//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Child of Light // Story: My little Ori // by Animefan608 //------------------------------// (Green Words background music starts. Red Words mean background Music stops) It was a dark and stormy night in Everfree forest, when the wind was blowing ever so wildly. Many of the trees in the forest were being torn apart by the mighty wind, all except one. The biggest tree of all, standing ever so high like a mountain, was still standing strong against the powerful storm. Spirit Tree: "We shall always remember the night. When I lost Ori to the great storm." A glowing leaf got detach from the tree as it was blown away by the powerful wind, and was separated from its father. The wind carried it deeper and deeper into the forest, and closer to the Castle of the Two Sisters. ----- Meanwhile, in Everfree Castle, there was party celebrating Celestia and Luna's birthday. Most of the guests had to stay inside because of the storm. All of the royals had attended their party and, despite the fact how bad it was outside, everypony was having a good time. All except Luna. She tried to reach out to the other ponies, but they just ignored her. Its not because they hated her, but really, all they cared about was her sister. Her sister was very popular with everypony in Equestria. Even though in her heart she knew she should be proud of her sister. It has took them decades for them to get the unicorns, Earth ponies, and pegasus to unit, and they have finally done it. So why isn't she happy? Luna frowned at everypony she saw. They were all having good time except her. Luna then looked at the gifts she received earlier that day, and the only gifts she had gotten was from Starswirl and from distant relatives. Compared to what she have gotten, her sister had gotten a mountain of gifts from ponies everywhere. Not only was she jealous, but most of all, she felt lonely. "Princess Luna?" said a voice. Luna turned around and saw a couple of ponies approach her. "Oh good, we've been looking everywhere for you." Luna's expression brighten, as she was happy to hear such words. "Really?" "Yes we knew you were the only one who could help us," One of them said. Luna was glad that at least some ponies out there saw how important she is. "Well I'll do the best I can." "Thats great, we were wondering if you could tell use where Celestia is?" Just like that, her happiness shattered. Without giving a second look, she just pointed in Celestia's general direction. "Thank you so much." They then trotted away, leaving Luna alone, and very annoyed. "Alright, I've had it!!" Luna trotted away from her party, and to her room, as she needed some time to think. Then, she heard her name being called again. "Luna." "Yes,yes,yes, YES CELESTIA IS RIGHT OVER THERE YOU-" When Luna faced the pony who was calling her, only then, she realized it was Starswirl the bearded who called her. "Oh - uh Starswirl, it's just you. Sorry for shouting at you like that." "Luna, where are you going? Your party is that way," he said, looking at her with concern. "I'm sorry my old friend, I-I need to be alone for a while." Before she continued on, Starswirl stopped her for a moment. "Luna, I know you feel disconnected with everypony, but you shouldn't worry. I'm sure they will like you eventually." Starswirl assured her, in a calm tone of voice. "I know, but I just….." Luna took a deep breath and sighed. "Our parents have always told us we were destined for greatness. I keep repeating it over and over again in my head, but, no pony appreciates me, and it's hard to see them doing so in the future." "Luna," Starswirl mumbled under his beard. "I would at least want one pony who appreciates me and my night sky. I just feel so alone," said Luna as she glanced out the window. "Luna, you know that's not true. You have me and your sister. No pony said this will be easy, but, you must not let your personal feelings get involved in your work. A princess must be strong, wise, and caring no matter what," advised Starswirl. Suddenly, they both heard Celesta call his name. "Excuse me, Luna, but your sister calls." Starswirl than trotted towards the party, as he was needed. Luna stared at the window for a while. It just angered her for just being in the castle. Despite how dangerous it was outside, she needed to get away from everypony for a while so she could get her mind straight. Luna decided to go through the other door, where no pony will see her leaving. Once she opened the door, the strong wind blew her at her face like a tornado. Luna did not allow this to intimidate her, as she continued on against the wind pushing her back, but made sure to close the door. before setting off. Luna was trotting away from the courtyard of her and her sister's castle, towards the Everfree forest, with the wind pushing her mane against her face, as the rain was quickly soaking her fur. Hours later, Luna kept walking into the forest, not caring how dangerous it was. Even though branches and leaves kept hitting her in the face, she kept going. "I don't know why I thought this