//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Bearers of the Elements 
// by fluttershywriter 
//------------------------------//

	I felt my horn grow warm as I lowered the sun. The castle looked like a gold medallion when the sun hit it. I felt a strange sense of homesickness hit me as I glanced back at the castle, but I steeled myself and marched on towards the forest where several mares and stallions were leading me. My saddlebags, though they barely held anything, felt uncommonly heavy.

Luna must have sense my loneliness and fear, because she had stopped drinking chocolate milk several minutes ago and was staring at me, flying a few feet above the ground so that she could examine my face properly. "Tia?" she asked nervously. "Are you okay?"

I glanced at her. She had lost some of her carefree attitude in the last few minutes and now looked more serious. I almost laughed at her seriousness, but resisted the urge to. "Yes, Luna, I'm going to be okay," I said to her soothingly, rumpling her dark blue mane. She yelped and flew out my reach, giggling. "We're both going to be okay as long as we have each other. We're going to find the Elements and save Equestria, and then we're going to play together for as long as you want, all right?"

"Okay," she said happily, flying towards me again and giving my cheek a happy nuzzle. 

A lump constricted my throat, and for several moments, I found it impossible to speak or swallow. Fortunately, the mare leading the way turned around at us and spoke so I didn't have to.

"We're here," she said simply, pointing a yellow hoof at the mouth of a craggy forest. I gulped. Unkempt trees, with moss and other who-knows-what hanging off the edges, almost blocked the entrance to the forest, but there was enough empty space so that you could see the inside. Cautiously, I peered inside. Roots and boulders covered the path, making it look almost impossible to take a step without tripping. It looked like we were going to have to fly most of the time. Inwardly, I groaned. I'd never taken flying lessons as a filly, and as a result, I was a fairly weak flyer. Fortunately, Luna excelled at flying, so I wouldn't have to hear her griping for the entire trip.

"All right," I said simply, coughing the lump out of my throat and taking a step towards the mouth of the forest. I plastered a smile on at Luna and gave a thankful nod to the mares and stallions who had led us, who slowly backed away from the forest. "Come on, Luna. It's not scary in here."

My sister looked unenthusiastic at the prospect of entering the forest, but she was less enthusiastic about staying with a group of strangers, so she took a few uneasy steps towards me. "That's right," I coaxed her, holding out a hoof. "It's not bad in here. It's like . . . like a fun hiking trip." I lit up my horn so that I could see more and discovered that I was the biggest liar in the world. It was, in fact, extremely bad in the forest, and it was nothing like a fun hike. I sighed and hoped that Luna wouldn't panic. It was hard enough getting myself not to panic.

Luna entered uncertainly, snuggling up next to me when she finally got close enough. "Tia?" she said in a small voice. "I'm scared."

I glanced back at the adults, who were staring at us curiously. I tried to give them a you-can-leave-now head jerk, but they continued standing there, meaning that I had to be the good sister and not tell Luna to shut up because I was scared too. "There's no reason to be scared," I said brightly, nuzzling her cheerfully. "Nothing can hurt you in here. Besides, we're doing good things for other ponies. There's no reason to be scared if we're going to help."

Luna sniffled. " 'Kay." She stuck her hoof into her mouth and proceeded to suck on it to soothe herself. Once again, I turned towards the adults, who were examining us as though we were new scientific discoveries.

"Well . . . thank you," I said uncomfortably, rubbing the back of my neck with my right hoof. 

One by one, they sank into stiff bows, then turned away and walked towards Canterlot again, their heads bowed. The sight of seeing ponies so upset was almost comical when combined with the polka-dotted purple grass and the chocolate rain. Only one mare turned around and gave us a second glance. I matched her stare evenly, expecting some sort of lecture, but she surprised me. "Princesses?" she said simply. "Be careful."

I was too taken aback to make a sarcastic comment. "We will," I said, startled. She nodded and turned away, breaking into a run after the first few steps. A pink cloud trailed after her.

I turned to Luna, who looked very small in her place on the ground. I rekindled my horn, which had fizzled out during my exchange with the mare. "Should we start?" I asked her, not realizing how strange it was for an older sister to ask her younger sister for instructions. I suddenly felt very uncertain.

