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// One: Friends With a Draconequus? 
// Story: I Barely Know Me 
// by Trinity Copper-Fox 
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The Running of the Leaves. Usually, I just watched the event from my tower in the depths of the White Tail Woods and ran the trails at night, but today, I was going to compete. With my wings covered by a violet cloak, and my mane pinned out of my eyes, I trotted down my front steps and settled into a canter to get to the starting point.
I had my number pinned on my cloak and was stretching at a bit of a distance from the other contestants when I realized how socially starved and inept I’d been becoming. The young alicorn princess, Twilight Sparkle, was frowning as her unicorn friend insisted on adjusting the crown she had to wear for this event. Or, rather, the unicorn insisted that she simply must adjust the crown for the princess again. I’d given up on counting the number of adjustments a while ago. I recognized four other mares, as well, recalling the six of them saving Ponyville from a draconequus named Discord not that long ago.
The draconequus who was here now—apparently reformed—standing with the shy, yellow pegasus and staring right at me.
He said something to the pegasus, pointing at me, and she turned to look at me. I looked away, missing the rest of their exchange, but looked back in time to see them heading my way. My stomach knotted up and my wings tucked more securely—and painfully—against my sides. I’m just a normal unicorn, I chanted to myself. To them, I must have appeared just slightly nervous, but they wouldn’t know exactly why.
“Hi there,” the mare murmured, her voice pleasantly sweet, as she looked up at me. That’s right, I thought, watching her, I’m freakishly tall, too. I always forget about that. “I’m Fluttershy,” she continued. “And this is Discord. He noticed you over here by yourself, and thought you might want to come over and meet everypony.” She gestured over toward her group of friends with her hoof, and they were laughing about something.
“I’m socially inept,” I told her bluntly, giving her a blank look. Then Discord vanished and I felt a ruffling near my wings.
“So am I, my little…unicorn,” an interesting, mischievous voice crooned from inside my cloak, a tiny claw poking one of my wings. The miniaturized Discord scampered up to my head while I was frozen in shock and terror, then swung from my horn to look me in the eyes as he continued. “You don’t see me shrinking back like a wilted flower.” Then he was gone, a dead rose attached to my horn instead of his tail. He plucked it off with his lion paw and twirled it around.
I glared at him and cast a bubble around myself so he couldn’t come near me again. I could see what he meant, thought; he was going out of his way to be friendly in the way he understood it. So I grinned at him, going with the flow he’d just created. “You’re right, Discord. I, at least, know that, if you’re gonna give somepony a flower, you go with a fresh one.” With that, I turned to Fluttershy and weaved several violets and lilies into her mane.
Discord just grinned wider and twirled that rose again, and it was suddenly fresh, a vibrant blue with a black stem. Then he snapped and it was gone.
“Oh, I am good,” he smiled, framing my face in his view. “Yes, that blue is perfect in your mane.”
I frowned, realizing the rose was woven into my mane right next to my right ear, holding the hair in place instead of the pins, which were gone now.
“So, what’s your name?” Fluttershy asked, stepping closer to me with a smile. I just stared at her for a moment, not sure what to do. For as long as I could remember, nopony had ever asked my name. Oh, I’d told ponies my name, but they hadn’t asked.
“I’m Lunar Rainbow,” I said, giving her the most genuine smile I could manage. “It’s very nice to meet you, Fluttershy.” I raised an eyebrow as I looked up at discord. “I’m still deciding if the same is true about you, though.”
“Really?” he asked, and I was suddenly high up, standing on my back hooves on his shoulders with my front legs wrapped around his neck for support. “I’ve already decided that you’re so fun, you’re my newest friend.”
“Discord,” Fluttershy scolded, flying up to be eye-level with him. “Remember what I told you about giving new pony friends their space?”
“That I need to get their permission before I can start moving them of my volition, and only to do so when the point I’m making absolutely requires it,” he muttered, grabbing me and setting me on the ground. “Because other ponies won’t be as accepting of my habits as you and the others.” He looked a little put out, but smiled at Fluttershy nonetheless.
Maybe it would end up being a mistake, but I smiled and brushed one of my hooves against his paw. “I don’t mind all that much. Just give me a little warning when you’re going to do something like that, alright?”
He grabbed my extended hoof with both his claw and his paw, shaking it vigorously. “Oh, I will, Lunar Rainbow! I just knew you would be a good friend to have!” then he snatched both Fluttershy and I up in a big hug. Fluttershy laughed in delight, but I squirmed and just tried to get down.
“Discord, why don’t we take Lunar Rainbow over to meet everypony before the Running starts?” Fluttershy murmured as he set us back down. He nodded, and they turned toward the group around the young princess. Mainly because I was enthralled by the two friendships that had already surprised me today, I fell into step with them, one on each of my sides. As we walked over to the group, I thought I felt a paw probing at my left wing through my cloak. But Discord didn’t say anything, and he withdrew his paw quickly, so I didn’t ask.
As we joined the others, everypony turned to stare at me quizzically. My wings tightened down again, and I froze mid-step. Most of my memories dealing with other ponies flooded my mind, on in particular gripping it and making me relive the experience.
“What are you planning?!” somepony screamed at me, the darkness they kept me in sustained. The spell they had cast over me blinded me and altered their voice so I couldn’t even tell if they were a mare or a stallion. It also held me in place with no ability to move anything but my head, making me feel disconnected from my body.
