//------------------------------// // ch. 4 Leaving Home Arc - Lesson/Farewell Birthday Party // Story: Rite to Live // by Total Eclipse //------------------------------// Lesson “Just drop me off at the library Pinkie.” Unity said pointing at the huge tree in the center of Old Ponyville. “Gotcha!” The exuberant mare gave unity mocking salute as she tugged on the controls of the hot air balloon. The balloon drifted lazily down towards the library, a few of the newer residents of the classical area looked up slack jawed at the airship hovering above them. Once close enough to one of the tree’s balconies he lept from Pinkie’s company. Unity landed with a clack as his claws impacted wood, causing the balcony to sway. “Whoa!” He said. “Well see ya later Pinkie Pie!” He waved a claw at her. He moved to open the upstairs door, Twilight was facing away from him and appeared to be focused heavily on something. Crafty as ever, he cracked the door to the library open and attempted to sneak in unnoticed. Twilight was engrossed in a telepathic conversation with Celestia, she didn’t even notice the fleeting footsteps behind her. The lavender unicorn sat at her magical conduit channeling her magic to maintain the connection between her and her mentor. The technology was truly amazing, one of Pinkie’s better inventions in Twilights eyes. It was essentially a podium that enhanced whatever magic was channeled into it and mainly used for long distance telepathic communication and teleportation. Of course princess. Any minute now. Um, yes prin - I mean Celestia, goodbye. Twilight cut the mental connection. Unity abused Twilight’s inattentiveness to sneak into the lower recesses of her library and look about in an attempt to act like he had made it there on time. He walked around the circular lower room of the library running his claw along the spines of books as he tried to spot something that might be relevant to his interests. The interior of the library hadn’t changed in the past years. A few knew sections with more advanced reading material were added, the children’s section had been expanded, and more leisure material like adventure stories and sci fi novels were also added. Twilight had also taken to lighting the candles that illuminated her home with her own magic, that way she could remotely control how bright the candles burned with little effort, other than that it was the same as it always was. Herbology. Nope. Marine Biology. Nope. Advanced Magical Theory and Spell Weaving Processes. “Oh yes.” He quickly hushed himself. His face lit up in excitement as if he’d stumbled upon the best thing in the world. He flipped the book open and began to simply absorb all its words, the pages began to blur as he picked up the pace. The smile on his face reached from ear to ear and every so often he would let out a little giggle coltish giggle. “Ah, so that’s how it’s done.” Unity said under his breath, he was trying to hide his excitement at the things he read but, he was failing hard. “Ha, as I expected all polyhedron based spell weaves CAN be strengthened exponentially by weaving them instead as an antiprism.” A smile crept across his face. “Interesting, mobius based weaves are uncounterable spells because they aren’t orientable.” Just as he began to get really deep into the book a purple glow lifted it from his hands, Unity knew what was about to happen next. Defeated, he simply hang his head low and watched the book as it was carefully replaced on the shelf whence it came. Abruptly his vision became a blur of purples and whites as he was teleported to face his mentor. The lavender unicorn peered at him over the dark pink frames of her glasses. She sat on her haunches and stared at him quizzically, she leaned slightly to her right as to take some weight off of her braced left front leg. She flicked her head to the side as to toss her finger-waved mane out of her eyes before addressing her late student. “Tardy.” Twilight said. “Nah uh, I was down stairs reading about advanced magical theories, you were talking to Celestia so i didn’t want to disturb you.” He said as he gestured to her downstairs. “Really?” Twilight raised a single eyebrow. time for a test. she thought. “What is this?” She said as her horn began to glow a bright orange at the tip. A flame exploded to life at the tip her horn, it burned furiously and was fueled by pure aether. “Flame spell, a pretty basic one. Why?” He asked. “Weave shape.” She demanded of him, in a teasing tone. Unity wasn’t on her level of understanding but other than a university professor or one of her peers he was the most learned person she talked to, and unlike a professor or a Magi mage he was open minded and inventive with his answers. “Polyhedron based.” Twilight’s face showed minimal effort as gathered more aether and began augmenting her spell, in a feat that to anyone learned in magic would’ve thought to be impossible if it were not happening. Unity could feel the magic being drawn into the flame and reinforcing its weave. The tip of his horn tingled from the massive amount of energy in the room, Twilights mastery of magic was such that nothing outside of the tree would be able to sense the large amount of magic she had