//------------------------------// // Moonlit Meeting // Story: Sunbeams and Chocolate Milk // by Turtwig-Tales //------------------------------// The forest was unusually quite tonight. Moonlight danced through the leaves, and fireflies flitted about the branches. The various denizens of the woods made little noise aside from the occasional chirp or growl in the distance. Their relative silence would have struck some as odd, unsettling even, compared to their usual clamor. That is, if anyone dared to venture this deep into the forest. This thought, however, did not enter the mind of one such traveler. A lithe, graceful mare, with a pure white coat, and a mane the color of the rosy dawn. She ruffled her delicate wings in the crisp night air, and peered into the darkness ahead, unwilling to light the way her slender horn and ruin the sight of it all. It was simply too beautiful of a night. Despite her talent for the day, she always did appreciate the night. The moon was bright and full, giving off a calming, peaceful atmosphere. The stars twinkled gently through the trees, as if watching over her in her journey. And the clouds, while maybe a bit too many in number, drifted lazily across the sky, and did little to impede the spirit of it all. Truly, she thought, the local townsfolk have made this a beautiful night. There must be a festival tonight. I wonder if Luna helped a bit? She giggled softly at the thought, She does get bored at times. As did she. She adamantly refused to acknowledge such a notion, but she has made this trek before on numerous occasions, for just the same reason as tonight. She was bored. And extraordinarily lonely. Celestia and her sister Luna had lived together in a castle hidden deep in the forest, to which the locals referred to as ‘Everfree,’ for years. However, to the two sisters would sometimes called it “The Everhere.” Their parents had vanished a long time ago, and their last instructions to them had been to remain hidden, until the time was right. Neither of them knew what had befallen their parents, nor what their cryptic command had meant. But still they obeyed. Which is not to say it had been easy. They both longed to live amongst the common ponies. To work the fields with the Earth Ponies, to soar with the Pegasi, and to study the arcane with the Unicorns. But it could not be so. Few ponies dared to venture into the forest, which was filled with dangerous creatures that even the most powerful of mages would have difficulty with. However, these creatures rarely assaulted the two sisters, and when they did, a liberal application of their magic usually frightened them off. On the few occasions when anypony did enter, they never ventured far, and they did not stay long. They were simply incapable of traversing these treacherous woods. Which left the only two equine inhabitants feeling more and more like prisoners. At times like this, when her loneliness reached its peak, Celestia would walk the path she did now, to a hill rising from the depths of the forest, from where she could look over the countryside. She could see lights dotting the land, where ponies made their dwellings. You know, Celestia thought to herself, as if would ever matter, a village would do well near the forest’s edge. The inhabitants rarely leave the safety of the trees, and the soil is rich fertile. Crops would grow strong there. Perhaps an orchard of some kind. Pears, for instance. She shook her head, emptying her thoughts. She always liked to greet the view with a clear head. The air was crisp and clean. It really was a beautiful night. The hilltop was always empty, not even Luna went there. She preferred to look down upon the villagers from the clouds. Besides, they each needed a place to be alone. Which isn’t to say they didn’t enjoy each other’s company. In fact, their company was likely the reason they had kept their sanity. Once in a while, however, they each wished to be alone with their thoughts and dreams. Except tonight, Celestia found she wasn’t. As she exited the tree line, she saw a form at the crest of the hill. It was not a creature she had seen in the forest before, and certainly not a pony. It was serpentine, and very tall. Twice her own height, she guessed. If it was aware of her presence, it chose not to show it. As the clouds overhead drifted lazily above her, the moonlight shown through, illuminating the hill enough for her to see the creature. It was…strange, to say the least. Nothing appeared to fit together, as if whatever being responsible for creating life had run out of matching parts, and was forced to use whatever happened to be leftover. It stood on one hoof, and one reptilian claw. She could just make out a lion’s paw on its right side, and eagle talon on its left. Its back, which was turned towards her, was adorned with a pair of wings-one of a bat, the other of a pegasus-, and ended in a dragon tail with a white tuft of fur at the end. The head appeared to be like a donkey, but with a singular antler and a crystalline horn, blue as the noonday sky. Celestia stood there for a few moments, dumbfounded at the creature before her. She felt as though she should say something, investigate the nature and intent of this…thing, but she was at a complete loss. “It’s quite rude to stare, you know.” Came a voice from behind her. Celestia whirled around, taken completely off guard. She instinctively spread her wings wide, and summoned her magic, and preparing to face what had managed to sneak up on her. There was nothing there. Only the forest from whence she had come. She sighed to herself, thinking she had somehow imagined it, and turned back toward the mysterious creature- -And found herself staring into large, intelligent yellow eyes. Again, Celestia jumped. Straight up, about five feet, in fact. How had it moved so close so quickly? And without her even hearing it? Below her, the creature burst out into an uproar of laughter. “Gwah-hah-hah! You shou-should see your face!” the creature guffawed as she hesitantly decended to the ground, “In fact-look!“ It then pulled an odd box and small shiny object-a kind of tablet, maybe?