//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: 2,500 years ago, The Young Fillies // Story: The Silver Pony Slippers // by Nocturn Dreamwrite //------------------------------// Chapter 1: 2,500 years ago, The Young Fillies One day, as Lauren was preparing lunch for herself and her two daughters, Celestia bounded into the room with the biggest smile. She rushed up to the table, and nearly upset it shouting, “Mother, Mother, Look what I found!” “Celestia calm down,” said Lauren, “Take a breath first.” Celestia did so, but she was still excited. “Look at this”, she said as she put an unusual yellow and orange object on the table. Lauren peered at the object, and Luna came over to see herself. “What kind of rock is it mother?”, asked Celestia. “I found it on the ground close by the forest.” “It isn’t a rock,” said Lauren as she examined it with her hooves. “It’s an egg, a phoenix egg.” Celestia and Luna’s eyes popped wide open. “What’s a phoenix?” they asked in unison. “Well a phoenix is a wonderful bird with bright feathers that seem to be on fire,” said Lauren. They are very cleaver birds, and they sometimes like to pull practical jokes on unsuspecting creatures, but they are nice creatures overall.” “Wow” said Celestia, “Can I keep it when it hatches? Mother? Please?”, as she put on her cutest face. “Well I suppose so.” Said Lauren, “But if its parents don’t come looking for it, then it’s your responsibility.” “Yes, mother I will,” said Celestia. “Can I help?”, asked Luna. “Of course you can,” said Lauren, “Now make sure you put the egg in a nice, safe place so it can stay warm and not break.” Celestia hurried away with her treasure with Luna right behind. Weeks went by, and Celestia and Luna made sure they took the best care of the egg. Then one morning, Celestia woke to a strange cracking sound. She looked up to see the egg beginning to hatch. “Luna,” she whispered to wake her sister up, “come here, it’s time.” Luna rolled over on her bed, the suddenly sprang to Celestia’s side when she heard the cracking sound too. “It’s hatching, It’s hatching,” said Celestia excitedly. Both ponies watched closely, their excitement growing every second. The suddenly the Egg burst open with a crack. Celestia and Luna both looked away to avoid the shell’s burst then back again to see a cute, little yellow, and orange bird were the egg had been. The baby phoenix opened her eyes and looked straight at Celestia. Then she gave a little chirp. “Oh, she’s so cute,” said Celestia. “I’ll name her Philo-…Philo-…” She paused, thinking. “Philo- what?”, asked Luna. “Philomena” said Celestia a last. “Philomena” repeated Luna, “that’s a good name. By now, Lauren was awake and looking over the fillies’ shoulders. “Well now, Celestia”, said Lauren, “You and Luna have done a good job, but now you must feed her. Taking care of a live creature is a lot harder than taking care of an egg.” “Yes mother, I will mother, I’ll take care of everything,” said Celestia happily. “I’ll help too,” said Luna. Again week’s passed, and Philomena grew bigger and stronger with Celestia and Luna’s nourishment. In time she even figured out on her own how to fly, but always came back to Celestia. This was something that Lauren, Celestia, and Luna began to notice. Although both fillies had taken care of her, it was clear that Philomena showed much more affection to Celestia rather than Luna. Luna began to feel left out. One day, while Celestia was playing with Philomena out side, Luna walked into the house to talk to Lauren. “Mother,” said Luna sadly, “Philomena doesn’t like me.” “Yes she does,” said Lauren, “She’s just around Celestia so much, because she believes that Celestia is her mother.” “But Celestia now has a pet and I don’t,” said Luna. “I want a pet of my own.” Lauren stopped sewing the blanket that she was working on, and turned to face Luna. “Now Luna,” said Lauren kindly, “Philomena may be Celestia’s pet, but she does like you, and you can still play with her.” “But mother,” continued Luna, “I want a pet too!” “Luna”, replied Lauren, “Getting a pet is just like getting your cutie mark. It will come in time if you really want it, but you must be patient. You can’t just grab any creature and say it’s your pet.” “But Celestia got a pet easily,” said Luna. “Actually she didn’t,” replied Lauren. “Ever since she hatched, Philomena and Celestia have come to accept one another. Philomena could have left the moment she learned how to fly, but she stayed because she accepted Celestia as her owner and friend. Do you understand Luna?” “Yes,” said Luna “I understand, but I still want a pet of my very own,” she persisted. “If you really want a pet, then one day you can be sure it will come to you,” said Lauren. “Now go on and play outside.” Luna turned away and began walking toward the door. Then she suddenly turned back. “So if I wait long enough for a pet, it will come to me?” she asked. “Yes”, replied Lauren. “Then I’ll do just that,” said Luna, and she ran quickly outside. “I wonder what she meant by that,” said Lauren to herself after Luna was gone. Outside, Luna found a comfortable spot to sit, and there she stayed for the rest of the day. Celestia noticed her and walked over with Philomena on her back to ask her what she was doing. “Mother said that if I wait long enough for a pet, it will come to me,” said Luna happily with