The train arrived at the Manehatten train station at around midnight, the horn woke everypony up who was sleeping. The seven ponies got off their chairs and dozily walked off of the train, they all noticed a carriage, with a guard standing outside, on the other side of the platform. As they walked towards the vehicle, somepony stepped out. What appeared to be a light grey stallion shrouded in a hooded black cloak, stepped out of the carriage, stopping in his tracks to stare at them for a second before continuing on his way onto the train that they had just gotten off of.
Deciding that it wasn’t a god idea to try and use the carriage that the strange stallion had got off of, the seven friends walked out of the station and on to the streets. It was a quiet night, every now and again they would somepony turn a corner or walk into a house, but overall no pony seemed like they should be out at this time.
Following the directions he was given in Celestia’s letter, Esalar led the group through the streets of Manehatten looking for their hotel. After making several turns, the ponies ended up in a dead-end alleyway. Now confused and tired, the seven ponies froze stiff when they heard somepony behind them speak in a low, gruff voice.
“You seem to be a bit lost.” As the group all turned around, the new strange pony stepped into some moonlight, revealing his form.
The pony that stood before them was a white unicorn colt with a two-toned, blue mane. He had an authoritative stance seeming like he was very strong with a mischievous smile on his face. Twilight recognised him instantly.
“Brother?!” Twilight ran forward, embracing the colt.
“Twily! Good to see you! What are you doing in Manehatten?” Twilights brother asked as he let back down onto her hooves from the hug.
“We’re on a mission for Celestia. I feel like I should ask you the same thing.”
“I’m here on guard duty, training new recruits.” The white unicorn looked directly at Esalar. “Who’s this guy?” He leaned down to Twilight. “Your special somepony?”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “No! No he’s not! This is Esalar. He’s helping us with our mission.”
“Nice to meet you Esalar. I’m Shining Armour.” Shining held out his hoof and Esalar accepted it.
“It’s an honour to finally meet you sir. Your wedding was wonderful.”
One of Shining’s eyebrows lifted in curiosity momentarily. “Hey, weren’t you the photographer there?”
Esalar just replied with a big smile and an enthusiastic nod.
“Those photos were fantastic! Here, I feel like I should give you something.” Shining Armour’s horn began to glow as he lifted something from his jacket pocket. “I find this a couple of days. I think it’d be great for a piece of jewellery or something similar.” A shiny white object lifted itself from Shining’s pocket, glinting in the moon light.
Esalar took the object in his own magic and stared at it with awe. “This-This is a Moon Shard.”
“A what?”
Twilight interrupted to explain. “We’re searching for the Moon Shards. The have immense power and are only supposed to return when they are truly necessary. They’re like the Elements of Harmony, but with an added kick.”
Shining blinked in shocked. “I had no idea.”
Rainbow Dash hovered to Shining Armour’s side nudging him slightly. “At least you’ve done our job for us. That means we can snooze for most of tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure Rainbow. As soon as the Princess finds out, she’ll be sending us on our way to find another shard.” Twilight stated.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and folded her fore legs in a disapproving manner.
“So, Shining. I was wondering if you could help us.” Esalar began. “We’re looking for this hotel to stay in, but we have no idea where we’re going.” He pointed to the marked location on the map with his hoof whilst levitating it with his magic.
“Well, I’m sorry to say I’m just as new as you all are around here.” The white unicorn seemed to ponder for a moment. “How about to all come back to the barracks with me? I’m sure there’s plenty of room for you all in the officers’ quarters.”
Everypony dropped their mouths in shock.
“Are you sure that would be okay, brother?” Twilight asked.
“Sis, I’m the captain of the royal guard. As long you’re with me, no pony will have a problem.”
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Their rooms were at the top of the tower that housed the officers’ quarters. Esalars room looked out over the city; skyscrapers lined the horizon, peaked by an extremely tall tower with a pointy top that appeared to be directly in the middle of the city.
Esalar turned around form the window to face his room, it wasn’t as elegant as his own home but he thought that it’d probably be better than the recruits’ quarters.
The blue stallion took a deep breath and sat on the rug in the middle of the room. Closing his eyes, he began to breathe deeply focusing his mind on his horn and his magic. A glow of light began to form around the tip of his horn, pulsating with energy as Esalar tried to control his concentration. His face scrunched and sweat forming on his forehead, the light grew larger and larger up to a point where an obvious light shone through the windows of his room.
Suddenly his door burst open and 3 ponies entered the room. Shining Armour, Twilight and Rarity all stood in shock as they watched Esalar levitate from the floor, hooves dangling and head bowed as the light of his horn continued to pulsate with extreme power.
Shining Armour shouted over to the dangling stallion. “Esalar! Can you hear me?! Are you okay?!”
The blue pony’s body turned in the air to face the three ponies that were standing at his door and his eyes opened. Instead of his normal light blue iris’, Esalar’s eyes were glowing with a white light too.
They all gasped as a wash of bright light was cast over them. They froze in shock as their minds began to race. They began to remember things that they wish they had forgotten.
Shining began to remember his first encounter with Cadence and the embarrassment that he felt on that day after falling onto his face in a puddle whilst trying to flirt with her. Twilight remembered the day she became so nervous in one of the Princess’ classes that she lost control of her magic and ended up trashing the room. Rarity remembered the night that she met Esalar, instead of feelings of regret and embarrassment that the others felt. She remembered looking into his eyes for the first time, hearing his deep smooth voice for the first time. The only feeling she was expressing, was love.
All this time, Esalar could see these visions of his friends. Rarity’s caused him to stop and think for a second, his conscience began to return as he felt her feelings in his heart. A tear trickled from his eye as he floated back to the ground, the light form his horn slowly fading. Esalar lay on his side as the light disappeared, falling into a deep sleep.