gathered, had this amount of magic coalesced naturally every unicorn in Ponyville would be able to feel it. The flame instantly shifted colors from orange to bluish-white. “What about now?” She said smugly. Unity’s jaw was almost touching the floor. “That flame is burning as if it were fueled by cyanogen, it burns hot enough to completely annihilate all the soot it creates, that’s why the entire flame is naturally blue.” “That flame must be pushing four thousand five hundred celsius. How...how’d you do this?” He choked out, the flame was consuming massive amounts of oxygen. “The antiprism theory, i proposed it almost thirteen years ago, been using it for the same amount of time. Guess the Council of Magi finally decided to take it seriously.” Twilight cut the spell. “It’s amazing that taking the weave of a aetheral weave of a fire spell, duplicating it, then weaving it together with interconnecting triangle lacing could boost a spell this much.” Unity was always impressed with Twilight’s power, he swore, that if he could do magic he would try his best to surpass her. Arch Mage or not. “Now all i need is to find an equally effective method of boosting hypocycloid based spells.” “Have you tried layering rational with irrational value hypocycloids and lacing them together with an astroid type weave?” He said as he tapped a claw to his chin. “Hmm...Unity, it’s research time! I’ll experiment with your idea once we’ve gather enough data that says it could work.” The mare teleported them both down to her basement where he research materials were held. The two spent a few hours pouring over text on spell creation, spell augmentation, and what weave patterns made what effects. Pages turned, and both sighed as they searched fruitlessly through every book she had in her study. “So, what have you learned?” Twilight asked. “That it may be possible, but we wouldn’t be able to figure it out with these materials. We’d need Celestia’s private library to crack this puzzle.” He said as he rubbed fatigue from his eyes. “Same thoughts here.” She shook her head in disappointment. She lifted her head and looked at the sky. “Shame, our time is almost up; however, I have one question for you, then you can leave answer it truthfully?” “Um, ok?” Unity was kind of afraid of the question “Why won’t you join a magical university in Canterlot?” She was staring at him fiercely as if trying to ascertain if his answer was true through observation. “Twi, I can’t do magic. In any form or fashion, how would i make it in a school for gifted unicorns?” He sighed. “They don’t care how much mumbo jumbo I know, because i can never do any of it, I can’t backup my knowledge. I don’t have the confidence to get up there and tell when i can’t show.” Twilight looked at him with a pained expression, she knew how he felt all too well. “I know, bad.” “Of course it's bad!! Don’t sell yourself short, knowledge is powerful, You also have an extremely keen mind, really good problem solving skills, and a healthy imagination. Heck i took you as a student.” She said as she rested a hoof on his shoulder. “Well you answered my question so you are free to do pretty much whatever you wa - scratch that Unity, Rarity told me to make sure you were at Sweet Apple Acres by ten o'clock, and it’s *gasp* nine fifty five! We’ll never make it on hoof so-” “Wait, why Sweet Apple ...” Her horn flared up with it’s usual purple glow as effortlessly tossed them throw space. **************************************************************************************************** Farewell Birthday Party Sweet Apple Acres. “...Acres...” Unity’s vision was once again was filled by a swirling mass of colors, he should really be used to teleporting by now. After their lesson Twilight teleported Unity right in front of the farm’s old barn, it was well into the night now. He appeared near the structure with a loud pop alerting everypony outside to his presence, heads turned and several ponies began to trot over to greet the guest of honor. “Hey Unity.” Lyra called out. “Happy birthday kid.” Doctor Whooves added. “There you go, perfect! Happy birthday!” Rose said as she placed a purple carnation behind Unity’s ear. Unity was beginning to get swarmed by the overzealous citizens of old Ponyville, his arms crossed and flailed randomly as he returned hoof shakes and hugs. A dark cream colored pegasus stallion with a dark brown mane styled similarly to a clover circled overhead a few times while cackling to himself at the sight. The pegasus had decided that maybe his friend had had enough of being in the spotlight for now, he quickly dive bombed into the crowd ponies and snatched Unity up in a single fluid maneuver. “Pound Cake!?” Unity said still confused after his ordeal. “Happy birthday bro.” Pound Cake smiled down at his friend as he flew them over the crowd. “Pumpkin figured this would happen so she sent me to get you……..but I just had to let it spin outta control for a quick second so I get some laughs in.” Unity scowled at Pound, but only got a face full of chest and bottom jaw because of how he was being carried. No matter how scrunched up the face he made he found that he just couldn’t become angry at the pegasus, not even a little irritated. Unity