a beaming smile.” “Uh, Luna,” said Celestia, “I don’t think it works quite like that.”, as she pondered her mother’s words and how Luna was interpreting them. “Yes it will,” said Luna determinedly, “you’ll see I’ll have my own pet any minute now.” “All right,” said Celestia “but don’t be disappointed.” “I won’t,” said Luna, “This is sure to work.” Luna stayed where she was until it was dark, and still no pet had come. She did the same thing for most of the next day, and the next and the next, for a whole week but still no pet arrived. At the end of each day Luna felt more and more discouraged. Finally at the end of the seventh day, she walked back to the house for dinner defeated. She barely ate anything that night, and went to bed without a word. The next morning she sat sadly at the table. A small tear came into her eye. Lauren noticed, and tried to help. “Luna,” Lauren began, “why don’t we find a cave we haven’t explored yet, and have some fun today? What do you think?” “I think maybe the animals don’t like me,” said Luna beginning to cry. “That’s not true Luna,” said Celestia trying to help, “I’ve seen you with animals and they like you, you just have to wait for the right one to come one day and be your pet.” “That’s right,” said Lauren, “Just give it a little time. I’ll happen.” “I’m not so sure,” said Luna and she slowly walk away from the table and out the door. “I wish we could help her,” said Celestia. Lauren was already deep in thought thinking the same thing. She wanted to Luna to be her happy self again. But “how?” was the question. Then she remembered the old wooden chest by her bed and what was in it “Maybe I can,” said Lauren. And she walked back to the bedroom. Later that night when Lauren called for Celestia and Luna to come in for dinner, she asked Luna to follow her back to the bedroom.” “Why?” asked Luna. “I want to show you something,” said Lauren. Luna did as she was told. When she was standing in the bedroom, Luna froze in her own tracks. Lauren was opening the wooden chest. Celestia and Luna both knew that they were never allowed to open the chest ever. It was one of the biggest rules of the house. Luna didn’t want to see what was inside and get in trouble so she looked away. “It’s alright Luna,” said Lauren “you can look.” Luna looked to see that Lauren had shut the chest again. In front of Lauren there was a folded cloth on the floor. “What’s that?” asked Luna curiously. “Come here,” said Lauren, “I’ll show you.” Luna walked cautiously over, then laid down on the ground beside her mother. Using her magic, Lauren unfolded the cloth until the contents were revealed. Inside was a set of four silver pony slippers. Luna had never seen anything so beautiful before. As long as she could remember, she, her sister, and her mother had always walked bare-hoof, so she did not no what exactly she was looking at. “What are they mother?” Luna asked. “These are my silver pony slippers,” said Lauren. They’re shoes that can be worn on your hooves, and are easy to slip on and off. Lauren demonstrated for Luna by putting the slippers on her hooves and then walked once around the room. The slippers sparkled on her hooves. Luna’s eyes were wide with wonder again upon learning something. “They look wonderful Mother,” said Luna. “That’s not all though” said Lauren. “These slippers are magical. When I’m wearing them, if make a good, reasonable wish, by saying ‘I wish’ first, my slippers will make it so. “Wow,” said Luna, “can they do anything?” “No”, said Lauren, “If I made a wish that would hurt someone else, or wish that was unreasonable it would not happen even if I said ‘I wish’.” Lauren then took off her slippers and placed in front of Luna. “Now Luna, I want you to try them on yourself,” said Lauren. “But won’t they be too big for me mother?” asked Luna. “Go ahead Luna,” said Lauren, “and wait and see”. Luna walked cautiously up to the silver horse slippers. They still seemed much too big for her. But as she slid her left fore-hoof into the first one, she was surprised to see it shrink until it was exactly her size. She then tried another on her right fore-hoof, and then the other two on her hind-hooves. They did the same as the first. Luna looked down at the silver pony slippers, then tried them out by walking around the room the same way her mother had done. They didn’t sparkle, as they had done for Lauren, but Luna wasn’t thinking about that. A smile appeared on her face. “Do you like them?” asked Lauren. “Yes,” said Luna, “their very beautiful, and comfortable.” “I’m glad to hear that,” Said Lauren, “Because they’re yours.” “Oh mother,” said Luna humbly, “I can’t do that, they’re your slippers.” “No,” replied Lauren, “From this day forth I give my slippers to you. They are yours to have, and to wear, and use whenever you wish. Also, the slippers always sparkle when their owner is wearing them.” Luna looked down and noticed that the silver pony slippers were now sparkling on her hooves. “Really, mother!” said Luna, “Thank you! So that means if I make a good reasonable wish, they will make it come true?” “Yes,” said Lauren “They will. But use them wisely, and never lose them.” “Yes Mother,” said Luna “I’ll be careful. Thank you so much! I love you mother!” With that Luna wrapped her fore-legs around Lauren neck for a hung. “And not just for the slippers,” said Luna laughing. “I