Moondancer's misguided mission
Prologue-a shining beacon of hope.
Oh storm tossed and weary stallion mariner, follow the light of Celestia's Beacon. For through the foggiest and darkest of nights, it's beam shall guide thee home to Equestria, the land of ponies...
The words of that ancient poem echoed in the mare's brain, as she stared out at the endless white-capped waves. Her front hooves gently resting on the rails, the unicorn's eyes constantly scanned the horizon, searching for the familiar white sails of a ship to appear, illuminated by the constantly spinning beam of light that swung endlessly over her head. As the salty sea wind tore at her red mane and blue tailbow, the white pony said a silent prayer that the one she sought for would be all right...
"Excuse me, Miss Moondancer?" A voice called out from the open door behind her. "I'm sorry to bother you, Miss Moondancer, but it's getting very cold outside, and I've warmed some hot coca on the stove..."
"Huh? Oh thank you, Golden Light." Moondancer told the unicorn who had come out to check on her. "I'll be there in a minute."
Standing on the northern edge of Horseshoe Bay, the great lighthouse of Celestia's Beacon had guided pony ships safely into the harbor for over seven centuries. Comissioned by Princess Celestia herself in the final decades of her reign, the two hundred meter high structure resembled a large Doric column, and was topped by a glass tower adorned with a statue of the alicorn princess. Inside the tower an eternal flame, first kindled by Celestia herself, had burned brightly over the centuries. A long line of unicorn lighthouse keepers had maintained the ancient light, never allowing it's illumination to go out. Refracted though a rotating clockwork lens, Celestia's light had saved hundreds of vessels from meeting an unfortunate fate on the jagged rock that surrounded the cove. The lighthouse received all shipments of goods and visitors from nearby Hoofkaido, who claimed the light as their own landmark- just as it had been for the city of Baltimare in an age gone by.
With a heavy sigh, the worried mare trotted though the door, and back down the stairs to the elevator. There, Golden Light waited as the other unicorn stepped on board, then flipped the switch that closed the gate, and sent the elevator slowly back down the shaft, towads the keeper's quarters on the floors below.
"I'm so sorry to pull you away from your vigil, Moondancer." The blonde unicorn with a glowing light cutie mark commented. "But you really shouldn't worry. I'm sure your Bianco will be fine."
Moondacer only nodded her nervously in response. descended from one of the old Canterlot unicorn families, Moondancer's family claimed one of their ancestors had studied in the unicorn academy beside Twilight Sparkle herself. The family had experienced it's share of misfortunes during the dark age, first moving to Ponyville, then to Dream Castle in later years, but the Moondancer clan had faced adversity and endured. The proud unicorn was a stong supporter of tradition and family, and it worried her that a member of her family was now out there, lost on that vast expanse of dark and stormy ocean.
"I can't believe my husband decided to go on that diplomatic mission to the Dragonlands!" The unicorn scowled, as the elevator continued downward. "I knew it was a bad idea to leave during the storm season."
"A pity the Pegasus ponies can no longer control the weather." Golden Light replied sadly. "There would be less storms to dash ships against the rocks, but then again there would also be less of a need for this lighthouse to begin with."
The elevator finally stopped with a ding, and the two unicorns stepped out into the keeper's kitchen. Trotting over to the old gas stove, Golden Glow pulled the heated pan off water off the stove and poured it into two cups, mixing the coca powder from the packets into the steaming cups. levitating the two mugs over to the brown oak table, the two unicorns sat down to share a hot drink.
"So how are things in Dream Valley, my dear?" The yellow unicorn asked, taking a sip from her levitated cup. "I heard you were having some troubles with that Centaur Tirek."
"Yes, the Dark Lord has been giving us no end of Trouble." Moondancer replied with a sigh. "Our queen recently left on a diplomatic mission, and Tirek decided to attack while she was away."
"Oh my word, that's terrible!" The yellow unicorn exclaimed in a worried tone. "How did you defeat that horrid beast?"
"Firefly brought a girl from the human world, and she defeated Tirek with a magic rainbow." This earned her a skeptical look. "Sounds crazy, I know. But that Megan saved a bunch of us from a fate worse than..." The mare suddenly trailed off, staring of into space as dark, painful memories flashed through her mind.
"Wait, what did Tirek do?" Golden Light asked in a worried tone. "Moondancer, was anybody hurt?"
Clearing her throat, the white unicorn took a breath before replying. "He turned us all into dragons, to pull his chariot of midnight. H-he made us do such horrible things..." She looked away. "I-I'm sorry, but I really don't want to talk about this."
"It's all right, Moondancer. You don't have to talk about it, I understand." The lighthouse keeper smiled. "Tell me about the wonderful stallion in your life, instead."
