Luna sat within her room staring out across Equestria. Ponyville lay at the base of Canterlot and stretched out far before the Everfree forest consumed all that was in sight save a few skyscrapers from Manehattan that peeked over the trees at the very edge of the horizon. She enjoyed her view of Equestria but it wasn't what she really loved to look
at. Luna turned her head up towards her beautiful night sky that was adorned by brightly shining stars burning brightly from millions of miles away just for her. The stars however were the only things out tonight as Equestria had fallen silently into the night as it did whenever Luna would raise the moon.
The normal chirping of the crickets and the dancing of the lightning bugs were absent tonight and
it all seemed especially lonely.
Even after her sisters constant reassurance and kind words she still felt saddened.
"Dearest sister, do not be sad. The night is very important to ponies all across
Equestria. It is the time when they can rest and recover from the day.
They need the night the most of all for this. You are very important to
all of Equestria, Luna. Don't ever forget that."
Why couldn't some ponies come out and enjoy her lovely night? Sure there were always
things like the Granny Galloping Gala where ponies would be out until the
early hours of the morning talking and laughing and having fun but in
truth they were all inside enjoying those things and barely took to mind
any thought of glancing upwards at her sparkling friends.
Luna sighed. Even though she was now back home with her sister she still felt as alone as ever.
The Canterlot castle was vast and Luna often found herself lost when trying
to explore. Her sister was always busy as well with important business
and frequently was not around at all when she needed her. Luna had even
tried talking to the Canterlot royal guards but they always seemed so
nervous around her and conversations often never progressed past hello.
Her one and only true best friend forever lay at her side as she always
had and Luna picked her up and cradled her.
"Oh Abby... I wish a falling star would come my way so maybe my wish would come true,"
The
red abacus remained silent as abacus' do but Luna still felt slightly
better relieving the tension from her chest. She stared far off into the
distant darkness and that was when she saw it. A falling star. A true
falling star, right from the sky itself.
But... Luna never remembered falling stars being turquoise colored....
The turquoise colored falling star crashed down from the sky into
Ponyville and Luna gasped. This were her chance! If she could get that
falling star then her wish would come true for sure!
"Abby!" she exclaimed squeezing the abacus. "Do you know what this means?"
The abacus was silent. She took the abacus and tucked it safely into a saddle bag that she immediately threw on her haunches.
"That's right. We're going to Ponyville!"
"Ow... not cool." Whoa Nelly mumbled as she pulled herself up off the dirt, her body aching.
She groaned and glanced up at the sky. Not a single sonic rainboom to
be seen for miles. Nelly sighed. She was sure that she had it this
time... except for the whole misjudging how close the ground was. She
was so focused that she didn't have time to pull out of her dive. She
could only open her colorful wings slightly and soften her landing but it still
hurt quite a bit.
Ever since she had received this fairy curse, Whoa Nelly had been sneaking off through the night towards her secret training grounds as she did every night.
She needed to perfect the sonic rainboom. Ever since she'd first gained fairy wings she'd wanted to be like her hero Rainbow Dash. Nelly felt like she would never be able to
do it on her own. But she was going to try anyways because after all if
she didn't perfect her moves soon then she would never be the world's fattest Wonderbolt. She prepped herself for takeoff, spread her wings and then
promptly fell to her haunches as pain ran across her back. She had
landed on her left wing slightly and now it hurt too much to even stretch it out normally.
"Oh no," she gasped. "No, no, NO! This
CANNOT happen! I mean I have to practice for the Wonderbolts and
tomorrow I have work and I promised to help Carrot Top dust the
top of her bookshelves and that I would buy cakes from Pinkie Pie and how am I going to get back to Cloudsdale?"
She began to freak out and couldn't stop herself from rambling which in all reality
was absolutely not cool but this entire situation was terrible.
Maybe Twilight Sparkle was awake. She was always reading all of those books so
maybe she had read something about enchanted fairy first aid. Yeah! Maybe she
could use her magic to fix her wing. But as Nelly looked around she
realized that she was a lot farther from Twilight Sparkle's house than she
originally thought. By the time she got there Twilight would definitely
be asleep and Nelly had heard the other day that she had important
Canterlot business to attend to this week. If she bothered Twilight she
might not be able to finish her work.
Whoa Nelly sighed and looked around. She was quite close to the Everfree forest.
"Maybe the zebra shaman..." She shuddered, her sentence cut off.
The Everfree forest? At night? No way. And in any case the zebra still
unnerved her a bit. Nelly sighed and looked up into the night sky. The
darkened deep blue of the sky was speckled by the bright shining stars
that illuminated Ponyville slightly in their glow. The faint wind across
her mane and the rustling of leaves in the trees was quite pleasant and
the night sky was so beautiful.
Well it was until something smacked her straight in the head.
"Abby!" she heard a distant voice cry before something else fell to the ground with a loud thump.
"Awh..." Nelly groaned as her vision returned and she picked up the strange red thing that had fallen on her.
"What the horsefries is this?" she said as she examined it.
"Careful!" the voice cried again before somepony ran up to her and snatched it away.
"Abby are you okay?"