could only giggle at his friend’s antics. He, Pound Cake, and Pumpkin Cake had been friends since he could walk and whenever they three had free time they use to go on all sorts of crazy adventures in the up and coming city. They were like siblings. They glided through the air above the barn for a few minutes; from up there Unity caught the smells of delicious baked goods carried on the warm, moist air. Apple pies and apple fritters mingled with the cupcakes smell of vanilla and strawberry cupcakes, many more scents were mixed in but he couldn’t distinguish them from each other. Pound Cake flew them over to where a unicorn mare with a coat color similar to his, but with blue eyes an orange mane and tail. “Hey! Yo, Pumpkin!!” Pound yelled down at his sister. They had brought a portable kitchen so that Pumpkin could keep pumping out baked sweets in real time, she couldn’t hear her brother calling to her from the air above the mare was too enthralled by the art of baking. She was in her element. Her horn was lit up signifying the use of her magic. Pumpkin had six bowls of batter being mixed and several trays of muffins and cupcakes coming out of the oven all controlled perfectly by her telekinesis. Pound and Unity landed behind Pumpkin with a loud thud in an attempt to get the attention of the bake happy mare. She looked over her shoulder and gasped loudly as she saw her brother and Unity standing there like they had nothing better to do. “Pum-” The venomous voice of his sister cut him off. “Pound Cake, you are supposed to be helping to distribute these,” she made a wide gesture with her hooves across all the cupcakes and muffins. “Not getting into mischief with Unity.” She fumed at the two as they simply sat there looking between each other and then back to her with frightened expressions on their faces. Pumpkin soon cracked and fell back in a fit of laughter, no longer able to hold the mask of false anger up any longer she lay there on her back waving her hooves wildly in the air desperately trying to breathe in between her fits of laughter. “You thought I was actually any sort of angry? BAWAHAHA!!” “Yea!” Unity and Pound said in unison. “Well you are sort of a demo--” Unity began, but his sentence was cut short due to him suddenly catching a severe case of wooden spoon to the face syndrome. “Like I was saying, I’m not angry, but Pound you really should be taking these to the tables inside the…” She face hoofed once she noticed that not only were they not listening, but they were also gone. “I was looking at them, how...how do they do that?” She tapped her hoof on her chin as she pondered the question. Pumpkin was deep in thought about what just happened. Just as she had come to the conclusion that her brother and Unity were breaking the laws of physics she noticed a large round wavy shadow creeping up over her. She turned around only to let out a muffled squeal as an entire bowl of punch emptied on her. She had emptied that bag of flour on Unity and Pound after they fell into the canal last week, now they had revenge. The mare slowly peaked over the counter, her mane and coat dripping wet with fruit punch. “Touché boys, touché.” She said with a sly grin. Unity and Pound looked at each other with ear to ear grins while Pumpkin dried herself off with a towel from under the counter. You’ll both get yours. She thought. “Well Unity, I’ve had my fun I should probably get back to delivering that stuff, you know my job.” He gave Unity a nod as he picked up a few trays and began to hover off, he looked over his shoulder every so often in case his sister tried something. Surprisingly, Pound Cake was a really crappy baker, despite being born to the cakes who are likely the best bakers in all of Equestria. Instead he found that he had a talent for remembering, organizing and finding things which led to the way all newer Sugar Cube corners are run. Chefs and pegasus runners. “Ahem,” Pumpkin Cake cleared her throat. “Happy birthday Unity, let it be known that if it wasn’t your birthday I’d toss a cake at your face.” She gave him a big huge and they smiled about what had just happen. “Now get into that barn, your parents are waiting for you.” Unity gave Pumpkin a stupid little soldier salute and quickly trotted off towards the barn. Applejack’s older brother Big Macintosh was standing outside barn doors like some sort of club bouncer. “Hey Big Mac, comin’ through.” Unity said to the large red stallion. He swore the guy could probably pull a building if he tried. Mac opened the red doors into their barn and Unity rushed into the darkness. The moment the hybrid noticed that he couldn’t see anything he was picked up and placed high upon something cool and slick. “I see you made it son.” The voice boomed. Spike began chuckling as Unity came to the realization of who it was that had snatched him up. “Really dear, must you be late for everything? This is your party.” Rarity argued in a playful tone. “AND WHAT A PARTY IT IS!!! MIGHT BE THE BESTEST I’VE EVER PLANNED!!” yelled Pinkie, at some point she had gotten on top of several stacked up barrels behind Rarity, Spike and Unity. “You must be slipping then Ms. Pie, I don’t see anything but darkness. I don’t even