"Bianco? Oh, he is a wonderful husband." The mare's frown suddenly turned into a smile. "Handsome, strong and kind... he's always fighting for some cause or other, you know." She pulled out a photo of a coral-colored Pegasus with a blonde mane. "We met at the parade of Costumes ball four years ago, he was visiting Dream Valley for a summit on Smooze corrosion awareness. The two of us just kind of hit it off."
"Wow, he looks like a male version of Starshine, one of the famous Rainbow pony monks." Golden Light noted, admiring the stallion in the photograph.
"Starshine's his sister, actually. It annoys him so much how so many people confuse the two of them." Reaching into her saddlebag, the mare pulled another photo out, this one of what looked like a baby version of herself. "This is our wonderful daughter, Baby Moondancer. She's barely three years old, and she's already talking and running around and playing on her own." The mare sighed. "I do worry about her, sometimes."
"Sounds like you have a wonderful family." The lighthouse keeper suddenly frowned. "Why on earth did Bianco decide to go out to sea at a time like this?"
"A peace summit in Draconia, he was asked to serve as a mediator between two whyrm broods who were fighting over a gem mine." The mare shook her mane. "The last communication I received from him was two weeks ago... he said he was on his way back. I decided to make the journey from Dream Valley to Hoofkaido, then follow the old lighthouse trail that used to lead here from Baltimare."
"From the sounds of this stallion, I doubt a storm could keep him down." Golden Light replied in a positive tone. "Don't worry, Moondancer. The rain's probably just slowing him down!"
"Thanks." The mare replied, smiling at the lighthouse unicorn. Moondancer knew this pony's story well; a princess from the bloodline of alicorn Celestia, she be been chosen by the council of Princess Ponies to become the next keeper of the lighthouse- a great honor, to be sure, but also the only known way giving a pony of her standing a job with her particular special talent, without it seeming degrading.
"You know, it is said Princess Celestia's spirit still dwells in the light, watching over and protecting the ponies at sea." The golden mare said with a sigh. "I'm sure she'll guide you Bianco home."
"If Princess Celestia were still here, half of these tragedies wouldn't even be happening." Moondancer replied with a snort. "Still, there may be truth in what you say."
"Princess Golden! Princess Golden!" It was at this point, that a small, yellow Dragon came running into the room, a panicked look on his face. Moondancer recognized him as Golden Glow's assistant, a baby reptile that looked like a recolored version of Dream Valley's own Spike.
"Yes Flash, what is it?" The mare asked with a giggle, as the dragon stumbled on the rug, and fell on his face. "What's got you so excited all of a sudden?"
"It's a message! I'm getting a message from Dream- BURP!" With a small belch of fire, the baby dragon spat out a scroll with Moondancer's name on it. Taking the ribbon off the parchment and unrolling it, the white unicorn's eyes suddenly went wide as she read the letter.
"What is it, Moondancer?" Golden Light asked, concern showing on her face. "Whatever in the world is wrong?"
"It's from Zigzag, the Dream Castle alchemist." Moondancer replied. "She's asking me to come back immediately... they're having a problem with Dream Castle's new schoolmare who transferred in from Mustangia."
"She wants you to go back?" The lighthouse keeper asked in surprise. "But what about waiting for Bianco?"
Closing her eyes, Moondancer's horn began to glow, as her mind reached out far across the waters... reaching for the other half of her soul to make sure he was all right. In response, she felt a faint glimmer of relief as her feelings touched his, and she herself felt relief in return.
"He's all right, just far away from here now. "She replied, looking back at Golden Glow. "Bianco won't be returning for awhile, but at least I know he will be coming back."
"Goodbye Moondancer, thanks for keeping me company." The lighthouse keeper told the mare, as Flash helped her pack her things. "Good luck with things back at the castle, and may fortune smile on you."
"May fortune smile on you as well, Princess." The unicorn replied with the traditional Ponyland farewell. "And thank you for your wonderful hospitality. Hopefully, I will be able to return here before Bianco arrives"
As the mare trotted down the stairs, she began to wonder what Zigzag could have possibly meant about their new teacher 'causing trouble'. Had she been teaching something prejudiced about Zebras- is that what had gotten the striped alchemist into such an uproar? She and the other members of the council had hoof-picked that mare from Mustangia to teach in the castle Schoolroom, and help Sundance with her workload.
If this teacher was spreading some kind of corruption to the youth, then Moondancer would be the pony to put a stop to it. The mare had had her fill of evil's taint- being forced to embrace the darkness herself, she was still haunted by the nightmares of those- things she and her friends had been turned into. She remembered becoming a monster, remembered wanting to cause harm and bring about terrible destruction. The perverse things she had done while under the dark lord's control- no, no pony would ever have to go through that again, if Moondancer had her way. Let Applejack and all of her other friends think she had become a prudish moralistic crusader, the taint of darkness she was saving them from was worth the disgust for the thankless task she had taken upon herself.
As the white unicorn trotted out the large bronze doors on the ground level, she looked forward to her latest effort to bring moral purity to the ponies of Dream Valley... it was time to head for home.