The pony began checking "Abby" closely before tucking it back into her
saddle bag. Whoa Nelly could barely make out who this pony was until
the clouds shifted in the wind and let the moonlight shine down,
illuminating Ponyville.
Princess Luna!
Luna became flustered as the pony bowed to her. She didn't know what to do or
how to react so for a few long arduous moments it was slightly awkward.
Luna hated it when ponies bowed to her. She felt ashamed for her
actions as Nightmare Moon and felt like she didn't deserve anypony's
praise or admiration. Finally the pony stood from bowing and Luna felt
relieved, her face losing its flush.
"Princess Luna did you just fall out of the sky?"
Luna instantly became flustered again.
"Well, yes. I don't really fly that often so I'm not very good." Luna hung her
head in embarrassment What kind of alicorn princess couldn't fly
properly?
Being trapped in the moon for a thousand years didn't really help either.
"So... what are you doing out here so late at night, Princess Luna?" The turquoise
pony with lime green hair asked, her hooves digging at the ground
slightly.
"Oh I um... I saw a falling star and I was just looking for it," Her voice was quiet. "You wouldn't happen to have seen
it would you?"
The turquoise pony seemed to think for a moment and it was then that Luna noticed her wings.
A fairy pony down in Ponyville so late at night? She felt confused.
"Hmm.. no I haven't. See I was off to practice some moves but I fell all
the way from Cloudsdale. I haven't really seen much other than the
ground tonight." The turquoise mare laughed.
"You fell from Cloudsdale?" Luna spoke, taken aback.
"Heh, yeah. The clouds weren't perfectly pushed together in one part and it was dark so I couldn't see so... here I am."
It was then that Luna recognized the fairy pony. She was one of the exceedingly fat Canterlot peasants! Luna suddenly felt very
uncomfortable. What must this engorged one think of me after what I did as
Nightmare Moon? But the pony with the green mane didn't seem
unnerved at all and instead asked Luna another question.
"So Princess Luna, what was that thing that fell on my head?"
"Oh, Abby is my abacus."
"Aba-what now?" Whoa Nelly was thoroughly confused.
"Uhm... it's used to add and subtract things." Luna said, unable to truly explain what an abacus was.
"Oh I see. So why are you carrying it around with you?" Whoa Nelly
questioned. It seemed strange for a pony to be carrying something like
that with them in the middle of the night.
"Abby is my best friend. She's always been with me."
"Sounds like you need to get out more." Whoa Nelly laughed. "You should come
down to the Canterlot slums more often, you're quite funny."
Luna once again found herself flustered. Go down to Canterlot slums? She would be so
nervous to walk the streets. What everypony must think of her...
"Hey Princess Luna," she seemed to speak confidently. "You wouldn't happen
to know of any medic ponies that would be up this late, would you?" Her
voice trailed off a bit.
"Medic ponies? Why are you looking for a medic pony...uhm..." Luna couldn't quite remember her name.
"Oh I'm Whoa Nelly, remember?"
That's right. Whoa Nelly; The fat one with fairy wings.
"I sort of need one," Whoa Nelly said. "See when I fell from the clouds I landed on my wing and now I can't exactly fly."
Luna nodded and thought for a moment before perking up. "Well, I could always heal you."
Whoa Nelly looked at her curiously. "You could?"
Luna nodded again and explained to Whoa Nelly that while she was
imprisoned on the moon for a thousand years she needed a way to pass the
time so she learned to hone her magical ability for quite a few
different things. Whoa Nelly seemed a bit reluctant after the mention
of her imprisonment but she couldn't be stuck with a hurt wing all night.
She carefully stretched out her injured wing for Luna and
closed her eyes tightly in preparation. Luna breathed in a bit of cool
night air and then began to focus as her wings spread outwards and her
horn began to glow a faint purple slowly becoming brighter. Whoa
Nelly's wing began to glow as well as Luna began to mend it. Nelly had
expected it to hurt and thus had prepared herself but Princess Luna was
being very careful and gentle and within moments her wing felt as good
as new. Luna sighed slightly as the magic left her and her horn ceased
to glow and smiled slightly towards the pegasus who was now stretching
out and rotating her magical wings in a most peculiar fashion.
"Sweet bread, I can fly again!" Whoa Nelly exclaimed as she bolted up towards the sky
and then back down again, spinning and floating the air seemingly
effortlessly. She landed next to Luna and then quickly embraced her with
a high pitch squeal of thank you.
Whoa Nelly suddenly backed away from Luna and apologized.
"I'm sorry Princess I just got so excited... heh." She rubbed the back of her head with her hoof in embarrassment
But in the deep blue darkness of that evening she couldn't see the extent of the blush that had consumed
Princess Luna's cheeks.
As the fairy mare began to sway the conversation in a different way Luna couldn't make out the words that she spoke.
Luna suddenly realized how cold the night air really was and how she wanted
once again to be embraced in the flab of the blubbery mare whom had felt so warm against
her. At first she didn't understand the feelings that she felt. She
wished her sister was there to help her but she knew in the back of her
mind she would only bear witness to her sisters signature smile and a
few kind words about needing to find herself.
