//------------------------------// // The Filly in the Night Time // Story: The Moon and the Star // by Ashura //------------------------------// Chapter 1 : The Filly in the Night Time 300 years later “Luna, It is time for you to raise the moon... Luna?” “I am coming Sister. Just allow me a moment to truly awaken.” “Very well. May your night pass peacefully. I shall see you when it is time for me to raise the sun.” Luna rolled onto her back in her bed as soft as clouds, she had actually filled her pillow and mattress with clouds that she had hoof picked. Luna levitated an apple fritter from her bedside table, they were delivered to her room every evening at her request. She new that she should eat something else then just apple fritters but the Earth Pony who made them, a certain Apple Strudel, made the best apple based treats in Equestria. After gobbling down a few more apple fritters, Luna got out of her bed and put on her armor as she had done ever since she and Celestia had defeated Discord with the Elements of Harmony. She exited through her bedroom window and went to lie on the tallest tower to get a better view of the forest surrounding their castle. As the hours passed by she saw little to report, a pack of Timberwolves running through the forest and some angry beavers trying to get through the force field that surrounded the castle that Celestia and Luna had put in place as an extra security measure. It wasn't until the moon was halfway across the night sky that Luna saw a shadow shaped like a pony standing at the edge of the woods, not moving, and seemed to be facing Luna. By the time Luna got there, the shadow was gone. The only proof that somepony had stood there was a pair of hoof prints, no hoof prints leading to or from the place. Luna discarded this fact and returned to the tower. It wasn't until the night was nearly over that Luna noticed a smaller shadow creeping through the castle courtyard. She quietly spread her wings and leaped of the tower with all the grace of an eagle, on her way to investigate, and if necessary, to strike. Double Star had had a bad day at the castle's school, all to vivid in her mind. She had nightmares every night, which is why she didn't sleep during the night and decided to go for night time strolls instead of trying to fall back asleep. The nightmare had interrupted her dreams that night as it had for the past four months. But that particular night, two things had changed. Firstly, Thunder Wing was in the nightmare, probably due to the fact that she had been teased about her lack of a cutie mark once again. Thunder Wing had gotten hers just one week ago, it was a tornado. She had been teasing Double Star non-stop since. The second difference that she noticed was a shadow in the shape of a full grown unicorn, she didn't know any unicorns so this one must have been imagined for the nightmare. Double Star forced herself to stop thinking about the dream and started to head for the door. She didn't cross anypony on the way out and once outside she trotted off quietly to her favorite place in the castle, the royal gardens. Little did she know that she was being observed... Luna soon caught up with the shadow and realized it was just a filly. She was about to return to her perch at the top of the tower, but Luna stopped, curiosity getting to the better of her. She followed Double Star as she entered the Royal Gardens and lay down in front of the garden's fountain where the two alicorn princesses were shown on their back hooves with their front hooves in the air, back-to-back. The filly stared at the fountain for a while then trotted off again. Luna followed her as she passed in front of the petrified Discord, the young pony smiled as she saw it. Luna stared at the statue for moment, wondering what could have caused the filly to smile. They passed several other statues that had been made over the centuries, depicting scenes of Pony History. The filly reached the part of the garden where the flowers were artistically placed and were watered everyday by the pegasi. Double Star walked towards one of the flower beds and layed down in the middle of it. It seemed that the little pony wasn't planning to go any further. Luna hovered high up and stared at the young filly, she suddenly made a decision. Luna fired up her horn and discretely cast a spell. Luna watched as her spell took effect and smiled. Double Star was lying peacefully in the flowers with no noise and nopony else around to tell her that she couldn't be here. That was when she heard a noise coming from behind her, she turned her head and saw a wolf. But it was like no wolf she had ever seen run through the Everfree Forest. This one was completely black and it's tail looked like if it was a piece of the night sky, dark with stars twinkling all over. This wolf was also bigger the any she had seen before, it was certainly big enough to eat her. Double Star stared at the wolf, worried about what it was going to do. After a few minutes, she decided to move to see if the wolf would react. Double Star got up quickly and sprinted towards the gate. She turned her head and realized that wolf wasn't following her, it was still sitting there and staring at her. Double Star slowed down and stopped, puzzled at this strange creature that didn't seem to want to eat her. Perhaps it had already eaten something. Double Star headed back for the wolf cautiously, ready to start running should it decide to chase her. “How did you get in the castle anyway? The magic force field is supposed to keep the animals and evil creatures of the forest out of the castle grounds. Is there such a thing as magic proof wolves? Don't be crazy Star... And stop talking to yourself... From now on.” Luna's summoned wolf just sat there and stared at Double Star. Double Star looked at the wolf for a minute with suspicion, then slowly reached out her hoof and patted the wolf on the head. The wolf closed it's eyes as if it were enjoying the feel of a hoof on it's head. A small smile appeared on her face, she dropped her hoof and layed back down. The wolf sat for a few moments before it lay down next the filly. Double Star looked at the wolf and fell asleep with a smile spreading across her face. Luna returned to the tower to make sure nothing had happened while she was following the filly. After being sure that everything was in order, Luna took one last look in the direction of the gardens before getting back to her nightly duties. When Double Star awoke, the wolf was gone and Celestia was about to raise the sun. She ran back to her room to get ready for another day of teasing from Thunder Wing at school. She grabbed her things and ran all the way to the school. The first thing she saw was the devil in pony, Thunder Wing. Double Star sighed. “Here we go...”