"Yeah," said Luna in a small voice, taking her hoof out of her mouth and starting to walk deeper into the forest. She lit her horn, too, after nearly tripping on a root. I lingered back only for a moment, but when I realized that Luna was going into a forest alone, I exhaled and jogged after her.

We walked in silence for the first few minutes, flinching at every snap of a twig and rustle in the trees. Luna walked for the first few moments, but chose to fly after several near-injuries by tripping on a log or boulder. She was the first to speak.

"Can't you raise the sun, Tia?" she said nervously. Her voice sounded out of place among the dark, silent trees. I smiled at her and gave her a little nudge.

"I can't do that, silly. Everypony'd get all confused. I mean . . ." I hesitated, not wanting to make Luna feel more scared than she already did. "I mean, Equestria's got enough confusion to deal with at the moment anyway."

"There's no weird stuff here, though," noted Luna. I glanced around and noticed, with surprise, that there wasn't any strange chocolate rain or tilted, bright yellow ground.

"Huh," I said, experimentally prodding at the earth with my hoof. "Weird. Maybe this forest has a magic of its own that prevents the magic back in Canterlot from working." That idea sent a shiver down my spine, but I rolled my eyes and tried not to think about it. Only stupid little fillies thought that a forest could have its own magic. Even if the trees were going everywhere and the few animals that I had seen looked wild and independent, it was dumb to think that a forest had evil magic.

"Where are we going?" asked Luna, tugging at my mane to get my attention. I shoved her away playfully and glanced around, hoping that ancient ruins would appear out of nowhere.

"Some sort of ancient place," I said, now wishing that I'd asked more questions and paid more attention when our leaders were rambling on. "The ruins haven't been touched in years, supposedly. Last night, when you were asleep, I read this story about this stallion—well, he was really more of an older colt—who was alive a long time ago. He was alive before we were born, around the time that all the ponies were divided into different empires. There was lots of chaos going on in the different kingdoms—you know all about all those wars that were going on right before the creation of Equestria? So anyway, he decided to go out and see if these Elements really existed. Legend has it that he went into a forest just like this. But sources are hazy, and historians aren't sure if it really happened or if it's just some sort of old mare's tale."

Luna, who was paying more attention than she ever did during my other history lessons, fluttered her wings in excitement and zigzagged in the air. "But you told me that the magic of friendship saved Equestria, right? So what happened to the stallion who went searching for the Elements?"

I cleared my throat, feeling a blush creep over my cheeks. I'd forgotten that I'd have to tell the ending to this tale. "Oh, he heard that all the problems going on in the empires were being solved, so he gave up his quest. You know, since there was no need for the Elements of Harmony anymore. Everything ended up okay, it was just that there was no need for the Elements any longer."

Luna nodded, seeming satisfied with this answer. I let out a quiet, relieved sigh. I hadn't wanted to tell Luna what had really happened. How he'd gone on the quest and never returned. How nopony bothered to search for him, because they were all far too terrified of the forest. How nopony knew if he had lived or not, but they were all so certain of his death that they held his funeral without even searching.

I shivered to myself and let my mane fall over my face. I peered out nervously. The yellowish glow of my horn was casting shadows over the trees, making everything seem far more dangerous. I reached out a wing and pulled Luna closer to me. Her wing stretched out to mine, and for several minutes, we touched wings like that, warmth spreading between us. It seemed like a long time before she spoke again.

"Are we gonna get there soon?" asked Luna. I glanced over at her and saw that her wings were sagging, a sure sign of exhaustion. I mentally smacked myself in the forehead. Why, oh why had Luna come with me on this stupid trip? How many times were we going to have to stop just so that a tired filly could catch her breath? Not to mention all the dangers that could be out there . . .

"It's probably a good idea to stop right about now," I said grudgingly, sighing and stopping in a small clearing. She gratefully dropped onto the ground and rolled around, as if the sticks and pine needles were as comfortable as her own canopy bed. That filly could fall asleep anywhere.

"I have to raise the moon, anyway," I went on. Luna's ears perked up. Fluttering her wings, she buzzed around me like a hummingbird. It looked as though she had gained all of her energy back—not that it was going to do us any good, now that we had found a clearing and were planning to stay the night.

