The Last Lunar Chapter 1: Truth In Daylight.
Ponyville in the early morning; beautiful to say the least. I hover just a few feet off the ground taking in the sweet smell of apples from Big Mac's cart, the wafting sent of baked goods from sugar cube corner, and of course my favorite smell, the sent of books blowing from Twilight's library. I know, I probably seem a bit weird for that last one, but I love books. As I land softly I'm greeted by Rarity who's just leaving her boutique. I take it she must be heading to the market from the sight of her saddlebag slung over her back. She's just as beautiful as always.
"Moon. Hello darling. Whats got you up so early?" Referring to the fact that everypony knows that I'm pretty much nocturnal. "Oh of course, heading to Fluttershy's are we?" She says playfully, making me blush. Its really no secret to our freinds, me and Fluttershy's relationship, but that's just the way I am. I don't really like the attention.
"Yes." I admit. "Has she been in town today?"
"Oh goodness no, at least, I haven't seen her. But I believe Rainbow Dash was heading that way. Earlier she stopped by and told me she needed shell wax for tank. Wants him to look good for her competition you know." I nod in response.
"Thanks Rarity, that works out. I was gona go see Dash latter anyway. And may I say, you're looking beautiful today." Commenting on her perfectly kept mane and natural beauty.
"Why thank you darling. Your looking fine your self." She responds, which I don't take as an insult. I don't try to look prettied up or anything. "Is that a new hat?" She asks nodding to the black cadet's hat adorning my head on top of my bandanna.
"Yea it is. Huh... Fluttershy got it for me."
"It looks good on you. Suits your style very well, but I think there's something missing." She thinks for a second. "Wait! I've got just the thing!" Reaching into her satchel she pulls out a black ribbon with dark blue gems and ties it around my tail. I have to admit it looks good. "There now you look fabu....." She stops remembering that I try to avoid looking.......that word. "Now you look great." Better, I guess, but I do like it.
"Thank you again Rarity."
"No problem darling. Say hi to Fluttershy for me." She calls as she trots off elegantly towards the market, no doubt to flirt with Big Mac.
I admire the simple elegance of the bow adorning my tail before continuing through to the other side of town towards Fluttershy's cottage. A few more ponies greet me and wish me a good morning. Like I said its a bit odd for them to see me out during the day. But being a minor celebrity, everypony knows me so its unavoidable, not that it bothers me much anymore. I reach Fluttershy's cottage in a few minutes. As I crest the hill I spot her and Rainbow sitting at her tea table out front talking. Rainbow Dash laughs loudly at something Fluttershy said and she covers her mouth and laughs in that silent way that melts my heart almost as fast as her shy smile. I love Rainbow to, well as a friend. We were in flight school together, though we weren't very close back then. I only knew her through my friend, and present roommate, Southern Storm. They used to be part of the group consisting of the strongest flyers and used to hangout all the time.
I think back on the old days and can still picture Rainbow leaving South in the dust, Gilda playing pranks on the both of them, and Flash Freeze telling them all they should be more serious while trying to hide his own barely suppressed laughter. And then I think of Fluttershy back then. Held back a year and still struggling to keep up with the rest of them. Rainbow helping her when she fell. And me, watching in silence and secret from far away, admiring the mare that, despite being the weakest flyer and shyest pony I've ever known, pushes onward trying and never giving up. I, my self, was not a weak flyer. I'm just terrified of heights. Yea I know pathetic. Rainbow's favorite joke is telling me I have the skills to be a Wonderbolt, if I would just get more than four feet off the ground. To which I remind her that four feet is pushing it for me. Then she just sighs and shakes her head saying me and Flutters are perfect for each other.
