The Crusaders gasped at the changes to Nightsong’s land. The first major change was that his hut had been replaced. Now it was a fine tree house like the ones that Fluttershy and Twilight live in. Despite it being summer in the waking world, the leaves on this tree house were a mix of reds and gold’s. The second change was that it was a bit more crowded than before. Pegasus ponies were flying all over the place bringing with them loads of dreams to the unicorn and earth ponies who recorded them.
Their arrival did not go unnoticed. As soon as they got to Nightsong’s land, on a sailboat this time, nearly every pony looked up for a second before getting back to work. Well, all but one. A single pony walked over to them with a scowl on her face. She was a lime green unicorn with her blond mane tied into a bun. On her flank was a checklist cutie mark and she wore round shaped glasses.
“Excuse me, but what are you three doing here?” she demanded. “This isn’t a place for fillies.”
“We’re here ta see Nightsong,” said Apple Bloom as the three girls gave her angelic smiles. Sadly it didn’t seem to faze her.
“That is Prince Nightsong to you young lady,” she said with her nose in the air. Never the less, she turned around and motioned the three to follower her. As they walked she would stop at a pony who was recording a dream to glare at him or her, which resulted in faster, and more panicked work. When they got to the other side of the piece of land they found Nightsong sitting on a cushion with hundreds of dream sprites circling around him. His eyes were closed and his horn glowed as fifty pens were writing in fifty notebooks at the same time. Clearly, he was the king of multitasking. They waited a second for him to notice them but when he didn’t the uptight pony gave a little cough.
“Yes Snooty, what is it?” asked Nightsong without opening his eyes.
“You have three fillies who want to see you my prince,” she said. “I would also like to ask that you not refer to me just by my first name. Please call me Snooty Wooty or Ms. Wooty.” Nightsong opened his eyes and saw the three young girls behind Ms. Wooty. He instantly dropped what he was doing using his magic to put away the pens and notebooks then rose and walked over to them.
“I shall do that as soon as you stop insisting that everyone here call me Prince,” he said gently. Snooty gave a bow before she left. As she did, Nightsong shook his head with a small smile before turning to the three. “So sorry about her. Her special talent happens to be organization, which lets me lend a hoof with this work. Sadly, she is a little uptight. So tell me, what do you think of the changes?”
“Well it’s a bit livelier here,” stated Apple Bloom as Nightsong beamed at her.
“It sure is,” he said with pride. “And this is just what I have been doing in the Dream Realm. I don’t know if you know this but I’m having a second home built in Ponyville for sleeping and breakfast. I had thought about moving there completely, but there is not enough room for my library. Plus, what would I do with my fishies?”
“But why Ponyville?” asked Scootaloo. “I mean, why not stay at the palace? Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“Let’s just say that Ponyville has something that the palace doesn’t and leave it at that,” said Nightsong as he tried to hide a blush. “Now then, what can I do for you three?”
“Well, it’s about that promise that you made us,” said Scootaloo. “You know, if we ever needed anything and all that.”
“Yes,” he said with a nod. “I do remember that. So what do you need? If it’s in my power I’ll have it done in no time flat!” The Crusader’s eyes went wide with joy when they heard that.
“Will you tell us what our cutie marks are?” they asked in unison.
“No,” said Nightsong immediately. This caused the girls to deflate for a moment before jumping right back up.
“But you promised us that if we ever needed anything you would help us,” said Sweetie Belle.
“That’s right you promised,” said Pinkie Pie as her head came out of the ground. She looked around, grinned at everyone, and pulled her head back into the ground. Nightsong’s jaw was half open as he looked at the hole and then back to the girls.
“How?” he asked. “How did she do that?”
“She’s just being Pinkie Pie,” said Apple Bloom. Nightsong continued to look confused for a bit before he sighed it off.
“Look, I know I owe you three,” he began. “But that’s simply not the way I do things. I communicate what your cutie marks are through dreams. I can’t just tell you.”
“Well why not?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“It’s not fair,” exclaimed Apple Bloom.
“I’ll say it’s not,” said Scootaloo. “I mean, you probably saw your own cutie mark and knew what it was right away, didn’t you?” Nightsong sighed as he shook his head.
“Looks like I’ll have to explain this a bit. But it’ll take some time,” he said. “Snooty, would you come here please?” A moment later Snooty Wooty approached the group. “How are we coming along today?” Snooty sighed as she brought her clipboard up to her face.
