A Big Hug

by David Silver

4 - To Adventure

Clad in polished plates of metal, Tsuki seemed just a touch less adorable than normal. They were a dark purple, as Luna preferred, and covered his head with perfect slots for his horns. His back, sides, and most of his undercarriage were also guarded from attack. He was truly a warrior, at least in appearance. He had no weapon and made no request for one.

Instead, he nuzzled Luna's cheek. "Are we ready now?"

Luna gave a little smile, the barest hint. "Does it fit well?"

Tsuki did a slow turn as he looked himself over. "Heavy, loud."

"Is that the totality of your review?"

Tsuki faced Luna and kissed her between the eyes suddenly. "Gift from Best Pony. Tsuki loves it."

Luna rolled those eyes. That was going to be the best she'd get. "Then we shall be off. I've informed Celestia to our departing, so there is nothing else to hold us back. Just one matter." She pointed at Tsuki's head. "Only you have any clue where we would be heading."

Tsuki hopped up in a powerful bound and came down facing away from Luna. "Get on."

Luna raised a brow a moment before she stepped around Tsuki and reared up onto her hindlegs. "Are you certain?" He nodded quickly. She carefully threw a leg over Tsuki and sat on him as a Minotaur might. She hugged firmly with her legs, not wanting to fall. "I would have commissioned a sad--"

She had no chance to finish. Tsuki made a leap that dwarfed the first as he sailed over the wall that encircled them and came down atop it, then bounced without delay down to the Canterlot streets. Luna yelped in surprise and fell forward, hugging with all four legs as her loyal beast bound with a terrifying speed and jostling bounces.

Her heart jumped and she shrieked with dismay as they reached the edge of Canterlot all too quickly and Tsuki threw himself right over the edge. They were plummeting, possibly to their doom. A small part of Luna's mind screamed at her and she regained awareness just enough to squeeze all the harder and spread her wings wide.

Wind caught in them and they lifted just before they struck the ground, curving their trajectory to even with the ground. Tsuki slammed his great paws on the dirt, changing that motion back upwards and resuming their bounding journey. Luna heaved for breath and slowly folded her wings back in. They would not die that instant. "Tsuki!"

"Yes?" he asked with a tone as if nothing remarkable had happened at all.

Luna gawked at the back of his head a moment. "You almost killed us!"

"Together, nothing can stop us."

Luna raised one of her hooves, the others clinging to her precarious perch. She pressed it to her face. "Next time you expect me to work with you, tell me before you hurl yourself off a mountain."

Since they had reached the bottom of the mountain, faster than Luna had expected save teleportation, the ride became less terrifying. Tsuki would occasionally bound up into a tree and leap gracefully from one to the next, but it all seemed almost safe in comparison to the start of their journey.

Luna recovered enough to take stock of where they were headed. North? They were sailing across the wide open plains of Equestria. Directly north of the castle had no major settlements, though she did spy a few little villages come and go along the way. What seemed more pressing were the Crystal Mountains that loomed ahead of them. They were huge, separating the frozen north from the rest of Equestria. Their sheer size stopped the wild weather of the Crystal Empire from harassing the rest of the pony lands. Were they heading to the mountains, or beyond?

She ventured asking, "Do we stop before, at, or after those mountains?" She pointed ahead as she did so, hoping for any but the latter.

"I don't know." It wasn't the latter, and yet, somehow worse.

Luna slowly pulled herself upright instead of clinging belly to back with her mount. Raised, she could see further, but there wasn't too much to see in their immediate area. Tsuki was starting to scale the first mountain they reached, bouncing upwards higher and higher. "Tsuki, we've been going for some time. Surely you feel some fatigue?"

Tsuki landed gently and settled before he looked back at Luna. "We rest."

With a sigh of relief, she slid off of his back to the ground. With a glowing horn, she began to set up camp for them, conjuring a few creature comforts and getting a fire pit set up in short order. "We will rest here. Do you think we're close?"

Tsuki squinted a little. "Not sure. Closer." He leaned in and kissed Luna's cheek before grabbing her right up into a firm hug. "Thank you for coming with Tsuki. Together, we will win."

Luna colored faintly and squirmed free of her affectionate pet's grasp. "It is my pleasure, but, still... if you plan to go making such... bold... maneuvers in the future, please, a little warning. We would not wish to see you harmed where it could be avoided." To say nothing of getting herself killed along the way.

Tsuki was barely paying attention. They had gone far enough up that frost lined the ground and he seemed fascinated with the frosted rocks that littered the area. He batted them around as a cat might a captive mouse, clearly entertained.

Luna sighed gently and got to preparing a minimal meal of roasted oats for them both of them, hovering a pan over the same fire she had created and stirring the basic breaking of their fast.

Their adventure had begun.

Author's Note:

Onwards, to adventure!

Tsuki is a loyal, if perhaps foolish, mount. Can we forgive him?

Did he have to go to the frozen north? Is this a typo?

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

7700612
... Oh she had an opossum?

Which is also what Sparkster was.

Righto.

[SeventhBrony]

Luna needs to trust him more

[Sigmacipher]

Tsuki squinted a little. "Not sure. Closer." He leaned in and kissed Luna's cheek before grabbing her right up into a firm hug. "Thank you for coming with Tsuki. Together, we will win."

Winning requires an opponent Tsuki...or did you somehow forget to tell us who we will be trying to kill

[David Silver]

7700730 You can win a game of solitaire.

[Sigmacipher]

7700736 Solitare is a puzzle for people who get bored way to easily...

[David Silver]

7700819 True or not, it does show you can 'win' something without someone else losing.

[Sigmacipher]

7700831 Jeez you don't say "together we will win," unless there is an opponent to face and what are we doing, splitting hairs over Solitaire, God damn it are you trying to get on everyone's nerves here?

[Boulder]

7700819 What about the one armed bandit, the dreaded pokies?

[Boulder]

Tsuki faced Luna and hissed her between the eyes suddenly. "Gift from Best Pony. Tsuki loves it."

kissed

7700676 Supposedly Tiberius's origin is in this IDW comic in bonus 2 pages regarding her finding a new pet http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Micro-Series_Issue_10
Seems to pop up in stories everywhere since then.

[Sigmacipher]

7700867 OH FOR CHRIST SAKES!!!!!

*Flips the table in the Friendship Castle*

[David Silver]

7700885 I found another typo nearby and gave them both to Tsuki to play with while they rest.

[Boulder]

7700886 th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/233/b/6/twilight_is_table_flipping_mad_by_sketchinetch-d5bx3cf.png
th04.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/352/4/f/princess_luna_rage_quit_by_ambroise_dart-d5oh9p9.png
fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/252/7/1/dashie_table_flip_by_tomdantherock-d5e46om.gif

[Boulder]

7700927 I can see the big fella now, "I hugged him and hugged him and patted him and patted him George Err Luna"
stream1.gifsoup.com/view2/1557458/call-him-george-o.gif
This would have worked better for the Yeti in OHMD

[tsaukpaetra]

oh, not a space bunny? Oh well.
Wait! If he doesn't know how far away, how can be be sure it's the right direction? Hmmm...
Keep going! ;)

[Daremo]

I really need to get off my duff and get back into the fray of typo hunting.

I'm enjoying the lighter/adventurous nature of the story so far and will get back into the fray as soon as life calms down.

Some traveling music that came to mind for Tsuki and Luna: