//------------------------------// // 6 First night in Equestria // Story: Tides of Change // by Lightning Haze //------------------------------// [Scarlet Cloud's POV] Lilly and I followed Luna into the castle and were led to our bed chambers, which might I add were on the other side of the castle... Anyway the entire time we were walking I noticed that for some reason Luna would keep glancing at Lilly, smile, and then act as if she hadn't even noticed there was a filly next to her. We finally arrived at the housing wing of the castle. Luna pointed to the two doors at the end of the hallway. "Scarlet the one on the left is yours and Lilly the one on the right is yours. There is a bathroom in each room and a mini-fridge. Feel free to eat and drink anything in there. Now if you will excuse me I have duties to attend to. Goodnight to the both of you." Luna said "P-Princess do you think I could share a room with Scarlet? I don't quite feel comfortable sleeping in a room by myself." Lilly looked somewhat frightened to ask the Princess this question. Luna just looked at her and smiled. "Sure, as long as Scarlet is ok with it." Luna looked to me. I could swear I saw some kind of question in her eyes. "That's fine with me Lilly. Go ahead and brush your teeth Lilly I want to talk to the Princess for a second." Obediently Lilly went inside the room. "Princess, I noticed that when you met Lilly you gathered tears in your eyes and I just wanted to know why?" My question seem to startle her. A look of sadness swept across her face and then just as quickly as the expression came it vanished from her face. "Some dust got into my eye, that is all" Luna said. She looked not exactly at me but past me as if she were talking to someone completely different. Then her gaze focused back on me. "How did you come to care for the filly? You look far too young to have a filly of your own" "I guess you could say I'm Like a mother to her. Both her parents were in the royal guard of Concordia. One fateful night they were both called to the castle and they called me over to foalsit. I wasn't happy at the late call, but the money was good. Anyway that was also the night that the king was assassinated. They were both in charge of the keys for the outer doors. When they arrived they had been ambushed and killed... Brutally might I add. Ever since that day I have taken care of Lilly as if she were my own daughter. So yeah I guess you could say I'm her mother even though I never legally adopted her due to me not being old enough." Tears came to my eyes just thinking about that day. I looked up and tears were in Luna's eyes as well. "I'm so sorry to have asked... I'm sorry for all that the poor filly has had to go through. You are both welcome here in Equestria for as long as you want and if you ever need anything please don't hesitate to ask. Now If you will excuse me, I have my royal duties to attend to." Luna turned and with a running start spread her wings and flew down the hallway. Something seemed off by the way Luna was acting. There was something she wasn't telling me about why she was so interested in Lilly and I was going to find out. First, I needed to go back into the room and check on Lilly. I opened the door and walked in to see Lilly bouncing up and down on the bed. "Scarlet you gotta come try this it's a lot of fun hehe" Lilly looked so happy I couldn't resist joining in. I jumped up onto the bed and started bouncing with her. "Your right kiddo this is a lot of fun, but we gotta get some sleep it's waaayyyyy past your bedtime. Did you brush your teeth?" I stopped jumping and sat down, so did Lilly. She smiled at me to show her teeth were clean. "Okay kiddo let's get some shut eye." We both laid down and got comfy. I sat there and stroked her mane lost deep in thought about all that had transpired today. *flashback* I was sitting peacefully at home playing with my favorite filly in the world Lilly. She loved watching me fly through the air and when I had her hop on my back for joy rides. We were pretending that it was a aerial skills show. She was the judge and I was a contestant. I was in the middle of a back-flip when the warning sirens sounded. The sound made me lose concentration and crash to the ground. Lilly thought it was part of the show and just laughed. I slowly got up and scanned the sky. The Concordian military were rushing toward what seemed to be the direction of the weapons facility. I was sure that with the military on it, we had nothing to worry about. I was very wrong. We had just gotten back to the pretend show when I saw a cloud of fire and smoke rise from where the military had just gone. I kept my eyes peeled on that direction. I couldn't shake a feeling that something wasn't right. Soon the speakers for the sirens started playing an emergency broadcast. "Attention all residents of Concordia we are under attack. Please stay in doors and do not panic. The military will soon deal with the threat. That is all." The speaker cut off and then went back to the loud wailing siren. I dashed to the storage room where Lilly and I had stored our to-go saddlebags. They were survival kits designed just for situations like these. I went to Lilly's room grabbed her favorite stuffed animal and put it in her bag. I ran back outside and saw Lilly had gone back to writing numbers on her whiteboard. "Lilly we need to leave, come on." I helped her put her saddlebag on and then we left. I decided it was best to head to the docks and follow the river to the border. Lilly just trotted along beside me, oblivious to everything that was going on. What I wouldn't give to be a foal again. "So Scarlet where we goin?" Lilly asked. I could tell by the tone in her voice she was starting to figure out this was no normal hike. Just as I was about to answer her we heard a crash from the road up ahead. I broke into full gallop toward the noise. When I arrived there were two stallions dressed up in royal armor with parts of the carriage sticking out of them and two mares laying in the wreckage. When I recognized the Princess and saw she was unhurt I was scared. If the Princess is abandoning the country... Who or what was it that was attacking us? *End of flashback* I just sat there stroking Lilly's mane. I really did love the filly as if she was my own and as her "mother" I was bound and determined to find out why the Princess of the night had such a fascination with Lilly. That was going to have to wait till morning though, because I was extremely tired.