//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Secrets in the Shadows // by Moon Solace //------------------------------// Rarity and I trotted over to a small cafe in the middle of town, it was small and simple, but it was nice. As Rarity was chatting up a storm about her latest fashion designs, I noticed a burnt up looking tree not far from the cafe. It “Hey um....Rarity, what's with that tree over there”, I pointed to the said location, Rarity stopped her rant immediately, the smile from her face was erased and replaced with an expression of pain and sorrow, her voice growing dark. “That used to be the Golden Oaks Library, it was Twilight's home and our favorite meeting spot, although recently, it's been sitting there, a blemish to this town, and a grim reminder to what Tirek has done.” Woah, I didn't know her voice could become so dark, this Tirek guy must have been one evil dude. “But, that is all in the past, Twilight has a beautiful new home, a castle in fact, and now she can have more books and records than her heart can desired.” “Ugh books”, a new voice called out, “those books are for egg-heads.” I searched for the voice, I didn't see a single pony anywhere. I think that spellbook is making me hear things. “Hey buddy, up here”, the voice called once again. I looked up and saw a tuft of cloud floating right above Rarity and I. A head suddenly popped out of the cloud, revealing a light blue mare pegasus, her mane had seven different colors in it to looked like a rainbow. I'm guessing this is Rainbow Dash. “What, you've never seen a cloud this low to the ground before?” the pegasus asked. I promptly shook my head in response. “I'm new here”, I replied, although I wasn't looking at the cloud, I thought I've seen her somewhere before but I can't put my hoof on it. Rainbow Dash jumped off the cloud and gave it a good kick to have it dissipate into thin air. “Name's Rainbow Dash.” So called it. “I'm the weather manager here in Ponyville, although while I'm not doing weather jobs, I'm in the sky, training to become the best Wonderbolt there is....” “What's wrong with books?” I interrupted her, not very polite if she tries and gets off topic. “Well duh, books are for egg heads, like Twilight.” “If I remember correctly Rainbow Dash darling”, Rarity smirked, “don't you read books as well, which means you are calling yourself an egg-head too.” Rainbow Dash blushes, I don't think she likes the fact that she was embarrassed in front of me, but it could be the fact she just got told by Rarity. “I mean books made for egg-heads, I read awesome and action-packed books, like Daring Do.” Oh, a fan of Daring, I have a friend who would love to meet you. “You must be the one Princess Twilight was talking about”, I didn't exactly imagined her to be an athlete, although it is encouraging to see ponies like this enjoy a good read. “Twilight mentioned me? Not exactly surprising since I'm so awesome.” “Actually, she said nothing about you being awesome.” The look on Rainbow's face was.... priceless. I couldn't help but laugh, falling over in my small mushroom chair as I almost cried in laughter from her reaction, even Rarity chuckled some as well. Lunch was pretty short, although quite boastful since most of the conversation was Rainbow Dash yammering on about her great feats of action. She also mentioned something called a Sonic Rainboom. “I've heard of a Sonic Rainboom before, but I've never actually seen one”, I mentioned. “Well then......um, what's your name?” “Moon Solace”, I replied. “Well then Solace”, Rainbow said confidently, “you're about to see one.” Rarity chimed in, “I need to go get a order filled so I'll see you two later.” “See you later Rarity”, I waved to the white unicorn, whom returned the fare-well. Rainbow Dash and I walked along the path towards a huge field, the Everfree loomed in the background, it's mysterious vibe emanated like radiation. I decided to strike up a conversation and told her about my life in Canterlot, the fanmares, the inattentive parents, my magic studies, she just hovered above me, listening. And for some reason, I trusted her, she didn't geek out about the fact my parents are so close to the princesses, I simply continued about how things came to be, and how I got here. “Hey Rainbow Dash, what is Ponyville like exactly, Celestia didn't give me an actual tour of the town, and her description was a bit vague.” “It's a nice town, small, quiet, and simple. Although it's had it's own fair share of catastrophes and mishaps. Other than that, it's a great place to live and full of friendly ponies, why do you ask?” “I was thinking of coming here more often, maybe even live here. It's not exactly fun to live in a big house with nothing to do as fanmares attempt to break in and wreck the place.” “So, a place of escape?” I nodded. “I understand about ponies hurting you, but you need to be loyal to your parents, they might be total jerks, but you can't turn your back on them. They might know more than you think.” Not exactly the answer I was expecting, in fact, that was pretty wise coming from a pony who was pretty boastful, I guess she's not always like that. She's right though, I need to be more loyal to them. “Ok then, I promise that I'll be more considerate and loyal to my family.” “You need to Pinkie Promise.” “What's that?” I asked, Monocle said that before while he did a little dance, but I didn't understood it. “It's a promise to a friend that you can never break, and losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.” Suddenly we heard off in the distance, it was faint but I could hear it, “ForEVERRrrrrrrrrr.....” I mimicked the ritual that I saw Monocle do along with the chant, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, that I will stay more loyal to my parents, and I shall put this promise in risk of losing your trust.” “Why me?” “Honestly, I