Day of the Moon

by Next Gen Wonderbolt

Chapter 4

The train ride to Canterlot was again long and stretched out. Shortly after departure, Luna had also fallen asleep with Crescent in her lap. The train wasn't running as fast as it normally would, the sun had set and it was a clear starry night. You could see every constellation, from Ursa Minor to Orion. Luna was asleep right now, the day before had worn her out, and she didn't know how much longer it would be until this whole thing was finally over. Suddenly, she jolted awake, waking herself from a horrid nightmare. She looked around frantically at first trying to get a grasp on her surroundings. She quickly calmed herself, realizing that it was just a dream.

But, it felt so...real.

She had dreamed that she had lost everything.

She was in an orphanage, Crescent wasn't there, and Celestia hadn't adopted her. She was alone in a room, all alone. Her only company the wind outside, and a lit candle by the bedside. She was sitting on a bed, the only object in the room, which was colored tan. A brown door had opened to reveal the caretaker, her silhouette amplified by the light behind her. She had told her that no one would adopt her, the thought of raising an alicorn scared most of the ponies who came in.

Luna felt tears come to her eyes. She was trying to blink them back, clenching her eyes shut. She would not dare to open them until a soft sound from below caused her to open her eyes. Looking down, Luna saw Crescent give a tiny yawn and roll over, her back now towards the night princess. The moonlight was shining through the window, glimmering off Crescent's violet mane. Her dark blue coat seemed to shine with stars, Luna was amazed at how beautiful she looked in the moonlight. She was like a lunar angel, given to her to raise among ponies in her parent's absence.

She was so awestruck by her appearance, that she didn't notice when the filly she was admiring was awake and questioning her.

"Mommy, why are we going to Canterlot again?"

Luna sighed, she really didn't want to tell this story again. But she wanted her to know, she was technically her child. Even if it wasn't official yet.

" Crescent, the reason we are going to Canterlot is because I'm trying to track down my parents. I do not believe I told you, but I was adopted by Celestia." -Crescent's eyes widened- " I had found out 2 days ago when I overheard her and Discord talking about telling me. I didn't mean to eavesdrop on them, but curiosity got the better of me. I was furious at first, but Celestia had come in and had explained why she didn't tell me sooner. I asked her where my birth parents were and she gave me this piece of paper." Luna pulled out the piece of paper with the address on it.

" This address was my only clue, and I had gone to the house where you were living, hoping to find some sort of evidence that my parents were somewhere. But I did not find any, except for the letter in the trash. It was a divorce paper, with my name on it claiming custody of me. It must have been my mother, seeing as the judge rarely gives custody of children to the father. Anyway, the return address on the letter came from Canterlot, so we're going to pay the post office there a little visit in the morning."

"Morning?"

Crescent looked outside to see that it was still dark outside, the moonlight still shining through the window, lighting her up. She yawned again, and Luna took this as her cue to put the filly to bed again. Luna put a hoof on Crescent's head and stroked her mane. The filly sighed happily and started to feel her eyes grow heavy. She started drifting off, she couldn't have opened her eyes if she tried, sleep was just to satisfying for her! She was loosing consciousness and finally let sleep claim her. When Luna was sure Crescent was asleep, she returned to her own thoughts. She honestly had no idea what she would do when they got back to Canterlot. She had hoped that she would have found something more, revealing, something that would help solve the mystery of her parents.

Luna had thought for a moment, she couldn't find the answer with useless leads, should the letter be one. She needed an alternative, something that would piece together some of the pieces of the puzzle. Then it hit her. A memory spell! She could cast the spell on herself and try to uncover hidden memories. She had seen Celestia do it tons of times on the ponies who had amnesia, who would walk into her sister's throne room and would plead for their memory to be restored. Luna knew it was a long shot since she didn't have amnesia, and she wouldn't lose any memories should the spell fail.

Luna prepared to cast the spell on herself, she focused her energy her signature blue aura glowing around her horn. With a flash of light, Luna closed her eyes and the scene shaped. It was familiar, too familiar. It was nighttime and she was surrounded by fauna, she knew that she was in a garden, but where? The only garden she had ever been to was, the castle gardens!

Now that she knew where she was, the question was what was she doing there? He questioned was answered, as a cloaked pony leaped into the garden. The pony landed gracefully, not making a sound. They walked over to the koi pond, an infant's crying now made clear as they set down a foal near the pond. The cloaked figure to their hood off, revealing the pony to be a mare, her features not clear but somewhat visible in the moonlight. She was a cobalt mare with a indigo mane. She leaned down towards the foal, whispering words into her ear.

"Shhhh, it's ok now. It's ok, you're going to be fine now. Have faith in your mother."

The foal stopped crying, Luna had been standing in the same space for a while now, and started to making her advance towards the pair. As the moonlight shifted, the foal's face was revealed. It was a filly that looked oddly familiar, frankly it looked a lot like her. Wait, it was her! The pony in the cloak was her mother! Luna wasn't paying attention and only caught the last line her mother said before she took off into the night, her hood back up and covering her face.

"I love you, and be safe."

And with that her mother disappeared around a corner into the darkness. Luna wanted to shout, to call back to her mother! But found that she was silent, she couldn't speak! Luna panicked and galloped off in the direction her mother had left in, she couldn't and wouldn't lose the trail. Luna kept galloping, but the world around her was falling apart. She was now running in blackness, she ran until she fell. She kept falling into an abyss that never ended. She just wanted it to end.