know”, said Lauren “I love you too. It makes me very happy to hear you say that.” And it truly did, every time Lauren heard her daughters tell her that they loved her, and especially now since she had succeeded in making her little filly Luna happy again. Her idea had worked. From then on, Luna was her happy self again. She wore her silver pony slippers all the time, except when she slept and when she had to take a bath. Luna was proud of her slippers. She sometimes jokingly teased Celestia about them, after all Celestia had a pet, while she had magic slippers, but she never became conceited over them. Luna even came up with a new game in which Celestia would try to get Luna’s slippers. At first Luna made quite a lot of wishes to see what would happen, most of them came true, but Luna quickly found the wisdom that she didn’t need to make a wish for everything that she or someone else did. Although still a filly, Luna had already learned how and when to use her magic, sliver pony slippers. A few years later, in Pegasopolis, a group of pegasi were conducting a few experiments on wind patterns in particular making a tornado. They had repeated this experiment several times before and so today was no different than any other. That is no different until one of the pegasi caught some dirt in his eye and fell out of line. The Pegasi tried to compensate, but they quickly discovered that they had already lost control of the tornado. It became so violent that it spat the rest of the pegasi out, and then began to move away on its own. The pegasi regrouped in preparation to take the tornado down, but then stopped when they observed that the tornado was moving toward a forested area, and not Unicornia or Earth. They decided to let the tornado “do it own thing” and it would eventually die off on its own. Elsewhere in the Everfree Forest Luna had only recently left home, wearing her silver pony slippers as usual, and was in the forest looking for nuts that she could gather up. Suddenly the wind picked up speed, and it only got faster and faster. Luna became very scared and hugged a nearby tree thinking she might be blown away. “Mother! Celestia!” she called “Help!”, but the winds blew harder and faster. Luna suddenly realized that it seemed as though someone was pulling her from behind. She glanced back to see a large funnel that looked like it was made of wind. She hugged the tree tighter, but the winds blew harder. Then suddenly she lost her grip and went flying backwards into the funnel. Luna tried to fly away from the funnel, but found that her wings were useless against the surging storm. Luna shrieked in terror and put her fore-hooves over her eyes. Then she suddenly began to feel strange. She looked down at her hind hooves just in time to see one of her beautiful silver pony slippers be blown away by the wind, and then the other. She gasped, and tried to hold one to her last two, but putting her hooves together, but then the winds flipped her upside down, and she let go. As soon as she did the winds blew her remaining silver pony slippers off. But Luna, fearing for her life, covered her eyes again thinking the end had come. Then, as suddenly as the winds had swept her up, the windy funnel suddenly spat her right out. She landed on a tree branch and hung on as she watched the funnel move away over the forest and disappear into the distance. Luna couldn’t believe what we had seen, and what she had went through. More than anything else she was surprised and thankful to be alive. Luna spread her wings and flew gently to the ground. “Was I dreaming?” Luna asked herself. It was at that moment that Luna realized that she could feel the ground beneath her hooves. She looked down at her hooves and gasped with horror. Her magic, silver pony slippers were gone. “Oh no!” shrieked Luna, “My slippers! Where did they go? How did they come off?” Then Luna remembered, “The wind, the funnel! Oh my goodness! I’ve got to get my slippers back!” Luna ran the direction she had seen the funnel go, but she couldn’t see the funnel. She then remembered her wings, and tried to catch up to the funnel flying, but she still couldn’t see it and, as fast she flew, she soon realized that there was no way she could catch it if she couldn’t even see it. Luna landed softly back on the ground. It was very clear now. Her magic, silver pony slippers were gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. Luna began to walk back towards home. She still found it hard to believe that this had actually happened. After she had gone a ways, she sat down by a big, round tree for a rest. She then began to talk to herself. “I can’t believe this has happened”, said Luna, “There must be some mistake.” She looked again at her hooves. They were still bear. “No there isn’t”, said Luna beginning to cry. “Oh, my beautiful slippers! How could I have lost them! What am I going to do without them!” Then she realized something else. Her eyes opened wide and her muscles stiffened in fear. “What is mother going to do?!”, She asked herself. “What is mother going to do to me!?”, said Luna beginning to panic. She looked wildly in all directions to see if her mother was anywhere near. She was nowhere in sight. Luna crouched down next to the tree. She was a little filly in the middle of the woods, and now she was too afraid to go home, and it was