was a good idea. But for some reason, I feel like this forest is my only friend. I even remembered when I was filly I use to come play here. I pretended to be the princess of the forest," Luna thought. Luna then noticed, in the distance, the giant glowing tree that towered over the others. Her mother use to tell her and her sister stories about it all the time. For some reason, that tree was the heart of Everfree forest. Flash Back: “Mama, whats that tree?” asked little Luna, as she glance up at the giant tree. “Yeah, what is it?” asked little Celestia. “That tree, my dears, is a spirit tree,” Replied their mother. “A spirit tree?” They both asked, curious. “Yes. You see, that tree is the protecter of this forest. There use to be hundreds of trees just like it during the time before pony-kind even existed. Sadly, that was before the ponies started cutting down the trees so they could make homes out of them. Our world use to be covered in trees such as this. Everfree forest use to be just one part of a bigger forest called The Forest of Nibel.” “The Forest of Nibel?” the filly alicorns asked. “It is an ancient forest that was home to many magical creatures that once roamed this world. However, ponies everywhere feared these creatures, so they burned the Forest of Nibel down,” she explained. Luna frowned as she glanced to the tree. “But, why would they burn it down?” asked Luna, sadden by her mother’s story. “Because my dear, ponies fear things they don’t understand. It's in there nature. So, that tree standing before you, my darlings, is what's left of the ancient forest of Nibel, including this forest now known as the Everfree forest." “Do you think we can head over there to get a closer look?” asked Celestia, eyeing the gigantic tree from the distance. However, their mother shook her head. “I’m afraid not,” she replied. “You see, that part of the forest is Deer territory, and they won’t like it if we trespass on their part of the forest. The Deer are VERY protective of that tree and they will not let any pony near it.” “Awwww!!” They both said, disappointed. “Sorry girls. Maybe one day you will.” End of Flashback: She smiled a little at that memory, until a tree fell down right in front of her. The longer she was outside, the worse the storm had gotten. It was so bad, that it nearly push Luna off her four hooves. But now, it was tearing the whole forest apart. Luna knew it was un-wise for her to keep going, so she started to head back. Just before she started to turn around, a glowing leaf flew past her, swiftly grabbing her attention, and Luna's own wonder took hold. As she forgot about how dangerous the storm was getting, she followed the glowing leaf through the forest. After a rather short journey, it had landed in a clearing, touching ground on the wet grass. Luna had fallen behind she couldn't fly because of the treacherous wind - but when she entered the clearing, the leaf started to glow brighter, and brighter. Luna reacted quickly by running towards it. Her hooves cover her eyes as the light grew too bright for her too even see. The light only continued to glow brighter, and brighter, until ... Nothing. The light disappeared, leaving behind a glowing figure lying in the same spot as the leaf had been, and having faintly glowing flowers scattered around it. Luna approach it slowly to get a better look, as she stared at the creature with awe. The storm then started to calm down as well when she approached it. Luna then slowly picked it up with her own hooves instead of using her magic. The glowing creature had turned out to be a small, two legged, cat-rabbit like creature with glowing white fur, black eyes with white pupils, a long tail, and what looked like four ears; two of them exceedingly larger than the other pair higher up on its scalp. The creature turns out to be a baby, who just been recently born. Spirit Tree:"When Luna embraced my light." Luna didn't know what this feeling was, for she had never felt it before. It was very …… heart warming. "Is this what love feels like?' she wondered in her mind. "Is this the feeling my sister feels when she is praised by the other ponies….or is this something more?" The creature opened its eyes, and looked up at her with curiosity, as did Luna. After a moment of silence, Luna smiled, and embraced the creature with love, as she hugged it like a mother would with her child. ---------- It was soon morning, as the sun began to shine above the castle. In Luna's room, the white creature woke up from its slumber. It tried to get down from Luna's bed, but it was too small to even reach the floor. The Spirit Tree: "And raise it as her own." While he was looking around the room, he saw Luna come in from the door. "Good Morning little one. Let's go see Starswirl, he would like to see you," she said with a welcoming smile. So then the creature, slowly and carefully, got on Luna's back, but Luna helped it out by using her magic to help it get on her back safely. The creature did not speak much, but, she knew it was happy to see her, and did exactly what it was told. Luna took him downstairs