"Really? Tia, can I watch you? Is it okay if I see you do it? Are you gonna make all of the stars appear, too? Can you make a shooting star? Oh, and then can you sing that pretty song that you always sing about the sky? Pleasepleaseplease?" Her voice grew happier and louder with every word, developing a sing-song tone. I ground my teeth together and stretched out a wing to pull her onto my back. She squealed excitedly, rolling around.

"Luna, I'm going to have to ask you to be quiet while I raise the moon," I said simply, taking a deep breath to calm myself. "Remember? We're supposed to always stay calm while we raise the moon. It's a special ceremony."

Luna grumbled and flopped onto my back. " 'Kay."

I glanced backwards at her and allowed myself a small, grudging smile. "Remember to watch carefully. It's going to be your job one of these days, anyway." I looked away from her now, facing the dark night sky. I took another deep breath, steadied my hooves, and—

"Tia?" Luna piped up again. My horn lost its glow, and I stumbled, the weight of the moon on my horn pulling me down. I looked back at her again, biting my tongue.

"You can't do that, Luna," I said irritably. "What if the moon had been halfway up in the sky by the time you did that? I could have dropped the moon and messed up everything—the tides, the night sky, maybe even the moon itself." Truthfully, I knew that nothing like that could truly happen, but I was just hoping for some lie that would convince Luna not to startle me like that anymore.

"Sorry," she said, not sounding apologetic at all. "I was just wondering. Can whatever's going on back in Canterlot hurt the sun or the moon?"

I paused. "I don't know, Luna. Could I please just raise the moon now?"

" 'Kay." She snuggled into my mane, letting out a sigh of contentment. I smiled and stared back up at the night sky, breathing in the crisp night air. For a moment, I didn't feel endangered or angry—I just felt powerful and safe. I lifted my chin up, took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and—

"Tia?"

My eyes snapped open and my head jerked backwards. "WHAT?"

She regarded me as if I was a lunatic. Her lower lip jutted out. "I'm hungry."








" . . . And that's the story of how the brave young filly managed to escape the dangerous forest." I kissed Luna on the forehead and pulled a blanket out of my saddlebags. "The end," I finished, tucking the blanket around her. I felt bad that she had to sleep on the rocky forest floor, but she didn't seem to mind, and besides, where else was she supposed to sleep? I doubted that even Luna could fall asleep while flying.

"Can you tell another story?" she asked, her eyes already closed. I tried to smile, but my face felt limp.

"Sorry, Luna," I said, ruffling her tangled blue mane. Truthfully, I wouldn't have minded another story—it would have distracted me from the fact that we were falling asleep in a quite possibly dangerous forest—but I knew that there was no use in delaying our sleep any longer. We'd have to get up early the next day if we wanted to have any chance of finding the Elements.

I curled up next to her on the ground, sticks poking into my stomach. I winced as my head hit a rock and I realized just how cold it was in the forest. I considered starting a fire, but remembered my tutor's warnings about falling asleep when there was a fire started. I grunted and tried to take a corner of the blanket, but Luna was wrapped in it like a butterfly in a cocoon. Sighing, I wrapped my forehooves around myself and pouted, feeling much like Luna whenever she threw a tantrum.

Staring at the sky, with the moon and stars glimmering down at me, I felt ridiculously small. I might have been a princess, but I was just one pony among billions. I might be able to raise the sun and moon, but I still wasn't sure if I was going to survive this pointless trek into an unnamed forest.

Stop. Don't think about surviving. I rolled over, wondering how Luna could fall asleep so easily when she was lying on the forest floor with the weight of knowing that she had to save Equestria.

Well, she didn't have to save Equestria, exactly. Yes, she was coming on this trek with me, but she was just a little filly who didn't even have her cutie mark. I was the one who was leading the journey, the responsible one. I was the one who would be blamed when we came back empty-hooved, with all of Equestria left in chaos.

I groaned silently and tried to sleep.

I wasn't sure when I fell asleep and when I woke up, but the next thing I knew, I was staring at a dead bush, frozen with fear.

Two yellowish eyes were peering out of it, squinting menacingly.