Secrets in the Shadows

by Moon Solace

Chapter 1

An old grandfather clock chimed in front of me as I watched it struck the start of the new hour, it was quiet in my home, silent from the main hall, to the balcony of my room. The clock was made of a dark oak wood and was gilded with dragon's gold in some areas. I simply sat there, waiting for my parents to return from work at the Canterlot castle.

My name, is Moon Solace, I am the son of Solace Eclipse and Sapphire Moon, although everypony calls me Solace. And yes, I'm a stallion, I might look feminine, but I'm a stallion, and thanks to the groomer I look more like a one. While my parents do have celestial names, they aren't related to the royal family. Instead, my parents work for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the castle as personal assistants. My father, a tan colored pegasus with a rust colored mane, gives directions on weather patterns and gives this information to each of the weather factories across Equestria, he also helps Celestia by calculating how far the sun needs to be from the earth for each of the four seasons. My mother, a royal blue unicorn with a 'youthful' colored silver mane. (she specifically says 'youthful' so she doesn't sound old) works with Princess Luna, helping her map out the positions of the stars each day and setting up specific dates for lunar eclipses and meteor showers. Now since my parents have such special talents for celestial study, I bet you think I have a talent that's really awesome right? Well you're about as wrong as can be, I have no talent, I have a cutie mark, but no talent. My cutie mark is the symbol of the family clan, the crest consist of a crescent shape, representing the moon, outside of a circle with three rays coming from it and extending outside the crescent, showing the sun, connected to the crescent was a line jutting out, my parents nor any of the staff in the mansion claim to not know what the line meant though. I've always had my cutie mark since I was small, although I can't remember how I got it. Still, there's another minor issue, I'm an earth pony, not a unicorn or a pegasus, a crimson red, brown maned, earth pony in Canterlot. A pony like me shouldn't belong in a city who's population consist of mostly unicorns, and I didn't feel like I should be here, it didn't feel natural for me being in this big mansion.

I sigh as I look down on the pristine marble floor, “What am I doing here, I don't belong in a city like this.”

“Is there a problem, young master?”, one of the house keepers asked, it was my friend Monocle, who was the chief butler. He was a charcoal gray unicorn with a golden monocle which he's never seen without, which is why I call him that.

“Oh, it's nothing”, I lied through my teeth, “I think I'll go read a bit, has my package arrived?”

“I believe that Miss Do is about to bring it here any moment”, Monocle said adjusting his eye-ware.

I gave a big smile as I rushed to the front door waiting for delivery mare to arrived. After waiting a few short minutes, the pegasus mare came to the front door carrying a decent sized package.

“Hey Derpy”, I smiled with delight, “it's really good to see you again. Did the delivery give you any trouble?”

“Oh, not at all Solace”, the cross-eyed mare said, “besides it's always good to see my friend here in Canterlot, it's like being home without actually being home. Maybe someday you can visit my home town.”

“Not very likely Derpy”, I groaned looking down at the floor, “even if I were to go, I would probably be mobbed before I get to the train station, and you know how the fanmares are when they see me.”

I looked over at the locked gates, standing there, were multiple mares watching and probably listening to the conversation Derpy and I were having. I could never figure out why they were such fans, I've never done anything amazing to leave a lasting impression.

“Oh, before I leave, I need to ask what's in that package, that package does have some weight to it and my curiosity needs to know.”

I gave a wide smile as I invited my pegasus friend inside. Once I close the door, I squealed with delight as I tore the packaging, revealing a medium-sized plastic chest. Inside the chest was a collection of one of the best selling books here in Canterlot, “The Adventures of Daring Doo: by A.K. Yearling”. I was a big fan of the author and loved many of her other books, but this one was the most exciting, especially the most recent one where a mare saved her from death and helped defeat Ahuizotl. My only complaint was that A.K. Yearling didn't give the side-kick a defined description, all she said in the book was that the pegasus was a cyan-blue color. I've read the series before, but due to my parents 'current opinion' of the book, they got rid of them, saying it was too exciting for a 'colt' like me, only problem is that I'm the same age as Derpy, heck I was around the same age as Daring Doo's friend in the last book. Wouldn't matter anyway since this was a fictional story.