where Starswirl's lab was. Once they entered the lab, the creature was examining the entire place with wonder in its eyes. There were so many weird stuff down here; Books, scrolls, jewels, glass bottles with bowling liquid of all colors, and relics from foreign nations. He also saw two other ponies. One was a gray, really old looking stallion, with a long signature beard. He whore a blue pointy hat, with a blue cape to match. The other one was a tall, beautiful, white pink maned alicorn, wearing a golden crown on her head. Luna kept him on her back so she could keep him close and also Starswirl could have a good look at him. "Well I'll be," he said, as he quickly grabbed an ancient book, its cover made out of wood. Celestia herself was a bit curious about this thing as well. Never before had she seen such a creature. "Starswirl, What is this thing?" she asked, as she examined it from head to toe. Starswirl set the book he was reading on the table. "Its a Spirit Guardian; a long presumed extinct race of creatures that used to live deep in Everfree Forest," He explained, the book open to the pages with the information in question. Celestia and Luna walked over to Starswirl to take a look at the picture he was pointing at. It was a picture of many deferent shaped Spirit Guardians but sure enough, some of them was indeed a look like as the creature that was currently sitting on Luna's back. "How come they're extinct?" she asked, as she turned her head to face the white glowing creature. "Nopony knows, There was a time when so many of these things roamed Equestria, even the whole world, and then one day when the pony race began to expand, they just disappeared. This book is written in an ancient language that hasn't been spoken in centuries. It took me years to translate most of this, but I do know that this book is older than time itself, back before ponies even roamed this planet. The only part of the book I didn't get to translate is the part with the Spirit Guardians and the Spirit tree but a piece of the page was ripped off from it." The wizard explained. "The Spirit Tree ?!" Both the sister asked. "I'm starting to remember all of this. Sister, remember that story our mother use to tell us when we were fillies. Do you remember what she said about the spirit tree ?" asked Luna. Celestia looked at her sister as she cocked her eyebrow. "You mean the story about the forest of Nibel ? Yes sister, I do remember but those were just stories. You can't really believe that those stories are true ? The forest of Nibel never existed nor did the creatures that lived in it. I mean giant black owls that eats ponies, Weird rounded creatures known as Gumons, big fuzzy bear like creatures with pale faces. Its all preposterous. Its just a fairytale sister." "But Tia, the Spirit tree-" "Its just a normal tree. There is no connection with the Spirit Guardian and the tree, despite how their names both have spirit in it." Luna raised a eyebrow at that. She frowned at her sister but hung her head in defeat. Starswirl rolled his eyes and just shrugged it off. He than continued on."......Well anyway there is even a possibility that this Spirit Guardian is older than it appears." Luna only stared at Starswirl for a bit, and then looked back at the Spirit Guardian than nodded her her in disagreement. "No, I think it's just a baby." She said looking at it with a motherly smile. "How can you tell sister?" Asked Celestia, as she cocked her eyebrow. Luna didn't give a direct response, but, she looked at the creature as hard as she could. She didn't know how she knew, she just did. "Well, it's small, and it can barely walk, or even speak for that matter. Once I first saw this thing, I knew that this creature had to be a child that was just recently born." "Hhhhmmm. You could be right Luna.” Starswirl wondered about that but decided to just let it go. “Not to mention it might be a boy as well. Cause, according to the book, it shows the difference between male and female. Male Light Guardians have black eyes and have ears pointed up while female Light Guardian have deep blue eyes and have ears pointed down. So, it's a baby boy.” “Really? So its a boy. Um, I’ve been giving this some thought and….I was thinking on having him live with us," said Luna, as she stared at the creature with love and care in her eyes, like a mother does with her own child. Celestia noticed, and decided to object to this dissuasion. She looked at the Spirit Guardian then back a Luna. “….As a pet??” Celestia asked. Luna paused for a moment. She didn’t know why she wanted to keep this creature, and raised it as her own. “Wait, Raise it as my own. Where did that come from?” She thought in her head. Luna nodded in response. "Luna, I don't think that's a good Idea. Your a princess, you'll be much too busy for that thing to take care of. That.....whatever it is will expect too much from you. Luna you must take that thing back to the forest." Said the older Princess. "Sister no. Just because your the oldest doesn't mean you can order me around !" Luna spat back. "You don't even know what this