The First Encounter
Sweetie Belle was currently heading into the Whitetail woods, The first kilometre or so was only light forest, due to the frequent use of the area, there was hardly any undergrowth and the old trees were about to pony-lengths apart. As she progressed deeper into the less frequented parts of the Whitetail, the trees stood closer and plants like gout weed and fern were flourishing on the forest floor considerably slowing her progress.
After two hours of tracking into the woods, her mane was a mess full of leaves and branches and her clear white coat was stained with dirt all over. Finally Sweetie Belle found a large hollow tree, the hole seamed large enough to accommodate a filly her size, as she was about to take of her saddlebags she heard a voice in the distance, it barely sounded like a whisper, like most other fillies and colts, her curiosity got the better of her and she started walking towards the sound. As she got closer to the source, her ears caught the sound of singing, slowly approaching, she could start making out the words of the song.
“But somewhere in a private place”
“She packs her bags for outer space”
“And now she's waiting for the right kind of pilot to come”
“And she'll say to him”
“She's saying”
The voice was some of the most beautiful Sweetie Belle had ever heard.
She got to a clearing lit up only by the soft white light of the full-moon. She hid in a bush and looked around in the clearing to find the origin of the beautiful vocal.
There in the middle sat a dark-blue alicorn, stars sparkling in her ethereal blue mane. It was the princess of the night, Sweetie Belle had only seen her once, that was at the celebration of her return. The princess just sat there singing to the moon.
The filly had no idea how to handle this. “Can you just walk up to a princess?” She decided to stay hidden, as the princess continued her song.
“I would fly to the moon and back if you be...”
“If you be my baby”
“I've got a ticket for a world where we, we belong”
“So would you be my baby?”
Sweetie Belle shed a tear as she could hear the clear melancholy of the singing. The alicorn sang with such passion and sadness... It was an indescribable feeling, like all the emotion in the song just flew straight into your heart, as you felt the hidden pain in your own heart. Sweetie Belle could not find any words - in her relatively extensive vocabulary - , that could be used to explain the way she was touched by the sound.
She made a sudden kick as she felt a spider crawling up her left hind-leg, as a result, the rustling of the leafs made a noise, Sweetie Belle almost panicked, closing her eyes, she just held her breath while lying completely still, hoping the other pony had not seen her.
Her worst fears were confirmed as the singing suddenly stopped and she could hear hoofsteps coming her way. She didn´t know what to do, so she just stayed there holding still holding her breath, hoping the lunar princess would dismiss the sound and return to her singing.
No such luck.
The hoofsteps stopped and the little unicorn could hear the sound of somepony poking the surrounding shrubbery with she assumed was a hoof. As the noise stopped, Sweetie Belle slowly opened her eyes to try and see what was going on outside. The filly bolted back in shock. Because there right above her was two teal eyes staring down on her, as she looked into the alicorn´s eyes she saw that there was no trace of anger, only kindness and curiosity, the later undoubtedly as to why she was hiding in a shrubbery in the middle of the night. The kind eyes made Sweetie Belle relax a little, though part of her was still nervous as to the princesses intentions.
“Hello” the moon goddess said in a low and kind voice. “what is your name?”
“Swe... Sweetie... Belle...” the white filly muttered.
“You can take it easy now, I´m not mad at you.” Luna said whit a reassuring smile. “My name is Luna.” The princess made an effort to sound as kind as possible, to the slightly scared filly hiding in the shrubbery.
“You’re not?” Sweetie Belle lightened up a little. “I just heard you singing... and it was so beautiful, I didn´t want to interrupt.”
“It is quite alright. Actually it is nice to have somepony else here.” The princess said smiling.
Sweetie Belle could feel the alicorn´s breath, it was a warm and pleasant feeling, sort of relaxing. She was starting to calm down. The lunar princess withdrew her head out of the bush, in witch Sweetie Belle had been hiding.
“Soo... What are you doing out here all by yourself?” Luna asked quizzically.
Sweetie Belle had a thoughtful expression on her face, as she contemplated on whether or not she should tell truth. “Will she be disappointed if she finds out I have run away like a little filly?” and in case she did tell the truth , “would the princess then take me back to Rarity?” She did not want that to happen. “But then, what happens if she finds out I am lying?” Some unpleasant thoughts of dark dungeons crossed her mind.
After a brief silence she had reached the conclusion, that it would be unwise to lie to one of the rulers of Equestria. Sweetie Belle would rather face the wrath of her sister, then that of an immortal goddess.
Hence her answer was. “I... I had an argument with my sister... and I sort of... ummm... ran away...” She deliberately avoided the princess gaze, as she felt a little ashamed of her own actions.
The alicorn princess was not one to judge the actions of others – except perhaps her sister, when she decided to banish her to the moon for a whole millennium, but forgiveness was a work in progress, as it seemed to only be Luna who still help a grudge. (To be fair, it was Luna who spend a thousand years on the moon) -. Luna herself was still being judged for her own past sins. It was especially the noble ponies who showed mistrust in her. Right now she was actually happy to be running the night. It was true that she would sometimes get lonely, as nopony ever showed up at her court sessions. Probably because they did not see her as fit to rule, but mostly it was because now – as it was a thousand years ago – the ponies were sleeping. It was true that stargazing had become increasingly popular over the cause of the last one-thousand years, but the size of her audience was by no means, extensive.