“I’m not!” I sobbed for about the thousandth time, shaking my head wildly. “I don’t even know if I’ve been using my real name! Please let me go!”
Then, for the first time in days—though I didn’t know how many because of the blinding spell—I felt my front left leg as my captor stomped on it and it snapped. I screamed, my sight flashed from black to white, and I stood tall, my wings flaring out.
I woke up in front of the hospital with a broken leg in need of attention and an incurable inability to trust other ponies.
“Lunar Rainbow?” that intriguing voice intruded on my memory, and I suddenly noticed Discord’s face directly in front of mine, although it was upside-down with his eyes at a level with mine. Half in reaction to the memory, and half to his proximity, I reared back and drove my forehooves forward, aiming for his face. He responded quickly, grabbing my hooves just before they would have hit. “Oh, my dear, you seem so tense!” he cried, lifting me up by the hooves he was holding. “What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing,” I mumbled, breathing hard and squirming in his grasp. “Put me down now, pleas.” He frowned at me for a moment, but then all four of my hooves were on the ground.
“You alright, Sugar cube?” the orange-colored mare asked, reaching one hoof out toward me. I started and scrambled back before taking a deep breath and smiling.
“I’m fine. Just…” I paused for another breath. “I’m just not used to interacting with other ponies. I haven’t spoken to anypony for at least a month now.”
“Really?” the lavender-colored princess asked, able to look directly in my eyes because her height was almost—but not quite—a match for my own. “How do you manage that?”
“Basic self-sufficiency. I don’t need to leave my home so…I don’t.” Then I thought of something. “Although, I always visit Sweet Apple Acres to stock up on cider before winter hits.”
“Ah thought ah recognized that cloak!” the orange mare exclaimed, pointing her hoof at me. “You usually have the hood up when you come to the farm, else ah woulda greeted ya when ya first got here. Ah’m Applejack.”
She still held her hoof out toward me, so I lifted my own midnight blue hoof and shook it. “I’m Lunar Rainbow. It’s a pleasure to properly meet you.”
“WAIT!” the pink one cried, jumping in front of me as I dropped my hoof again. “If you don’t leave your house, then you don’t have any friends! And if you don’t have any friends, who takes the time to make you smile?!”
“Well, nopony has to.” I stepped back a bit. I knew this pony from the fact that her parties tended to end up visible from my tower. “You’re Pinkie Pie, right? Whenever I venture into Ponyville, it seems like everypony is gushing about your parties.” She nodded and opened her mouth to say something more, but then the snowy white unicorn spotted my cloak.
“Oh, dear Celestia!” she gasped, rushing toward me. “You can’t honestly expect me to believe you go about in this…thing all the time! I haven’t seen this style in at least three years—and for good reason!”
Slightly startled, I looked down at my cloak for a moment. The style was rather bulky, but she had no way of knowing the reason I had chosen it. Hay, that was the reason I had chosen it. “I suppose I’m not very fashionable, because I do prefer this style to the more recent, frivolous ones.”
The unicorn gasped again, looking horrified, and we heard boisterous laughter coming from overhead, mingled with a laugh I instantly recognized as Discord’s. I looked up and saw the rainbow-mane pegasus I’d heard of and wondered about a lot.
“Rarity, your reactions are hilarious!” Rainbow Dash kept giggling as she landed next to me, her foreleg going around my neck companionably. “Some ponies just value function over fashion, right Lunar Rainbow?” I nodded, wondering again if the two of us might be related somehow.
“You two look like you could be sisters,” Princess Twilight said, pointing her hoof at the two of us. “It’s like looking at day and night.” And I knew what she meant. Not only was my coat a dark version of Rainbow Dash’s blue coat, but my mane was also colored in a night-time version of her rainbow mane. Of course, my mane was styled in a more feminine manner. “Are you two related at all?”
I looked at Rainbow Dash hopefully, but she shook her head. “I don’t remember ever having a unicorn relative. We do look similar, though.” I felt my hopeful expression crumble and sighed. Well, it’s not like I've ever needed family before, I thought.
“Ah reckon we oughta get in place ‘fore the Runnin’ starts without us,” Applejack said after a pause, heading over to the group gathered behind the starting line. Rainbow Dash flew over and stood next to her, but as I moved to join them, the princess spoke up again.
“Don’t you want to take your cloak off?” she asked.
“Not a chance, Princess.”



I ended up getting third place in the race. It was partially because of Rainbow Dash and Applejack asking about my cloak and me trying to get away from the questions. As the officials, with Princess Twilight, put the medal around my neck, I was still breathing hard.
Then, as I was calming down, Princesses Celestia and Luna appeared before us, having flown down from Canterlot for the event. Both of them looked down at me curiously, seeming to wonder at a simple unicorn being taller than even the smallest alicorn princess. I somehow ended up looking directly into Princess Luna’s confused eyes for a moment. And, without consciously deciding to, I bowed low. Princess Celestia’s light chuckle brought me back to my mind, my cheeks turning red as I stood straight.
Everything was a blur after that. Being asked to visit Ponyville the next day by the six mares trying to gain my trust… Discord playing around in my mane for…some reason… All a vague blur until I was back in my tower, looking in the mirror and pulling the blue rose out of my mane, which swished back down to cover my right eye, as usual.
Then my sight flashed white.
And I woke up on my balcony as the sun was raised by Celestia.