“So far, your majesty, we have collected and recorded sixty nine percent of our total quota for the day. And once again, please don’t call me by my first name,” said Ms. Wooty.
“Alright,” said Nightsong. “Well, tell every pony that after all the dreams are recorded they can go home. I’m going out for a while and when I get back I’ll put the records in their appropriate places.” Ms. Wooty gave him a shocked look.
“Sir, if I may speak frankly, I would not recommend that,” she said as she moved a couple steps closer to him. “You’re the boss, not some work pony to do the work of the employees. You shouldn’t be picking up their workload like that nor giving them extra time off. It sets a bad example and it will cause them to become lazy.” Nightsong did not seem to share her opinion.
“They are all working very hard,” said Nightsong gently. “And their hard work deserves a reward. And since I am going out for a while, I will not leave them with extra work that will cause any extra hassle. Now then, please do as I have asked before I have to make it an order.” Ms. Wooty gave a slight snorting sound before she turned around and left them. Nightsong sighed before he turned his attention back to the fillies. “Alright, who’s up for a little trip?”
After they left the Dream Realm, Nightsong took them to Sugarcube Corner for some snacks to go. There, they ran into Pinkie Pie who had somehow heard about his second home being built. And, being Pinkie Pie, had decided to throw him a party to celebrate. Nightsong had tried to decline the offer but his words had no effect on her. In fact, they seemed to make her want to throw a party even more! Thankfully, the Cake’s called Pinkie into the back for a moment to allow Nightsong to pay and make a quick getaway.
After leaving Sugarcube Corner, Nightsong headed straight for the park. Once there he found a nice spot on a hill. He sat down with the Crusaders sitting in front of him as he began to hand out the snacks he had bought.
“So, are you going to tell us why you can’t just tell us about our cutie marks?” demanded Apple Bloom.
“Yes,” said Nightsong as he took a bite out of the cake slice he had bought. “But to fully understand the reason, I have to tell you everything going back to the days before I got my cutie mark.” The three girls looked at each other and began to eat their own snacks as Nightsong got a faraway look in his eyes. “In fact, one could say that this story began the day my mother enrolled me in the Royal Academy.”
**Flashback**
It was a wonderful Sunday morning as far as any pony was concerned. Summer was almost over and the temperature was getting cooler. Soon, in a couple of months, the trees would lose their green color and then the Running of the Leaves would begin. But, something else would begin before that. School.
Princess Luna walked from the palace in the Everfree Forest with her young colt Nightsong behind her. Nightsong did his best to keep up with his mother despite his tiny legs. On his sides were his saddlebags, one of which had his teddy bear sticking out. Despite it being early in the morning Nightsong was a bundle of excitement. Today they were going to look at his future school. All the things he would learn there made the tiny colt move with more excitement than ever.
“Thou should calm down,” said his mother calmly with a trace of a smile on her lips. “Remember that thou are royalty and should behave accordingly.” This was just her way of teasing him. Personally, she was just as excited as he was. She had worked hard to see this academy built despite the many setbacks. It was also one of the first things she ever tried to do by herself without Celestia helping her.
Luna looked at her son and smiled. She could not have been a prouder mother. Nightsong was unusually smart for his young age. He had a love of books that some called an obsession. But there was something else about him that not even her sister could explain. For some reason, Nightsong had the power to see cutie marks before they appeared. No pony before him had ever had this odd power. Yet despite this, he still didn’t have his own cutie mark despite knowing what it looked like. Perhaps just knowing what they looked like wasn’t enough.
Soon the two came to a tower like building. It was made of white stone with a red pointed roof and four windows. Luna knew that there were a total of five levels to the academy. The first was the ground floor where students had a storage area for their boots, bags, and other stuff. The second level was the classroom. Above that was the library and readying area. The fourth floor was for supplies while the fifth floor contained a telescope. The roof had been designed to open up so that students could have special night class. In the back of the tower was a small building where the headmaster lived. Luna smiled and gave a nod of approval. It was just like her plans and everything seemed to be in order. But then her eyes narrowed a bit.
“Momma, what’s wrong?” asked Nightsong. He began to look in the direction she was looking and noticed that there was a sign above the door. It read: Princess Celestia’s Royal Academy. Nightsong quickly realized now what was making her mother so angry. Before he could say anything a unicorn exited the smaller building. She wore a long blue cloak that hid her cutie mark over her pink coat and green mane. She noticed the two of them and began to move quickly over to them. Once she was in front of them she bowed in respect and then rose.
