Fireflies

by ytsebrony20

Chapter Four: The Quest I: Baltimare

Chapter Four: The Quest: Baltimare

The sunrise marked the beginning of a new day, and the start of Luna's mission. Instead of passing each other in the hall, when they met, Luna walked back with Celestia to the balcony.

"Where are you going, sis?" Celestia asked.

"I have some business to take care of in Baltimare. Hopefully I will be back by nightfall." As far as Luna knew, all she had to do was track down Firefly's parents, assuming they are alive, and bring them back to Ponyville to reunite them with their long lost daughter. But Luna could foresee many problems which would delay the ideal circumstance.

"Take as much time as you need. I have guarded the night before."

For a thousand years, she should have added. The guilt buried deep down inside Luna dug back up again. She gave Celestia a longing look for forgiveness.

Celestia must have seen what was on her sister's mind. "All I'm saying," she said, "is, I can handle it. Don't worry."

Luna bowed to show her understanding. When they reached the balcony, Celestia began her parameter check as Luna swooped down over the railing. For a brief moment, she stayed still, letting the wind rush past her, tousling her mane and feathers. Then at the last second, she spread her wings out, soaring the rest of the way to Baltimare.

Most of the trip, her eyes were on the shimmering city on the horizon, but as she passed over the Everfree Forest, she spared a glance down at it. For a moment, she could see it. The helpless filly being attack by giant wooden monsters; but she couldn't see what happened to her parents. Celestia, she hoped they were there.

It wasn't until Luna reached the city that she started to doubt her mission approach. Her first idea was to fly over the city hoping she would see a light blue pony with bright blond hair. Scanning almost half the city, she soon realized this was futile attempt.

Her next plan was to land and ask the resident ponies if they know of the mare. But seeing that all Luna had to identify the pony with was a superficial description and occupation, her next attempt was just as fruitless as the first attempt.

There were so many ponies in this big city; it was enough to overwhelm Luna. Even if Firefly's mother was alive, how would she ever find her? She had almost given up when she passed a large building with a red cross on it.

A hospital; Firefly's mother worked with medicine. Spirit rejuvenated, Luna rushed into the building. At the main desk, Luna inquired the mare on the medicine department.

"We do have somepony working with medicine." She pushed a button on her phone. "Would Dr. Hooves please come to the front desk?" The voice echoed throughout the halls. The last name puzzled Luna. Could that be Firefly's full name: Firefly Hooves?

To Luna's surprise, a dark brown stallion appeared in the doorway instead of the light blue mare she was expecting.

The mare introduced him. "This is Dr. Hooves. He is our medicinal specialist at the moment." The brown doctor held out a hoof. Although this stallion was not who she intended to find, Luna shook his hoof.

"Pleasure to meet you," she stated, but her mind quickly went back to the matter at hand. "But, I was looking for a blond maned blue mare. Thank you for your time though."

She had just turned to leave, head down in defeat, when the brown stallion spoke up. "Wait. Blue Mare? That sounds like the doctor I replaced."

The fire inside Luna ignited once again. The doctor had her full attention.

"You know of the mare I speak?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes. I don't know much but I met her in the office on her last day - my first day. She said something about wanting to get away from it all; she seemed to be pretty distraught. That's all I know."

She's alive! This was now a fact and a key piece to the puzzle of finding her. But there are still plenty of questions. "What's her name? Do you know where she moved to? Is her husband there too?"

"Woah, slow down." Luna didn't realize how fast she was going, and she stopped to take a breath. "I don't know her name or the whereabouts of her husband. But she did say something about a van coover, stand moover?"

"Yanhoover!" Luna answered excitedly.

"Yes, that's it." The doctor replied. "If she wanted to get away, she picked a pretty good place. Yanhoover is about as far away from Baltimare as anypony can get."

Luna knew the Equestria map well. Baltimare was far on the east side while Yanhoover was all the way over on the west. Getting there would take quite some time. "Thank you for the information. You have been very helpful." The stallion bowed to the alicorn, who courteously returned it.

With this new information Luna departed Baltimare. The sun had reached its peak in the sky when Luna finally arrived in Yanhoover. Her heart started to race upon landing. She knew that Firefly's mother was in this city somewhere, and she was anxious to meet her.

Author's Note:

I fixed the cities so it works better with the canon map.

Comments

[pendrake72]

@ytsebrony20...

1. Here is a link to the canon Map of Equestria, from the Official Guidebook and the MLP:FiM Wiki. The map distances are not to scale.

2. Manehatten and Fillydelphia are not far apart at all (like their human world counterparts, which makes sense). And as a side note: Canterlot's human equivalent is Chicago, which is little surprise as how it is a central train hub.

3. As a refinement suggestion, you could use Las Pegasus, Vanhoover, or if your story is set post-season #3, The Crystal Empire for where Luna must travel next. The first choice (Las Pegasus) would make a good deal of reader sense; after all, many (human) people go to Las Vegas to lose things, whether money, time, other people, or even themselves... {One of the reasons I try to avoid going there, myself. Despite having been there several times, less than enthusiastically.}

[ytsebrony20]

2778488 Thanks for the advice. I will have to do some digging to make all of the cities work together. I know that I want the Everfree forest in between the two mane cities and have the cities they escape to be far away from each other. So, I'll see what I can work with.

[pendrake72]

2780208...

4. My literary writing advice is to avoid going back-&-forth for travel, as in East-West-East-West. Such back-&-forths are not only character frustrating, and causes rapid (if not fatal) loss of reader interest.

5. You want a (relatively) cohesive, but roundabout, path to follow.

For example, using the canon Map of Equestria...

~ #1. Manehatten - start

~ #2. Las Pegasus - Firefly's mother goes to "lose" herself &/or her grief.

~ #3. Vanhoover or Cloudsdale - the latter could be interesting, in how Firefly's parents overcome nature of the sky-bound pegasus town

~ #4. Neighagra Falls or The Crystal Empire - the latter could feature a guest appearance by Princess Cadence offering assistance, clues, &/or insight

~ #5. Manehatten or elsewhere on the East Coast - Princess Luna's quest come full circle

[ytsebrony20]

2782120 Based on the old map, I was going to have the mom be in Fillydelphia, the dad to be in Appleloosa because it's close to the Mild West. (spoiler, but since your helping me) the dad is an archeologist and he's doing some business in the Mild West. Now, I think that the Ruins on the canon map might be a better place for this archeologist. I will never visit the same place twice. (except Ponyville)

[lunaDaRula]

Dr Whooves is a timelord not an actual doctor but i think it was fantastic that you included "The Doctor"

[ytsebrony20]

2799351 Thanks. I couldn't think of any doctor names until I realized that MLP already had a doctor.

[ytsebrony20]

Sorry for the lack of updates. The beavers have built a dam in my mind preventing a healthy flow creativity. Hopefully I get Fluttershy to talk to those dam beavers (heh, word play) into letting me have my mind back.

[ytsebrony20]

Officially putting this story on hold . Working on another story now but I promise I will get back to this.