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// 19 - This Isn't So Bad 
// Story: Born Under Silver Moon Light 
// by David Silver 
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Crescent, unaware of this tension, bounced gently in her seat. "Where are we going?" There were treats in the large vehicle, and she wasn't shy trying a candy or two. "It's nice to have made a new friend, but where are we going? Is it some other place of frivolity?" She swung her legs back and forth gently as she sat on the luxurious leather seats, a little more spaced out and spread out than she was used to, as she couldn't touch her own feet to the ground.

Diamond snorted at Crescent as the limo continued to roll along towards wherever Diamond decided they were going. "You're weird." She studied Crescent. "Is it true that you're not actually a kid? Like, you're some kind of magical horse pretending to be one?"

Crescent munched on a gummy worm as she processed that, then she shrugged as she swallowed the wiggly thing down. "I dunno."

Diamond frowned, lips pursed. "Well, either you are or you aren't."

Crescent considered that with thoughtful hums, rocking left and right. "Well, I was never a horse. I never saw one of those before." Visions of ancient ponies from times far memorial, arguably past it, came to mind. "You have?"

Diamond snapped her fingers and the limo shifted directions almost immediately. They drew to a stop and she pointed out Crescent's window. "Right there. Horse."

Crescent gaped at the equine she could see, just standing there in a field, enjoying its life. "Wow." It felt almost silly to be impressed by something not acting spectacular in any way. It was a horse, just existing. Still, it was the first horse she'd ever seen, and she was in awe of its majesty, it's power, and its sheer awesomeness, despite being a normal, everyday thing that had no reason to be special in any way, and yet she was impressed all the same. The odds of seeing such a beast in Equestria was vanishing at best. "Do you have a lot of horses around here?"

Diamond burst into merry laughter as the limo resumed movement. "There are a few ranches, yes. What else do you want to see?"

"Ummm." Crescent wracked her mind for cool things, but how did one ask for things they didn't know? That alien world surely had countless things for her to gaze at, if only she knew what to ask for. "I am not a horse," she settled on as the one thing she could say for certain.

Diamond cocked a brow. "Right, fine, not a horse. You're something else. Something with hooves, and a tail. What would that something be, hm?"

"A pony!" Crescent pointed at her own eyes, then to her new shoes. "See the moons?"

Diamond clapped with a bright smile. "We're getting somewhere. Hello, Pony. Now, what's this about moons?"

"They're on my shoes." Crescent showed off the little blue moon logo on the shoes that matched the outfit she'd picked out. "And my crown. See my crown?" She pointed to the tiara, but Diamond barely glanced at it as she took in the new information. "It's all part of my outfit, and my cutie mark." Diamond looked perplexed. "Don't you have a cutie mark?"

Diamond waved at the pattern stenciled onto her clothing. "That's a fashion statement. I appreciate yours enough, nice design. Some people have tragically bland ones. I don't know what they were going for. Now, back on topic." She pointed at Crescent. "You're a pony from Equestria?"

"Well, I was, and I am. I am me." Crescent scratched at her head, scratching away some of her hair. "I'm Crescent." She reached a hand towards Diamond. "And we're friends now?"

"Friends." Diamond took the hand, a sly smirk forming. "And I am a friend that wants to know all about Equestria."

"One thing." Crescent saw they were coming to a stop in front of a huge building, its purpose eluding her. "This is not the place we started."

"It's my house." Diamond opened the door and hopped out to the ground to twirl around to face Crescent. "Come on out." She reached for Crescent, offering a hand, which was accepted before the pony-turned-child jumped out and onto the ground, rolling to absorb the shock of her landing and skidding a few feet along the pavement, laughing at the thrill of it, before she came to a rest and hopped up, eyes alight with energy.

Diamond ruffled the hair of her curious guest. "Glad you're feeling cheerful. We're going to be such good friends, you see."

"I see, but I really should get back to Sunset, or I will worry her. The idea was to see her and comfort her, not the other way around." She put her hands at her hips, a frown deepening. "I may have botched this."

Diamond gave a shrug in response. "So, let's call her."

"Call her?" Crescent took in a powerful breath before shouting Sunset's name as loudly as she could.

Diamond pressed her hands against her ears at the powerful call. "Wow, you have some lungs in you, but I didn't mean that literally. She's not going to hear that from that far away, even with that shout."