“Welcome Princess,” she said. “I’m glad to see that you are here and I hope you will find everything in order.”
“Thy buildings name,” said Luna quietly, almost to herself. She then took a deep breath before she began to talk in the royal voice. “We are displeased by this insult. We could understand if thou had put both royal names on thy building but our name is missing! Explain!”
“Well,” began the headmaster nervously. “We had intended to include your name Princess Luna. And it should be there, seeing that you did the most work to see it completed. But…there was a slight problem. When we began to try enrolling students many of the parents thought it was going to be a night school. And some of the lords and ladies thought that your sister’s name would sound like a more caring name for the school. I was against it, of course, but they over ruled me. Perhaps we could change the name to The Royal Princess Academy, if you wish.”
Luna let out a sigh of annoyance. Things like this were happening more and more recently. Like that one painting that Celestia had commissioned of both royal sisters and the only thing a pony could see of Luna was her head. Celestia had kindly asked the painter to do it again and this time include more of Luna, but the damage to Luna had been done. So often her subjects seemed to ignore her and focus on Celestia. She didn’t blame her older sister, but sometimes she wished her sister didn’t shine as brightly.
“Yes, that will be fine,” said Luna. “But make sure it is changed before the students arrive. Now then, tell us about the class? Is it full?”
“Oh yes,” said the headmaster eagerly. “We are nearly full with only one empty seat. We have also collected all the tuitions. So far the majority of the class is unicorns with a couple earth ponies from the major farms.” As she continued, Nightsong noticed a small unicorn colt coming out of the school and an odd one at that. His coat was dark blue while his mane was more of a lighter, electric blue. He was also wearing a pointed hat that had stars and moons on it with bells tied into the rim. But that wasn’t what was weird about him. It was the fact that he had a long white beard. After he left the tower Nightsong watched as the unicorn began to skip backwards for some odd reason. This also caught the attention on Princess Luna.
“Pardon me,” she said as she interrupted the headmaster. “But does thou know that colt?” The headmaster turned around and let out a gasp.
“Star Swirl,” she cried out. “What in the name of Equestria are you doing? And how many times have I told you not to grow yourself a beard?” With that the headmaster’s horn began to glow and then caused the colts beard to vanish. With a sigh she turned around to look at the princess once again. “I am so sorry Princess. This is my nephew Star Swirl. He is rather talented with magic but he can be a little…odd at times.” She turned around to tell Star Swirl to introduce himself only to find that the colt had already re-grown his beard. Once again, she used her magic to make it disappear and then moved Star Swirl in front of the princess and the prince. There was an awkward silence for a while until Nightsong spoke up.
“Ah…I like your hat.” Star Swirls eyes seemed to brighten and began to bounce up and down.
“Really? You really like it?” he asked. “I knew this hat was amazing! It’s the bells, right? I’m sure one day every pony will be wearing bells on their hats.” Nightsong stared at Star Swirl for a moment in silence. Then he began to laugh and, a few seconds later, so did Star Swirl. “Hey, you want to play for a while?” Nightsong looked at his mother who nodded yes.
The two young colts ran from the adults and went into the school. Once inside they began to walk up the winding staircase until they reached the top floor. Inside the observation room was a chemistry set and a large one at that. The whole room seemed to be full of beakers full of chemicals. Star Swirl took off his hat and placed it on the ground near the door and Nightsong did the same with his saddlebag.
“What is all this?” asked Nightsong.
“My experimentation room,” said Star Swirl. “Right now I’m just mixing random stuff together to see what happens.”
“Is that…safe?” asked Nightsong. Star Swirl shrugged. Suddenly a beaker full of a green liquid on a Bunsen burner began to make a hissing sound. Both colts walked over to it and a moment later it exploded causing the room to be full of green smoke.
Meanwhile a red Pegasus with a white mane was sneaking into the school through the second story window. It was surprisingly easy seeing that the two adults outside were in deep conversation. Once he was inside he began to fill his saddlebags with paper, quills, ink, and a few textbooks. After that, he went up to the next floor and began to look at the books in the library. After searching them for a bit he picked out a couple of easy children’s books and added them to his bag. Once that was done he went up to the fourth floor but found nothing worth taking. With a sigh he decided to check the top floor before he left.