The night princess turned away and started walking to her previous place in the middle of the moonlit clearing. After a walking about 5 meters, she turned her head and looked at Sweetie Belle, who was now sitting up in the bushes. “Are you gonna stay in there all night, or are you joining me.” Princes Luna paused a few second before she continued, “I would be nice with some company.”
The prospect of spending all night in a bush was not particularly appealing, so Sweetie Belle made her way out of the shrubbery, and slowly walked up next to the princess, who was now laying with her legs folded in under herself. Sweetie Belle lay down next to the princess in a similar fashion.
For what felt like hours Sweetie Belle was content by just laying there, listening to Luna softly humming various (to her) unfamiliar tunes, some more than a thousand years old, from times long past.
The filly yawned. Running around the forest for hours, had really exhausted her, and the soft humming of the night-princess made relax and feel safe. The little unicorn curled up next to the alicorn, she could feel the warmth of the princess next to her.
Luna who´s eyes were focused, looked down when she felt the filly next to her. There she saw the most adorable thing, a sleeping filly curled up next to her. She draped a wing over Sweetie Belle, to keep her warm.
Luna just lay there enjoying the closeness. For the first time since her return, she met somepony - other than her sister - who didn´t treat her either like a princess or a monster in disguise. With Sweetie Belle titles didn´t matter, for once she could simply be... Luna.
Eventually Luna also drifted of to sleep, her wing still covering the sleeping filly.
Luna Woke up the next morning. Normally she would eat dinner now, and then go to bed, leaving the governing of the day to her sister. The Lunar princess looked around and shortly wondered why she was waking up in a clearing, that was when she noticed the little warm lump pressing in on her side, lifting her wing she saw a white unicorn filly curled up in a ball beside her. Now it came back to her, how she met the filly. “Ah... yes.. the little filly who ran away from home” Luna had a thoughtful expression on her face when she thought “What was her name again”, she smiled as she remembered, “Sweetie Belle... yes that is it.”
“Sweetie Belle.” Luna whispered as she gently poked the filly with her muzzle. Sweetie Belle stirred a little and muttered “mmmm... mommy...”, she pushed herself a little closer to Luna.
Luna´s heart turned into jelly, it was the sweetest thing she had ever heard.
“It´s time to wakeup now Sweetie.” Luna said softly.
Sweetie Belle slowly woke up and rubbed her eyes, her vision cleared, and all the memories from the night before returned. The argument with Rarity, her running away and meeting Luna in the forest. A good nights sleep had cleared her mind, with the anger no longer clouding her judgement, she felt guilty for just running away like that, She should have known better. “Rarity must be worried sick for me.”
Sweetie Belle shot to her hooves “I have to get back home and apologise to Rarity!” For despite the things she had said and thought in her anger, she knew that her sister loved her dearly. Sweetie Belle looked around franticly, trying to remember which direction she had come from. When she turned her head to the Right she found herself staring into the same Teal eyes from the night before, the calm kindness in Luna´s eyes, as deep and sparkling as the night sky itself.
Luna spoke in her soft voice “What is the matter little one?”
“I need to get back to my sister!.... I have to tell her that I am sorry for running away!” Sweetie answered quickly.
“Why... Then let´s go little one” Luna spoke softly.
“But... I... I don´t know the way back.” said Sweetie Belle, with a frown.
“Well there is a way to solve that problem.” Luna said, and spread out her large dark-blue wings.
Sweetie Belle stared at the princess in awe. The alicorn was a majestic sight to behold, her wings casting long shadows in the low morning sun.
The filly let out a small squeak as she was enveloped in a dark-blue glow, and lifted of the ground to be placed on the princess´s back.
“Oh... sorry if I scared you.” Luna said apolitically. Not waiting for answer she took to the air with a few beats of her powerful wings.
Sweetie Belle had wrapped her hoofs around the princess´s neck, and was holding on for dear life. As they passed the treetops Luna halted her ascend, and hovered in place. Luna turned her head around and spoke her usual soft and calming tone.
“You can look out now little one, I will keep you safe.” Her voice sounded so assuring. Sweetie Belle slowly moved her head from her hiding place in Luna´s flowing mane. The view from up here was staggering. The rising sun was casting its bright orange light over the brown, yellow and orange of the autumn leaves, and she felt the light autumn breeze in her mane.
Sweetie Belle snapped out off it when Luna spoke again. “So... where are we going then?”
Sweetie scanned the surrounding area for any sign of home. Not far away she spotted the top of Ponyville town hall.
“That way. To Ponyville.” Sweetie said pointing in the direction of the village.
Lune nodded and said. “Hold on little one!” The little unicorn tightened her grip around Luna´s neck. Beating her mighty wings, the princess head off in the direction of Ponyville.