Recovery.
Spring Mist stood slack –jawed on the roof of his watchtower. His books where stored in his saddlebags, he had quills and parchment scattered about, scribbled with little notations, thoughts and discoveries. His telescope was angled towards the night sky, but its front was obscured by the dark, flowing mane belonging to a pony of considerable stature and radiance.
Princess Luna stood silently on a raised section of wall, staring at the surprised guardspony on the roof, sad eyes watching his every move. Mist finally straightened himself up only to immediately prostrate himself before the night Princess. “Oh, Your Majesty Princess Luna, please forgive me,” he said hastily. Why are you here?
“For what, pray tell?” she began, “For thine apparent disregard for the need to perform the only thing thou must whilst guarding? For looking upon our night? For failing to bow quickly enough? For what dost thou ask forgiveness?”
Mist was unsure of how to answer, a common trait when in the presence of the Princess of the Night. But he stammered out a few words nonetheless “For failing to notice you before, for intruding on your personal space, for…” the rest of his sentence was lost as he became quieter.
“Louder, guard” Princess Luna stated almost irately.
“For observing your mane,” Mist felt ridiculous for saying it, but to him, he it felt as though he had invaded the Princess’s privacy, as if seeing her in her private bedchambers asleep. It was just something that was not done, and Mist saw his own actions as a crime against Princess Luna herself.
The Princess however, seemed confused by the answer. “What dost thou mean ‘observing our mane’?”
“That was what I was looking at wasn’t it? I thought I was looking at the night sky, but the space around the stars was flowing. I was looking into your mane.” And it was beautiful. Glorious.
Princess Luna had no response, instead asking another question, “Dost thou fear us?”
Now that is a trick question. Be careful how you answer, Spring Mist. “I… I don’t…” come on, “I suppose I don’t… know?” What the hay does that mean, Mist?
“We can see that thou fear us. But is it for the power we hold? Or for the pony we are? We demand a truthful answer.”
That really is an odd question. Still, better answer it. “I suppose only for the power you hold. I don’t know you as a pony to be able to fear you. Only respect, the way I see it,” Getting a bit casual there, Mist. Remember who you are talking to. “…Your Majesty…”
Whatever it was Princess Luna was thinking, she wasn’t sharing, and she continued with her interrogation, “Why dost thou study the night sky?’
Mist felt comfortable answering that question, “It’s just always something I’ve enjoyed. I was a colt, and I remember looking into the night sky and being filled with awe. I have studied it every night since.”
“Even during your guard hours?”
She had caught him there. “Erm… yes, Your Highness.”
“Hmm. We see that thine books are stored away. What wast thou doing?”
“Oh, I was… uh… rediscovering the sky,” Mist replied. He continued, albeit sheepishly, when he saw her look of confusion, “I was pretending to be the first pony to discover the night sky, like how I felt as a colt. Seeing something new, for the first time.”
Luna flinched a bit, “Are you… bored with the night sky?” she asked meekly, showing hurt.
Mist realized the significance of his statement, “Oh, no, no, no, Your Majesty! Not at all. There is still so much to see, so much to explore. It was mere nostalgia, Your Majesty. I meant nothing by it. The night still awes me, Princess.”
Princess Luna straightened up a bit, but still looked sad, “I see,” she seemed to realize that her royal façade was slipping, and she resumed the questioning, “We still wish to know what thine cutie mark means.”
Mist cringed, vividly remembering the interview just few hours ago. “Well, as much as I could gather, a part of it is connected to my interest in the night sky and my studies. That’s the star and the moon. The only part I don’t quite understand is the shield.”
“The shield? Could we see it?”
Mist nodded and began to shrug off his barding. He began to feel oddly self-conscious in front of the Princess. She approached him as he pulled off the last of his barding. She inspected his cutie mark without a word. A few minutes passed, and Mist began to feel fairly uncomfortable.
“Um, Your Majesty? Any ideas?”
Princess Luna looked at him and stated, “Well, it has been our understanding that a shield cutie mark represents strength, steadfastness, or defense in a pony. But we would need to hear the origin of the cutie mark in order glean its possible meaning.”
What do you want from me? “Your Majesty, are you certain that you wish to hear it? Your time is very valuable I’m sure.”
“Guard, we demand that thou tell us the story,” said Luna, her voice rising.
“As you wish, Princess,” Mist said with a head bow. I haven’t thought about that day in years… Where do I begin? Mist pondered the beginning of his tale for a few moments before finally settling on a point…
***^***
It was Spring. Late afternoon. I was done with school for the day. I was walking home from Sugar Lump Confectioners after having a wonderful strawberry pastry. I remember I had scored well on a test and my parents, Summer Wind and Winter Drift, gave me some bits for a treat. Heh, I still remember old Cinnamon Roll working behind the counter. So I was walking home, feeling full and happy.
I loved to wander the marketplace back then, seeing all of the big ponies going about their daily lives, which at the time seemed so exciting to me. I so wished to be big like them.
I decided to sit on a bench in the square and watch the ponies as they ran about. I really enjoyed it. Perhaps a bit too much. I saw other fillies and colts running around, playing games with each other in and around the square, running through the streets, laughing and enjoying the company of friends.
See, I didn’t have many at that point in my life. Before that, I had several ponies I was close to, but after I discovered the night sky as something I could focus my time on, I became less and less interested in being around ponies, and it became difficult as my schedule changed – my parents saw how much I loved staying up as late as I could, and so they enrolled me in late afternoon and early evening classes at the school. I was one of the few in the class, and most ponies were there because they had to help parents or watch the home during the day: foals of blacksmiths, bakers, miners, lumberponys. But they became my new friends.