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The light of the sun shone bright in the morning, the beams of warm yellow lights tickled against Esalar face, gently waking him. He had stayed asleep on the floor all night, except for the one difference of the feeling of somepony else being with him. Esalar opened his eyes slowly to see a white mare lying with him, facing him with her eyes open. The two ponies lay for a second staring deeply into each other’s eyes before Rarity bowed her head and nuzzled into Esalar’s chest. The blue stallion accepted her with a hoof around her head. “I’m sorry Rarity. Sorry for last night.” The stallion whispered carefully into her ear before they both fell into a soothing sleep.
The day had begun like any other for the other ponies; Applejack was awake the earliest, followed by Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Twilight. Rainbow Dash had to be forced out of bed as usual. The five ponies went about their normal mornings, getting breakfast and having general conversations about their night’s sleep, among other things.
“Um, where’s Esalar and Rarity?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“They’re probably still cuddled up together.” Rainbow said, sticking her tongue out and pointing her hoof into her mouth, mimicking the act of wanting to be sick.
Twilight and Applejack walked out of the barracks dining hall and took the stairs up to Esalar’s room. Rarity heard the two ponies approaching and had already stood up pretending to wake Esalar up as the lavender and orange mares walked through the bedroom door.
“Ah thought we might’ve found you up here Rarity.” Applejack whispered to her white unicorn friend.
“I was just making sure he was okay, after what happened last night.” She looked solemnly down to Esalar who was still fast asleep.
Twilight giggled. “You’re a terrible liar Rarity.”
The white unicorn blushed slightly, at the same time, Esalar began to wake up. Starting with small movements and groans he eventually opened his eyes to see Rarity looking over him. His instant reaction was to smile.
“Mornin’ sleepy head. Heard you created quite a ruckus last night.” Applejack called over to him.
Esalar replied with a slight jump as he got up onto his hooves and turned to face them. “Morning Applejack, Twilight. Sorry about last night. I-I just don’t know what went wrong.” Esalar scratched the back of his neck with a guilty expression cast across his face.
“It’s okay sugar cube. We’re just glad you’re okay.” Applejack smiled to the stallion.
Esalar’s stomach growled and with a slightly surprised expression he followed the other ponies down the stairs to the dining hall so that he could get some breakfast.
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After breakfast, Twilight used the sending flame in the barracks to send a letter to Princess Celestia explaining that they had found the Moon Shard and they were prepared to make their way back to Ponyville. A letter was quickly sent back in return. The Princess noted their collection of a Shard but said that they were still detecting the presence of another one nearby. Along with the letter, the Princess sent some coordinates on a smaller piece of paper attached to the larger parchment.
They all gathered together what they needed in their saddle bags and made their way outside, joined by Shining Armour for guidance through the city. The skyline of Manhatten was very similar to that of Fillydelphia, lots of tall skyscrapers and there was less sound, fewer carts were being pulled through the streets than in Fillydelphia, most of the ponies appeared to enjoy walking. The residents themselves looked much like the ponies back in Canterlot, with regal attire around every street corner, everypony, including Rarity, was feeling a little out-of-place.
Esalar was leading the group with Shining Armour by his side, following the given coordinates very closely. As they turned down an alleyway, the group stopped behind Esalar.
“This is it. The Shard should be somewhere in this alleyway.” Fluttershy coward away behind Applejack as Esalar said this.
Just as the ponies began to look in dust bins and in crevices in the walls, they noticed a pony step out of a door in the alleyway. He was wearing a black cloak, like the stallion they had seen back at the train station, but this ponies coat was a dark yellow colour. The mysterious pony turned his head to notice the eight other ponies staring at him. That’s when Shining Armour spotted something white around the cloaked pony’s neck.
“Stop!” Shining shouted as he galloped towards the hooded pony who then proceeded to run away, forcing the hood to fly off their head as they did so. The group of ponies now in pursuit noticed that the pony they were chasing was in fact a mare that had a long chocolate brown mane.
She didn’t get very far before she found herself cornered in a dead-end, surrounded by the now heavily breathing ponies. Realising that she was now trapped, the yellow mare dropped her forelegs and bowed her head with a frown spread across her face. Esalar took this moment to lift the necklace from around her neck using his magic, placing it into his saddlebag after confirming it as a Moon Shard.
“Who are you?” asked Shining Armour sternly. The mare didn’t answer. “What is your name?!” The cowering pony flinched at Shining’s shout, squealing slightly.
“My-my name’s Caramel.” She said, almost as quiet as Fluttershy.
“Where did you find the Shard, Caramel?”
The mare stopped cowering and her eyes shot open, with a little smirk she stood up. “So it IS a Moon Shard.” She said slyly, her appearance now completely changing from a cowering mare, to a tough stance with a purposeful and almost evil looking expression on her face. “Thank you for the confirmation.” At that moment, she began galloping towards them, shouting as she did so. “Razor Wing, now!” As she shouted, another hooded figure swooped down from the air, picking Caramel up and causing a cloud of dust to cover the group of ponies.
As the dust cloud disappeared, the group noticed that Caramel had been taken off by another pony, who they presumed to be a Pegasus due to its flying capabilities. Esalar’s first reaction was to check his saddle bag. Luckily, all 5 of the Moon Shards were still there and he sighed a great relief.
Shining Armour stepped forwards, towards where Caramel was once stood. “Who were those Ponies? How do they know about the Shards?”
Esalar answered his seemingly rhetorical questions. “I don’t know, but whoever they are. They can’t be up to anything good.”