But how was she supposed to find herself when she didn't even know what feelings she was experiencing?
Was this friendship? Did she finally have a friend? Was this what it felt
like? A million thoughts flooded Luna's mind and she felt excited and
embarrassed all at once. Being on the moon was... torture for her. She
had been deprived of interaction with other ponies for a thousand
years. This was the first time that somepony has hugged her other than
her sister for all of those years. There was nothing that describe the
feeling of loneliness that Luna had felt as the cold dark moon held her
small form.
"So do you think you're up for it Princess Luna?" Whoa Nelly asked grinning.
"Yes,"
The word escaped her lips before she could even think about it let
alone realize what Whoa Nelly has even been talking about.
At this moment she felt as if she could only say yes to the green mop maned
unicorn. She only wished that her body hadn't failed her so that she
would know what she just agreed to. But Whoa Nelly piped up again
excitedly quickly answering her question.
"Great! Let's go then. Your first super radical flight lesson begins now."
Wait, what?
And before Luna could realize what was going on Whoa Nelly had grabbed
her hoof and they were off through the night sky faster than anypony
could have flown. Luna's precious star friends rushed past her yet grew
closer as they ascended higher. The clouds before them began to part and
Luna was able to see that they were heading towards the very edge of
Equestria itself where the mountains that bordered the land turned into
valleys that sloped off into the great oceans. As the two ponies began
to descend Luna once again looked skyward and her eyes widened slightly.
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Luna had seen a single streak
of starlight as it streamed across the sky.
"Was that..." Luna began but Whoa Nelly couldn't hear her for her words were so soft
spoken. Whoa Nelly leveled off along the ground and set Luna down softly.
"Isn't this place great? I come here all the time to practice." Nelly said.
Luna had been so busy staring up at the sky that she didn't notice where
they had landed. It took her a minute to form the words to describe the
view that lay before her.
The valley seemed to stretch out into
the distance forever and beautiful waterfalls lines the high slopes that
surrounded the two ponies. The water glowed in the moonlight and lit up
the valley in it's entirety. It wasn't bright like sunlight but it was a
soft glow reminiscent of the starlight that Luna adored.
"This is... so amazing. The water is so pretty. Why does it glow like that?" Luna asked.
"I'm not too into the whole science thing but I thought the geeks at Canterlot University would find
it cool so I brought them back some. The researchers told me that there are some sort
of..." Nelly seemed to be searching for the word. "Oh yeah, luminescent.
They told me there were luminescent creatures in the water like tiny sprites. They glow in the dark so that's why the water is lit up."
Whoa Nelly grinned.
Luna was amazed. She had never heard of
creatures that glowed before. She smiled to herself. This was the kind
of beauty that Luna had been wishing she could find in her darkness.
Something that maybe somepony would enjoy. She glanced back at Whoa
Nelly who was in the process of stretching her body and fairy wings. Nelly seemed to enjoy being out at night even if it was just for
practice. At least there was one pony that Luna now knew of.
"You should probably stretch out before you start flying Lu- I mean,
Princess Luna." Whoa Nelly corrected herself. She had almost forgotten
that Luna was of the same stature as Princess Celestia.
"Oh, alright," Luna said shyly. "And you can call me Luna if you like." Luna
began to mimic what she had seen Whoa Nelly doing but she felt a bit silly.
"But you're a princess of Equestria. I can't just not
address you as princess. That would be... uncouth of me." Nelly seemed to
stumble over her words slightly.
"Well...," Luna blushed slightly. "Would you like to be my friend? If we were friends you could
address me as Luna, right?" Her head lowered slightly as her hooves shuffled the dirt beneath them.
"Psh, we're totally already friends." Nelly said confidently. "So then Luna, you all warmed up and
ready to fly?" Nelly had lowered herself on her forehooves with her wings
prepped and outstretched to her sides.
"I uh..." Luna looked around, avoiding Nelly's gaze.
"Oh come on, it's not that hard. You'll do great. Just try it." The encouragement from Whoa Nelly made Luna feel a bit confident in herself. Though, she still felt nervous. Her daring flight from Canterlot to Ponyville had been quite unnerving. Luna had at first thought that she would graciously float along ground level to her destination but a sudden updraft sent her high into the sky. She could only panic and descend as slow as her beating wings would allow until she finally fell the last few feet to the ground. Luna wasn't exactly looking forward to a repeat instance. Her wings snapped shut tightly gainst her body thinking of it. Whoa Nelly sighed.
"Are you really that scared Luna?" Nelly's voice was soft.
"Only slightly." Luna lied a bit. She was very scared. She didn't want to fall again but she also wanted to learn how to fly properly. She was torn.
"Hm..." Whoa Nelly began to think. She hovered in the air around Luna one hoof resting under her chin and the other across her chest. Nelly then perked up and clopped her hooves together. "I got it!"
"I know a way that you can fly without using your wings." she said.
Luna was now thoroughly confused. How was she going to fly without her wings? It was impossible.
"What you need is help, styled Pinkie Pie." Nelly said with a grin upon her face.
Pink...Pie?
Luna found herself lost in translation.
What does pie have anything to do with flying?
And why in Equestria would pie be pink?