“Thanks a lot for the delivery Derpy”, I said as I gave Derpy her pay, “I'm going to make sure this doesn't get into my parent's hooves this time.”

“No problem Solace, I hope I see you sometime again soon.”

Monocle helped me carry the chest of books up to my room where I created a hiding spot for this treasure, it was a trap door underneath the 2-inch thick rug that spanned across my entire room, I didn't like the rug very much since I usually keep tripping over the darn thing, it's like it had a mind of it's own and was purposely trying to prank me. This time though, I used the dreaded rug to my advantage due to the cushioning being able to block any hint that the trap door was there. Afterwards I asked Monocle to not tell my parents about the books, he accepted the secret while doing a series of strange movements. Said something about a Pinkie Promise.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye”, he said in his butler like accent. I stood there trying to figure out what he meant by 'stick a cupcake in my eye', why would anypony want to do that?

“I must inform you as well young master Solace”, he said once again adjusting his trademark monocle, “the princesses are coming to the manor for dinner, she also wishes to inform you that Princess Celestia shall be bringing her former student, Princess Twilight.”

Former student, from what I remember, Princess Celestia had a prodigy student that went by the name Twilight Sparkle, but I didn't know she became a princess. This should be interesting to say the least.

“Thanks for telling me Monocle” I said as I walked past him, “I'll personally tell the cooks that we are having an extra guest tonight.”

I trotted down into the kitchen, inside was a vast array of pots, pans, and many other cooking items being grilled, steamed, and broiled on top of professional looking cooking irons. It was absolute chaos down here, although somehow it always stayed clean. I scanned the room looking for the stallion I was looking for, among the chefs I saw one yelling at the others directions for food orders around the mansion.

“YOU THERE START GRATING THE CHEESE! YOU, GET THE NOODLES ON TO BOIL! YOU, GO AND GRILL THE BROCCOLLI!”

Found him.

“Evening Master chef Hot Skillet”, I greeted the salmon colored unicorn.

“SOLACE ME BOY, IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU!” he greeted me with a great bear hug as he lowered his voice so that my ear wouldn't start bleeding, “What brings you down here into my domain?”

“I wanted to inform you we'll be having an extra guest tonight, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” I explained to the hearty unicorn, trying to act as professional as possible.

“I see, well then we're going to need to pick up the pace if we are to get things ready. While you're down here, is there something specific you want for supper my boy.”

“Oh, just something simple, you know, like oatmeal.”

“OATMEAL, ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Skillet exclaimed, acting shocked by my dinner choice, “I know you enjoy being like one of the more common ponies, but seriously, oatmeal?”

I rolled my eyes, “Ok, how about a nice lettuce sandwich with carrots and tomato slices.”

Skillet grunted, “A sandwich it is then. I'll even make it myself.”

“Thank you Chef Skillet”, I smiled at the unicorn as he trotted off to fetch the ingredients for my sandwich.

Okay, so far so good, we got the dinner arrangements, and dinner for myself ordered, and there was about two hours to spare. Time for me to hit the books, I dashed into my room and quietly located the chest in it's location, I grabbed the last copy of 'Daring Do' and looked at the cover once again, it depicted a picture of Daring Do and her temporary assistant, although her mane's color seemed to be edited because the mane had no color in it, which is odd because most brightly colored ponies light her usually had a pastel colored mane to match. It would be so much fun to be on adventures like the ones Daring Doo had, or at least get out of this stinking house, being rich and famous without actually being famous isn't that fun, in fact it's quite boring, not like I could do anything about it. After I was done, I still had about a half hour until dinner, I decided to go into the library for something new to read.

The mansion's library was huge, expanded from wall to wall with shelves of pony history, spells, charts, and other boring things. The walls, floors and ceiling were made with marble and ivory. The shelves themselves were also made of a grayish marble. (Is it me or do my parents have a fetish for marble?) I decided to play Eany Meany Miney Moe to pick a shelf and dashed up the shelf I chose, I scanned the books as one particular book caught my eye. It was a Midnight-blue leather bound book with the lunar phases on the cover. Looks like a spellbook to me, not much of use since I'm not a unicorn, I did a quick scan of the Table of Contents.

“Lunar Spell Circles: An earth pony spell guide.”