hear anypony breathing in here.” Unity said from on his dad’s shoulders. Just as Unity finished talking, a brilliant golden yellow light erupted on his left and a beautiful purple light erupted on his right. Princess Celestia was casting an expanding sphere of light on her side of the room illuminating the left half of the barn and revealing many seated ponies and half of a large stage complete with speakers. Luna’s sphere of light was doing the same thing, it bathed the right side of the barn in a glorious purple glow as it revealed more seated ponies and the rest of the stage. The two spheres collided in the middle of the barn and mingled with each other. Celestia’s energy began to overtake and push Luna’s magic back. The moon princess winced as she tried to combat her sister’s power, Celestia saw her younger sibling pained expression and toned down her power allowing her magic to be pushed back so that they were equal. Celestia gave Luna a loving wink; Luna hid a hateful scowl. “Princess Celestia and Luna! Pinkie how did you manage this?” Unity asked. He didn’t receive an answer, Unity turned to look for the pinky party mare but only empty space occupied where she had been before. Suddenly the stage lit up and Pinkie appeared from behind the curtains, she hopped along the stage in her usual goofy fashion until she made a full stop at the microphone. “HOW YOU DOING TONIGHT EVERYPONY!” she yelled into the mic. “As you all know, it’s Rarity and Spike’s son Unity’s birthday!” The crowd broke out in cheers, everypony there was yelling “Unity” at the top of their lungs; everyone in the barn was from old Ponyville so they were all familiar, like distant family even. “But what you don’t know is who I brought to town to perform for us!” Pinkie started to bounce uncontrollably. The pink pony stood on her back legs and broke out some dance moves at random. “Spinning our tracks for the evening, daughter of Vinyl Scratch aka DJ-Pon3, the up and coming Dual Scratch aka DJ-Fill3!” Pinkie pointed her hoof off to the right side of the stage, at her gesture the DJ booth lit up revealing a white pegasus pony with a wild red mane with black stripes, bright orange eyes and black and orange headphones. DJ-Fill3 hit her hoof against her chest twice then air hoofed the audience. Everypony was in an uproar again. “And singing for us to night, a group I know Rarity and Applebloom will appreciate seeing, Glam-Rok!” Pinkie threw her forelegs over her head when she announced the name signaling for the curtains to start rising up. Slowly two mares and three stallions came into view. One of the mares was an orange pegasus with a dark fuchsia mane and tail and light purple eyes, The other was a chalk white unicorn with a cotton candy pink and lavender mane and sea green eyes. The Pegasus’ cutie mark was of a microphone and several bolts of lightning whereas the unicorn’s cutie mark was of a microphone shining light through diamonds. “Auntie Sweetie and Scootaloo!” Unity screamed totally out of character. He really couldn’t help it; he hadn’t seen Sweetie Belle since she started her concert tour earlier in the year. “Hello Ponyville!” Scootaloo and Sweetie yelled through the mic. “It’s been awhile since we’ve been in town, and even longer since we’ve been at Sweet Apple Acres.” “You know we grew up in Ponyville. I see a lot of familiar faces here, Cheerilee, Lyra.” Sweetie belle said as she pointed at the elevated Unity and motioned for him to come up on stage with her. The teenager leaped off his father and scampered through the ponies until he was up on stage. He looked around the barn and locked eyes with Luna. She gave him a wink, Unity almost buckled and fell face first onto the stage. “Now, we didn’t bring you anything for your birthday Unity, but we can teach you and Ponyville something cool.” Scootaloo said as she brought Unity closer. “What?” He asked. He couldn’t believe he stupidly responded like that. Sweetie Belle’s horn flared up causing a lasers light show and Scootaloo reached up into a cloud that had been hovering above her head and pulled out a rainbow colored guitar. Scoots strummed a simple chord on her axe. “HOW. TO. ROCK!” Sweetie Belle began plucking the strings of her guitar, soon the drums entered, and finally. Scootaloo took in a breath and let her voice flow through the mic. Falling to my knees before you, So ashamed to see my weakness fill your eyes, Needlessly, I let myself stray before you, Now I face the consequence of my betrayal. My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe, It's you I rely on, Shelter me from cold, I die in paradigm. Do we sacrifice, let our story die? Blissful lullabies return again, If we still a while, let love survive, Delicately crawling to your grave. My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe, It's you I rely on, Shelter me from cold, I die in paradigm. Perfect sky, shadow find my lies, Good enough for always wanting mine Replaced all your love with pain So afraid to face the world alone. My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe, It's you I rely on, Shelter me from cold, and die in paradigm. (Die in paradigm, die in paradigm, die in paradigm, die in paradigm) After the song ended