have no idea.” I responded as I shrugged, “It's some gut feeling I have, you seem like a good pony, and one who knows much about not letting people down.” I looked at the color mare with a sheepish and slightly embarrassed grin, in return Rainbow Dash smiled back, bold and confident. “Well, I promised a Sonic Rainboom and you're going to get one.” Rainbow Dash bolted into the sky, a rainbow colored trail behind her as she got to her peak and began plummeting to the ground with great force, the air around her front hoof was forming the barrier she needed to break. Faster and faster she flew as the barrier tried as hard as it could to repel the mare's speed until it finally gave up. I didn't care if I was deaf for a few moments, I didn't care if my ears were bleeding, for Tartarus' name I didn't care about anything that happened around me. I was focused on the most amazing, beautiful, and inspirational thing I've ever seen, a Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow Dash returned right next to my side and said something, but I could hear her, I was deaf at the time so of course I couldn't hear her. What have I been missing? Living in a virtually colorless home where everything is adorn in white marble or dark ebony or obsidian, who knew something like this exsisted. I stood there, watching the display of color until it finally dissipated into thin air. I don't know how, but something about that blast reminded me of something, everything felt familiar, even though I can't remember where or how. “Hey, Moon Solace!” Rainbow Dash was screaming in my ear, it was still ringing a bit, but I could hear her now. “Sorry, I forgot to cover my ears.” I rubbed the back of my neck as I chuckled. Rainbow rolled her eyes. I looked over at the town and saw Celestia waving, suggesting it was time to go back to Canterlot. Looks like she had somepony send for her coach since it was in the background. I waved back and nodded, it was getting late and I needed to get home before dinner or my parents would kill me. “Hey, thanks for comin' to Ponyville, it's good to meet new ponies who aren't like the others here.” “Not a problem Rainbow it was fun hanging out with you and Rarity, and thanks for showing me the Rainboom, it was certainly life changing.” I trotted over to the Princess and gave a short bow, she smiled as she motioned me to hop into the chariot so we could get home. Celestia entered the carriage across from me and requested them to take us to my home first. “So Moon Solace, how was your day in Ponyville?” I looked below as I saw Rainbow, waving good-bye with a big grin on her face. “It was life changing. I wasn't able to see Derpy though, and now that I learn another new spell that's not so energy consuming, I might be able to go back tomorrow and find her.” “That is very good to hear, did you learn anything about friendship?” I looked at Princess Celestia in confusion, “'Learn anything about friendship'?” “When my former student arrived in Ponyville for the first time, she met five ponies that displayed the true meaning of friendship, with a spark of magic, they became the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and returned my beloved sister to me.” “If I learned anything from my visit princess, I learned that friends can come from places that you could never expect. From being boastful yet loyal, to being high strung yet generous. You can never exactly find out where your friends can come from.” The Princess nodded in approval, proud I learned something. “And I learned about the sacred Pinkie Promise.” I laugh, recalling the silly ritual of the soul-bound promise. “Oh, I see you learned about that, did you make a promise to somepony?” “Yea, I promised to be more loyal to my parents to Rainbow Dash.” “Rainbow Dash is a good pony to promise something to, she bears the Element of Loyalty.” Celestia looked to the castle on the mountain-side, lost in thought. “The Element of Loyalty.....” I said. The princess dropped me off on the balcony of my room, I turned and waved good-bye as she flew back to the castle. I took a deep breath as I strolled into my room with a big smile on my face, I've never been so happy in so long it felt unnatural, but it wasn't, I had the most amazing day in my life, I met a kind unicorn who is very generous, and a pegasus who is fun, silly, and as loyal as a soldier to their ruler, she was somepony who knew how to live life. Monocle knocked on the door as he walked in, “Young master Solace, it is good to see that you have returned, how was your day?” “Amazing, I've never felt so alive.” I used my new spell to levitate my new saddlebags off of myself and set them onto my bed, seems the spell has been getting easier to use, it just came to me where the spell should be and how to balance the magic so that the spell doesn't lose it's grip, although I still needed to focus on keeping the spell in check some-what. “I see you learned how to use the levitation spell, and you've certainly got some practice in.” Monocle grabbed his eye-ware and cleaned it some before returning it to it's previous location. “Thanks Monocle, my friend Rarity taught me a few tricks about how to balance the amount of magic going into the spell, although I still need practice since I can only carry small or decent size objects, not to mention that I can only carry one thing at a time.” “Well, I hope you can improve on your new found skills young master Solace. In the meantime, I suggest you go see Chef Skillet, he's been worried about you all day sir.” I thanked Monocle for the suggestion and trotted off towards the kitchen, I bet Skillet was chomping on his hooves most of the time, he's like a body guard that cares about his client so much that, if he allows the person to be gone for too long, they become an absolute wreck. “Hey there.....” I was about to finish my sentence before I was