Back with Nightsong and Star Swirl, they were busy coughing due to the green smoke. Deciding that they needed some fresh air, Nightsong’s horn began to glow, which opened the slinging panel on the roof. The effect was almost immediate as the smoke began to leave the room.
“Well (cough) that didn’t make applesauce,” commented Star Swirl. His horn began to glow and a moment later his white beard came back. He then did a cartwheel over to a different beaker and began to examine it. “Maybe I should start heating this one up next and see what happens.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t,” said Nightsong as he turned back towards the door. “How about we HEY!” The last part was yelled as he saw the red Pegasus take not only Star Swirls hat but also his teddy bear! “Give that back!”
“Give what back?” asked Star Swirl as he now turned around and saw the thief. The unicorn blinked before he began to wave and said hello. The Pegasus didn’t seem eager to share the warm greeting as he took off into the air and flew out the only opening in the room. The two young colts went to the window and saw that the Pegasus had glided down to the ground and was now running into the forest.
Nightsong said nothing; he simply began to run out the door as fast as his hooves would let him. He ran down the stair, out the door of the tower, and into the woods in the same direction as the thief. Only one thing was on his mind and that was getting back his teddy bear no matter what the cost. Behind him was Star Swirl who had come along just to see what happened next. Yet as they ran, Star Swirl tripped on his beard, crashed into Nightsong, and the two began to roll like a ball until they hit a tree. They both slowly got up as they were both very dizzy. Once the world had stopped spinning, Nightsong looked at Star Swirl with a dead panned expression. Then, using his magic, he cut Star Swirls beard in half.
After that, it took them about an hour to find the little thief. They found him in an earth pony settlement surrounded by young fillies and colts as he gave away all the items he had stolen. Nightsong and Star Swirl watched as the children began to draw on the paper and attempt to read the very simple books. But Nightsong’s eagle eyes were focused on one thing at this moment: his teddy bear. It was currently being played with by two colts who were a little too rough with it for the prince’s tastes. Seeing his most prized possession in danger, Nightsong charged in head first with Star Swirl behind him.
“Stop right there thief,” demanded Nightsong as he used his magic to levitate the toy bear from the colts and bring it back to him.
“Hey, I stole that bear fair and square,” said the red Pegasus as he stepped forward.
“That doesn’t make it yours thief,” growled Nightsong.
“My name isn’t thief.”
“Then what is it?” asked Star Swirl. At that, the red Pegasus began to look a little embarrassed.
“It’s…ah…Little Gift,” he said slowly. Star Swirl let out a chuckle and Nightsong just shrugged.
“Ok then Little Gift,” said Nightsong as he put his teddy bear back in his saddlebag. “What you have done is wrong. You do realize that you stole from the royal family right?”
“Wow, look at these drawing,” exclaimed Star Swirl who had begun to look at the pictures drawn by young ones. He then looked at the books, which were about basic math and spelling. “You know it doesn’t look like he was doing it just for himself.”
“That’s right,” said Little Gift. “I did it for them. They wanted to go to school, but they can’t! And do you know why? It’s because the school charges a thousand bits a semester. Not every pony can afford it. Besides, it’s not like I hurt any pony. I just took a couple of things that could easily be replaced so they at least have a chance to be something other than farm labor!”
Nightsong was taken aback by this. He had no idea that the academy cost so much and that so many pony’s couldn’t attend. And as he looked at the younger ponies he felt his anger begin to melt like the snow during spring. And Little Gift was right; most of these things were minor and easily replaced. But that didn’t justify stealing them.
“Look, I see you had a good reason,” said Nightsong. “But you shouldn’t have stolen from us. When you take something from some pony else, you’re hurting them. I can understand the school supplies, but you had no right to steal my teddy bear and Star Swirls hat.”
“Well I didn’t mind,” said Star Swirl as several more of his hats appeared in mid air. “I have one for every day of the week. You just stole Tuesday’s hat.” Little Gift and Nightsong exchange a look before they both sighed.
“Star Swirl, today is Sunday,” said Nightsong.
Before Star Swirl could say anything dark clouds began to fill up the sky. An icy cold breeze blew strong across the fields as lightning flashed above them. Every pony in the area began to cover their heads with their front hooves as they pressed their bodies close to the ground. Well, every pony except Nightsong. He alone stood straight since he knew who was coming. Lightning hit the ground with a bright flash and there stood Princess Luna who looked very upset. Next to her was the headmaster who looked a little afraid of the ruler standing next to her.
