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// Chapter 4 The Capital City 
// Story: Light and Shadow 
// by oop 
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	“You’re sure about this?” Shadow asked “this is kind of your last chance to back out.”
The two of them were standing in trees that overhung the railroad track. It was technically still the Everfree, but it was way on the outlying portion, Ponyville station was visible on the edge of vision. The tracks led north in the other direction en route to Trottingham, the Crystal Empire, and just a bit more locally, the kingdom of Canterlot.
“Of course I’m sure!” Lightning shouted back, bouncing a little on her branch “I wouldn’t have followed you all the way out here unless I was prepared to do something incredibly stupid.”
There was the distant sound of a steam whistle, the morning train was leaving the station “Get ready then Light!” Shadow shouted with a smile “here she comes!”
The train rolled slowly toward them, puffing along the track, building speed second by second. Lightning and Shadow were poised to leap. If anything about this situation held true, it was Lightning’s intrepid description. This was an incredibly stupid idea.
By the time the train passed into the trees it had picked up to at least thirty miles per hour, the pink and yellow engine car rolling ahead of the rest of the blue carrier cars. The whistle blew painfully loudly and the steam blew up into the faces of the two foals.
“Now!” Shadow shouted, diving toward the train. Smoke filled his eyes and nose over the longest three seconds he had ever lived through and persisted through the terrible recoil when his hooves hit the roof of the train. He slid backward fast, careening toward the back of the car.
And abruptly slammed into Lightning. She looked down at him curiously, her stance far more solid. It was obvious that as an Earth pony she wasn’t sent flying nearly as bad as Shadow.
“What are you doing?” Lightning shouted over the rushing wind.
“Hopefully not falling!” Shadow yelled back, standing more steadily now “Wow! We did it! That actually worked!”
“I wish you wouldn’t sound so surprised,” Lightning shouted, squinting into the headwind “it makes me think this was a bad idea!”
“Of course this was a bad idea!” Shadow shouted, smiling now “So was going into the forest, and so was kicking the princess of Equestria in the face!”
“Shut up!” Lightning growled “I’m making up for that, that’s why I’m here!”
“The one crazy idea that I came up with!”
“Shadow, shut up or I’ll throw you off this train!”
“Duck!” Shadow yelled, yanking Lightning to her belly as the train passed through a tunnel, the loud echoing of the engine noise roaring through the darkness.
“What happened?” Lightning squeaked, hardly audible anymore “I can’t see anything, what’s going on?”
“We’re in a tunnel!” Shadow shouted back “I can’t see you either, don’t worry!” he hesitated on this last sentence as he noticed something strange. There were two small pinpricks of blue light off to his side, glowing ghostly in the blackness. He kept his gaze on them, not knowing what they were or why they were keeping pace with the train.
As the tunnel ended and light shone once again onto the pinkish metal Shadow realized he had been staring into Lightning’s eyes. They still burned blue, but now it was natural. Perhaps they had caught the light on the way out?
“We should try to get into the train!” Lightning shouted, breaking Shadow’s train of thought “I’m tired of all this wind!”
“I agree!” shouted Shadow “did you see a hatch anywhere?”
“I was about to point out that one!” Lightning yelled, motioning to the front of the train car, where indeed there was a cream colored hatch in the roof “but then the tunnel came up!”
Shadow quickly moved forward, twisting the hatch and finding it easy to move, when he tried to push it open however, it stuck fast. Lightning might’ve shouted at him, but Shadow didn’t hear. What he did notice was the entire weight of a fairly strong earth pony hitting him from the side. The hatch burst open and they tumbled through it, a jumbled mess of legs and tails.
“My goodness!” came a voice from somewhere above “where did you two come from?”
Shadow pushed Lightning’s tail away and found that he was looking up at a cream colored earth pony with a blue and pink mane. She laughed slightly as they rolled off each other.
“We’re um… along for the ride!” said Lightning, obviously at a loss for a better excuse, “this is the train to Canterlot right?”
“Well we’re actually going to the crystal empire,” said the crème colored pony “Lyra does this train make a stop in Canterlot?”