Sweetie grabbed the mic from Scoots with her magic and began calming the crowd. “While it’s true we didn’t actually bring you anything solid for your birthday,” Sweetie said with mock sadness, “We aren’t empty hooved. Isn’t that right.” she said as she tossed the mic back to Scoots. “Yeah, Unity, you are a unique individual and you're definitely gonna go far kid. So to aid you in unlocking your talents you’ve been invited by Princess Celestia to Equestria’s Hybrid Ability Training Camp! Best part is you leave tonight after the party, and according to Celestia you don’t need to take a single thing with you!” She screamed. The crowded roared and cheered with happiness for the him. Everypony knew of the hybrid children being born after discord was defeated and everypony knew of the special facility that Celestia had set up to teach them how to control their unusual and strange powers. “Now everpony, an improvised version of a classic, just for the birthday boy!” Sweetie pointed to one of the stallions behind her, he cracked his fetlocks and started to play a familiar tune on the electric keyboard. All the ponies began to sing out loud and out from what seemed like thin air Pinkie appeared behind Sweetie, Scoots, and Unity with a huge grin across her face as she passed them pieces of birthday cake and sang with the crowd.Sweetie and Scoots even joined in the tune with their guitars. **************************************************************************************************** Soon Unity chose to let the music thump away in the back of his mind and become background noise, DJ-Fill3 ‘s beats were fantastic she was truly Vinyl’s daughter, but Unity’s head wasn’t really in the music at the moment. Pinkie was all over the place as usual, Twilight (when did she get here?) was off chatting with his mother and Princess Celestia, and His father was leaning against the wall talking with Pound Cake (who was no doubt slacking again). The birthday boy scanned the barn, eagerly searching for his closest friend. After a few passes he came to the conclusion that she no longer in the barn, if she was he definitely would’ve spotted her, Luna stood out in a noticeable way and there was no chance he simply overlooked her. The thought of her just leaving the party without really talking to him seemed to sap his energy away and no amount of sugar filled treats or icing covered snacks could perk him up. He hung his head low as he sat at a table all alone, he hadn’t taken a single bit out of his piece of cake, he simply sat there with a half lidded expression painted on his face. Pinkie was high above the floor of the barn, she had taken to swinging from a party light and spraying confetti down on the partying ponies with the cannon built into her prosthetic front limb. She glided through the air letting out occasional yells and squeals of pure foalish joy; however, her fun was cut short when the mopey visage of Unity flashed across her sight. Sensing sadness the smiling pink mare instinctively shifted her weight causing the party light to swing her towards her target, she leapt off and soared over the crowd, performing several elegant flips and spins as she hung in the air. Pinkie landed on her back right metal leg, she performed a graceful pirouette which ended with her facing away from Unity and back bending until she could touch his nose with her front hooves. “Why are you sitting here alone looking like a grumpy MacGrumperton?” She said as she wiped rubbed some of Unity’s cake frosting on her hoof. “I didn’t even get to talk to Luna before she left; I’m supposed to be leaving in a few hours. Doesn’t she want to at least say goodbye?” He sighed before pushing his piece of cake over to Pinkie. “Don’t be silly, of course she wants to say goodbye! And what are you talking about, Luna’s on the roof, making the same grumpy face as you.” As soon as her sentence was done Pinkie shoved the piece of cake that Unity gave her into her mouth. Goddamn glutton. “Get me to the roof.” He said coolly. “Okie Dokie Loki!” Pinkie, somehow managed to get back on the party light she had been swinging on. She swooped down and snatched up the youth in her hooves. **************************************************************************************************** Sitting there atop the red apple barn was the princess of the night, Luna. She sat there staring at the velvety azure sky intensely. Tears stained her face and caused her fur to mat under her eyes, soon her best friend...no her son would be leaving her for who knows how long. She just couldn’t stand to face Unity much longer in the barn, her little ponies didn’t need to see their princess cry. Unity and Luna’s bond had been forming since the day they first saw each other, at first the young hybrid child was afraid of his princess, but his curiosity was apparent. One day he caught her in the most vulnerable state she ever permitted herself to be in. Luna had come to Ponyville to visit Twilight, but the unicorn had to leave on urgent matters and left the moon princess alone in the library. That night Unity had thought it funny to sneak out of the Carousel Boutique and into Twilight’s tree. Luna sat on her haunches on one of the outside