She got her wish as she suddenly jolted awake. She was sweating and she had nearly woken Crescent up in the process. She was gasping for breath, and was panting heavily. It was frightening to say the least. A nightmare that was all too real. Luna shook her head to clear her mind and hopefully calm herself down. She was a little uncomfortable sleeping upright on the seat, and proceeded to lie down on the bench. She had forgotten about the sleeper car, and was certain that most of the beds were filled with ponies that had beaten her to a bed.

Using her magic, she lifted Crescent up and layed down on the bench, getting as comfortable as she could get. She laid there and rolled on her side quickly, placing Crescent down on the bench right next to her. After she had gotten Crescent all settled, she rolled back onto her stomach and put a wing around the filly, her response was snuggling closer to her new mother. Luna smiled at this and was slowly drifting off. She murmured 3 words into Crescent's ear that resulted in a smile from the sleeping filly.

"Good night, Crescent."

"Goodnight mom."

Luna smiled and rolled her eyes. Crescent was smarter than she lead on. Luna felt sleep creeping up on her, keeping her eyes open was getting more and more difficult. She thought about the past events, she was now a mother of a bright young filly, who resembled her quite well.

I'm a mother now.

She smiled warmly at the thought. She felt a surge of joy and warmth consume her body and mind. She had never felt more happy and at last let sleep overtake her.

---

It was morning, the break of dawn to be precise, and the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. The first rays of light shining through the window, and onto the face of an alicorn and a filly, sleeping on a seat. Luna was sleeping soundly, but when the light of the sun shone through it shone right on her closed eyelids. She cringed at first, then slowly opened her eyes. The sunlight was bright and Luna put a hoof up to block it, she pulled down the blind in an attempt to block the sunlight. Unfortunately the light still managed to get through enough for Luna to toss the idea of sleep and get up.

Luna stretched out her arms and wings, working out the kinks. She felt incredibly relieved of her tension, like a tidal wave had come and washed all of her tension away. She stood up on her hooves and did some neck rolls, trying to stretch out her neck. After completing her routinely stretches, she turned to the unicorn sleeping on the bench. Crescent was sleeping soundly on the bench, she looked peaceful, but of course Luna had a brilliant idea on how to wake her up. Luna walked into the bathroom on the other end of the car and stepped inside. Turning towards the faucet, she ran the water cold until it was freezing. Picking the water up in her magic, Luna walked back to where Crescent was sleeping.

She cast a dry coating spell on the seat as to not get it wet. Luna held the water above Crescent's head and she formed it into a bubble. She held the bubble over Crescent's head, lowering it towards her horn until...

splash

The bubble had popped, dowsing both Luna and Crescent in the freezing water. Crescent shot awake, her eyes wide with surprise and she jumped from the sub-zero temperature. Luna was also shocked, she hadn't expected that to happen, she also didn't expect to see Crescent looking at her with tears in her eyes. They were streaming down her face, and they wouldn't stop. Luna had never felt worse in her entire life, it was like having a part of her heart stepped on rapidly.

"Why did you do that mommy?"

Luna honestly didn't know, she thought it would be funny and they both would laugh it off. But she forgot one factor. Crescent was a filly. She couldn't handle the jokes that Luna would play on other ponies her age. She just couldn't handle it.

"I'm sorry Crescent, I don't know why. I made the mistake of thinking you were older than you actually are. Come here" Luna opened up her still soaking hooves.

Crescent hesitated a bit and jumped at her mother, she was scared from the sudden dowsing. They both hugged each other sharing the cold between them. Luna's horn lit up and they both were dry instantly. Crescent smiled as the warm light of the sun lit them up, the warmth enveloping the two and sharing it in the embrace. They broke apart as a loud buzzing went over the intercom.

"Attention all passengers, we are now approaching Canterlot station."

Luna smiled, their destination in sight.

Well, here we go. You ready?" Crescent shook her head up and down rapidly, her mane flipping up and down in a wild fashion.

"Yep! I can't wait to see Canterlot!"

Luna chuckled a bit at the filly's enthusiasm. They both heard the trains brakes hiss, signaling a stop. They looked at each other and nodded, Philomena flew in and perched herself on Luna's back, cawing excitedly. They all had formed a bond that wouldn't be broken. In the short time they were all together, they had their moments and had fun. The journey was not yet over, and they knew that. As the train doors opened and the light flooded in, they all nodded to each other again, and took their first steps into the station.

Author's Note:

So yeah, this was basically a filler chapter. I wanted it to go over Luna and Crescent's relationship a bit more, and to give a little more back story to Luna's adoption. The next chapter will probably be the last and the longest chapter. Also in the next chapter , Philomena will be leaving the group, seeing as I always forget her and it would be easier to just take her out of the story all together. Hope you enjoyed! :3

Comments

[ParadigmShift]

Wait..Philomena was in this?

[Next Gen Wonderbolt]

3201406 Yeah. She was traveling with Luna but I kept forgetting to add her into the scenes.

[Lag Incarnate]

Shit, that water prank. HILARIOUS!
Oh man, I would have no remorse for a prank that good. None whatsoever.

[Next Gen Wonderbolt]

3201707 Yeah, funny story behind that. I was sleeping over at a friends house, out cold mind you. And He decided that he would wake me up by dumping a bucket of freezing water on me!