- seemingly out of nowhere. It pointed the tablet at the box, and tapped it. Somehow, the box lit up, showing an exact reproduction of the events that had just had taken place, only from a side view. The creature laughed even more, and continued to munch on-wait, what was that? When and how did it get those strange, puffy white things? And did she smell…butter…? Despite her confusion, she could not deny the smell was intoxicating. Which was about the only thing she was sure about at this point in the encounter. Celestia found herself sitting on the ground in a daze, attempting in vain to comprehend what was going on. The creature, in the meantime, seemed to have gotten bored of watching their ‘meeting’ on the box, and proceeded to use the tablet to alter the image on the box. She saw the ocean, self-propelled carriages racing on a circular path, and a strange bipedal creature in a bat costume flip by in turn. Groaning, the creature snapped it talons, and both items disappeared in a flash of light. “Nothing on today…” it mumbled. It walked back where it had stood upon her arrival, casting its gaze out towards the flecks of light in the distance, seeming to forget that Celestia was present. Celestia shook her head, regaining her composure. She stood, and cleared her throat, hoping to gain the creatures attention. It ignored her. Again, she cleared her throat, a little louder this time, to the same result. Finally, she had had enough. “Excuse me, um, you there?” she said, attempting to hide the quiver in her voice. “Could I please have a moment of your time?” The creature turned its head slightly towards her. She took that as permission to continue. “If I may ask, who are you? And what manner of creature are you? A chimera of some kind? I only ask for I have never seen anything like you before.” After a pause, the creature turned towards her fully. Its lone fang curved upwards in its mouth as it grinned at her. She wasn’t quite sure if that boded well. She had little time to debate this, as the creature approached her, this time in a more leisurely gait. “Well, since you asked so nicely, I suppose I will tell you. Firstly, I am no ‘chimera.’ Those are so cliché. I am a draconequus, and you may address me as Discord.” It reached out and gently took her hoof in his paw, and kissed it with the respect of one meeting royalty. “And may I have the pleasure learning the name of the beautiful creature before me?” “Oh my,” Celestia giggled, “no one has ever complemented me in such a manner. I am Celestia.” “Ooooh Celestiaaaa…” cooed the other, seeming to bask in the very sound of her name, “What a perfect name for the most radiant sight my eyes have ever beheld!” “Oh, why thank you! But, um, what is a draconequus? I don’t think I have heard of the name before…” “Uh, well um…” He paused for a moment, his charming smile faltering for a moment. “Wait, are you an alicorn? I haven’t seen an alicorn in…why, I don’t even remember, it’s been so long!” “You’ve seen other alicorns before?” cried Celestia, stunned that this ‘Discord’ had even heard of her race, “I thought they were…well, gone.” “Why yes I have! But none of them could compare to you.” “I’ve never met anyone who’s seen another alicorn before…Or anyone at all really…” Discord looked at her for a moment, and a quick flash of understanding passed through his large, red-and-yellow eyes. Did he too long for companionship? “Ah yes. Unique creatures such are we. Difficult for us to connect with the common folk. But perhaps together-”he moved closer to her, never breaking the link between their eyes, not even to blink, and held her head in his paw. The soft touch his fur sent a tingle throughout her body. She had never felt anything like this before. “-we could have something no one else will ever have.” He raised his talon, pointing it towards the tip of her horn. “I know many things. Ponies, magic, the world in general…” he said softly, his eye gazing through her soul. They began to gleam in the moonlight, seeming to pulsate with a myriad of colors, some she didn’t believe existed. “Even a thing or two about alicorns. In fact, I know something that any alicorn would find simply” his talon grew closer to horn. She knew she should feel alarmed about a creature she had just met doing this, but she was utterly transfixed be his gaze. “…amazing.” Then his talon finally made contact with tip of her horn. And her mind utterly blanked out. That same tingle from earlier had returned, but more intense this time, like her horn had been attached to a thundercloud. Discord seemed to notice, and chuckled. “Feels good, doesn’t it? But I know what will feel even better…” Slowly, he slid his talon down, nearing her head. As he decended, the feeling became more intense, exponentially more pleasurable. Her head swam. Her body had been completely paralyzed. Perhaps she had even begun to drool a bit. But she didn’t care. This was the most unbelievable experience of her life! She couldn’t imagine anything better! Until he touched her forehead. And then her world exploded. If there any thoughts or doubts left in her head, they were obliterated at that moment. The colors in Discords eyes filled her own vision now, encompassing her entire reality. The only thing she could see was him. He began to lean in, his eyes closing halfway. And then he spoke. His voice seemed much larger now. His words reverberated throughout her body, and her very soul. “Together, we can be happy. Together, we can be whole.” Celestia began to lean forward as well. She…she wanted this. This was insane, she had just met this creature, she didn’t even know what his intentions for being here were, a small, frightened voice whimpered. But none of that seemed to matter. She could only think of all the burdens on her mind. Her loneliness, her longing, her desperation for to experience something new, all of it vanished. Everything she had ever wanted, anything she would ever want, all of it was here. With him. The clouds above them, as if moving on their own accord, drifted in front of the moon, causing shimmering columns of moonlight to dance around them. The voice in her mind slowly faded into wordless whine, until finally dying away into the buzzing in her mind. Then finally, their lips met. And the stars seemed to explode in every color of the rainbow. It was glorious.