A green unicorn, sitting very strangely Shadow thought, looked up from her magazine “I think so,” she said “it’s the full northern transit.”
“Well anyway… I’m Bonbon, and that’s Lyra,” said the crème colored pony pleasantly enough “who did you say you were?”
“I’m Shadow Chaser!” said Shadow, giving the bow customary when introducing oneself.
Lightning rolled her eyes “Lightning Strike,” she said “and yes, I’m with stupid.”
Bonbon giggled “Couldn’t get train tickets I suppose? Don’t worry I won’t tell. But goodness you two must be very brave to have stood on the roof of the train this far.”
“More like crazy…” said Lyra, not looking up from her magazine.
“Lyra, please,” said Bonbon “why don’t you two sit down? We have a long way left to go even just to Canterlot. Maybe Lyra will even tell you one of her human stories…”
Shadow took this chance to get a better look around the car. It was empty save for the four of them. That made sense he supposed, the big cities were all further north. The cabin obviously wasn’t first class, but it was well furnished and the seats were made of what he thought was probably sheep’s wool.
“So why are you going to the Crystal Empire?” Lightning asked, sitting next to Lyra.
“Family,” said Bonbon with a smile “I discovered recently that one of my ancestors was one of the crystal ponies that was locked away. So naturally, I’m going to go visit her.”
“It’s pretty much the weirdest family reunion ever,” said Lyra, setting down her magazine at last “for all I know I could have an ancestor there too you know.”
“Well I actually know for sure,” said Bonbon “her name is Sweetmane, she’s a stylist now or so I hear.”
“Wow…” said Lightning “it must be so cool to have relatives that are more than a thousand years old!” Shadow smiled wryly at this, but he himself wasn’t sure why he did.
“That’s why I insisted on this trip!” said Bonbon proudly “I worked double time at the candy shop for months so I could afford it.”
“You know…” said Lyra “I’ve been thinking, if the crystal ponies have really been around that long, they could know about humans!”
“Humans?” Lightning asked curiously “what are humans?”
“Oh no…” said Bonbon “don’t even get her started….”
“Oh humans!” Lyra said dreamily “wonderful creatures, bipedals! Without any wings or magic! And that didn’t stop them; they built wonderful things, castles and palaces just as great as the crystal empire, all with these wonderful contraptions on the ends of their front hooves, called hands!”
This was, as may be predicted, only the beginning of a very long and tiring speech about humans. White humans, black humans, orange humans, red humans, yellow humans, Lyra knew about them all and their individual cultures. Lightning was profoundly interested, asking questions whenever they were begged and commenting on everything. Lyra was very pleased with herself, thinking perhaps that she had found herself an absolutely wonderful apprentice.
Shadow mostly ignored this, and talked with Bonbon instead about Canterlot. She and Lyra had been there for the princess coronation awhile back and knew a lot about the layout. Shadow was making a very honest attempt to memorize every word. From the sound of it Canterlot was a massive city compared to Ponyville and he wasn’t good with directions even back home.
The friendly conversation ended about an hour later when the train began to slow, and finally stop. The voice of the conductor came over the intercom “Now arriving at Canterlot station! Passengers stopping at this station should begin unloading their things!” This message was repeated three times as the whistle blew. Shadow found himself shaking with excitement, they were finally here.
“You should make a stop at Doughnut Joe’s,” said Bonbon, pulling the door open for them “he’s my cousin, if you mention me he’ll probably give you some sort of discount.”
“We will!” Lightning confirmed enthusiastically “thank you so much! And tell Lyra I’ll try to be at the next human con!”
“Alright,” said Bonbon with a laugh “just when you do, don’t take the train.” Lightning fell into a fit of giggles.
Shadow missed this entire exchange, to his credit though he had just glanced upward at the towering city. He knew it was built into the mountainside, but the meaning of that was lost to him until he saw it up close.
The castle, it seemed, was less the centerpiece than it was the top of a single colossal structure that flowed down from the spire like a cascade. Every street was built into a different layer, seeming to only grow more fantastic as they rose. The predominant colors of white, purple, and gold struck such a contrast from the rest of the ebony mountainside it seemed like magic, and, Shadow reminded himself, it probably was.
