all positioned such that he could reach them with his teeth or tap one free with a hoof. Potions. I might be young, but I was plenty smart. I knew who he was before the workmare said, "Go thither, Blue Moon." As I stepped inside, the big stallion nodded at me. "I am Smart Cookie. It's nice to meet you." "Are you Celestia's husband?" I asked. He chuckled. "No, I'm not. I met her precisely because she refused to marry her betrothed, though the friend that told me about you thinks she might yet marry him. And,"he waved a hoof, "no horn. She's not my type, nor me hers." "You're not her friend, then?" "Oh, we are friends, but we have different things that we feel important to act upon. Different agendas, let's say... Step closer. Let me see your cutie mark. Yes, indeed: a crescent moon. And we both know why." "I don't think I like you." He sighed. "Does that make a difference?" I realized he'd asked it about both of us. I looked to the workmare who just looked at him, expressionless. He looked to me. His brown eyes twinkled, but I couldn't figure out why. I answered, "I'm an earth pony and you are an earth pony." He reached down with his muzzle and grabbed a vial from the bandolier that looped down from his right shoulder. With the tap of a hoof, he uncorked it and inhaled a shimmering mist that rose into the air before corking it again. The vial flew toward his chest and twisted itself into a tight loop on the bandolier. He gestured and a stained scroll flew out of his saddlebags and unfurled with a hiss. I could smell a moldy old book smell. Lines of green and yellow and blue resolved into a map. A long stick flew to his hoof and he pointed with it by gesturing in the air as he preceded to speak. "This is Babeloin; this is Unicornia; this and this are from and to where the pegasai's cloud mountains migrate; this is the rebel earth pony territories referred to as Lesser Unicornia. Queen Platinum wants to control the entire map, and then the world. Her dynasty is descended from an evil king who tried but failed to do just that. Some say Crystal Hoof broke the heavens. The pegasi are in an uncomfortable alliance with the queen because she controls their food basket." I understood working to eat, at least. He finished with, "And Celestia works for Queen Platinum." The workmare said, "Which makes Blue Moon valuable?" Smart Cookie rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and sighed. With exaggerated slowness, the map furled up, before it and the pointing stick packed themselves. There had been a smokey brown glow centered on his forehead. I noticed it when it winked out. My eyes lingered on the ceiling. It was scorched. Celestia worked for a queen who wanted to control the world. Again, I felt like backing away. But then the words just spoken sunk in. My... talent... was... valuable. So would be Celestia's... The stallion pulled a heavy looking tie-string purse from his saddlebags. The mud-stained grey thing was so stuffed that I could see the bits trying to push through. The workmare turned over her outstretched hoof and pointed at the table. The purse clinked loudly. All gold. Gold coins last week. Gold coins now. The workmare said, "Two." "Just so you understand, it was you who said that Blue Moon was valuable. Knowing that you harbored her once might also be valuable... information." "All right, then." He turned to me. "Look, Blue Moon. I come from Unicornia where if you aren't a unicorn, you aren't anypony. Most earth ponies there are earth grubbers who can't own their own land. Sure, I'm rare in that I'm an earth pony who can do magic, and there are plenty of good-hearted unicorns. Celestia might be the best of their tribe. But doing magic doesn't make me their equal. You and I, and my friends— Together, we can do something about that. You are an earth pony." "I am. And I only have six years." He grinned. "You study the adults around you carefully, I see. Good! You're asking whether you're old enough to make this choice. Inside, you've probably made yours and will be mad if what you get isn't what you chose. You are not old enough to make this choice for yourself because you don't understand it." In my later years, I would very much have agreed, but I bristled and felt the fur on my spine rise at what I knew was true, and had forced him to say. He continued, "Nevertheless. Regardless of what I know to be true, and what I've told you is true—Blue Moon, will you consent for me to adopt you?" I started blinking. A question. Voiced. Even if it were a lie. That hope thing, become certainty. My throat closed up and I could barely breathe. Tears, neither of sorrow nor of fear, leaked down my cheeks and into my mouth. I startled myself by wiping at the salty things furiously. Nevertheless. I liked that word, nevertheless. Nevertheless, I nodded. Consenting gave me power that I would not have had when he would have adopted me whether I liked it or not. I looked up at the scorch on the ceiling and thought about evil queens and those tricked into doing their bidding. Aloud, I said, "Yes." Smart Cookie smiled and nodded back. He said, "Apprentice Drover, may I sign the adoption papers?" "Follow me to the Head Master's office." "Daughter?" he said, pointing ahead of him with his nose. I nevertheless followed behind the adults. I knew one thing, suddenly. I wasn't Celestia's enemy. I couldn't be. We were very different... ...but very much the same. Maybe even sisters. I was going to have to save her from an evil queen—to save myself.