The streets of Ponyville looked deserted. There was a chill in the air which had dropped the temperature down to the upper fifties. The sun seemed smaller in the sky, as if it had suddenly taken a step back. A chilling wind blew past the few ponies that wandered out into this weather.
As Rarity walked to the spa, she couldn’t help but notice the differences from last night. The night of the party had been full of happy laughter as they waited for the sun to come up. Now nearly every home had been shut tight to keep the warmth in. There was also a sense of fear that seemed to radiate from every building. She was happy to see that the one exception was the spa.
As the white unicorn mare walked in, the atmosphere felt so different that she felt she was on another world. She scented candles seemed to help calm her down and the warmth of the building helped her to relax. In the waiting area she saw several familiar faces, one of them being that of a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane.
“Oh Rarity, you’re here,” said Fluttershy as she got up from her sitting position.
“Yes, sorry for the wait dear,” said Rarity as the two were brought to the spa area. In the large tub was Applejack while another pony was getting a mud wrap. Aloe and Lotus, the main ponies who ran the spa, sat them down to begin giving their hooves a pedicure. “Once I got back to the shop I had several ponies cancel their orders. When I asked why they said that they were afraid a war was about to break out thanks to the little incident.”
“I sort of know how you feel,” said Fluttershy. “All of my little animal friends have been all huddled up together since this morning. But maybe that’s because it’s a bit colder than normal.”
“You’re right about that,” commented Rarity as she looked out a window. “It’s been chilly ever since Princess Celestia left.”
“Of course it’s been chilly since she left,” said the pony getting the mud wrap. Rarity managed to hold back a groan as she recognized the pony’s voice. “Princess Celestia controls the movement of the sun and sometimes it can be affected by her mood. The Summer Sun Festival was a disaster thanks to that moon pony! Why, Princess Celestia was so distressed by the attack that she left Trixie here.”
“That Twilight gal made a mess of things,” said Applejack in agreement. “Ah mean, she comes in here acting all friendly and such. Gets us to warm up ta her only ta spy on us. Then she goes an tells her princess that we won’t accept them without givin’ us a chance!”
“That’s right,” said Trixie with a nod.
“Well, to be fair, we did say a few nasty things about lunar ponies,” admitted Rarity.
“Then she should have been honest with us about where she was from,” said Applejack. However, as she said this, she felt a little uncomfortable.
“I don’t blame her,” said Fluttershy. All heads turned to look at her which caused her to ‘eep’ before continuing. “I mean, she wanted to find out more about us. She and Shadow probably felt that we might act differently if we found out they were from the moon.” Applejack opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. She knew that if they had been honest then the two of them would have been chased out of town before they got a word in edgewise. “And they all looked so sad when they left.”
Trixie snorted. “Trixie thinks they looked more angry than sad.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “I know what sad looks like. I could see it in their eyes. Especially Princess Luna’s. When she first started to speak she looked so happy. But once she began to read Twilight’s notes there was a moment when I thought she was going to cry.”
“Of course she would cry,” said Pinkie Pie as she popped out of the tub in a snorkel.
“How’d you do that?” asked Applejack. When she had gotten in the tub it had been completely empty. Also she had been in there for a while, longer than anypony could hold her breath.
“Do what?” asked Pinkie.
“Never mind that,” said Rarity. “Pinkie dear, what did you mean when you said ‘of course she would cry’?”
“Oh that,” said Pinkie as she took off her snorkel. “Well after I noticed that Twilight, Shadow, and Scootaloo left the party I went to look for them. I found them in the library looking at all sorts of books about Nightmare Night and lunar ponies.” Pinkie paused for a moment as her smile disappeared. “Twilight looked very mad when she read them. And I guess that makes sense since Princess Luna looks nothing like Nightmare Moon. I can only imagine how Princess Luna felt when she found out.”
Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy nodded in agreement. The stories about Nightmare Moon portrayed her as a large mare with the darkest black coat imaginable with teal colored eyes that were slit like a cats. She also had large fangs like a changelings so that she could better eat young foals. However, Princess Luna looked nothing like that. The only thing they had gotten right was the eye color, but the pupils weren’t slit.
“Still she didn’t have to hit Celestia like that,” said Trixie. “That pony needs to learn some manners.”
Applejack then got out of the tub and began to dry off. ‘Something about all this seems a might off,’ she thought to herself. ‘Ah know all the stories about the moon and lunar ponies. Not to mention all the Nightmare Night tales. If they have been wrong for so long then why didn’t Princess Celestia correct them?’ Now, Applejack was a pony who valued honesty. She always tried her best to tell the truth. But one of the things she couldn’t stand was being lied to. Right now she didn’t know if she had been given the whole truth in school or had been just plain lied to. Putting on her hat, Applejack vowed to find out.
-x-
“I found another one,” said Scootaloo. Twilight nodded as she placed a little x mark on the spot where Scootaloo had found the nanny cam.
After Twilight had found the first nanny cam in her room she had gone to Scootaloo to inform her of what was in their home. Unfortunately the young filly had no idea what a camera was so it took a while for Twilight to explain what it was and what it was doing. But once Scootaloo understood its significance she was more than happy to hunt down the small devices. Right now the two were checking each room in the house while marking the spots where they found the cameras. So far they had found forty-six.