Lightning waved to Lyra, who was leaning out the window as the train pulled away from the station, then turned to Shadow “what’s the matter?” she said “cat got your tongue?”
Shadow managed to come out of his reverie, but it wasn’t so easy this time. Something about this place seemed to resonate with him on a whole new level. The bustle of the city and the magnificence of the view made his wings stand on end.
“Sorry,” he said, rubbing the back of his head “I just got caught up in the scenery I suppose…”
“Well I guess you have to fill that empty head of yours with something,” said Lightning, gazing upwards herself “I guess you’re right though, it’s quite an eyeful.”
She turned now to where a stand for maps had been set up and pulled one down, unfolding it onto the concrete. At its full scale they could both stand on it and examine it. They took their time obsessing over many of the small details before finally getting down to some form of business.
“Okay…” said Lightning “we’re here at the train station, where should we go first?”
“I kind of thought this was a one purpose mission…” said Shadow “the castle’s easy enough to find, what’s the fastest way to get there?”
“Luna won’t even be awake yet,” said Lightning, rolling her eyes “and I’m starving, where is this doughnut Joe’s?”
“I think it must be Canterlot pastry shop, here,” said Shadow, pointing it out “it’s not far from here, but it’s in the opposite direction we would take to get to the castle.” His stomach growled as he said this “but I suppose it can’t hurt…”
“Exactly,” said Lightning, beginning the tedious task of folding up the map again “and since we only have…twenty bits between us? We need the best deal we can get.”
“Leave it to a filly to follow the sale,” said Shadow with a smirk.
“And to the colt to be as clueless as ever,” Lightning retorted, placing the map in her saddlebag and slapping Shadow with her tail.
They started walking along the bustling city street, keeping off to the side mostly to avoid the risk of losing one another in the crowd. It turned out after awhile that while the pastry shop had appeared close on the map they actually had a very long walk ahead of them. About halfway there they stopped on a vacant bench to rest their tired hooves.
“I don’t like this place as much as I thought I would…” said Lightning “Ponyville doesn’t have nearly this many people, and all these unicorns are so snooty.”
“It’s nice in its own way,” said Shadow, eyes resting on the distant castle “the scenery is fantastic…”
“I guess so…” said Lightning, taking her guitar out of her saddlebag and starting to strum.
“You brought that with you?” Shadow asked “Isn’t that a bit excessive?”
“Well I wasn’t going to leave it at your house,” said Lightning “besides, I came up with a great song about Canterlot!”
“Is it blues?” asked Shadow.
“Well no, but I know I’ll have some of that soon,” Lightning said “I love the blues; I think it’s the most beautiful music that any pony ever played.”
“Whatever,” said Shadow “are you going to play it or are you just going to leave me at that?”
Lightning didn’t respond, rather, she started to strum an upbeat tune. Perhaps it didn’t hold the same enchanting quality as the melody from the night before, but it was faster paced, and still turned a few heads. It was city music, the kind played by ponies that made their living with a guitar and an empty cap. In just the chords Lightning seemed to capture the very essence of the city of Canterlot and let it free to fly across the strings in an excited flurry of rhythm. That wasn’t the end of it either, because as ponies started to congregate to the sound of her music, she started to sing to it.
Canterlot city isn’t it pretty?
Coated with the snow of December
Castles and spires, and unicorn powers
Would anyone dare not remember?
Whether by train or bus or plane
However you come to Canterlot
Why don’t you stop and stay for awhile
Though maybe the folks don’t smile
We’ve got all sorts of ponies in Canterlot
The rich the poor, the smart and the brave
The only real problem I see here
Is the get them all to behave
Life may be grand in Canterlot
But as a traveler you’ll have to see
Manehatten, Las Pegasus, Ponyville, Trottingham
To know both Equestria’s seas
Canterlot City, isn’t it pretty?
Painted up white for the snow
The cold and the fun will only be done
When hearts are warmed by the friends you know!