thing is capable of. As far as we know this thing could be dangerous and if our ponies find out-" Celestia started but was cut off by Starswirl. "Tia, leave your sister alone. This is her choice. Besides none of use complained about you sneaking off into the dimensional mirror to see you know who." Luna chuckled at that as her sister Celestia blushed deeply like a cherry as she frowned at Starswirl for mentioning that. ".....Starswirl." "She'll be just fine and lets not worry about the ponies ether. After all, the book does mention these things being friendly. I'm going to try to find out more about these Light Guardians, but, this book doesn't go into any specifics so I'm going to try to figure out what it eats," he explained, as he turned around and began doing research. Celestia surprise that Starswirl would agree to letting her younger sister keep such a thing in this castle. Celestia hung her head in defeat. "Well..." she looked back at her sister, who was now playing with the Spirit Guardian, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have it around." and with that, she left the room, leaving Luna behind giggling at the little Spirit Guardian playing with her mane. ------------ It was time to eat, as Luna, Celestia, and Starswirl, both sat at the long fancy table as the servants came and gave them slices of blackberry pie. Luna levitated a baby bottle of milk but before she could help feed the light guardian she knew they didn't have any special seats for him to sit on, so Luna decided for him to eat on the table. She helped him up and levitated a bottle of milk for him, and it was now time to eat. "Luna what are you doing? Pets eat on floors, not on tables," said Celestia, who frowned at her sister. "Uuh yes I-I know but…..I thought it would be a good idea for him to eat with us like this. After all, he's part of the family now." While Luna was looking the light guardian was eyeing at Luna's pie. He crawled closer and closer to it while smelling it blackberries and crust surrounding with whip cream on top and the sugar added on to it. Luna than noticed the creature getting close to her pie. Before she could even stop him it was already too late. "Child no-" Once the Spirit Guardian realized it was food, it quickly jumped on top of it and it ate and ate until its face fell into the plate, as it began to eat like a mutt. Smothering its entire face with black berries and whip cream. After a short time of eating, It was done, the plate of black berries was licked clean. It moved the plate with its paw back to Luna, as its way of asking for more. Its face was covered in black berries and leftovers. Luna was so shocked that it ate her piece of pie, as well at how fast it ate it. She hung her mouth wide opened in shock. Not only her but everypony in the room was surprised that it ate Luna's pie. The Spirit Guardian tilted its head as he was unsure what Luna's expression was gonna be until he broke the silenced by the his sudden burping. Luna than began to giggle a little, which slowly turned to hysterical laughter. Shortly after, everypony else began to laugh too. "Ha,haa !! You silly goose. Mind your manners." She said. "Well, I guess you were right Luna. It's a baby after all," Starswirl chuckled. Everypony in the room laughed, as they all saw the small cute creature with food all over its face, like a baby dipping its face in a cake. The Light Guardian Smiled with joy. As time went on, Luna gave Ori a bath which he didn't like at all but she made it up to him by reading a story by the fire place where they keep the books. The creature didn't understand Equestrian language yet, but he loved the soothing sound of his guardian's voice. It was a long story but Luna took her time with it. Later at the crack of dawn, Luna and the Light Guardian went outside for some air at the balcony exterior part of the castle. Both Luna and the Creature were enjoying the view. "Well, Since your staying with us, we should probably give you a name." The Spirit Guardian nodded in agreement. Luna gave it some thought but couldn't think of anything. "How about…..Angel? No,……Um…..Gummy?….Opalescence? No,no that's not right….Uuhhh…how about-" Suddenly, she heard something speaking to her. She looked into the distance and saw the same giant tree in the Everfree, which was glowing in part of its branches. It was like the tree was speaking to her. While in reality, it wouldn't seem likely, but she couldn't help but feel like it was saying something to her. Spirit Tree: "…Ori….Ori…..Ori” "……Ori," Luna mumbled to herself. It was like the name just popped into her head randomly. She wasn't sure what just happened, but, she realized that the name Ori was very fitting for this creature. Even though it sounded foreign, she didn't care. "Ori….I think thats a splendid name. Don't you think so?" she asked, as the Spirit Guardian nodded in agreement as it smiled it her with joy. "Then it's settled; Your name for now on will be Ori." she said as the he got off her back and embraced her with a hug. "Welcome to your new home. My little Ori." To be Continued.