I shake awake from my day dream as I reach Fluttershy's front gate. She still hasn't noticed me yet as she's presently enamored by one of Rainbow's stories; a story I'm more than sure she started telling only after she saw me coming. As I close the gate Fluttershy takes notice pulling her attention away from Rainbow and turning to see me. To which I smile brightly. She tackles me in a second hugging me on the ground momentarily before remembering Rainbow and quickly getting back up with a strong blush forming on her face. I have a noticeable blush myself being kind of embarrassed by PDA, but still smiling all the same.
As I take a seat at the table Fluttershy goes inside to get another cup for me.
"Good to see ya Moonlight." Rainbow says knowing I don't like to be called by my full first name.
"You to Dashie." I say with sly smile. She laughs sarcastically before snatching my hat off my head.
"Hay give that back." I say laughing.
"In a sec." She gets serious and looks closely at the other new thing that Fluttershy gave me just four days ago.
"So I was right after all! She tried to tell me it was just an anniversary gift but I knew better." She crows loudly. The "thing" she's referring to is a silver earring with a pink gem butterfly. Fluttershy then walks out holding the extra cup and wearing a similar ring, only this one has a blue full moon with the silhouette of a quill. "You asked her didn't you?" Dash asks excitedly. Fluttershy almost drops the cup when she hears Dash's words.
"Umm, w-what do you mean?" She says trying to cover but I hold up my hoof smiling.
"Its OK. Not like we're trying to hide it. We just haven't announced it yet." Turning to Rainbow. "And no I didn't ........ she did" Dash's mouth drops open in surprise and Fluttershy tries to hide behind her mane as she reclaims her seat and pours me a cup of tea with honey. "Yea surprised me to." I reach across the table and put my hoof over hers as it starts to shake almost as much as she was when she asked me the single most important question I've ever had to answer in my life.
"She was planing to as well, I just beat her to it." Fluttershy admits brushing her hair away from the ear ring I had been carrying around for the past week waiting for the right time to ask.
Dash jumps up and hoots loudly. "Yea! Its about time!" As she lands she says in an accusing voice. "I thought you two would never get that far. Seeing as your both scared of your own shadows."
"Hay, we're not that bad." I say defending us but smiling all the same. I'd been smiling allot more lately, and I liked it. After I take a sip of Fluttershy's delicious tea I remember why I was happy Rainbow Dash was here to. "Oh! I've got an early birthday present for you Rainbow." I put my saddlebag on the table and shuffle through the stack of papers inside until I find the neatly wrapped book at the bottom and place it in front of her. "There you go."
She quickly dives onto the book and unwraps it in a flurry of paper and hooves. "NO WAY!" She exclaims holding up the newest Daring Do book, three weeks early I might add. "How in Equestria did you get this?!"
"Well I worked out a deal with A. K. Yearling. She's quite a fan of my Midnight Sun series. She gives me an early copy of Daring Do and The City of Souls and I give her and early copy of Star Shine." And for the second time today I'm tackle hugged to the ground.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, Thank you so much! I've been going crazy waiting for this one to come out!"
"Yea" I wheeze under her grip."No problem."
Fluttershy laughs and says. "Rainbow could you let her go? I don't think she can breath."
"Huh, what? Oh sure thing." Dash jumps up and hovers a few feet off the ground preparing an excuse for why she has to go when we both say in unison.
"Just go." With out another word she takes off in a dash. Then quickly turns back around to retrieve the book she's so desperate to read, but still almost forgot in her excitement.
"Dash never changes does she." I say shaking my head and watching her soar towards her cloud home.
"Nope.*Sigh,* I call her as my best mare."
"What?! But, we just became official. No fair!"
"Oh but you forget, all's fair in love and war. Heheh."
"Yea I guess so." I say pouting. "Although, South wouldn't forgive me if he didn't get to be my stallion of honor." I sigh in exasperation. "Now you've got me doing it to."
After taking a sip of her tea she asks. "Have you told him yet?"
"Not exactly. He figured it out just like Rainbow. Stupid Pegasus tradition's gonna ruin the surprise."
"I think it's incredibly romantic. Pledging your heart to somepony by giving them your cutie mark."
"Yea. My mom told me about it when I was younger. Though she said its traditionally on a necklace." I shrug and she laughs. Then I remember something else. "Where's angel?"
"Ah, yes..... angel. Well, I told him about our relationship," She pauses and rubs the back of her neck. "and he's been in a mood ever since."
"Oh, poor bunny. But I knew it would happen. That's why I came prepared." I say pulling out the basket I had hidden under my wing when I walked over. "A basket of Carrot Top's Prize winning carrots."
"Heh, You must have been up petty early to get those."
"Early...... yea, I guess." I stand up and walk to the door before turning around. "Actually I haven't slept since yesterday morning." And to Fluttershy's reproachful look. "I'm fine. I'm gonna go find Angel."
"He's probably in his favorite spot on the couch." She calls as I walk into her cozy home. I see Angel sitting with an angry look that falters for a half second upon seeing me. I'm one of the few ponies Angel gets along with besides Fluttershy. To tell you the truth, I was once a bit frightened by animals, and when I started going out with Fluttershy I was nervous around Angel. But since I'm like Fluttershy in my quiet ways and calm demeanor, he kind of gravitated to me. We've gotten along swimmingly ever since and I've gotten over the majority of my fear of animals.
"Hay Angel." I walk over and sit beside him on the couch. I see Fluttershy standing in the doorway watching silently. "I heard your none to happy with me. I don't want you to think I'm taking Fluttershy away from you. I love her allot and she loves me, and we want to be together and...... I love you too." His ears perk up a bit. "I may have been a bit scared of you at first but now your like my child, just like your Fluttershy's, and I don't want to hurt you just as much as I never want to hurt her. So I just want to know if all this is OK with you." I say not feeling even a little strange asking a bunny for his blessing. It was all true after all. He looks at me critically for a moment before jumping into my hooves and hugging me as to say, 'All is forgiven, I love you to'. I see tears forming in Fluttershy's eyes as she walks over and sits with us. "Hay, I have a surprise for you my little bunbun." Pulling out the basket of carrots his eyes widen and he jumps strait into the bushel with a grin.
Fluttershy pecks me on the cheek and whispers "I love you."
I answer, "I love you to, forever."
After a few minutes of sitting in silence with her I fall asleep, exhausted from having stayed up all night, again. The smile on my face stays as I dream about my life to come with that beautiful mare of mine.
.......
I awaken later as the sky darkens into night. At first I don't know where I am, but after a second my eyes adjust and I recognize Fluttershy's room. I'm lying in Fluttershy's soft bed, tucked under her blanket. I reach over for her but shes surprisingly absent. After a moment of panic I get up and look out the rear facing window. She's lying on her butterfly couch looking up at the stars. I laugh at my self a few seconds prior and head outside to join her. Nether one of us says a word as I slip onto the comfy sofa beside her. We gaze up at the beautiful night sky for a few minutes before she speaks.
"You sleep well?"
"Yea. Sorry for drifting off like that." I say sheepishly.
"Oh it's nothing." She says quietly. "I like to watch you sleep. You don't look so worried when your sleeping."
"I'm not worried." I say defensively and she turns to give me a look. "OK..... I'm a little worried. Not about us." I say quickly. "I don't really know what I'm worried about." I lie. I can tell she knows I am but she doesn't say anything.
"I'm kind of scared." She whispers to low for most to hear but my practiced ear picks it up loud and clear.
I reach over and take her hoof in mine. "Me too." I whisper back. We lay there for a while longer before she speaks up again. She's always been allot more vocal around me, and I around her, now that I think about it.
"Why did your parents name you Moonlight Prism?"
The question catches me a little off guard and I stammer to answer. "I-I never told you before?" She shakes her head. "Well..... my mother gave birth to me under a full moon, and the way that she used to tell it....." I stop for a second to wipe my eyes which started tearing up at the thought of my mom. "....when she held me, I glowed like a crystal in the moon's light. My father, being the poet he is," I say with a wisp of sarcasm, "named me immediately Moonlight Prism." I laugh slightly. "He says he just wanted to give me something magical, since I wasn't a unicorn like him."
"You do glow in the moonlight." She says giggling and turning to me."You look more alive, happier, during the night than the day."
"Yea. I've always been like that. The happier at night not the glowing. I don't see it." She falls silent again as she turns back to the stars.
"Why don't you like your name? When Dash said it today you kind of snapped at her." In this situation snapped meaning by our standards of course.
After a pause I answer. "Well it's just.......I kind of.......I don't really........ It just feels weird some times to hear it. No one calls me Moonlight any more."
"Sorry if I'm being nosy." She apologies.
"No no, not at all. I want you to know everything about me. Anything you ask I'll answer, if I can. Hehe. Just none of that 'whats the meaning of life' stuff OK?" Yea, I know. I just lied to her and now I'm offering to tell her anything. Guess I'm just trying to suck up a bit.
"Yea OK." After a long pause." Wh................Why do you love me?"
I'm silent for a long while thinking. She stiffens next to me which twists my heart into a knot. "It's not easy to put into words.......... but I'll try....... I love you because......" I take a breath and let out all my fears. "Because I always have." She turns to look at me as I stare up at the sky and continue slowly. "Ever since flight school, when I watched you struggling to keep up with the other pegasi...... Your silent determination, your shy bravery, and your unwavering kindness to others just mesmerized me............... You were my hero, you still are my hero. Your so much braver than me.......... Even in flight school I was the one on the ground and you were still trying, still pushing your self even thought I saw it was hurting you........... I've never met another pony as special as you, I don't think there is one. No I know there isn't one." Her foreleg tightens around mine but I cant stop, not now. "Your my inspiration, the center of my world.............. Your the reason I'm where I am today." I'm now openly crying and my voice is cracking slightly and I hate it, but it feels so good. I feel her shake next to me. ".........Do you remember the last day of flight school?" I feel her nod. "That little note that you found in your locker, the one on the black paper, written in white ink."
"That was from you." she says in that whisper of hers.
"Yea.............. Your light can lead the blind through the day, and comfort the sad in the night. Never let anypony tell you you're not special. Follow your dreams, for in mine, one day, I hope to find you. Your secret somepony."
She turns over and hugs me tightly, kissing me quickly before pulling away. "I always knew it was you." She kisses me again and I return it with vigor. After a while she pulls away again and lays her head on my shoulder. "I watched you to you know." She begins quietly. "Well you probably don't. I made sure you never saw me.......... You say you where weak, but you where my constant. Somepony who cared for me even if you never told me directly............. I could see it in your eyes........ In the way you would smile shyly when I looked at you. You were the only pony shy around me............... I didn't have many reasons to try back then, but the one I always held onto was a promise I made. One that I broke that last day." She wipes her eyes. "I told myself that if I could make it, if I could graduate, then I would finally talk to you. But after reading that letter I was to afraid that....... that maybe you were to good for me...... And I couldn't do it."
I'm appalled at us. How, without knowing, we had driven each other to succeed, and yet our own fears had almost driven us apart. "That's crab apples! If anything I should be asking if I deserve you." I say, my voice cracking. I smile and brush her mane out of her eyes.
"That day. When you finally came up to me. Do you remember how much I was shaking?" I nod not trusting my voice at the moment. "I wasn't shaking because I was scared or nervous, I was........excited. It was one of the most exciting things that's ever happened to me."
"Do you remember how much I was shaking? Hah, I WAS scared. I..." My voice fails as I knew it would but Fluttershy understands. We didn't really need to speak anymore. We'd said all we wanted.
.........
We lay there for hours enjoying each others presence. But eventually Fluttershy gives into sleep. She breaths softly next to me as I drift off a bit as well. That is, until I feel the moon's light grow brighter, signaling that she wants to speak to me. With a sigh I extract my self carefully from Fluttershy's hooves and get her a blanket from inside before setting off toward the EverFree forest. She is known for being a bit loud, and I don't want to wake Fluttershy.
As I near the edge of Fluttershy's property and the beginning of the forest I see her land. Her crown and collar are absent, as is the norm when we speak. I approach slowly and bow.
"You know, that is not necessary."
"Yes Lady Luna, but I want to." I say evenly.
"I think you know why I'm here." She looks out over Fluttershy's home, off to were I left her sleeping.
"No." She looks over to me, "Not really."
"You said you would tell her anything she wanted to know about you. Why didn't you tell her what you are. It was the best time to explain things to her." She says slightly annoyed.
I get a little angry at this and quickly respond. "What am I soposed to tell her? That the reason I'm more comfortable at night is because my mother was a descendant of a long lost Lunar kingdom. A kingdom you created in secret thousands of years ago. That I'm some kind of chosen one." I calm down a bit after my short rant and remind myself that it's not Luna's fault. "You don't even know why I bear the gifts when they've been dormant for so many centuries. If you don't understand, then how do you expect me to understand it, how do you expect her to understand it?" I lower my head, ashamed of my fears. The princess puts her wing around me, just like my mother used to.....
"I did not mean to pressure you. It just seemed like it would be easier to get it over with." Raising her head to look at one particular star she goes on. "Love has a way of making some things easier to understand,but it also has a way of complicating other things beyond recognition. I just don't want your......birth right, to interfere with your life anymore than it already does."
"I know. I just want to wait a little longer before I tell her." I drop my head and examine the ground for a while before asking in a small voice. "Ha-have you ever been in love princess?"
It seems she was expecting this but that didn't make it any less painful to hear. She clears her throat and answers. In a proud voice. "I have been married many times in my long life." Then her voice softens. "But that's not what you asked is it?.......Yes, I was in love once. "She looks down at me, tears in her eyes. "She was the only mare I ever married and the one that will always be my one and only true love."
"Lady Snow Drop. The original leader of the Lunar Empire." I say to her surprise.
"Yes, but how did you know? Her name has been lost to the ages, even to the teachings of the Lunar schools."
I step away from her a bit and after taking a long slow breath, slowly spread my wings. "All those that have achieved glory, enlightenment, and true happiness in the night are known to me." As my wings come to their full length the underside starts to sparkle with lights, much like stars, in the center of my chest a Lunar insignia appears, and my eyes change color from pink to black. These are the marks of the chosen, the marks of the Lunar blessed. Because I have them, I am able to communicate with the spirits of those Luna saw fit to immortalize as stars. "She speaks to me some times. Tells me of ages long past. And," Fresh tears stream down my face. "she tells me how proud of me my mother is."
Placing a hoof under my chin she lifts my face to hers and lays the whisper of a kiss on my forehead. "I sometimes forget how much your power has matured. I am sorry that you can not speak to her, but the laws of the night are absolute, even to those bearing the gifts."
"I understand." I answer flatly as I lower my wings and the marks fade. "So, do you have any news about why I'm..... well, why I'm here?"
Her face falls slightly. "I'm afraid not. Even the scrolls of the Night Coven, the small following that survived after my banishment to the moon, hold nothing of this in their prophecies. I am sorry."
"So the only reason you came was to reproach me?" I say sadly.
She laughs. "And to congratulate you on your engagement."
"Its not that serious......yet." I correct her, a little agitation creeping into my voice.
She laughs lightly shaking her head. "Courtship rituals are so much more drawn out now than they once were ...................... Well then." She glances off toward the house once more. "I feel Fluttershy stirring. She'll be wondering were you are. Best to hurry back to her." And with that she takes off back into the night, her night. She always was bad at farewells.