Lightning played out a few finishing chords and let the rhythm sail off into the air. By the time she stopped a small crowd had gathered around to listen, and they stomped their hooves appreciatively as the song drew to a close. Shadow, to his credit, was smart enough to lay out the map again as a place for the ponies to throw change, which a great many of them did. Canterlot is a rich town after all.
Lightning blushed and put her guitar away as Shadow put the bits into his bag. Lightning tried to kind of hide behind him as they walked through the crowd toward the pastry store again.
“That was awesome!” Shadow exclaimed, hovering a little off the ground in his excitement “I mean really, really, awesome! Did you really just come up with that?”
“Not really,” said Lightning, clearly embarrassed “I mean I’ve had the tune forever but I never really knew whether or not it should have words. When we got here it just sort of…clicked.”
“Well the unicorns obviously liked it,” said Shadow “I mean look at this, you earned thirty bits for that little performance! You could buy a gamecolt game with that kind of money!”
“Then I guess I’m treating us to doughnuts huh?” said Lightning.
“You bet you are miss rich,” said Shadow “a whole dozen of them!”
It was then they finally found the pastry shop. They actually walked right past it the first time and would’ve ended up circling all the way around again if Lightning hadn’t pointed it out. Actually it was kind of easy to miss, a small white store tucked away between two clothing outlets. It seemed very homely in contrast with the larger city around it.
Upon entering the store it became clear this place didn’t receive many customers. There was a broad shouldered brown stallion behind the doughnut bar, but otherwise it was completely empty.
“Well howdy!” said the stallion, who they were sure was doughnut Joe “what can I get you two?”
“Bonbon sent us,” said Lightning, staring around at the polished chrome tables and tile floors, the place was remarkably clean.
“Thought I’d give you a discount did she?” said Joe with a smile “well I suppose I can do two foals a favor, whatcha hankering for?”
“Can we get a dozen glazed and two hot chocolates?” Lightning asked “and whatever else you would recommend.”
“Tell you what,” said Joe “I’ll give you each a jelly filled for free. Bumblesweet!” he called to the back.
A yellow, frizzy maned earth pony mare bounced out. Shadow thought that she looked astonishingly like Pinkie Pie “Yeah boss?” she said curiously.
“I need a dozen glazed,” said Joe “be generous with the honey.”
“Coming right up!” said Bumblesweet, grabbing a honey twirler from the bar and bouncing back to the back of the shop. Joe moved to the coffee machines to get their hot chocolate ready.
“So how did you two meet Bonbon?” he asked appreciatively “another one of Lyra’s human parties I suppose? You look like you’re about that age.”
“On the train here actually,” said Lightning, ignoring Shadow’s motion for silence “she’s going to the Crystal Empire with Lyra to meet her ancestor.”
“Train huh?” asked Joe “So where are you two from if not Canterlot?”
“Ponyville! Ow!” said Lightning “that hurt, Shadow!”
Shadow, who had indeed just kicked her, was giving her the “shut up while you’re behind” look.
“Ponyville, oh that’s right!” said Joe “How’s Pinkie Pie? She’s kind of an old rival of mine.”
Lightning glared at Shadow, who nodded, before continuing “She’s doing pretty well,” she said “at least as far as her crazy song and dance routine always suggests.”
Joe chuckled, placing two piping cups of cocoa on the counter “That’s Pinkie Pie for you. I remember her detective stunt, totally shown up by her unicorn friend though. You Ponyvillians aren’t all crazy are you?”
“She is,” said Shadow, pointing at Lightning.
“He is,” said Lightning, pointing at Shadow at the same moment.
Joe burst out laughing just as Bumble sweet came back to the front balancing a box of doughnuts on her head. “I got em!” she said “One dozen extra glazey doughnuts!”
“Alright, thanks Bumble,” said Joe “that’s ten bits for everything and shoot I forgot your jelly filled! I’ll be back in a moment.” Joe went back to the back, followed by Bumblesweet.
Shadow took advantage of this and turned to Lightning “Let’s not put too much attention toward us okay?” he said.
“Why not?” asked Lightning, already starting on her first doughnut.
