//------------------------------// // Chapter Five: Surprise. Part 1 // Story: The Legacy of Harmony // by overlord-flinx //------------------------------// Here is a riddle! A riddle, a riddle, Hi-Diddle-Diddle, Surprise has a riddle! Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh! Fiddle the riddle and twiddle-twiddle-twiddle an answer for my riddle! Eh-heh-heh-heh! A riddle I say? The riddle I'll lay! Here is the riddle little-diddle-diddle, here is your riddle! What can not see but has eyes? What can not laugh but always smiles? What can look so different, yet always be the same? What is as white as snow but as strong as steel? What knows the joke but just doesn't say? Eh-heh-heh-heh! Love! Lovely long lasting! I love this riddle. True is true if you only knew; the riddle has only been solved by two. Two tragically trifled thralls of chances twisted tale of tethered ties. Oh-why, oh-why? Why must these two be tied? Eh-heh-heh. A lie, a lie. Surprise is sorry to lie. The tie not tragic. It's beautiful by chance. Chance is a lance that rings through any trance. The trance of delusion and confusion, I mean. Do you delude the confused with loosed lewds of rudes? Eh-heh-heh. Two of those were not even words! Silly-silly-silly surprise for Surprise she says. Eh-heh-heh. Surprise will shh now, sleepy silly filly... Little Luna lost leg long-long leaps leading to the ledge. Little sleepy head Luna needs shh if little lost sleepy Luna will linger a long needed learning. I know. Surprise knows. Surprise... That's me. Surprise. That's my name. Eh-heh-heh... Silent upon the peek of the grand mountain top, two little fillies curled a warm touch into the side of Ban Dragonheart as he rested his massive form against the cool stone. Soft crickets from far, far below the mountain's top barely reached to sound against the soft, young, twitching ears of Luna and Celestia as they slept off their fatigue. Against one another, curled within the other's own softly rising and setting chests, the two sisters slumbered at pure, blissful peace within this late hour. Aside for the slight stirs each shared in from the passing moments, not a soul awoke as night cradled the cooling land. Luna herself huffed gently against her older sister and fidgeted against Ban, disturbed just a bit by the heat coming from the two. The younger filly fought to keep her eyelids shut, desiring nothing more than to not awake at this late hour. Efforts fell in vain, sadly, when her eyes twitched open and the dim nightlight greeted her sleep filled eyes. Luna spared a glance to her caretaker, Ban Dragonheart, then to her sister Celestia. Neither one seemed to have noticed her awakening at the point, much to her small relief. The side of her sister was a place she love to remain at, but Luna declined the notion with a shake of her head and proceeded to walk out near the edge of the cliff they had camped on. From where she stood, the soft currents of the nightly gales tossed against her curled mane and her eyes were treated to the beauty of a moon kissed world slumbering in a collective peace. So soothing was the sight of all the lands below. The beauty and calm of it, before Luna had noticed, started to weigh against her eyelids and caused her legs to wobble. In that moment, Luna stumbled forward, meeting her eyes to the vast, perhaps bottomless abyss under the cliff face. Her eyes squeezed shut and she quivered against herself, fearing her fall. Yet... She felt something stop her... A force as light as the gentle night air; yet she could feel it holding her up and stunting her fall. Luna's eyes opened to the sight of a velvety cloak wrapped around her body while also lifting her up and setting her back upon the edge of the cliff. Silly-silly filly! Luna leaps along the ledge and lands lopsided along the land? Not a narrow nibble of a naked chance. Luna was stricken with shock. From nowhere a voice was speaking to her. It seemed to follow with the wind, but at the same time it felt as if it was moving the winds. Luna felt her hooves scrape against the surface of stone and watched as the cloak slither away; virtually disappearing or perhaps returning into the night itself. Little Luna? The voice sounded almost familiar... A faint voice Luna remembered was mixed among Fenix's travelling partners. At that moment, by some force that seemed to make her beyond her control, Luna shuddered out a meek answer. "W-What do you want?" To chit. "...Chit?" To chat. To chitter-chat. To talk to you, little lost Luna. Do you know who I am? Oh please! Tell me you do! It'd surprise lil' Surprise if you knew Surprise's name! "Is it... Surprise?" A sharp gust of wind lashed against Luna, as if the sky itself was laughing at the answer. Wha-wha-what!? Surprise surprise, Surprise! You knew my name! What a-- Luna couldn't help herself. She smirked oh-so slightly and looked off into the winds around her. "Surprise?" She finished the voice's statement. Gasp and gasp again! Smart, swift, and short, shrimpily-shrew! She surely has one up on Surprise... Me! Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh! I really, really like you. Surprise wants to slip some secrets swift -so- only for you. But if you want them, you need to answer Surprise's riddle... "A riddle?" An echo! Yes, a riddle! Up for a little riddle, fiddle-de-diddle? "Let's... hear your... riddle?" Luna felt so very confused, but at the same time excited. What can not see but has eyes? What can not laugh but always smiles? What can look so different, yet always be the same? What is as white as snow but as strong as steel? What knows the joke but just doesn't say? Can you answer my riddle? Only one-- The winds died at a sudden second. Despite how mighty a gale could be, or how high they could reach upon these tops, the single word spoken by Luna rang beyond any sort of power. A word that crushed Surprise and left her unable to even laugh. ...That's... Right. Luna... I'm... Impressed... Come speak to me once you return to Fenix and the others. I will pass on my lesson then. Yet again, Luna was surprised. Surprise's tone had shifted so dramatically. From laughter and joy to a soft tone. Luna moved to speak, but was buffered by a strong gust as Surprise started laughing again with a greater force. Eh-heh! Little Luna loops lightly a right answer! Sleep soft, Little Lost Luna. Sleep soft so soon sleep sweeps. Just like that, the winds died once more and the presence of Surprise faded along with her chattering laughter. Luna felt all her being drained from such an encounter and went to lay her head against the invitingly cool cliff floor before falling right back into a blissful sleep.