I grew apart from my day friends, some of them anyway, and gained some night friends. Now, most ponies knew me, and knew I had no real reason to be in school later in the day and up all night. The less pleasant of my peers viewed me as an oddity, something far out of the norm. A freak who liked being awake at night when a pony is supposed to be sleeping. And those ideas usually ended with me begin teased by the others. Nothing I couldn’t generally handle, but it was still irritating, and having something to fight for gives you strength.
Now, I suppose you want to hear the actual event surrounding my cutie mark’s appearance. It was that afternoon. I left the bench behind and was actually going home this time when I was once again distracted by something. I had heard a scuffle behind a building nearby. I remember peeking my head around the corner and seeing three older ponies taunting and pushing around another one close to their age. I knew the colt they were picking on. His name is Rainy Shores. He’s a guard now. His shift is just before mine. Back then, he was one of the only ponies who did not tease me or look at me with disdain, and even defended me more than once, often saying “It doesn’t matter what a pony does, but who that pony is when he does it”. He wasn’t a friend per se, but he was pleasant. Perhaps rough around the edges and a bit sarcastic, but a good pony. It seemed that the bullies were picking on him now for the very reason of not hating me. Sneers and rude remarks were thrown out as they pushed and kicked him. They insulted me, and they insulted him. They even insulted you, Your Majesty. I wouldn’t stand by as another pony was hurt because of me. I wouldn’t let them insult you.
I stepped around the corner and yelled at them to stop attacking Rainy Shores, to stop insulting you. All it did was draw their attention to the fact that I was a new victim, and the real object of their spite. The beating they gave me was like no other I had received. Kicked, pushed, thrown, spat on, insulted. As long as they left the other pony alone long enough for him to escape. But he never left. After he recovered, he assaulted on of the bullies, pushing him aside, trying to get him off me. Most of the fight is hazy, but I do remember Shores chasing one of them off while the other two continued to beat down on me. It was at that point that I lost consciousness, and the rest was related to me by Rainy Shores. The way he tells it, I had a ‘panic moment’ which resulted in a magical surge. It’s sometimes seen in unicorns that are under stress. Apparently, I trapped the two bullies in a shield and filled it with darkness, a shadow spell, I’m guessing. I apparently scared them enough that they didn’t bother me or Shores again. Shores says I yelled something, and that’s what scared them, but he never says what, claiming he doesn’t remember or it was too difficult to understand. One thing he says about it is that at some point your name came up, but that’s all he will say about that.
I then remember waking up in my bed. My mother fussed over me, Rainy Shores was in another room talking to my father. It was then when he told me what happened. My parents were concerned, but more thankful that we were both okay. Rainy Shores left some time that night, and I stayed up to watch the moonrise. I always loved that. It made me feel instantly better. It was that night that my parents gave me my very own telescope. And it was when I looked through it at the sky, remembering what had just happened, that my cutie mark appeared. Hehe, I was so excited, running all around the house yelling and bouncing. Then my par—
***^***
“—Are you alright, Your Majesty?” Mist said, stopping his story.
Princess Luna had tears streaming down her face, a look of sadness and horror etched into her features. She did not respond to his question, “I heard you were not accepted into the guard. I’m sorry.” It was barely audible, and she turned to fly off, but Mist stopped her with a question.
“Princess, why are you always so sad?”
She did not answer, only took off into the night, flying toward the castle.
Spring Mist watched until she blended so into the sky that he could no longer see her. After a few ponderous minutes, Mist returned to his telescope. Unable to pretend he was a colt again, he simply looked into the sky.
There was a sudden gust of chilly wind and Mist was reminded that he had removed his barding. He sauntered over and began to put his clothing back on. Another gust of wind blew over the tower, forcing Mist to brace himself. He shrugged at the strange weather, and continued with his stargazing.
It was a few hours from dawn when Spring Mist spotted something odd in the sky. Just left of the moon was a twinkling that Mist did not recognize. He knew the night sky, maybe not perfectly, but well enough to know that something was amiss. He pulled his telescope over and adjusted the settings. Focusing on the light, Spring Mist was hit was a stunning revelation. He pulled his books out of his bags and scanned each quickly, looking for confirmation: There was a new star in the sky. This is incredible, he thought to himself, A once in a lifetime event, if that. I need to tell somepony! He hastily took down every detail he could about the star so he could confirm his discovery.
Mist decided that he would immediately head to the astronomy tower in the academic center, first thing in the morning to report the finding to the scholars. This could be a chance for me to enter the scholars’ ranks!
Spring Mist packed away his belongings, waiting for dawn, so he could see the scholars. But before the sun rose, Mist saw more in the night sky. A rare but no longer unfamiliar event: Another meteor shower colored the sky, so like that one a few nights ago, when the sky seemed to be crying. But this one was different, the night was no longer just crying, it was weeping. Mist watched as meteor after meteor streaked through the sky, but was horrified, and awestruck for the fourth time that night, to see one of the meteors careen lower than the others and strike the ground but a few miles away. The bright flash was all but lost in the rising of the sun, but the sound of the collision carried well into the city. But Mist had seen and heard it. And he was sure many ponies had heard it too. He had another thing to report to the scholars. Today was going to be an interesting day.
What are you playing at? And why?