“Remember the Canterlot guards could already be looking for you, us,” said Shadow “not to mention going into Canterlot Castle might not be allowed. Your brother might be looking for you too. There are all sorts of reasons we should try and stay hidden.”
“Oh…right…” said Lightning.
Bumblesweet came back, toting a small bag with the jelly filled doughnuts inside “Hey, I heard you two are from out of town,” she said “do you know this pony?” she proceeded to put a picture of Pinkie Pie on the counter.
Lightning and Shadow exchanged a look, this would seem suspicious even if they hadn’t been sworn to silence just a moment before. They shoot their heads in unison.
“That’s okay;” said Bumblesweet, sounding dejected “let me ring that up for you…”
When they left the pastry shop they still wondered if lying to Bumblesweet had been the right thing to do. Unfortunately they didn’t have time to ponder that for long. It was winter after all, meaning that by the time they exited the shop the sun was already starting to set.
“So which way is it to the castle?” asked Shadow, to Lightning who had the map.
“Up…” said Lightning with a groan “and the stairs are only on either side of the city… we have to zigzag all the way up…”
Shadow looked up to where the sun was crossing the sky, almost gone “we don’t have time for that,” he said “we need to find some other way up.”
“Do you have some sort of idea?” asked Lightning, sounding slightly intimidated.
“Heck yeah I do,” said Shadow “but yes, it’s totally crazy.” Without a word he took off running toward a vegetable stand.
“Shadow what are you doing?” Lightning shouted. What he was doing in fact was taking a gliding leap, landing squarely on the center of the stand’s tarp roof. Lightning watched, dumbfounded, as the tarp dipped down then shot upward, propelling Shadow up to the next level, slapping his wings just to make sure.
“Come on Lightning!” Shadow shouted down “it’s easy!”
“Don’t even think about it you crazy kid!” The vegetable vender shouted at Lightning, shaking a hoof in her direction.
Lightning took a deep breath, ran for the stand and kicked hard with her back hooves, shooting upward and landing on top of the stand. She gulped as the tarp bent a little bit lower than when Shadow had leapt, but it recoiled twice as far.
Shadow whooped as Lightning landed on her back a little ways behind him “Nice jump!” he shouted, running over “You’re okay right?”
Lightning groaned and stood up slowly “Where did you learn to do something so stupid…?” she asked slowly, dazedly almost.
“Dunno,” said Shadow with a laugh “I guess I just thought of it. We can fly the rest of the way if you want.”
“Yes please…” said Lightning squeamishly.
Shadow managed to pull them up a very solid eight walls before he couldn’t fly anymore. They noticed that the higher they went the closer they got to the castle, the richer and fancier the services were. The sky was growing deeper purple as they ran down the last street at a full gallop, not caring for the ponies they forced out of their way.
When they finally arrived, panting at the castle gates stars had begun to sparkle. A black barded pony was changing shifts with one in golden armor as they approached the bridge.
“Halt!” said the one in black, bat wings unfurling “Canterlot castle is no longer open for visitors!”
Shadow, who had all but collapsed from exhaustion, let Lightning do the talking “Lightning Strike and Shadow Chaser! We’re…here to see the princess!” her voice broke a bit at this last part, clearly out of fear.
The guards interest seemed to be piqued “And where do you come from?” he asked measured, almost seeming to be testing her.
“Ponyville!” Lightning squeaked.
“Dawnstar!” the bat winged guard shouted at the white white unicorn walking away toward the castle “Can you cover just a bit longer?” I need to escort these two.”
“Typical of you Nightwing,” said Dawnstar, walking back “you’ll take any excuse to get off work won’t you?”
Nightwing glared “This colt is Shadow Chaser,” he said “does that name ring a bell Dawnstar?”
Dawnstar seemed intrigued himself now “Well that’s a pretty damned good excuse,” he said “If it’s true that is. Get going then, but make it fast, I’m ready to pass out.”
“Thanks Dawn,” Nightwing said “come along you two, it may be a bit of a walk.”
Nightwing led them over the huge wooden platform that hung over the moat far below. The sound of roaring water could be heard as they crossed, distant and eerie. Shadow could feel his heart skip a beat as he thought he heard a dull roar somewhere beneath them. He looked up at the archway, hundreds of meters up, and wondered what marvelous entities required such passage.