attacked by a huge bear hug from Skillet, something tells me he was happy to even hear my voice. “Solace me boy, you made it back!” his embrace was starting to crush my lungs, “I thought those damn mares followed you to Ponyville and I would never see you again.” “Skillet........you're........choking me.” I gagged, gasping for air. “Oops, sorry Solace”, Skillet released his death grip from me. After a few moments of much needed breathing I told him about my visit in Ponyville, I told him about meeting Rarity, the CMC, and Rainbow Dash, along with telling him about Rainbow's love for Daring Do, and the Sonic Rainboom. I even showed him the levitating spell as I grabbed a spatula and waved it about in the air. “That Rainboom you were talking about must have been a real wonder Solace.” “You have no idea, I've never seen so much color in one place in my life, swear I saw the entire color spectrum in the few moments of the blast.” I was bouncing about the room in pure joy. “Haha”, Skillet laughed seeing me acting so silly, “maybe I'll try something to make something based off your description.” I turned and raised an eye brow, “A dish inspired by the rainbow? I don't know about the idea of being able to taste the rainbow Skillet, seems a bit weird.” “I shall make something personally for you my boy, I'll even make it something of a surprise.” “Ok Skillet, just don't go over board, you know how I am.” Skillet gave a salute as he ran off to get the items for this “surprise dish” of his. I was walking down the hall towards my bedroom as I passed the grandfather clock with it's dark oaky color. I stared at the clock for a few moments reading the time. “Mom and Dad should be home by now.” I muttered to myself. Suddenly, my ears picked up on what sounded like the front door opening. I sprinted to the main hall, hoping my parents finally decided to come home on time. I reached the staircase and saw I was wrong, standing there was Monocle and....Derpy! “Hey Derpy, what are you doing here?” I asked, I haven't sent for a package so she shouldn't be here. “I heard that a new pony came into town with the princess, so I thought it was you. When I got to the town hall No pony else was there except Princess Celestia and Mayor Mare.” I chuckled a bit before I explained, “It was me actually, although I was only with the princess until we made it to town square, from there I just walked around and met some new ponies.” “Well I met a white unicorn that went by Rarity, and a blue pegasus that called herself Rainbow Dash.” “I know Rainbow Dash sort of, I kinda destroyed Town Hall after I was bouncing on a thunder cloud, I just don't know what went wrong there.” Derpy shrugged. “Well for one, you shouldn't bounce on a cloud, especially a thunder cloud since they tend to, you know, shoot lightning.” Derpy put her hoof on the side of her face, smiling and giggling, “Makes sense there.” Once again the door opened, who I saw entering made my heart explode twice, Mom and Dad came home on time. “Mother! Father! You're home early!”, I went to embrace them in a hug until my mother caught me in her magic. “Solace, who is this?” mother said looking at my derpy friend. My heart dropped like a rock, this is not going to end well. “Well Solace?” my father followed up, “Care to explain?” “This is Ditzy Do, and before you say anything, no, she isn't related to Daring Do, she's the mailmare that brings the packages here. She's my first friend who's outside of Canterlot, heck, outside of this mansion.” My father glared at me, “You allow a retarded pegasus to deliver our packages? Are you mad?” Shock entered both me and Derpy's eyes, did my dad just call somepony retarded? Ok, that is a bit out of line there. But I can't break my Pinkie Promise, never ever. I need to find a way to convince them that Derpy is as good as any other pony. “Dad, she isn't retarded......” “Then what is she then? Mutated? Altered?” “I apologize sir, I was just leaving”, Derpy walked past me, I saw a tear in her eye as she looked at me and whispered something to me. “I'll see you tomorrow with RD.” Then she turned to my father's glaring eye. “I do not want to see you in this house hold ever again.” “yes sir” she whispered as she slowly walked outside and took off in a flash. Then as my father returned his gaze of death back to me. “I don't know where you got the idea of letting a pony who is so....different, than the rest of us, that you allowed her to bring our mail and actually became friends with her. HOW DARE YOU.” I hung my head, I couldn't say a word about who Derpy is to him. If I did, then I'd break my promise, and breaking a promise is the fastest way to lose a friend's trust, and losing a friends trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.......forever. “I'm going to my room”, I trudged up the stairs onto the second level, I swiveled my ears, hearing my parents talking. “Do you think that was a good choice darling?” Mom asked, she sounded a bit worried, “We just got rid of his first real friend, probably forever. And Solace looked like he was going to explain everything before you interrupted him.” Wait, since when did Mom start caring about me? “I could care less about his opinion, think honey. What will happen if he left this place? What will happen is he learned what his cutie mark meant? I don't want to lose our son, he's too young to understand the family secrets.” Wait a second, Dad cares about me too? “Yes, but we're going to need to let him go someday, you know we can't keep him here forever.” “I know, but not today, or someday soon for that matter. I think our son is hiding something and I want to know what. I need you to stay home tomorrow and when Solace leaves his room to go see the chef, I need you to search his room for anything that would make him crave adventure.” I think it's time to put my two new spells to the test tomorrow.