beginning to get dark. It was well into the night before Luna heard anything besides the wind or the leaves rustling. “Luna! Luna!” Someone was calling her. They were still quite a long ways away but Luna knew for certain that some pony was apparently looking for her, and they knew her name. Then she realized something else. She only knew two other ponies in the world, and they were the only two ponies that knew her name. That meant it was either Celestia or her mother. “Luna! Luna!”, came the voice again. It was nearer now, and Luna knew who it was. It was Celestia. Luna wasn’t sure what she should do. Should she go to her sister, should she stay hidden, or should she run? “Luna! Luna!”, Celestia’s voice was even closer. Luna was too afraid to do anything so she stayed crouched behind the tree. Celestia finally walked into view around some trees. She was using the magic of her horn to light her path. Luna looked up to see her sister. There were tears streaming down Celestia’s face. “Luna!”, called Celestia “Where are you? Come home! Come back to… me!” She faltered and began to cry where she stood. Luna realized that hiding hadn’t been the best idea after all. She shouldn’t be afraid of her own sister. “Celestia?”, said Luna. Celestia’s ears immediately perked up. “Luna? Luna! Where are you?”, called Celestia more frantic than ever before. “I’m here.”, Said Luna, as she lit the magic in her horn to make it glow. Celestia instantly recognized her and came rushing over. Celestia hugged Luna tighter than ever before. “Oh, Luna. I was so scared. We both were. Are you hurt? We saw the funnel and we thought…” Celestia couldn’t talk anymore. She broke out crying again. “I’m sorry” said Luna, joining her sister in tears. “No I’m sorry” said Celestia. “I should have been there when I knew something was wrong.” “No I’m sorry” repeated Luna, “I lost them.” “What?” asked Celestia. “I lost my silver pony slippers” explained Luna, “The wind took them.” “Oh, never mind about that!” said Celestia trying to stifle a laugh. “I’m so glad that you’re all right. Celestia finally recovered, and stood up. Luna stood with her. “Come on”, said Celestia, “Let’s go home.” “But what about Mother?”, asked Luna. “Mother?” asked Celestia. “What’s mother going to say when I tell her I lost them?” asked Luna looking down at her bare hooves. “Don’t worry about it,” reassured Celestia. “I’ll be all right. We split up after the storm passed to look for you.” Luna felt better and walked back toward home with her sister. Celestia and Luna were just coming out of the woods, when Lauren galloped up to them, seemingly from nowhere. “There you two are. At last,” said Lauren “I’m so glad I found you. Luna are you hurt?” “I’m… all right Mother,” said Luna “Physically,” she thought to herself. “Thank goodness,” said Lauren. “Hurry lets go in and clean you up.” The three ponies entered the house, and Lauren shut the door behind them. Celestia went to fetch some water and some towels. Lauren then began to light a fire in the chimney to warm the room up. Luna felt she could no longer keep silent about it. “Mother, I have to tell you something.”, said Luna. “What dear”, asked Lauren. “In the storm… I lost my slippers, the wind took them, and I couldn’t catch it. I’m sorry Mother!”, said Luna as she crouched down on the ground, waiting to see what her mother would do. Lauren walked over to her daughter. She towered over Luna. Luna finally looked up to see her mother’s face. To her surprise, her mother smiled, and crouched down in front of her. “It’s all right,” said Lauren. “Really Mother,” asked Luna. “You’re not angry.” “I might be a little upset,” said Lauren, but after what you’ve been through I’m not angry at all. How can I be? I was so worried about you, but you’ve come back to me. You’re here, are you’re all right. That’s all that matters to me. You and your sister.” With that Lauren pulled Luna into a big hug. Luna couldn’t help but smile. Celestia walked in just in time to be pulled into the hug as well by Lauren. Dinner that night was just a few scraps from the day before, but to the three alicorns it was like a feast. They were silent as they ate. Finally Celestia broke the silence. “It’s too bad about your slippers Luna,” Said Celestia. “I know how much you liked those shoes. “Oh well,” said Luna “Maybe it was bound to happen sooner or later.” “I’m not so sure about that,” said Lauren. “But what I am sure about is that my two daughters are safe, and that makes me happy, so I can look forward to tomorrow without worrying. Besides, the magic pony slippers always come back to whoever owns them, eventually. “They do?”, asked Luna. “Yes,” said Lauren. “Someday. Maybe not tomorrow or the day after, but you can be sure that since you own them, they will eventually find their way back to you.” Luna sat thoughtfully. “So I will get them back, but it will take some time and patience.” “That’s right” said Lauren. “Just like waiting for a pet,” continued Luna. “Just like that,” replied Lauren. All this time Philomena had been perched on top of a shelf in the corner. At that moment she suddenly flew to the table, and upon landing she picked one of her own feathers off of her wing and lightly placed it in Luna’s mane. “Thank you Philomena” said Luna. Philomena squawked cheerfully. Luna smiled. She couldn’t have been happier. She was home.