Of course what really went through his childish mind would be better translated as “I’m so scared, everything is so big!” let’s remember now he’s only six.
The foyer of the castle was gargantuan to the point of being uselessly large. The pillars holding up the vaulting ceiling vanished into darkness and the stairs were so high the two foals couldn’t see the top. The entire room was done in shades of black, white, and pink. Shadow might have guessed it’s relation to the three princesses if he’d been less preoccupied.
There was a sudden snap from behind them and Shadow turned sharply to see the drawbridge had closed behind them. Nightwing stifled a laugh when his expression grew fearful.
“Don’t worry Shadow,” he said “we’re not trying to lock you in; we’re just closing for the night. The only ones here now are the princesses and the guard.”
“Nightwing!” came a voice from the top of the stairs “why aren’t you at your post? We have a schedule to keep!” Shadow’s ears twitched, he knew that voice from somewhere…
Nightwing bowed quickly, Lightning, unsure of herself, following suit as the figure approached “My apologies princess,” said Nightwing “I assure you this is a matter of great importance.”
“Twilight!” Shadow shouted, and sure enough it was the purple unicorn coming down the steps resplendent in robes of blue. There was something different about her but Shadow couldn’t quite identify it as he ran up to her.
“Shadow!” Twilight smiled as she spoke “well isn’t this a surprise! You must be here to see Princess Luna.”
“How did you know…?” he asked curiously.
Twilight seemed confused for a moment, but then smiled in understanding “I had a bit of an intuition,” she said “come on; I’ll take you to her myself. You can get back to your post Nightwing!”
“Yes princess,” said Nightwing, trotting quietly back toward the gates.
“Princess…?” Shadow said slowly, then gasped as he realized what had changed about Twilight “You’re an alicorn! Oh my gosh the princess coronation… that was you?”
Twilight laughed at this, spreading her wings out to show them better “It was indeed, and I’m very happy for it. It’s kind of a new feeling, telling ponies what to do myself instead of looking to Celestia for advice.”
“That is so awesome!” Shadow said, poking at the purple wings almost to confirm they were really there.
“And um… who is this?” asked Twilight motioning toward Lightning. She seemed to have gotten bored with the conversation and was climbing on one of the huge winged pony statues next to the stairs.
“That’s Lightning…” said Shadow, sounding a little embarrassed.
“Oh, hi princess!” Lightning shouted as she noticed the conversation had shifted to include her “what’s up…oops!” she jumped and grabbed onto the railing as the statue toppled underneath her and shattered on the floor. “Sorry about that…” she said looking sheepishly up at Twilight.
“It’s okay,” said Twilight, her horn glowing as the statue levitated upwards and began to repair itself “that statue kind of has a habit of attracted trouble.”
“Like a moth to the flame,” said Shadow with a smirk. Lightning stuck her tongue out at him and dropped off the railing onto the stairs.
“I suppose you’re both going to see Luna?” Twilight asked, to which they both nodded enthusiastically “This way then, she really should’ve raised the moon by now…”
Twilight led them upward along several marble hallways and several flights of stairs. Shadow was desperately curious of what was behind many of the doors on either side but was willing to ignore it for now. There were more important things to be doing right now. They arrived at a small flight of wooden stairs with a silver ladder rising from the platform at the top.
“That leads to the Celestial platform,” said Twilight “be respectful, it’s the sacred place where the royal sisters have raised the sun and moon for millennium.”
They both nodded seriously “You go first,” said Shadow to Lightning “You’re the one who has to apologize after all.”
“No, you go first,” said Lightning “I don’t want to be the first one seen…”
“Fine,” said Shadow, not wanting this to become an argument “I’ll go…”
He was shaking so badly that he could hardly get a grip on the ladder. Lightning followed him when he was about halfway up, shaking the ladder even worse. If the ladder had been any taller he feared he wouldn’t have made it up at all. But sure enough he found himself staring at the wooden trap door at the top of the ladder…
“Well what are you waiting for?” Lightning called up, even more impatient than usual out of fear “Just go up already!”