"But I could do it, couldn't I? I could send her a message." Crescent whipped her head about, taking in her surroundings, noting the number of eyes on her from the house that belonged to her new friend, the extravagant abode that had an unusual feel to it that she couldn't quite put her finger on as she gazed upon it with wondering eyes, the enormity of the structure not lost on her, though it lacked a certain personal touch that would have made it look cozy and comforting and like a home as opposed to just some building made of bricks, boards, and other building materials that didn't seem to want to have much to do with the other two.

Her inspection complete, she focused on Diamond with a wide smile. "Could I write a note for Sunset? It should only take a minute or two." She beamed with pride at the idea.

Diamond patted her new, confused, friend. "You use one of these." She flipped out her cellphone. "And you press these buttons." In an instant, she had Sunset's contact selected and began forming a text message noting she had Crescent at her house, and she was safe. "There, sent her a letter, and she should get it, like, now."

Crescent grabbed the phone, snatching it without asking in an abrupt motion. "Ooo, let me write some too." She tapped awkwardly, but was soon forming her own text to Sunset. "Hello! Crescent here. I made a new friend. Diamond doesn't seem so scary now. She is showing me her house. She is curious about ponies, but she seems to know about them?" She hit send. "I wonder."

Diamond peered over her shoulder, then snatched back her phone to add a message of her own. "I'll take care of her. No guest of mine goes wanting, promise. Later." She stuffed her phone away and waved at her mansion. "Now, let's head inside? There's way more fun things in there, and it's super cozy."

"Alright, but I don't want to be a bother." Crescent followed her, looking at the bigger, older girl with a lot of admiration, as well as a small amount of apprehension, a certain tension that lingered around her that she wasn't sure what to do with as they went together up the path to the front door, and through that and into the grand lobby beyond.

Crescent paused at the threshold, looking up and up and up, until she got dizzy and fell on her butt on the smooth stone floor. "Ooo, that's high."

Diamond laughed as she helped Crescent back to her feet. "Never been to a proper house before? Poor thing. Come on." She tugged Crescent along into the den of opulence that was her home. "We have everything. Want to watch a movie on a huge screen, go bowling, maybe swimming? Just name it."





Sunset jumped, frantically grabbing her phone that had chimed just a moment before. "My Little Pony!" She grabbed it, checking the new messages from Diamond, and they kept coming. "What the?" She swiped upwards, reading through them. "Great, she has Crescent." She smirked a little at the part that seemed to be from Crescent.

"At least she's having a good time." She let out a little sigh. "Okay, I can work with this, I think." She wished she could message Crescent directly, but it was Diamond that had the phone, not Crescent. "Keep calm," she reminded herself, pacing back and forth nervously. "You know where she is, and who she's with."

She considered where Diamond's mansion was. Just about everyone in school, no, in town, knew where that was. There weren't a lot of other mansions to get it confused with. "Still, what is she thinking? Can't she just invite a kid over like a regular person?" She rolled her shoulders to shake the tension out as she went to the mall's entrance to wait for Crescent, choosing a bench to rest on for the time it took the young child to arrive.

Just to make sure that'd actually happen, she tapped out her own message, "I'm still at the mall. Please bring Crescent back to the front." She added a smiling emoji. "No pressure." She slumped in her seat. "All the pressure. Diamond, c'mon!"

Sunset breathed as slowly and evenly as she could as she waited for any response, but her phone didn't ring for some time, and it wasn't that text that caused it to chime, but rather a call, a familiar one. She pressed accept and greeted, "Hello?"

Twilight's voice came over the speaker. "Hi there. You sounded tense in your earlier messages. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, mostly." Sunset groaned gently. "I found Crescent, and I was able to get her some clothes and food."

"Who?" Oh, it was the wrong Twilight. "Do you need any help? I'm here, you know that."

Sunset smiled a little. "You're a good friend, say, you got a car ready to go?"

"Yes?" There was much doubt in her voice. "What for?"

"If you could pick me up from the mall, right out front, we can take care of this a lot faster than me just sitting around. I'd love you forever, as if I didn't already." Sunset's worried lines had eased into a joyous smile, seeing a potential way to fix things.

Twilight laughed gently. "Sure, I'll be there soon."

"You're a lifesaver." Sunset ended the call and stared at the distant skies, breathing deeply. "Things will work out, and we'll make it work." She tucked her phone away and looked around, even if she didn't expect Twilight to be there that quickly. "I swear, some kids." Her thoughts went back to her own foalhood and the troubles she had gotten into. "I wasn't much better," she admitted with a laugh.