“Thou hast made a most serious foul,” bellowed Luna in her royal voice. “Fools, did thou not think that we would place tracking spells upon our property to keep them safe from thieves?! Now who here is the culprit?” After a moment, Little Gift stood up and walked over to the princess.
“I-I am,” he stammered. Luna narrowed her eyes at him.
“Thou are brave to admit to this,” she said. “Thy crime is most grave for thou hast stolen royal property and…” Luna was interrupted by Nightsong tugging on her mane with his teeth. Looking down at him, she softened her voice. “Nightsong, could this wait a bit?”
“No mother,” said Nightsong in a serious tone. “This is important. Little Gift here was only trying to help these fillies who couldn’t afford the thousand bits to go to school.” At that Luna blinked. Back when she had been planning the school she had factored in the all the costs for things like supplies and staff payment. In the end it came to about one hundred and ninety bits per student. She had thought of leaving it at that but then she decided to add a little more in case of an emergency or to save up for the future. Confused she turned her attention to the headmaster.
“It was our understanding that we would only be charging two hundred and fifteen bits per semester,” said Luna with a frown. “What is this about a thousand bits?”
“My deepest apologies,” said the headmaster quickly as she bowed down low. “But lords and ladies of the court felt that you were being too kind by setting such a low price that would allow any pony to gain an education. In the end they decided to add some extra fee’s that ended up raising the price of the tuition. They told me that they would inform you as soon as the semester began.”
Luna seethed in anger. They would never even think of doing something like this if Celestia had been involved. It was bad enough that they had changed the name of the school, but the tuition was another matter completely. Well it was far past time that she put her hoof down and got it into their heads that she was not going to take it anymore. But right now she had other matters at hoof.
“From now on we demand to be informed if any more changes are to happen,” stated Luna to the headmaster who bowed. The princess then turned to her son and softened her voice. “Thank you for telling me this dear. I will be sure to lower the price of the tuition so that it is more affordable. But now I must deal with this young Pegasus.” At that, Little Gift gulped.
“But mother, can’t you just let it go this one time?” asked Nightsong. “I know he did something wrong, but it was to help others.”
Luna paused as she considered this. It was true that Little Gift had stolen royal property. The punishment for this was to be thrown in the dungeon for no less than one year. But she had to admit that Nightsong had a point. He didn’t steal for himself but for others. Also, it was partially her fault that he had to resort to this. Yet, if she let him go free then it might set a bad example to others. She began to think of ways she could give him an alternative punishment until one just clicked. She then gave her son a smile began she turned to Little Gift.
“We have come to a conclusion,” she said in her loud voice. “We cannot simply ignore thou crime and thou shall receive punishment. Yet we do not feel that imprisonment is necessary in this case. So, tomorrow thou shall report to the Royal Princess Academy for classes.” Both Little Gift and the headmaster felt their jaws hit the ground.
“P-Princess, I’m not sure I heard you right,” said the headmaster. “It sounded like you were telling him that his punishment was to go to school.”
“It is,” said Luna as she kept her eyes on Little Gift. “Since this young colt feels so strongly about giving these young ones an education then he shall be the one to give it. Each day after school he shall teach the other young ones what he has learned.” The headmaster was about to say something but Luna raised a hoof to silence her. “He shall also receive a month’s worth of detention for the theft. Since he will be teaching the young ones after school he will be reporting to you, headmaster, an hour early.” She then turned to face the headmaster. “He will be your student. If he decides not to take advantage of this opportunity then he will receive additional punishments. I will leave the rest in your hooves.”
The headmaster looked like she wanted to say something, but the look in Luna’s eyes said that the matter was closed. So, with a sigh of defeat, the headmaster bowed. As Luna let a smile escape her lips she felt something hugging her front leg. She looked down to find Little Gift on her leg.
“Thank you,” he cried. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”
“If thou wishes to thank any pony, it would be our son,” said Luna as she pointed at Nightsong. Little Gift looked over at the young alicorn who looked a little embarrassed. But that didn’t last long as Little Gift charged at him with full force, knocking him down.
“Thank you!” cried Little Gift once more.
“Its fine,” said Nightsong as he slowly got up. He then began to poke Little Gift in the chest with his hoof. “Just never steal my teddy bear again.”
