//------------------------------// // An Assessment of Joviality // Story: A Royal History Lesson // by crazyjw18 //------------------------------// "Here we are!" Truly announced. Luna blinked. "Where are we?" "This is where you'll be taking your test." Luna looked around, but she was unable to see anything with the small amount of light emitting from her horn. "I don't understand," she said. "What am I supposed to do?" "Hold on just a minute," Truly replied, sounding like she was busy with something. "There we go!" Bright light filled the vast hall they were in, blinding Luna for a moment or two. She rubbed furiously at her eyes as she waited for them to adjust. "I just knew I could do it!" Truly crowed. "Now, honey, look way over there. Do you see that cute little baby pony? Luna squinted as peered across the long chamber. Sure enough there was a small white unicorn resting at the far end. "Yes, I do!" she replied, excited that she could finally see someone. "Who is she?" "That's Baby Moondancer," Truly answered. "Now do you see that little old locket around her neck? That there's the Rainbow of Light." "Really?" Luna couldn't believe it. "Will she give it to me?" "Only if you can catch her," Truly explained. "This is a test, after all." "I can do that," Luna stated confidently. "She can't fly like I can." "You had best not be underestimating her," Truly advised. "That little gal's pretty tricky." "Just watch!" Luna said as she took off. "Make sure you aren't too rough," Truly yelled after her. "This old castle's really not in the best shape!" Luna barely heard Truly's warning as she homed in on the baby unicorn. "Hi," she said in greeting as she drew near. "I'm Luna. Truly said I'm supposed to catch you." "Good luck catching me!" Baby Moondancer replied as she got to her feet. "I'm a real good runner." She quickly stretched her legs. "You ready?" "I sure am." "Let's go!" Baby Moondancer shouted as she set off running. "You're not that fast," Luna laughed as she closed in from above. "Watch out, here I come!" At the last moment Baby Moondancer swerved out of the way, letting Luna crash into the floor behind her. "Owwie," Luna complained as she stood up. "You are fast." "I told you," Baby Moondancer taunted from a safe distance away. "None of the baby ponies can catch me." "Well, I'm not a baby," Luna retorted as she swooped towards the unicorn. "I'm a filly." "You talk funny!" Baby Moondancer giggled as she one again evaded her winged foe. "I do not." Luna landed, her chest heaving as she rested for a moment. Despite her attempts to predict the unicorn's next move, she was still not having any luck. "You giving up?" "Hardly," Luna replied as she flexed her wings and made a flying leap. "Missed me again!" Baby Moondancer laughed. "Ugh," Celestia griped as she stalked down yet another dark hallway. "I'm starting to really hate this castle." It had been almost twenty minutes since she had given up on that irritating door and had resumed her search for her little sister. Twenty minutes of stumbling through dark passages and calling out for her sister with absolutely nothing to show for it. She still hadn't even found her way back to the hole they had entered through. She took yet another turn into yet another hallway. "Luna," she shouted once more, her throat starting to feel sore. "Where in the blazes are you?" "Don't worry, she's safe," a voice said from right behind her. Celestia nearly jumped out of her skin. "Who's there?" she demanded as she whirled around with her horn lowered. "My but you're jumpy," the voice laughed. "My name is Buttons. I was just with your sister a little bit ago." "What did you do with her?" Celestia asked in a low voice. "Oh, she's just fine," Buttons hastily assured her. "I just guided her towards one of the tests." "A test? What is with this place? Why all the tests?" "Well, we can't give up the Rainbow of Light to just anybody," Buttons retorted. "We have to make sure it's in good hands." "What does making someone laugh have to do with that?" Celestia shook her head. "This place is too weird." "Please bear with it," Buttons pleaded. "In any case, you're not going to find Luna by running around at random." Celestia sighed. "Then how do I find her?" "Well, the quickest way would be to pass some of the tests yourself. Otherwise that poor little baby pony is going to have to try to do them all by lonesome." "Why can't you just tell me where she is?" "Because that's not how it works," Buttons retorted. "She's busy trying to find the Rainbow. Shouldn't you do the same?" "Ok, fine, if that's the only way," Celestia surrendered. "I don't even remember how I got to that stupid door though." "Oh, that's no problem. Just follow me and I'll show you the way." "So are you another so called guardian?" Celestia asked as she followed the sound of Button's voice. "A guardian?" Buttons mused. "Well, I guess you could call us that. Though it's not by choice. We're all pretty well prisoners of this place." "Prisoners?" Celestia scoffed. "You make it sound like you aren't just old spells." "We most certainly aren't," Buttons replied in an offended tone. "We're all ponies, just like you. Well, at least we used to be. Until the Smooze came." "Huh?" "Listen," Buttons said. "A long time ago we were all normal ponies who lived in Dream Valley. But that all ended when those awful witches attacked us with the Smooze. I think a few ponies might have escaped, but most of us were trapped here inside the castle." "But that all happened many centuries ago," Celestia pointed out. "Are you all spirits or something?" "Something like that," Buttons agreed. "We already knew that the Rainbow of Light wouldn't be able to stand up against the Smooze. So instead the Moochick and Twilight used its power to strengthen the castle... and to turn us into whatever we are now." Celestia bowed her head. "I see. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I had no idea." "That's ok," Buttons replied. "I'm just glad to have someone to talk to. I do believe you two are the first ponies to ever visit us. "So what will happen when the Rainbow is removed?" "I don't know," Buttons admitted. "We might just stop existing." "That would be terrible!" Celestia gasped. "Please don't worry about that. I think the spell is fading anyways. We can't move very far anymore. It's been ages since I've even been able to talk to any of my friends." Celestia hung her head. "I really think it would help my mother," she explained. "She has to fight this terrible monster, and he already defeated her once." "Then by all means you should do your best to pass the tests," Buttons replied. "In the proper hands the Rainbow is quite powerful." "I just hope it'll be enough," Celestia murmured. "It looks like this is as far as I can go," Buttons announced as they rounded a corner. "If you take the third hallway on your left, you'll be back at the door in no time." "Thank you, Buttons," Celestia said as she continued on by herself. "If you see Luna again, please keep her safe." "I will," Buttons promised. "Good luck," she whispered with a smile on her face. No matter what might happen to the castle, she truly hoped that these children would succeed. Dream Valley's days were long over, after all. "Oh, I see that you have returned," the voice coming from the carving on the door observed as Celestia approached. "Yes..." Celestia murmured. "First off, I'd like to say I'm sorry about before. I didn't realize that you were a real pony once." "Ah, so the adolescent has learned something," the voice replied. "Did you encounter someone else in the castle?" "Yes, I did," Celestia replied. "Her name was Buttons." "Buttons?" the voice replied. "It's been a long time since we last conversed. Far too long." "What's your name?" "I am Wind Whistler," the voice answered, her tone suddenly more friendly. "Nice to meet you. I'm Celestia." Celestia gave the carving a smile. "Is Buttons your friend?" "Yes, I'd like to think so," Wind Whistler replied. "We certainly got swept up in enough calamities and adventures together back in the day." "Really?" Celestia asked, a vague idea starting to form in her mind. "Like what?" "Well, there was the time this utterly repugnant octopus monster tried to inundate the valley," Wind Whistler reminisced. "And the time that strange ensemble of storybook legends came to life.... Oh, there were all sorts of occasions where we got into some scrape or another." "Where there any fun adventures?" "I suppose a few of them were, in hindsight. Most of the time it was pretty scary though." "After going through so much, you must have been very good friends," Celestia gently prodded. "Did you two ever argue?" "Well, no, not very often. Though I do remember one particular occasion where she did hurt my feelings just a bit." "Oh?" "Well, she and a couple of other ponies were joking that I didn't have any feelings." Wind Whistler explained. "To tell the truth, I was quite miffed at the time." "I can imagine. How ever did you two make up?" "Well, I used our little disagreement to trick one of our enemies into thinking that I really didn't care about the other ponies. It was a blatant lie of course, but everyone bought it. And after my trick ended up saving all our tails, Buttons was quick to apologize for her teasing." Wind Whistler let slip a quiet chuckle. "I sure did pull the proverbial wool over her eyes that time." "That's a great story," Celestia replied. "Now will you let me through this door?" "What?" Wind Whistler sounded confused. "You haven't passed the test yet. I already told you that you have to make me laugh first." "Oh? But didn't you laugh just a moment ago?" Celestia countered. "Well, I suppose I did but..." Wind Whistler trailed off as she realized what Celestia had done. "You were inquiring about our adventures in hopes that I would remember something funny. That's quite intuitive of you." "Papa always says the quickest way to keep a pony entertained is to get them to talk about them self." "Your father is quite astute," Wind Whistler replied. "Very well, I'll let you through." "Thank you!" Celestia called out as she happily bounded through the now open doorway. "I wish I could stick around to hear more of your stories, but we're in a bit of a hurry." "I understand completely. Oh, and if you do happen to run into Buttons again, please tell her I said hello." "Will do," Celestia promised as she looked around the small chamber on the other side of the door. There were two hallways leading away from the room, and neither of them seemed more promising than the other. "Hey, which way do I go now?" "Which path you choose will determine your next test," Wind Whistler explained. "So just pick one and make sure that you see it through to the very end." "Oh. Well then, I'll just take the right one then. Thanks again!" "Don't mention it!" "You never ever gonna catch me!" Baby Moondancer taunted as she evaded another one of Luna's desperate lunges. "You should just give up." "I'm not giving up!" Luna shouted back. "I have to get that Rainbow!" She pawed angrily at the ground, not noticing the network of fine cracks starting to spread across the floor. "That never gonna happen. You not good enough flier!" "Well, at least I can fly!" Luna yelled as she took to the air again. She streaked down towards the swerving unicorn and this time she managed to predict which way Baby Moondancer would go. She landed right in front of the stunned unicorn with her front legs outstretched. Just as Baby Moondancer skidded into Luna's grasp, the fractured old floor beneath them suddenly gave way, spilling both little ponies into the darkness below.