“Great job,” said Twilight as Scootaloo gave her the small nanny cam. “I think that’s the last one in the kitchen. Next lets try the-” Twilight’s voice was suddenly drowned out by loud music. The purple unicorn face hoofed as the door to her home opened up to reveal a white unicorn mare with a blue mane and wearing sunglasses. Behind her were several speakers that were pumping out the loud music.
“Hello Twilight!” said the new mare in a loud voice. “What’s goin’ on with my number one best friend in the entire Dome One community?”
“Hey Vinyl,” said Twilight while covering her ears with her hooves. “Do you mind turning down the music?”
“Sure thing,” said Vinyl as her horn began to glow. The speakers began to glow for a second before they were silenced. Once they were off Vinyl grinned at Twilight. “So tell me, how was it planetside?”
Twilight took a step back. “H-How did you know I was on the planet?” she asked.
“Twilight, Twilight,” said Vinyl as she wrapped a foreleg around Twilight’s neck. “I’m DJ PON-3! Whenever there is anything newsworthy going on in the Republic it’s my job to get it to my listeners. Besides, it’s not like Princess Luna kept it a big secret or anything. Derpy told me all about it over muffins yesterday.”
Twilight let out a sigh a she deadpanned. “Of course she did.”
Vinyl gave Twilight a big, toothy smile. “Now everypony is dying to hear about what Equestria is like after a thousand years. So I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind coming on my show tomorrow to talk about your time there. Maybe even answering some questions regarding some juicy rumors that I have been hearing.”
“What kind of rumors?” asked Twilight as her ears flattened in confusion. DJ PON-3 opened her mouth to speak but stopped when she saw movement behind Twilight. Leaning her head over to the side, she saw a small orange Pegasus filly. In shock, Vinyl took off her trademark sunglasses.
“Well this answers one of the questions,” muttered Vinyl as she slowly put her glasses back on.
“What?” asked a very confused Twilight. Turning her head around she saw Scootaloo, who looked very confused, before returning her attention back to Vinyl. “You mean news has already gotten out that I adopted a filly from Equestria?”
“Ah…yeah,” replied Vinyl before laughing nervously. “That’s right. So, anyways, how about you introduce me to the new kid in the dome.”
“Ok,” said Twilight as she motioned Scootaloo to come forward. “Vinyl, this is Scootaloo. Scootaloo, this is my friend and neighbor Vinyl Scratch.”
“Oh come on Twilight,” said Vinyl as she stood up on two legs while pointing a hoof towards the ceiling. “You can introduce the awesome DJ PON-3 better than that. I am the premier DJ for the entire Republic! I am the master of wubs from Dome Zero to Thirteen! The master of the coolest jams on the radio that Republic has ever seen!” She then got back down on all fours. “That is how you introduce somepony as wickedly awesome as myself.”
“Sorry for trying to make you sound humble,” muttered Twilight.
“What’s radio?” asked Scootaloo. The glasses flew off Vinyl’s face when she heard this. Her mind quickly began to process the horror of the words uttered by the poor filly in front of her. Tears began to fall down her face as she bent down to embrace Scootaloo in a bear hug.
“You poor thing,” whispered Vinyl before turning her head to look at Twilight. “Now I understand why you adopted her. Life without radio and awesome jams just isn’t the way to live.”
“Can’t…breath,” gasped Scootaloo. They two were then enveloped by Twilight’s magic as they were then separated. The orange filly wondered for a moment if there were going to be more ponies like Vinyl on the moon. If there were then she would have to watch what she said.
“Well, now that we’ve met, how about you both come on my show?” said an excited Vinyl. “I’m sure the entire Republic would love to ask you both questions in between some killer jams!”
“Maybe,” said Twilight. “But before we make any plans I have to take Scootaloo to Princess Luna’s School for Gifted Ponies to see when she can start classes.”
“Can I go too?” asked Vinyl. “I’d love to see the old stomping ground again. Plus, while we’re there I can tell the squirt all about our old adventures there. Like that one time, after Sex Ed you-” Vinyl suddenly found herself unable to speak thanks to Twilight’s magic.
-x-
Over at the castle walls of the Lunar Palace, two guards stood watching. One was a chubby orange Pegasus and the other was a maroon unicorn. Both of them were in their armor with their helmets on.
“Hey,” said the maroon one suddenly. “Do you ever wonder why we’re here?”
The orange Pegasus growled. “Oh no, you are not doing that tired old joke. It has been done to death. I am not going to go on, getting all philosophical as I contemplate my existence with you only to find you are wondering why we are here in this exact location. Seriously, it was funny the first few times I heard it, but now it’s just getting old. And just so you know, I have no idea why we are here! Princess Luna told me to stand guard here with you. That’s it!”
For a moment, not a sound was heard. Then the maroon one began to tear up.
“I just wanted to talk to you about my worries,” he cried. “I was hoping I wasn’t the only one who was afraid that our existence wasn’t a fluke or not.”
“Ah…sorry buddy,” said the orange one. “I guess maybe I overreacted. Since we got nothing better to do I guess we can talk about your problems. It beats talking about mine.”
“Really,” asked the maroon one as he wiped his tears away.
Before the orange one could respond the two of them heard a crash down by the gates below them. Looking down, they saw Shining Armor trying to enter the castle but seemed unable to get past the magical field.
“Let me in!” screamed the captain of the Shield Corps. “I need to kill Shadow Blade for defiling my sister!”
“Huh, I guess this is the reason we’re here,” said the orange one.