The Pony Version’s Better
Maiden in the Moon part 2
Dear Tania Sparks,
I respect your decision to return to your family, but can not help requesting you to reconsider. I understand wanting to be closer to those whom you love, it is something I try to teach daily. However, I do not believe that the issue is with your family at home, but with the one here. Your continuing education with me has kept you from your social education with those around you, and I will take the blame for allowing this to happen. Perhaps this is why you were affected so deeply when you found yourself unable to reach out to others. One mistake does not equal failure, my dear student, you know this. I believe that if you stay and learn a little less about what is written on paper, and more about what is heard and felt, perhaps you would be given another chance, and grow because of it. Learning comes especially from what you do not know. You already know your family loves you, and that I care deeply for you as well. If you care for others as you do us, they will not be able to help but see this love in you and will want to experience it more fully. If you do not try this yourself, you might find yourself missing others’ love when they try to reach out themselves. Friends are hard to make, and even harder to keep. If someone is willing to go out of their way to become one, then it is a special gift. Dear Tania, there will be one day when you will have to depend on such people and it will come when you least expect it. I hope that wherever you choose to go, you will prepare for such a day. Keep well, and keep learning in all you do.
Your Beloved Teacher,
Princess Tia Solace
Chapter 1
Applejack lost her grip as the mist dissipated from where the woman masquerading as Nightmare Moon had once stood. Now free, Rainbow Dash followed the mist’s trail into convention hall’s lobby and out into the night. She would find no one out there. Tania knew that the mist was a red herring to distract them. The tall lady clad in black, the rebel’s spoke person who dressed as a hundred year old radical, had been a distraction as well. Likely enough, the rebels would have taken their monarch, Princess Solace, captive while the tall lady was putting on her show. But now the speech was over, and that meant the time to find them had passed. And Tania had stood there uselessly. They had gotten away.
Maybe. It wasn’t as if the woman representing Nightmare Moon could have flown off her balcony. There was only one way off it. Tania regained her composure and ran towards the back staircase. In the lavish back hallway, she nearly ran into a shaken Rarity who was exiting the stairway. Rarity had been stuck on the balcony with Nightmare Moon during the entire performance. Tania looked at the fashionista questioningly but Rarity shook her head. She hadn’t seen the strange woman on the way down. Tania whipped around and searched the hallway. There were plenty of doors, but none that led out. Her gaze fell upon a semi-lit exit sign. She ran towards a door inset into the wall on the opposite side and pushed it open. It led to another stairway down. Of course. The building was on uneven ground, so what was at ground level at the front was a story up from the back. Tania raced down the steps into the dark. She couldn’t see a thing, but was aware of a small space, maybe another hallway. She felt her way forward, one hand on the wall and the other in front of her. She questioned chancing a light, but soon saw a rectangle of dim moonlight. She pushed at the metal door that housed the small window and let her eyes adjust to the dim light of the hallway beyond it. Through the glass to her left she could see an empty banquet hall with a large windowed wall facing the grounds. She pushed open another door and entered the room. It was dim there, but by the light of the full moon she knew that the room was spotless, no one had been here. She faced the windowed wall and looked up at the moon. She didn’t need a watch to know that this was impossible. It should have been sunrise ages ago, but the stars still shone unnaturally back at her. Tania refocused her efforts and did a quick check of the wall. No doors. She retraced her steps back into the adjoining hallway and finally found a back door.
Now in the grounds she checked the area for footprints. Nothing. No tire tracks either. She ran all the way to the back of the garden and had to stop when the ground dropped off steeply into a valley. Nothing down there. She went back up to a trail. There, in the middle of the dark garden, she looked back at the moon. It seemed blurrier now. Something wet slid down her cheek.
She had never felt so alone. Princess Solace had been her protection from the world since she had been a tiny child. And with her gone, there was only this darkness. There was no one else except her, and she felt as empty and devoid of colour as the moon washed garden around her. The hopelessness began to make her feel physically sick.
No! She was not going to lose it! Not now when it mattered most! The captors had gotten away, but they were sticklers for the legends. If Tania could just learn a little more about the myth, maybe she could anticipate their next move. She brushed the tears off her face and followed the trail past the side of the building and to the front.
Everyone was gathered in front of the doors chattering nervously. A police cruiser cast its disco lights against the front of the building. The blue and red beams felt so unreal. Tania made her way into the crowd before someone could question her whereabouts. She caught sight of Spike leaning tiredly against a pillar on the opposite side. He looked exhausted and scared. Tania shouldered through the crowds. Spike’s relief upon seeing her gave her courage.
“Did you find them?” he asked hopefully while still knowing the answer.
Tania shook her head sadly. “Let’s go back.”
“Home?”
“Soon, but not yet. Just one more day, ok?”
If only there would be another day. Hand in hand, they walked back to the library.