balconies content with star gazing. She stared at the moon, now void of the mare in the moon scar, and how good it was to be back with her sister again, no matter little they saw each other. She sat there reminiscing on the past until she couldn’t contain her feelings anymore, she let the words flow from her mouth naturally as what could only be described as the voice of the heavens began to permeate Twilight’s home. Unity heard the beautiful tune and gladly followed it to its source, he was completely enamored with the sound. He cantered up the stair and pushed open a window and what he saw forever changed his view of Luna, he saw the black witch, crying. All of a sudden she wasn’t scary to him anymore, just a lonely pony. He trotted up to her side and nestled himself into a comfortable position on her fur. Luna looked down at the child, her eyes shone with tears; the lunar princess looked back up to the moon with eyes that beamed with pure happiness. The night sky always listened when she spoke, and it always provided when she asked; tonight it provided her with a friend. After that night, the two became inseparable. And here they were again, on a starry night, Luna alone stargazing and Unity seeking her out. He appeared on the roof of the barn as silently as possible, slowly he trotted over to Luna and sat beside her. He rested his head shoulder and nuzzled her coat softly. “I thought you left” Unity said softly, the hurt was obvious from his tone. “I wanted to see you before I left.” “So did I.” Luna said flatly, it had no effect though. Unity was one of the few creatures she couldn’t hide her feelings from. “So why didn’t you stay at the party where I could see you?” “I couldn’t let Celestia and the others see me like this.” She said motioning at herself. “Besides, I knew you’d find me.” Luna said teasingly. “I’ll miss you, you know. No one knows how long it’ll take you to master whatever special gifts you have.” “Lulu,” He hadn’t used that nickname for her since he was nine. “do you remember the night we learned that I could walk on clouds?” He attempted to move the conversation from the present. She let out a small chuckle “Yeah...” The moon princess fell deep into her memories. **************************************************************************************************** 10 years ago The moon hung low in the sky filling the void of night with it beautiful, ghostly glow. This night the moon was a special gift-one that all of Equestria would marvel over, both common pony and stargazer alike would look to the illuminated sphere and remember that Luna: Princess of the Moon watched over and protected them. Luna didn’t care about any of that though, the state of the moon wasn’t for them they merely shared the sight with the gift’s true recipient. Luna darted across the night sky, wings sprawled out giving the occasional flap to combat the force of gravity. Long night flights had always helped to calm her down when the stresses of her duties took their toll her mind. Normally the alicorn would be engaged in all sorts of feats of acrobatic wonder, barrel rolls, somersaults, and free falls were all within her ability to perform but tonight wasn’t the night for any of that lest she risk the life of her young charge. Little Unity was situated on Luna’s back gripping her star speckled mane as a lifeline. He had no fear of this height, not out of ignorance but out of trust, his well being was completely in his keeper’s hands and he had absolute faith in her ability protect him. The sky wore a thick veil of clouds-one Luna had the pegasus weather teams leave for the purpose of concealing her gift. She picked up the pace and flew upwards towards the veil, the air becoming cooler and drier as they climbed. She peeked over her shoulder and gave unity a look that screamed “hold on tight”. Luna turned on her side and allowed her powerful wing to cut into the cloud, the clouds parted in the same manner as water in a boat's wake. The slice caused the clouds to spray moisture onto them. They both winced as the icy droplets peppered their faces. Luna righted herself allowing Unity to reach up into the clouds and let his claws slice the veil. His face bore a grin of unparalleled satisfaction; Luna looked back and gave him an acknowledging smiling. “Unity, I need you to hold on as tight as you can. Promise me that you won't let go, don’t even loosen your grip.” Luna’s voice was stern, caring, and concerned all at the same time. “I have something special to show you, but you have to promise not to let go.” “Kay, I promise Lulu.” The child said in a cooing tone. The night princess nodded and pierced the cloud veil above them. Unity was sprayed by chilly mist - the air inside the cloud was so saturated with moisture it felt as if he was going to drown. Just as the droplets had started to collect on his coat Luna outstretched her wings, they began to take on a faint silver glow and the air began to smell of ozone. With a single massive flap of her mighty wings she all but cleared the sky, leaving only a few straggling clouds behind. The Night Princess had told Unity that this night would be beautiful, but when they flew out of the castle earlier all he had seen were