Shadow took a deep breath and pushed up on the door, and found he couldn’t lift it. “Uh… Light?” he said “could you come up here and get this?”
Fortunately the ladder was wide enough for them to both stand comfortably on the top rung. Lightning couldn’t quite lift it either, but when they pushed simultaneously they managed to open it just a crack and squeeze through.
And what a sight awaited them. The tower-top they had arrived at was covered in polished ivory, glowing in the glory of the reflected starlight as perfect and serene as a pool buried in a cavern’s depths. Their gaze moved from the floor they had landed on unceremoniously to see Luna standing a ways off, her horn glowing a soothing blue.
They watched in astonishment as she unfurled her wings, flying gracefully upward, beating her great wings as the moon rose up in the distance along with her. They rose in perfect harmony until the moon had reached the exact center of the sky. The stars exploded, brighter and more beautiful with the mother of the night in her wondrous place in the sky.
Luna descended, landing with the grace of an angel back down on the ivory tower. The moon now reflected directly underneath her, the sky cast above and below as a testament to her light. The night sky seemed to be everywhere from this view, the stars dancing in the heavens above and in the floor below.
Lightning and Shadow watched this all in silent awe, not even standing up from where they had tumbled out the trapdoor. They were filled completely with the wonder of the night, which neither of them would ever have the words to describe.
“Shadow…?” said Luna, walking over to the two of them “What are you doing? How did you get here?”
“What…?” Shadow said, barely emerging from his stupor “Princess! Um… I, I mean we came here to…” he found himself stuttering out his words, his awe turning to fear as he realized he was intruding upon a hallowed place.
“I’m sorry!” he heard Lightning squeak “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you! I shouldn’t have kicked you! It was such a terrible thing to do! Please, please forgive me!”
Luna turned to Lightning, an amused expression coming to her face “There is no need to apologize little one,” she said kindly “I would never hold your innocent fear against you,” she put a hoof to Lightning’s chin and brought her to eye level “what is your name?”
“Lightning Strike,” she said, calming at the sight of her eyes now “and this is…”
“Shadow,” said Luna, Shadow looking up to her as well “You are the spitting image of your father…”
Shadow gulped “Did you know my dad well?” he asked “You knew him, and he was captain of the guard, can you tell me about him? Was he ever in any battles?” he wasn’t sure exactly why he had suddenly asked these questions, but if any pony would know it had to Luna right?
Luna smiled, “He was the bravest stallion I ever met,” she said “he saved my life when Canterlot was first attacked by the changelings. He stormed the infested night tower with alone with a sword. It was many years ago now… but it was a moment I will never forget.”
Shadow seemed to glow with pride; he’d never heard this story before. Sure the battle of the first changelings was well known, but his father had protected Princess Luna? That sounded fantastic!
“I wish he’d been fighting on the lower concave…” Lightning said dejectedly, turning away, some memory seeming to plague her.
“The Strikes fought bravely,” said Luna, turning to her “they never lost one another, despite the changelings, when they were lost they took many of the strongest changelings with them. I’m sorry,” she turned to Shadow again “for your losses, you both have suffered more than any foal your age ever should.”
Lightning quickly ran over to Shadow, trying to get back into Luna’s view “What about me princess? Do you think I’m as brave as they were?”
Luna laughed again “Maybe when you’re older,” she said “though many full grown ponies have quailed in my presence. You’re shaping up to be just like them.”
Lightning bounced in place, so ecstatic about this situation she felt like she could burst. Shadow was desperate to know more, but too afraid to ask.
Luna stared him in the eye again “I’ve waited so long…” she said slowly “for the day Umbra would come back to Canterlot…” Shadow smiled, and as he stared up at the princess he suddenly felt a familiar warmth in his chest. It was the same warmth he felt whenever Umbra had told him stories about the guard, or taught him flying, or even just watching him run wild in the grass. That warmth… he hadn’t even noticed it was gone. It told him what Luna was going to say before she had begun to even form the words.
She pulled him into an embrace that somehow didn’t surprise him “I’ve waited so long for the day you would come back…my son…”