-End Flashback-
“In the end, the three of us became good friends,” said the present Nightsong. “As soon as the school year began we decided to form our own little group much like you three did. Even the reason was the same. The only time we weren’t trying to figure out what our cutie marks were was when Star Swirl was trying out some new spell, potion, or invention.” Nightsong paused for a moment and then gave a light laugh. “I remember once he had thought up of a bouncing stick that a pony could ride on. Both me and Little Gift told him it would never catch on.” Just then, he saw Pinkie Pie coming down the road on a pogo stick. “But I’ve been wrong before.”
“Ah, I have a question,” said Apple Bloom. “If you could see cutie marks then why didn’t you have your own?” Nightsong gave her a kind smile.
“Because it’s not enough just to see them,” he said. “Sure I knew what mine looked like, but I had no idea what it meant. And until I did it would never appear. And believe me I really, really wanted it to.”
“Why’s that?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Well, it was because of a promise that I made with my mother,” explained Nightsong. “You see, my mother could raise the moon anywhere she wanted. But she always did it in a special place. She always said that it was the most beautiful place as the sun set and the moon began to rise. And seeing it at that time of day helped her when she was feeling down. I desperately wanted to go and watch her as she did what she did best. But my mother always told me that I was too young and that she would only let me go with her once I got my cutie mark.
“So, for what seemed like forever, me and my friends tried long and hard to figure out what our cutie marks were. All I had to go on was its shape. At first I thought it was sleeping or taking naps. I got a lot of rest, but no cutie mark. Then I thought it must have something to do with the night so I tried as many nighttime activities as I could think of. None of them seemed to work.
“In the end I gave up. I decided that if I couldn’t get my cutie mark then I would just secretly follow my mother to her secret spot. So one day, just before night began to fall, I waited for my mother to leave and then began to follow her from a distance. However, I wasn’t that fast of a flyer and had a hard time keeping up. Even as I lost sight of her I kept going as fast as my little wings would take me. Then, as the twilight began, I literally crashed into the dream realm. I was scared at first. I had never seen such a strange place. But then a different feeling began to overtake me. A feeling like I had come home. It felt like I belonged there, that it was a part of me. Eventually my mother and auntie managed to get me out of there and I brought along some of the dream sprites I had found. I then discovered that I could place them inside of sleeping ponies and thus giving them dreams. That was when my cutie mark appeared.
“As time went on I began to work on my powers as I delivered dreams. I slowly, but surely, began to discover the meaning of each ponies cutie mark. Once I mentioned this to my friends they began to beg me to tell them what theirs meant. And in the end I told them.” At this Nightsong looked away from the fillies.
“Well if you told them then why won’t you tell us?” demanded Scootaloo. “I mean aren’t we your friends as well.”
“You don’t know how many times I wished I never told them,” he said slowly.
-Flashback-
The forest was quit for the most part. The animals were collecting food and the birds were singing in the trees. Nothing was that much out of the ordinary. That was until two blurs began whizzing through the trees. One red and one grey. As the two winged ponies saw the edge of the forest they also saw a unicorn with an odd hat holding a flag. They both began to speed up until they burst right past their friend causing him to spin like a top.
“Looks like I win this round,” said Little Gift with a wide grin. “What’s wrong Nightsong? Usually I have to work twice as hard to leave you in the dust.”
It had been about two years since Nightsong had met and befriended both Little Gift and Star Swirl. They had both grown to full size and had gotten their cutie marks. Star Swirl’s cutie mark was twelve stars in a spiral pattern. Stars were usually associated with magic being a pony’s special gift. Little Gift’s had been a single blue present with a yellow ribbon, which meant that his special talent was the gift of giving.
“It’s nothing,” said Nightsong as he walked over to where they had left their saddlebags. When he reached his he began to pull out several of the books he had brought with him as well as his teddy bear until he found his canteen of water. Standing near the bags were two other ponies who had wanted to see them race. One was an earth pony name Hydee Treasure who had a coco colored coat and a black mane. On her head was a tanned explores hat and her cutie mark was a treasure map. She had first met the three a week after their first day of school. They had found her digging up rocks and asked her what she was doing. It turned out she was looking for fossils. She began to show them several of what she had found thus far: mostly imprints of small creatures and plants on the rocks. This interested the guys, epically Star Swirl who was the most curious of the group. Hydee, however, developed a crush on Nightsong. After their first meeting, the colts would help her out on her digs from time to time which were always fun.