dreary clouds. He’d know better then to doubt her standards of beauty again after the scene he viewed painted on the night sky. It was perfect-every constellation of the season in sight with the naked eye, nothing between them but open air. The moon was large and full, never in his life had Unity seen the body give off such a joyous light it felt as if it wanted to reach down and embrace him, a gesture he would gladly reciprocate. Luna’s powerful wings continued to pull them higher and higher, she added a slow spin to the climb so that Unity could see all nearly all of Equestria under the light of moon, from Canterlot to Manehattan. The young hybrid was awe stricken, his mouth was agape as he searched for words to describe the feelings racing through him. In his bliss he reached towards the moon it was so close….. Weightlessness……… Unity yelled with all his might as he plummeted towards the earth gaining distance from Luna with each passing moment. It was as if time had slowed to a crawl as she watched her friend’s child drop through the sky. She attempted to use telekinesis to catch the falling child in her magical clutches, her eyes widened in horror as the spell failed. The breath left her lungs, she was out of magic. She would not let this happen, she didn’t care if she caught him an inch from the ground and slammed into the earth with the force of a meteor, and she’d save him even if it killed her. Luna tucked her wings tightly and dropped into the most frantic dive of her life. Fifty feet...Just a little more Thirty feet…So close Ten feet...”Unity I’ve got YOU!!!” She shouted with outstretched hooves, Unity reached out with his claws in desperation. They both hit a patch of straggling clouds, Luna broke through. But where was Unity? She looked around desperately using all of her senses to try and locate the child. “No…” she whispered quietly to herself, “no no no no no no no no no!! I’m such a foal, how…how could I let this happen.” She floated there in the night sky her wings beating just enough to keep her aloft. Her head was held low, disappointed that she’d have to bear such bad news, disappointed that such a beautiful night was ruined by tragedy, but most of all she was disappointed in herself because she let this happen. Luna began her slow descent towards Canterlot castle. Just as she was about to pick up speed she thought she heard giggling. This perplexed her to no end, was her night sky mocking her failure? She heard the cackle again, it was so familiar; however, time she had an idea of where it originated from. She took off towards the cloud they fell through. She hovered over the dark murky cloud and reached a hoof out to manipulate its puffy form. Sure enough, as she parted the body there was a small equine/draconic form tumbling and giggling within its innards, forming the cloud into fun shapes. Luna put a hoof over her mouth and bit her bottom lip in an attempt to fight back the tears that welled up and threatened to overtake her. The youth turned and looked in her direction. “LuLu” Unity cried excitedly, “Everything was amazing, the moon the stars, everything!!” He met her in a warm hug and gave her an innocent smile. “Why are you crying?” She held him tightly, stroking his coat and mane. She brushed his mane off his forehead and gave him kiss. “You…..you’re amazing.” **************************************************************************************************** The present came back to Luna, washing over her eyes and flooding the memories out of her head as Unity broke the silence. “Never tell my mom about that.” He said holding in a laugh. “Agreed.” “Luna,” he said as her snuggled closer. “Yes little one?” “Sing to me, the same song you sang out on Twilight’s balcony.” The things children remember. Luna took a breath of warm night air and began to let the song pour from her lips, allowing it to soothe the warm body pressed against hers. She closed her eyes, and began running a hoof through his mane. “For all those times you stood by me...” For all the truth that you made me see For all the joy you brought to my life For all the wrong that you made right For every dream you made come true For all the love I found in you I'll be forever thankful baby You're the one who held me up Never let me fall You're the one who saw me through through it all You were my strength when I was weak You were my voice when I couldn't speak You were my eyes when I couldn't see You saw the best there was in me Lifted me up when I couldn't reach You gave me faith 'coz you believed I'm everything I am Because you loved me You gave me wings and made me fly You touched my hand I could touch the sky I lost my faith, you gave it back to me You said no star was out of reach You stood by me and I stood tall I had your love I had it all I'm grateful for each day you gave me Maybe I don't know that much But I know this much is true I was blessed because I was loved by you You were my strength when I was weak You were my voice when I couldn't speak You were my eyes when I couldn't see You saw the best there was in me Lifted me up when I couldn't reach You gave me faith 'coz you believed I'm everything I am Because you loved me You were always there for me