//------------------------------// // 6 Garden // Story: Moon's shadow // by Znegil //------------------------------// It had been more than a week now since I had been wounded. Luna and Celestia visited me every day to see how I did and to keep me company. I used the opportunity to get Luna's nickname from Celestia... 'Lulu' ... although she told me not to use it if I didn't want to spend more time in bed healing. For the second day in a row, we walked together through the royal gardens. It was beautiful, full of flowers, nicely trimmed bushes, and fountains. The princesses loved to walk through it together. Since there were no other ponies or guards in it, they could act less like princesses and more like loving sisters. It was a beautiful sunny day without any clouds, on earth it would be a happy coincidence, but here I knew Celestia had put the sun there and the pegasi were responsible for the weather. What a crazy world this was, crazy but beautiful. "Such a nice warm day.", I told them. "And I'm almost free of any pain." I saw Luna wince and lower her head. Celestia must have noticed it too. "Sister, Alex told you many times before he isn't mad at you, please don't be like this." She put her wing around her little sister's body and nudged her face with her muzzle. "I feel great Luna, just watch." I slowly started to circle my arms like a windmill and almost tripped over a shovel laying on the ground while doing it. "You know I have forgiven you for that accident and you have been such great company for me all week." Luna got some of her smile back. "Thanks, it's not like I hadn't fun together with you, you're so different than anypony here." "...and an old lady like you shouldn't be so touchy.", I said smiling. "WHAT!!!" I laughed and started running. Luna came quickly after me. "I GET YOU FOR THIS!" As I looked back, I saw Luna rushing after me while Celestia was standing there with a big grin. I ran around bushes, changing the direction as often as I could, I knew Luna was much faster than me on a straight path. I cut around two more corners and hid behind a big earthpony statue. I tried to be totally still but had problems to suppress a little giggle. I sat there for maybe half a minute and almost believed I got away, as I heard Luna laughing ABOVE me. I looked up and saw her hovering over me with a big ball of water. She must have gotten it out of a nearby fountain. It was the first time I saw her flying, I totally forgot she could do that. "Sorry...", I started to say, but Luna released the water from her magic. +SPLASH!+ I heard Luna and Celestia laugh while I was coughing and dripping wet. "You should know better than to tease a lady about her age.", Tia said with a huge grin. "Yeah, she got me.", I said laughing while Luna was laughing too. I just was happy I got her in a more joyful mood. After a while of laughing, me and Luna trotted towards the castle to get me in something dry, while Celestia walked at a slower pace. We made half the distance as we heard a scream from Celestia. I looked back and saw her in a black cloud of dust or something. Only a split second later a black ball hit Luna and exploded into another black particle cloud that covered both of us. Luna's hair stopped floating. I was shocked and didn't know what was going on. Four unicorns in black cloth appeared from another side of the garden, one had a blazing red long mane. The three others used their magic to levitate Celestia towards them, while the red mane stallion came towards us. I looked at Luna, she was just standing there. "Do something!", I shouted. "I am trying, but my magic doesn't work!", she screamed. I grabbed a nearby shovel and was running towards the enemy. He saw me approaching and smiled while his horn was lighting up. "Pathetic.", was the word he said as he fired his beam right into my chest. The beam was hitting me, but I felt absolutely nothing from it. But I was pretty sure he felt something as my shovel hit him in his surprised face. +WHAM!+ I heard Luna galloping from behind. He stumbled a few steps back. "Retreat!", he shouted. Luna just ran past me on a collision course with him as he teleported away, the others did the same taking Celestia with them. Luna skidded to a halt and looked around in panic. "Where is Tia! TIA!" Here face was full of fear, and I guess I didn't look any better. Tears started to stream down her face. I did let go of the shovel and hugged her. "We will find her, we will.", I tried to calm her down.