Next to her was a white unicorn named Dazzling Dawn. Her main was red with a single orange stripe in it and she had it so that her left eye was always covered. Her cutie mark was a large black star. They had only known her for about six months. It turned out that she had been bullied since her first day at the academy, but due to her shy and timid nature she never told any pony. Then one day Nightsong happened to be flying by as she was being ganged upon by several of their classmates. The young colt flew down and defended her and informed the headmaster of what had happened resulting in those students being punished. He also later found out that she was being bully because of her special talent, which interested Princess Celestia who began to give the young filly some one on one lessons. While Nightsong saw her as a friend and the sister he never had, Dawn saw him as her possible special pony. But her timid nature kept her from making advances like Hydee did.
“Maybe you should have let him win,” whispered Star Swirl to Little Gift as Nightsong began to drink for a canteen of water he had brought.
“Why should I do that?” asked the red Pegasus as he looked at the nearby alicorn.
“Because of the problems he’s having at home,” said Star Swirl in a normal tone. Little Gift face hoofed himself at his friend’s loud voice.
“So you both know,” said Nightsong, not bothering to turn around.
“Yeah,” said Little Gift with a sigh. “I could hear your mom yelling all the way from my cloud.” And it hadn’t been the first time either. For the last several months there had been many heated discussions between the royal sisters. Well, Luna was the one doing all the yelling while Celestia tried to calm her down. And stuck in the middle of it all was Nightsong who just wanted it to stop. The whole point of this race was to help cheer up their friend. Little Gift had been going slower to let Nightsong win, but Nightsong’s heart wasn’t in the race and if Little Gift had gone any slower it would have been obvious.
“So, ah, what’s the problem this time,” asked Dawn in her quiet voice.
“It was with the resent visit from the zebra diplomats,” said Nightsong with a sigh. “Both mother and auntie went out to greet them when they arrived, but they walked past mother like she wasn’t even there. She was…upset.”
“Upset is an understatement,” said Little Gift. “She sounded like she was on the war path. I bet she was so upset that she was about to gobble up any pony that got in her way.”
“Oh Nightsong,” cooed Hydee as she moved next to Nightsong. “I wish there was something that I could do to help. Maybe we could spend some alone time together and figure out some plans for the future.”
“No need,” said Star Swirl as he magically appeared between the two. He then began to bounce up and down excitedly. “I know just what would make your mother feel better. How about we get as many ponies as we can to see next week’s star shower? We can make it like a little festival!”
“That’s a great idea,” exclaimed Nightsong as every pony began to nod. Well, every pony but Hydee who just wanted the alone time with the prince.
“It’s a stupid idea,” came another voice. Every pony turned around to see a group of five mares walking towards them. In the lead wad a yellow earth pony with a curly yellow mane. “What pony in their right mind would like to stay up at night?”
“What do you want Lemon Pie?” demanded Little Gift. “I don’t remember inviting you fillies to join us.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t be here for long,” said Lemon Pie. She then turned to look at Nightsong. “We just want him to tell us what our cutie marks are and then we’ll be off.”
“Well since you asked so nicely,” said Nightsong sarcastically. He then looked at her very seriously. “The answer is no.”
“Why not?” demanded one of the other fillies. “You told them!”
“That’s because we’re his friends,” said Little Gift.
“And it was a bit of a letdown,” said Star Swirl. “It took all of the excitement out of it. And I wanted to experiment a bit more with some other talents.”
“But we want to know what our cutie marks are,” said Lemon Pie. “And it’s not fair for you to tell some ponies and not any pony who asks.”
“Look,” said Nightsong with a sigh. “I understand what your saying. But I’ve made up my mind that I won’t just tell any pony who asks ever again. I’ve actually been working on a way to give ponies hints in their dreams.” He had hoped that what he had said would be enough. However, from the look in Lemon Pie’s eyes, it wasn’t.
“This means war then,” she said. She then gestured to one of the unicorns in her little group whose horn began to glow until a bright flash filled the area. For several seconds no pony could see a thing. When they finally could they began to make sure that every pony was ok. As far as they could tell they were fine. However, it looked like Lemon Pie and her friends had quickly gone through their saddlebags. And only one thing had been taken: Nightsong’s teddy bear.