The tender wind that carried me A light in the dark shining your love into my life You've been my inspiration Through the lies you were the truth My world is a better place because of you You were my strength when I was weak You were my voice when I couldn't speak You were my eyes when I couldn't see You saw the best there was in me Lifted me up when I couldn't reach You gave me faith 'coz you believed I'm everything I am Because you loved me I'm everything I am Because you loved me They stayed like that for Celestia knows how long, but they didn’t care. Time seemed to melt away, between the sweet honey that was Luna’s voice and the euphoric state they were in just from each others company an eternity could’ve passed while they sat on that rooftop. Like all good things the song ended, and the time for Unity to prepare to depart drew near. The child had fallen asleep curled up by Luna’s side and slept through his own party. Luna looked to the stars as she ran a hoof through Unity’s coat wild coat, the night sky always listened and always provided for her. She reflected on the song she had shared with Unity (it reflected on how she felt about her sister and their relationship before her banishment), and prayed to the darkness for an answer to a question she’d had since her return. Why do I hate Celestia? The party was beginning to wind down, the music became mellower and ponies began funneling out of the barn, some laughing and giggling wildly, while others simply conversed about the night’s events. Celestia, Twilight, and Pinkie escorted most of the ponies out, giving as many faces as possible warm and sincere farewells; student and pupil in their calm regal fashion which included nice words of parting and a bow or hug and Pinkie in a way only Pinkie could, which included everything from firing off confetti and bottle rockets from her prosthetic limb to personal farewell hoof shakes to anypony she knew by name (which was everypony). Once the party had officially fizzled out, Unity’s family and friends stood outside the barn as they awaited the royal carriage that would carry the birthday boy off to his future. The beating of several sets of wings could be heard even before the five Equestrian pegasi soldiers came into view, carriage in tow. The pegasi landed in sync, and obvious sign of their rigorous training, they paced in place for a moment as they checked their footing then an older looking stallion fluttered over to Celestia. He was a grey pony, much like Luna’s night guard, his eyes were a deep red color and his tail was silver and black; Unlike the rest of the pegasi that came who were adorned in plain grey armor (aside from identifying marks), he wore a polished red variant with several decorations and medals. His face wore the mask of stoicism, but his eyes betrayed the heart of an old stallion ready to rest. He stopped and hovered mere feet away from his god princess, stared her in the eyes, then stiffened into a powerful salute. “Milady, transport for one Unity is prepared to leave the moment he is ready.” “At ease Wing Commander Surge.” The stallion began to hover casually at her words before landing gently on the ground in front of her. As if on queue Luna came gliding down from atop the barn with Unity who was now awake and perched on her back. She landed beside Spike with a light thud causing a puff of dirt to flow up flow where her hooves struck the earth. He slowly slid off of Luna’s back and walked over to Celestia and Surge, he looked them both in the eyes and gave a strong nod. “Are you ready son?” Surge asked Unity in a monotone voice. “Well Celestia said I don’t need anything so yeah, I guess I am.” Unity replied in a fashion that was a little too chipper for the old soldier. Everyone huddled up near the each other so they could give out the final goodbyes, no one knew how long the camp would session would last, could be weeks, months, or even years so they just threw out whatever they had to say on a whim. “Learn as much as you can, I want to see what kind of cool special powers my son has.” Spike blew a small spout of flame and flexed his right arm as he spoke. “While you’re gone do learn how to clean yourself up, I do say it’s a shame to see such handsome young thing without a fillyfriend.” Rarity said while pointing a hoof at Unity’s mane. “Don’t forget to study, oh and write me about the books they have there. I can help coordinate your studies!” Twilight let of a nasally laugh. “Whatever you learn out there it’ll be awesome,” Scootaloo started, “Ahmazin’,” Applebloom said, “Special!” Sweetie Belle chirped. The former CMC all shared a giggle as Scoots ran up and gave Unity a solid noogy to the top of his skull. “Remember little one, even if you don’t discover some secret magic power this is still an important growing experience for you. All we can ask of you is that you do your best.” Celestia threw her bit in. Unity trotted over to the carriage, and reached up but was surprised when one of the grey armored pegasi opened the door for him. He climbed inside and the door began closing behind him, as his old life disappeared before his eyes, a single thought ran through his mind. So, this is the beginning of my grand adventure...